Trump just slapped the LGBTQ community in the face during Pride Month

He has proclaimed June Great Outdoors Month, National Ocean Month, African-American Music Appreciation Month, and National Homeownership Month, but Trump nonetheless refused to recognize perhaps the most widely celebrated of all: LGBTQ Pride Month.

His declination is the second of his presidency, and has once again drawn the ire of a community under constant siege by this administration.

Even Trump’s own State Department, run by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, issued a statement recognizing Pride Month, drawing stark contrast to his boss’s blaring silence on the issue:

“LGBTI persons – like all persons – must be free to enjoy their human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association, without fear of reprisal,” Pompeo said in the statement. “As Americans, we place a high value on these rights and freedoms, which all persons deserve to enjoy fully and equally.”

“The United States stands firmly with you as you exercise your human rights and fundamental freedoms,” he added. “We wish you a safe and happy Pride Month.”

Yet while Trump has claimed to support gay rights, even going so far as to photograph with rainbow flags and telling the Pulse Nightclub survivors that he would “do everything in [his] power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of the hateful, foreign ideology, believe me,” the president has instead attempted to ban transgender individuals from serving in the military, rolled back protections for transgender employees and prisoners, and removed all reference to LGBTQ Americans from federal websites.

While doubletalk from the most corrupt president in American history is no surprise, it is nonetheless egregiously shameful. He can bury his head in the sand with regard to Pride Month, but the rest of us stand squarely behind our fellow LGBTQ Americans, for whom we certainly have more pride than the Russian plant occupying the Oval Office.

Brian Tyler Cohen

Managing editor

Brian Tyler Cohen is a political writer, actor, and comedy sketch director. He graduated from Lehigh University with a dual degree in English and Business. He currently lives in Los Angeles.