LGBT and black reporters left off White House Christmas party guest list for first time in years

The Trump White House has excluded LGBT and black reporters from its annual media Christmas party.

It is the first time since President George W. Bush that LGBT reporters have been left off the invite list, and the first time in 20 years that black groups have been excluded.

Chris Johnson, the chief political and White House reporter for the Washington Blade, one of the world’s oldest LGBT publications, is among those uninvited.

(Photo by Al Drago-Pool/Getty Images)

The first Mr Johnson knew of his awol invite was over Thansgiving.

“My first reaction was I assumed it must have been an oversight,” Mr Johnson told The Independent.

After emailing White House officials, he was passed between numerous spokespeople, none of which could answer his question.

“It is consistent with the White House press secretary not calling on me during the on-camera press briefings,” he told the newspaper, noting that he had been called on just twice in the last six months.

He believes that the issue over the invite is “just kind of consistent with the policy of the administration to exclude LGBTQ people”.

(Photo by Astrid Riecken/Getty Images)

April D Ryan, the White House correspondent and DC bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks, who is black, was also excluded from the invite list.

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