Log Cabin Republicans withhold Trump endorsement
Log Cabin Republican President Gregory Angelo said it early on: Donald Trump is the “most pro-gay” Republican presidential candidate in history. And following the deadly attack on an LGBT nightclub in Orlando last June, Trump himself suggested that he—not Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton—is the presidential candidate who is “really the friend of women and the LGBT community.”
Clinton’s claim to the mantle as the Democratic Party’s most pro-gay presidential candidate in history has to compete with the party’s 2012 nominee, President Barack Obama. But even during this year’s general election campaign, when most Democratic presidential candidates typically grow subtle about their support for the LGBT community, Clinton prominently and repeatedly stated her support in stump speeches and debate answers.
Asked to make their best arguments for their party’s candidate, gay Democratic and Republican leaders said this:
Earl D. Fowlkes Jr., chairman of the Democratic National Commitee’s LGBT Caucus: “As a black gay man, I know that Mrs. Clinton will protect and work to extend LGBT rights gained under the Obama Administration. She will appoint Supreme Court judges who will not undo same-sex marriage, women’s reproductive rights, and more provisions of the Voting Rights Act. In short, Mrs. Clinton will be a president that will fight for all Americans.”
“She is one of the most qualified candidates to ever run for the Presidency,” said Fowlkes. “As First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State, Mrs. Clinton has both the experience and temperament to handle the complex issues that our nation is facing.”
Charles T. Moran, a prominent Trump delegate from Los Angeles to the GOP convention, offered this: “The strongest reason why LGBTQ’ers in our community should Hillary Clinton has the backing of numerous LGBT groups, while Donald Trump failed to receive the endorsement of the Log Cabin Republicans. (Photo by Evan El-Amin/Shutterstock.com) “As a black gay man, I know that Mrs. Clinton will protect and work to extend LGBT rights gained under the Obama Administration. She will appoint Supreme Court judges who will not undo same-sex marriage, women’s reproductive rights, and more provisions of the Voting Rights Act. In short, Mrs. Clinton will be a president that will fight for all Americans.” vote for Donald Trump is that he’s constantly recognized our community and treated us with respect. In his business and philanthropic work, he’s always been supportive, even when it hasn’t been popular. From the money he’s given to HIV/AIDS causes in NYC, to opening the first private club in Palm Beach to allow open homosexuals to join, to just recently dismissing the dramatic debate in the GOP and stating that Caitlyn Jenner should use whatever bathroom she wants at his Trump properties, to bringing forward the issue of protecting our community against radical Islamic jihad and threats of violence against our freedoms, he has truly walked the talk, and that is a 30-plus year history of support, unlike Hillary Clinton’s zig-zag on our
October 28, 2016
issues over her 30 years in the public eye.”
Log Cabin Republicans issued a statement Saturday, saying it would withhold an endorsement of Trump.
“Mr. Trump is perhaps the most proLGBT presidential nominee in the history of the Republican Party. His unprecedented overtures to the ‘LGBTQ community’—a first for any major-party candidate in our nation’s history—are worthy of praise and should serve as a clarion call to the GOP that the days of needing to toe an anti-LGBT
By LISA KEEN