Peter Sprigg

—Urged the U.S. Senate to interrogate Kristin Goodwin about “homosexual conduct” she may have engaged in prior to the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” in 2011 during Goodwin’s nomination to serve as a commandant of cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

—Wrote an “Issue Brief” regarding the re-nomination of Chai Feldblum, a civil rights lawyer, to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Sprigg urged Trump to withdraw the nomination and urged the Senate not to reconfirm her. Feldblum, who is a lesbian, was first nominated to the EEOC by President Obama. 

—Former Senior Fellow for Policy Studies of the Family Research Council, which the Southern Poverty Law Center listed as an anti-gay hate group in 2010.

—Co-wrote position paper insisting “There is no rational or compassionate reason to affirm a distorted psychological self-concept that one’s ‘gender identity’ is different from one’s biological sex. Neither lawmakers nor counselors, pastors, teachers, nor medical professionals should participate in or reinforce the transgender movement’s lies about sexuality—nor should they be required by the government to support such distortion.”

—Claimed LGBTQ activists hold a “shocking” and “un-American” point of view designed to punish others.

—Insists trans people need “to find psychological counseling” and that “we shouldn’t be affirming them in this confusion.”

—On trans soldiers: “The military regularly discharges service members who are not medically deployable. It would be unfair not to hold individuals who identify as transgender to the same standard.”

—Testified that dangerous, scientifically-discredited, so-called “reparative therapy” is actually helpful and effective.

—Said: “The most effective way of reducing teen suicide attempts is not to create a ‘positive social environment’ for the affirmation of homosexuality. Instead, it would be to discourage teens from self-identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual.”

—Said: “I would much prefer to export homosexuals from the United States than to import them into the United States, because we believe that homosexuality is destructive to society.” (See 0:11 mark here.) [NOTE: A week later, Peter rolled back his statements, saying he “used language that trivialized the seriousness of the issue and did not communicate respect for the essential dignity of every human being as a person created in the image of God.”]

—Said he wants to see being gay punished by law: “I think that the Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which overturned the sodomy laws in this country, was wrongly decided. I think there would be a place for criminal sanctions against homosexual behavior.“

—Claimed homosexuality is “harmful to the people who engage in it and to society at large.”

—Claimed transgender men and women “are people who DENY who they really are;” said laws protecting transgender individuals “force private actors to affirm delusions.”

—Instructs those engaged in marriage conversation to always bring it back to gays “choosing” their behavior.

—Said gay rights movement is winning because of “intimidation” and “emotional blackmail.”

—Testified in 2013 before the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee regarding Senate Bill 449, that transgender individuals need to be “changed”: “A person who believes they are, or wishes to be, the opposite sex from that which is written in the chromosomes of every cell of his or her body, is suffering from a disconnection with an immutable biological reality. The solution to this problem is not actions—up to and including self-mutilating surgery amputating healthy body parts—which will reinforce this disconnect with reality. The solution is compassionate counseling aimed at helping the individual to uncover the psychological roots of their gender identity problems, and to become comfortable with one’s actual biological sex.”

—Denigrated trans protections by crudely characterizing transgender individuals: “It is simply inevitable that when they see a brawny 6’2” man with broad shoulders, large hands, large feet, a protruding Adam’s apple, facial stubble, and a deep voice wearing high heels, pantyhose and a skirt, many customers or clients may be put off. An employer should not be forced to ignore this risk.”

—Testified against measures that seek to limit scientifically-discredited “ex-gay” therapy.