Ignoring bipartisan opposition from families, advocates, and civil rights organizations, the U.S. Senate today voted 52-46 to confirm Matthew Kacsmaryk to a lifetime appointment as a judge on a U.S. District Court.
Kacsmaryk has built his career on extreme opposition to any form of legal protections for LGBTQ people, including the Equality Act recently passed by the U.S. House. His advocacy has been marked by toxic rhetoric about transgender people: he has claimed being transgender is a “delusion,” suggested the LGBTQ rights movement is “typified by lawlessness,” and called for a “long war” against nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people.
In December, over 300 parents and caregivers of transgender youth signed a letter opposing the nomination of Matthew Kacsmaryk, stating, “Confirming Mr. Kacsmaryk as a federal judge would send a damaging and dangerous message that the dignity of children like ours does not count in the courts, or in the U.S. Senate.”
Kacsmaryk is the 146th federal judge nominated by President Trump and approved by the Senate under Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. In total, one in five federal judges today is a Trump appointee.
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, condemned Kacsmaryk’s confirmation:
“Transgender youth and their families are facing a crisis in this country, and they cannot afford an unqualified and clearly biased nominee like Matthew Kacsmaryk. Our country needs fair-minded judges free of irrational prejudices against marginalized people. The anti-transgender takeover of the federal bench led by President Trump and Leader McConnell puts transgender people at risk of being erased by ideological judges handpicked for that very purpose.”
