Well, at Least One Gay Republican Who Supported Trump Finally Understands His Administration Is Anti-LGBT. Maybe.

‘This Administration Will Go Down as the Most Anti-LGBT in History’

Remember GOProud, the off-the-wall LGBT Tea Party Republican group that lasted a few years until the antics of its co-founders burned it out? The two co-founders, Chris Barron and Jimmy LaSalvia, spent years attacking “the gay left.” One went on to support and actively work to not only mainstream Donald Trump, but get him elected.

This, by the way, was Barron in 2011:

Barron, who claims he “helped create Donald Trump the politician,” threw his support behind the Manhattan real estate mogul who has a long and ugly history of racism. And he created LGBTers for Trump.

“After the election, Barron wrote that Trump would be an ally, friend, and advocate,” The Daily Beast reports. 

And now?

“I think, personally, the president has met my expectations,” Barron tells The Daily Beast in an article published Thursday.

“My concern has always been what happens at the department and agency levels. And I definitely have concerns with what is going on at Department of Justice. The attorney general [Jeff Sessions] has a very different position on LGBT issues than the president does. But his job is to carry forward the president’s agenda and not push his own… I’m certainly concerned he is [pushing his own].”

Let’s pause for just a moment and remember that tomorrow, Friday, Trump will become the first sitting President to address the Values Voter Summit, a far right wing annual political conference hosted by an anti-gay hate group, the Family Research Council.

Late on Tuesday, Trump’s Interior Dept. backed out of support for Wednesday’s dedication of the Stonewall National Monument, the first honoring the LGBT community and LGBT history. They even refused to allow a previously scheduled speaker to attend.

Just days ago Trump’s Dept. of Health and Human Services scrapped a proposed rule that would have protected senior same-sex couples in nursing homes and other elder care facilities.

And earlier this month the Trump administration instituted a sweeping rollback of the Obama-era contraception mandate – which absolutely affects LGBT people – and instituted an extraordinary policy reversal prioritizing the rights of people of faith over the rights of LGBT people.

Trump in February rescinded Obama-era guidance protecting transgender children. Trump’s Justice Dept. earlier this month revoked an Obama-era government policy that, in keeping with federal court and EEOC rulings, determined that transgender people are protected in the workplace under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The attorney general has now scrapped that policy.

Barron actually thinks Trump isn’t on board with all of these moves?

So, Barron still supports Trump, but blames his cabinet for the administration’s anti-LGBT deeds.

Fellow GOProud co-founder Jimmy LaSalvia’s views appear to have moderated over the past few years (from what I see on Twitter. Barron blocked me years ago so I rarely see his tweets). LaSalvia occasionally offers good insight and has some good ideas. But, also in 2011, LaSalvia said: “The gay Left is, by far, the most intolerant toward us,” the “us” being gay Republicans. LaSalvia has since become an independent.

And now? What about Trump?

“I never thought that Donald Trump was an anti-gay homophobe,” LaSalvia tells The Daily Beast.

On his blog, LaSalvia corrects The Daily Beast article, saying, a Daily Beast “reporter called me for comment, but I should note that the headline implies that everyone quoted in the article was a Trump supporter in the election. I was not. I publicly supported Hillary Clinton last year.”

And now? What about Trump?

“I certainly didn’t think [Donald Trump was an anti-gay homophobe] when I met him back in 2011. But we’ve all learned a lot about who he really is since then. With his political pandering and posturing to endear himself to the intolerant wing of the GOP over the last few years, it doesn’t surprise me that this administration will go down as the most anti-LGBT in history.”

Let’s play that again: “it doesn’t surprise me that this administration will go down as the most anti-LGBT in history.”

As for Barron’s views, well…

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