Kayleigh McEnany was named the new White House press secretary in Washington last week. Queer organisations were subsequently, if not surprised, quite horrified: McEnany has on several occasions proven to be an opponent of queer rights – in her new position this could be disastrous for the community.<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old McEnany has worked as a journalist and commentator for the television station CNN, among others. She already supported Donald Trump in the 2016 election campaign. Later she became national spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, then for Trump’s re-election campaign. The highlight of her career: McEnany will be the new press spokeswoman at the White House.<\/p>\n
McEnany comes in fourth since Trump began his presidency. Her appointment not only horrified queer associations, but also other organisations and media are critical of McEnany. The Guardian newspaper dug up various disturbing statements by McEnany. Among them are false allegations as well as racist slurs against Barack Obama.<\/p>\n
The queer human rights organisation GLAAD analysed McEnany’s record on queer issues to show that she is an enemy of the queer community.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately no new delusional idea from the right corner, but still no less shocking. McEnany used a CNN appearance to speak out against the right for transgender people to use toilet facilities whose labeling does not correspond to their birth gender. She claimed that the result was perverted voyeurism that endangers the well-being of women and girls.<\/p>\n
Later McEnany justified herself by saying that she had no concerns that transgender people could cause harm. Instead, she wanted to prevent the abuse of such a regulation by men who could use it to sneak into women’s toilets. This is also not an unknown argument of opponents of transgender toilet use.<\/p>\n
Before the Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that same-sex marriage had to be allowed, McEnany claimed that the complaints of discrimination in relation to marriage were merely “absurd gossip”. Later, she added that the ruling posed a threat to the religious rights of US citizens.<\/p>\n
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Vice President Mike Pence is an established opponent of the queer community. In a post on CNN, McEnany refuted allegations regarding the Republican’s anti-queer views – and claimed that Mike Pence loves all people. Concerns about this were expressed on the show by Don Lemon, an openly homosexual moderator on CNN.<\/p>\n