HRC Slams Jeff Sessions Senate Confirmation

Author: Human Rights Campaign (HRC)
Published: 9th Feb 2017 - Updated: 11th Feb 2017
Peer-Reviewed Publication: N/A
Additional References: LGBTQ News America Publications

Summary: Human Rights Campaign condemns confirmation of Sen. Jeff Sessions as U.S. Attorney General.

Main Document

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, condemned the confirmation of Sen. Jeff Sessions as United States Attorney General. Donald Trump's choice of Jeff Sessions to lead the United States Department of Justice places civil rights and equality in jeopardy.

"It's deeply disturbing that Jeff Sessions, who has demonstrated a 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 Chad Griffin, President of the Human Rights Campaign. "The man now in charge of enforcing hate crimes protections doesn't even think they should exist -- or that LGBTQ people need them. The man now in charge of enforcing civil rights laws is a man who has a history of undermining the rights of African-American voters. Our message to Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions is this: we're going to fight any attempt to roll back our rights with every resource that we have. We will not give one inch."

For more, check out HRC's report: Jeff Sessions: A History of Anti-LGBTQ Actions, which includes details about his extensitve history of anti-LGBTQ lawmaking, including:

• Jeff Sessions has repeatedly supported laws that criminalize LGBTQ activity, using discriminatory laws to harrass LGBTQ Alabamans and blasting the Lawrence v. Texas decision, which finally ended the criminalization of same-sex relationships.
• Jeff Sessions supported the discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and believed it was "pretty effective."
• On marriage, Sessions co-sponsored and voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment, saying he would seek "again and again" to pass an amendment to the United States Constitution outlawing marriage equality in every state. Of the 2015 Obergefell ruling, Sessions said it "goes beyond what I consider to be the realm of reality."
• Jeff Sessions has repeatedly opposed hate crimes protections for LGBTQ Americans -- even attempting to insert a poison pill amendment to try to sink the 2009 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
• Jeff Sessions has actively attempted to block some of the most effective methods of preventing HIV and other STIs--specifically safer sex education.
• Jeff Sessions once tried to terminate the National Endowment for the Arts based on its financial support for a lesbian filmmaker.

Added Feb 11th 2017:

The Human Rights Campaign responded to the Trump Administration's decision to withdraw a request to halt an order against the Obama administration's protections for transgender students. This action will effectively continue to halt the protections nationwide.

"After being on the job for less than 48 hours, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has signaled his intent to undermine the equal dignity of transgender students," said HRC President Chad Griffin. "Transgender students are entitled to the full protection of the United States Constitution and our federal nondiscrimination laws. It is heartbreaking and wrong that the agency tasked with enforcing civil rights laws would instead work to subvert them for political interests. Donald Trump must immediately reverse course and direct the DOJ to uphold guidance protecting transgender students."