President Trump fails to recognize Pride Month for second consecutive year

By Jada Handy | Jun 21, 2018

As a candidate Donald Trump held up a Pride flag and vowed to be supportive of LGBT+ rights.

But this is the second consecutive year that President Trump hasn’t recognized Pride month. This coupled with his stance on transgender troops serving in the military has left many LGBT+ supporters questioning the president’s agenda.

Established by President Bill Clinton in 1999, support for gay and lesbian pride month has long been political. Republican President George W. Bush didn’t acknowledge the month during his two terms. But his successor Democrat President Barack Obama renamed it LGBT pride month early in his first term.

Despite his campaign rhetoric, some of Trump’s policies have been seen as a setback for LGBTQ+ rights.

Although it’s been halted by a federal judge, Trump has banned transgender people from serving in the military. His administration also froze a series of LGBT+ friendly policies established during the Obama era. He also signed the “Religious Liberty” executive order which gives business owners the opportunity to object to things that go against their religion despite anti-bias laws. The Department of Education also stopped enforcing Obama-era guidelines allowing students to use bathrooms that aligned with their identities, rather than the sex they were born into.

Nino Testa, the associate director of women and gender studies at TCU said perspectives on Trump vary in the LGBT+ community. He said not everyone in the community is upset Trump didn’t acknowledge pride month.

“There are other people who don’t really care what Donald Trump thinks and are perhaps happy to know he’s not trying to utilize pride, which has so much meaning to so many people, to bolster his own image,” Testa said.

Testa said he doesn’t want Trump to acknowledge pride month. He said he doesn’t agree with Trump’s policies regarding transgender people.

“What concerns me is his perspective on trans people and their exclusion from military services,” Testa said. “He doesn’t have a good track record on trans rights.”

June Bhattarai, a member of the LGBT+ community said that she did not expect Trump to do anything for the community. “Trump not acknowledging pride month only affects the people who pays attention to what he does,” she said.

According to the White House June is not proclaimed pride month, however states and communities around the world continue to celebrate with various parades and events.

Local pride events include: