{"id":506098,"date":"2020-11-17T19:28:59","date_gmt":"2020-11-17T19:28:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glaad.logalt.net\/tap\/kelly-loeffler\/"},"modified":"2023-04-21T22:29:43","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T22:29:43","slug":"kelly-loeffler","status":"publish","type":"gap","link":"https:\/\/glaad.org\/gap\/kelly-loeffler\/","title":{"rendered":"Kelly Loeffler"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2014Reportedly<\/a> donated $3,800 to an anti-LGBTQ adoption agency in Georgia, which requires clients to be “husband and wife” and claims it’s “imperative” that anyone who works for or volunteers with the agency “share these beliefs.” The agency, Covenant Care Adoptions, falsely compares<\/a> being LGBTQ to incest and bestiality. Loeffler also donated $26,600 to anti-abortion pregnancy centers.<\/p>\n

\u2014Introduced a bill<\/a> targeting transgender athletes to prevent them from competing consistent with their gender identity, which could force transgender students to undergo invasive anatomy screenings. “I support ‘girls’ only’ sports,” Sen. Loeffler said in a video posted to the anti-LGBTQ group Family Policy Alliance, falsely inferring transgender girls are not girls.<\/p>\n

\u2014Sen. Loeffler\u2019s bill targeting transgender students was co-sponsored by four Senate colleagues<\/a> who have extensive anti-LGBTQ records, and supported by anti-LGBTQ groups such as American Principles Project, which created inaccurate ads rejected by Facebook<\/a> for violating truth standards, used in failed campaigns<\/a> in Pennsylvania and Michigan. The Virginia-based APP is quoted<\/a> in Sen. Loeffler\u2019s release announcing the bill. The anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council says Loeffler \u201cdeserves a medal\u201d<\/a> for her transphobic bill.<\/p>\n

\u2014Hired Paul Fitzpatrick<\/a> as deputy chief of staff, who worked for the anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council for 20 years. FRC is designated as a hate group<\/a> by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It gives Sen. Loeffler a 100% rating for her anti-LGBTQ views and action.<\/p>\n

\u2014Vocally<\/a> and financially<\/a> supported candidates including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene<\/a>, who propagate false, dangerous and anti-LGBTQ messages from QAnon, a conspiracy theory movement identified as a domestic terror threat by the FBI. Rep. Greene also introduced a bill targeting transgender youth participation in sports, has expressed numerous<\/a> racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic and transphobic beliefs, and was removed from her Congressional committee assignments. Georgia Equality and the Southern Poverty Law Center<\/a> have been tracking Rep. Greene\u2019s anti-LGBTQ history since she launched her political career in 2019. \u201cWhat impressed me with Kelly is I found out that she believes a lot of the same things that I believe,\u201d Rep. Greene said at a joint campaign event<\/a> in October.<\/p>\n

\u2014After Georgians voted in record numbers in the 2020 general election, Sens. Loeffler and Perdue jointly and baselessly criticized<\/a> the state\u2019s election without examples of any wrongdoing. This was an apparent attempt<\/a> to flatter outgoing President Trump<\/a> while casting doubt on the democratic process. President-elect Biden won Georgia with nearly 2.5 million votes, the first Democratic presidential nominee to win the state since 1992. Independent analysis<\/a> of the LGBT voter turnout in Georgia indicates it may have made the deciding difference in the presidential election.<\/p>\n

\u2014Senators Loeffler and Perdue have both been investigated<\/a> for suspicious stock trading as the coronavirus swept the country and killed more than 8,000 Georgians. <\/p>\n

\u2014After receiving the same classified briefing about the virus, Sen. Loeffler sold millions of dollars in stocks she and her husband held, and bought stocks<\/a> in medical supply and telecommuting companies. COVID-19 has devastated<\/a> LGBTQ people, especially queer people of color, many of whom work frontline jobs and face outsize discrimination in seeking and receiving health care. <\/p>\n

\u2014Along with Senator Perdue campaigned<\/a> and voted against<\/a> the Affordable Care Act, which provides health care coverage to 450,000 Georgians<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Attempted to silence<\/a> the WNBA team she once co-owned<\/a>, the Atlanta Dream, when they chose to uplift a message of racial justice in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd and many other Black Americans killed by police. Sen. Loeffler, who claims her support of women in sports is the basis for her anti-trans bill, has continued to criticize<\/a> Black Lives Matter and refused to support her players’ fight for racial equality<\/a> and basic safety for Black Americans. “(Black Lives Matter) is a very divisive organization based on Marxist principles,\u201d Sen. Loeffler falsely claimed in an appearance on Fox News<\/a>. She continued with more racist and inaccurate claims about the movement: “It’s divisive, it’s anti-Semitic, it doesn’t support the nuclear family.”<\/p>\n

\u2014In addition to her close ties to the anti-LGBTQ group Family Research Council, Sen. Loeffler was endorsed<\/a> by Focus on the Family affiliate, Family Policy Alliance. FPA falsely claims being LGBTQ is a \u201cfalse form of sexuality.\u201d Sen. Loeffler\u2019s transphobic bill was praised by the anti-LGBTQ Alliance Defending Freedom<\/a>, which has been identified as a hate group by The Southern Poverty Law Center. <\/p>\n

\u2014Voted<\/a> to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court even as Americans were already voting on the next president and Senate. Barrett\u2019s anti-LGBTQ record includes serving as a trustee at a school<\/a> that discriminated against LGBTQ families and teachers. Barrett had multiple paid speaking events with the anti-LGBTQ group Alliance Defending Freedom<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Voted to confirm Judge Andrew Brasher to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court in Atlanta. Brasher has called same-sex marriage \u201charmful to children\u201d and has worked with the Alliance Defending Freedom<\/a>. More than 4,100 same-sex couples are raising children in Georgia, according to data from Family Equality<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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