Trump hands top job to Republican who was too homophobic for Congress
Trump has handed a senior position to a lawmaker who was too homophobic for the House of Representatives.
Scott Garrett served in the U.S. House of Representatives for New Jersey’s 5th district from 2003 until he lost his seat last year.
A strong opponent of LGBT rights, Garrett crashed in his 2016 re-election campaign after a contentious battle over homophobic remarks.
Garrett had refused to pay his dues to the National Republican Congressional Committee, explaining in a GOP congressional meeting that he would boycott the national committee because it had supported gay candidates.
According to a Politico report at the time, Garrett alleged that it had “actively recruited gay candidates and supported homosexuals in primaries”.
His remarks lost him a string of his largest big-business donors, with Goldman Sachs among the Wall Street giants to end their support for Garrett in the wake of the homophobia row.
Without the support of big-budget donors, Garrett was unseated by Democrat Josh Gottheimer, who took 50.5% of the vote to Garrett’s 47.2%.
However, Garrett has been saved from electoral oblivion by President Trump, who intends to nominate him to head the Export-Import Bank.
Garrett previously called for the federal agency to be abolished.
He joins a number of other horrendous anti-LGBT politicians handed senior roles by Trump.
Most recently, the President nominated Tennessee Senator Mark Green as Army Secretary, replacing Eric Fanning, the first openly gay man to hold the post.
Green’s anti-LGBTQ record includes saying that being trans is a “disease” and equating trans people to rapists and pedophiles.
He has also encouraged the state of Tennessee to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples, called Obama’s guidance protecting trans students an example of “tyrannical government” and authored a bill which would grant businesses unlimited rights to discriminate without being censured.
LGBT activists vowed to oppose Green’s nomination.
HRC president Chad Griffin said: “Mark Green is a danger to every LGBTQ soldier bravely serving our country.
“[Green] has used his office in Tennessee to push ‘license to discriminate’ legislation and undermine the basic civil rights of LGBTQ people at every turn.
“It would be unconscionable to put this man in charge of our Army.”
