Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. appears on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” in April 2024. (Screen capture via YouTube)
After President-elect Donald Trump announced plans to nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last week, his views on HIV and other health issues impacting the LGBTQ+ community have raised concerns about how he would lead the agency if his nomination is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
The controversial environmental lawyer has promoted untrue, dangerous and conspiratorial claims about science and medicine, most notably misinformation about lifesaving vaccines, including the debunked idea that they are linked to autism diagnoses in children.
During an interview last year, RFK Jr. said endocrine disrupting chemicals in drinking water are responsible for homosexuality and gender dysphoria among young people, a claim that is unsupported by scientific evidence.
He has also falsely claimed that HIV does not cause AIDS — arguing that the culprit is, rather, the “gay lifestyle,” including the recreational use of amyl nitrate (poppers) by men who have sex with men — and proposed that U.S. health officials take a “break” from studying infectious diseases, which may raise questions about the future of HHS’s Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy under his leadership.
Additionally, RFK Jr. has challenged health care interventions for transgender minors that are considered safe and medically necessary by mainstream scientific and medical organizations, earning support from conservative groups like the American Principles Project, which opposes abortion, same-sex marriage, transgender rights, and voting rights legislation.
Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who is gay, drew backlash after posting on X in support of RFK Jr.’s nomination on Nov. 14, writing, “He helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 and will help make America healthy again by shaking up HHS and FDA.”
Polis touted RFK Jr.’s promises to “cap drug prices so that companies can’t charge Americans substantially more than Europeans pay,” to “get off of pesticide-intensive agriculture,” and to eliminate departments that are ineffectual or beholden to corporate interests.
At the same time, the governor acknowledged the candidate’s anti-vaccine advocacy, writing that he hopes RFK Jr. would oppose bans as well as mandates. In May, Polis posted on X, “Not sure how bringing back Measles and bringing back Polio makes anyone more healthy…”
In a statement to the Washington Blade, Polis spokesperson Eric Maruyama addressed concerns over RFK Jr.’s controversial and unproven claims about health matters that are important to the LGBTQ+ community:
“Governor Polis has not changed his previously stated concerns regarding some of RFK Jr’s positions. The governor is opposed to RFK’s positions on a host of issues, including vaccines, banning fluoridation, policies and messaging that would have negative consequences for our LGBTQ community, and misinformation about HIV/AIDS, and Governor Polis will hold him accountable for statements or actions in these areas.
“However, he would appreciate seeing action on pesticides and efforts to lower prescription drug costs and if Trump is going to nominate someone like him then let them also take on soda, processed food, pesticides, and heavy metals contamination, and other powerful special interests.
“But he definitely does not endorse actions that would lead to measles outbreaks and opposes unscientific propaganda that undermines confidence in the lifesaving impact of vaccines.”
Human Rights Campaign National Press Secretary Brandon Wolf also shared a statement with the Blade:
“Beyond the Twitter back and forth, what’s important here is that we’re not naive to the impact of this nomination on the American people. This country deserves a Secretary of HHS who understands the devastating impact of the HIV epidemic and will work in good faith with the community to bring about its end.
“The country deserves a leader who believes in the value of vaccines and will stand by the overwhelming medical consensus that supports access to medically necessary care for transgender young people. There’s no value in normalizing RFK Jr.’s dangerous rhetoric. The American people deserve serious leadership and have every right to demand it.”
Post-COVID Democratic coalition favors expertise
In his column for The New York Times on Sunday, headlined “Jared Polis Wants to Win Back the Hippies,” journalist Ezra Klein writes that Polis “is a dissenter from the trends that swept through Democratic governance during the pandemic.”
For instance, “He was unusual among Democratic governors for the emphasis he put on both personal responsibility and personal liberty. Colorado opened early, sparking a tourism boom, and Polis tried to rely more on information than compulsion.”
And RFK Jr., Klein notes, ran for president in 2024 — at least, initially — as a Democrat.
“The crunchy, anti-vaxx, anti-corporate politics he represents used to have a home in the Democratic Party” before “the pandemic polarized Americans around trust in scientific and public health institutions, and comfort with public health mandates,” leaving behind “little room for people with Kennedy’s politics in the Democratic coalition.”
Klein argues the post-pandemic realignment is also evidenced by the fact that Elon Musk’s shift to the right appeared to start with his objection to COVID restrictions and lockdowns, and by the popular podcaster Joe Rogan, who endorsed Trump on the eve of the election but first broke with the Democrats over his vaccine skepticism.
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