HRC releases web video highlighting Jeff Mateer’s anti-gay statements
Watchers urged to share video in effort to pressure senators to oppose Trump judicial nominee
The Human Rights Campaign has released a web video highlighting a multitude of anti-LGBTQ statements made by Jeff Mateer, President Trump’s nominee for a federal judgeship on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
HRC previously called on Mateer to withdraw his nomination after video and audio of anti-LGBTQ statements came to light, including one in which he said allowing a transgender youth to use the bathroom matching their gender identity was part of “Satan’s plan.”
The video contains a clip of that speech, as well as Mateer’s past comments opposing marriage equality and comparing it to marrying inanimate objects, polygamy, and bestiality. Also included are clips of Mateer decrying same-sex adoption, saying that LGBTQ people do not have rights under the Constitution, and advocating for the right of adoption and foster care agencies that receive government money to discriminate against same-sex parents.
Mateer has also made other comments that weren’t shown in the video, including lamenting the passage of laws that prohibit the practice of conversion therapy on minors and advocating for religious exemptions that would allow people and businesses to refuse service to LGBTQ individuals.
The video urges those who watch it to share it with their friends and on social media, perhaps in hope of derailing Mateer’s nomination, which requires Senate confirmation. HRC and other LGBTQ groups have previously urged LGBTQ individuals to contact their senators to oppose Mateer’s nomination. Some Republican senators, including Mateer’s home state senator, John Cornyn, have expressed reservations about his comments, but thus far none have gone on record opposing him.
Watch HRC’s video below:
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