Donald Trump talks about the rights of homosexuals in almost all his speeches and interviews, inconceivable for the presidential candidate of a party that still has many supporters who believe gays deserve death. Organised LGBT groups are unlikely supporters of Mr. Trump, but Mr. Trump’s constant messaging on gay rights is about killing several birds with one stone.
Attitude towards homosexuality is changing fast in the country, and more than half of Americans now support same-sex marriage—a trend that conventional Republicans who ran against Mr. Trump for nomination could not understand or respond to. The change is more pronounced among young people of all political beliefs and ethnic origins. Young evangelicals and young Mormons—ages 18-29—are twice as likely as their seniors to support same-sex marriage, says Robert P Jones, author of The End of White Christian America , a book that is being widely discussed currently.
Fifty-three percent of young Republicans now support same-sex marriage, the author says. Gallup polls and Pew surveys recently have recorded this change. The analysis that Mr. Trump appeals primarily to ‘white middle-aged men without a college degree’ overlooks this critical innovation that he has done. Mr. Trump is opposed to same-sex marriage, but that is stated only rarely and when asked, but his championing of gay rights is almost relentless. Openly gay digital entrepreneur Peter Thiel was one of the star speakers at the Republican Convention last month, and Mr. Trump has vowed to protect gay people.
A gambleThis might disconnect him from the Christian Right, among whom a pastor who thought the Islamist terrorist in Orlando did a good thing by killing so many homosexuals. Mr. Trump never criticises the homophobia promoted by Christian extremists and always connects his pro-gay stance to his opposition to radical Islam. The Christian homophobes who rooted for Ted Cruz in primaries will have no option but to side with Mr. Trump. Since 2013, Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump’s opponent, has been a supporter of same-sex marriage.
Mr. Trump’s focus is on how Islamists and Muslim regimes in West Asia target homosexuals. Not only that it allows him to focus on Islam, it also makes the backdrop to allege that Ms. Clinton is close to some of these regimes, particularly Saudi Arabia. “As your President, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology,” he said in his speech at the convention. Focusing on the “foreign ideology” also allows him to camouflage the anti-LGBT policies of his own party and its governors in the States.
Advocating the rights of homosexuals has become a sort of calling card for appealing to the mainstream of American public opinion. Addressing an audience critical of Israeli policies last year in Washington D.C, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly noted that Israel was the only country in the region where homosexuals did not face harassment.
