Former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as the Director of National Intelligence, a position that would oversee 18 spy agencies. While shes a former lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, her appointment has concerned some pundits, considering her seeming support of dictators.Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party in October 2022 and later became a pro-Trump Republican, has a mixed record on LGBTQ+ issues. She once worked for an anti-gay activist group and has made numerous statements against LGBTQ+ content in schools and supporting trans youth. Related Gay lawmaker sums up what everyone is thinking about Tulsi Gabbard in just 6 words With Democrats like Gabbard, who needs Republicans? Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Tulsi Gabbard at a glanceLocation: Leander, TexasParty Affiliation: RepublicanRace/Ethnicity: European/Samoan-AmericanGender Identity: FemaleOrientation: HeterosexualPronouns: She/her/hersLGBTQ+ Ally: Mixed Social mediaFacebook:TulsiGabbardX:@TulsiGabbardInstagram:tulsigabbardYouTube:TulsiGabbardTikTok: TulsiGabbardWebsite:TulsiGabbard.com Tulsi Gabbards stance on LGBTQ+ issuesAs a legislator, Gabbard received high scores on the Human Rights Campaigns Congressional Scorecard, including a perfect 100 score in one term. But during her 2020 presidential campaign, Gabbard refused to respond toan HRC questionnaire on LGBTQ+ issues. She has a history of anti-LGBTQ+ activism and is an outspoken opponent of gender-affirming care for children. In 2022, she announced she was leaving the Democratic party, citing perennial rightwing complaints like wokeness and anti-white racism. Same-sex marriageGabbard worked with her fathers anti-gay organization, the Alliance for Traditional Marriage, in the late 1990s and early 2000s to successfully pass a constitutional amendment in Hawaii banning same-sex marriage. The group called homosexuality a unhealthy, abnormal behavior that should not be promoted or accepted in society.Her father wasthe director of Stop Promoting Homosexualityand served on the steering committees of the National Campaign to Protect Marriage and Save Traditional Marriage. In 2004, she testified at a hearing against a civil unions bill, saying, To try to act as if there is a difference between civil unions and same-sex marriage is dishonest, cowardly and extremely disrespectful to the people of Hawaii, As Democrats, we should be representing the views of the people, not a small number of homosexual extremists.However, she apologized for her anti-LGBTQ+ views during her 2012 campaign for Congress. In 2013, she and 211 other Congress membersfiled a Supreme Court amicus briefagainst the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a 1996 law that forbade the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.I grew up in socially conservative household where I was raised to believe that marriage should only be between a man and a woman, Gabbard explained in a January 2019 video apologizing for her past anti-LGBTQ+ views, adding, In my past, I said and believed things that were wrong, and worse, they were very hurtful to people in the LGBTQ community and their loved ones. Trans children in sportsIn 2020, she co-sponsored the anti-trans Protect Womens Sports Act, a bill that would ban transgender girls and women from participating in sports as their gender. The bill would amend Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972 to make it illegal for sports programs to permit a person whose biological sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls.Her bill didnt define biological sex or say how it will be determined whether by DNA tests, genital exams, or other possible measures leaving it up to state and local sports governing bodies to develop their own systems to ensure that they are in compliance with federal legislation.Title IX is being weakened by some states who are misinterpreting Title IX, creating uncertainty, undue hardship, and lost opportunities for female athletes, Gabbard said in a statement. Our legislation protects Title IXs original intent which was based on the general biological distinction between men and women athletes based on sex. Transgender access to public bathroomsIn 2019, Gabbard supported the Equality Act, a law which would update federal civil rights laws to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in education, employment, housing, credit, federal jury service, the use of federal funds, and public accommodations, which includes public bathroom access. Dont say gay/LGBTQ+ discussions in schoolsGabbard supports Floridas Dont Say Gay law, a law that forbids instruction on LGBTQ+ issues in K-12 schools. In April 2022, she posted a social media video message saying the lawdidnt go far enoughand that it stops indoctrinating woke sexual values in our schools to a captive audience that is by law required to attend. She then said its not the governments job to instill moral values in its citizens and that public schools are failing. Parental rights are under attack all across the country as the government tries to usurp parents rights and responsibility to raise their own children, she said in the video, echoing rhetoric from the so-called parents rights movement that has supported banning LGBTQ+ content and queer-inclusive policies from schools. When I first heard about Floridas Parental Rights bill, I was shocked it only protects children K-3. Third grade? How about 12th gradeor not at all. Meanwhile, schools are failing: 1 in 4 graduates are functionally illiterate. Parents should raise their kids, not the government pic.twitter.com/CycF8cKRh3 Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) April 4, 2022In a 2000 press releasefrom The Alliance for Traditional Marriage, Gabbard attacked gay rights activists who opposed her mothers bid for the states board of education, stating, This war of deception and hatred against my mom is being waged by homosexual activists because they know, that if elected, she will not allow them to force their values down the throats of the children in our schools. Gender-affirming care for trans youthIn November 2022, Gabbard released a Facebook video stating that the number of kids who identify as transgender and those receiving gender-affirming care have risen over the past five years due to the radical woke agenda being pushed on our kids by so-called healthcare professionals, [mainstream]/social media,and even [President Joe] Biden directly.This is very intentional, and its the consequence [of] rejecting the existence of objective reality, by rejecting this most fundamental truth of the differences between a biological male and female, she said.She also claimed there are no long-term studies on the effects of these dangerous treatments on our kids, but then contradicted her claim by saying that hormone therapy and puberty blockers harm cognitive development. Numerous major medical associations in the U.S. support these treatments they have been safely used for decades on children with early onset puberty and rare cancers. In October 2022, Gabbard spoke in front of the Tennessee capitol in Nashville at the Rally to End Child Mutilation, a rally against gender-affirming care. At the rally, attendees held signs that read Doctors who mutilate children should be killed and Homo sex is sin.The rallywas organized by conservative podcaster andtransphobe Matt Walsh. Walsh spoke at the event alongsideSen. Marsha Blackburn(R-TN), state lawmakers like state Sen. Jack Johnson (R) and state Rep. William Lamberth (R), a lawyer from the anti-LGBTQ+ hate groupAlliance Defending Freedom,Such rhetoric claiming that pro-trans advocates want to mutilate children has been used to vilify health centers and has led tobombing and death threats against children and medical professionals. In reality, gender-affirming surgeries are only rarely performed on trans minors, and genital surgeries are never performed on them. Conversion therapyWhile working for The Alliance for Traditional Marriage, which she later cited as a positive experience when she ran for the state legislature in 2002, the organizations website, which appears to have been written by her father, had anFAQ that promoted conversion therapy and groups that push it. So-called ex-gay conversion therapy has been denounced as ineffective and dangerous by numerous major American psychological associations.Gabbard said in 2019 that she never personally supported conversion therapy. In 2017, she supported the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act, federal legislation to prohibit anti-LGBTQ+ conversation therapy. Discrimination protectionsIn 2019, Gabbard supported the Equality Act, legislation to enshrine LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination protections into federal law.All Americans must be treated equally under the law regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or national origin,she wrote, urging the Senate to pass this important legislation to end the discrimination that still plagues our fellow Americans.She has also supported other anti-discrimination legislation like the Fair and Equal Housing Act, Freedom from Discrimination in Credit Act, Juror Non-Discrimination Act, Student Non-Discrimination Act, Safe Schools Improvement Act, and the Do No Harm Act, all of which prohibit different forms of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination.She has also said that she opposed Dont Ask, Dont Tell, the ban on out LGBTQ+ military service members. She wrote that during her time serving in the military in the Middle East, I saw firsthand the negative impact of a government attempting to act as a moral arbiter for their people, dictating in the most personal ways how they must live their lives. Other LGBTQ+ issuesShe has said thatgender-neutral language denies the existence of women.In 2022, shespoke at the far-right Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)alongside anti-LGBTQ politicians like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Gov.Ron DeSantis(R-FL). Gabbards careerWorked forStand Up For America (SUFA), Alliance for Traditional Marriage, and Healthy Hawaii CoalitionIn 2002, became the youngest woman ever elected as a U.S. state representativeIn July 2004, deployed for a 12-month tour inIraq as a member of the Hawaii Army National GuardIn March 2007, graduated from the AcceleratedOfficer Candidate Schoolat theAlabama Military AcademyIn 2009, graduated from Hawaii Pacific University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in international businessServed on the Honolulu City Council from 2010 to 2011In 2015, promoted from the rank ofcaptaintomajorElected to U.S. House of Representatives, serving from 2013-2021From 2013-2016, served as vice chair of the Democratic National CommitteeIn 2019, launched an unsuccessful run for U.S. president, dropped out in March 2020In January 2021, launched This is Tulsi Gabbard broadcastIn August 2022, began serving as a fill-in host forTucker Carlson TonightIn November 2022, nominated by Trump to serve as thedirector of national intelligenceTulsi Gabbard is an inconsistent ally of gay people at bestWhile Gabbard supports pro-LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination measures, she also repeats anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric about schools and children that encourages anti-LGBTQ+ violence and harassment. That is, her words have a real-world effect that harms queer people and their allies, even if she has tried to legally protect them in legislation. Related links: Related Joe Rogan tells Tulsi Gabbard that there are litter boxes in school bathrooms for furries A friends wife allegedly told him that a girl forced her school to give her a litter box and she poops in it, thats pretty gross. Tulsi Gabbards ties to anti-LGBTQ+ cult draw scrutiny after National Intelligence pick Donald Trump wants her to oversee the CIA and NSA. She once joined fringe group whose guru thinks bisexuality leads to bestiality. Tulsi Gabbard accuses Black lesbian Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot of anti-white racism Gabbard, who worked for an anti-LGBTQ organization before being elected to office, is outraged white reporters werent privileged for a few hours. Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.