Roger Severino

Roger Severino is an American lawyer who serves as Director of the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Severino, the son of immigrants from Colombia, grew up in Los Angeles. He received a bachelor’s degree in business from University of Southern California, a master's degree in public policy from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.

From 2008 to 2015, Severino was a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. Severino was also previously CEO and counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit law firm taking on cases related to freedom of religion. In 2015, Severino joined The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank geared towards public policy. There, he served as the Director of the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society in the Institute for Family, Community, and Opportunity.

In 2017, Severino was appointed as Director of the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by President Donald Trump.

Severino is deeply conservative and often been criticized for being anti-LGBT. The Human Rights Campaign has described Severino as a "radical anti-LGBTQ activist".

Severino is Catholic and married to Carrie Severino, who runs the Judicial Crisis Network.