First I showed you Evangelicals For Trump, a predictably anti-LGBTQ coalition that the Trump campaign has assembled as surrogates for the president’s re-election. Next came “Pro-Life Voices For Trump,” a group that purports to be about limiting reproductive freedom but is equally as opposed to LGBTQ rights. Then there was “Black Voices For Trump,” a team where twenty-six of the thirty members on the advisory council have outspoken records opposing LGBTQ rights.
Now let’s look at a fourth coalition: “Veterans For Trump.” While one might assume this would be a more mainstream collection of people who are bound together by their service to their country, it just so happens that this Trump 2020 group is equally connected through its opposition to LGBTQ rights. The advisory council includes:
- Attorney General Jeff Landry — Filed a US Supreme Court brief asking court to rule against a transgender worker who was fired because of her gender identity.
- Jessie Jane Duff — Staunch supporter of Trump administration’s transgender military ban.
- John “Tig” Tiegen — Has spoken out against trans athletes: “You all should of [sic] taken a stand when the first jackass did it now look who is suffering!”
- Paul Renner — Branded a “Champion of the Family” by the anti-LGBTQ Florida Family Action, in part because of his opposition to gender identity and sexual orientation protections.
- Matthew Lyda — His company, Nine Line Apparel, routinely condemns transgender rights proposal, as well as mocks the LGBTQ movement by declaring their pro-gun views to be an “ammosexual agenda.”
- Elbert Guillory — Equated his childhood dream of being a cowboy with “a boy who dreams he is a girl and based solely on his dream can intrude himself into the girls’ shower room.”
- A. Rocky Raczowski — Came out in support of trans military ban: “Retired Army Lt. Col. Andrew “Rocky” Raczkowski says Transgender individuals could have too many medical needs to serve on the battlefield. We need to, as a society, accept all individuals and treat individuals on the same even playing field,” he said. “The military is different. “If someone becomes ill or needs any type of surgery or what have you, it takes away from the mission of fighting an enemy.”
- Keith and Kevin Hodge — Crudely mocked and misgendered transgender people: “Just run bitch—you’re a dude!” (*There are several instances of transphobia from them, so much so that a venue recently canceled one of their appearances).
- Al Baldasaro — Opposed a trans equality bill in New Hampshire because he said it would embolden pedophiles: “Look at all the pedophiles registered in the State of New Hampshire,” said Rep. Al Baldasaro. “This gives them an opportunity to walk into any ladies room and say, ‘my state of mind is female.’”
- Ron Rabin — Voted for and stood in support of HB2, the notorious North Carolina law that barred equal bathroom access for trans people, saying that “he wouldn’t want his wife in a restroom and “letting some guy who feels like he’s a girl today walking in and doing whatever.”
- Graham Allen — Tweeted: “BREAKING: Your 9yr old child is NOT Transgender. They are a child that just so happens to have terrible parents.”
- Mario Herrera — Mocked trans and non-binary people by tweeting, “As a person who identifies as a purple unicorn, I find doctors to be discriminatory of the trans-unicorn community #WeAreAllMDs”
- Stacy Washington — Insisted that “no amount of coercion will normalize homosexuality, and has promoted scientifically discredited “conversion therapy;” has also expressed her support for Trump’s trans military ban.
- Major General Patrick Brady — Attacked President Obama for supporting LGBTQ trooops: “Enter Mr. Obama, a progressive moralist, who introduced homosexual conduct into barracks, military communities and foxholes, and transformed our military from heterosexual to quad-sexual (homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender)…Unless America wakes up and stops this insanity, we will be celebrating the Army’s 239th birthday on Army posts, camps and stations peopled by same-sex couples in gay, lesbian and bisexual clubs where fraternization and adultery are indefinable – as is discipline. Homosexual health, deployment and blood issues will enter battle planning. Soldiers will see their chain of command dancing and romancing other men – or women, or both. I wonder if Mr. Obama believes that the sight of him dancing with other men at state functions would be inconsequential. The military will become a sexual and moral morass with readiness in shambles.”
- SOURCE: Veterans For Trump
That’s a whole lot of concerning rhetoric, huh?
While we should certainly thank these vets for their service to our nation, I do have to wonder why so many of them are fighting so strongly against us, and how the Trump campaign managed to assemble a team that is so united in this opposition. That isn’t something that just happens; it’s a choice. For a president who once promised to be better than his rivals on LGBTQ rights, he’s sure bolstering his incumbency with troops who want to make things a whole lot worse.
In fact, I’d argue that this coalition is even more concerning than some of the other assembled coalitions, since military service has been one of the most prominent of the Trump administration’s anti-LGBTQ pushes. Ever since taking office, the president has pushed for an all-out ban on trans servicemembers. Even though all four service chiefs have stated that transgender soldiers pose no risk and the fact that the American public stands in support of transgender service and against the president’s ban, President Trump has stood firmly on this point. That his campaign would assemble a stable of veterans who so fully share this, a view that’s so drastically out of step with the American public, is pretty clear proof that we would only see more of the same (or worse) in a theoretical second term.
PREVIOUSLY: Evangelicals For Trump