Anonymous Iowa Mailer 'Thanks' Donald Trump For Supporting LGBTQ+ Rights

An anonymous group is sending out flyers in Iowa thanking former President Donald Trump for “standing up for LGBTQ rights” in what is likely the latest instance of dirty tricks and misinformation on the campaign trail.

The flyer, which was reported Saturday by the progressive website Bleeding Heartland, features prominent rainbow Pride flags and calls Trump a “transgender trailblazer” for allowing a transgender woman to compete in a 2012 Miss Universe pageant.

It also cites the warm reception Trump received at a gala for Log Cabin Republicans, a conservative LGBTQ organization, at his Florida estate in 2022. In remarks at the event, the 2024 GOP presidential front-runner claimed that “we are fighting for the gay community, and we are fighting and fighting hard,” Politico reported.

The flyer urges recipients to contact Trump through his office to tell him “to keep fighting for” the LGBTQ community. The back side of the mailer says that “Donald Trump stood up for MARRIAGE EQUALITY and TRANS RIGHTS” ― a claim that runs counter to his actual record, which includes rolling back protections for trans people, nominating anti-LGBTQ rights judges and more. The mailer adds that “many Republican leaders are fighting against” pro-LGBTQ policies

It’s unclear who is behind the mailer. It was paid for by a group called Advancing Our Values, which was registered with the Iowa secretary of state’s office as a nonprofit organization just two weeks ago, according to Bleeding Heartland.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump’s leading rival for the GOP nomination, has employed a similar tactic of portraying Trump as an LGBTQ+ ally.

In honor of Pride Month, DeSantis’ campaign recently posted a video highlighting Trump’s 2016 promise to “protect our LGBTQ citizens” while touting the Florida governor’s laws targeting the LGBTQ+ community. DeSantis’ campaign called Trump “the politician who did more than any other Republican to celebrate” LGBTQ+ rights.

DeSantis also accused Trump of flip-flopping on the issue ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

“I think identifying Donald Trump as really being a pioneer in injecting gender ideology into the mainstream — where he was having men compete against women in his beauty pageants — I think that’s totally fair game because he’s now campaigning saying the opposite, that he doesn’t think that you should have men competing in women’s things like athletics,” DeSantis said.

Republicans have launched a major offensive against transgender rights in recent months, advancing legislation in Congress and in many states targeting LGBTQ+ people. Nearly every 2024 GOP presidential candidate has joined in, an issue that has eclipsed opposition to same-sex marriage as the top rallying cry on the right.

Trump this year vowed should he become president again to “ban men from participating in women’s sports,” to sign an executive order that would prohibit federal agencies from promoting “sex or gender transition at any age,” and to push for legislation requiring the government to only recognize only genders assigned at birth.