In an interview with The New York
Times, comedian Roseanne Barr claimed that President Donald Trump
isn't opposed to LGBT rights.
The 65-year-old Barr this week returned
to television with a new season of her 90s sitcom Roseanne on
ABC. An estimated 18 million people tuned in to watch the return of
Barr's blue-collar heroine, Roseanne Conner, who, like Barr, is a
Trump supporter.
“Considering that Trump opposes many
of the principles that you and Roseanne Conner have stood for, how
can you support him?” the Times asked.
“No, he doesn't, I don't think he
does,” Barr
responded. “I don't think so at all. I think he voices them
quite well.”
“I'm thinking of abortion rights,
same-sex marriage rights, labor protections ---”
“He doesn't oppose same-sex
marriage,” Barr said, then, in response to the interview's
assertion that Trump “has not come out in favor of it,” she
added: “He does. Yes, he does. He has said it several times, you
know, that he's not homophobic at all.”
While Trump
has said that he believes the matter is “settled,” he has yet
to endorse such unions, and he has surrounded himself with people who
are vocally opposed to LGBT rights, including Vice President Mike
Pence, HUD Secretary Ben Carson and Energy Secretary Rick Perry, to
name a few. In at least one interview before the election, Trump
made it clear that he's with opponents of same-sex marriage.
Speaking to the Christian Broadcasting Network's (CBN) David Brody,
Trump said that opponents of such unions can trust him. “I think
they can trust me on traditional marriage,” Trump
told Brody.
On the campaign trail, Trump pledged he
would sign the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), a federal bill
which seeks to undermine marriage equality by protecting people who
oppose such unions based on a “sincerely held religious belief or
moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as a union
of one man and one woman.”
And as president, Trump appointed Neil
Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. The
National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has called Gorsuch's
confirmation a step toward overturning the high court's
“illegitimate” decision in Obergefell,
the 2015 landmark ruling that found that gay and lesbian couples have
a constitutional right to marry.
While giving a speech on infrastructure
in Ohio on Thursday, Trump said that he had called Barr to
congratulate her on her successful return. “[The ratings] were
unbelievable,” Trump said. “Over 18 million people. And it was
about us.”