Special Operations veteran and Trump nominee for Secretary of the Army faces controversy from LGBT advocates

Dr. Mark Green, President Trump’s as of yet unconfirmed nominee to be the next Secretary of the Army, took to social media this week to blast his critics who say he is discriminatory to the LGBT community.

“The liberal left has cut and spliced my words about terrorism and ISIS blatantly falsifying what I’ve said,” Green wrote in a post on Facebook. “Let me be very clear, the only people I have ever called evil are murderous terrorists trying to kill Americans.”

Dr. Green, who has served as a state senator from Tennessee since 2013, has faced non-stop criticism from progressives and LGBT advocates since speaking at a Tea Party event in Chattanooga last year. Dr. Green has made his position on social issues clear, but his response to a question about federal overreach, specifically with regard to the “transgender bathroom” issue, has been the biggest source of controversy.

“The government exists to honor those people who live honorably, who do good things – to reward people who behave well and to crush evil. So that means as a state senator, my responsibility very clearly in Romans 13 is to create an environment where people who do right are rewarded and the people who do wrong are crushed. Evil is crushed. So I’m going to protect women in their bathrooms.”

This comment has been seized upon as evidence that Dr. Green believes transgender individuals are “evil” that must be crushed. However, Dr. Green has made other comments regarding the bathroom use issue that show his concern lies with the threat of sexual assault against women, and that the evil he is actually referring to are sexual predators. Green’s support of other laws in Tennessee that have been interpreted to allow discrimination against members of the LGBT community have also drawn criticism.

In his Facebook post, Dr. Green went on to say “I believe that every American has a right to defend their country regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and religion. It’s the radical left that won’t allow the latter.”

Green is a graduate of West Point, who served as an infantry officer in his early career. He graduated from medical school and became an Army doctor, serving as a flight surgeon in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and with other tier one special operations units. He was part of the team that captured Saddam Hussein in 2004, and was the first physician to see the former Iraqi dictator after his capture.

The Human Rights Campaign and other LGBT organizations have committed to opposing Dr. Green’s confirmation as Secretary of the Army.

Image courtesy of Dr. Mark Green for Tennessee