Politics

Senate To Vote On Biden Nominee Who Supports ‘Queer Justice’ And ‘Gender-Equitable Relationships’

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Sarah Wilder Social Issues Reporter
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Geeta Rao Gupta, the Biden administration’s nominee for the State Department’s Ambassador at Large for Global Women’s Issues, has made numerous statements in the past regarding LGBT issues and abortion. 

The Senate is expected to hold a roll call cloture vote on Gupta Thursday around 1:45 p.m. ET and a confirmation vote the next week. (RELATED: Biden Admin Funds Classes For Transgender ‘Makeup Entrepreneurs’ In Nepal)

The State Department created the position of Ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Issues in 2012, during Barack Obama’s presidency. The purpose of the initiative is to “ensure that women’s issues are fully integrated in the formulation and conduct of U.S. foreign policy.”

Gupta describes herself in her Twitter bio as an “Advocate for equity and social justice” and a “gender expert.” Gupta also co-authored an article at The Lancet in 2019 which encouraged the “global health community” to “reform the workplace and workforce to be more gender-equitable” and “fill gaps in data and eliminate gender bias in research.”

Gupta also encouraged more “creative research on masculinity” in a paper presented at an AIDS conference in 2000, in order to “identify the best approaches to promote gender-equitable male attitudes and behaviors.”

In the same paper, Gupta refers to gender as a “culture-specific construct” and that “gender is not a synonym for sex.” The same speech is said to have been responsible for coining the term “gender-transformative.”

Gupta’s nomination has invited praise from abortion activists, such as Planned Parenthood’s president Alexis McGill Johnson, who said she was “excited” by the nomination. Gupta has praised a Planned Parenthood initiative in South Africa as “excellent.”