CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A gathering of roughly 100 Donald Trump supporters on Tuesday night was supposed to woo LGBTQ voters. But among the many few homosexual males in attendance, LGBTQ points weren’t a high precedence.
“I’m not voting due to marriage equality, LGBTQ rights,” mentioned Gage West, 23. “I’m voting as a result of I need extra money in my pockets. I need my group protected, and I need to have the ability to elevate a household and know that they’re going to be protected sooner or later.”
In the half-empty resort ballroom the place the occasion passed off, there have been no rainbow flags, most well-liked pronouns have been mocked and homosexual males have been vastly outnumbered by their straight counterparts.
The occasion was one in every of a number of related gatherings held in swing states this month by LGBTQ conservative group the Log Cabin Republicans, dubbed the “Trump UNITY” tour.
Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee and daughter-in-law of the previous president, was among the many audio system. Though nowhere in her roughly 25-minute speech did she convey up LGBTQ points.
Instead, she spoke about why she determined to tackle a task within the RNC, claimed “there was one thing nefarious” in regards to the 2020 election outcomes with out giving any proof, and shared remarks that didn’t seem to align with the occasion’s theme of unity.
“Right now we’re in a combat of excellent versus evil,” she mentioned, referring to the upcoming election. “We are combating for the longer term, not simply of the nation, however the complete world.”
Several LGBTQ attendees on the occasion, practically all of whom have been white homosexual males, instructed NBC News they have been unbothered by LGBTQ points being talked about solely briefly or not acknowledged in any respect by the night’s audio system.
Trump UNITY occasions have been held within the final two weeks in main cities of battleground states, together with Georgia, Wisconsin and Michigan. Headliners have included conservative influencers, Republican officers and Trump members of the family Lara Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Marla Maples, the previous president’s second spouse.
Charlotte’s occasion featured Andrew Wheeler, who led the Environmental Protection Agency in the course of the Trump administration; former performing Attorney General Matthew Whitaker; and former performing Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell, who’s overtly homosexual and has spoken at the entire Trump UNITY occasions. Prior audio system have additionally included Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and former Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., who voted in favor of anti-LGBTQ laws whereas he was in Congress and got here out as homosexual years later.
Trump has not attended any of the LGBTQ-led occasions himself and his marketing campaign has not publicly introduced any plans to take action. Throughout the marketing campaign, he has labored to courtroom different teams of voters, attending occasions catered to girls and Asian American, Black and Latino voters.
The Trump marketing campaign didn’t return a number of requests for remark.
On the few events LGBTQ points have been talked about Tuesday night time, audio system praised Trump’s appointment of Grenell to a Cabinet place — making Grenell the primary overtly homosexual individual to carry such a task — and lauded the same-sex weddings held at Trump’s Palm Beach resort, Mar-a-Lago, in recent times.
Trump fundraiser Bill White, who additionally spoke on the Charlotte occasion and is overtly homosexual, pushed again on naysayers who query the previous president’s dedication to the LGBTQ group. He challenged critics to attend one in every of Trump’s rallies, the place Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” regularly blasts out of the audio system.
“What does the man do at each rally?” White mentioned on the Charlotte occasion. “He places his palms within the air and does his dance strikes to the unofficial homosexual nationwide anthem for crying out loud.”
White then recorded the Charlotte viewers dancing to the tune, which he mentioned he would later share with the previous president.
When requested what they hoped a second Trump presidency would possibly accomplish for LGBTQ Americans, homosexual Trump supporters mentioned they believed society and the federal government have been already freed from prejudice in opposition to the LGBTQ group.
Don Webber, 57, who works for a monetary companies firm, mentioned the LGBTQ group must “get away from that sufferer mentality.”
“We’re previous that. We’ve reached that degree of equality,” Webber mentioned. “To me, and maybe it’s my age, my focus is extra on my youngsters and the grandkids, the financial system, the protection of our borders.”
Rob Smith, a conservative social media influencer who has constructed a following off being a homosexual Black Trump supporter, and spoke on the occasion on Tuesday, agreed.
“We are federally protected against discrimination — that could be a truth. We have the proper to get married. We have the proper to serve overtly within the navy,” Smith, 42, instructed the group. “So, I believe that essentially the issues that this nation are dealing with are far higher than any small affinity group.”
Federal laws that will amend the Civil Rights Act to incorporate anti-discrimination protections for Americans on the premise of sexual orientation and gender identification, generally known as the Equality Act, was blocked by Republicans in Congress in 2019 when Trump was president.
Smith dismissed the Equality Act push as “ridiculous.”
Charles Moran, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, acknowledged that Tuesday’s night time viewers was comprised of principally straight folks, estimating gays made up about 30% of attendees.
“It’s not nearly gays and lesbians. It’s in regards to the communities that care about equality,” Moran mentioned. “And, once more, suburban girls, youth voters — these are core constituencies of the 2024 election cycle. We don’t simply should pander and run to gays.”
Still, Moran and different occasion organizers mentioned they consider Trump may safe as much as 50% of homosexual voters within the upcoming election, with out offering figures explaining their reasoning. Millions of American adults establish as lesbian or homosexual, in line with Gallup.
In a Human Rights Campaign ballot carried out in August, 74% of LGBTQ voters say they plan to or are leaning towards voting for Vice President Kamala Harris, 7.5% for Trump and the rest for third occasion write-ins.
Brandon Wolf, a spokesperson for the advocacy group, which has endorsed and is fundraising for Harris, denounced the Trump UNITY occasions and accused the previous president of main “essentially the most anti-LGBTQ+ administration in historical past.”
“Some folks actually like proximity to energy, and Donald Trump is somebody who peddles energy in change for issues continuously,” Wolf mentioned. “It’s unlucky that you’ve got teams just like the Log Cabin Republicans who’re prepared to promote out the group in change to have the ability to cozy as much as somebody like Donald Trump.”
As president, Trump banned transgender Americans from enlisting within the U.S. navy. His administration additionally ended some discrimination protections for LGBTQ folks at school and in well being care settings. Both insurance policies have been reversed in the course of the Biden administration.
If elected once more, Trump has vowed to reinstate his former coverage barring trans folks from enlisting within the navy, to abolish gender-affirming look after transgender minors — which he equated to “baby abuse” and “baby sexual mutilation” — and to roll again Title IX protections for transgender college students “on Day One.” In current weeks, he has additionally repeated false claims that college students are present process transition-related surgical procedures in the course of the faculty day. His marketing campaign has aired adverts in current weeks slamming Vice President Kamala Harris’ prior help for inmates receiving transition-related medical care in federal prisons.
Harris has actively supported homosexual rights all through her profession and publicly backed same-sex marriage years earlier than Democratic management did so. She is seen by queer advocates as having some of the, if not essentially the most, LGBTQ-friendly coverage file of any presidential candidate. Still, when requested in an interview with NBC News on Tuesday whether or not she believes trans Americans ought to have entry to gender-affirming care, Harris appeared to dodge the query, first saying she would observe the legislation after which saying: “That is a call that medical doctors will make when it comes to what’s medically vital.”
Sam Alleman, the Harris marketing campaign’s LGBTQ engagement director, mentioned in a press release that Harris is the “solely chief on this race” combating for LGBTQ folks and that the “marketing campaign is just not taking a single vote without any consideration.”
“Our group is aware of higher than to help somebody who has spent each probability he bought as president, tearing us down,” he mentioned. “Donald Trump’s shallow, eleventh-hour outreach to LGBTQ+ voters is a determined try to distract voters from his plan to roll again discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ Americans and provides the federal government management over our our bodies.”
Prior to the UNITY tour, the Log Cabin Republicans fundraised for the previous president twice within the spring. Former first woman Melania Trump was paid greater than $230,000 for attending the occasions, in line with one of many former president’s current monetary disclosure types. In his speech on Tuesday, Grenell mentioned that not one of the audio system have been paid to talk on the Trump UNITY occasions.
The remaining LGBTQ-led occasions will probably be held in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Gatherings scheduled in Arizona and Nevada have been faraway from the group’s social media accounts this week, which Moran mentioned was on account of “scheduling conflicts.”