Kevin McCarthy, Opponent Of LGBTQ+ Rights, Elected US House Speaker

On Friday, California Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy was elected Speaker of the US House of Representatives after a week of 13 votes in which he failed to gain the support of a majority of members of the lower House.

Some Republicans initially rebelled against McCarthy based on his closeness with the Washington establishment and his resistance to a set of rule changes, including a provision that would allow a single House member to put forward a “motion to vacate” that would effectively depose the current speaker and trigger a new round of voting for a new House Speaker.

On Friday evening, on the 14th ballot, McCarthy fell just one vote short of the speakership. On the 15th, he finally gained it, due in part to six anti-McCarthy Republicans – Representatives Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Eli Crane (Ariz.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Bob Good (Va.) and Matthew Rosendale (Mont.) – voting “present,” thereby reducing McCarthy’s required number of votes from 218 to 215.

McCarthy’s final total was 216 votes, to 212 for Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY).

McCarthy has served in the House for the past 16 years. He has a long record of voting against or vocally opposing pro-LGBTQ+ measures, opposing measures like the recently passed Respect for Marriage Act, the Equality Act, a comprehensive LGBTQ+ non-discrimination bill that was approved by a Democratic-led House last year, and the Do No Harm Act, a bill that would guarantee that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act cannot be used to permit discrimination under the guise of “religious liberty” against various groups, including the LGBTQ+ community. It is assumed that any pro-LGBTQ+ legislation will be bottled up in committee and will not receive a floor vote.

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Questions have also been asked about whether McCarthy, as speaker, will support bills favored by conservatives, such as a Women’s Bill of Rights, a resolution that would define rights specifically for cisgender females and would enumerate that transgender females would be barred from single-sex spaces, or the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, a bill proposed by Marjorie Taylor Greene that would punish doctors who prescribe gender-affirming health care treatments to trans youth.

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