No LGBT Pride Month at White House
Donald Trump has decided to end former President Obama’s eight-year tradition of celebrating LGBT Pride Month at the White House.
Starting in 2009 and lasting until 2016, Obama issues annual Proclamations recognizing the entire month of June as LGBT Pride Month. He also hosted various festivities in the White House.
Apparently, Mr. Trump won’t be continuing the tradition.
More: 5 ways Trump dissed LGBT people in one day
Today, the Trump White House unveiled several Presidential Proclamations marking June as “National Homeownership Month”, “National Ocean Month”, “African-American Music Appreciation Month” and “Great Outdoors Month” – but the LGBT community was dissed.
Additionally, no LGBT Pride Month events at the White House have been announced.
During Obama’s presidency, proclamations were declared that recognized “the fight for dignity and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people”. They served as a public way of demonstrating the Federal government’s role in “working to broaden opportunity, advance equality, and level the playing field for LGBT people and communities”.
Nancy Pelosi, the congressional leader of the Democratic party in congress, knocked the Trump administration in her own Pride Month statement.
She said: “As we mark LGBT Pride Month, we honor the LGBT leaders who have striven to build a more just society for all, and recognize the struggles and sacrifices they have endured in the fight for equality.
More: Read the last LGBT Proclamation for 2016
“This month, we celebrate their triumphs and remember that our Founders’ creed – that all are created equal – is not inevitable; that we must work every day to forge a more just, inclusive and perfect union.”
She also added: “Tremendous progress has been achieved, but the journey is far from over. LGBT Americans face an assault on their rights from the White House and House Republicans, who are gutting HIV prevention and treatment initiatives, dismantling protections for transgender children in public schools and conspiring to render LGBT Americans invisible in the census.
These hateful, discriminatory attacks dishonor our nation’s most sacred ideals of liberty and make passage of the Equality Act – which would bring the full force of the Civil Rights Act to secure equality for LGBT people – even more urgent. This bill is about respect and pride, not mere tolerance, and House Democrats will not relent until it has been made law.
The slain San Francisco Supervisor and civil rights leader Harvey Milk once said, ‘Rights are won only by those who make their voices heard.
“In that spirit, let us raise our voices – in city halls and state capitols; in Congress and the Supreme Court – to fight for the equal dignity that every American is entitled to under our Constitution. And let our voices never falter or fall silent, until we have built a safer, more just and more hopeful future for all.”
Most major cities around the United States will celebrate Pride with mayors signing various proclamations. For example, Chicago's Mayor Rahm Emanuel authorized one, which you can read here.
