Melania Wanted to Light White House in Rainbow Colors, President's Staff Overruled

In June 2015 the White House was lit in pride colors for the first time by the Obama administration to celebrate the Supreme Court's same sex ruling and Gay Pride. But the gesture was not repeated during the next four years while Donald Trump was in the White House.

There was, though, an attempt to do so initiated by First Lady Melania Trump, the Washington Blade reported in an exclusive report, this past June but was likely shot down by chief of staff Mark Meadows, who was a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus while in Congress.

"Meadows had a significant role, one Republican source said on condition of anonymity, in ensuring the Trump White House ignored Pride Month, which is why President Trump didn't send out a tweet to recognize the annual LGBTQ celebration as he did in 2019. It wasn't immediately clear whether Meadows weighed in specifically on shutting down the rainbow lighting proposal at the White House," writes the Blade.

The gesture would have occurred during a Pride month that saw events cancelled because of the coronavirus, but saw spontaneous Black Live Matters demonstrations after the death of George Floyd on May 25.

Right before the election the First Lady showed her support for the LGBTQ community in a video for the Log Cabin Republican's Outspoken project. "I was shocked to discover that some of these powerful people have tried to paint my husband as anti-gay or against equality," she said in the video. "Nothing could be further from the truth. Donald loves helping people, and he loves seeing those around him and his country succeed."

The Human Rights Campaign issued the following statement about the report:

"This news is just too little too late and directly contrary to 4 years of discriminatory and oppressive anti-LGBTQ policies from the Trump administration. As an example, rather than acknowledging the existence of Pride Month, the Trump-Pence administration used the month of June to significantly heighten their aggressive attacks on LGBTQ people -- releasing new rules that sanction discrimination against LGBTQ patients and sharing plans to restrict transgender people's access to emergency shelters.

"This election, LGBTQ people made their voices heard loud and clear, turning out in record numbers to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. We look forward to an administration that will stand with our community from day one."