Controversial comments by Neil Parrott, the Republican nominee for Maryland Congressional District 6, stating his opposition to in-vitro fertilization (IVF) for same-sex couples, have come to light as the Human Rights Campaign announced its endorsement of Democratic nominee April McClain Delaney.
In 2015, while serving as a state delegate representing District 2A, which covers part of Washington County, Parrott voiced opposition to proposed legislation that would require insurance companies to provide same-sex couples with identical coverage for IVF procedures that would be provided to straight couples, calling it “shockingly-bad” in a 2015 newsletter to constituents. He also said it would provide “a false sense of equality” and criticized LGBTQ+ marriage and family structures. Business Insider first reported on Parrott’s comments Friday.
Congressional District 6 represents the northwestern portion of Montgomery County and all of Allegany, Frederick, Garrett and Washington counties in western Maryland.
The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ political lobbying group and advocacy organization in the country, praised McClain Delaney in its endorsement of her campaign Tuesday, while criticizing Parrott and citing the Business Insider article.
“[McClain Delaney] knows what vulnerable LGBTQ+ Americans are up against and stands ready to fight against MAGA-led attacks in Congress that defy common sense and perpetuate division,” Molly Whitehorn, associate regional campaign director for the Human Rights Campaign, wrote in a press release. “Her opponent meanwhile has made his disdain for equality clear, stigmatizing transgender youth on his campaign site and using his platform to spread anti-choice rhetoric.”
The Human Rights Campaign appears to be referencing a statement on Parrott’s campaign website that says “biological boys should not be allowed to compete with biological girls in sports. Boys should not be able to steal girls’ scholarships for college athletics.”
In an email to MoCo360 on Tuesday, Parrott said the release from the McClain Delaney campaign and the Human Rights Campaign took his words “out of context.” He wrote that he is “a strong supporter of IVF” and that his opposition to the proposed 2015 legislation “stemmed from serious concerns about the financial impact on Maryland’s already strained budget and high insurance premiums.”
“At the time, I was deeply concerned about the budget’s overall fiscal health, particularly with cuts to essential services like law enforcement and corrections, and the reduction in the state’s contributions to retirement and pension funds,” Parrott, a Hagerstown resident, wrote. “In this context, adding another expensive mandate seemed fiscally irresponsible. It was not just about the cost of IVF treatments but about the broader impact on the state’s financial stability and the well-being of all Marylanders.”
Parrott also included a link to the original 2015 email newsletter he sent to constituents voicing his concerns with the legislation.
However, in the 2015 newsletter copy Parrott sent to MoCo360, he criticizes LGBTQ+ family structures and says studies support that children are less successful when brought up by same-sex couples, but does not cite or link the specific studies. Throughout the newsletter, he uses the words “married” and “family” in quotes when referencing LGBTQ+ couples.
“Not only does this law create an unequal and less-stringent requirement for same-sex couples, but our insurance premiums will also be paying to have a child brought into the world to a situation where they will most likely be statistically worse off than other children,” Parrott wrote. “By passing this law, we are intentionally putting a child into a ‘family’ where a father will knowingly be absent.”
In the same 2015 newsletter, Parrott voiced opposition to a bill that would allow transgender Marylanders to change their gender marker on their birth certificate without proof of gender-affirming surgery, saying it would allow people to “rewrite history.”
Parrott previously represented part of Washington County in the Maryland General Assembly from 2011 to 2022. He ran for the congressional seat in 2020 and 2022, both times losing to current Rep. David Trone (D-Dist. 6).
MoCo360 sent Parrott a follow-up email Tuesday afternoon asking if he maintains his 2015 views on LGBTQ+ families, but he did not respond as of Wednesday morning.
Parrott has maintained his opposition to legislation that would increase government protection and rights for LGBTQ+ Marylanders throughout his political career. Notably, he led a contingency of legislators advocating to overturn legalized same-sex marriage in Maryland in 2012. He was the only delegate to vote in 2022 against providing veterans’ benefits to Marylanders who had been dishonorably discharged from the military for their sexual orientation and voted against repealing Maryland’s anti-sodomy law in 2020.
In response to MoCo360’s Voters Guide questionnaire, Parrott said he supports states that have “prohibited the barbaric practices of sex change surgeries, cross-sex hormone regimens and so-called puberty blockers for minors.”
He referred to gender-affirming care as “dangerous experimental procedures” and said he would support a federal ban on the “horrific practice of child sex change surgeries.”
According to a study released last month by the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University, there is “little to no” utilization of gender-affirming surgeries on transgender and gender nonconforming minors in the United States.
The Maryland Democratic Party condemned Parrott’s resurfaced views in a press release on Monday, calling Parrott’s agenda “extreme and out-of-touch.”
“Neil Parrott’s views are a direct threat to the progress we’ve made,” Del. Kris Fair (D-Dist. 3) chair of the Maryland General Assembly LGBTQ+ Caucus and representative of Frederick County, said in the release. “Someone who so blatantly disregards the rights of LGBTQ+ Marylanders has no place in Congress.”
While the Human Rights Campaign said in its endorsement that McClain Delaney has “devoted her career to being a force for good in her community, and that includes protecting and advancing LGBTQ+ rights,” the candidate’s record on the issues prior to her campaign is unclear. McClain Delaney has not previously held public office.
McClain Delaney, a Potomac resident, resigned in October as deputy assistant secretary for communications and information in the U.S. Commerce Department before announcing her campaign. Prior to joining the Biden administration, she was the Washington, D.C., director of Common Sense Media, an advocacy group that focuses on online safety and the impact of television on children’s health and well-being.
On her campaign website, McClain Delaney lists “defending LGBTQIA+ rights” as one of her top issues. In response to MoCo360’s Voters Guide questionnaire, McClain Delaney said she would sign the Equality Act on “day one” in Congress and would be “an advocate against initiatives to end marriage equality or ban gender-affirming care.” The Equality Act is a congressional bill introduced in 2019 that would extend the anti-discrimination laws in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to LGBTQ+ Americans.