Before Jeff Mateer became President Trumps nominee for federal judgeship in Texas, he fought a local ordinance extending equal protections to members of the LGBT community and said the separation of church and state does not exist in the Constitution.
But likely his most controversial statements were made in two 2015 speeches, in which he said transgender children are proof that Satans plan is working and same-sex marriage is a harbinger for disgusting practices such as polygamy and bestiality. He also appeared to advocate gay conversion therapy, a discredited practice banned by a handful of states and condemned by human rights and medical groups.
The recent revelations on Mateer, Texass first assistant attorney general, have also raised questions about whether he disclosed his controversial comments to a vetting committee, as required by state law.
Mateer, who received his law degree from Southern Methodist University, spent six years as the general counsel for the First Liberty Institute, a Plano, Tex.-based religious liberty advocacy group. He fought legal battles to let a Christian baker refuse to accommodate gay patrons, to allow Christian prayers at local government meetings, to display a portrait of Jesus in a public school, and to keep under God in the Pledge of Allegiance, among other things.
He also has spoken openly about his view that the separation of church and state does not exist in the Constitution, quoting late Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, who called the wall separating the two institutions a misleading metaphor.
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