The White House has been ridiculed for suggesting that Vice President Mike Pence is not ant-gay because he is meeting Ireland’s Taoiseach [Prime Minister] Leo Varadkar, who is gay.
Pence is currently visiting Ireland, and on Tuesday he and Second Lady Karen Pence had lunch with Varadkar and his partner, Dr. Matthew Barrett, prior to a joint press conference between Pence and Varadkar.
“For all of you who still think our @VP is anti-gay, I point you to his and the @SecondLady’s schedule tomorrow where they will join Taoiseach @LeoVaradkar and his partner Dr. Matthew Barrett for lunch in Ireland,” Judd Deere, White House deputy press secretary and special assistant to the President, tweeted on Monday.
Deere’s tweet was widely criticized by LGBTQ people and organizations, who refuted the idea that simply meeting with gay people proved a lack of anti-LGBTQ animosity.
“For those who think Mike Pence isn’t anti-gay, let me remind you that as Governor of Indiana, he pushed anti-LGBTQ policies so widely criticized that a corporate boycott of the state lost it tens of millions in revenue and made Pence the most unpopular governor in America,” Charlotte Clymer, rapid response press secretary at the Human Rights Campaign, tweeted.
LGBTQ media advocacy organization GLAAD issued a rebuttal to Deere’s assertion that meeting with a gay person meant Pence wasn’t anti-gay.
“We can’t believe we have to say this but simply meeting with a gay person doesn’t erase Pence’s long history of attacking LGBTQ people through policy, legislation, and rhetoric. Nice try though,” GLAAD tweeted, adding a link to the organizations tracker of Pence’s anti-LGBTQ actions and statements.
Chasten Buttigieg, husband of Democratic presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg, similarly criticized Deere for his assertion.
“I’ve sat at tables with people who would gladly deny me the right to marry, who openly support conversion therapy, and who adamantly believe being gay is a choice,” Buttigieg tweeted. “Doesn’t mean they’re any less homophobic because we shared a meal.”
Pence has a long history of opposing LGBTQ rights, including saying in June that Donald Trump banning American embassies from flying LGBTQ Pride flags during Pride Month was “the right decision.”
In a statement on his congressional campaign website in 2000, he argued for resources to be directed away from “organisations that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviours that facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus” and instead go towards “those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.”
As governor of Indiana, Pence supported the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” which allowed businesses and individuals to discriminate against LGBTQ people.
In addition, Pence opposes same-sex marriage, once telling Congress it would bring “societal collapse.” He opposed the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. And he opposed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would have banned discrimination against people based on sexuality.
In 2017, a New Yorker column alleged that Trump joked about Pence wanting to “hang” every gay person.
Pete Buttigieg has previously pushed back against the vice president’s bigotry, telling CNN’s New Day in April that Pence uses religion “as an excuse to harm other people.”
Police in West Hollywood are searching for a man who assaulted another while man yelling anti-gay slurs. He is also believed to have assaulted other individuals in the area.
The victim of the anti-gay assault, David Velasquez, told the WeHo Times that, on Sunday, March 17, he was coming back from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he had been treated earlier in the day for severe cold and flu symptoms.
He stopped by the Pavilions in WeHo to pick up medication and was riding his personal scooter home when the altercation occurred.
Velasquez noted that he was riding on the sidewalk to avoid being hit by potentially drunk drivers as he made his way through West Hollywood on a particularly raucous St. Patrick’s Day.
Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed a "religious freedom" bill that critics say will legitimize instances of anti-LGBTQ discrimination.
The "Religious Freedom Restoration Act" passed on a party-line vote in Iowa's GOP-led Legislature, with all Republican lawmakers voting in favor of it.
Reynolds signed the measure at a private event hosted by The Family Leader, a conservative Christian organization opposed to LGBTQ rights. She also sought to justify her actions by claiming those with conservative religious beliefs are a persecuted group.
"Thirty years ago, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act passed almost unanimously at the federal level," she said in a statement. "Since then, religious rights have increasingly come under attack. Today, Iowa enacts a law to protect these unalienable rights -- just as 26 other states have done -- upholding the ideals that are the very foundation of our country.
Uganda's Constitutional Court upheld the bulk of Uganda's controversial Anti-Homosexuality Act, rejecting a petition seeking to overturn the law in its entirety.
The five-judge bench did strike down some components of the law as violations of the country's constitution, including the right to health and privacy.
They also struck down sections of the law allowing for the prosecution of Ugandans who fail to inform on others, including friends and neighbors, for committing homosexual acts; punishing those who allow their premises to be used to commit homosexuality; and criminalizing the transmission of a "terminal illness" through same-sex activity.
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!