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Lead Dem demands Trump withdraw Army secretary pick over 'homophobia and transphobia'

Defense News: WASHINGTON — The No. 2 Democrat in the U.S. House is calling for the withdrawal of President Trump’s nominee for Army secretary over his “clear record of homophobia and transphobia.”

Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, Maryland, issued a statement on Monday strongly urging Trump to pick someone other than Mark Green, a Tennessee state lawmaker and former Army flight surgeon. Hoyer was adding his voice to LGBT advocates and other lawmakers who have assailed Green for calling transgenderism a "disease" and suggesting the Tennessee governor could refuse to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

Green has also come under fire for alleged anti-Muslim rhetoric, including a 2013 Twitter message in which he referred to then-President Obama as “B Hussein Obama" and a statement made during a political meeting last year, that Tennessee "will not tolerate" the "teaching [of] the pillars of Islam." Hoyer's statement came on the same day Muslim civil rights group Muslim Advocates condemned Green.

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