Trump Says He's 'Done Very Well' on LGBTQ Issues

Donald Trump was asked at a press conference Tuesday about his record on LGBTQ issues -- specifically in the wake of his administration's Friday brief to the Supreme Court arguing that it's legal to fire transgender employees due to their gender identity.

Despite this action and many other attacks on LGBTQ Americans, Trump replied that he believes he's "done very well" with the LGBTQ community.

As proof of this claim, the president referred -- twice -- to a recent endorsement from the Log Cabin Republicans, as well as the support of Peter Thiel, the gay conservative who co-founded PayPal.

"Well, I just got an award and an endorsement yesterday from ... the Log Cabin group, and I was very honored to receive it," Trump replied. "No, I've done very well with that community. Some of my biggest supporters are of that community and I talk to them a lot about it. ... As you know, Peter Thiel, and so many others there, they're with me all the way and they like the job I'm doing."

In reality, Trump has not "done very well" on LGBTQ rights, as GLAAD was quick to remind the president. "In fact, he and his administration have rolled back protections and targeted LGBTQ people 123 times since 2017," the LGBTQ media organization said in a statement, which cited to the myriad offenses chronicled in its Trump Accountability Project.

To name just a few, the Trump administration has banned transgender troops from serving in the military, rolled back protections for trans students, and just last week, proposed allowing federal contractors to discriminate against LGBTQ people and others who offend the contractors' religious beliefs.

Ignoring this track record, Robert Kabel, the chairman of the Log Cabin Republicans, praised Trump for "taking bold actions that benefit the LGBTQ community," in an op-ed endorsing the president that was published by The Washington Post. The move sparked revulsion from the broader LGBTQ community. Several prominent Log Cabin members, like Robert Turner, former president of the conservative LGBTQ organization's D.C. chapter, quit the group over its endorsement.

Jordan Evans, the only transgender Republican elected official in the nation, slammed the endorsement in an op-ed in The Advocate.

"It seems that the 'premier Republican organization for LGBTQ+ conservatives' couldn't care less about which form of acceptance qualifies as passable allyship and would instead willfully embrace an administration notorious for hollow words, fairweather friends, and a seemingly endless number of cuts for us to endure," Evans wrote.