“He even challenged his skeptics to — and I quote — ask the gays. Well, since he asked, here goes,” Chad Griffin said. | Getty HRC president: ‘Trump struggled to read the letters L-G-B-T-Q’

Donald Trump is no friend of the LGBTQ community, the head of a major civil rights advocacy group said Thursday, pointing to Trump’s struggle to even read those letters off a teleprompter as evidence.

Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin blasted the Republican presidential nominee for claiming to be a champion for gay rights for political gain. In the wake of last month’s mass shooting at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Trump cast himself as the LGBT candidate, even declaring to “do everything in my power to protect our LGBT citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology” when he accepted the GOP nomination in Cleveland last week.


“While the nation mourned, Donald Trump strutted before the cameras and exploited our national tragedy. He had the audacity to tell the American public that he was the true champion for LGBTQ people in this race and that our community would be better off with him in the White House,” Griffin said during his fiery address at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Thursday. “He even challenged his skeptics to — and I quote — ask the gays. Well, since he asked, here goes.”

Griffin contrasted the drastically different approaches to equality between Trump and Hillary Clinton. Trump, he said, “has threatened to strip away our rights,” “promised to legalize Kim Davis-style discrimination in all 50 states” and chose Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, “who tried to divert HIV funding in order to finance the abusive practice of so-called conversion therapy,” as his running mate.

But Clinton has proven to be a fighter for the voiceless and has promised to sign equality legislation, stop the spread of HIV and end the violence the LGBTQ community still faces, Griffin said.

“And long before Donald Trump struggled to read the letters L-G-B-T-Q off a teleprompter last week, Hillary Clinton stood before the United Nations and boldly declared that gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights,” he added.

“And I want to remind Donald Trump of one more thing: The LGBTQ community is as diverse as the fabric of our nation. We are Muslim, we are Jewish, we are women, we are black, white and Latino,” he said, rattling off groups the businessman has attacked throughout his campaign and life as a public figure. “We are immigrants and we are people with disabilities. And when you attack one of us, you are attacking all of us, and that, my friends, is why together, we are all with her.”

The Democratic convention has made a point of showcasing diversity, and on Thursday made history by having Sarah McBride become the first transgender person to speak at a major party’s national convention.

“Hillary Clinton understands the urgency of our fight. She’ll work with us to pass the Equality Act, to combat violence against transgender women of color and to end the HIV and AIDS epidemic once and for all,” McBride said, echoing Griffin before expressing her confidence in a better future for transgender people. “Many still struggle just to get by. But I believe that tomorrow can be different.

“Tomorrow we can be respected and protected,” she continued. “Especially if Hillary Clinton is our president, and that’s why I’m proud to stand here and say that I’m with her.”

Bianca Padró Ocasio contributed to this report.