Top Democrat US Senator will vote against Donald Trump’s anti-LGBT Army Secretary nominee
The top Democrat in the US Senate has said he will vote against President Trump’s anti-trans pick for Army Secretary.
Chuck Schumer, a Senator for New York, said he would vote against Mark Green.
He also urged his colleagues to vote against Green for comments he has made about trans people and other groups.
Schumer, in a statement released on Wednesday, said other Senators should vote against Green’s nomination.
However, Republican control of the Senate means it is unlikely Green’s appointment will be voted down.
Outgoing Army Secretary Eric Fanning made history when Barack Obama appointed him to the role, becoming the first out man to head a military branch.
Donald Trump nominated Green as a replacement for Mr Fanning last month – trying to replace the openly gay official with the anti-gay Tennessee Republican state senator.
Green is the author of a Tennessee bill that would grant businesses unlimited rights to discriminate without any action from state agencies, invalidating any non-discrimination protections.
He has also attacked Obama’s civil rights protections for transgender children as an example of “tyrannical government” and said that being transgender is a “disease”.
Meanwhile, he encouraged the state of Tennessee to defy the Supreme Court of the United States to continue denying same-sex couples the right to marry, and in an unearthed radio rant about transgender people called for “evil to be crushed”.
Green in April hit out at “liberal left” critics of his long record of anti-LGBT comments and policies.
On Facebook, Green directly linked refers to a transgender woman as a “man-turned-woman” and repeatedly brands them “man”.
It goes on to suggest it was inappropriate for a gay person to hold the post of Army Secretary because they “serve over troops who were morally opposed to such behaviour”.
Speaking about trans people previously, Green said: “If you poll the psychiatrists, they’re going to tell you that transgender is a disease.
“You ask about how we fix it ― how we get the toothpaste back in the tube… I gotta tell you ― it’s going to start with me being the salt and the light to the people around me.
“If you really want to bring this back to who’s at fault, we got to look a little bit inwardly. We’ve tolerated immorality. And we’re reflecting light.”
Senator John McCain also said he would challenge the anti-LGBT record of Donald Trump’s nominee for Army Secretary, Mark Green.
Green’s nomination was last week condemned by Olympian-turned-reality star Caitlyn Jenner, a former supporter of President Trump.
