Vice President Pence and Homosexuals

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.