Washington, DC—The National Center for Transgender Equality is deeply disturbed by reports that Penny Young Nance, president of Concerned Women for America, might soon be President Trump’s choice to lead U.S. efforts on gender equality as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues. Nance is unqualified for this position by virtue of her extreme and unsettling rhetoric and positions on a wide range of issues, including on the fundamental dignity of transgender people. NCTE strongly opposes the nomination of Nance for this, or any, position representing the United States, and NCTE Executive Director Mara Keisling offers the following statement:
“Penny Young Nance and her organization have waged a relentless campaign demeaning, disparaging and defaming transgender people; calling them “broken,” “confused,” “pretending,” “deluded,” and “mutilated,” and repeatedly calling equal rights measures “evil.” Her mean-spirited arguments against the equality and dignity of transgender, and all LGBT people, have been roundly rejected by leading state, national and international organizations that advocate for women, girls and survivors of domestic and sexual violence.”
“Nance’s goal has been to promote fear of, and hostility toward, those who are different. Her nomination would export that agenda to places where it could, literally, threaten lives.”
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