It is now two days into June, and LGBT activists are freaking out because President Trump has not declared the month of June to be theirs.
Back in 1999, Bill Clinton was the first president to proclaim June LGBT Pride Month. George W. Bush did not follow his predecessor’s lead, but the tradition was picked back up and expanded under the Obama administration. Not only would Obama issue a Pride Month proclamation, but he would also host an annual reception for gay people at the White House.
While Trump has remained silent on this issue, LGBT advocates were quick to point out that he already declared June to be National Homeowner’s Month, National Ocean Month, African-American Music Appreciation Month, and Great Outdoors Month.
.@realDonaldTrump couldn’t be bothered to issue a proclamation to recognize #LGBTPrideMonth. Given his record, maybe it’s for the best. pic.twitter.com/EwwYU9TLC0
— Shin Inouye (@shin_inouye) May 31, 2017
In their usual fashion, anti-Trumpers took to Twitter to express their frustration.
Pleasing his base of white supremacists & neo-Nazis, Trump breaks tradition, refusing to recognize #LGBTQPride Month https://t.co/YsqkFsaC2T
— Bill Madden (@activist360) June 1, 2017
They even resorted to reusing Obama’s statement from last year.
Since it doesn’t seem like Trump is going to put out a statement for Pride Month, here’s Obama’s from last year https://t.co/vdECaaXTvc
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) June 1, 2017
And while Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, did tweet in support of LGBT pride, that did little to quell her father’s critics:
Ivanka tweets about LGBT pride month despite lack of WH proclaiming this month as pride month. https://t.co/mf7JHllNQl
— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) June 2, 2017
As difficult as it must be, it looks like LGBT activists will just have to struggle through June without a special presidential proclamation this year.
Photo credit: mathiaswasik via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0
