{"id":910950,"date":"2024-07-23T15:52:35","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T19:52:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glaad.org\/?post_type=gap&p=910950"},"modified":"2024-11-01T11:41:10","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T15:41:10","slug":"eric-hovde","status":"publish","type":"gap","link":"https:\/\/glaad.org\/gap\/eric-hovde\/","title":{"rendered":"Eric Hovde"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2014Released<\/a> a campaign ad calling challenger Tammy Baldwin \u201cradical\u201d and \u201ctoo extreme for Wisconsin families\u201d for supporting equal access for transgender people in sports. \u201cNot only is that dangerous,\u201d the ad claims, \u201cit\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Accused<\/a> Sen. Tammy Baldwin of attempting to \u201credefine\u201d what family means. \u201cPresident Trump and I, what do we want to do? We want to protect the traditional family, support traditional values,\u201d said Hovde. \u201cWhat do Harris and Baldwin want to do? Just, yeah, they want to redefine the family. They can\u2019t even agree what a woman is and a man is. You talk about insane.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Called for the closure of the U.S. Department of Education, a common talking point<\/a> former President Trump addresses on the campaign trail and in his agenda, and that has been repeated <\/a>by down-ballot candidates. Calling it<\/a> \u201cone of the worst monstrosities that\u2019s ever been created,\u201d Hovde said, \u201cif I get to the U.S. Senate, one thing I’m going to say, ‘hey, there’s a spot to save a lot of money and do America a lot better’ [is] closing that thing for good.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Claimed<\/a>\u00a0without evidence that the suicide rate of transgender youth, the highest in the United States, stems from regret over transitioning. During a radio interview on\u00a0The Regular Joe Show<\/i>, a nationally syndicated radio broadcast out of Green Bay, WI, Hovde said: \u201cThey wake up and realize that this did not cure their underlying mental health problems, and now they’re even more messed up and they commit suicide at the highest rate of any group in our society.\u201d CDC\u00a0data<\/a>\u00a0shows transgender youth face dramatically higher rates of bullying, \u201cviolence, poor mental health, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and unstable housing, and a lower prevalence of school connectedness than their cisgender peers.\u201d The CDC urges schools to create supportive environments and resources to address these disparities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Joined by anti-LGBTQ political commentator <\/span>Ben Shapiro<\/span><\/a> for a series of campaign events. At a roundtable discussion with <\/span>Moms for Liberty<\/span><\/a>, Hovde spoke out against Title IX protections for transgender students. Community members also used the opportunity to express their discomfort. <\/span>Said<\/span><\/a> one panelist: \u201cThe boys in that locker room were very uncomfortable having her (a transgender student) stare at them while they were taking off their clothes.\u201d Hovde <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> that schools are \u201cpushing social agendas\u201d rather than teaching the basics like reading and writing. Speaking with a local CBS affiliate after the event, Hovde <\/span>suggested<\/span><\/a> transgender students\u2019 rights should not come at the expense of others. \u201cJust because you have one boy who is transitioning to a girl it doesn\u2019t outweigh all the rights of all the females.\u201d Speaking later in Oshkosh, WI, Hovde <\/span>compared<\/span><\/a> the Biden-Harris Administration\u2019s America to <\/span>The Twilight Zone<\/span><\/i>, and said, \u201cWe have literally flipped the moral compass upside down.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Called<\/span><\/a> Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Tammy Baldwin \u201cextreme\u201d and suggested they support \u201ctransgender therapy for minors without parental consent.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Released campaign ads calling Tammy Baldwin\u2019s record \u201cradical\u201d for \u201c<\/span>funding<\/span><\/a> a Madison clinic where minors get transgender therapy without parents\u2019 consent\u201d and \u201c<\/span>allowing<\/span><\/a>\u201d transgender participation in sports.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Slammed<\/span><\/a> Vice President Harris, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for supporting \u201ctransgender ideology for kids.\u201d Terms like \u201ctransgender ideology\u201d are used only by opponents of transgender people to diminish their authentic identity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Delivered remarks at the Log Cabin Republicans Big Tent Event, during the 2024 Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee. Hovde reiterated many of the same anti-transgender talking points brought up by RNC speakers, noting that <\/span>he believes<\/span><\/a>: \u201cMen shouldn\u2019t be playing girls sports \u2014 period.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Spoke<\/span><\/a> at the RNC, and in an appearance on the right wing <\/span>Dan O\u2019Donnell Show<\/span><\/i> from the RNC, described other RNC speakers as <\/span>“the grandfather,” “the Black woman,” and “the Hispanic woman.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Answered questions from Gays Against Groomers, an extremist organization that uses false and harmful language to demonize transgender people and their allies. <\/span>Said Hovde,<\/span><\/a> \u201cI do not agree with men competing in female sports.\u2026 To think that we\u2019re gonna allow males to go into female bathrooms, I think it\u2019s fundamentally wrong.\u201d At another event, <\/span>Hovde said<\/span><\/a>, \u201cWe don\u2019t allow our children to drive an automobile until they\u2019re 16.\u2026 We don\u2019t allow our young people to vote until 18. We don\u2019t allow our young people to drink alcohol until 21. And yet we\u2019re allowing children 11, 12, 13\u2026 to be transgendered [sic]? Do you realize the highest rate of suicide in our country today are young people that went through a transgender [sic]?\u201d However, The Trevor Project\u2019s <\/span>2023 U.S. National Survey<\/span><\/a> on the Mental Health of LGBTQ Young People shows that LGBTQ youth who are threatened or subjected to conversion therapy are <\/span>more likely<\/span><\/i> to commit suicide.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/span>Used staffers from his real estate company, without disclosure, in a campaign ad. In the <\/span>video<\/span><\/a>, staffers complained that \u201cprogressive lefties are really messing up our country with their crazy ideas,\u201d like \u201cletting boys play in girls\u2019 sports.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/span>Restoration PAC, a financial supporter of Hovde\u2019s campaign and <\/span>extremist anti-LGBTQ groups<\/span><\/a>, ran a false ad against Sen. Tammy Baldwin\u2019s health care record, claiming she had used cuts to Medicare funding to establish electric vehicle subsidies. Restoration PAC \u201cis funded by megadonor <\/span>Richard Uihlein<\/span><\/a>,\u201d owner of ULINE packaging, and his wife.<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Attacked<\/span><\/a> incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin on her efforts to secular federal funding aimed at providing counseling services for homeless youth. \u201cShe actually earmarked, in the last budget, $400,000 for a transgender-affirming clinic that doesn\u2019t even tell parents that they\u2019re doing that, with their own kids,\u201d said Hovde. \u201cNow think of that, I mean, this is how far out there she is.\u201d Baldwin\u2019s office <\/span>previously noted<\/span><\/a> this is not the case, and that the earmarked $400,000 \u201ccan only be used for mental health services and counseling for kids experiencing homelessness.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Endorsed<\/span><\/a> former President Donald Trump in his bid for a second term in the White House. Throughout his Presidency and in the years that followed, Trump has pushed an <\/span>anti-LGBTQ<\/span><\/a> platform. He has and continues to use charged rhetoric that consistently puts the LGBTQ community, and especially transgender and nonbinary people, at risk.<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Spoke<\/span><\/a> alongside Scarlett Johnson, founder of Moms for Liberty\u2019s Ozaukee chapter, at a 2023 \u201cPints & Politics\u201d event. Johnson has used her <\/span>social media<\/span><\/a> platforms and speaking appearances to call for book bans and paint the LGBTQ community in a negative light. A lawsuit was filed against Johnson in May, after she <\/span>criticized a school<\/span><\/a> for hiring a social justice coordinator.<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Endorsed and provided funding for Leah Vukmir, who challenged Sen. Tammy Baldwin\u2019s seat in the U.S. Senate in 2018. <\/span>Vukmir<\/span><\/a> had \u201ca history of trying to dismantle gay rights including through sponsoring a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage and civil unions.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Labeled the Madison Metropolitan School District a \u201ctrain wreck\u201d while <\/span>disparaging<\/span><\/a> gender-neutral bathrooms. \u201cWe got to such an absurd level at the end of Obama\u2019s presidency that the big issue was transsexual bathrooms, what?\u201d he said. \u201cYou are talking less than .4% of the public, and you’re talking about forcing every municipality and school district to create a unisex bathroom.\u201d<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014Described marriage as \u201cbetween a man and a woman.\u201d In a 2012 <\/span>interview<\/span><\/a>, Hovde said, \u201cif you look at the history of marriage, it comes from the church, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the government\u2019s position to come in and impose upon religion and tell them how they should believe or what they have to accept. I mean, that\u2019s our First Amendment. It\u2019s freedom of religion, it\u2019s not freedom from religion, it\u2019s freedom of religion. So, when people get married, they\u2019ve always, through history, in front of God in a church. That is the church right to dictate and decide on what they feel is acceptable. So, I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. And saying that, I don\u2019t believe in discriminating against anyone, whether you\u2019re gay or whatever. I don\u2019t believe in any form of discrimination. But I do fundamentally marriage is between a man and a woman.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":435,"featured_media":910982,"template":"","categories":[139451,138409],"tags":[138968,140967,141264,139959],"region":[138565,138614],"hashtag":[138632,138634],"class_list":{"0":"post-910950","1":"gap","2":"type-gap","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"category-marriage-equality","7":"category-transgender","8":"tag-election-2024","9":"tag-eric-hovde","10":"tag-us-senate","11":"tag-wisconsin","12":"region-national","13":"region-wisconsin","14":"hashtag-politics","15":"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