21

The Trump Pride webpage asserts:

Through his bold plan to end the HIV epidemic to his global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality in the 69 nations where it is illegal, President Trump has proven himself to be a strong advocate for the LGBT community both at home and abroad.
Trump Pride, pride.donaldjtrump.com, sourced 14 October 2020.

When I first read this, I was totally unaware of such a campaign. So...

Question: What steps has President Trump's "global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality in the 69 nations where it is illegal" taken?

After some Googling, I get the impression that this was originally a political tactic to impugn Iran (February 2019) and is now used as pinkwashing to win ephemeral Caitlyn-Jenner-style votes (cf. GLAAD's Trump Accountability Project; What has Trump done to oppress the LGBT+ Community?). Pink News specifically criticizes it as follows:

Although much-touted by gay Trump supporters, there is little evidence that a US-led “global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality in the 69 nations where it is illegal” has ever existed beyond an initial press release.
Donald Trump just sent invites to a ‘Trump Pride’ rally with no mention of LGBT+ people – or his 181 attacks on the community, Pink News, 13 October 2020.

Since February 2019, decriminalization of homosexuality has only occurred in Botswana (June 2019) and its unclear if Trump's campaign had any influence. A tweet (February 2019) indicates Trump was not even aware of the campaign, and there are reports of it being described as "not a big policy departure", and of advocates calling it "an unadulterated lie".

However, it's possible there is another side to this story. There are indeed Trump-supporting LGBT+ people and groups, e.g. OUTSpoken.

3
  • 8
    What's the definition of a "global campaign"? How would one evaluate whether the effort constitutes one? Oct 14, 2020 at 4:33
  • There is a difference between campaigning to decriminalize something and promoting additional equal rights. I would expect the campaign to amount to US diplomats supporting decriminalization in bilateral and multilateral discussions, as part of their wider activities on human and civil rights, and I would expect that they had behaved similarly in the previous administration. Trump could argue that saying “We stand in solidarity with LGBTQ people who live in countries that punish, jail or execute individuals based upon sexual orientation” to the UN General Assembly in 2019, he had done this
    – Henry
    Oct 14, 2020 at 10:38
  • Previous comments are from Skeptics, before migration.
    – user2578
    Oct 15, 2020 at 2:25

1 Answer 1

16

From the looks of it, not many.

They have appointed a lead person for it (Richard Grenell) and have announced it (which in itself is already a step).

Additionally, Trump announced the intent to stop criminalizing homosexuality in a 2019 UN speech (a foreign policy which has existed before Trump).

There have also been at least three panel discussions - two in Germany and one at the UN.

I was unable to find any other concrete steps such as policy proposals, successes, etc. If they exist, they haven't been widely publicized or promoted by the campaign. When asked about it recently, Grenell evaded the question.

1
  • 2
    This answer would benefit from a quote of his response, because evasion is an understatement. Basically denied any standing to this question being asked in the first place because "not grown up stuff". Oct 15, 2020 at 18:24

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .