WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Anti-Defamation League decried a conservative senator who is blocking the confirmation of an Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner because of her views on marriage equality.
Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, says Chai Feldblum, a lesbian who was first nominated by President Barack Obama, has views outside the mainstream and would assail traditional marriages. “Don’t think for a second that you, your family, and your neighbors will be left alone if Feldblum gets her way,”he said earlier this year in a post on his Senate website.
Feldblum calls Lee’s claims “surreal” and has said on the Medium blogging site that he has ripped her words out of context.
The Equal Employment Opportunity “protects critical workplace civil rights,” the Jewish civil rights organization said on Dec. 19 on Twitter. “It is unacceptable for @SenMikeLee to block the reappointment of @chaifeldblum, the first openly LGBTQ member. Her views on marriage equality are not ‘radical;’ they are the law of the land.”
President Donald Trump has renominated Feldblum, who grew up Orthodox. Lee is using his senatorial power to block the nomination. The failure to move her nomination through the Senate could leave the EEOC without a quorum next year.
