January 23, 2020 Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 23, 2020

press@equityfwd.org

646-326-4238

Secretary Alex Azar to Headline Hate Group Conference

HHS Secretary Azar and Other Health Department Senior Officials to Attend Family Research Council Conference

On Friday, January 24, HHS Secretary Alex Azar will headline the Family Research Council’s Pro Life Con, preceding the March for Life in Washington, D.C. Family Research Council is infamous for calling homosexuality “unnatural” and “harmful” and opposing religious protections for Muslims. 

This is the second year that Secretary Azar will sit down with the group that espouses dangerous, hateful and hurtful rhetoric regarding LGTBQ people, Muslims and women. 

In addition to Secretary Azar, Roger Severino, head of the Office for Civil Rights at HHS (OCR), is also scheduled to appear at the conference. 

Mary Alice Carter, Senior Advisor at Equity Forward said, “There is no excuse for members of any administration to attend a conference hosted by a group that routinely espouses hate, lies and medical mistruths. How can any LGBTQ person trust that their health department will look out for them when it sides with a hate group that says we don’t deserve protection under the law? Azar should not be allowed to oversee our health care rights and access.”

Carter added, “It is equally troubling that OCR Director Severino, whose office purports to protect religious liberty, would appear with an organization that says that those who practice Islam do not deserve the same protection under the Constitution as others.” 

More information on the Family Research Council and other sponsors of March for Life activities can be found at Pro-Lies.org.

More information on anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ officials at HHS can be found at HHSWatch.org

About Equity Forward: Equity Forward is a watchdog project that seeks to ensure transparency and accountability among anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ groups, agencies and individuals who are actively working to deny people access to sexual and reproductive health care.

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