Mike Pence whines that people should only call him a bigot in private
Pence is unhappy that openly gay presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg pointed out that Pence doesn’t like gay people.
Mike Pence is a homophobe whose anti-LGBT fervor is driven by his conservative religious beliefs. He also thinks it is unseemly and uncivil if anyone brings that up, which is why he is mad at Pete Buttigieg, the openly gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana and a Democratic presidential candidate.
Buttigieg made some quite accurate, and quite mild, remarks about Pence, saying “I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand, that if you have a problem with who I am, your quarrel is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator.”
Pence took offense at this, saying that Buttigieg should have raised his concerns privately, according to a report by the Hill.
There’s no reason that should be the case. Buttigieg isn’t saying anything everyone didn’t already know. Mike Pence does take issue with LGBT people and encourages discrimination against them and has done so publicly for years.
Pence is also mad because he once said something nice about Buttigieg in the past by calling him “a dedicated public servant and a patriot.” Notably, that statement excludes any support for Buttigieg as a gay man.
This isn’t the first time Mike Pence has whined about someone accurately characterizing his positions on LGBT matters. Last year, Pence went after openly gay champion figure skater Adam Rippon for saying that Pence supported conversion therapy. Conversion therapy is a brutal experience that dehumanizes LGBT people under the theory doing so will help them change their sexual orientation.
Pence’s press secretary called Rippon a liar, but Pence had previously called for diverting funds from HIV/AIDS treatment and giving it to organizations “which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.”
And it isn’t like the call for conversion therapy was the only time Pence was a vicious homophobe willing to use his power to hurt LGBT people. He co-sponsored an amendment calling for marriage to be defined as one man and one woman, demanded the firing of a federal official who worked with gay-straight student alliances, and said that anti-hate crimes laws were enacted to advance a “radical social agenda.”
Mike Pence has belittled LGBT people his entire career. He really can’t complain about being called out on it.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
Recommended
Biden calls for expanded child tax credit, taxes on wealthy in $7.2 trillion budget plan
President Joe Biden released his budget request for the upcoming fiscal year Monday, calling on Congress to stick to the spending agreement brokered last year and to revamp tax laws so that the “wealthy pay their fair share.”
By Jennifer Shutt, States Newsroom - March 11, 2024Biden rallies Democrats in Las Vegas: ‘Imagine the nightmare’ if Trump reelected
With a primary win all but inevitable, President Joe Biden used his Sunday appearance in Las Vegas’s Historic Westside to rally his most vocal supporters in a battleground state that delivered for him four years ago.
By April Corbin Girnus, Nevada Current - February 05, 2024UAW delivers rousing presidential endorsement for Biden over ‘scab’ Trump
The United Auto Workers of America endorsed the re-election of President Joe Biden Wednesday, just months after he became the first sitting U.S. president to walk a picket line with striking autoworkers in Michigan.
By Ashley Murray, States Newsroom - January 24, 2024