Gays for Trump held a ‘Deploraball’ party following last month’s inauguration. Another event is planned for July 4 Weekend. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
The North Carolina-based group Gays for Trump has announced that it plans to hold a “Deploraball” Pre-4th of July Picnic on the National Mall in Washington tentatively scheduled for July 1.
Gays for Trump co-founder Peter Boykin said the group has contacted the National Park Service about obtaining a permit for the event.
“We celebrate Donald Trump’s first days in the White House and his first 4th of July as president,” a statement on the group’s website says. “We are all Deplorables on the Trump Train and let’s have a Deploraball Picnic!” the statement says.
Gays for Trump first adopted the name Deploraball for an LGBT inaugural ball it organized at a hotel in Potomac, Md., on Jan. 20 on the day of Trump’s inauguration.
Boykin said the group is hopeful that the July 1 picnic on the National Mall will draw a large crowd but he is uncertain how many people will turn out.
“Our mission is to increase the amount of LGBT conservative voices in American society,” Boykin said in an email last month to the group’s supporters.
He said that in addition to the picnic Gays for Trump plans to have a presence at the American Conservative Union’s annual CPAC Conference in Washington on Feb. 22, an event that the nation’s most prominent conservative political figures are expected to attend.
Boykin said Gays for Trump is also planning to set up booths at many of the nation’s LGBT Pride festivals in June, including D.C.’s Capital Pride festival.
“If we get protested, that would be sad,” Boykin told the Blade in an email. “But I am sure the media would like to focus on that,” he said. “And that only further proves our cause as we stand up against our own LGBT brothers and sisters for what is right.”
