How Will Attorney General Nominee be on Queer Issues?
William Barr, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, claims he will protect LGBTQ rights, but was unclear on a question regarding whether one chooses sexual orientation.
According to New Now Next, Barr answered these questions when he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month. Even before this hearing, there was already trepidation about Barr because he once expressed that the “homosexual movement” gets treated better than Catholics and made comments implying that queer people don’t need to be respected.
Must watch: Senator @CoryBooker questioned Attorney General nominee William Barr about a 1995 article he wrote condemning LGBTQ-inclusive laws.
Barr’s response was deeply disturbing. #StopBarr pic.twitter.com/IpqW2IQ2Bx
— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) January 17, 2019
He did say in the hearing that he feels LGBTQ people face discrimination. However, he also added that, in his opinion, “the issue [of ] whether other federal laws, such as Title VII, provide such protections [discriminatory protections for queer people] is subject to ongoing litigation.”
More to the point, he also would not “agree that an individual cannot choose or change their sexual orientation, any more than an individual can choose or change their race or national origin.”
The confirmation hearing for William Barr, Trump’s latest attorney general nominee, is in progress. Barr, like many Trump nominees that came before him, has a long anti-LGBTQ history. (Surprise, surprise ????)
The Trump Accountability Project has more: https://t.co/xJQrcUdvg1 pic.twitter.com/7VrnEqoz31
— GLAAD (@glaad) January 15, 2019
With all that in mind, it doesn’t look like Barr is going to have queer people’s best interests at heart, despite what he says.
What's Your Reaction?
