In June, the White House celebrated Great Outdoors Month, National Ocean Month, and National Homeownership Month — but not Pride Month.
The White House ended June on Friday by stubbornly refusing to offer even the most perfunctory act of symbolic recognition to a section of the US population, and its struggle for civil rights.
Despite attempting to position himself as a friend to the LGBT community during the election, President Donald Trump opted not to issue a statement or proclamation marking June as Pride Month.
Had he done so, Trump would have been the first Republican president to recognize pride. Yet Trump, who made history by becoming the first GOP presidential nominee to mention the LGBT community in his convention acceptance speech, remained silent.
“I’m most certainly disappointed,” Gregory T. Angelo, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, a prominent LGBT conservative group, told BuzzFeed News.
“I think it would have been a strong, symbolic, and historic gesture if he’d put out a statement,” Angelo said, noting his group had urged the administration to do so.
BuzzFeed News contacted the White House every single day in June to ask if a statement or proclamation was forthcoming — and if not, why not.
It took two weeks for spokesperson Kelly Love to respond. “We will let you know if anything official goes out,” she wrote in an email on June 14.
Responding to a subsequent June 15 emailed inquiry as to whether the White House was taking the unusual step of waiting until the end of the month to mark pride, Love again replied, “We will let you know if anything official goes out.”
Three email inquiries later, Love responded, “As I've said, if we put anything official out you'll be the first to know.” This was the last time a White House spokesperson responded to a request for comment about Pride Month.
Presidents routinely use their executive powers to issue symbolic proclamations to mark days, weeks, or months they deem to be of national value. They can also release statements through the White House press office.
So far during his presidency, Trump has issued such proclamations with zeal, marking big-ticket events for different communities — such as National African American History Month, Women’s History Month, and Jewish American Heritage Month — as well as smaller, more focused events such as National Poison Prevention Week, National Charter Schools Week, and National Hurricane Preparedness Week. (See the full list of the President Trump’s proclamations below).
In 1999, on the 30th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising that spawned the LGBT civil rights movement, President Bill Clinton became the first president to issue a proclamation marking June as Pride Month. “I encourage all Americans to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that celebrate our diversity, and to remember throughout the year the gay and lesbian Americans whose many and varied contributions have enriched our national life,” Clinton declared. He issued one again in 2000.
While President George W. Bush, a staunch opponent of marriage equality, didn’t issue any pride statements or proclamations during his presidency, they were resurrected under President Barack Obama, who also hosted receptions and lit up the White House with rainbow lights after same-sex marriage was legalized.
While Trump did not mark Pride Month, his daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka Trump, tweeted her best wishes.
