LGBT for Trump

When Donald Trump won the presidential election, the world was stunned. After inciting hatred and violence throughout his campaign, many believed the votes would go to Hillary Clinton, which would have made her the county’s first woman president. Obviously, that did not happen.

Although Trump has claimed to be a Democrat in the past, he ran as the Republican nominee. As we all know, the Republican party is extremely conservative in their ways and generally oppose many LGBT rights such as marriage equality, adoption, and health benefits.

However, Trump did not manage to scare away every LGBT voter. Matthew Schanz, 29, a police officer being one of them.

I received the chance to chat with Schanz and pick his brain on why he voted for Trump.

What was the deciding factor that made you want to vote for Donald Trump?

Being in a profession of law enforcement, officers are fighting a war and we’re losing. Every time you turn on the television, we see that another officer has been shot or paralyzed. Another officer is dead. Then we have to go to a funeral. Police officers are very unified; we’re all brothers in blue.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a partner and we just got married on September 24 of this year and I know Trump and Mike Pence are against that, but at the same time, I feel there is another war going on. The police department and officers who are fighting this are losing. We need to take a stance on that right now. I’m not saying forget about the LGBT fight, just put it on hold for a second.

Were you for Trump from the start?

Back when Hillary tried running for president in 2008, I was actually for her then. When she said she was running again this year, for some reason, I just wasn’t for it.

Different factors come into play, and the whole email scheme. I don’t know what exactly happened with that, and I really don’t care, but at the same time something obviously happened. The FBI opens an investigation then closes it, then hackers end up finding new stuff so the FBI opens a new investigation, and she didn’t really stand for anything.

Trump was all for making America great and he stands for law enforcement which I’m deeply involved in.

What do you hope to see from Trump’s presidency?

The United States is so divided, and I hope he can bring everyone together. I hope he can show the American people that we can be great when we are unified. I think that’s the biggest thing right now. We just all need to stand unified and try to work out our problems and get on the same page. We are heading in the wrong direction which will only get worse.

So what about all of these hate crimes? Do you think Trump can stop this? Because right now they are escalating.

They are escalating right now, especially with the protests out there.

Here’s the thing: People don’t know what Trump is made of yet. People are protesting, and we haven’t seen Trump do anything yet. He’s not in office. People have not given him a chance.

The hate is so strong against him. Even Hillary and Obama said that we need to see what Trump is made of. Let him get in office and let us see what he can do for the American people. I stand for every race, religion, sexual orientation, etc., and I hope that he can bring us all together.

A lot of my friends who know that I voted for Trump have been like, “Thank you for not letting me get married to my partner.” I’m like, there are bigger fights to be won right now. I’m not dissing the LGBT community; there are just some bigger issues right now. We are losing lives.

Have you received any backlash from family or friends?

Oh, yes. Definitely.

As a member of the LGBT community, you’re not frightened at all by a Trump presidency?

No. It’s more Mike Pence that I’m worried about.

Trump is a business guy. He usually sits at the table and lets other people run his company, and I feel like he’s trying to figure out how to do that now which isn’t good. I hope he takes charge, but it’s like I said, Mike Pence is the one I’m really worried about. He’s going to be the one who tries to change things around.

The LGBT community has won some fights, and lost some fights. I’m not saying, “Hey, we should give up.” We can fight some more and that’s the biggest thing we need to keep in mind. We have our numbers out there. We just have to wait until Trump gets in office and see what happens.

Do you think marriage equality could be turned over?

That’s such a tough question. You know, I don’t know. I hope not.

I saw Trump hold up a rainbow flag at one of his rallies, and you know, that takes a lot for someone who doesn’t believe in gay marriage to hold that up. Trump said marriage equality is what it is, and let it be.

Mike Pence, on the other hand, is going to fight it until the end. That is when we are going to have to fight to show him he’s wrong. History is repeating itself. African Americans didn’t have the right to vote, drink from a white man’s water fountain, etc. We are not at the front and we are trying to get to the point where we are as equal as everyone one.

Speaking of the rainbow flag Trump held up at a rally, do you think he was genuinely supporting the LGBT community, or could that have just been a publicity stunt to help his campaign?

It could go either way. It could have been genuine, but it also could not. I think a lot of people think it’s a publicity stunt, but like I said, you don’t know until we get him in office and see what he’s made of. We need to see what he’s going to do.

Do you think we should be concerned by how many anti-LGBT people Trump is appointing to his staff?

I think we should be concerned about that. The more people Trump has on his team who are against gay marriage, I think the stronger we will become. Whenever he wants to change something or make something into law, he’s going to have people backing him, and that’s what we need to watch for.

Like I said, I definitely have feelings for the LGBT community, I want to make that clear. Right now, we are not losing our marriage equality.

I have seen on television people who voted for Trump being pulled out vehicles and beat on. I don’t think that’s right. I think we need to shift our focus on bigger issues such as law enforcement. LGBT rights is a huge issue, but let’s worry about things when they arise.

Do you honestly believe America made the right decision?

I do. I just did not care much for Hillary. I agree with Trump on making America great. That is something big to live up to. He can’t just go out whenever he becomes president and be like, “Hey, I’m overturning this, the Supreme Court had no right.” He has to go through channels. Gay rights are not going to be gone within the snap of a finger. We will be able to voice our opinion and fight for it.

Do you think the outcome would have been different if Bernie Sanders was the Democratic nominee?

Yes, I think Bernie would have won it. I don’t know much about him, but it looks like he is making it a point to let Trump know ahead of time that there are going to be problems if he tries to pick on minorities. I think once Trump gets in office, we will have to play it by ear and see what happens.

How does your partner feel about you supporting Trump?

[Laughs] Well, he didn’t vote at all. He’s always voted before, but he didn’t like either one of them and he’s not going to settle on either one.

What advice do you have for those who are freaking out?

I’ve heard it from my friends, and you know, it’s all hate. It’s just pure hate. People are like, “Trump is going to do this and that,” when he hasn’t done anything right now.

One of my cousins called me. She’s a school teacher, and she had some people from the LGBT community come up to her and voice their opinion on how scared they are. I feel that we have won so much that we shouldn’t be scared. I think we have the ultimate power, and if Trump leads us in the wrong direction, we have the right to impeach him.

We have the right to do many things as citizens of the United States. We do not have to settle.

I really want to emphasize to the LGBT community to wait and see what the outcome is. If it begins to head in the wrong direction, then voice your opinion. There is no need to go out on the street and protest when nothing has happened yet.

Just because you didn’t get your way, you don’t cry about it. You wait and see what happens. You move on. That’s what African Americans did when they were fighting for equal rights — they fought and won. We can do the same. We can stand, united.