Human Rights Campaign Responds to Senate Confirmation of Dangerous Trump-Pence Nominee

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 -- The Human Rights Campaign issued the following news release:

Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, responded to the Senate's confirmation of Steven Menashi to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

"This is yet another extremist anti-LGBTQ nominee put on the federal bench by the Trump-Pence White House with the approval of Senate Republicans," said HRC President Alphonso David. "Steven Menashi has made a career of promoting anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, and has used whatever platform he's handed -- from his college newspaper, to legal publications, to a seat at the table at the White House -- to undermine our community's fight for equality. As a federal judge, Menashi will have the opportunity to rule on numerous cases addressing some of the most critical questions regarding equality, fundamental rights and access to justice. This confirmation is the latest attack on the rights of LGBTQ people, and it shows why 2020 is more important than ever. Equality Voters will hold this administration accountable next November."

Menashi's troubling writings beginning in college include a piece promoting a gross mischaracterization of advocacy efforts in support of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. In other writings, he has mocked and dismissed efforts at sexual health awareness, abortion rights and reproductive health care, compared affirmative action policies to laws implemented by Nazi Germany, defended campus parties in which white students mocked those of other races and ethnicities and described efforts to promote cultural awareness on college campuses as "leftist multiculturalism."

He also played a role in Trump's White House Immigration Strategic Working Group, which has been responsible for developing the administration's most draconian approaches to immigration, including the family separation policy.

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The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work, and in every community.