The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, has criticized three of
President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet picks.
Trump has picked Georgia Rep. Tom Price
as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Betsy DeVos as Secretary
of Education and Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General.
HRC criticized these three Republicans
for their “troubling anti-LGBTQ records.”
Price, the group wrote, “earned a
score of 'zero' on the past three HRC Congressional Scorecards,” a
measure of a lawmaker's support for LGBT rights.
Price's record includes voting against
the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act,
repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, federally funded needle exchange
programs, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and reauthorization
of the Violence Against Women Act, and voting for a constitutional
amendment that would define marriage as a heterosexual union. Price
called last year's historic Supreme Court finding that gay and
lesbian couples have a constitutional right to marry a “sad day for
marriage.” He has also opposed the Affordable Care Act (also known
as Obamacare), a woman's right to choose and the Justice Department's
guidance to schools on transgender students' right to use the
bathroom of their choice, calling it “absurd.”
“Representative Tom Price has a long
record of undermining equality,” said HRC President Chad Griffin.
“As Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, it
will be his job to serve all Americans – something he’s spent
years avoiding as a United States Congressman. Tom Price must
immediately clarify what his plans are when it comes to ensuring the
health and safety of LGBTQ Americans.”
Betsy DeVos and her family have worked
to deny gay couples the right to marry, funneling millions of dollars
into groups, including the National Organization for Marriage (NOM)
and Focus on the Family, and campaigns against marriage equality.
HRC said that Sessions' appointment “is
in stark contrast with Trump's pledge to be a 'president for all
Americans.'”
Sessions' record includes voting
against the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention
Act, repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act and reauthorization fo the Violence Against
Women Act, and voting for a constitutional amendment that would
define marriage as a heterosexual union. Sessions is a co-sponsor of
the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), legislation that would
undermine the Supreme Court's Obergefell decision. He has
also opposed the Voting Rights Act and immigration reform.
“It is deeply disturbing that Jeff
Sessions, who has such clear animus against so many Americans –
including the LGBTQ community, women and people of color – could be
charged with running the very system of justice designed to protect
them,” said Griffin. “When Donald Trump was elected, he promised
to be a president for all Americans, and it is hugely concerning and
telling that he would choose a man so consistently opposed to
equality as one of his first – and most important – cabinet
appointees.”