Grassley says there will be no confirmation for Trump\'s anti-LGBT judicial nominee | News

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley announced that Jeff Mateer, a radical anti-LGBTQ judicial nominee, would not be confirmed for a seat on the federal bench.

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization, cheered the victory.

Since the day the Trump-Pence administration announced their intent to nominate Mateer to a lifetime judicial appointment, equal rights advocates worked to expose his anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and the danger his nomination posed to the judicial system.

“Jeff Mateer’s extreme rhetoric and hateful comments are disqualifying for any public official and should have prevented Donald Trump from nominating him to begin with,” said HRC president Chad Griffin.

He continued, “We thank the senators who expressed concern about this dangerous nominee and the many supporters who joined us to stop Jeff Mateer. We will continue to fight back against the Trump-Pence administration’s attempt to appoint extremists across our judicial system and roll back our progress towards equality.”

Trump nominated Mateer to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

In a 2015 speech titled “The Church and Homosexuality,” Mateer objected to a transgender student using a restroom consistent with her gender identity, saying “I mean it just really shows you how Satan's plan is working and the destruction that's going on.”

He also defended then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence’s "license-to-discriminate" bill and objected to efforts to alter the legislation.

Mateer fought against non-discrimination protections for the LGBTQ community in Plano and San Antonio, Texas, and he supports the dangerous and debunked practice of so-called “conversion therapy.”

Mateer also claimed that marriage equality will lead to bestiality.