Donald Trump has proven over and over again that he is opposed to LGBTQ rights and protections. Despite that, there is a group of ultra-wealthy conservative gays who have surrounded him during his second term as President. They use the few pro-gay actions of Trump’s past, like allowing the Log Cabin Republicans the honor of paying to host an event at Mar-A-Lago, as proof of his allyship. Advocate Senior Editor John Casey described these ‘A-Gays’ as:
“a grotesque display of hypocrisy, delusion, and self-importance. These poor excuses for gay men have chosen to bow before the very administration that is taking a knife to the LGBTQ+ community.”
These ‘A-Gays’ include individuals who have either paid Trump with zealot-like loyalty, or his favorite of cash, to be included in his circle. They include: former leader of the Log Cabin Republicans, Charles Moran, who is now the associate administrator for external affairs for the National Nuclear Security Administration; Peter Thiel, the tech billionaire who helped fund both Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s campaigns; long-time Republican political pollster Tony Fabrizio; former public relations consultant Richard Grenell, who is now the interim Kennedy Center President; Jacob Helberg who donated $1 million to Trump’s 2024 campaign, and who in return was nominated as Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment by Trump, and now serves as a commissioner for the U.S.—China Economic and Security Review Commission, and others. NYT reporter Shawn McCreesh wrote,
“They argue that the battle for gay rights has basically been won, and that there has never been a Republican as friendly to the gays as Donald J. Trump.”
