Rush Limbaugh says nude photos of Melania Trump will help her husband win LGBT votes
by Sara Ritsch
Staff Writer
Risqué photos of Melania Trump from a 1996 modeling shoot were published Monday in the New York Post. The Post’s cover read “Menage a’Trump,” which photographer Jarl Ale de Basseville said related to the French term menage a’trois.
In one of the photos, Melania is pictured with a woman brandishing a whip, and in another she is being held by another woman.
In response to this release, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh said the photos would only help Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential race.
Limbaugh first said the photos would snag the “single, white male vote,” but then went on to add, disparagingly:
“And today, there are – these are, what you would call, girl-on-girl – I think is the, yes, nude, girl-on-girl photos with Melania and other women. I think this probably might wrap up the LGBT vote for Trump.”
Critics of Limbaugh’s overt queer sexualization of Melania say this indiscriminately misguides the societal understanding of lesbian and bisexual women.
Ale de Basseville said about the photos, “I always loved women together together, because I have been with a lot of women who desired the menage a’trois.”
However, three people were not featured in the photos, so the implication of a man’s presence seems to be solely used as a spectator sport.
“Only in a world where the sexuality of queer women belongs to men – through how queer women are portrayed in popular culture and porn in particular – does it makes complete sense that both ‘lesbian-themed’ and ‘menage a’trois’ belong in the same story: the third party here is the man holding a copy of the daily tabloid on the subway,” reads a ThinkProgress.org editorial.
“The use of this particular language suggests that no one at the Post is differentiating ‘bisexual’ and ‘lesbian’ because in this context, it’s only about male entitlement to participate in queer women’s sexuality.”
As for GOP candidate and Melania’s husband Trump, his position on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights has long been either unclear or discriminatory.
He is on record as saying he would “strongly consider” appointing U.S. Supreme Court Justices who would overturn same-sex marriage. On other topics, such as discrimination in the workplace, he has dodged answering any questions.
He has said, however, that he has gay friends.
As for Trump’s LGBT vote, despite Melania’s appearance, a May 2016 Gallup Poll of over 11,000 Americans indicates that only 18 percent of LGBT Americans hold a favorable opinion of him – and only 20 percent of women ages 18 to 49 agree.
Copyright 2016 The Gayly - 8/4/2016 @ 1:10 p.m. CDT