BETHANY KOZMA
Deputy Chief of Staff
TRUMP SENDS ANTI-TRANS PRO-LIFER BETHANY KOZMA TO WOMEN'S RIGHTS CONFERENCE AT THE U.N.
March 22, 2018
Kozma has publicly campaigned against transgender students being given the right to use bathrooms which match their gender identity since 2016, when President Obama released guidance to public schools on the issue which was later withdrawn by the Trump administration.
"The silent majority must no longer be silent. With Trump, we now have a president who is focused on remedying the lawlessness of the prior administration," she wrote following the decision.
FEDERAL WATCHDOGS TARGET BULLYING, RETALIATION AT STATE DEPARTMENT
Many in the network are linked to Stephen Miller, an influential senior advisor to the president who oversees the Domestic Policy Council at the White House...Kozma has injected politics into traditional technical deliberations, seeking, for instance, to remove any reference to issues such as reproductive rights and gender from United Nations resolutions, according to several officials.
September 7, 2018
U.S. FOREIGN AID AGENCY DEFENDS POLITICAL APPOINTEES WHO WROTE ANTI-LGBT, ANTI-ISLAM POSTS
In addition, ProPublica reported that Bethany Kozma, previously an anti-transgender activist who wrote in 2016 that transgender girls are boys “claiming gender confusion,” had taken a new position as USAID’s deputy chief of staff.
June 9, 2020
ERASED FROM THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S DRAFT OF A KEY FOREIGN AID POLICY: ANY MENTION OF LGBT PEOPLE
One official involved in the policy update process was Bethany Kozma, the USAID deputy chief of staff. Before joining the Trump administration in 2017, Kozma advocated against Obama-era guidelines that schools allow transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity. During her time in the administration, she has played a key role in advancing conservative causes globally, such as opposing references to sexual and reproductive health in United Nations documents.
August 20, 2020
THE INSIDE STORY OF USAID'S TUMULTUOUS YEAR
January 6, 2021
In June, Barsa released a statement defending the appointees who had received negative press coverage. He voiced his support for Bethany Kozma, a deputy chief of staff who sources described to Devex as the conduit between USAID and more extreme members of the administration; Merritt Corrigan, a deputy White House liaison with a history of making anti-LGBTQ comments and arguing that women should remain at home; and Mark Kevin Lloyd, a religious freedom adviser who described Islam as a “barbaric cult.”
Barsa expressed his full confidence in each of them and condemned “unwarranted and malicious attacks” in the press.
USAID CHIEF PLANS TO BLOCK LAST-MINUTE PUSH TO ADD TRUMP LOYALISTS
At USAID, Bethany Kozma, the agency’s deputy chief of staff, led the effort, which sought to short-circuit the agency’s competitive hiring process and to favor political allies over career employees and veterans, who have traditionally received preferential treatment in the hiring process, according to U.S. officials. Kozma, a former campaigner for limits on school bathroom access for transgender students, made the hiring of allies her No. 1 priority, according to two USAID officials.
January 13, 2021