Melania Trump is set to hold her first major political event of the year at Mar-a-Lago later this month: a fundraiser for Log Cabin Republicans, an LGBT Republican organization.
According to Politico, which obtained a copy of the invitation, at the April 20 event the Log Cabin Republicans will launch a program to target voters in swing states.
The fundraiser will mark a return of sorts to the public eye for the former first lady, who has been conspicuously absent from campaign events (not to say politics in general) as her husband runs for re-election. When asked by a reporter last month whether she would join Donald Trump on the campaign trail, she said, “Stay tuned.”
The Trumps have had ties with the Log Cabin Republicans for years. Melania Trump was the guest of honor at its Spirit of Lincoln gala in 2021, where she received an award. Donald Trump also spoke at the same event in 2022.
The Log Cabin Republicans, which bills itself as “the nation’s largest Republican organization dedicated to representing LGBT conservatives and allies,” occupies an awkward position in the conservative movement. The organization has publicly clashed with the anti-LGBTQ stances of various factions of the GOP and prominent Republicans, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Yet it has also, at times, avoided discussing the GOP’s assault on trans rights and tried to align itself with anti-trans outrage, as it did when it objected to the coincidence of Easter and the Transgender Day of Visibility. The April fundraiser will take place amid some of the GOP’s fiercest attacks on LGBTQ rights — including from Donald Trump — as Republican lawmakers enact anti-LGBTQ book bans, push anti-trans legislation in their states and escalate transphobic rhetoric.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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