—Proposed restrictions on sex education in schools that goes farther than Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay/Trans” law, which only explicitly affects students up to the third grade. At an appearance at the church of anti-LGBTQ state senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., said teachers should not be allowed to answer sex education questions asked by students as old as 13 in the seventh grade and that teachers should notify the student’s parents about the question and leave it up to them to answer it.
—Applauded former President Trump’s attacks on trans rights, including efforts to bar transgender people from the bathroom.
—Campaign website makes no mention of LGBTQ people or rights, but includes a mention of ending “all indoctrination and brainwashing” on his education page, terms widely used by activists making inaccurate claims about policies that support LGBTQ students and families, and education about race and racism.
—Voted against marriage equality as a New York state senator in 2011.
—Voted against the Equality Act in 2019 and 2021
—Voted against the Global Respect Act in 2022, a bill that imposes visa-blocking sanctions on foreign individuals responsible for or complicit in violating the human rights of individuals due to actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex characteristics.
—Signed the First Amendment Defense Act in 2015, a piece of legislation in the wake of the Obergefell decision that has thus far unsuccessfully sought to ban the federal government from taking “discriminatory action” against an individual on the basis that a person believes that marriage should “should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman” or “sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.”
—Voted against House Resolution 124 which expressed opposition to banning service in the Armed Forces by openly transgender individuals.
—Voted for The Respect for Marriage Act in 2022.
—Said appointing an anti-abortion health commissioner is a “great idea”