A prominent group representing LGBTQ+ conservatives says a video shared by Ron DeSanti’s presidential campaign ventured into homophobic territory by criticizing rival Donald Trump for his past support of gay and transgender people.

The DeSantis War Room Twitter account shared the video on Friday, the last day of LGBTQ+ Pride Month in June. It shows Trump at the 2016 Republican National Convention saying he would do anything [his] power to protect our LGBTQ citizens. Trump pledged protection from terrorism weeks after the Pulse nightclub, a gay bar in Orlando, Florida, was attacked in one of the deadliest mass shootings in US history.

The video also highlights T-shirts that read LGBTQ for Trump sold by the former president’s campaign, and his previous comments saying he would be comfortable with Caitlyn Jenner, the transgender former Olympic decathlete, who used every bathroom in Trump Tower, and with transgender women. one day entering the Miss Universe pageant, which he owned at the time.

The video then switches to dark, thumping music and images of Florida Governor DeSantis trailing Trump by wide margins in polls for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

It shows headlines about DeSantis signing the most extreme anti-trans laws in modern history and a draconian anti-trans toilet bill. The footage is juxtaposed with video of muscular, shirtless men and several Hollywood actors, including Brad Pitt wearing a leather mask from the movie Troy.

Rounding off Pride Month, let’s hear from the politician who did more than any other Republican to celebrate, DeSantis campaign tweeted with the video.

The video immediately drew criticism from LGBTQ+ conservatives, including the Log Cabin Republicans.

Today’s message from the DeSantis campaign War Room is divisive and desperate. Republicans and other common-sense conservatives know that Ron Desantis has alienated swing-state and younger voters, the group said in a tweet, adding that DeSantis was extremely rhetorical…just ventured into homophobic territory.

The group said the rhetoric of Florida governors will lose hard-won victories in critical races across the country. This old playbook has been tried in the past and failed repeatedly. The tweets also said DeSanti’s naive policy views are dangerous and politically stupid.

Jenner noticed and accused DeSanti’s campaign of using horribly divisive tactics!

DeSantis has hit a new low, she tweeted.

The DeSantis campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday.

The video comes as Republicans wade into increasingly hostile anti-LGBTQ+ territory, focusing on Pride celebrations and transgender rights and passing legislation to restrict drag shows.

That rhetoric is starting to figure prominently in the GOP presidential campaign that was absent from recent primaries, including in 2016, when Trump generally presented himself as a supporter of LGBTQ+ rights.

DeSantis focused on anti-LGBTQ+ legislation before entering the White House race. He signed a ban on K-12 instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as a ban on gender-affirming care for minors. He targeted drag shows, limited discussion of personal pronouns in schools, and demanded that people use bathrooms that matched the gender they were assigned at birth. He also went after President Biden for displaying the Pride flag at the White House last month.

Trump himself pledged in a speech on Friday that on his first day in office he would sign executive orders to cut federal money for schools that promote transgender insanity, and instruct federal agencies to stop promoting sex or gender transition at any age. to strike. Healthcare providers who provide gender-affirming care to minors should be considered in violation of federal health and safety standards and lose federal funding, he said.

Both Trump and DeSantis have also spoken out against transgender women participating in women’s sports, calling gender-affirming care for minors mutilation.

At the Trumps rally in Pickens, SC, on Saturday, a reference to Pride month was made by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) booed by the crowd.

The rainbow belongs to God, she said.

While such rhetoric appeals to the GOP’s far-right base, it threatens to alienate the more moderate and swinging voters who generally determine the outcome of the general election.

The video, originally posted by the @ProudElephantUS account, was shared hours after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled that a Christian graphic artist can refuse to design wedding websites for same-sex couples.

The dissenting opinion of liberal judges said the decision would mark gays and lesbians for second-class status.