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Graham and Ted Cruz went after a nominee who once served in Congress as a Democrat and supported the pro-LGBTQ+ rights Equality Act.
Republican senators on Wednesday used transphobic language in their harsh questioning of a New York state judge and former congressman nominated to the federal court.
During the hearing on his nomination to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, Judge Anthony Brindisi was repeatedly challenged by Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Ted Cruz of Texas over his past support for the Equality Act.
Related: Trump ally Laura Loomer goes after Lindsey Graham: ‘We all know you’re gay’
Brindisi was one of 200 sponsors of the Equality Act during his tenure as U.S. Congressman from 2019 to 2021, representing New York’s 22nd congressional district. The historic act would have amended existing civil rights laws to ban discrimination based on an individual’s sexual or gender identity.
Both senators peppered Brindisi with questions about the act and the use of bathrooms and locker rooms aligned with an individual’s gender identity.
“Are you okay with a biological male who identifies as a female sharing a locker room?” Graham asked Brindisi.
“I thought it to be an unacceptable outcome to share locker rooms and bathrooms based on gender identity,” Graham commented about Brindisi’s support for the act.
Cruz described the act as “Orwellian” during his equally lurid questioning of the state judge in Syracuse.
“Judge Brindisi, should biological men be able to expose themselves to unwilling women, including underaged girls?” Cruz asked Brindisi.
Brindisi disputed the senators’ framing of the legislation, which passed the House in 2019 and 2021 but died in the Senate without a vote. The bill also faced a certain veto from then-President Donald Trump if passed by the Senate.
Brindisi was nominated to the federal court by President Joe Biden on July 31 of this year.
