Senator Lindsey Graham is facing a tough challenge from Democrat challenger Jaime Harrison ahead of the November 3 election (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
Republican senator and Trump devotee Lindsey Graham has declared that women can have a “place” in the United States as long as they embrace religion, oppose abortion access and live by a “traditional family structure”.
The senator made the comments at a rally on Saturday (October 31) as he faces a surprisingly strong election challenge from Democrat Jaime Harrison in the traditionally-deep red state of South Carolina.
Addressing a crowd in Conway, Graham, the Senate judiciary committee head, cited his record helping force through the newly-confirmed conservative Supreme Court justice Amy Coney Barrett.
He told the crowd: “You know what I like about judge Barrett? She’s got everything! She’s just not wicked smart, she’s incredibly good. She embraces her faith.
“I want every young woman to know there’s a place for you in America if you are pro-life, if you embrace your religion and you follow a traditional family structure — that you can go anywhere, young lady.”
It is unclear what exactly qualifies the senator, a lifelong bachelor who has vocally denounced speculation about his sexuality, to speak as an authority on “traditional family structure”.
Sen Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says Amy Coney Barrett is proof that women can succeed if “you follow traditional family structure.” pic.twitter.com/yR0aqMRpj7
— LGBTQ Nation (@lgbtqnation) October 31, 2020
The use of the term has been denounced as a homophobic dog whistle, given Graham’s long history of opposing LGBT+ rights in the Senate.
Lindsey Graham is a vociferous opponent of LGBT+ rights.
Lindsey Graham, who presided over Barrett’s confirmation hearings, recently showed his active support for anti-LGBT+ discrimination ahead of a pivotal Supreme Court case that could drastically undermine discrimination protections.
The case, to be heard on Wednesday (November 4) one day after the US election, could see the court uphold the right for taxpayer-funded foster and adoption agencies to reject prospective parents for being LGBT+.
A brief signed by Graham and more than 70 other Republican lawmakers argues that permitting discrimination against gay parents is fine because there is “no evidence” that it “causes a significant inconvenience to the applicants”.
The lawmakers argue that denying same-sex couples access to taxpayer-funded adoption agencies causes “no harm” to them, and that it constitutes “hostility” against religion to intervene.
The vote of the newly-confirmed Amy Coney Barrett, rammed through by Graham and his colleagues, will likely prove pivotal in the case, as she takes the seat of reliably pro-LGBT+ justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, ending the 5-4 majority in favour of LGBT+ rights on the court.