{"id":506383,"date":"2022-03-09T19:07:41","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T19:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glaad.logalt.net\/tap\/matt-krause\/"},"modified":"2023-04-21T22:29:39","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T22:29:39","slug":"matt-krause","status":"publish","type":"gap","link":"https:\/\/glaad.org\/gap\/matt-krause\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Krause"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2014Instigated Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton<\/a>‘s anti-transgender opinion memo casting gender-affirming care as child abuse with his letter<\/a> to Paxton. Medical care such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and gender-affirming surgeries \u201cmust be halted,\u201d Paxton said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Pressured<\/a> GENder Education and Care, Interdisciplinary Support (GENECIS), a state-run medical institution, to close<\/a> in November 2021, as a part of Texas officials\u2019 efforts to restrict health care services for transgender youth. Krause’s letter to GENECIS read that he had begun an inquiry into their work as part of an investigation into gender-affirming care in Texas. GENECIS leaders worried that stopping care could lead to suicides and poor mental health among trans youth in a state with few options. <\/p>\n

\u2014Asked<\/a> schools statewide to say whether they had any of the 850 books<\/a> on a list he has compiled, explaining that he has identified books that \u201cmight make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex.\u201d The inquiry, in the form of a letter, was to the Texas Education Agency and superintendents of school districts around the state, asking each official to confirm whether their schools possess any books on his list, on subjects of racism, history, sexuality, and LGBTQ topics including Rainbow Revolutionaries: Fifty LGBTQ+ People Who Made History<\/em> by Sarah Prager, Harvey Milk: The First Openly Gay Elected Official in the United States<\/em> by Barbara Gottfried Hollander, The Fight for LGBTQ+ Rights<\/em> by Devin Smith, and many other LGBTQ titles. He refused to say how he generated the list, and what could happen to districts that carry the books. <\/p>\n

\u2014Authored<\/a> the anti-LGBTQ Texas bill HB 1923<\/a> which would allow individuals, businesses and other entities to refuse service to same-sex couples based on the belief that marriage should be between one man and one woman. <\/p>\n

\u2014Said<\/a> that Fort Worth pastor Donnie Romero\u2019s wish that those critically wounded in the Pulse massacre would die and \u201cburn in hell\u201d was \u201cdisgusting and deplorable\u201d but not because he wished the victims well, but just that they live long enough to avoid damnation (presumably by being straight and Christian). In a Facebook post he wrote: \u201cAfter all, a pastor\u2019s mission and purpose is to do all they can to ensure no one goes to hell. Even if you think a person was destined for eternal damnation, the appropriate response is that individual would live long enough to come to a point of salvation\u2014not hasten their soul to hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Attempted to erase LGBTQ people<\/a> from the Pulse nightclub massacre when he said it \u201cdoesn\u2019t matter<\/a>\u201d that the 49 people murdered were LGBTQ. In a facebook post he criticized those who called the massacre a hate crime, and suggested the shooter may have chosen the site of the slaughter people because it\u2019s a \u201cgun free zone\u201d or a place \u201cwhere sounds are hard to decipher and lights are low.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2014Named \u201cMost Homophobic Legislator\u201d<\/a> by advocacy group Equality Texas in a legislative report card that ranked Texas state legislators’ records on working for LGBT rights. Krause was the only one to earn a raw score below zero, a -4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":435,"featured_media":506384,"template":"","categories":[138754],"tags":[],"region":[138565],"hashtag":[138636,138632,138637],"class_list":{"0":"post-506383","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"},"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