{"id":837730,"date":"2023-07-27T14:24:10","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T18:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glaad.org\/?post_type=gap&p=837730"},"modified":"2025-02-20T10:47:38","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T15:47:38","slug":"robert-f-kennedy-jr","status":"publish","type":"gap","link":"https:\/\/glaad.org\/gap\/robert-f-kennedy-jr\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert F. Kennedy, Jr."},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2014Rolled out sweeping new policies that erase the federal government\u2019s recognition of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people. A new HHS <\/span>webpage<\/span><\/a>, titled \u201cProtecting Women and Children,\u201d employs President Trump\u2019s narrow and scientifically baseless definition of sex and asserts that gender-affirming care is a form of child abuse. The department is promoting a rigid definition of sex that excludes <\/span>transgender<\/span><\/a> identities, falsely framing gender-affirming care as \u201cchemical and surgical mutilation\u201d and targeting trans inclusion in sports. In fact, <\/span>every major medical association and leading world health authority<\/span><\/a> supports health care for transgender people and youth. The site section titled \u201cKeeping Men Out of Women\u2019s Sports,\u201d repeats <\/span>far-right rhetoric used to justify bans on transgender women athletes.<\/span><\/a> HHS also released a video featuring anti-transgender activist <\/span>Riley Gaines<\/span><\/a>, who praised Trump\u2019s executive order barring transgender women from competing in women\u2019s sports. <\/span>The Advocate<\/span><\/a> reports that \u201cHHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., sworn in less than a week ago, declared that the department is \u2018bringing back common sense and restoring biological truth to the federal government.\u2019 In a press release, he added that, \u2018The prior administration\u2019s policy of trying to engineer gender ideology into every aspect of public life is over.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Added a baseless disclaimer to the top of government websites for Health and Human Services after a federal judge ordered that web pages that contained vital information about trans people and other marginalized groups be reinstated. The pages were posted again with a false header that reads, \u201cAny information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from the immutable biological reality that there are two sexes, male and female\u2026 The Trump Administration rejects gender ideology and condemns the harms it causes to children, by promoting their chemical and surgical mutilation, and to women, by depriving them of their dignity, safety, well-being, and opportunities. This page does not reflect biological reality and therefore the Administration and this Department reject it.\u201d The statement is false and contradicts <\/span>global medical standards defining gender and sex<\/span><\/a>. Transgender people exist. <\/span>Every major medical association<\/span><\/a> and leading world health authority supports health care for transgender people and youth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/span>Repeatedly promoted the falsehood<\/span><\/a> that HIV is not the cause of AIDS, instead attributing the condition to other factors such as recreational drug use, particularly amyl nitrite (“poppers”), and lifestyle stressors. This is AIDS denialism, a fringe belief that has been thoroughly debunked by the scientific community. In fact, the connection between HIV and AIDS is well-established science. In 2008, the<\/span> Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine<\/span><\/a> was awarded to Fran\u00e7oise Barr\u00e9-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for their discovery of HIV as the cause of AIDS. HIV causes AIDS. The scientific consensus, supported by numerous studies and the success of antiretroviral treatments in managing HIV and preventing AIDS, firmly establishes HIV as the cause of AIDS.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/span>Ended<\/span><\/a> his independent presidential campaign and endorsed Donald Trump, citing a \u201cwar on children\u201d among his reasons for the endorsement. Kennedy has baseless theories link<\/span> environmental chemicals<\/span><\/a> to homosexuality or gender dysphoria.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Supports<\/span> a ban on transgender health care<\/span><\/a> for minors, a position that contradicts medical consensus. He called transgender health care a “non-existential” issue.<\/span> Health care for transgender people and youth is<\/span> supported<\/span><\/a> by every major medical association and leading health authority. Efforts to ban and criminalize this care are not based on medical or scientific expertise, and frequently spread misinformation about what the care is. For more information from leading health authorities and about reporting on evidence-based care, click<\/span> here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/span>Tweeted misinformation<\/span><\/a> about transgender health care for young people including that it involves \u201ccastration drugs (puberty blockers) and surgical mutilation.\u201d This is baseless.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/span>Agreed<\/span><\/a> to be a featured speaker at a<\/span> Moms for Liberty<\/span><\/a> event called \u201cJoyful Warriors\u201d in 2023. Moms for Liberty is an anti-LGBTQ, a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated<\/span> extremist group<\/span><\/a>, that purports to defend so-called \u201cparental rights.\u201d He later pulled out of the event citing a<\/span> changed schedule.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\ud83d\udea8Summit Speaker Announcement
\nRobert F. Kennedy, Jr.<\/p>\n

2024 Presidential Candidate#m4lsummit23<\/a><\/p>\n

Join us next week in Philadelphia! https:\/\/t.co\/QOOFNA7RxI<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/g4CSBVlDJ9<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Moms for Liberty (@Moms4Liberty) June 20, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n