Trump's Deputy Press Secretary is Openly Gay – and Thinks the Prez is Just Peachy

Judd Deere – a longtime apologist for GOP anti-gay antics, and Donald Trump's current deputy press secretary – makes no secret of being gay. Nor does he acknowledge any contradiction in being a gay man working for an administration that has gone out of its way to elevate faith-based discrimination over equal protections under the law for LGBTQ Americans.

Deere laid out his beliefs and justifications in an interview with Buzzfeed, holding himself up as proof that the president is not homophobic (although also admitting he was not entirely certain that Trump knows anything about his personal life) and brushing aside concerns about Trump's opposition to the Equality Act (which Deere dismissed as being riddled with political "poison pills") and the way the Trump administration has systematically worked to marginalize, render invisible, and erase LGBTQs – especially trans Americans, who Trump abruptly declared via tweet two years ago would no longer be allowed to serve openly in the military. (Deere claimed in his Buzzfeed interview that the ban had been "developed through extensive studies within the military by senior military officials," a claim that directly contradicts the astonished reaction to the Twitter-announced ban from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joseph Dunford, who said he had no prior knowledge of any such ban.)

Trans people also face legal erasure through a proposed policy from the Trump administration's Department of Health and Human Services that would legally define gender as fixed at birth and determined solely by a person's genitalia – a deeply unscientific approach that ignores evidence showing that while a trans person's body may reflect one sex, his or her brain may be wired in a way consistent with the gender with which a trans individual identifies.

As for the president's catering to the anti-LGBTQ religious right, Deere told Buzzfeed that Trump was determined to "protect the conscience rights of all Americans" – a claim that can only truly be tested if and when LGBTQ proprietors and contractors begin denying goods and services to heterosexual or to religious-right customers on the basis of "sincerely held" spiritual or moral convictions. When asked about the "wedding cake" issue – shorthand for whether LGBTQs should be deprived of anti-discrimination protections in order to please homophobic vendors seeking to be shielded from such laws by citing their beliefs – Deere offered the idea that anyone looking for a cake for their same-sex wedding should simply look around until they find a vendor willing to transact business with them.

Buzzfeed offered a sharply-worded observation on how openly gay individuals can, and sometimes do, gain acceptance in Republican circles:

Conservatives can be fine having gay Republicans around – particularly white gay men, who reflect the same bloc that makes up Trump's white male base. These gay people enjoy a retractable leash that gives them access to social networks and power – as long as they share other Republican priorities, like a border wall and gun rights, and don't dwell on their sexuality or gay rights. In this arrangement, conservatives can be accommodating to gay people, provided it remains legal to discriminate against them.

In other words, it's no wonder that even if Donald Trump is not personally homophobic, his administration – and the apparatus of the federal government – is increasingly anti-LGBTQ; as Trump continues to take his marching orders from vitriolic anti-gay organizations like Fox News and the Family Research Council, whose president, Tony Perkins, Trump recently installed as the head of the supposedly nonpartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Trump's judicial appointments are another source of deep worry for America's LGBTQ community; recent appointments to the federal bench have seemingly been driven more by ideology (including anti-gay bias) than by experience, ability, or qualifications.

The effects of those judicial appointments extend to the U.S. Supreme Court, where two Trump appointees now reside, resulting in a majority-conservative bench. In this new environment, longtime justice Clarence Thomas – whose confirmation, like that of newest Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh, was rocked by allegations of sexual misconduct – has floated the idea of the Court revisiting, and possibly overturning, its 2015 finding that same-sex couples, like their heterosexual counterparts, cannot be denied access to legal marriage.

To Judd Deere, evidently, none of that is worrisome in the least. Rather, he expressed the opinion that the nation's political problems stem from progressives, and painted Trump as a pro-LGBTQ equality force. "The left really wants to continue to push what I consider to be a disgusting message that LGBT Americans are threatened under this administration," he told Buzzfeed.

Added Deere: "It's just a smear campaign."