All eyes may be on Tom Price’s confirmation hearing this morning, but there’s another anti-LGBTQ nominee who is facing his own hearing to be the next Secretary of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). His name is Scott Pruitt, and his record is a dangerous one.

While serving as Oklahoma’s Attorney General, Scott Pruitt has been on the frontlines in the fight to oppose the federal government’s guidance that allows transgender students to use public school facilities that correspond to their gender identity.  From calling the guidance an “overreach” to saying it was “violative to common sense,” Scott Pruitt’s consistent opposition has made headlines all last year. Pruitt’s stance is out of touch, factually wrong, and further amplifies discrimination against transgender people.

But Scott Pruitt’s stance isn’t unique among incoming appointees of President-elect Donald Trump. In fact, his positions put him in good company with the many other anti-LGBTQ nominees within the Trump Administration, including Betsy DeVos, Congressman Tom Price, and Vice President-elect Mike Pence. Check out their records here. 
 

The Pruitt Record: On the Frontlines Against Transgender Equality

Pruitt Told Anti-LGBTQ Activist Tony Perkins That The Obama Administration’s Guidance On Transgender Equality Is “So Objectionable And So Violative Of Common Sense.” [Audio] (Comments begin at 28:25.)

In a Letter to the Obama Administration, Pruitt Claimed the New Guidance on Transgender Students was an “Overreach.” “We believe that your actions today are unlawful and that they represent the most egregious administrative overreach to date. You have taken a public policy issue that must, by our constitutional design, be worked out in the laboratory of democracy and enforced it on all people. And you have done so through a misuse of the spending power.” [Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General, [5.13.16]

Following His Letter, Pruitt Joined a Lawsuit Seeking to Block the Guidance for Transgender Students. “Pruitt, on the state’s behalf, joined 10 other states on Wednesday in filing a lawsuit to block implementation of Obama administration guidance on school policy regarding transgender students’ use of restrooms, locker rooms and other facilities typically separated by gender. The lawsuit was filed the day after legislation addressing the issue failed in a House of Representatives committee. On Thursday, the House passed by unanimous consent a resolution supporting Pruitt’s lawsuit against what it calls a ‘blatant example of federal government and executive power overreach.’” [Tulsa World, 5.26.16]

For more information on the incoming Trump Administration’s appointees, as well as those who may be in consideration to join his team, visit the Trump Accountability Project. And if you’d like to be involved to take additional action, you can join GLAAD’s grassroots Rapid Response Team. Together, we can fight back and make a difference.  I hope you’ll join us.