Donald Trump turns 73 next week. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty)

An evangelical group has praised Trump for ‘draining the swamp’ of LGBT people.

The American Family Association, an influential ultra-conservative pressure group, put out a release promoting a ‘petition’ in support of Trump today.

The group praised Trump for ‘draining the swamp’ through recent policies rolling back LGBT rights.

It says: “President Trump recently made several attempts to drain the D.C. Swamp.

“Thank you for going against the political establishment and the progressive agenda.”

It adds: “Thank the president for banning those who identify as transgender from serving in the military”.

The AFA also thanked the President for “using the Department of Justice to declare sexual orientation is not a Civil Right”.

Trump enraged LGBT activists last week by announcing a ban on transgender people serving in the US military.

In a string of Twitter posts, the President claimed that the military “cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender would entail”.

Meanwhile, his Justice Department filed a legal brief arguing against legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The Justice Department intervened in a discrimination case, to argue that civil rights laws should not protect gay workers from discrimination.

The department, led by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, argued that the 1964 Civil Rights Act – which outlaws discrimination based on a number of characteristics – does not provide any protections for gay people, despite outlawing sex-based discrimination.

If the administration’s view is upheld by the courts, it could have a chilling effect – effectively declaring open season for discrimination across the country.

Sarah Warbelow, Human Rights Campaign Legal Director, said in a statement: “Attacks against the LGBTQ community at all levels of government continue to pour in from the Trump-Pence Administration.

“In one fell swoop, Trump’s DOJ has provided a roadmap for dismantling years of federal protections and declared that lesbian, gay, and bisexual people may no longer be protected by landmark civil rights laws such as the Fair Housing Act, Title IX, or Title VII.

“For over a decade, courts have determined that discrimination on the basis of LGBTQ status is unlawful discrimination under federal law.

“[The administration’s] filing is a shameful retrenchment of an outmoded interpretation that forfeits faithful interpretation of current law to achieve a politically-driven and legally specious result.”