GLAAD has documented the history of Donald Trump on LGBTQ issues, including his policies and efforts against access to abortion. The full anti-LGBTQ record is available on GLAAD’s Trump Accountability Tracker. Abortion is a top issue for LGBTQ voters according to GLAAD’s poll.
Trump’s abortion record includes:
- Nominating three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, creating a majority to overturn Roe v. Wade, endangering patients, families and safe medical care across the country.
- The overturning of Roe has had a catastrophic impact on LGBTQ people. LGBTQ people can and do get pregnant and need reproductive health care. Many of the same states with abortion bans also have enacted bans on transgender health care.
- Trump bragged that he is responsible for overturning Roe: “If it weren’t for me, with Roe v. Wade, you wouldn’t even be talking about this stuff. For 54 years they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I did it and I’m proud to have done it,” Trump said.
- Trump’s anti-abortion Supreme Court nominees also have a record of anti-LGBTQ activism:
- Credibly accused rapist Brett Kavanaugh, is supported by anti-LGBTQ group Family Research Council.
- Frequent speaker for anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom Amy Coney Barrett also served at a school that discriminates against LGBTQ students and families.
- Neil Gorsuch, who had written the Bostock decision expanding civil rights protections to LGBTQ workers (over Trump administration objections), wrote the decision in 303 Creative, a 26-page opinion about a legal dispute that never existed and websites that do not exist, brought by anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom on fully fabricated standing.
- All three justices were nominated under non-democratic circumstances, including a nomination withheld from former President Obama during the 2016 election year, a nominee with a history of sexual assault, and rushing a nomination during the 2020 election while Americans were already voting.
Trump has recommitted to criminalizing abortion:
- Trump told Time that he would not intervene in decisions to monitor or prosecute pregnant people.
- Trump refused to say whether his second administration would enforce the Comstock Act, an 1873 “zombie law” that bans the mailing of birth control and abortion medication.
Trump claims his current position on abortion:
- is that “now that we have abortion where everyone wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both. And whatever they decide must be the law of the land. In this case, the law of the state.” In the same video he made the baseless claim that Democrats want to legalize the “execution” of babies that were already born, which is not true.
Trump’s administration in his one-term presidency was filled with activists from the anti-LGBTQ national organization Heritage Foundation. Heritage and others have created “Project 2025”:
- details regulations and executive orders to be taken in first days in office, including: “deleting [from federal agencies and federal rule] the terms sexual orientation and gender identity (“SOGI”), diversity, equity, and inclusion, gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensitive, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights.”
- Semafor reported: While Project 2025 bills itself as being “candidate agnostic,” [project director Paul] Dans noted that at this point in the primary, they expect “and hope” that Donald Trump will ultimately end up in office again.
- NBC News reported that Project 2025 includes representatives from anti-LGBTQ, anti-equality and anti-democracy groups “led by veterans of the Trump administration, such as America First Legal, the Center for Renewing America and the Conservative Partnership Institute, the Claremont Institute, the Family Research Council and the Independent Women’s Forum.”
Trump’s record against women includes:
- Convicted of 34 felony counts in June 2024 related to election interference in effort to silence women he had affairs with.
- Found liable for sexual abuse for raping E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room. Ordered to pay $5 million in damages for repeatedly defaming Carroll. Carroll is among more than a dozen women who have publicly accused Trump of sexual assault or harassment.
GLAAD’s Voter Poll shows:
- 53% of both registered and likely 2024 voters say they would oppose “a political candidate [who] speaks frequently about restricting access to health care and participation in sports for transgender youth.
- All voter categories overwhelmingly agree that “Republicans should stop focusing on restricting women’s rights and banning medical care for transgender youth and instead focus on addressing inflation, job creation, and healthcare costs.” 94% of LGBTQ voters, 76% of registered voters, 76% of likely 2024 voters, and 82% of swing voters agree.