What RFK Jr. has said about LGBTQ+ issues like AIDS, trans rights

When President-elect Donald Trump announced his pick to lead the Department of Heath and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., some groups rejoiced. The former presidential hopeful had appeared alongside Trump at rallies at the tail-end of Trump’s campaign, and Kennedy appealed to some voting blocs with his “Make America Healthy Again” movement. But the Kennedy pick, announced last week, didn’t sit well with many members of the LGBTQ+ community, and there’s a reason why.
RFK Jr. has become somewhat of a persona non grata for sharing what LGBTQ+ advocates say is harmful misinformation about some of the hot-button topics that impact them the most: HIV, transgender people and their healthcare. In the days since his name was put forward, many have expressed their concern and disappointment both with Kennedy and the direction they fear the Trump administration will take overall.
“The American people should be able to trust that our health care system is led by experts who believe in science and want to safeguard the health and wellbeing of the country,” says Human Rights Campaign National Press Secretary Brandon Wolf.
In viral posts decrying RFK Jr.’s impending leadership role, LGBTQ+ activists often cite how Kennedy has said that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS (it does). That chemicals in the water cause children to be transgender (they do not). That there should be a ban on transgender health care for minors (despite major medical association support).
USA TODAY has reached out to a representative to Kennedy for comment.
“Over the past 20 years, LGBTQ people and our families have built open and honest relationships with doctors all over the United States and finally get the care we need and deserve,” says Jessica Halem, an adviser and educator who sits on the board of the Tegan and Sara Foundation, an organization fighting for LGBTQ+ equality. With Kennedy as Health and Human Services secretary, “we risk erasing all of the gains we’ve made.”
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LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S. are relatively new. Gay marriage was only legalized nationwide in 2015. PrEP, a drug that protects against the spread of HIV, became available in 2012. And doctors are still discussing and debating, like any kind of medical care, the methods of treatment in transgender health care.
But long before all that, in the 1980s, the medical and scientific community made a breakthrough: discovering that HIV caused AIDS. Yet that’s a fact that’s come under the microscope recently, in part thanks to Kennedy, who has repeatedly made false claims that a recreational drug popular among the gay community, “poppers” (amyl nitrite), was the culprit.
While HIV transmission has decreased in the U.S., it’s not gone; 31,800 people were diagnosed in 2022. Plus, Gen Z is already the least-educated group about HIV, according to a GLAAD study, so advocates worry any disinformation about HIV and AIDS could make a big impact.
PrEP, viral suppression and HIV testing have all helped tick the HIV transmission number down in recent years.
“If (Kennedy) were to decide that AIDS wasn’t caused by HIV, which means it wasn’t caused by sexual transmission, he could have an influence on wiping out all those educational programs and all the testing programs because these things don’t work one at a time,” says Michael Bronski, a Harvard University professor and author of “A Queer History of the United States for Young People.” “They all work in conjunction with each other.”
Sarah Kate Ellis, CEO of GLAAD, worries about the impact Kennedy could have in an elevated role when it comes to AIDS education and the LGBTQ+ community at large.
“We need the next leader of HHS to see all human beings as worthy of a full and healthy life, and to fight for each person’s ability to live the life they love,” she said in a statement. “Kennedy sees himself as a health warrior yet has aligned himself with extremists who have no interest in letting Americans make their own best health care decisions, and who prioritize spreading disinformation about marginalized people to score political points.”
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The fear some people are expressing over RFK Jr. is about more than one person. It points to the LGBTQ+ community’s concerns about the Trump administration overall.
Many LGBTQ+ people are rushing to get married or adopt kids. “It’s human nature that fear is cumulative,” Bronski says.
Some worry that given the the money poured into attacking the trans community during the campaign, the writing’s on the wall. Others are fearful the threats to health care access and marriage equality are intertwined; and they fear marriage rights, like abortion, could become a state-by-state issue. Same-sex marriage became nationally legalized nine years ago.
“Given the fact that Trump’s policies seemed to be fueled by popular sentiment and resentment, is it possible that he could make the case that issues around queerness are ‘woke issues,’ and people should be resentful of them?” Bronski asks.
But post-election, GLAAD CEO Ellis emphasized while there is always going to be fear, there is also space for hope.
“Our community knows how to take care of each other, and how to push our country and world forward,” she said on Nov. 6. “The mission remains: Hold leaders accountable to We, the People. Empower each person to use their voice for progress with kindness. Correct the record. Shape culture. Change hearts and minds.”