President Donald Trump has come under fire for his transgender military ban and plans to end Obama-era transgender health care protections, as The Inquisitr previously reported. But that didn’t stop him from sending a message to the LGBT community on Twitter Friday to mark the start of the LGBT Pride Month, per Pop Culture .
“As we celebrate LGBT Pride Month and recognize the outstanding contributions LGBT people have made to our great Nation, let us also stand in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation.”
The president also highlighted his administration’s efforts to decriminalize homosexuality globally via an initiative headed by the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell.
It didn’t take long for people to blast Trump for his message and begin flooding his Twitter mentions over the steps his administration has taken against the LGBT community.
“How dare you,” feminist and American actress Alyssa Milano wrote.
“You dumb fake idiot. LGBTQ ain’t f***ing with you at all,” comedian Michael Rapaport wrote.
But some LGBT conservative groups are celebrating his message as a step forward. One such person is Gregory T. Angelo, former president of the Log Cabin Republicans — a prominent conservative LGBT group.
“Been waiting all my life for a republican to show this kind of leadership.”
“THANK YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP!” he added.
Trump Celebrates LGBT Pride Month, Urges World to Decriminalize Homosexuality | Breitbart https://t.co/dymiV5405v via @BreitbartNews
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) May 31, 2019
NBC News reports that Trump is the first Republican president to recognize Pride Month after former president Bill Clinton established it in 1999. At the time, it was called Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. And while former president George W. Bush declined to recognize Pride Month, Barack Obama began the tradition again and recognized it each year he was in office.
Trump was also the first GOP presidential nominee to directly address the LGBTQ community from a convention podium when he spoke about the Pulse nightclub shooting at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
Shortly before Trump posted his tweet about Pride Month, a South Carolina couple just sued both the Trump administration and their state’s governor for allegedly being turned away from a faith-based adoption agency. As The Inquisitr reported, Brandy Welch and Eden Rogers claim that the agency, Miracle Hill Ministries, refused to accept their application to be foster parents because they are both women.
Miracle Hill Ministries is run by evangelical Christians and aims to promote an evangelical Christian worldview, which they claim conflicts with the ministry’s belief that homosexuality contradicts Christian teachings.