Demonstrators march along U Street on Aug. 23, chanting, “Free D.C.!” (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Log Cabin Republicans of Washington, D.C., the local chapter of the national LGBTQ Republican organization, has emerged as the only known local LGBTQ group to endorse President Donald Trump’s controversial action earlier this month to federalize the D.C. police department.
Several other local and national D.C.-based LGBTQ political groups have released statements expressing strong opposition to the Trump action, which involves sending in National Guard troops to patrol D.C. streets to fight what the president has called an out-of-control crime wave in the nation’s capital.
“The Log Cabin Republicans of Washington, D.C. commend the President’s decisive leadership in taking control of a crisis that local officials have failed to address,” the group says in a statement. “For decades, Washington, D.C. has suffered under the de facto one-party rule of Democratic leadership,” it says.
“The result has been a steady rise in crime, a decline in public safety, and a culture of complacency toward lawlessness,” the statement continues, adding that D.C. leaders have shown a “blatant unwillingness” to address the issue.
“We thank President Trump for stepping in where local leadership has failed,” D.C. Log Cabin President Andrew Minik says in the statement. “This bold action sends a clear message: the safety of Americans in our nation’s capital is non-negotiable.”
Among the local LGBTQ political groups that have expressed strong opposition to the Trump action and the position of Log Cabin Republicans is the Capital Stonewall Democrats.
“This is nothing more than a political stunt designed to distract and divide,” said Capital Stonewall Democrats President Howard Garrett in a joint statement released with the National Stonewall Democrats organization. “Flooding our neighborhoods with federal forces and seizing control of our police department will not make us safer – it will undermine trust, escalate tensions, and strip away D.C.’s right to govern itself,” he said.
The joint statement by the two LGBTQ Democratic groups also challenges Trump’s claims that crime in D.C. is at an all-time high.
“This is not about safety, it’s about control,” the statement says. “The facts are clear: Violent crime in D.C. is down 26 percent from last year. Robberies are down 22 percent, and homicides have fallen 18 percent,” the statement continues. “These numbers tell the truth – not the fear-driven narrative being pushed from the White House to justify militarizing our streets and commandeering our local police force.”
GLAA D.C., formerly known as the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, expressed the organization’s opposition to the Trump action in a statement.
“This unprecedented show of force is theater designed to strike fear into our hearts,” the GLAA statement says. “Donald Trump is making reckless power plays while D.C.’s community is experiencing lasting harm. Donald Trump must be stopped by a mass movement of people who recognize the danger he poses to the freedoms we all cherish.”
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest national LGBTQ advocacy organization based in D.C., believes the Trump effort to take over the D.C. police force and to send in National Guard troops will have a negative impact on the LGBTQ community, according to Jarred Keller, the HRC Senior Press Secretary.
“By injecting shameful attacks on the LGBTQ+ community alongside threats of occupation in other major American cities, it’s clear this attempted takeover is about much more than the streets of D.C.,” Keller said in a statement to the Washington Blade
“It’s about control and intimidation,” he said. “His actions endanger all families and threaten all our freedoms. We call on all D.C. residents, and all Americans, to stand united in rejecting this blatant abuse of power.”
Kierra Johnson, president of the D.C.-based National LGBTQ Task Force, added her voice to the opposition to the Trump D.C. law enforcement federalization action.
“What is happening is an outrageous targeting of those who live, work in and love the Nation’s Capital,” Johnson said in a statement. “The Trump administration’s actions, taking control of the Metropolitan Police Department and deploying untrained military and government agency armed forces is beyond reprehensible,” Johnson said.
“The National LGBTQ Task Force, whose headquarters has been in D.C. for decades, understands this for what it is – an attack on our city, our people, and our democracy,” she says in the statement. “What we are experiencing now is nothing less than an attempt to occupy our streets and terrorize our residents.”
The D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition, which consists of multiple organizations that advocate for resources supporting LGBTQ residents, called the Trump action an “attack on D.C. autonomy.”
“This is a blatant violation of D.C.’s right to self-govern and a dangerous escalation rooted in political theater, not public safety,” the coalition said in a statement. “We stand with local community leaders and other advocates fighting for D.C. to be free.”
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