Politics
Gays for Trump Leader Praises MAGA and Reagan at Paltry Rally
The rally was held in lieu of the originally plannedĀ "Deploraball Pre-4th of July Picnic."
July 02 2017 7:03 PM EST
July 11 2018 11:59 PM EST
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The rally was held in lieu of the originally plannedĀ "Deploraball Pre-4th of July Picnic."
The day after their namesake Donald Trump failed to acknowledge Pride month, even though he promised during his campaign that he was pro-LGBT and after President Barack Obama celebrated the occasion for eight years, Gays for Trump held a Free Speech rally on the Mall in Washington D.C. in which the founder of the group hailed "Make America Great Again" as a code of conduct and a way of life.
Gays for Trump founder and organizer of the event, Peter Boykin, gave a 35-minute keynote speech to what appeared to be a few scattered attendees in which he touted the essence of Make America Great Again, crediting its creation to Ronald Reagan and even using "MAGA" as a verb.
Boykin told the Gays for Trump crowd that MAGA turned 37 this year and that" Ronald Reagan was the first MAGA president." Quoting Reagan, the president who allowed the AIDS epidemic to rage on and for 23,000 people to die before he uttered the words "HIV/AIDS," Boykin said, "For those who abandoned hope, we'll restore hope and we'll welcome them to a great national crusade to make America great again."
The founder of the North Carolina-based Gays for Trump continued to regale those scattered about the lawn on the Mall with details of his affection for Reagan.
"MAGA is not a concept of particular time. MAGA is a moment. A lot of these moments came for me when Ronald Reagan was like a grandfather," Boykin said. "When I saw him on TV as a child I knew he was a great man, a great man that loved his country, and I cried when he passed away. I cried so hard, and it still upsets me now... I'm probably crying right now, or I really want to."
Not only did Boykin wax nostalgic for the man who allowed tens of thousands of people to die (many of them gay men) while tens of thousands more were infected as he stood silently by, Boykin touted Trump's borrowed campaign slogan as the ultimate American ideology and unifier.
MAGA "is not just a political slogan. It's an American concept, one which has been shared by many great people in this nation no matter their race, gender, or sexual orientations," Boykin said. "It makes me proud when I hear those words and to live by that code, to not only attempt to MAGA for me but to MAGA for everyone."
Boykin's full speech is below.