Marco Rubio, consistently on the wrong side of equality, uses Orlando massacre for political gain ... by gimleteye

 

Would Senator Marco Rubio use the Orlando massacre as a sign that he needs to run for re-election to the US Senate? Yes, he would. Rubio's political career is literally pock-marked with places he planted his flag against the rights of LGBT constituencies. The Human Rights Campaign website published "Marco Rubio Consistently On The Wrong Side Of Equality".

Whether the issue is marriage equality or protecting workers from discrimination, Florida Senator Marco Rubio has consistently opposed giving LGBT Americans equal treatment.

Marriage: Rubio has consistently opposed marriage equality. He even thanked Speaker John Boehner for spending taxpayer dollars to protect the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Rubio said “you have to really have a ridiculous and absurd reading of the U.S. constitution to reach the conclusion that people have a right to marry someone of the same sex.” Rubio has also said that “the most important thing the next President will do is appoint Supreme Court justices” opposed to rulings like Obergefell, and has suggested Supreme Court appointments are the best way to reverse the historic ruling and roll back progress.

Discrimination: As a candidate, Rubio said he opposed making sexual orientation a protected class under civil rights laws. Despite claiming he opposed discrimination, Rubio voted against ENDA--which would have given LGBT Americans explicit protection from discrimination in the workplace--and he threatened to oppose his own immigration bill if it included provisions for same-sex couples. He supports the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), which would allow government employees to discriminate against LGBT people under the guise of “religious liberty” and has vowed to appoint both an Attorney General and Supreme Court justices who would defend the right of people like Kim Davis to discriminate.

Executive Orders: Rubio has vowed to repeal “every single one” of President Obama’s executive orders. He has explicitly called for repealing those that protect LGBT people from discrimination, stating “on my first day in office, they’re gone.”

Conversion Therapy: Rubio has raised money in Florida for a key backer of conversion therapy.

Harmful Rhetoric: Rubio has recorded robocalls for the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), which named him a “real marriage” champion. He has helped raised money for the Florida Family Policy Council, whose leader said that being gay is an “artificial, social construct” that is “dangerous.”

Adoption: Rubio opposes allowing LGBT couples to adopt because children shouldn’t “be part of a social experiment.”

Anti-bullying: TBD

Rubio’s Notable Quotes on LGBT Equality

Rubio Spoke Out Against Allowing Same-Sex Couples From Adopting, Saying Children “Shouldn’t Be Forced To Be Part Of A Social Experiment.” According to the Tallahassee Democrat: “The Department of Children and Families is under fire from children’s advocates for allowing foster children to spend the night in a conference room in Tallahassee, but legislative leaders said Wednesday that won’t change their minds about allowing gays to adopt. ‘Some of these kids are the most disadvantaged in the state,’ said House Majority Leader Marco Rubio of West Miami. ‘They shouldn't be forced to be part of a social experiment.’” [Tallahassee Democrat, 4/6/2006]

Rubio Said He Would Be Against His Own Immigration Bill If It Gave Same-Sex Couples Rights. According to CNN, Senator Rubio said when discussing his immigration bill, “If this bill has in it something that gives gay couples immigration rights and so forth, it kills the bill. I'm gone. I'm off it.” [CNN, Political Ticker, 6/13/2013]

Rubio Said “The Most Important This The Next President Will Do” Is Appoint Justices To The Supreme Court Who Will Disagree With Current Court’s Thinking On Obergefell. In an interview with CBN, Rubio said: “And beyond it, I think one of the biggest things the next President is going to do is appoint justices to the Supreme Court -- justices who understand that the Constitution is a living and breathing document. It is a document of limitation and it’s supposed to be interpreted and applied based on its original intent. And there is no way that you can read that Constitution and deduce from it that there is constitutional right to an abortion, or a constitutional right to marry someone of the same sex. And what you have is a Supreme Court that wanted to reach a certain policy outcome and so creatively manipulated the Constitution to discover a right that for over two centuries, some of the most brilliant minds and legal history didn’t find. So you need judges that understand how constitutionally flawed that those two kinds of rulings and others have been and that’s what the most important thing the next President will do is appoint Supreme court Justices that actually will apply the constitution irrespective of their personal feelings about the issue.” [CBN, The Brody File, 12/5/2015; VIDEO]

Rubio Said Marriage Equality “Is Current Law. I Don’t Believe Any Case Is Settled Law. Any Future Supreme Court Can Change It.” After declaring marriage equality “bad law,” Rubio said: “What is wrong is that the Supreme Court has found this hidden constitutional right that 200 years of jurisprudence had not discovered and basically overturn the will of voters in Florida where over 60 percent passed a constitutional amendment that defined marriage in the state constitution as the union of one man and one woman.” Chuck Todd pressed, “So are you accepting the idea of same sex marriage in perpetuity?” Rubio responded: “It is the current law. I don't believe any case law is settled law. Any future Supreme Court can change it. And ultimately, I will appoint Supreme Court justices that will interpret the Constitution as originally constructed.” [NBC, Meet The Press, 12/13/2015; VIDEO]

Rubio Vowed To Undo “Every Single One” Of Obama’s Executive Orders… “On My First Day In Office, They’re Gone.” According to the Des Moines Register, “FORT DODGE, Ia. – Marco Rubio promised to undo ‘every single one’ of President Barack Obama’s executive orders, and on Tuesday said that Obama is unconstitutionally limiting and undermining the Second Amendment. ‘On my first day in office, they’re gone,’ the Florida senator said to crowd in Cedar Rapids.” [Des Moines Register, 1/6/2016]

Rubio Said He Didn’t Think Indiana RFRA Bill “Opened Up Discrimination” And That No One “Should Be Force[d] To Participate…In An Event That Your Faith Teaches Is Immoral And Wrong.” At an event in Waverly, IA, Rubio was asked about Indiana’s right to discriminate RFRA legislation. Rubio said: “Well, I don’t agree that [Pence’s Indiana RFRA bill] opened up discrimination. I don’t believe that. I don’t believe in discrimination, but I can tell you this, you’re never going to--we shouldn’t have a country where a pastor is threatened for losing their tax-exempt status because they refuse to conduct a same-sex ceremony. I don’t think we need to live in a country where a baker or a florist is threatened with a fine because they refuse to participate in a specific event. Not serve people. It is sinful to discriminate against people. But to be forced to participate in a ceremony, in an event that your faith teaches is immoral and wrong, no one should be forced to do that. You shouldn’t be forced to do that.” [Marco Rubio, Waverly, IA, 1/18/2016]

Rubio on the Issues

Marriage Equality: Opposed
Protecting LGBT Americans from Discrimination: Opposed
Protecting President Obama’s Executive Orders: Opposed
Ban Harmful “Conversion Therapy” :Opposed
LGBT Adoption: Opposed
Anti-Bullying: TBD

But Marco Rubio is so moved by the murder of 49 members of the LBGT community, he is moved to run for re-election? "Enough!"

Rubio has plenty of company among the Florida GOP, racing to the scene of the Orlando tragedy to squirm under scrutiny. Gov. Rick Scott did it. Here is Anderson Cooper calling out Attorney General Pam Bondi on double-speak:

CNN's Anderson Cooper grills Florida AG Bondi over gay rights record

By Gregory Krieg, CNN
Updated 7:38 PM ET, Tue June 14, 2016

Story highlights
Bondi in 2014 said same-sex marriage in other states would "impose significant public harm" on Florida
"Do you really think you are a champion of the gay community?" CNN's Anderson Cooper asked Bondi

New York (CNN)Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday struggled to reconcile her role in the state's fight against same-sex marriage with her response to the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando.

"Do you really think you are a champion of the gay community?" CNN's Anderson Cooper asked Bondi, telling her that a large portion of the LGBT community in Orlando had told him she was "being a hypocrite."


Bondi in 2014 had argued in court filings that recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states would "impose significant public harm" to the people of Florida.

On Tuesday, she sought to defend those words, telling Cooper she was simply seeking to uphold the state constitution.

"That's what I was defending," she said. "It had nothing to do ... I've never said I don't like gay people. That's ridiculous." Cooper pressed on.

"But you were arguing (in court) that gay marriage -- if there was gay marriage, if there was same-sex marriage -- that would do harm to the people of Florida, to Florida society," he said. "Are you saying you do not believe it would do harm to Florida?"

"Of course not, of course not," Bondi replied. "Gay people -- no, I've never said that. Those words have never come out of my mouth."

"But that," Cooper responded in an increasingly tense exchange, "is specifically what you argued in court."

Asked moments later whether a phone hotline she has been touting as a way for the Pulse victims' families to get information about their loved ones, including husbands and wives, would have been available to same-sex couples if marriage had not been legalized, Bondi demurred.
"Let me take it a step further," she said. "People right now who are partners, who aren't married, officially, aren't able to get information. So we are trying to assist them in getting information."

"But isn't there a sick irony," Cooper responded, "that you, for years, were fighting that very idea?"

Bondi shot back that she was defending "what over 69% of the voters put in the constitution."

Cooper, host of "Anderson Cooper 360," then asked why Bondi, who has endorsed Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential race, has spoken out so little in the past about LGBT rights issues -- and if it was "hypocritical to portray yourself as a champion of the gay community?"
Bondi denied that she had sought out that kind of attention. When Cooper continued, saying, "I have never really seen you talk about gays and lesbians and transgender people in a positive way until now. I read your Twitter history for the last year and I saw you tweeting about National Dog Month and National Shelter Dog Appreciation Day or Adopt a Shelter Dog Month."

"You know," he continued, "it is Gay Pride Month -- you've never tweeted about Gay Pride Month."

At that, Bondi noted that, "Well, actually now if you look at my website now we have hands clasped together, all different color rainbow hands."