What we know about Gov. Mike Pence's posn on gay rights over the years

Contents:

• MIKE PENCE ARGUED HOMOSEXUALY WAS ‘A CHOICE’ OR ‘LEARNED BEHAVR’ DURG 1990S FIGHT AGAST GAY RIGHTS ORDANCE
• DID MIKE PENCE SUPPORT 'GAY CONVERSN' THERAPY?
• WHAT ARE MIKE PENCE'S VIEWS ON GAY MARRIAGE? HIS HISTORY IS ONE OF OPPOSN
• MIKE PENCE: GAY CONVERSN THERAPY SAVED MY MARRIAGE
• WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT GOV. MIKE PENCE'S POSN ON GAY RIGHTS OVER THE YEARS
• MIKE PENCE IS NOT ANTI-GAY – I’M A GAY MAN WHO KNOWS HE’S BEEN FALSELY ACCED
• MIKE PENCE SAID THE 1990S THAT BEG GAY WAS 'A CHOICE' OR A 'LEARNED BEHAVR,' BUT THE WHE HOE SAYS HE ISN'T 'ANTI-GAY'

MIKE PENCE ARGUED HOMOSEXUALY WAS ‘A CHOICE’ OR ‘LEARNED BEHAVR’ DURG 1990S FIGHT AGAST GAY RIGHTS ORDANCE

Read More: Donald Tmp Nam Veep Pick on Twter Here are some of the statements and posns Pence had has related to LGBT issu: He said gay upl signaled ‘societal llapse’ In 2006, as head of the Republin Study Commtee, a group of the 100 most-nservative Hoe members, Pence rose support of a nstutnal amendment that would have fed marriage as between a man and a woman. Read More: Why Donald Tmp Picked Mike Pence as Runng Mate He opposed the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Pence favored the longtime ary policy of not lettg soldiers openly intify as gay.

Vice Print Mike Pence once argued that homosexualy was a choice durg his fight the early 1990s agast lol efforts Indiana to ban discrimatn based on sexual orientatn. But scty of Pence’s rerd on LGBT issu tensified recently when Whe Hoe Deputy prs secretary Judd Deere suggted last week a tweet that the vice print wasn’t anti-gay bee he was havg lunch wh the Irish prime mister, who is gay, and his partner durg a state vis. The ltle-explored episo the 1990s, unearthed lol newspaper clippgs durg a eper KFile review of Pence’s rerd on LGBT issu, highlights an early wdow to the now-vice print’s public activism and views opposn of gay rights.

Pence argued the 1990s that, unlike protectns for Ain Amerins, homosexuals choose or learn to be gay and was part of a “grassroots-generated movement for regnn of homosexual rights” natnwi. I do not choose whether I am a black Amerin … the great vast majory of the psychologil muny says homosexualy at a very mimum is a choice by the dividual, and at the maximum, is a learned behavr.

DID MIKE PENCE SUPPORT 'GAY CONVERSN' THERAPY?

The Amerin Psychologil Associatn said 1992 that data did not support the view that homosexualy was a choice and studi at the time the 1990s suggted homosexualy was blogil and geic. The arguments ma the 1990s by Pence would echo those he later emphasized when he ran for Congrs 2000 when his platform protted extendg civil rights protectns to gay Amerins. But the 1990s ments show for the first time Pence llg homosexualy a choice and offer a clearer view to Pence’s view on gay Amerins at the time.

Dignatg gay Amerins worthy of such protectns unr the law, Pence said, would open “a Pandora’s Box of legal rights and legal difficulti” and was part of grassroots movements by gay activists for creasg their rights. The ordance, which featured exemptns for church and church-affiliated groups, would give a group of ne people appoted by the mayor the abily to vtigate and mediate discrimatn plats agast homosexual or bi-sexual rints hog, public acmodatns, and employment.

Public opn polls the US at the time were equally divid over whether homosexualy should be accepted by society and many of the ballot iativ 1992 aimed at nouncg homosexualy or repealg measur that protected homosexuals om discrimatn had mixed rults. Though some rints and relig misters argued agast the measure bee they said homosexualy was a s and they did not want to hire or rent to homosexuals, Pence and the Indiana Policy Review opposed the measure on public policy grounds. “It opens up om a legal standpot … a Pandora’s Box of legal rights and legal difficulti once you intify homosexuals as a discrete and sular mory.

WHAT ARE MIKE PENCE'S VIEWS ON GAY MARRIAGE? HIS HISTORY IS ONE OF OPPOSN

Tmp’s nng mate July, he has faced plats om groups cril of his rerd on gay and transgenr rights, who said he has long been an opponent of the gas ma by the L. It has been discreded by the medil tablishment and nounced by gay and transgenr Pence’s spokman, Marc Lotter, nied to The Tim over the weekend that the vice print-elect supports the practice, sayg a past mpaign statement had been misterpreted.

MIKE PENCE: GAY CONVERSN THERAPY SAVED MY MARRIAGE

Groups rema skeptil, potg to his rerd of opposn to gay rights as a member of Congrs and as ernor of Indiana and an approvg reference to nversn therapy the 2016 Republin Party, what is nversn therapy, and why is Mr. ”Conversn therapy has been nmned by a range of groups, cludg the Amerin Medil Associatn and the Amerin Psychologil Associatn, which said was based on the view that homosexualy is a disorr, an ia “that has been rejected by all the major mental health profsns. ”Brothers on a Road Ls Traveled, a support group for men who want to stop beg attracted to other men, said s method clus velopg “an ternal sense of masculy” and “disverg our te needs unrlyg some of our homosexual longgs and triggers.

”There are equently relig overton to nversn therapy, which is often promoted by groups wh ti to nservative Christian anizatns like Foc on the Fay, which says on s webse that “homosexual stgglers” n “leave homosexualy” wh the help of support groups like Homosexuals Anonymo or by “beg more like J. “That is very specific language — some might ll a dog whistle — that has been ed for s to very thly cloak eply homophobic beliefs, ” Ms. ”Rece Prieb, the chairman of the Republin Party and the g Whe Hoe chief of staff, told reporters that the language did not refer to nversn therapy, but gay and transgenr groups did not believe him.

“One is ex-gay nversn therapy and the other is transgenr hormone therapy, and I hardly believe that Tony Perks was puttg a plank the Republin Party platform endorsg the rights of parents to provi their children wh transgenr hormone therapy. )A aln of former lears of the ex-gay movement wrote an open letter July nouncg the platform as “sentially affirmg” nversn therapy. Former Vice Print Mike Pence told stunts at the Universy of Virgia that any gay child he fathered would be ments me rponse to a qutn om a stunt about what Pence would say to a child who me out as gay to him.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT GOV. MIKE PENCE'S POSN ON GAY RIGHTS OVER THE YEARS

In October 2016, an image appeared on social media accg Indiana's ernor (and Republin printial nomee Donald Tmp's nng mate) Mike Pence of supportg "gay nversn" therapy, particularly the e of electric shocks as part of the practice:. Although he didn't say so outright, the posn has been wily terpreted as signalg Pence's support for "gay nversn" therapy, which seeks to "cure" patients of beg attracted to members of the same sex.

MIKE PENCE IS NOT ANTI-GAY – I’M A GAY MAN WHO KNOWS HE’S BEEN FALSELY ACCED

Acrdg to the Amerin Psychologil Associatn, electric shocks were one of the techniqu ed to addrs homosexualy through "aversn therapy" prr to the group's cisn 1973 to stop classifyg as a mental disorr. The potential risks of reparative therapy are great, cludg prsn, anxiety and self-stctive behavr, sce therapist alignment wh societal prejudic agast homosexualy may rerce self-hatred already experienced by the patients who have unrgone reparative therapy relate that they were accurately told that homosexuals are lonely, unhappy dividuals who never achieve acceptance or satisfactn. The possibily that the person might achieve happs and satisfyg terpersonal relatnships as a gay man or lbian is not prented, nor are alternative approach to alg wh the effects of societal stigmatizatn discsed.

While Pence is bt known for his bumblg attempt to rebrand antigay bigotry as relig liberty last year, that was hardly his first foray to the fields of homophobia. To prove that he wasn’t sglg gay people out, Pence was also willg to jail marriage clerks who supplied a license or clergy who performed the weddg. Longg for the good old days of plete visibily for gay people, Pence predictably ignored the preponrance of evince support of repealg Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

“There’s no qutn to mastream homosexualy wh active duty ary would have an impact on un hn, ” Pence argued, dismissg the repeal as “some liberal domtic social agenda. "No one should be harassed or mistreated bee of who they are, who they love, or what they believe, " Pence said, while promisg that he wouldn't viate om his nservative and relig iologi orr to extend state civil rights to protect lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr dividuals.

MIKE PENCE SAID THE 1990S THAT BEG GAY WAS 'A CHOICE' OR A 'LEARNED BEHAVR,' BUT THE WHE HOE SAYS HE ISN'T 'ANTI-GAY'

In 2007, for example, Pence volized his fear that a bill that would protect gay and lbian workers om workplace discrimatn would be ed to discrimate agast Christians. The RFRA was held unnstutnal by the Uned Stat Supreme urt , to no one's surprise, Pence exprsed great disappotment when the Uned Stat Supreme urt legalized gay marriage 2015.

In November 2016, a photograph purportedly showg a young Mike Pence wh his cht exposed was circulated on social media along wh the claim that documented the vice print's "gay past":. On 12 November 2016, the Nevada County Soper web se published an article reportg on Vice Print-elect Mike Pence's "surprise announcement" to Fox News that gay "nversn therapy" helped save his marriage by helpg him to rist "certa urg":. Indianapolis, IN — In a surprise announcement today, Indiana Governor and Vice Print-elect Mike Pence said that gay nversn therapy saved his marriage.