Corporations cashing in on Pride month—a time to celebrate and center the LGBTQ community—is nothing new. You’re likely to see big name companies printing rainbows and broad statements of support (“love is love,” “equality,” and the like) on every other T-shirt and tank top. For sure, that’s great in terms of visibility. It can be particularly important for young people to have exposure to LGBTQ messaging that’s actually positive. On the flip side, corporations aren’t always donating these proceeds to help the community it’s making money off of. But I digress.
The latest person to cash in on Pride month? Apparently, Donald Trump.
The shirt in question, available at Donald J Trump dot com (not linked out), is now discounted to $24 (plus shipping) and comes in sizes from S to 3XL. It’s also hypocritical and tasteless.
While Trump gave some vague nods to LGBTQ equality during his campaign, his administration has been a danger to the queer community. Some highlights?
Most famously, the Trump administration issued a ban against transgender people serving in the military. Early in his time in office, his administration discretely removed information about LGBTQ rights from the official White House website. Just a few days ago, a proposal from his administration came to light that seeks to allow federally-funded homeless shelters the right to deny transgender people.
Remember when his administration wanted to define sex on a “biological” level? This gets a lot of science fundamentally wrong in the first place but is inherently transphobic regardless.
Make no mistake: The Trump administration is consistently attacking LGBTQ people. And this doesn’t even touch on Mike Pence’s disgustingly queerphobic background, loosely veiled behind his religious beliefs.
But back to the shirts. As Kate Sosin at NewNowNext first pointed out, these designs aren’t new. The first appeared on Trump’s site when he was campaigning. However, they’re recently dropped in price from $30 to $24, which may be an attempt to make them more desirable in time for Pride. Because who doesn’t want to wear Trump merch to their local parade?
Instead of linking to the merchandise, here’s an embed that shows the design:
Oh, and the cherry on top? Trump hasn’t issued a statement for Pride in the two years he’s been in office. Wonder why?