Vice
President Mike Pence has a long history of taking religious positions in
government that discriminate against LGBT issues. Here are some of the
statements and positions Pence has had related to LGBT issues:
He said gay couples signaled
‘societal collapse’.
In 2006,
as head of the Republican Study Committee, a group of the 100 most-conservative
House members, Pence rose in support of a constitutional amendment that would
have defined marriage as between a man and a woman. Citing a Harvard
researcher, Pence said in his speech, “societal collapse was always brought
about following the advent of the deterioration of marriage and family.” Pence
also called being gay a choice and said keeping gays from marrying was not
discrimination, but an enforcement of “God’s idea.”
He opposed a law that would
prohibit discrimination against LGBT people in the workplace.
The
Employment Non-Discrimination Act would have banned discrimination against
people based on sexual orientation. Pence voted against that law in 2007 and
later said the law “wages war on freedom and religion in the workplace. More
than 20 years after the bill was first introduced, the Senate approved the
proposal in 2013, but the bill failed in the House.
He opposed the repeal of Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell.
Pence
favored the longtime military policy of not letting soldiers openly identify as
gay. In 2010, Pence told CNN he did not want to see the military become “a
backdrop for social experimentation. The policy ended in 2011.
He opposed transgender bathrooms.
He rejected
the Obama administration directive on transgender bathrooms. In May 2018, the
federal government directed school districts to allow students to use the
bathroom of the gender they identify with. The directive came as criticism grew
around a North Carolina law that would have restricted the use of bathrooms. Along
with many other conservatives, Pence opposed Obama’s directive and said it was
a state issue. “The federal government has no business getting involved in the
issues of this nature.” Pence said.
Pence is a supporter of conversion
therapy.
Pence has
been particularly dogged by accusations that he is a supporter of “conversion
therapy”. This is the practice of trying to change someone’s sexual orientation
or gender identity. It has been discredited by the medical establishment and
denounced by gay and transgender groups.
Chad
Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, has called Pence “the face of
anti-LGBTQ hate in America.” Pence “has made attacking the rights and dignity
of LGBT people a cornerstone of his political career—not just a part, but a
defining part of his career” he said.
Once
Trump mocked Pence’s socially conservative beliefs. When the conversation
turned to gay rights, Trump motioned toward Pence and joked, “Don’t ask that
guy—he wants to hang them all!” Before the Vice President could respond, many
gay rights advocates responded to the report on social media, taking issue with
both Trump’s joking tone and Pence’s history on their issues. The National
Center for Lesbian Rights tweeted that having a president joke about the death
of gay Americans is not normal.
