Kalpana Kotagal is an attorney who, thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris' tiebreaking vote in the U.S. Senate, has finally won the seat on the EEOC, the government agency "responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person's race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and related conditions, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability, or genetic information."
The tiebreaker was the vice president's 31st such vote since entering office, tying her with the previous record held by Vice President John C. Calhoun for 191 years.
Tabatha Walter of Eagle Forum is familiar with Kotagal's work.
"She has a very terrible history with particularly the transgender movement and the so-called equality agenda," Walter tells AFN. "So, we're very concerned that while she's in the Biden administration, she's going to push an extreme leftist agenda."
That concern stems in part from Kotagal's previous work for the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund.
"There she engaged in negotiations with insurance agencies to allow surgeries for transgenders, specifically breast augmentations," Walter reports. "This is very specific to the transgender movement, and it's not a stretch to think that she will be pushing the same agenda while she's in the EEOC."
Considering she has been endorsed by the National Women's Law Center (NWLC), which has advocated aggressively against religious protection laws in the past, Kotagal is also expected to use her new position to attack religious and conscience protections for employers, especially pro-life ones.
Kotagal's term will run through 2027, and her appointment has given Democrats control of the federal agency.
