The bishop at President Donald J. Trump’s inaugural prayer service on Tuesday was imploring him to “have mercy” on gay, lesbian and transgender children, as well as undocumented immigrants.
“I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” asked Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, leader of the Episcopal diocese of Washington. “There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives.”
Her request came a day after Mr. Trump issued a flurry of executive orders focused on transgender rights and immigration.
Mr. Trump, seated in the front pew, occasionally looked down and Vice President JD Vance, seated in the same row, occasionally glanced at his wife before seemingly raising his eyebrows in surprise.
Bishop Budde later appeared to directly address Mr. Trump’s promise to enact mass deportations and turn away refugees and asylum seekers.
“I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here,” she said.
The direct appeal to Mr. Trump, at the start of the first full day of his presidency, was a remarkable moment at an event that has not historically been political. While clergy members have occasionally delivered subtle messages to new presidents to remind them of their higher duty, Bishop Budde’s candid sermon was a sign of the alarm in Washington and beyond over his immigration agenda and blitz of executive actions focused on gender identity.
The appeal by the pastor clearly grabbed Mr. Trump’s attention. Asked by a reporter later what he thought of the service, Mr. Trump said: “Did you like it? Did you find it exciting? Not too exciting was it?
“I didn’t think it was a good service, no,” Mr. Trump added. “They could do much better.”
In an interview, Bishop Budde said she decided to speak to him directly because “of the fear that I have seen and experienced among our people — people that I know and love, both within the immigrant community and within the L.G.B.T.Q. community, and how terrified so many are.”
She said she was concerned about “the level of license to be really quite cruel” that some people feel now.
“I wasn’t necessarily calling the president out. I was trying to say, ‘The country has been entrusted to you,’” Bishop Budde said. “And one of the qualities of a leader is mercy, right? Mercy. And to be mindful of the people who are scared.”
The sermon came after Mr. Trump began his presidency on Monday with executive orders including one that rescinded a Biden administration order that sought to prevent discrimination on the basis of sex.
Mr. Trump’s new order, the administration said, seeks to defend women against “gender ideology extremism” that allows biological males to undermine their rights and privacy. And definitions it sets forth go further to more explicitly define “sex.”
Under the order signed by Mr. Trump on Monday, male and females would be defined at “conception,” the text states. Females would belong to the sex that produces “the large reproductive cell” at conception, the order says. Males would be defined as the person who “produces the small reproductive cell” at conception.
The order also says that the federal government would no longer recognize “gender identity,” and only “sex” as defined by “an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female.”
The order also prohibits the use of federal funds for any use of “promoting gender ideology” through grants or other government programming, as well as the use of public funding for transition-related medical procedures in prisons.
Mr. Trump also issued multiple immigration-related executive orders on Monday that suspended refugee admissions, severely restricted asylum for migrants and made clear that he intends to deploy the military to the border. The border, however, remains relatively calm after a record number of illegal crossings under the Biden administration. He has also promised to enact mass deportations across the United States.
Throughout his campaign, and during his first time in office, Mr. Trump often portrayed all migrants crossing the border illegally as criminals. While sporadic crimes by migrants have gained national attention in recent years, homeland security officials themselves acknowledge most people crossing the border are fleeing poverty or violence and seeking a better life.
“There are times when he talks of immigrants in broad strokes that feel as if the image portrayed is that all immigrants who are coming into the country are dangerous,” Bishop Budde said. “And I know that’s not true. It’s not true.”
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