Chelsea Clinton Done With Media Claiming Trump Is Pro-LGBT

The Washington Post says it's "always been confusing" whether Donald Trump supports LGBT rights. But a tweet in response by Chelsea Clinton is going viral for lecturing any media outlet that pushes the notion Trump is remotely pro-LGBT.

In an analysis piece written for "The Fix" politics section on Wednesday, after President Trump banned transgender people from serving in the military, writer Kayla Epstein claimed Trump has a "muddled stance on the issue of LGBT rights."

Epstein noted Trump has banned trans service members and rolled back protections for trans students across the country.

"Though these actions aren't necessarily surprising coming from a Republican administration, they are surprising coming from President Trump," wrote Epstein. "At times, he has appeared to wholeheartedly support the LGBT community. But throughout his presidential campaign, the actual degree of his support was less clear."

Actually, it's never been unclear whether Trump supported LGBT rights as a candidate, having never supported workplace protections, marriage equality, or service for trans people in the military. He's never had an HIV policy. He promised to appoint a justice to the Supreme Court who would roll back marriage equality. And Trump supported "religious freedom" to such an extent that he promised to sign what activists call a federal "license to discriminate" law in the First Amendment Defense Act. It's basically a federal version of the anti-LGBT law that his vice president, Mike Pence, got into so much trouble for signing in Indiana as governor. The only promise Trump made to LGBT people is to oppose their murder by terrorists.

That record had Chelsea Clinton quick to correct the Post (and any other media still pushing this false narrative).

As Clinton points out, Trump seeks improved relations with Russia, despite its atrocious record of opposing LGBT equality. For example, Vladimir Putin signed a so-called gay propaganda law that bans any positive discussion of homosexuality. But Clinton is also correct that Trump has never said anything about Chechnya rounding up gay men and killing or torturing them.

It should also be noted that the Post spends four paragraphs quoting an interview Trump conducted with The Advocate 17 years ago. The views Trump espoused back then, including his support for universal health care, are incredibly outdated -- as pointed out this year by The Advocate in "Trump's 17-Year-Old Interview With The Advocate Is Proof of Nothing."