Donald Trump has gotten a taste of his own medicine and on his 74th birthday too.
On Sunday, Twitter gave Trump the ultimate birthday gift with the top trending hashtag #AllBirthdaysMatter. The social platform was rife with tweets denouncing Trump for his response to the nationwide protests following George Floyd’s murder. Many messages even praised former President Barack Obama on Trump's birthday instead, with some declaring June 14 to be Obama Day. Others used the hashtag to honor the lives of the many Black men, women, and trans people who have died at the hands of the police.
Generally, the hashtag was an obvious spin on the phrase All Lives Matter and a nod to the ongoing fight against police brutality and systemic racism. The saying has been wielded by critics of the Black Lives Matter movement, who are ignorant to the implications of the movement (or, for some, who are just plain racist).
As declared by proponents of Black Lives Matter, the phrase and movement doesn’t discount the lives of others or value Black life over any others. However, it does carry that Black lives in the former and current state of the world aren’t as valued and are in danger; Thus, now is the moment to fight for those lives.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has continued to make alarming decisions this week, starting with stripping more rights from the LGBTQ+ community. On Friday, the four-year anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting victims, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it had decided on a rule that will reverse a policy that prevented health care providers from discriminating against transgender patients.
The Trump administration said it will enforce the nondiscrimination clause “by returning to the government’s interpretation of sex discrimination according to the plain meaning of the word 'sex' as male or female and as determined by biology.”
