On blaming religion for Trump

[US-SSR]

At some risk of making a No True Scotsman argument, I'm prepared to defend the proposition that no true Christian is a Trump supporter. His supporters are largely ignorant and fearful people who dread the demographic and other changes that are bringing the US closer to its founding ideals. What they like about Trump is that he hates the same people and things that they hate. That more of them tend to describe themselves as Christian is largely an artifact; conservative Christian denominations tend to attract the same kinds of people that Trump rallies do.

[The Emerald Legion]

At some risk of making a No True Scotsman argument, I'm prepared to defend the proposition that no true Christian is a Trump supporter. His supporters are largely ignorant and fearful people who dread the demographic and other changes that are bringing the US closer to its founding ideals. What they like about Trump is that he hates the same people and things that they hate. That more of them tend to describe themselves as Christian is largely an artifact; conservative Christian denominations tend to attract the same kinds of people that Trump rallies do.

So you mean you don't understand what the founding ideals of the country are, what Trump stands for, or what Christianity is?

[Myrensis]

At some risk of making a No True Scotsman argument, I'm prepared to defend the proposition that no true Christian is a Trump supporter. His supporters are largely ignorant and fearful people who dread the demographic and other changes that are bringing the US closer to its founding ideals. What they like about Trump is that he hates the same people and things that they hate. That more of them tend to describe themselves as Christian is largely an artifact; conservative Christian denominations tend to attract the same kinds of people that Trump rallies do.

So you mean you don't understand what the founding ideals of the country are, what Trump stands for, or what Christianity is?

The only people who can't seem to grasp that the only thing Donald Trump has ever stood for in his life is Donald Trump are his supporters.

And yes, yes, we know, "It only looks like we're shamelessly whoring our faith to a Godless huckster for political favors and influence because you don't understand what Christianity really is!"

[Aclion]

Which is why I didn't spend all day on it.

Could've probably spent as much time or less as you have with these substanceless excuse posts coming up with a few more, if the list is really as full of holes as you claim.

I'd already demonstrated the source was being deliberately misleading with it's claims, so theirs no point going through the list with a fine toothed comb. But Sicilian Imperial-Capitalist Empire was nice enough to do so anyway. It took two hours, which is impressive, as i'd probably take twice that. so no I would have been able to in the time i'd spent here.
Which is all besides the point because it is your job to fact check your claims; not ours; and you're not entitled to any of my time at all.

Ok then. Let's see if I can verify/disprove the 25 claims made.

1 Opposition to the Equality Act: Despite support from almost every segment of the U.S. population and a majority of Republicans, President Trump opposed the Equality Act. In May, the House passed the Equality Act, voting to guarantee critical non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people among other crucial rights.

True, "In August 2019, the White House issued a statement, 'The Trump Administration absolutely opposes discrimination of any kind and supports the equal treatment of all; however, the House-passed bill in its current form is filled with poison pills that threaten to undermine parental and conscience rights.' [59]"

2 Appointed anti-LGBTQ judges: Trump has appointed anti-LGBTQ judges with alarming anti-LGBTQ records to appointments at every level of the judicial system, including anti-equality Supreme Court Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh and federal nominees Kacsmaryk, Mateer, Bounds, Vitter. Menashi and others.

Likely False. I cannot verify this claim, as Kavanaugh in his dissent to the relevant LGBT ruling he was in said that congress should handle it and that it should be outlined in a different statute. In addition, I couldn't substantiate the claim that Kavanaugh in particular had an "anti-LGBTQ record."

3 Supported employment discrimination against LGBTQ people: The Trump administration submitted amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court supporting discrimination against LGBTQ people.

True, "The DOJ reversed its position on whether the Civil Rights Act's workplace protections covered LGBT individuals, and the DOJ argued in state and federal courts for a constitutional right for businesses to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.[548]"

4 Banned transgender service members from the military: Against the expert advice of military leadership, medical authorities, budget analysts, 70% of Americans and the armed forces of allied countries, Trump and Pence banned transgender people from serving in the military.

True, "Trump said he would not allow "transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military", citing disruptions and medical costs.[548]"

5 Rolled back Obama-era non-discrimination protections: Trump’s Department of Justice upended previous DOJ interpretations of the Civil Rights Act that protect transgender and non-binary workers from employment discrimination and ceased enforcing non-discrimination protections as well as taking a hostile stance to LGBTQ workers in court.

True. I won't list literally all of them out, but "The administration rolled back numerous LGBT protections, in particular those implemented during the Obama administration, covering issues such as health care, education, employment, housing, military, and criminal justice, as well as foster care and adoption.[546][547][548][549][550]"

6 Issued rule to license discrimination: Trump’s Department of Labor issued a regulation designed to allow federal contractors to claim a religious exemption to fire LGBTQ workers because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Kicked people living with HIV out of the military because of their status: The Department of Defense instituted a “Deploy or Get Out” policy, which would remove military personnel living with HIV from service solely because of their status.

True. See 3 and 4. Also, "The administration exempted government contractors from following federal workplace discrimination rules, as long as they could cite religious reasons for doing so.[548]"

7 Created a hostile work environment for LGBTQ federal employees: According to Politico: “[The Trump administration] fostered a climate where six staffers who are LGBT described removing their wedding rings before coming to work in the morning, taking down photos of their partners and families or ultimately finding new jobs further away from certain political appointees. They did not want to be identified; two said they feared being reassigned for being gay.”

Hard to determine, especially given that you can't blame everything on Trump. Although he did roll back LGBT protections, actual discrimination would still be something the employer would be doing. They might not have created it, but they did help perpetuate it.

8 Undermined Section 1557 Rule: HHS published a proposed major change to the administrative rule interpreting Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to remove explicit protections for LGBTQ people in healthcare programs and activities by excluding LGBTQ people from protections from discrimination based on sex stereotyping and gender identity.

Likely false, especially given how Trump still wants the entire ACA repealed (even though the best he could do was a soft repeal). It would make no sense for him to only remove LGBT protections when he wants to remove all the protections.

9 Created a Religious Discrimination Division: HHS created a new office whose sole purpose would be to defend physicians and other medical professionals who decide to refuse care, including to LGBTQ patients.

False. "OCR enforces laws and regulations that protect the free exercise of religion and prohibit discrimination in HHS-funded or conducted programs and activities." (From the government's own website)

10 Guidance for Schools on Transgender Students: The Departments of Education and Justice eliminated Obama-era guidance clarifying that schools must treat transgender students consistent with their gender identity. This encourages schools officials to permit harassment of transgender students, deny access to facilities consistent with gender identity, and refuse to use correct names and pronouns -- all inflicting untold emotional harm.

True, "The administration rescinded a directive that public schools treat students according to their gender identity.[548]"

11 Rejected Complaints From Transgender Students: The Department of Education refused to respond to civil complaints filed by transgender students, including those who were barred from using bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity. This increases the burden for transgender students to combat these harmful policies.

Likely true, considering "DeVos marginalized an investigative unit within the Department of Education which under Obama investigated predatory activities by for-profit colleges."

12 Suggested it is acceptable for schools to discriminate against LGBTQ students while accepting tax-payer funds: Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has refused to rule out federal funding for schools that discriminate against LGBTQ students and has declined to state she would otherwise intervene should discrimination occur.

False. Inaction=/= endorsement. Also declining to comment that she would explicitly intervene does not automatically mean she won't

13 Sexual Assault: DeVos rescinded Title IX rules related to schools’ obligations to address sexual harassment, including sexual violence. By eliminating the Obama-era rules, DeVos increased the standard of proof from “preponderance of the evidence” to “clear and convincing evidence” making it more difficult for survivors of sexual assault to obtain justice. LGBTQ people are disproportionately affected by sexual assault and harassment, and the stigma that many LGBTQ people face can make it more difficult for survivors to report.

True, "In 2017 DeVos said the Obama administration's guidance for how campuses address sexual assault "failed too many students" and she announced that she intended to replace the current approach "with a workable, effective and fair system".[306] Consequently, the administration scrapped an Obama administration guidance on how schools and universities should combat sexual harassment and sexual violence."

14 Eliminated language protecting LGBTQ children participating in the 4-H program: The Trump-Pence Administration ordered 4-H programs to remove a policy specifically welcoming LGBTQ children in the 4-H program, which led to the firing of an official who protested.

Bad wording. They only pressured the 4-H program. Does that mean they did it? Well... while some areas complied, others didn't. Plus the main source comes from a podcast and some small-town newspapers, so I'm unsure how to properly approach this one. I'll just say unknown and move on.

15 Used Title IX to discriminate against trans students: the Department of Education claimed that school policies allowing trans youth to participate in sports consistent with their gender identity violated federal law and threatened to withhold funds.

False. This is completely blown out of proportion. What actually happened was "Three female high school students in Connecticut had challenged a scholastic sports policy that allows transgender athletes to compete against them in track."

16 Allowed emergency shelters to deny access to transgender and gender nonconforming people: Despite the fact that LGBTQ people are significantly more likely to experience homelessness in their lives, HUD Secretary Ben Carson has proposed a rule to permit emergency shelters to deny access or otherwise discriminate against transgender and gender nonconforming peoplewho are homeless. HUD also canceled a scheduled survey on LGBTQ homelessness.

Partially true. It is untrue that HUD is doing anything to discriminate against the LGBT community in emergency shelters, however " "Rules were rescinded to give transgender homeless people equal access to homeless shelters..."

17 Placed transgender incarcerated persons in the wrong prison: The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) rolled back an Obama-era policy that housed transgender prisoners consistent with their gender identity. With transgender people experiencing sexual assault at higher rates than average, this decision only puts them at further risk of assault.

True. "...and to house transgender prison inmates according to their gender identity 'when appropriate'.[548]"

18 Allowed foster care programs to discriminate while accepting tax-payer funds: Trump-Pence White House has proposed a federal regulation that would strip away nondiscrimination requirements and permit all Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) grant recipients, notably adoption and foster care agencies, to discriminate against LGBTQ people, and in many circumstances religious minorities and women, and still receive federal funding.

True, "The administration sought to rescind rules prohibiting adoption and foster care agencies funded by the government from discriminating against LGBT adoption and foster parents.[548][551]"

19 Refused visas to partners of diplomats: The State Department began refusing visas for same-sex partners of some diplomats and U.N. workers if they are not married.

False. It's not just for same-sex partners, but for all partners. "In December 2017, the administration announced that it would make it illegal for spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in the United States.[496]"

20 Changed rules to deny surrogate born children citizenship: The Trump Administration has interpreted immigration rules specifically so the child of a same-sex couple born abroad via surrogate would be considered "born out of wedlock" and making it more difficult to obtain U.S. citizenship.

False. Snopes has ruled this part to be completely false, because "The long-standing policy didn't originate with the Trump administration, nor were they the first to enforce it."

21 Trump’s HHS proposed a new definition that would narrowly define sex as either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by birth. According to the New York Times: “The new definition would essentially eradicate federal recognition of the estimated 1.4 million [transgender] Americans.” In addition, agency staff, including those at the Centers for Disease Control, have been instructed to stop using the word transgender in official reports.

False. There is no mention of this by the HHS and only the New York Times and a few other publications mention this at all. In addition, this wouldn't "eradicate federal recognition" because the HHS has a separate "gender identity" definition (i.e biologically male but identify female).

22 Eliminated information on LGBTQ rights, mentions, and representation on government websites: Within hours of Trump’s swearing-in, pages on LGBTQ rights and recognition were removed from government websites, including the White House.

The fact that I'm able to pull up LGBT rights pages from government websites show that this is very clearly false. Hell, here's one right here

23 Blocked questions regarding sexual orientation from consideration for the census: Trump and Pence have sought to block questions on sexual orientation from the census in order to erase LGBTQ people from official counts. This would, in turn, prevent the collection of crucial data that could help improve government programs and resources for LGBTQ people.

True, "HHS stopped collecting information on LGBT participants in its national survey of older adults,[554] and the Census Bureau removed "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" as proposed subjects for possible inclusion on the Decennial Census and/or American Community Survey.[554]"

24 Refused to recognize LGBTQ people in National AIDS day Address: Despite being the community most affected by the epidemic, Vice President Pence has consistently refused to acknowledge LGBTQ people in his addresses on National AIDS day.

Likely true, especially given Pence's views.

25 Proposed cutting over $1.35 billion from PEPFAR budget: In his proposed FY 2019 budget, Trump cut $1.35 billion from, or 29% of PEPFAR’s budget. PEPFAR is the U.S. government program that fights AIDS abroad.

False. The source that all websites cited which made this claim has no sources attached. There's no proof of this, although that could be that I wasn't looking hard enough.

damn well done.

Now that I have fact-checked this LGBT stuff, it's time to get right back to religion and Trump. Obligatory correlation =/= causation.

Doubt it. I sent out that hook already and got no bites other then the on the last line.

You got it completely wrong, the evangelical wing is the wing that Trump has had the most trouble with, beside the bush era neocons. There's a reason Mitt Romney: last hurrah of american evangelicalism, was the only republican to vote to impeach him. Trump broke away from the evangelical wing by his support for LGBT rights.

[The Black Forrest]

At some risk of making a No True Scotsman argument, I'm prepared to defend the proposition that no true Christian is a Trump supporter. His supporters are largely ignorant and fearful people who dread the demographic and other changes that are bringing the US closer to its founding ideals. What they like about Trump is that he hates the same people and things that they hate. That more of them tend to describe themselves as Christian is largely an artifact; conservative Christian denominations tend to attract the same kinds of people that Trump rallies do.

So you mean you don't understand what the founding ideals of the country are, what Trump stands for, or what Christianity is?

Oh do explain.

What are the founding ideals?

What does Trump stand for?

What is Christianity?

[Sicilian Imperial-Capitalist Empire]

At some risk of making a No True Scotsman argument, I'm prepared to defend the proposition that no true Christian is a Trump supporter. His supporters are largely ignorant and fearful people who dread the demographic and other changes that are bringing the US closer to its founding ideals. What they like about Trump is that he hates the same people and things that they hate. That more of them tend to describe themselves as Christian is largely an artifact; conservative Christian denominations tend to attract the same kinds of people that Trump rallies do.

So you mean you don't understand what the founding ideals of the country are, what Trump stands for, or what Christianity is?

Trump does not associate with the founding ideals of this country. Christianity does not directly associate with the founding ideals of this country. Trump associates with business and Trump, and Christianity is (and should always be) separated from corruption by and interfering with the government.

And before you say so, immigration actually is a founding ideal of this country. We seem to forget why people come to this country in the first place, which is to seek a better life by working hard to bring themselves out of poverty. People came to the New World to escape the social order and rigid class system that had taken root in England. They also wanted to flee from persecution by other Christian sects-- hence, religious freedom.

Could've probably spent as much time or less as you have with these substanceless excuse posts coming up with a few more, if the list is really as full of holes as you claim.

I'd already demonstrated the source was being deliberately misleading with it's claims, so theirs no point going through the list with a fine toothed comb. But Sicilian Imperial-Capitalist Empire was nice enough to do so anyway. It took two hours, which is impressive, as i'd probably take twice that. so no I would have been able to in the time i'd spent here.
Which is all besides the point because it is your job to fact check your claims; not ours; and you're not entitled to any of my time at all.

Ok then. Let's see if I can verify/disprove the 25 claims made.

1 Opposition to the Equality Act: Despite support from almost every segment of the U.S. population and a majority of Republicans, President Trump opposed the Equality Act. In May, the House passed the Equality Act, voting to guarantee critical non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people among other crucial rights.

True, "In August 2019, the White House issued a statement, 'The Trump Administration absolutely opposes discrimination of any kind and supports the equal treatment of all; however, the House-passed bill in its current form is filled with poison pills that threaten to undermine parental and conscience rights.' [59]"

2 Appointed anti-LGBTQ judges: Trump has appointed anti-LGBTQ judges with alarming anti-LGBTQ records to appointments at every level of the judicial system, including anti-equality Supreme Court Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh and federal nominees Kacsmaryk, Mateer, Bounds, Vitter. Menashi and others.

Likely False. I cannot verify this claim, as Kavanaugh in his dissent to the relevant LGBT ruling he was in said that congress should handle it and that it should be outlined in a different statute. In addition, I couldn't substantiate the claim that Kavanaugh in particular had an "anti-LGBTQ record."

3 Supported employment discrimination against LGBTQ people: The Trump administration submitted amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court supporting discrimination against LGBTQ people.

True, "The DOJ reversed its position on whether the Civil Rights Act's workplace protections covered LGBT individuals, and the DOJ argued in state and federal courts for a constitutional right for businesses to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.[548]"

4 Banned transgender service members from the military: Against the expert advice of military leadership, medical authorities, budget analysts, 70% of Americans and the armed forces of allied countries, Trump and Pence banned transgender people from serving in the military.

True, "Trump said he would not allow "transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military", citing disruptions and medical costs.[548]"

5 Rolled back Obama-era non-discrimination protections: Trump’s Department of Justice upended previous DOJ interpretations of the Civil Rights Act that protect transgender and non-binary workers from employment discrimination and ceased enforcing non-discrimination protections as well as taking a hostile stance to LGBTQ workers in court.

True. I won't list literally all of them out, but "The administration rolled back numerous LGBT protections, in particular those implemented during the Obama administration, covering issues such as health care, education, employment, housing, military, and criminal justice, as well as foster care and adoption.[546][547][548][549][550]"

6 Issued rule to license discrimination: Trump’s Department of Labor issued a regulation designed to allow federal contractors to claim a religious exemption to fire LGBTQ workers because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Kicked people living with HIV out of the military because of their status: The Department of Defense instituted a “Deploy or Get Out” policy, which would remove military personnel living with HIV from service solely because of their status.

True. See 3 and 4. Also, "The administration exempted government contractors from following federal workplace discrimination rules, as long as they could cite religious reasons for doing so.[548]"

7 Created a hostile work environment for LGBTQ federal employees: According to Politico: “[The Trump administration] fostered a climate where six staffers who are LGBT described removing their wedding rings before coming to work in the morning, taking down photos of their partners and families or ultimately finding new jobs further away from certain political appointees. They did not want to be identified; two said they feared being reassigned for being gay.”

Hard to determine, especially given that you can't blame everything on Trump. Although he did roll back LGBT protections, actual discrimination would still be something the employer would be doing. They might not have created it, but they did help perpetuate it.

8 Undermined Section 1557 Rule: HHS published a proposed major change to the administrative rule interpreting Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to remove explicit protections for LGBTQ people in healthcare programs and activities by excluding LGBTQ people from protections from discrimination based on sex stereotyping and gender identity.

Likely false, especially given how Trump still wants the entire ACA repealed (even though the best he could do was a soft repeal). It would make no sense for him to only remove LGBT protections when he wants to remove all the protections.

9 Created a Religious Discrimination Division: HHS created a new office whose sole purpose would be to defend physicians and other medical professionals who decide to refuse care, including to LGBTQ patients.

False. "OCR enforces laws and regulations that protect the free exercise of religion and prohibit discrimination in HHS-funded or conducted programs and activities." (From the government's own website)

10 Guidance for Schools on Transgender Students: The Departments of Education and Justice eliminated Obama-era guidance clarifying that schools must treat transgender students consistent with their gender identity. This encourages schools officials to permit harassment of transgender students, deny access to facilities consistent with gender identity, and refuse to use correct names and pronouns -- all inflicting untold emotional harm.

True, "The administration rescinded a directive that public schools treat students according to their gender identity.[548]"

11 Rejected Complaints From Transgender Students: The Department of Education refused to respond to civil complaints filed by transgender students, including those who were barred from using bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity. This increases the burden for transgender students to combat these harmful policies.

Likely true, considering "DeVos marginalized an investigative unit within the Department of Education which under Obama investigated predatory activities by for-profit colleges."

12 Suggested it is acceptable for schools to discriminate against LGBTQ students while accepting tax-payer funds: Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has refused to rule out federal funding for schools that discriminate against LGBTQ students and has declined to state she would otherwise intervene should discrimination occur.

False. Inaction=/= endorsement. Also declining to comment that she would explicitly intervene does not automatically mean she won't

13 Sexual Assault: DeVos rescinded Title IX rules related to schools’ obligations to address sexual harassment, including sexual violence. By eliminating the Obama-era rules, DeVos increased the standard of proof from “preponderance of the evidence” to “clear and convincing evidence” making it more difficult for survivors of sexual assault to obtain justice. LGBTQ people are disproportionately affected by sexual assault and harassment, and the stigma that many LGBTQ people face can make it more difficult for survivors to report.

True, "In 2017 DeVos said the Obama administration's guidance for how campuses address sexual assault "failed too many students" and she announced that she intended to replace the current approach "with a workable, effective and fair system".[306] Consequently, the administration scrapped an Obama administration guidance on how schools and universities should combat sexual harassment and sexual violence."

14 Eliminated language protecting LGBTQ children participating in the 4-H program: The Trump-Pence Administration ordered 4-H programs to remove a policy specifically welcoming LGBTQ children in the 4-H program, which led to the firing of an official who protested.

Bad wording. They only pressured the 4-H program. Does that mean they did it? Well... while some areas complied, others didn't. Plus the main source comes from a podcast and some small-town newspapers, so I'm unsure how to properly approach this one. I'll just say unknown and move on.

15 Used Title IX to discriminate against trans students: the Department of Education claimed that school policies allowing trans youth to participate in sports consistent with their gender identity violated federal law and threatened to withhold funds.

False. This is completely blown out of proportion. What actually happened was "Three female high school students in Connecticut had challenged a scholastic sports policy that allows transgender athletes to compete against them in track."

16 Allowed emergency shelters to deny access to transgender and gender nonconforming people: Despite the fact that LGBTQ people are significantly more likely to experience homelessness in their lives, HUD Secretary Ben Carson has proposed a rule to permit emergency shelters to deny access or otherwise discriminate against transgender and gender nonconforming peoplewho are homeless. HUD also canceled a scheduled survey on LGBTQ homelessness.

Partially true. It is untrue that HUD is doing anything to discriminate against the LGBT community in emergency shelters, however " "Rules were rescinded to give transgender homeless people equal access to homeless shelters..."

17 Placed transgender incarcerated persons in the wrong prison: The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) rolled back an Obama-era policy that housed transgender prisoners consistent with their gender identity. With transgender people experiencing sexual assault at higher rates than average, this decision only puts them at further risk of assault.

True. "...and to house transgender prison inmates according to their gender identity 'when appropriate'.[548]"

18 Allowed foster care programs to discriminate while accepting tax-payer funds: Trump-Pence White House has proposed a federal regulation that would strip away nondiscrimination requirements and permit all Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) grant recipients, notably adoption and foster care agencies, to discriminate against LGBTQ people, and in many circumstances religious minorities and women, and still receive federal funding.

True, "The administration sought to rescind rules prohibiting adoption and foster care agencies funded by the government from discriminating against LGBT adoption and foster parents.[548][551]"

19 Refused visas to partners of diplomats: The State Department began refusing visas for same-sex partners of some diplomats and U.N. workers if they are not married.

False. It's not just for same-sex partners, but for all partners. "In December 2017, the administration announced that it would make it illegal for spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in the United States.[496]"

20 Changed rules to deny surrogate born children citizenship: The Trump Administration has interpreted immigration rules specifically so the child of a same-sex couple born abroad via surrogate would be considered "born out of wedlock" and making it more difficult to obtain U.S. citizenship.

False. Snopes has ruled this part to be completely false, because "The long-standing policy didn't originate with the Trump administration, nor were they the first to enforce it."

21 Trump’s HHS proposed a new definition that would narrowly define sex as either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by birth. According to the New York Times: “The new definition would essentially eradicate federal recognition of the estimated 1.4 million [transgender] Americans.” In addition, agency staff, including those at the Centers for Disease Control, have been instructed to stop using the word transgender in official reports.

False. There is no mention of this by the HHS and only the New York Times and a few other publications mention this at all. In addition, this wouldn't "eradicate federal recognition" because the HHS has a separate "gender identity" definition (i.e biologically male but identify female).

22 Eliminated information on LGBTQ rights, mentions, and representation on government websites: Within hours of Trump’s swearing-in, pages on LGBTQ rights and recognition were removed from government websites, including the White House.

The fact that I'm able to pull up LGBT rights pages from government websites show that this is very clearly false. Hell, here's one right here

23 Blocked questions regarding sexual orientation from consideration for the census: Trump and Pence have sought to block questions on sexual orientation from the census in order to erase LGBTQ people from official counts. This would, in turn, prevent the collection of crucial data that could help improve government programs and resources for LGBTQ people.

True, "HHS stopped collecting information on LGBT participants in its national survey of older adults,[554] and the Census Bureau removed "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" as proposed subjects for possible inclusion on the Decennial Census and/or American Community Survey.[554]"

24 Refused to recognize LGBTQ people in National AIDS day Address: Despite being the community most affected by the epidemic, Vice President Pence has consistently refused to acknowledge LGBTQ people in his addresses on National AIDS day.

Likely true, especially given Pence's views.

25 Proposed cutting over $1.35 billion from PEPFAR budget: In his proposed FY 2019 budget, Trump cut $1.35 billion from, or 29% of PEPFAR’s budget. PEPFAR is the U.S. government program that fights AIDS abroad.

False. The source that all websites cited which made this claim has no sources attached. There's no proof of this, although that could be that I wasn't looking hard enough.

damn well done.

Now that I have fact-checked this LGBT stuff, it's time to get right back to religion and Trump. Obligatory correlation =/= causation.

Doubt it. I sent out that hook already and got no bites other then the on the last line.

You got it completely wrong, the evangelical wing is the wing that Trump has had the most trouble with, beside the bush era neocons. There's a reason Mitt Romney: last hurrah of american evangelicalism, was the only republican to vote to impeach him. Trump broke away from the evangelical wing by his support for LGBT rights.

It took 1 hour. 45 minutes of that time was spent chasing dead leads. Moral of the story: Don't use the news as a reliable source, they intentionally exaggerate things to make a profit.

[Myrensis]

No. The first president to support gay marriage was Jimmy Carter. but like Obama he ran opposing and changed his position afterwards, making him the first president to support gay marriage while in office(Carter left office before coming out in support), while Trump was the first person to be elected president on support for gay marriage. This is significant because it's the first time a president has risked their election on supporting gay marriage, and especially so since as a republican Trump is less able to absorb the loss of the religious lobby. In order to do what he did he had to refute the dichotomy between being moral and being gay.

No, Trump being permissive on gay marriage does not mean he ran on it.
Oh and there is this as well https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2 ... -marriage/ Trump has a history of not supporting gay marriage.

The twisting is downright comical.

A Trump appointee brings in protection for LGBT workers over Trumps objections = Trump is appointing SC Justices dedicated to protecting gay rights!

Trump repeatedly talks about appointing new justices to overturn Oberfell during the campaign, then after the election concedes that it's effectively settled = Trump is the first President to campaign on marriage equality!

Though I think my favorite is still the idea that the real reason Romney voted to convict Trump was because he was appointed spokesman for the Evangelical movement to punish Trump for being such a heroic champion of LGBT rights.

[West Leas Oros 2]

At some risk of making a No True Scotsman argument, I'm prepared to defend the proposition that no true Christian is a Trump supporter. His supporters are largely ignorant and fearful people who dread the demographic and other changes that are bringing the US closer to its founding ideals. What they like about Trump is that he hates the same people and things that they hate. That more of them tend to describe themselves as Christian is largely an artifact; conservative Christian denominations tend to attract the same kinds of people that Trump rallies do.

So you mean you don't understand what the founding ideals of the country are, what Trump stands for, or what Christianity is?

This statement implies Trump isn't an opportunist who stands for nothing unless he benefits from it.