Scroll To Top
Election

Tiffany Trump Says She's the 'Best Friend' of Gays — Then Lies to Them

Tiffany Trump

The first daughter appeared at a "Trump Pride" event to spread mistruths about her father's LGBTQ+ record.

dnlreynolds
Support The Advocate
LGBTQ+ stories are more important than ever. Join us in fighting for our future. Support our journalism.

The "Trump Pride" train is continuing its terrible tour -- this time, with an appearance from Tiffany Trump.

The Trump campaign's gay outreach events -- which featured a Pennsylvania appearance last week from Lara Trump saying "dead cats" are voting for Joe Biden -- has moved on to another swing state, Florida.

At the Saturday event in Tampa, the first daughter tried to convince attendees that her father supported the LGBTQ+ community. In doing so, however, she incorrectly spelled out the letters of the LGBTQ+ acronym.

"I know what my father believes in. Prior to politics, he supported gays, lesbians, the LGBQIIA+ community," said Trump, who blamed "fabricated lies" on media and social for any other perception.

"It saddens me," she said at the event, which was held at the Westshore Grand Hotel with her mother, Marla Maples, in attendance. "I have friends of mine who reach out and they say how could you support your father, we know your best friends are gay."

On the contrary, The Advocate and other organizations have documented dozens of anti-LGBTQ+ actions carried out by the Trump administration. This last-minute pitch to right-leaning gay people looks to be part of a broader strategy by the Trump campaign to chip away at support for Democrats by claiming the party has taken the votes of marginalized groups for granted.

"For so long, the Democrats ... thought they automatically got the Black and Latino vote. They thought they automatically got the gay vote. No more, Democrats. We are taking back everybody's vote," Lara Trump said at last week's event, which was also introduced by Richard Grenell, the gay former U.S. ambassador to Germany and member of the Trump cabinet.

However, LGBTQ+ public figures were not fooled by Tiffany's bromides.

"I cannot express to you how tired I am of this pathetic grift," wrote Brandon Wolf, Equality Florida's media relations manager, on Twitter. "Our fight for equality--the one we're having to wage against you -- is not yours to pervert for tacky campaign graphics. Get your hands off our rights and stop trying to gaslight us."

"What in gay hell is this bullshit?" asked comedian Dana Goldberg on the social media platform.

While holding itself out as "Pride," however, the series is largely on the down low in the larger Trump campaign. As gay SiriusXM host Michelangelo Signorile noted last week about the "Trump Pride" invitation, the event itself is "in code" in order to avoid offending Trump's evangelical base.

"Look at this closeted event, in which neither 'gay' nor 'LGBTQ' is mentioned, Trump himself is not involved, and the whole thing is in code: 'Pride' in rainbow letters," he wrote on Twitter. "They've not announced this anywhere, lest the religious right find out."

Watch Tiffany's speech below.

dnlreynolds
The Advocates with Sonia BaghdadyOut / Advocate Magazine - Jonathan Groff & Wayne Brady

From our Sponsors

Most Popular

Latest Stories

Daniel Reynolds

Daniel Reynolds is the editor of social media for The Advocate. A native of New Jersey, he writes about entertainment, health, and politics.
Daniel Reynolds is the editor of social media for The Advocate. A native of New Jersey, he writes about entertainment, health, and politics.