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Trump Adds to Collection of Anti-LGBTQ Cabinet Nominees With Rick Perry Nomination
Today, President-elect Donald Trump announced he would nominate Rick Perry to lead the Department of Energy. Perry brings with him a long history of opposing LGBTQ equality, both as Governor of Texas and a former candidate for president.
As a candidate for president, Perry not only consistently opposed LGBTQ equality, but he’s used his opposition to LGBTQ rights as a campaign issue against other candidates. Perry released a notorious campaign ad in 2011 saying there was something “wrong” with our country when “…gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school.”
Prior to that, Perry has long opposed marriage equality. Perry supported a ballot measure to ban marriage equality in Texas, supported a federal constitutional amendment banning marriage equality nationwide, and has attacked judges who have ruled against marriage bans. He even defied a Department of Defense rule that granted LGB service members access to spousal benefits.
As Governor, Rick Perry suggested that Texans who supported marriage equality should move to California, telling NPR, “If, you know, you want to live in a state that has high taxes, high regulations, that is favorable toward smoking marijuana and gay marriage, move to California.”
Perry also defended then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence’s right to discriminate law — putting LGBTQ people at risk of discrimination and costing the state millions of dollars. And just like Mike Pence, Rick Perry also attacked the Obama Administration for fighting for LGBTQ equality abroad.
Click here to read more about the troubling anti-LGBTQ records of three other Trump nominees: Representative Tom Price, Ben Carson and Senator Jeff Sessions.
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