(November 16, 2016, San Francisco, CA)—The National Center for Lesbian Rights responds to President-elect Donald Trump’s appointment of Stephen Bannon, whose news agency has been a vehicle for extreme views about racial and religious minorities, women, and LGBTQ people as his chief White House strategist and senior counselor.

Statement by NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell, Esq.:

“Steve Bannon’s appointment as a senior presidential advisor is a betrayal of the American people and of our democracy. No one associated with the toxic views Mr. Bannon has espoused and purveyed through his news agency should be given a platform, much less elevated to a position of such prominence in our national government. We applaud those who have spoken out in opposition to Mr. Bannon’s appointment and we urge others to speak out now. We cannot look the other way as individuals who have spread messages of racism, anti-Semitism, and the disparagement of women are put into positions of power and influence.”