When President Trump was elected last year, the LGBT community was warned that a wave of unprecedented hate and discrimination was around the corner. Those of us who voted for him were told that we were betraying our own community and that we would be targeted or erased.
One year into Donald Trump’s presidency, all the fear-mongering predictions peddled by those who opposed him simply haven’t come true. The first year of the Trump administration has lived up to what LGBT conservatives were promised: a pro-growth, America First agenda that is delivering real results for LGBT Americans and respecting our community instead of pandering to us with cheap gimmicks.
Take the Supreme Court. Despite dire predictions from leading Democrats that marriage equality could be dismantled in a second Trump presidency, the Court’s conservative majority – which includes three justices appointed by President Trump – recently declined to even hear a legal challenge to Obergefell v. Hodges. Under President Trump, marriage equality remains the law of the land.
There were warnings that the Trump Administration would take an axe to the U.S.’s public health approach to the HIV/AIDS epidemic – his critics were again proven wrong. President Trump has kept the U.S. commitment to PEPFAR intact and reaffirmed America’s leadership in fighting HIV/AIDS worldwide. In September, his administration announced a historic initiative to distribute the breakthrough PrEP drug Lenacapavir around the world, saving hundreds of thousands of lives.
The president has also taken a clear stand in defense of women’s sports and against irreversible medical interventions for children, two issues on which LGBT conservatives strongly support him. We have long believed that respect and dignity for transgender Americans must not come at the expense of fairness for women or involve irreversible harm to minors. Until recently, these views were mainstream and grounded in both science and common sense. The fact that the radical LGBT Left now treats unquestioning adherence to gender ideology as a political litmus test does not make dissent “anti-LGBT.”
On the economy, the administration has focused on lowering costs, promoting growth, and putting money back in every American’s pocket. The One Big Beautiful Bill, passed by Republicans last summer, permanently codified lower income tax rates for all Americans and created new provisions designed to help hard-working Americans – including LGBT Americans – to keep more of their money. That U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a gay American, is the chief architect behind President Trump’s economic strategy makes it even more incredible.
The Trump Administration recognizes that LGBT Americans, just like everyone else, earn paychecks, run businesses, raise families, make mortgage or rent payments, and pay taxes. They understand that we, like everyone else, want to live in safe communities. President Trump doesn’t treat LGBT Americans as a protected class that needs special political pandering, nor as a monolith that thinks and votes a certain way. LGBT Americans are included in his administration and his agenda.
President Trump’s message in the first year of his presidency has been clear: he’s fighting for all Americans, full stop. It may be frustrating for leftist activists and organizations that thrive on peddling fear and grievances. For LGBT conservatives, the past year has been a refreshing form of political respect.
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