Artist: Ron Amato

Gay In Trumpland 16

Artist statement: Beginning with the selection of a running mate who is unabashedly anti-gay, to a series of presidential nominations of people with histories of anti-gay agendas, the current president and administration of the United States has engaged in a war against the LGBTQ community. After years of the our community making steady gains in employment, housing and education rights, as well as legal recognition of same-sex relationships, this administration is continually dismantling those gains. The obliteration of policies and programs designed to protect the rights of LGBTQ people is systemic and widespread. Many in the administration, and many of the current president’s supporters, would prefer we just go away, hide or deny our very identity. At the core of this is their repudiation of us as sexual beings building loving relationship with partners of our choice. This photo series is a visual expression of our community getting pushed back, denied basic protections under the law and being expected to forego the basic human rights of loving and community building.