{"id":50065,"date":"2017-02-08T20:00:45","date_gmt":"2017-02-09T01:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/glaad-jeff-sessions-confirmation-endangers-lgbtq-americans-nationwide\/"},"modified":"2017-02-08T20:00:45","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T01:00:45","slug":"glaad-jeff-sessions-confirmation-endangers-lgbtq-americans-nationwide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/glaad-jeff-sessions-confirmation-endangers-lgbtq-americans-nationwide\/","title":{"rendered":"GLAAD: Jeff Sessions\u2019 confirmation endangers LGBTQ Americans nationwide"},"content":{"rendered":"

GLAAD: Jeff Sessions\u2019 confirmation endangers LGBTQ Americans nationwide<\/b><\/p>\n

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Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD, the world\u2019s LGBTQ media advocacy organization, issued the following statement after the United States Senate voted to confirm Jeff Sessions as the nation\u2019s next Attorney General.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Attorney General, Jeff Sessions is tasked with leading the Justice Department and advocating on behalf of all Americans, including LGBTQ people. If his discriminatory record is any indicator, workplace and hate crimes protections could be in danger \u2013 and that is a terrifying prospect for the future of equality and acceptance in America.\u201d<\/p>\n

BACKGROUND: Jeff Sessions Endangers LGBTQ Americans Nationwide<\/strong><\/p>\n

Votes against LGBTQ Community<\/em><\/p>\n

2004<\/a> & 2006<\/a>: Senator Sessions voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment, a constitutional amendment that would have made marriage equality illegal.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2009<\/a>: Voted against the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act. <\/strong><\/p>\n

2010<\/a>: Voted against the \u201cDon\u2019t Ask, Don\u2019t Tell\u201d Act repeal<\/strong>, which effectively ended the nation\u2019s ban against allowing LGBTQ Americans to serve in the armed forces.<\/p>\n

2013:<\/a> Voted against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act<\/strong> which bans federally funded service providers from discriminating against LGBTQ victims.<\/p>\n

2013<\/a>: Voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2015<\/a>: Sessions co-sponsored <\/strong>the so-called State Marriage Defense Act<\/strong>, a bill designed to circumvent federal protections for same-sex<\/a> married couples<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2015<\/a>: Sessions co-sponsored <\/strong>the so-called First Amendment Defense Act<\/strong>, which would allow opponents of marriage equality to discriminate against LGBTQ (or even supportive) customers and contractors.
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Outrageous Actions against LGBTQ Americans<\/em><\/p>\n

1996<\/a>: As Alabama\u2019s Attorney General, Jeff Sessions\u00a0reportedly<\/strong>\u00a0fought to stop LGBTQ conference<\/strong>: As Alabama’s attorney general in 1996, Sessions attempted to stop the Southeastern Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual College Conference from meeting at the University of Alabama under a state law passed in 1992 that made it illegal for public universities to fund in any way a group that promotes “actions prohibited by the sodomy and sexual misconduct laws.”<\/p>\n

1997<\/a>: While attempting to defund the National Endowment of the Arts, Sessions\u00a0echoed social conservative claims<\/strong>\u00a0that “the National Endowment for the Arts showed explicit homosexual activities on the screen using a $31,000 grant.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

2006<\/a>: Sessions claimed\u00a0the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning sodomy laws “divorced morality from law.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

2009<\/a>: Sessions once referred\u00a0to a gay<\/a> sexual orientation as having “gay<\/a> tendencies.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

2010<\/a>: In midst of the Prop 8 court hearings, Sessions condemned<\/strong>\u00a0California federal judge for finding the state’s discriminatory marriage ban to be unconstitutional<\/strong>, claiming he “was citing his own views, emotions and feelings” rather than the law.<\/p>\n

2010<\/a>: Sessions opposed<\/u>\u00a0the nomination of US Supreme Court justice Elena Kagan in large part because of what he perceived as her LGBTQ support. <\/strong><\/p>\n

2010<\/a>: While opposing the nomination of a DC Superior Court judge<\/strong>, Sessions\u00a0cited (and placed on record)\u00a0letters from viciously anti-LGBTQ groups like the Traditional Values Coalition, which faulted the nominee for her “radical lesbianism, anti-marriage” views<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

2015<\/a>: Following the historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling which granted marriage equality across the nation, Sessions implied<\/strong>\u00a0the US Supreme Court was not allowed to find a right to marriage equality and that he might continue the fight<\/strong>: “…what this court did-they can’t to do, nothing in the constitution for such a result no mention of marriage in the constitution,’ says Sessions. It’s an issue that evokes a lot of passion on both sides and may not be over.”<\/p>\n

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February 8, 2017<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Issues:\u00a0<\/div>\n