LGBT Groups Respond To Trump's Opposition To Equality Act: 'We're Disgusted'

LGBT rights groups on Tuesday responded to the Trump administration's announcement that President Donald Trump is opposed to the Equality Act.

GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) criticized the president for not supporting the Equality Act, which seeks to add protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity to existing civil rights laws.

“We’re disgusted, but certainly not surprised, by Donald Trump’s announcement that he opposes the Equality Act, which is supported by seven in ten Americans and more than two hundred major businesses,” HRC President Chad Griffin said in a statement. “By opposing this common-sense civil rights legislation, Donald Trump is ensuring that LGBTQ people remain at risk of being fired or denied housing in a majority of states. The LGBTQ community, and all Americans for that matter, deserve a president with the courage and decency to sign this bill into law, and we will continue the urgent work to pass the Equality Act and replace Donald Trump with a pro-equality president who will sign it into law.”

The legislation cleared a critical House committee earlier this month and is expected to receive a House floor vote on Friday.

In a 2000 interview with LGBT glossy The Advocate, Trump said that he favored expanding existing civil rights laws to include sexual orientation, as the Equality Act does.

Though the Equality Act also includes gender identity, GLAAD called the president's latest stance a “politically craven flip-flop.”

“President Trump’s opposition to the Equality Act, a bill that would protect hard-working Americans against discrimination, shows the unyielding power that anti-LGBTQ activists like the Heritage Foundation have on this administration,” Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, said in a statement. “LGBTQ Americans will not forget the president’s politically craven flip-flop on this fair and just legislation, which further cements his administration’s legacy of being the most anti-LGBTQ government in recent memory.”

During the 2016 election, Trump claimed that he would be a better “friend” to the LGBT community than Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival. Instead, the president has dismantled Obama-era policies allowing transgender individuals to serve openly in the military and transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice. He's also undermined LGBT rights under the guise of protecting “religious freedom.”