Paul Watkins is currently the Director of the Office of Innovation for the CFPB, an office created by former Acting Director Mick Mulvaney to purportedly cut regulatory “‘red tape’” within financial services.
- Worked from 2012 to 2015 as Senior Legal Counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which has been designated as an anti-LGBT hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its homophobic agenda.
- ADF has “supported the recriminalization of homosexuality in the U.S. and criminalization abroad” and “claims that a ‘homosexual agenda’ will destroy Christianity and society.”
- Watkins’ work for ADF was conveniently excluded from his public LinkedIn Profile and from the Bureau’s announcement of his hiring.
- While Watkins worked as a senior attorney for ADF, the group:
- Co-wrote an Arizona bill allowing businesses, individuals, and groups to “use their religious beliefs as a defense in a discrimination lawsuit.”
- Petitioned the Supreme Court to hear their case defending a photographer who refused service to a lesbian couple.
- Defended the state of Arizona’s same-sex marriage ban, arguing “‘Only man-woman couples are capable of furthering the State’s interest in linking children to both of their biological parents.’”
- As Head of the CFPB’s Innovation Office, Watkins spearheaded efforts that could grant industry immunity from anti-discrimination rules and fair lending laws that protect LGBTQ consumers.
- Was Valedictorian at Hillsdale College, which The Princeton Review “consistently ranks” among the least LGBT-friendly schools.
- The college forbids students from accepting federal funds so it can remain “‘unfettered’” from requirements on sex discrimination and diversity.