Donald Trump proved his 'support' for LGBTQ rights is meaningless in just 3 tweets

In the wake of Donald Trump's military ban, the internet is calling out Donald Trump for saying he supports of LGBT rights in the past.
 By 
Colin Daileda
 on 
Donald Trump proved his 'support' for LGBTQ rights is meaningless in just 3 tweets
Credit: AP/REX/Shutterstock

The world should by now know that President Donald Trump is very willing to say one thing and do another.

This was put on display on Wednesday morning, when the president tweeted that transgender people would no longer be allowed in the military.

After Trump's tweets, many, including Joe Biden, Chelsea Manning, and John McCain, spoke out against the ban, calling the decision cruel and harmful.

But there was an additional reason people were outraged at Trump's declaration: the tweets came as a stark contrast to Trump's promise during his presidential campaign that he would fight for the rights of the LGBTQ community.

It wasn't difficult for folks on Twitter to find examples of his past professed support.

It's not the first time Donald Trump has been called out for his faux support for LGBTQ rights. The president also failed to acknowledge June as LGBTQ Pride Month, even though he gave an interview to The Advocate in 2000 in which he seemed to forcefully support gay people serving in the military at a time when "don't ask, don't tell" was the law of the land.

The Advocate has since said that the interview is meaningless today.

"Well, today we got our first sign that everything Trump once told The Advocate those 17 years ago was just for show," the publication wrote in January. "He spent more than a year ignoring the interview and its promises to support hate crimes legislation, appoint LGBT people to his administration, and amend the Civil Rights Act to include gays and lesbians."

The LGBTQ community and its allies have also directed its ire at Trump's advisor and oldest daughter, Ivanka, who has publicly expressed support for LGBTQ Americans.

Ivanka Trump and her husband, White House advisor Jared Kushner, reportedly helped trash an executive order planned early in the Trump administration that would have allowed employees and businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ people under the guise of "religious liberty." The pair was briefly hailed in the media as a check on the president's far-right impulses and advisors, but many on Wednesday mocked the pair's supposed LGBTQ advocacy after Trump's announcement.

We're not sure what Donald Trump was expecting as a response to his new declaration (a politically useful wedge issue? Money for his border wall?), but the internet has one word for it: hypocrisy.

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Colin Daileda

Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.

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