Trump hands senior role to Republican lawmaker who opposes ‘homosexuals in politics’

LGBT activists have called for the Senate to block the appointment of a senior official who opposes the existence of gay politicians.

An influential Senate committee will this week decide whether to confirm the nomination of Scott Garrett as President of the Export-Import Bank.

Scott Garrett is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives who crashed in his 2016 re-election campaign after a contentious battle over homophobic remarks.

Garrett had refused to pay his dues to the National Republican Congressional Committee, explaining in a GOP congressional meeting that he would boycott the national committee because it had supported gay candidates.

Garrett took issuse with the GOP body because it had “actively recruited gay candidates and supported homosexuals in primaries”.

His remarks lost him a string of his largest big-business donors, with Goldman Sachs among the Wall Street giants to end their support for Garrett in the wake of the homophobia row.

Without the support of big-budget donors, Garrett was unseated by Democrat Josh Gottheimer, who took 50.5% of the vote to Garrett’s 47.2%.

However, Garrett has been saved from electoral oblivion by President Trump, who has rewarded his homophobia by handing him a cushy job heading the Export-Import Bank.

Garrett previously called for the federal agency to be abolished.

Today, the Human Rights Campaign announced its opposition to Garrett’s nomination.

David Stacy, HRC Government Affairs Director, said: “Scott Garrett is not qualified to be the President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States.