Gregory G. Katsas worked with the Trump administration on both the trans military ban and the reversal of the Title IX guidance to protect trans students

NEW YORK – GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, released the following statement and background on the anti-LGBTQ record of Gregory Katsas after the Senate Judiciary advanced his nomination for the position of United States Circuit Judge for the D.C. Circuit.

“With the nomination of Gregory Katsas, President Trump and his administration are working to stack the courts with judges seeking to solidify their dangerous anti-LGBTQ agenda into law,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD. “Katsas has admitted to working behind the scenes with Trump on his plan to purge qualified service members who happen to be transgender from the U.S. military and reversing non-discrimination protections for trans youth at school. These deeply troubling actions only scratch the surface of Katsas’ anti-LGBTQ record, all of which must be taken in full account by the United States Senate as reason to reject his advancement to the circuit court bench.”

While the courts have been blocking Trump’s unconstitutional politics, including the recent preliminary injunction that put an immediate halt to his tans military ban, the administration is simultaneously working to stack the courts with judges who are openly hostile to LGBTQ rights. The Senate must be held accountable to challenge these nominees and expose this dangerous strategy which could have long-term effects on civil rights. When Trump first took office there were 114 pending vacancies; since then he has been rushing to appoint judges based on their ultra-conservative viewpoints above their qualifications for the positions with an unprecedented four judicial nominees deemed unqualified for the jobs by the American Bar Association.

Earlier this month GLAAD joined 20 other LGBTQ organizations calling for members of the Senate to oppose the confirmation of Gregory Katsas to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Gregory G. Katsas’ Anti-LGBTQ Record

• Defended the so-called Defense of Marriage Act multiple times in court.
• Openly admits to working on both the Trump administration’s ban on transgender military personnel, as well as the administration’s decision to withdraw DOJ/DOE guidance that outlined protections for trans students under Title IX (pg 8, questions 15 & 16).
• Still insists “there were plausible legal arguments supporting the constitutionality of DOMA”
• Has said it is “self-evident” that “the best arrangement for a child is to be raised by both of the child’s biological parents.”
• Sought out inconsistency with the 2013 Supreme Court cases on Proposition 8 and DOMA: “Having both cases together, the challengers of DOMA making the states rights’ argument I think is going to ring a little bit hollow when one day earlier all of the same people on that side of the issue were making all of the same arguments for why states can not have a more traditional definition of marriage than the federal government,” he said.”
• In a speech to the ultra-conservative Federalist society, called the Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage equality opinion “long on rhetoric and short on…traditional legal reasoning.”
• Has criticized situations where “the government, by application of anti-discrimination or public-accommodation laws, would seek to compel individuals opposed to same-sex marriage on religious grounds to provide some degree of affirmative support to the practice.”