On June 7, 2017, Fox 46 in Charlotte, North Carolina published a story about Charlotte Pride’s decision to deny a pro-Trump group’s application to preform at a Charlotte Pride event. According to Mic, the pro-Trump group calls itself “Deplorable Pride” and its members intended to give a pro-Trump tribute performance during the Charlotte Pride parade.
Brian Talbert, one of the group’s members and an openly gay, proud Trump supporter, told Fox 46 “I’m very proud of my vote. I don’t regret my vote. I will vote for Donald Trump again. I’m proud of my president. I don’t think I should be vilified because I’m proud of a U.S. president as an American.”
Though a spokesperson for Charlotte Pride said in a written statement regarding their decision, “Charlotte Pride reserves the right to decline participation at our events to groups or organizations which do not reflect the mission, vision and values of our organization…Charlotte Pride envisions a world in which LGBTQ people are affirmed, respected and included in the full social and civic life of their local communities, free from fear of any discrimination, rejection, and prejudice”, it appears that Deplorable Pride has internalized absolutely nothing. The group intends on filing a lawsuit against Charlotte Pride for what they perceive to be “discrimination” and have launched a fundraising campaign for their legal fees on their website.
https://twitter.com/YoungDems4Trump/status/872792378582511617
Local ‘Gays For Trump’ Want To Sue After Being Denied Access To The Charlotte Pride Parade https://t.co/eOImibh4RI pic.twitter.com/pG7jEURtWW
— Charlotte Stories (@clt_stories) June 9, 2017
Gays For Trump Banned From Pride: Apparently, you can't be gay and vote Republican. https://t.co/pyJRzry6YL#GaysForTrump
— #ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) June 9, 2017
After initially reading the headline about Deplorable Pride being denied the opportunity to perform at Charlotte Pride this coming August and the follow-up about a potential lawsuit, I immediately knew that the expectation was going to be that we now have to walk through why a pro-Trump group has no place at any pride event and have to beg for those comfortable with or who are actively encouraging violence against us to show an ounce of human decency. Though I understand that is the expectation, I am too exhausted to indulge those who expect that from me. I promised myself a long time ago that I would not keep breaking things down for White people. Not because I am not passionate about social justice issues and not because I have given up hope that the world can be a better place, but because what else can I say?
The existence of an organization like “Gays For Trump”, at this point, reaffirms what people of color already knew, which is that White America is more than willing to set this entire nation on fire if it means that they get to watch us burn along with it.
How do I know that? Well, for starters I’m a Black Latina and have been on the receiving end of enough racism and misogynoir to know what I’m talking about. Additionally, look at the Trump Administration’s track record on LGBTQIA issues.
July of 2016: Donald Trump officially announces that conversion therapy enthusiast Mike Pence will be his running mate.
January of 2017: After Donald Trump, the President of the Electoral College, was sworn in the White House’s LGBT rights page disappeared.
February of 2017: Donald Trump rescinds protections for transgender students that were put in place by President Obama.
After Trump rescinds protections, trans hotline reports spike in calls https://t.co/2NmQjUCBNo pic.twitter.com/DHV9w2KO4j
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 27, 2017
February of 2017: Raging homophobe and racist Jeff Sessions’ nomination for Attorney General of the Trump Administration is confirmed.
February of 2017: Another raging homophobe is confirmed as Health Secretary of the Trump Administration.
March of 2017: Donald Trump’s proposes that the U.S. Census remove all questions pertaining to LGBTQIA individuals.
March of 2017: Donald Trump signed an executive order nullifying an Obama-era executive order that helped protect LGBT+ individuals from workplace discrimination.
May of 2017: Donald Trump signs an executive order regarding religious liberty that has been coined “License to Discrimination”
June 2017: Betsy DeVos, the Secretary of Education for the Trump Administration, declares that it is not the education department’s job to proect LGBTQ students.
The listed developments are not the extent of the Trump administration’s attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community but still testify to the fact that the motivations of LGBT pro-Trump groups is not one tied to the well-being of their community. Groups like Deplorable Pride are about racism, xenophobia, and other forms of bigotry. Deplorable Pride and the number of groups like it that have emerged in the last year are products of the racism that has gone ignored and unchecked within the LGBT community.
The members of Gays for Trump are the same white cis gay men who claim to have sassy black women inside of them while they flung racist slurs at Michelle Obama for the last eight years and said that she should hide her arms because she “looks too manly”.
The members of Gays for Trump are the same white cis gay men who gentrify AAVE and our communities while having “no blacks” in their Grindr bios while refusing to date Asian men because they perceive them to be “too feminine”, and while fetishizing white-passing Latino men.
The members of Gays for Trump are the Milo Yiannopouloses and the Charles Morans of the world.
The members of Gays for Trump are no different from the men angry that there are so many n*ggers in their neighborhoods, sp*cs “stealing their jobs”, and the refugees “radicalizing” the youth, and should not be granted leniency or have their bigotry excused because they are gay.
The members of Gays for Trump should not be at Pride. “But they’re gay t-“. I don’t care. White supremacy should not be allowed at pride, period. The blood of queer and trans women of color like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera are the reason Pride events have continued to be held and have grown exponentially. This movement has been carried on the backs of people of color since its conception. Every riot. Every march. Every rally. Every organizing effort. Black Lives Matter was birthed from three queer black women. Queer and trans women of color are the queer liberation movement. How dare you even debate the rejection of a hate group painted in rainbow colors into an event celebrating the LGBT+ community.
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