Donald Trump has announced his decision to run for US President again in 2024. On Tuesday, November 15, Trump spoke to a room full of Republicans in Mar-a-Lago days after many of the midterm candidates he supported lost across the country. In addition to claims about election fraud, his speech included a transphobic announcement stating that, if elected, he will not “let men… participate in women’s sports”.

Sarah Kate Ellis, CEO of GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ+ media advocacy organisation, shared a statement regarding Donald Trump’s announcement, saying: “GLAAD documented more than 200 attacks against LGBTQ people throughout the Trump-Pence administration.  It was an administration defined by anti-LGBTQ actions and rhetoric and policy that empowered white supremacists and fueled racism, xenophobia, antisemitism, and misogyny.

“The unmistakable message from the 2022 midterms is that Americans value freedom, support the democratic process, and reject the divisive policies of the recent past. GLAAD urges the media to include former President Trump’s record against LGBTQ equality in their campaign reporting.”

During his presidency, GLAAD monitored Trump’s attacks against the LGBTQ+ community through their Trump Accountability Project and tracked over 200 occurrences of dangerous policies and statements. The Human Rights Campaign denounced Trump’s “hateful and discriminatory policies” that continue to contribute to violence against LGBTQ+ people.

The unmistakable message from the 2022 midterms is that Americans value freedom, support the democratic process, and reject the divisive policies of the recent past. GLAAD urges the media to include former President Trump’s record against LGBTQ equality in their

— Sarah Kate Ellis (@sarahkateellis) November 16, 2022

After being elected to his first presidential term, Trump immediately attacked the rights of the LGBTQ+ community by reversing protections the Obama administration had implemented for trans students. Trump also removed healthcare protections for transgender patients, banned trans soldiers and service members living with HIV from the military, and allowed federally-funded homeless shelters to discriminate against transgender people based on the shelter’s “religious beliefs”.

Throughout his four years in office, Trump also appointed anti-LGBTQ+ federal judges, stacked the Supreme Court with anti-LGBTQ+ justices, and removed inclusive language and resources from government websites.

The Trump administration also repeatedly impeded government efforts to collect essential LGBTQ+ demographic information by intervening in the Census collection and eliminating questions about sexual orientation and gender identity from the Department of Health and Human Services surveys which made it difficult for federal programs to recognise and identify LGBTQ+ needs.

As President, Donald Trump was impeached twice by the House of Representatives, the second time being after he incited a riot and staged an attempted coup to remain in office after he lost his re-election campaign in 2021. Although Trump has announced his candidacy for 2024, early data suggests that Republicans in several key battleground states favour Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over Trump, who also holds extreme anti-LGBTQ+ views.

Last week, The US elected a historic number of queer candidates to Congress. If Donald Trump wins the Republican primary, he will likely be running against President Joe Biden in 2024.