Was Trump Ever An LGBTQIA+ Ally? Here’s What His Past Reveals…
Before the relentless attacks on trans people and the anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric, a different Donald Trump existed. It may be hard to recall now, but there was a time when the property mogul and reality television star presented himself as a social liberal, even a potential friend to the community. His past statements don’t just clash with his current politics; they paint a picture of a completely different man. So, what happened?
His past was surprisingly progressive…
Let’s go back to the year 2000. While testing the waters for a presidential run, Trump gave an interview to The Advocate. He spoke of his New York upbringing and claimed to have no issue hiring gay people. More than that, he stated his support for a landmark piece of civil rights legislation.
“I like the idea of amending the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include a ban of discrimination based on sexual orientation,” he said at the time. “It would be simple. It would be straightforward.”
This was a significant statement. For years, advocates had been fighting for this exact protection, then known as the Equality Act. The idea of Trump championing a bill that would protect LGBTQIA+ people from discrimination in housing, employment, and public life now seems unthinkable. Yet two decades ago, he was on the record supporting its core principle.
He even supported trans people in public.
Trump’s seemingly supportive stance extended to the trans community. In 2012, while co-owning the Miss Universe pageant, he publicly praised a contestant who argued that transgender women should be allowed to compete. He later ended the ban on trans contestants in his pageants.
Fast forward to his 2016 campaign, and this attitude persisted. When North Carolina passed its infamous House Bill 2, a “bathroom bill” forcing people to use facilities corresponding to the sex on their birth certificate, Trump opposed it. He noted the state was “paying a big price” for the move, which cost it billions in boycotts. He famously told the press that Caitlyn Jenner could use “any bathroom she chooses” in Trump Tower.
At the time, writer and activist Charlotte Clymer remembers a sense of caution, but not alarm. “It wasn’t as though he was attacking trans people at the time, he wasn’t,” she said. “What I recall is that there was no deep concern from anyone I followed over Trump’s feelings toward the trans community.”
So what exactly changed?
The shift began almost the moment he took office. A spokesperson for the queer media nonprofit GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) noted the first warning sign. “The leadership at GLAAD started doing the Trump Accountability Project on the first day of the administration when they noticed that they removed all LGBTQ mention from the White House website,” the spokesperson said. Since that day, GLAAD’s tracker has recorded hundreds of policy and rhetorical attacks against the community.
Today, Trump’s administration champions policies that actively harm trans individuals. He has vowed to recognise only two genders, moved to block trans people from updating passports, reinstated the military ban, and attempted to house transgender women in men’s federal prisons. When asked about this evolution, a White House spokesperson responded with a statement attacking “woke Democrats” for wanting to “destroy girls [sic] sports.”
Was it all just for political gain?
It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact reason for such a dramatic reversal. Clymer believes the answer is simple, and cynical, politics. She suggests trans people are a convenient target used to energise his conservative base.
“I think that him making transphobia a centerpiece of his presidency is mostly about pandering to his base,” Clymer explained. “It just so happens that the vast majority of the people who are in his ear are anti-trans.”
Research from GLAAD shows that fewer than one-third of Americans personally know someone who is transgender. Trump is in that minority, having known trans contestants and been friends with Jenner. The organisation suggests he understands this lack of familiarity makes the trans community an easy political target.
In the end, does it matter if his hostility is genuine or a calculated performance? For Clymer, the answer is no. The real-world damage is the same regardless of his private beliefs. “What are the policy outcomes of his presidency?” she asked. “By a mile, if you look at the results of his policies, he is by far, the most anti-LGBTQ president ever.”
