RVA Mag

Richmond, VA Culture & Politics Since 2005

Menu

Mike Pence Blasted For Appearing with Anti-LGBTQ Extremists Three Times in Five Days

|

Topics: , , , , , , ,

The Vice President continues to be blatant in his support for the erosion of LGBTQ rights, and his support of those who work against us.

Vice President Mike Pence has spent three of the past five days appearing at conferences and on stage with anti-LGBTQ extremists, including one who calls gay people “terrorists” and compares them to ISIS, as well as a group that appears on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of anti-gay hate groups. Some are starting to notice and call him out for it.

“Less than a week after appearing at an Erick Erickson-sponsored conference, and a day after appearing with anti-LGBTQ extremist Sam Brownback, Mike Pence continues his anti-LGBTQ crusade with an appearance at an event organized by the anti-LGBTQ hate group the Alliance Defending Freedom,” the Human Rights Campaign says in an email. HRC points to the Vice President’s “close ties” to ADF, a group that HRC says “is among the most horrific of any group operating in the United States.”

The Vice President late Tuesday morning addressed the ADF, a group that successfully represented an anti-gay Christian baker at the U.S. Supreme Court and works to deprive LGBTQ people of their civil rights, while offering false narratives. Pence, speaking at the Ritz-Carlton in Arlington, Virginia, bragged that he and the Trump administration have “taken action to protect the conscience rights of doctors and nurses and healthcare providers,” and “gone to court to protect the right to religious expression in the public square,” while praising the ADF for being “there every step of the way.”

The Trump administration claims it is working to decriminalize homosexuality around the world (there do not appear to be any public reports on its progress) and yet the Vice President is bragging about his work with the ADF, a group that, according to HRC, “believes in the re-criminalization of homosexuality in the U.S. and across the globe.”

ADF also “has advocated for the sterilization of trans people,” and its “extremist views have found their way into Trump administration and state legislative actions.”

Valedictorian at Mormon University Announces at Graduation: ‘I Am Proud to Be a Gay Son of God’ – Gets Cheers

|

Topics: , , , , ,

The Mormon Church has grappled with issues relating to LGBTQ rights for years now, and recently seem to be softening on the issue. Maybe this will help them along.

The valedictorian for the top university of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stunned families, faculty, and friends on Friday when he announced he is gay.

“I stand before my family, friends and graduating class today to say that I am proud to be a gay son of God,” Matthew Easton, 24, declared at Brigham Young University’s graduation ceremony.

His acknowledgment was met with cheers and applause by many.

“I am not broken,” he said, as The Washington Post reports, sounding choked up. “I am loved and important to the plan of our great creator. Each of us are.”

“Four years ago, it would have been impossible for me to imagine that I would come out to my entire college,” Easton, who goes by “Matty” on social media, noted. “It is a phenomenal feeling. And it is a victory for me in and of itself.”

The Mormon Church has a horrific history of not only not supporting LGBTQ Mormons, but going outside of its community to attack issues like marriage equality, which it has done for decades.

So it might have surprised some when Easton kicked off his speech and early on offered congratulations to a wide variety of people, including his fellow students of color and his “LGBTQ friends.”

That elicited a “whoop,” cheers and applause from the audience, including Easton’s sister.

“You are seen. You are loved,” he told them all. And he talked about “coming to terms, not with who I thought I should be, but who the lord has made me.”

The LDS Church worked diligently to ensure the passage of California’s Prop 8 in 2008. Before that, it scuttled same-sex marriage in Hawaii, and reportedly has supported organizations dedicated to rolling back civil rights for LGBTQ people.

In 2015 the Church declared children of same-sex parents would be barred from the most definitive ceremonies the Church offers, and their parents would be “apostates” – heretics, in the vernacular. It was forced to literally declare God had changed his mind earlier this month, after reported suicides and tremendous outrage.

That change was not, by any means, an embrace of same-sex marriage or LGBTQ people, but some say they see a softening towards LGBTQ Mormons.

Image via Twitter