Equality California Urges Senators to Question HHS Nominee Tom Price on LGBT Record

Washington, D.C. - January 17, 2017 - Equality California has requested that members of the United States Senate probe the views and record of Rep. Tom Price (R-Georgia), Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), regarding challenges facing LGBT people. Price's confirmation hearing is currently scheduled for 10:00 am Eastern time tomorrow.

No issue is of broader consequence to Equality California than ensuring that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is not repealed without a replacement that provides better healthcare for the American people. Repealing the ACA without a better replacement would threaten critical healthcare coverage for hundreds of thousands of LGBT Californians, their families, and more than 20 million people across the U.S. who have secured health insurance for the first time through the ACA.

"We are deeply troubled by Rep. Price's record," said Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California. "He has repeatedly voted against reproductive rights and opposes requiring employers to include access to birth control, sterilization and abortion in employee health care plans. He voted against a Washington D.C. law to protect women from employer discrimination for their family planning decisions. He also opposed a proposed ban on LGBT workplace discrimination, voted against repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, and opposed hate crimes legislation based on sexual orientation, gender identity and disability, which would also protect people living with HIV and AIDS."

Price has cosponsored two separate bills to defund Planned Parenthood, which is of profound concern to Equality California because Planned Parenthood provides vital healthcare to women and hundreds of thousands of LGBT people. Planned Parenthood also offers transgender health services, lifesaving cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and sexual healthcare information and education.

Beyond the votes he has cast, nominee Price has made public statements that clearly reflect hostility and disdain for LGBT Americans. He called the 2016 Supreme Court ruling for marriage equality "not only a sad day for marriage, but a further judicial destruction of our entire system of checks and balances." He also joined an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in the Gavin Grimm case in support the Massachusetts school board's policy of segregating transgender students from their peers, and called Justice Department guidelines on allowing transgender people to use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity "absurd."

In a letter to members of the United States Senate, Equality California requested senators to ask Price the following questions:

What is his level of commitment to existing HHS policies to that provide full LGBT access to healthcare and ending discrimination against LGBT Americans?
What is his commitment to the National HIV/AIDS Strategy and to efforts to end the epidemic by supporting effective treatment of HIV and effective prevention through pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)?
Will he commit to continuing current programs that address HIV and AIDS-particularly those aimed at Black and Latino men who have sex with men, and transgender women of color?
Will he support the continuation of current HHS efforts to prevent gender-based and intimate-partner violence, which is a major predictor of HIV infection for women and girls, including transgender women and girls?
Does he agree that the changes to the Medicare National Coverage Determination appropriately provide Medicare coverage of gender transition-related care?
Does he support continued HHS funding for dedicated funding for LGBT senior citizens?
Does he support continued federal health care benefits for same-sex spouses of federal employees?

Equality California is making these requests because if confirmed as Health and Human Services Secretary, Tom Price will oversee the issues most fundamental to the health and well-being of every LGBT American.

Equality California is the nation's largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization dedicated to creating a fair and just society. Our mission is to achieve and maintain full and lasting equality, acceptance and social justice for all people in our diverse LGBT communities, inside and outside of California. Our mission includes advancing the health and well-being of LGBT Californians through direct healthcare service advocacy and education. Through electoral, advocacy, education and mobilization programs, we strive to create a broad and diverse alliance of LGBT people, educators, government officials, communities of color and faith, labor, business, and social justice communities to achieve our goals. www.eqca.org