Thread: Gay Republicans Explain Why They Are Proudly Supporting Donald Trump

Gay Republicans Explain Why They Are Proudly Supporting Donald Trump

By Juju Chang
MARJORIE MCAFEE

Oct 23, 2016, 4:34 AM ET

Charles Moran and Juan Hernandez, both gay Republican delegates from California, say they are supporting Trump.

Charles Moran, a gay Trump delegate from California, was standing just feet from the stage at the Republican National Convention when he heard billionaire PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel give his now-famous speech.

“Every American has a unique identity. I am proud to be gay. I am proud to be a Republican,” Thiel told a cheering crowd at the RNC in Cleveland this past July.

Thiel made history that night as the first openly gay RNC speaker, and this week he doubled down on his Donald Trump endorsement, donating $1.25 million to his campaign.

Thiel sits on the board of Facebook, and so when many in the online community lashed out at him for supporting Trump, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg stepped in to defend him, writing in a post, “There are many reasons a person might support Trump that do not involve racism, sexism, xenophobia or accepting sexual assault.”

Moran said listening to Thiel’s speech was an “incredible” moment.

“This is my Republican Party,” Moran said. “This is what I'm here for. This is the candidate I'm here to nominate. The guy who brings somebody like Peter Thiel to the deck and puts him up on stage -- that's my Republican Party.”

As Trump’s chances of winning the election appear to continue to drop in the waning days of his campaign, many gay conservatives, an unexpected segment of the Republican Party, are still backing him.

“Donald Trump is the best candidate that the LGBT community has ever seen come out of the Republican Party,” Moran said. “We see a consistent line from Donald Trump that being pro LGBT and pro inclusion is a good business decision and I believe he’s going to bring that with him in the White House."

Trump earned a lot of credibility with gay Republicans when he became the first GOP presidential nominee to positively refer to the gay community in a convention acceptance speech, saying, “As your president, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology. Believe me.”

When that comment drew applause from the audience, Trump then ad-libbed -- “And I have to say, as a Republican, it is so nice to hear you cheering for what I just said. Thank you.”

Moran said he was not expecting Trump to talk about the LGBTQ community in that speech.

“Right after his speech people were starting to text me, ‘What does the ‘Q’ stand for?’” Moran said. “So I said, ‘It’s either queer or questioning’ -- an instructional moment. And I like being able to have those with the Republican Party.”

Moran points to Trump’s LGBTQ inclusiveness at Mar-a-Largo -- Trump’s Florida country club -- where he says Trump broke with tradition by allowing gay members. Moran also notes that Trump publicly supported Elton John’s marriage to David Furnish.

“We see a consistent line from Donald Trump that being pro-LGBT and pro-inclusion is a good business decision and I believe he’s going to bring that with him in the White House,” Moran said.

Despite the fact that Trump’s Christian conservative running mate Mike Pence enacted anti-LGBTQ laws as governor of Indiana, such as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Moran said he’s comfortable with Pence because he’s “not running for president.”

Moran notes that Pence later amended the religious freedom law after meeting with LGBTQ groups, which he says shows Pence is willing to listen.

Moran said he does get a lot of flak from his friends for being a Trump supporter.

“The running joke is that it’s so much easier to be gay in the Republican Party than it is to be a Republican in the LGBT community,” he said.

Juan Hernandez is a gay Hispanic Trump supporter who also witnessed Thiel and Trump's history-making speeches at the RNC this summer. But said he has encountered violence for being pro-Trump, adding that an anti-Trump protester attacked him at a Trump rally in San Jose.

“I saw a fist come in and hit my nose and my nose just instantly started pouring blood,” Hernandez said.

He said the incident left him with a broken nose and the realization that supporting his candidate in the mostly liberal San Francisco Bay Area can be dangerous.

“I do know a lot of Trump supporters that are in the closet in the Bay area and we all have the same fear that we don't know what can happen to us,” he said.

Hernandez said he’s so afraid of more retaliation that he won’t even put Trump signs in his front yard.

“I do not want to put a Trump sign out there. And that sucks,” he said. “It shouldn't be like that in that I should feel fear of putting out a Trump sign and the person who I want to support, of the person that I want to be in office.”

Hernandez says he’s also criticized for being Mexican and still supporting Trump.

“They need to listen to the whole thing that he believes,” he said. “He's not against the Mexican culture or the Mexican community -- he's against illegal immigration.”

But he hopes that being a gay Mexican Trump supporter and sharing his story will give hope to others in the gay community.

“Some of the youngsters that have reached out to me, contacted me, and said that they come from an ultra-conservative family and they don't know anyone else who else is gay and that they see me on the media and for them that's huge because they can see someone else that they’re a Republican and that they're gay,” Hernandez said.

Trump’s support for the gay community hasn’t been that clear on the campaign trail. Since the massacre in June at an Orlando gay nightclub, Trump has positioned his support of the gay community within the context of the Islamic extremism.

“Hillary took $25 million from Saudi Arabia and much more from others, where being gay is also punishable by death,” Trump told supporters at a Florida rally in June.

The Log Cabin Republicans, the party's pro-LGBTQ group of which Moran and Hernandez are members, declined to endorse Donald Trump for president. While acknowledging Trump's positive references to the community, the Log Cabin Republicans said their "trust would be misplaced" in endorsing a candidate who has "concurrently surrounded himself with senior advisors with a record of opposing LGBT equality."

Six months ago, Trump seemed to avoid having to state his position on marriage equality, only telling reporters at a news conference in March, “I’ve made it very strong, we have policy on it.”

Regardless of what happens this November, Hernandez says in some ways gay conservatives have already won.

“This has been the most inclusive president[ial candidate] that we've had in the Republican Party and it is so exciting that the movement is here,” he said.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gay-r...ry?id=42977880

Thank you gay Republicans!! Thank you very very much!!!!

Top LGBT Republican group declines to endorse Trump

By Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 6:16 PM ET, Sat October 22, 2016

Washington (CNN)The Log Cabin Republicans, one of the country's most influential LGBT Republican groups, announced Saturday that it would not back the party's presidential nominee, Donald Trump.

The group, while praising Trump as "perhaps the most pro-LGBT presidential nominee in the history of the Republican Party," said it had objections to views held by some of Trump's advisers and his support for a bill that would protect people who disagree with same-sex marriage from federal penalties.

"Log Cabin Republicans have long emphasized that we are not a single-issue organization, nor are our members single-issue voters," the group said in a press release. It added that it will instead focus on down-ballot races to preserve Republican majorities in Congress.

Trump has occasionally mentioned LGBT Americans as a presidential candidate, most notably in the aftermath of the attack on a gay Orlando nightclub in June and his acceptance speech at the Republican convention in July. In that speech, The Washington Blade noted, he became the first GOP nominee to positively mention LGBT rights in that setting.

"As Mr. Trump spoke positively about the LGBT community in the United States, he concurrently surrounded himself with senior advisers with a record of opposing LGBT equality, and committed himself to supporting legislation such as the so-called 'First Amendment Defense Act' that Log Cabin Republicans opposes," Log Cabin Republicans said.

A message left with Trump's campaign seeking response was not immediately returned.

Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, has been criticized for his support of a law that would have allowed businesses to turn away gay and lesbian customers in the name of religious freedom.

The group criticized the Republican Party in July for not backing a pro-LGBT platform.

"There's no way to sugar-coat this: I'm mad as hell -- and I know you are, too," Gregory Angelo, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, said in a fundraising email at the time. "Moments ago, the Republican Party passed the most anti-LGBT Platform in the party's 162-year history."

The platform expressed opposition to same-sex marriage, a lack of support for allowing transgender people to use the restrooms of their choice and support for conversion therapy, Angelo said.

The group, however, left open the possibility Saturday that it could eventually support Trump.

"Should Mr. Trump become our nation's next President, Log Cabin Republicans welcomes the opportunity to work with his administration to ensure the advances in LGBT freedom we have fought for and secured will continue," the press release said. "Until and unless that happens, our trust would be misplaced."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/22/politi...ump/index.html

The Republican Party needs to stop picking on gay people. Donald Trump will not do that and gay people should try to separate a party platform they don't support from a man running for President whom they do support and should do so before the election. It's unfair to Donald Trump to categorize or label him as something he's not, he's not against gays and has never been, in fact despite the media, Donald Trump has actually been a civil rights activist for all oppressed groups his entire life.

Donald Trump refused to join a club right across from Mar a Lago in Palm Beach because they refused to allow blacks and Jews into the Club. Trump instead made his Mar a Lago Club open to everyone including gays, a first in Palm Beach.

Donald Trump contributed money and lent his expertise and business support to Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition years ago.

Donald Trump has hired and promoted women since the 1970's, the first major builder to do so, long before it was fashionable.

Donald Trump withdrew his name from consideration to run as President on the Reform Party Ticket in 2000 because David Duke got involved in it.

The Republican Party needs to stop picking on gay people.

Supporting the traditional definition of marriage does not mean you're "picking on gay people".

Originally Posted by MW

Supporting the traditional definition of marriage does not mean you're "picking on gay people".

Yes, it does, because the "traditional definition of marriage" is discriminatory against gay couples who want to marry. These people are adults and their marriages are consensual with no harm to anyone else from the outcome. There is no basis at all for the Republican Party to take a position against them. None. The US Supreme Court has ruled on this, it's settled law, that's the end of it. Move on. We have other serious issues that actually are the responsibility of government to solve.

Originally Posted by Judy

Yes, it does, because the "traditional definition of marriage" is discriminatory against gay couples who want to marry. These people are adults and their marriages are consensual with no harm to anyone else from the outcome. There is no basis at all for the Republican Party to take a position against them. None. The US Supreme Court has ruled on this, it's settled law, that's the end of it. Move on. We have other serious issues that actually are the responsibility of government to solve.

The moment gay marriage became the law of the land, all sorts of First Amendment freedoms involving the free exercise of people’s religion are being infringed upon as a consequence. No pastor should be forced to marry a gay couple. No wedding photographer, cake maker, caterer, or wedding planner should be forced to be involved in these weddings. No church or any other location should be forced to be the site of a gay wedding. Our children are now being taught in school that gay marriage is normal, legal, and moral — and it directly contradicts the teachings of Christianity. Creating a special privilege for gay Americans infringes on the First Amendment rights of many millions of Americans. As a Christian I will never support gay marriage or blindly condone homosexuality. As a Christian the moral values of those around me, my children, and my grandchildren is a very important issue for me. I understand there are many social liberals that would disagree with me and that is their choice, but their disagreement doesn't necessarily make them right and me wrong.

You're in a religious sect of Christianity that many of US Christians are not in, MW. You want to exploit the First Amendment to protect you from association with people who are different than you, who have a different biology, a different religious view. The First Amendment doesn't exist to protect you, it exists to protect the people you want to abuse, mistreat, isolate, discriminate against and harm.

Raising your children to believe that homosexuality is wrong, is just wrong, wrong, wrong. Homosexuals as a group are very nice, hard-working, talented and sweet people. They do not deserve the hate you are teaching or expounding on here. You're entitled to your own view of marriage for yourself. If you don't believe in gay marriage, then don't marry one. But to write something as you have written on a public forum has one goal only, and that is to hurt gay people who might be reading and participating in our forum.

I'm a Christian, a Southern Baptist, and know all about the teachings of Christ, and mistreating people, isolating them because they are different, discriminating against them to suit your own peculiar views and using the force of government to aid you in that is not Christian in my book.

Originally Posted by Judy

You're in a religious sect of Christianity that many of US Christians are not in, MW. You want to exploit the First Amendment to protect you from association with people who are different than you, who have a different biology, a different religious view. The First Amendment doesn't exist to protect you, it exists to protect the people you want to abuse, mistreat, isolate, discriminate against and harm.

Raising your children to believe that homosexuality is wrong, is just wrong, wrong, wrong. Homosexuals as a group are very nice, hard-working, talented and sweet people. They do not deserve the hate you are teaching or expounding on here. You're entitled to your own view of marriage for yourself. If you don't believe in gay marriage, then don't marry one. But to write something as you have written on a public forum has one goal only, and that is to hurt gay people who might be reading and participating in our forum.

I'm a Christian, a Southern Baptist, and know all about the teachings of Christ, and mistreating people, isolating them because they are different, discriminating against them to suit your own peculiar views and using the force of government to aid you in that is not Christian in my book.

You views are not shared by this Southern Baptist or any in my congregation. For you to attempt to pass your personal beliefs off as those of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is very disingenuous.

The Southern Baptist Convention passes resolution on gay marriage

by Denny Burk on June 16, 2015 in Christianity
Andrew Walker and I recently co-authored a resolution on marriage to be considered by our denomination’s annual meeting. I am happy to report that the messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Columbus, Ohio just approved that resolution, and you can read the full text below.

This is a momentous time in our national life. In the aftermath of the sexual revolution, Christianity in America stands at a crossroads. We are finding out what it means to bear witness to Christ in a culture that grows increasingly intolerant of our ancient faith. Nowhere is that conflict more acute than in what Christ teaches us about sexuality and marriage. With the Supreme Court poised to rule on the matter later this month, the conflict will only grow more pronounced.

Christ’s teaching about these matters has become in our day a line in the sand—even among those who call themselves Christian. People are choosing either to stay faithful to Christ’s teaching or to array themselves against it. Already, we have been seeing Christian leaders forsake Christ’s teaching on marriage—some who were among us but who are among us no more (1 John 2:19).
It is for this reason that faithful Christians are having to retrench and restate with clarity what Christ has taught us. And that is what Southern Baptists have done today. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not comprehended it (John 1:5). But it shines nonetheless.

—————RESOLUTION 5:ON THE CALL TO PUBLIC WITNESS ON MARRIAGE

WHEREAS, God in His divine wisdom created marriage as the covenanted, conjugal union of one man and one woman (Genesis 2:18– 24; Matthew 19:4–6; Hebrews 13:4); and

WHEREAS, The Baptist Faith & Message (2000) recognizes the biblical definition of marriage as “the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime,” stating further, “It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race”; and

WHEREAS, God ordains government to promote and honor the public good and recognize what is praiseworthy (Romans 13:3–4); and

WHEREAS, The public good requires defining and defending marriage as the covenanted, conjugal union of one man and one woman; and

WHEREAS, Marriage is by nature a public institution that unites man and woman in the common task of bringing forth children; and

WHEREAS, The Supreme Court of the United States will rule in 2015 on whether states shall be required to grant legal recognition as “marriages” to same-sex partnerships; and

WHEREAS, The redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples will continue to weaken the institution of the natural family unit and erode the religious liberty and rights of conscience of all who remain faithful to the idea of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife; and

WHEREAS, The Bible calls us to love our neighbors, including those who disagree with us about the definition of marriage and the public good; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Columbus, Ohio, June 16–17, 2015, prayerfully call on the Supreme Court of the United States to uphold the right of the citizens to define marriage as exclusively the union of one man and one woman; and be it further

RESOLVED, That Southern Baptists recognize that no governing institution has the authority to negate or usurp God’s definition of marriage; and be it further

RESOLVED, No matter how the Supreme Court rules, the Southern Baptist Convention reaffirms its unwavering commitment to its doctrinal and public beliefs concerning marriage; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the religious liberty of individual citizens or institutions should not be infringed as a result of believing or living according to the biblical definition of marriage; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Southern Baptist Convention calls on Southern Baptists and all Christians to stand firm on the Bible’s witness on the purposes of marriage, among which are to unite man and woman as one flesh and to secure the basis for the flourishing of human civilization; and be it finally

RESOLVED, That Southern Baptists love our neighbors and extend respect in Christ’s name to all people, including those who may disagree with us about the definition of marriage and the public good.

http://www.dennyburk.com/the-souther...arriage-sbc15/

Excerpt:

• The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Baptist denomination globally with around 16 million members (mainly in the United States), has issued several resolutions in which it rejects homosexuality as a lifestyle and refers to it as a "manifestation of a depraved nature", "a perversion of divine standards and as a violation of nature and natural affections" and "an abomination in the eyes of God."^[6] It opposes same-sex marriages and equivalent unions.^[7] The Convention has urged churches not to show any approval of homosexuality.^[8] The Convention however also holds that "while the Bible condemns such practice as sin, it also teaches forgiveness and transformation, upon repentance, through Jesus Christ our Lord."^[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homose...ptist_churches

So, obviously you're wrong about my beliefs because if you are actually a practicing Southern Baptist as you claim, your views should be similar to mine. Looks like you are the one with the "different religious view", not me.

Judy wrote:

You're in a religious sect of Christianity that many of US Christians are not in, MW. You want to exploit the First Amendment to protect you from association with people who are different than you, who have a different biology, a different religious view.

LOL!!! Referring to a 2015 "resolution" on gay marriage is a little late in the game for those of us who were Southern Baptists long before that.

I'm a Southern Baptist because the individual church I was raised in was non-racist, accepted homosexuals in its membership, and never discussed sex, women's submission to men, or anti-abortion positions in its teachings, sermons or literature.

The Convention does not speak for individual members, it doesn't even speak for Congregations, it speaks for itself, the delegates to the Convention. They got it wrong. It's certainly not the first time. Hopefully it will be a mistake corrected in less time and with less harm than some of its prior mistakes.