Log Cabin, GOP in Washington, emerged as the only known LGBTQ group earlier this month to support President Donald Trump’s controversial actions to federate the DC Police Department, a local branch of the National LGBTQ Republican organization.
Several other local and national DC-based LGBTQ political groups have issued statements expressing strong opposition to Trump’s actions.
“The Log Cabin Republicans in Washington, D.C., praise the president’s decisive leadership in controlling a crisis that local officials have failed to address,” the group said in a statement. “For decades, Washington, DC has suffered under the rules of one party, a virtual party, of a Democratic leader.”
“The outcome was a steady increase in crime, a decline in public safety and a culture of self-satisfaction over lawlessness,” the statement continued, adding that the DC leader had expressed “blatant unwillingness” to address the issue.
“We are grateful that President Trump has stepped into a place where local leadership failed,” DC Log Cabin president Andrew Minick said in a statement. “This bold action sends a clear message: the security of Americans in our country’s capital cannot be negotiated.”
Among local LGBTQ political groups who have expressed strong opposition to Trump’s actions and the Log Cabin Republican status, there is a Democrat in the capital, Stonewall.
“This is just a political stunt designed to be distracted and divided,” Capital Stonewall Democrat President Howard Garrett said in a joint statement released with the National Stonewall Democrats organization. “Inundating federal troops in our neighborhoods and taking control of the police station will not make us safer. It will undermine trust, escalate tensions and strip the DC of its right to govern itself,” he said.
The joint statements by the two LGBTQ democratic groups also challenge Trump’s claim that DC’s crime is the greatest ever.
“This is about control, not safety,” the statement said. “The facts are clear. DC’s violent crimes have fallen 26% since last year. Robbers have fallen 22%, and murders have fallen 18%,” the statement continued. “These numbers tell the truth. Rather than pushing fear-based stories out of the White House, they justify militarizing our city and commanding local police.”
GLAA DC, formerly known as the Washington Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, expressed its organization’s opposition to Trump’s actions in a statement.
“This unprecedented show of power is a play designed to strike fear in our hearts,” said the GLAA statement. “Donald Trump is making a reckless power play while the DC community is experiencing enduring harm. Donald Trump must be stopped by a mass movement of people who recognize the dangers pose to freedom that we all cherish.”
The Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest national LGBTQ advocacy organization based in DC, believes Trump’s efforts to take over DC police and send out the National Guard will have a negative impact on the LGBTQ community.
“By injecting shameful attacks on the LGBTQ+ community along with the threat of occupation in other major American cities, it is clear that this acquisition attempt is far more than in DC’s streets,” Keller said in a statement to the Washington Blade.
“It’s about control and intimidation,” he said. “His actions put all families at risk and threaten all our freedoms. We ask all DC residents and all Americans to unite by refusing to abuse this blatant power.”
Kierra Johnson, president of the DC-based National LGBTQ Task Force, added her voice to opposition to Trump DC Law Enforcement’s federalization lawsuit.
“What’s going on is an outrageous targeting of people who live and love the country’s capital,” Johnson said in a statement. “The Trump administration’s actions go beyond criticism to control large city police stations and deploy untrained military and government troops,” Johnson said.
“The National LGBTQ Task Force understands this as its headquarters have been in DC for decades and what it is — an attack on our cities, our people, and our democracy,” she said in a statement. “What we’re experiencing now is nothing more than an attempt to occupy the streets and terrorize the residents.”
The DC LGBTQ Budget Union is made up of multiple organizations advocating for resources to support LGBTQ residents, calling Trump Action an “attack on DC autonomy.”
“This is a blatant violation of DC’s rights to self-government and dangerous escalation rooted in political theatres, not public safety,” the coalition said in a statement. “We will stand with local community leaders and other supporters who are fighting for DC.”
Source: Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News – www.washingtonblade.com
