By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, Aug 25 (Reuters) – Log Cabin Republicans, a conservative gay rights group, said it is ending advocacy and support for transgender causes, with the decision coming at a time when Republican President Donald Trump’s administration has acted to limit transgender rights.
• Ross Hemminger, the conservative gay rights group’s board president, said in an online essay that the board of directors has voted for its advocacy to “concentrate specifically on issues of sexual orientation and conservative values — in other words, we are an LGB advocacy organization.”
• Hemminger, who said Log Cabin Republicans first embraced transgender rights issues in 2015, wrote that the transgender movement now pushes a “radical gender ideology.”
• Trump has cast the gender identity of transgender people as a lie, issued a series of executive actions targeting their rights and stated in a directive that the U.S. government will recognize only two sexes: male and female.
• He has also launched probes against educational institutions and threatened to cut their federal funding over transgender policies.
• Some rights groups have condemned moves by Trump and governors in Republican-led states, saying such actions in recent years have created an unsafe climate for the transgender community.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
