begin quote from:
Donald Trump Casts Himself as Gay-Rights Champion After Orlando Shooting
| Wall Street Journal | - |
Unlike
any previous Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump is casting
himself as a champion of gay rights as he seeks to outflank Democrat
Hillary Clinton's response to the massacre at an Orlando nightclub.
Donald Trump Casts Himself as Gay-Rights Champion After Orlando Shooting
GOP candidate’s sudden emphasis on protecting people targeted for their sexual orientation sparks debate in gay community
ENLARGE
Republican
presidential candidate Donald Trump says he’s a better friend to the gay
community than his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, because his
proposed ban on Muslim immigrants would block antigay Islamic
extremists.
Photo:
Chuck Burton/Associated Press
Mr. Trump suggests he is a better friend to the gay community than Mrs. Clinton because his proposed ban on Muslim immigrants would block antigay Islamic extremists. The suspected shooter at the gay nightclub was born in New York to Afghan immigrants, and investigators are probing reports he used gay dating services.
“Thank you to the LGBT community!” Mr. Trump posted on Twitter on Tuesday, two days after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. “I will fight for you while Hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs.”
Read More on Capital Journal
Capital Journal is WSJ.com’s home for politics, policy and national security news.Dominic Lowell, who heads LGBT outreach for Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, said Mr. Trump is “no friend to our community,” pointing to his opposition to same-sex marriage. After opposing gay marriage for much of her political career, Mrs. Clinton announced her support in 2013 and has backed legislation to prevent crime and discrimination based on sexual orientation.
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In the gay community, Mr. Trump’s sudden emphasis on protecting people targeted for their sexual orientation is sparking debate.
Gregory Angelo, the president of the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican group, called Mr. Trump’s overtures “a historic turning point.” Many other Republicans, he said, “tiptoed around the targets of this horrific violence.”
“Never before has a Republican presidential nominee so much as mentioned the LGBT community, let alone lavished such praise upon us,” Mr. Angelo said.
But the Log Cabin Republicans—along with other major gay-rights groups—oppose Mr. Trump’s immigration plans. When Mr. Trump announced his proposal in December after the terrorist attacks in San Bernardino, Calif., the Log Cabin Republicans said he was “inciting the politics of fear.”
“He has no shame,” said Jay Brown, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, which has endorsed Mrs. Clinton. Many gay people are also Muslims, Latinos and women, said Mr. Brown, adding, “We are the very people around whom he has built an entire campaign belittling and maligning at every turn.”
Tim Miller, a spokesman for an anti-Trump super PAC and for his former rival, Jeb Bush, said gay voters should view Mr. Trump’s professed support with “skepticism.” He noted Mr. Trump’s praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has signed laws banning gay-pride events and adoption by same-sex couples.
“Putin sees political advantage in demonizing gays, so when Trump praises him and demonizes Hispanics and Muslims to benefit himself, the gay community should be very cautious,” said Mr. Miller, who is gay.
Mr. Trump has talked little about gay rights during his campaign, but many activists view him as quietly friendly—especially compared with former rivals with longtime ties to religious conservatives, such as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Mr. Trump rarely mentions his opposition to same-sex marriage on the campaign trail. In a speech at last week’s Faith and Freedom Coalition conference, Mr. Trump said “Marriage and family as the building block of happiness and success” but didn’t say anything about same-sex unions specifically.
In a 2000 interview with The Advocate magazine, while considering a presidential bid, the New York businessman said he supported gays serving openly in the military service and a domestic-partnership law. Mr. Trump also backed amending the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include discrimination based on sexual orientation.
“Amending the Civil Rights Act would grant the same protection to gay people that we give to other Americans—it’s only fair,” he said.
In April, after North Carolina passed a law requiring transgender people to use public bathrooms matching the sex on their birth certificates, Mr. Trump said on NBC News that people should “use the bathroom they feel is appropriate.” Later he said the question should be left to the states.
Mr. Trump’s position isn’t in doubt on same-sex marriage, which he has long opposed. In January, he said in a Fox News interview that he said he would “strongly consider” appointing Supreme Court justices who would overturn the 2015 high court ruling that established a national right to same-sex marriage.
He also told the American Principles Project, a conservative group, that he would back legislation aimed at protecting institutions that oppose gay marriage from losing tax-exempt status. “I will certainly sign legislation that protects religious liberty for all,” Mr. Trump wrote to the group last year. Gay-rights groups say the First Amendment Defense Act would allow federal government contractors to deny certain benefits to same-sex couples.
Still, Mr. Trump hasn’t put the issue at the forefront of his campaign, while Mr. Cruz repeatedly portrayed himself as a defender of laws that allow businesses to deny services to gay customers.
In an Iowa campaign appearance last year, Mr. Cruz accused gay activists of waging “jihad” against “people of faith.” He also attacked Mr. Trump for his position on transgender people using the bathrooms of their choice.
That is why some gay Republicans were surprised by Mr. Cruz’s statement after the Orlando shootings.
“Every human being has a right to live according to his or her faith and conscience, and nobody has a right to murder someone who doesn’t share their faith or sexual orientation,” Mr. Cruz said. “If you’re a Democratic politician and you really want to stand for LGBT, show real courage and stand up against the vicious ideology that has targeted our fellow Americans for murder.”
Asked when Mr. Cruz had stood up for the gay community, the senator’s spokeswoman Catherine Frazier said, “Cruz’s opposition to the policies of changing marriage laws or keeping men from using women’s bathrooms does not disqualify him from being a voice in opposition to coldblooded murder of innocent Americans by radical Islamic terrorists.”
Mark Glaze, who is gay and formerly led the gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety, took issue with Mr. Cruz and other Republicans sympathizing with the gay community after years of opposing gay rights.
“Social conservatives who have been preaching against gays for years and now express their condolences are in the same category of pro-gun politicians who have now have us in their thoughts and prayers,” he said. “They are not solving either problem, they created both problems.”
CNN host Anderson Cooper on Tuesday questioned the Republican attorney general of Florida on her promise to prosecute attacks on the gay community even though she defended Florida’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
Pam Bondi, in a legal brief, argued allowing gay marriage would “do harm” to Florida. Mr. Cooper pressed her for five minutes about whether she believes married gay couples are harming the state.
“Do you really think you’re a champion of the gay community?” Mr. Cooper asked.
Ms. Bondi said she was defending what was “voted in to our state constitution by the voters of Florida.…I’ve never said I don’t like gay people, that’s ridiculous.”
Leading social conservatives defended opposing certain pro-gay measures while expressing concern over the carnage at the Orlando nightclub.
“We’re all Americans,’’ said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. “We can disagree over policies and choices and lifestyles, but no one should live in fear in this country of being gunned down by a terrorist.”
Write to Beth Reinhard at beth.reinhard@wsj.com and Reid J. Epstein at Reid.Epstein
