Mike Pence and gay rights: The LGBT rerd we need Kamala Harris to go after

Contents:

• MIKE PENCE ARGUED HOMOSEXUALY WAS ‘A CHOICE’ OR ‘LEARNED BEHAVR’ DURG 1990S FIGHT AGAST GAY RIGHTS ORDANCE
• DID MIKE PENCE SAY HE WANTS TO 'HANG' GAY PEOPLE?
• 'WE'RE NOT HIDG': GAY AND LBIAN RSIANS SAY A CULTURAL SHIFT IS UNRWAY
• MIKE PENCE ARGUED HOMOSEXUALY WAS ‘A CHOICE’ OR ‘LEARNED BEHAVR’ DURG 1990S FIGHT AGAST GAY RIGHTS ORDANCE

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

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.

Pence’s opposn to LGBT equaly has long drawn the srn of gay rights activists and ma him a champn of the Relig Right. 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. “Once you intify homosexuals as a mory, then by fn they would need to be afford nstutnal protectn, ” Pence add. 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 SAY HE WANTS TO 'HANG' GAY PEOPLE?

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.

'WE'RE NOT HIDG': GAY AND LBIAN RSIANS SAY A CULTURAL SHIFT IS UNRWAY

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. In September 1992, Lafayette, Indiana, first proposed addg homosexualy to s non-discrimatn ordance.

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

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. Bill Clton would be elected that year mpaigng on endg the ban on homosexuals servg the ary. Pence argued the issue of gay rights would bee one of the most important issu of the 1990s.

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.