It’s been months since the results of the election came out, and the United States appointed Donald Trump as president. Like many others, I grudgingly watched him become president while knowing as a journalist, and as a member of the LGBTQ community, I would not allow myself to be apathetic to the news of what was to come from his administration.
It’s July now, and I have been complacent. I whine whenever I hear a new headline about Donald Trump and roll my eyes muttering, “not again.” I have stopped caring about the headlines, and expect them. I do nothing to stop them; my anger has turned into an annoyance, like how I’d feel about a fly who won’t leave me alone.
However, recently Donald Trump announced on Twitter than he was banning people who identify as transgender from serving in the military. In three separate tweets he wrote:
“After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to service any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military will entail. Thank you.”
This is one of the decisions Trump has done that will affect the LGBTQ+ community. Another includes the hiring of numerous anti-LGBTQ+ politicians into his cabinet such as Vice President Mike Pence, whose track record includes supporting conversion therapy and saying gay couples signaled “societal collapse.” As well the appointment of now former Kansas governor Sam Brownback as the ambassador for international religious freedom, a man who signed off on a bill that allowed homeless shelters and foster care agencies to refuse to place a child with a same sex couple to protect “Kansas clergy and religious organizations from being forced to participate in activities that violate their sincerely and deeply held beliefs.”
Other hits were back in May, when Trump signed an executive order “promoting free speech and religious liberty,” one that many feared could be used to discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community. As well, the repeal of the bathroom bill back in February where Trump withdrew federal protections for students who identify as transgender on which bathroom they choose to use.
Donald Trump promised to be an ally to the community during the election, being one of the more vocal candidates to say they would pursue the right interests of the LGBTQ+ community. He was praised for holding a rainbow flag during a rally and for including “Q” when referring to the LGBTQ community. But Trump and his cabinet have made it clear they do not have the LGBTQ+ community’s best interest at heart.
It is no longer a time to be complacent. The LGBTQ+ community needs to stand up as it is only the beginning of a man who has proven himself to be a menace and a danger to the rights that have been worked so hard for.
It’s time to stand up now. The Trump administration has betrayed us with their decisions, and have and will continue to tear them down until we stop him from doing it.
