Trump Inauguration Speech Makes Protest Unpatriotic

The last time there was an inauguration, the country heard their president use the word "gay" in one of these historic speeches for the very first time.

It was 2013, which says something about how long it's taken for progress on LGBT rights. But it was also a call for unity by standing up for each other's rights. Donald Trump's strategy for unity is a vast departure from four years ago.

In 2013, Barack Obama had been reelected. Marriage equality had not yet been sent nationwide by the Supreme Court. And Obama said, "Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law -- for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well."

Now Trump stood in the very same spot in front of the Capitol, with Obama watching from the audience, and Trump told the nation that unity could come only with "a total allegiance to the United States of America."

Trump portrayed patriotism as the antidote to division.

"We will rediscover our loyalty to each other," he predicted. "When you open your heart to patriotism there is no room for prejudice."

Trump, who faces a large resistance movement, with more than 200,000 people saying they plan to attend a protest march on Saturday, left little room for dissent. He quoted the Bible to make his case. "The Bible tells us how good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity," he said. "We must speak our minds openly but always pursue solidarity." He added, "When America is united, America is totally unstoppable."

Obama and Trump differ about what they believe unites the country. In that inauguration four years ago, Obama invoked Stonewall: "We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths -- that all of us are created equal -- is the star that guides us still," said Obama, "just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall." Then, during his second term, Obama would name the Stonewall Inn a national landmark.

Instead, Trump implied Americans already enjoy equality, saying "We all enjoy the same glorious freedoms and we all salute the same great American flag." He predicted it would be his "America First" strategy for governing that would unite, and that would end the "American carnage" he said he wreaked havoc on the economy.

"A new national pride will stir our souls, lift our sights and heal our divisions," he said. Trump used the imagery of war, not civil rights, to make his point. "It's time to remember that old wisdom our soldiers will never forget, that whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots."

Immediately after the speech, the Human Rights Campaign sounded invigorated for a coming fight. "It is more important now than ever before for us to organize, mobilize, and fight in solidarity against hate and any attempts to roll back the rights of LGBTQ people," said HRC president Chad Griffin.