{"id":506373,"date":"2022-02-15T19:41:23","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T19:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glaad.logalt.net\/tap\/vicky-hartzler\/"},"modified":"2023-04-21T22:29:39","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T22:29:39","slug":"vicky-hartzler","status":"publish","type":"gap","link":"https:\/\/glaad.org\/gap\/vicky-hartzler\/","title":{"rendered":"Vicky Hartzler"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2014Earned the backing<\/a> of fellow anti-LGBTQ Missourian Sen. Josh Hawley<\/a> for her primary campaign for the open U.S. Senate seat in that state.<\/p>\n

\u2014Created and appears in inaccurate and transphobic campaign ad for her U.S. Senate primary campaign in Missouri, attacking<\/a><\/u> transgender athletes, specifically University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas<\/a> whom Hartzler deadnamed<\/a> (the inaccurate and harmful use of a transgender person’s birth name, without their permission and with intent to harm\/demean- content that is banned and removed on Twitter and TikTok<\/a>). In the 30-second ad, Hartzler says, \u201cWomen\u2019s sports are for women, not men pretending to be women.\u201d Hartzler neglected to note that Thomas followed all guidelines<\/a> to be eligible to compete, and has been cleared<\/a> by the NCAA to compete in the March championships. Thomas\u2019s teammates issued a statement<\/a> of support on February 1, expressing \u201cfull support for Lia in her transition\u201d and said they \u201cvalue her as a person, teammate, and friend.\u201d Thomas’ school has supported<\/a> her inclusion on the women’s team, stating she \u201cmet or exceeded all NCAA protocols\u201d established years earlier for athletes like Thomas. <\/p>\n

\u2014Scored a zero rating on The Human Rights Campaign\u2019s Congressional Scorecard<\/a> for the 112th, 113th, 114th, 115th, and 116th Congresses.<\/p>\n

\u2014Voted against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act<\/a> in 2019 because it required prisons house transgender people in facilities for people of their gender. \u201cVAWA has become a partisan bill hijacked by liberals with a political agenda, who seek to elevate transgender politics over the safety and well-being of women,” she said in a statement released that year. <\/p>\n

\u2014Opposed<\/a> the Equality Act<\/a>, legislation to codify federal nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people in health care, housing, education, and other areas, falsely claiming, \u201cThis bill should be renamed the \u2018Inequality Act,\u2019 as its policies on the state level have already been used to eliminate safe spaces for women, irreparably harm children, trample parental rights, and undermine the free exercise of religion, and dismantle female athletics.\u201d Hartzler also wrote in an opinion piece in The Hill<\/em><\/a> that \u201cThe future of women\u2019s rights, privacy, protection and athletic potential depends on\u201d defeating The Equality Act. <\/p>\n

\u2014Coauthored a document<\/a> which encouraged members of the Republican Study Committee to pressure Amazon to sell books promoting the debunked and dangerous practice of \u201cconversion therapy\u201d after Amazon said would no longer carry titles by Joseph Nicolosi<\/a>, an \u201cex-gay\u201d activist from the discredited fringe organization, NARTH, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality. Amazon removed books by Nicolosi, who is credited with originating the ineffective and harmful practice.<\/p>\n

\u2014Offered an amendment to the National Defense Authorization bill to ban access to transition-related healthcare for military service members<\/a> and their families, one year after the ban on transgender servicemembers was lifted. Hartzler incorrectly stated that there is still a \u201clack of medical consensus on the effectiveness of gender transition treatments.\u201d Every leading medical organization <\/a>recognizes the medical necessity of treatments for gender dysphoria and endorses such treatments. The Hartzler Amendment narrowly failed. <\/p>\n

\u2014Pressured then-President Donald Trump<\/a> to ban transgender troops from serving in the U.S. military. When he announced the ban on Twitter, Trump echoed Hartzler\u2019s language<\/a> in opposition to transgender troops citing cost concerns. Hartzler offered, then rescinded, an amendment to block transgender troops during a House Armed Services committee meeting.<\/p>\n

\u2014Said young people should oppose marriage equality<\/a> on the same grounds they oppose pedophilia and incest, saying, at the Eagle Forum Collegians 2011 Summit, \u201c\u2026If you just care about somebody and you have a committed relationship, why not allow one man and two women, or three women to marry?\u2026 Why not allow an uncle to marry his niece? Why not allow a 50-year-old man to marry a 12-year-old girl if they love each other and they\u2019re committed?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Praised the passage of the anti-LGBTQ Proposition 8 in California<\/a>, telling the St. Louis Post-Dispatch<\/em> she was \u201cglad,\u201d and falsely claiming that gay rights issues aren\u2019t civil rights issues. The \u201ccolor of someone\u2019s skin doesn\u2019t change,\u201d she said. She continued that there is debate about whether homosexuality is a \u201clifestyle or they were born that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Was a spokesperson for the Coalition to Protect Marriage<\/a> in Missouri and advocated a successful state constitutional ban on marriage equality, the first of its kind in the nation, despite the fact that same-sex couples were not allowed to marry in the state at that time. The amendment passed but was voided by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges<\/em> that required the states to recognize same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":435,"featured_media":506374,"template":"","categories":[138754],"tags":[],"region":[138565],"hashtag":[138636,138632,138637,138634],"class_list":{"0":"post-506373","1":"gap","2":"type-gap","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"category-gaps","7":"region-national","8":"hashtag-anti-transgender","9":"hashtag-politics","10":"hashtag-religion","11":"hashtag-trump"},"aioseo_notices":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t