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WASHINGTON, D.C., February 28, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Heads exploded on both ends of the political spectrum this week as President Trump and his administration showed two signs of affirming homosexuality during his trip to India. 

And while these actions might be the result of political calculations or nothing more than an expression of well-intended human kindness, the president and his staff need to be aware of the deeper implications of their messaging.

While the realignment and redefining of the Republican Party under Donald J. Trump has brought significant pro-life and religious liberty victories, with Christians having their rights protected when facing off against LGBT demands for universal tolerance, in an odd juxtaposition, homosexuality is simultaneously being promoted by the president in arenas outside the courts but very much within social media and popular culture.

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Time-Lapse of The White House on June 26th 2015 Screenshot

Infelicitous in India #1

As he headed to India last weekend, President Trump retweeted a posting by gay activist Peter Tatchell praising Bollywood (India’s version of Hollywood) for releasing a film featuring a gay romance not long after homosexuality had been decriminalized in that country.

The president tweeted a single word: “Great!”

Some social conservatives were angered and disappointed at the seeming endorsement of homosexuality, while pro-LGBT organizations seized the opportunity to condemn the president for what they see as his anti-LGBT record while in the White House.

“What is the message to the world when the president of the United States — a self-proclaimed Christian — applauds a morally conservative nation for abandoning its principles to celebrate homosexuality?” wondered Scott Lively, in a commentary at WND.

“What kind of mentality justifies the normalization of homosexuality to an entire nation’s children as a political tactic?” he asked. “I feel nauseous just thinking about it.”

Others took to Twitter to express their reservations about the president’s message:

GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, was unhappy with the President’s tweet for wholly different reasons, saying, “There have been 136 attacks on LGBTQ people through policy and rhetoric since the Trump Administration took office,” while providing a link to its “Trump Accountability Project,” which catalogues his so-called “anti-LGBTQ statements and actions.”

It should be noted that GLAAD has had a long and deep interest in Hollywood, having rewarded the production of LGBT-friendly movies and TV programming for the last 30 years with its “GLAAD Media Awards.”

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Time-Lapse of The White House on June 26th 2015 Screenshot

GLAAD also has a vested interest in maintaining Donald Trump as its Boogeyman-in-Chief in order to fundraise and maintain some semblance of ongoing relevance in a world that, for the most part, now considers all things LGBT as sacred cows.

Bollywood may well go the way of Hollywood and begin introducing sympathetic LGBT characters and storylines in order to normalize homosexual and transgender behaviors. The president should not have tweeted, “Great!”

Decriminalizing homosexuality in order to save gays and lesbians from death or cruel and inhuman punishment is laudable, but contributing to the world’s strange perception that homosexuality is a good thing — a “Great!” thing — is counterproductive to human health and happiness for the citizens of any nation.

In the 1989 gay manifesto, After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the ’90s, the authors informed gays and lesbians, “You can forget about trying right up front to persuade folks that homosexuality is a good thing.” And yet now, thirty years later, we have a Christian man’s man occupying the White House saying “gay” is not only “OK,” but “Great!”

Infelicitous in India #2

Earlier this week, as President Trump entered the world’s largest cricket stadium — packed to capacity for what turned out to be perhaps the largest pro-Trump rally ever — the Village People’s “Macho Man” blared over the sound system. 

For most people, the song is a fun, upbeat sampling of dance music from the 1970s, much like the Village People’s “YMCA,” a song that over the years has been played at baseball stadiums, school events, and wedding receptions because all ages enjoy it.

But for those engaged on either side of the culture wars, the Village People’s songs are recognized as gay anthems that have played a prominent role in the rising acceptance of gay culture.    

While “YMCA” and “Macho Man” are associated with good clean fun, their origins are not remotely wholesome. 

The Village People formed in New York City’s Greenwich Village during the disco era, a time when the Manhattan neighborhood was a haven for the city’s same-sex attracted population. 

But the late 1970s disco era that spawned both songs immediately preceded the early 1980s onslaught of the AIDS epidemic, a plague that decimated the world’s homosexual population, which had recently decided that sexual contact should be guiltless, free, and frequent.

Both “Macho Man” and “YMCA” were released by the group in 1978. 

For most, the only words from the song they remember are “Macho, macho man, I gotta be a macho man,” but there’s much more to the song than that:

Body, body wanna feel my body
Body, baby, such a thrill, my body
Body, wanna touch my body
Body, baby, it’s too much, my body
Body, check it out, my body, body
Baby, don't you doubt, my body
Body, talking about my body, body
Baby, checking out my body

Listen here

Every man wants to be a macho, macho man
To have the kind of body always in demand
Joggin’ in the mornings, go man go
Workouts in the health spa, muscles grow
You can best believe that
He’s a macho man
Glad he took you down with anyone you can
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey

You can tell a macho, he has a funky walk
His western shirts and leather, always look so boss
Funky with his body, he’s a king
Call him Mister Ego, dig his chains
You can best believe that, he's a macho man
Likes to be the leader, he never dresses grand

Every man ought to be a macho, macho man
To live a life of freedom, machos make a stand
Have your own lifestyles and ideals
Possess the strength of confidence, that’s the skill
You can best believe that he's a macho man
He’s the special god son in anybody's land
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey

In 1980, on the precipice of the AIDS disaster, the Village People starred in a movie alongside Bruce Jenner — now known in some circles as “Caitlyn” Jenner, Valerie Perrine, and Steve Guttenberg, titled Can’t Stop the Music

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Time-Lapse of The White House on June 26, 2015 Screenshot

The song “YMCA” plays in the background in a homoerotic scene (warning: there is a lot of nudity in this video) which takes place in the gyms, swimming pool, and locker room of a YMCA.

The unvarnished homoeroticism employed in the sequence vividly displays the real meaning and intent of the scene.

The song is anything but benign, wholesome fun for the whole family as it has come to be regarded.

Interestingly, at the very end of the video, all fifty or so male performers collapse onto each other as if dead. One has to wonder how many “young men” were led to horrendous early deaths from AIDS after having watched the highly sanitized version of gay life portrayed in this movie.

Many, including the president, may have happily forgotten the tragic early history of AIDS.

I haven’t and never will, having volunteered in the early 1990s to feed, bathe, and change diapers for indigent men dying of AIDS at Mother Teresa’s Gift of Peace in Washington, D.C. I watched many men wither away and die after suffering gruesome illnesses.

Recently, President Trump has, more than once, indicated through Twitter that he could vote for a gay “married” man like Pete Buttigieg for president, but I’m not sure he has thought through all the ramifications of that — of what the constant barrage of official White House photos of two men kissing, embracing, and holding hands would do to our nation’s young people.

We may never know exactly what President Trump meant by this tweet, but long after the election is over, it will stand not as an endorsement of an opposition candidate, but of Buttigieg’s sexuality and his genderless, non-conjugal “marriage.”

President Trump and official Washington aren’t the only ones who need to be far more cautious about promoting the acceptance and celebration of homosexuality, even if that promotion is subtle and unspoken. 

At the 2020 March for Life, the “YMCA” song was played over the loudspeakers as people gathered at the rally site. Watch as hundreds of pro-lifers immediately launch into the YMCA dance moves, likely not aware of the homoerotic intent of that song and its choreography.

To contact the President via The White House, click here

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Doug Mainwaring is a journalist for LifeSiteNews, an author, and a marriage, family and children's rights activist.  He has testified before the United States Congress and state legislative bodies, originated and co-authored amicus briefs for the United States Supreme Court, and has been a guest on numerous TV and radio programs.  Doug and his family live in the Washington, DC suburbs.