Anti-LGBT groups are thrilled Trump banned the word ‘transgender’
(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Anti-LGBT groups are thrilled with the news that the Trump administration banned some government agencies from using the word ‘transgender’.
It was alleged last week that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is a federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services, had been banned from using seven words in official documents being prepared for next year’s budget.
The list of proscribed words that employees were warned not to use at a meeting includes “transgender” and “diversity”, as well as “science-based”.
Donald Trump, in front of a tree (Getty)
The CDC director Dr Brenda Fitzgerald has insisted that “there are no banned, prohibited or forbidden words at the CDC”, but conspicuously failed to deny that officials were advised to stop using the word transgender.
And according to a report from the Washington Post, at least two other agencies have also been banned from using the terms.
The news has naturally thrilled anti-LGBT activists who have been pressing the Trump administration to accept hardline stances.
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council poured praise on the President for the action.
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In the group’s newsletter, he wrote: “For once, it’s not what the Trump administration is saying that’s raising the media’s eyebrows — it’s what they aren’t saying.
“Heading into the weekend, the Washington Post sparked an interesting debate over the power of words when it reported that officials at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) were asked to avoid certain terms in their budget requests.
“The Post treated the news as if it were an unusual — and even troubling — development.
“As usual, the liberal media ginned up plenty of outrage over the changes, despite the fact that this is a standard practice of every administration.”
Editorial note: It’s really not.
Perkins continued: “President Obama understood better than anyone that if you control the language, you control the debate. In fact, we’ve watched the far Left use this strategy for years on everything from religious liberty to life.
“‘“Abortion” became a “choice.” “Liberals” are “progressives.” And suddenly, it’s not “same-sex marriage” but “marriage equality.”
Tony Perkins, President of the Family Researcil Council (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“Framing the debate has always been one of the biggest turf wars in politics. Obama chose his rhetoric carefully, enlisting the politically-correct media to help.
“And ironically, no one batted an eye. When he changed terms and rules unilaterally, there was no uproar in the mainstream press. They simply accepted it as the administration’s prerogative.
“Now, with a conservative in the White House, it’s suddenly news that Republicans would want the agencies to use the conservative lexicon [and] accurately reflect the president’s ideology and agenda.”
He insisted: “Tone and lingo change with every administration. Why it’s a headline now is anyone’s guess.
“Ultimately, the CDC is doing with language what President Trump has done with policy: bringing the country back to reality.
“”This is the return to normalcy Americans voted for — a change in how we view the world that’s in line with most people’s core values. If the Left doesn’t like it, it’s up to them to persuade the country otherwise!”
Tony Perkins is a close confidant and informal adviser to Donald Trump, consulting directly with the Republican on religious issues during his election campaign.
Trump has heaped praise on Perkins, who has been condemned by the Jewish Anti-Defamation League for repeatedly linking gay rights to the Holocaust and comparing gay people to Nazis.
After coming under fire for a speech that misquoted the Bible, Trump said: “Tony Perkins wrote that out for me… Tony Perkins is a very, very good guy.
“He actually wrote out the Two, he wrote out the number ‘Two Corinthians’.
“I took exactly what Tony said, and thought, Tony has to know better than anybody.”
When he’s not moonlighting as a Trump speechwriter, Tony Perkins is head of the Family Research Council – listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center because its extreme anti-gay views.
Perkins has made a number of extremely disturbing claims about gay people in the past, insisting Christians are “going to find ourselves being loaded in cattle cars like it was when the Nazis took over before we realize we are in such terrible danger”.
He claims that Christians are being sent to “camps”, and that soon gays are “going to start rolling out the boxcars to start hauling off Christians”.
The SPLC notes he compared gays to paedophiles, saying: “While activists like to claim that paedophilia is a completely distinct orientation from homosexuality, evidence shows a disproportionate overlap between the two. It is a homosexual problem.”
Perkins has also claimed that letting gay people serve in the Boy Scouts will increase the risk of child molestation.
Of course, when it comes to actual molestation, Perkins is much more hush-hush.
He was recently implicated in the alleged cover-up of sexual assault allegations against a GOP official.
Wesley Goodman, a married Republican lawmaker in Ohio with a long history of campaigning against LGBT rights, resigned last week after being caught having gay sex in his office.
But the official’s tryst was not the only charge against him.
Allegations have been made that while a candidate for office, Goodman sexually assaulted an 18-year-old boy at a fundraiser event, unzipping his trousers and fondling him him.
The boy’s stepfather reported the incident to Perkins, who organised the conference.
According to the Washington Post, Mr Perkins assured him that the incident would “not be ignored nor swept aside”.
The newspaper reports that Mr Perkins “privately asked Goodman to drop out of the race”, but was ignored.
After this, Mr Perkins apparently decided not to speak out publicly, and Goodman subsequently went on to win the seat in the Ohio House of Representatives.
Mr Perkins declined requests to comment from both the Post and the New York Times on the story.
