“I don’t pretend to agree with every plank in our party’s platform,” Thiel said, “but fake culture wars only distract us from our economic decline, and nobody in this race is being honest about it except Donald Trump.”
When Thiel emphasized his identity as an openly gay man and a proud American, and later Trump himself acknowledged that he wanted to protect the LGBTQ community from oppression from “hateful ideology,” they both received cheers from the delegates on the convention floor. Those moments were memorable for Republican delegate Charles Moran.
Moran, a district delegate who represents the 44th Congressional District, said he was there in the front row that Thursday night. Moran has served in various roles with the Log Cabin Republicans, a national advocacy group for LGBT Republicans.
Of course, he wasn’t entirely sure what to expect at the beginning of his week at the Cleveland convention. The official party platform had announced its endorsement of traditional marriage, specifically between a man and a woman, but it also concluded that it embraced “the principle that all Americans should be treated with respect and dignity.”
Moran eventually came to a new conclusion.
“Donald Trump doesn’t give two flips about the platform,” he said, blaming supporters of Ted Cruz for the stance of the party platform. He noted that Trump was more concerned about who was going to be speaking at the convention and said that although there were a number of social conservatives speaking on the floor, many of them did not say any disparaging remarks against the gay community. Moran said he was encouraged. He said he felt that the party was moving toward the right path and would be focused and disciplined.
“And because of that,” Moran said, “we’re going to be able to attract more LGBT community members to Donald Trump.”
Of course, not everyone in the LGBTQ community sees Trump the same way. Signal Hill Councilmember Larry Forester is a Democrat, an openly gay man and a member of the LGBT caucus with the League of California cities, also known as Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Local Officials. Forester used to belong to the Log Cabin Republicans but left around 2000.
Forester watched Thursday’s convention too. He criticized Trump’s remarks, noting that the Republican nominee only had promised to protect the LGBTQ community’s safety and said nothing about recognition of their rights.
“My Republican stance is [the] party might have a platform that is opening up to LGBT,” Forester said, “but we have a presidential candidate and vice-presidential candidate who are anti-LGBT,” Forester said. “And to me, that doesn’t work.”
Forester said there was more to be done for gay rights. He specifically noted that there needed to be a better understanding of who transgenders are.
However, Trump Republicans like Nestor Moto Jr. deeply appreciate that Trump recognized the LGBTQ community. Moto serves as the president of Long Beach Young Republicans and vice president of the Orange County chapter of Log Cabin Republicans. A 21-year-old gay man, Moto is also concerned about the stated political platform, but he was encouraged by Trump’s remarks.
“But it’s very uplifting and also comforting to finally have a Republican nominee that actively acknowledges the LGBT communities and actively seeks to court us and say, ‘You know what, I have your back,'” Moto said in his phone interview. “And that’s huge, because the party is changing, and I’m glad Donald Trump is spearheading this effort.”
Porter Gilberg serves as the executive director of The LGBTQ Center of Long Beach, also known as The Center. Since The Center is a nonprofit 501c3, he cannot make any specific endorsements for a particular candidate. He did express some concern that Trump’s remarks were ultimately divisive.
“When Donald Trump said that he was going to protect LGBTQ people from people abroad,” Gilberg said. “I can say that he’s just being Islamophobic in trying to pit LGBTQ people against Muslims.”
Gilberg voiced that the fight for civil rights is long from over. He expressed concern about the discriminatory tones toward transgender and gender-nonconforming people.
“When the basic functions of one’s daily life are questioned by national public figures, that sends a message to everyone that we have less value as LGBTQ people, that we are less worthy of dignity and respect, and, ultimately, when you have a national public sentiment that we are not valued, that trickles down,” Gilberg said, adding that when that happens, there is an increase of hate crimes and individuals fired from their jobs in states that don’t prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ people.
While many of these activists specifically called for the recognition of transgender rights, gay Republicans in support of Trump like Moran may have differing expectations of the role of the national leadership. Moran feels that the federal government doesn’t have a say in the transgender bathroom issue in schools, concluding that local communities have been dealing with that issue successfully for a while. He supports Thiel’s remarks, adding that transgender people have been around for a very long time and that issue was “a fake battle.”
