Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, said that a gay CDC leader who has extensive experience in the public health field had “no business being in government” because of his “lifestyle.”
Paul made the remarks about Dr. Demetre Daskalakis on Tuesday, The Hill reports. Daskalakis led the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC until last week, when he and three other top CDC leaders resigned, citing changes under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Paul said that Daskalakis “should never have had a position in government,” according to The Hill.
“He brags about his lifestyle, you know, this whole idea of bondage and, you know, multiple partners and all that stuff,” Paul said. “He brags about that stuff, but he’s got no business being in government. It’s good riddance.”
The Independent has contacted Daskalakis for comment.
Social media users were quick to push back on Paul’s rhetoric.
“Rand Paul is a joke. What a pitiful sad man,” former tennis star Martina Navratilova wrote on X, linking to an article about his comments.
“SOME WOULD SAY RAND PAUL’S LIFESTYLE DOESN’T BELONG IN GOVERNMENT EITHER,” writer Lesley Abravanel said on X.
Another user chimed in: “Trust me, you don’t hate Rand Paul enough.”
Daskalakis is an experienced public health official and LGBTQ+ health advocate. But as he’s taken on higher-profile roles in recent years, some conservatives have targeted him, pointing to his tattoos or photos of him in leather gear.
Daskalakis was tapped to help lead the Biden administration’s response to mpox in 2022. His role involved “doing right by the LGBTQIA+ community and to make sure that there is a higher level of coordination on all fronts moving in the right direction,” Daskalakis told The Advocate at the time.
However, conservatives online were quick to claim Daskalakis was a “satanist” because he had shared photos showing his pentagram tattoo, Politico reported at the time. Daskalakis laughed it off and told Politico it wasn’t true, saying, “I wish I were that interesting.” He also noted his Jesus tattoo, which he said was inspired by the Greek Orthodox church he attended growing up.
In addition to sharing photos on social media, Daskalakis posed on the cover of Plus Magazine in 2021 wearing a leather harness. He was also photographed in a leather jacket for New York City’s “Bare it All” health campaign — which encouraged LGBTQ+ residents to have open conversations with their doctors about sex. He Politico that images like those help build trust with the people he’s trying to reach.
Before making it to the White House and CDC, Daskalakis worked as a public health official in New York City. He was known as the city’s “gay health warrior” and even established a free HIV and Hepatitis C screening clinic at a popular Manhattan S&M club, The Atlantic reported in 2014.
In his resignation letter last week, Daskalakis cited the “intentional eroding of trust in low-risk vaccines” and the end of critical health programs.
“For decades, I have been a trusted voice for the LGBTQ community when it comes to critical health topics,” Daskalakis wrote. “I must also cite the recklessness of the administration in their efforts to erase transgender populations, cease critical domestic and international HIV programming, and terminate key research to support equity as part of my decision.”
Paul isn’t the only Republican lawmaker who has targeted Daskalakis in recent days.
Representative Buddy Carter shared a series of photos of Daskalakis in leather, writing, “This is precisely why Georgia and America voted for Donald Trump – to stop our tax dollars from funding this kind of insanity. Good riddance, Dr. Daskalakis.”
Daskalakis fired back minutes later: “As a proud gay man, I find bullying by a member of the @USCongress_ something that the community should be alert to.”
Senator Ted Cruz also shared the photos on X, writing, “How the hell was this person a senior official at the CDC?”
“This attack is so 2022… I guess you can’t argue against the fact that public health is being destroyed… so instead you repost my instagram,” Daskalakis responded. “Thanks for providing me thousands of new followers!”
