Ian McKellen: Trump ‘Un-American’ If He Fails to Protect LGBT Rights

Sir Ian McKellen says it would be “very un-American” if President Donald Trump failed to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the United States.

In an interview with Variety, the X-Men star said if President Trump is, in fact, rolling back LGBT rights, “it’s appalling and quite unnecessary and very un-American.”

“The gay rights movement began in America. It began in San Francisco, it began in Stonewall, the city where Donald Trump was born and thrived,” McKellen said.

The White House website removed its LGBT page soon after Trump was sworn into office. The Trump White House has not acknowledged June as Pride Month, as former President Obama did, and in February, the Trump administration reversed Obama-era regulations granting public students to use the bathrooms and showers of the gender with which they identify.

McKellen, who has been openly gay for decades, says the president is a “very bad communicator” which makes it hard to believe anything he says.

“I can’t follow Mr. Trump,” McKellen said. “I don’t always understand what he says and when I do, I have to admit later that I got it wrong because he changed his mind or changed his mind about what he said. He’s a very bad communicator, at least to me. Get more straightforward, Donald. And then we can take you seriously.”

The Oscar-nominated actor is no stranger to criticizing Trump.

McKellen joined protesters standing against Trump in January at the Women’s March on London.

The Women’s March in London was the longest I have been on. See the rest of my message attached. pic.twitter.com/q7QC4Jvg0S

— Ian McKellen (@IanMcKellen) January 22, 2017

Referring to Trump as “President Breaking Wind,” McKellen said the president must not go “unchallenged.”

“The Marches worldwide were a good beginning,” McKellen wrote on Twitter. “Some who fear him say ‘give the man a chance.’ OK — he’s started by removing LGBTQ people, climate change, and state funding of the arts from POTUS’s website. He’s had his chance.”

 

Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson