Trump Taps Advocate For Anti-LGBT Policies for Health and Human Services
President-elect Donald Trump has tapped U.S. Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) to be the administration鈥檚 nominee for director of Health and Human Services.
Price, a medical doctor, has a and has been working to repeal the Affordable Care Act since its passage. The ACA (also known as 鈥淥bamacare鈥�) provided coverage to millions of Americans, but has been roundly pilloried by many conservatives.
In 2006, Price voted in support of a constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality nationwide. In 2015, with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage, , 鈥淚t is not only a sad day for marriage, but a further destruction of our entire system of checks and balances.鈥�
Price has also voted against repealing the so-called 鈥淒on鈥檛 Ask, Don鈥檛 Tell鈥� law, which prohibited the military from discriminating against the closeted LGBT persons while simultaneously forbidding them from serving openly in the military; he also voted against hate crimes legislation and against a version of the , a federal law that would have prohibited discrimination in hiring and firing on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in companies with more than 15 employees.
And, as , Price participated in a 2013 conference call hosted by Tea Party Unity, a group founded by far right pastor of Vision America, confirming for one caller the negative health and fiscal impact of legislation supporting LGBT rights. That caller was Rabbi Noson Leiter, who blamed Hurricane Sandy on New York鈥檚 marriage equality law.
鈥淭he consequences of activity that has been seen outside the norm are real and must be explored completely and in their entirety prior to moving forward with any social legislation that would alter things,鈥� Price told Leiter.
Price鈥檚 voting record during his time in office indicates that he is , and has voted consistently to ban federal health coverage that includes abortion, to restrict interstate transport of minors to get abortions, has voted to grant 鈥減re-born鈥� equal protection under the 14th Amendment聽and has also voted no to expand research to embryonic stem cells. In addition, Price voted no on reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, no on four weeks of paid parental leave for federal employees, no on grants to Black and Hispanic colleges; no on expanding the Children鈥檚 Health Insurance Program; no on giving mental health full equity with physical health聽and yes on denying emergency medical care for lack of Medicare co-pay.
A member of the AMA, Price has聽-conservative/Libertarian (AAPS), based in Tucson, Ariz. Founded in 1943 to battle socialized medicine and an alleged government takeover of medicine, some of its former leaders were members of the antigovernment John Birch Society. The group was alleged to have had around in 2014.聽Its general counsel is Andrew Schlafly, son of the late Phyllis Schlafly, who was a scion of conservative and conspiracist ideologies. Andrew Schlafly is also a homeschool advocate and a founder of the website Conservapedia, which like public schools make homosexuals; atheists tend to be fat, which impedes brain function; liberals don鈥檛 think lying is wrong and evolution is racist and fundamental to Nazism and communism, as well as the idea that evolutionists no longer debate creationists because, the site says, creationists tend to win the debates.
The AAPS鈥檚 beliefs are often at odds with evidence-based modern research about public health. It publishes a that peddles 聽including:聽that聽HIV does not cause AIDS; that abortion is linked to breast cancer; and that vaccines cause autism. The included an article about gender dysphoria by Michelle Cretella, director of the anti-LGBT hate group American College of Pediatricians and another by anti-trans psychiatrist .
The group鈥檚 executive director, , is a contributor to the far-right conspiracist site World Net Daily (WND), where she that there is a case for not having health insurance.聽鈥淥ne option is to just do without,鈥� she says, because it鈥檚 the patient鈥檚 choice, and 鈥渘ot President Obama鈥檚.鈥� And if you have a medical emergency, her advice is to pay out of pocket and if you have to, sell your assets to do that if you can鈥檛 afford it. 鈥淭he right to be uninsured is a necessary safeguard,鈥� she wrote, and 鈥渘ot a threat to the system.鈥�
In , she argued against public accommodation for trans people, referring to them as 鈥渢ransgenders鈥� and wondering what will happen to health and 鈥渟trength and lung capacity鈥� if a man transitions to a woman? She further argued that the 鈥渞eal agenda鈥� of trans accommodation is to undermine the family, stigmatize Christianity and traditional morality 鈥渁nd to break down all resistance to a totalitarian state that dictates belief and behavior.鈥�
The American Medical Association (AMA) for HHS director, despite his stances that聽run counter to the organization鈥檚 positions. The聽AMA fully , for example.聽
The statement was signed by Dr. Patrice Harris, a Georgia psychiatrist who is聽chair of the AMA Board of Trustees.聽Harris served as head of the Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness in Atlanta, but amidst intense criticism after the agency allegedly squandered millions in HIV funding. In 2016, a gay former employee of the Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness that he filed after he was fired by Harris in 2013 after he complained about anti-gay harassment and bullying on the job.
The AMA statement in support of Price鈥檚 nomination was met by an immediate outcry from physicians. As of yesterday, almost 5,000 doctors had signed an in opposition to the AMA鈥檚 support of Price鈥檚 nomination.
