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.

Threats To LGBTQ Rights

Mike Pence is perhaps one of the most anti-LGBTQ evangelical Christian political crusaders to serve in Congress and as governor of a state. Long before he signed the draconian anti-LGBTQ "religious liberty" law in Indiana last year, he supported "conversion therapy" as a member of Congress, and later as a columnist and radio host, he gave a speech in which he said that marriage equality would lead to "societal collapse," and called homosexuality "a choice." Stopping gays from marrying wasn't biased, he said, but was rather about compelling "God's idea."

Scary individuals and religious bigots have prominent positions in the Trump administration. Ben Carson, compared homosexuality to pedophilia and incest is vice chairman of the transition team. Newt Gingrich, attacked what he called "gay fascism" around LGBTQ rights. Ken Blackwell, formerly the Ohio secretary of state has been appointed to lead domestic policy on the transition team. Blackwell has compared homosexuality to arson and kleptomania, which he called "compulsions."

President Trump met with religious extremists, and made promises to them. He promised he would put justices on the Supreme Court who would overturn marriage equality which he has consistently opposed himself since 2000. He promised that he would sign the First Amendment Defense Act, which would all for discrimination against LGBT people by government employees and others.

It may or may not be difficult or unrealistic to overturn marriage equality over time, though the anti-equality National Organization for Marriage, which backed Trump in the election, has sent Trump a plan. But by passing bills like FADA--already introduced in the Republican controlled Senate and House--and others yet to come, gay marriage can be made into a kind of second-class marriage. Clerks like Kim Davis can be given exemptions from giving marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. Federal employees would be able to decline interactions with gay and lesbian married couples. Businesses such as bakers and florists, who've become flash points in some states where they refused to serve gays, could be granted the ability to turn away gays under federal law and all that could lead to a much more conservative Supreme Court if challenged.

Mike Pence has already said that he and Trump plan to withdraw federal guidance to the states issued by the Obama administration protecting transgender students. If Trump is as hands-off on LGBTQ issues as president as he was at the Republican National Convention, letting people like Pence, possibly the most powerful vice president ever -- get his way, along with people like Carson, Blackwell, Gingrich and likely many others, you can bet the that assault on LGBTQ rights is already underway. It is only a matter of time before we know the full magnitude.

Psychologists On Continuum Theory of Sexual Orientation

Washington State University researchers have established a categorical distinction between people who are heterosexual and those who are not. By analyzing the reported sexual behavior, identity and attraction  of more than 33,000 American adults they found that 3 percent of men and 2.7 percent of women are not heterosexual.   They also found notable issues on several mental health fronts.

The findings are a clear departure from the homosexual-heterosexual continuum used to describe sexual orientation since it was hypothesized by sexologist Alfred Kinsey in 1948. The findings do support more recent biological hypotheses of sexual orientation.

The study also identified several alarming mental health issues among non-heterosexuals. Nearly three out of ten non-heterosexual men--roughly twice that of heterosexual men--met the diagnostic criteria for depression. Non-heterosexual women were much more likely to abuse or depend on alcohol. Non-heterosexual men and women were more likely to meet the criteria for anxiety and other mood  disorders and to think about suicide. The researchers considered the social stigmatization of gays, lesbians and other non-heterosexuals could be a factor in their mental health.

The researchers, by actually getting some understanding of how to categorize people and the unique challenges they face, got a lot more insight into their well-being and their experiences. The USU psychology department used data from the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, which conducted personal interviews with more than 35,000 randomly selected adults. The survey asked respondents about which genders they've had sex with, getting at the behavior studied by Kinsey, as well as their sexual identity and who they're most attracted to. Attraction has only recently been regularly studied.

The researchers used a set of statistical methods called taxometrics, which was developed specifically to determine if people are distributed on a spectrum or if they are part of meaningful groups, or taxons. The statistics showed that people at some point are crossing a threshold between one group and anterior group. Why the do it cannot be answered in this study. But that they do it tells researchers they should be looking at that question, not as much at the continuum question. The most radical, extreme version of that would be to say Kinsey led a lot of this research down the wrong path as much as he was a pioneer whose work helped destigmatize same-sex relationship and inclinations.

The researchers' findings have numerous implications. Foremost is the ability to home in on the mental health impact of cultural issues non-heterosexuals are more likely to face. The findings are also consistent with those of biologists who examine how genes and hormones shape sexual orientation. 

Another implication of the findings  is they leave little room for calling homosexuality a lifestyle choice. A lifestyle does not fit into a taxon. People who use the language of 'choice' and 'lifestyle' are negating 'born that way' or any of the terminology that would assume that these are genuine differences that are legitimate. The findings also go against the notion of "conversion therapy," which ostensibly would move a person along a continuum toward heterosexuality. Conversion therapy is fundamentally changing who they are. You can't do that in psychology. Rather, the taxometric results establish a group of people that are, in effect, bona fide heterosexuals. Then there's another group that is not a continuum but an assemblage, a variety of people united in their same-sex sexual orientation but who may reflect diverse sexual identities.

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Reparative Therapy

Twenty-two years ago, on May 17, the World Health Assembly removed homosexuality from the list of mental disorders when it approved a new version of the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases.

"Since homosexuality is not a disorder or a disease, it does not require a cure. There is no medical indication for changing sexual orientation," said PAHO Director Dr. Mirta Roses Periago. Practices known as "reparative therapy" or "conversion therapy" represent "a serious threat to the health and well-being, even the lives, of affected people."

PAHO, (Pan American Health Organizaion), which celebrates its 110th anniversary this year, is the oldest public health organization in the world. It works with its member countries to improve the health and the quality of life of the people of the Americas. It also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of WHO.

Services that purport to "cure" people with non-heterosexual sexual orientation lack medical justification and represent a serious threat to the health and well-being of affected people, the Pan American Health Organization said in a position statement launched on May 17, 2012, the International Day against Homophobia. The statement calls on governments, academic institutions, professional associations and the media to expose these practices and to promote respect for diversity.

The PAHO statement notes that there is a professional consensus that homosexuality is a natural variation of human sexuality and cannot be regarded as a pathological condition. However, several United Nations bodies have confirmed the existence of "therapists" and "clinics" that promote treatment intended to change the sexual orientation of non-heterosexual people.

The document notes that no rigorous scientific studies demonstrate any efficacy of efforts to change sexual orientation. However, there are many testimonies about the severe harm to mental and physical health that such "services' can cause. Repression of sexual orientation has been associated with feelings of guilt and shame, depression, anxiety, and even suicide.

As an aggravating factor, there have been a growing number of reports about degrading treatments, and physical and sexual harassment under the guise of such "therapies," which are often provided illicitly. In some cases, adolescents have been subjected to such interventions involuntarily and even deprived of their liberty, sometimes kept in isolation for several months.

"These practices are unjustifiable and should be denounced and subject to sanctions and penalties under national legislation," said Dr. Roses. "These supposed conversion therapies constitute a violation of ethical principles of health care and violate human rights that are protected by international and regional agreements."

California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed a historic bill that will protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) minors from "reparative" therapies administered by mental health professionals aimed at altering sexual orientation or gender identities and expressions. Senate Bill 1172, which was co-sponsored by the NCLR, Equality California, Gaylesta Courage Campaign, Lambda Legal, and Mental Health America of Northern California, and supported by dozens of organizations, is the first law of its kind in the United States and will become effective on January 1, 2013.

To address the problem, PAHO makes a series of recommendations for governments, academic institutions, professional associations, the media, and civil society, including:

* "Conversion" or "reparative" therapies at the clinics offering them should be denounced and subject to adequate sanctions.

* Public institutions responsible for training health professionals should include courses on human sexuality and sexual health in their curricula, with pathologization rejection, and hate toward non-heterosexual persons accentuated.

* Professional associations should disseminate documents and resolutions by national and international institutions and agencies that call for the de-psychopathologization of sexual diversity and help identify prevention of interventions aimed at changing sexual orientation.

* In the media, homophobia in any of its manifestations and expressed by any person should not be exposed as a public health problem and a threat to human dignity and human rights.

* Civil society organizations can develop mechanisms of civil vigilance to detect violations of the human rights of non-heterosexual persons and report them to the relevant authorities. They can also help to identify and report people and institutions involved in the administration of "reparative" or "conversion therapies".