Anti-gay activists are lobbying Democrats to back Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh with US President Donald (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty)
Anti-gay activists are behind efforts to convince red state Democratic Senators to support Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
LGBT activists fear that the President’s right-wing Supreme Court pick, who replaces retiring centrist Anthony Kennedy, will demolish the court’s fragile majority on LGBT rights after several narrow 5-4 rulings.
As Kavanaugh faces a tight confirmation battle, anti-LGBT activists are leading lobbying operations to convince Democratic Senators in Republican-controlled states to back the President’s pick.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty)
The anti-gay National Organisation for Marriage is leading efforts on the issue.
In a mailout to supporters seen by PinkNews, the group explained: “NOM [has] launched a nationwide petition to help our supporters contact six key Democratic US Senators who could be pivotal to the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court.
“When you sign our petition, NOM will send an email on your behalf to each of the six Democratic Senators we are targeting—Joe Manchin (WV), Heidi Heitkamp (ND), Joe Donnelly (IN), Doug Jones (AL), Claire McCaskill (MO), and Jon Tester (MT)—letting them know that you and countless other Americans want them to vote to support Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.”
The group explicitly confirmed they see this as a way to undermine LGBT rights, explaining: “Confirming Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court is essential to create a path forward to restoring marriage to our nation’s laws.
“Judge Kavanaugh has been on the federal bench for over a decade and has authored over 300 opinions during that time. He’s proven himself to be a solid conservative and constitutionalist, someone who interprets constitutional questions based on the text of the constitution itself and the intent of the framers at the time the provision was crafted.
“I am convinced that such a judge would never allow something like gay ‘marriage’ to stand because it is an illegitimate and anti-constitutional concept.”
NOM added: “Normally, a US Senator might not care much about what voters in other states feel about an issue, but in this case each of these Democratic Senators are worried about the impact their confirmation vote might have on their political futures.
“Each of these Senators is seeking reelection in states carried by Donald Trump so they are worried about alienating the Trump base and conservatives generally. And each are being inundated by leftist activists from across the country urging them to ignore the fact that President Trump was elected in their state in large part because of his promise to appoint Supreme Court Justices like Brett Kavanaugh, people with a proven record of upholding the constitution and refusing to legislate from the bench to impose their own personal viewpoints.”
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh with US President Donald Trump (Getty)
LGBT activists have underlined the threat that Kavanaugh could pose to LGBT rights, dismantling a fragile majority on equal marriage, discrimination protections, transgender rights, and ‘freedom to discriminate’ lawsthat are likely to come back before the court over the next few years.
Human Rights Campaign Legal Director Sarah Warbelow said in a statement: “Trump’s recent nomination of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court is a direct threat to the constitutional rights of everyday Americans and for the LGBTQ community in particular.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh with US President Donald Trump (Getty)
“Kavanaugh has a troublingly lengthy, far-right pedigree, and he was hand-picked by anti-LGBTQ, anti-choice groups in an explicit effort to undermine equality. This nomination threatens to erode our nation’s civil rights laws, block transgender troops from bravely serving this nation, and issue a license to discriminate against LGBTQ people in every aspect of American life.
“If confirmed, Kavanaugh will undoubtedly bring a dangerous brand of ideological partisanship that has no place on the Court.”
