Trump Embraces LGBTQ Community, But Only As a Weapon Against Islam
“It’s grim, I’ve got to say” is how Dr. Patrick Egan, an associate professor of politics and public policy at New York University, described the state of LGBT rights under President Donald Trump. Trump’s election has many LGBT Americans worried they’ll be stripped of their rights during his presidency, and although Trump himself is pretty progressive on LGBT issues — he’s even thrown the “Q” in there a couple times — he ran for office on one of the most anti-gay platforms in history. That, said Egan, is cause for concern. Because even if Trump doesn’t have a vendetta against LGBT Americans, his coalition (and his vice-president) do.
Luckily, one measure that’s likely safe from a Trump regime is marriage equality. During the primaries, Trump said he would “strongly consider” overturning the Supreme Court’s decision that allows same-sex couples to be married in all 50 states. But that’s not realistic, Egan said. Trump has promised to appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court, but even with Justice Antonin Scalia on the bench, the court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage 5-4.
What’s more, for the court to even consider overturning its ruling, a relevant conflict on the issue of same-sex marriage would need to occur on a state level. Then, the court would need to agree to hear it. And even then, Egan said, the justices are unlikely to overrule a precedent that’s been established so recently. “Based on a fair amount of political science research, even the most ideological judges tend to be pretty reluctant to reverse established precedent,” he said. There’s also no call from the general population to reverse marriage equality — public-opinion polls have long shown an overwhelming majority of Americans to be in favor of marriage equality.
Another measure that probably won’t be overturned is the ability of LGBT Americans to serve openly in the military. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was repealed with wide support under the Obama administration in 2010, and there have been few calls to reinstate it.
But the Trump administration is likely to target LGBT rights in other ways, and one is by halting progress altogether. “We’re going to see absolutely no movement on any aspect of the LGBT rights agenda at the federal level,” Egan said. “So efforts to pass the equality act, which would establish employment discrimination rights for LGBT folks, are dead. And any other efforts to move the agenda on a legislative level through Congress are just not going to happen — that’s just completely dead in the water.”
thecut.com
