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Is This Just The Beginning?

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Trump Is Showing The LGBTQ+ Community His True Intentions



Today Trump announced the military's new policy of banning transgender individuals from military service. It's a relatively surprising yet unsurprising twist to the Trump administration's policy regarding the LGBTQ+ community. Trump's VP, Mike Pence, has a storied history of anti-LGBTQ+ policy. Trump surrogates and conservative media outlets have repeatedly attempted to paint Trump as the most LGBTQ+ friendly president in American history. Even after this move, his surrogates are still trying to defend Trump and justify his actions. 

Trump has attempted to paint himself as LGBTQ+ friendly because of his ongoing culture war against those that he and his camp of advisors view as non-western, primarily Muslims. Trump is emphatically the president of the nativist and xenophobic population in the US, Steve Bannon being one of his primary advisors shows this. As part of this culture war, Trump and his advisors have tried to paint themselves as being pro-LGBTQ+ because it gives them a convenient strategy to build a larger political coalition. If they include the LGBTQ+ community in their "us vs. them" rhetoric, they may be able to win more elections and build the power needed to put their policy into action. Its a disgusting tactic of trying to pit two marginalized communities against each other. 

However, the religious right exists as a "roadblock" to Trump's culture war. Large swaths of the American right, not only the religious right mind you, support anti-LGBTQ+ policies, with Mike Pence being Trump's most vocal advisor to that sect of the Republican Party. Today's transgender military ban is eerily familiar to the infamous "don't ask don't tell" policy. Oppressive and discriminatory policy is clearly not unheard of in the military, let alone in the United States.

Members of the conservative coalition are also currently pushing for "religious freedom" legislation. This is often in response to the recent vocalization and popular media publicity of the LGBTQ+ community. Some religious members of society are attempting to assert that their right to discriminate, and use their religion as a justification, is more important than the LGBTQ+ community's right to the pursuit of happiness. Trump already signed an executive order showing his support for this sect of the GOP coalition. His current and future actions as president may further the goals of this sect of American society.

Today's transgender ban becomes worrying because it shows that the anti-LGBTQ+ policy advocates may have a powerful foothold in Trump's mind and policy agenda. The individuals that make up the LGBTQ+ community can already face trouble finding housing, employment, and acceptance in large swaths of the United States, could the Trump administration exacerbate this problem? Today's news adds to the evidence that Trump is no ally to the LGBTQ+ community, or any other marginalized group.
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