Connect with us

Marco Rubio Doubles Down With New Plan To Take Away LGBT Rights

Published

on

GOP Presidential Candidate Recruits Well-Known Anti-Gay Activists To Reverse The Supreme Court’s Marriage Equality Ruling

In his continued efforts to strip the LGBT community of their rights, Marco Rubio just doubled down on his presidential campaign promise to reverse last year’s marriage equality ruling. A press release issued on Saturday ahead of the GOP debate announced that Rubio’s campaign has formed a Marriage & Family Advisory Board devoted to “rebuilding a vibrant culture of marriage and family.” That’s code for taking away equal marriage rights for same-sex couples.

Rubio echoed that goal at the GOP debate Saturday:

In announcing Rubio’s new Marriage & Family Advisory Board, Eric Teetsel, the Rubio campaign’s Director of Faith Outreach, chose to attack same-sex marriage.

“The Supreme Court’s decisions in Windsor and Obergefell are only the most recent example of our failure as a society to understand what marriage is and why it matters,” Teetsel, former head of the head of the Manhattan Declaration, said.

“For decades, we have taken for granted the unique and necessary contributions of moms and dads in the lives of their children, from lax divorce laws to marriage penalties in the tax code and the failure of husbands and wives to live up to their marriage vows. Marco understands the many causes of family breakdown and the consequences. He has pulled together a board of experts who understand the same and have devoted themselves to rebuilding a vibrant culture of marriage and family.”

Rubio has recruited some of the most anti-gay activists in the public sphere. The Marriage & Family Advisory Board includes Ken Blackwell, Senior Fellow at the Family Research Council, an organization that was declared a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The board also includes Ryan T. Anderson, a Senior Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Anderson is known for advocating for harmful conversion therapy and for comparing same-sex attraction to pedophilia and alcoholism.

Rubio has never been shy about his disdain for the Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality, even though he claims he doesn’t discriminate against the LGBT community. “It’s not about discrimination,” he said two months ago in an interview with Chuck Todd on Meet The Press. “It is about the definition of a very specific, traditional, and age-old institution.”

RELATED: Marco Rubio: Same-Sex Marriage Law Not ‘Settled’ (Video)

As for one of his strategies to reverse the marriage equality ruling, Rubio said  he plans to appoint anti-gay Supreme Court justices. “I don’t believe any case law is settled law,” Rubio said. “Any future Supreme Court can change it. And ultimately, I will appoint Supreme Court justices that will interpret the Constitution as originally constructed.”

On Twitter, some notables weighed in:

Jim Obergefell, whose case won marriage at the Supreme Court:

Lambda Legal attorney Eric Lesh:

Former GOProud head Jimmy LaSalvia:

  

EARLIER:

Watch: Rubio Tells Man And His Husband To Change The Law If They Disagree With His Anti-Gay Marriage Stance

Marco Rubio: ‘I Always Allow My Faith To Influence Everything I Do’ (Video)

Marco Rubio: ‘I’ve Been Called A Bigot’ (Video)

 

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license
Hat tip: Joe.My.God.

 

Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

‘Start the Kevin McCarthy Death-Clock’ After Biden Wins Debt Ceiling Battle: Rick Wilson

Published

on

Appearing late Saturday night on MSNBC after it was announced that President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had reached an agreement “in principle’ on a budget deal, former GOP strategist Rick Wilson claimed this could be the beginning of the end for McCathy’s speakership.

Sitting in on a panel with guest host Michael Steele, Wilson suggested that McCarthy’s decision to compromise with the president to avoid a default that would spin the economy into chaos will not go over well with far-right members of his House caucus who could make a motion to “vacate the chair” to express their displeasure.

Asked by host Steel about what comes next, Wilson stated it was a win for the White House which will not make conservatives happy.

RELATED: ‘Crazy cuckoo MAGA people’ could sink debt ceiling deal: Dem strategist

“Great night for Joe Biden, great night for the White House even though I think their messaging has been kind of tentative the past few weeks” the Lincoln Project founder began. “I think though we are now going to start the Kevin McCarthy death-clock. He has certainly got a very angry part of his caucus tonight who probably burning up his phone no matter how good it is for the country not to default.”

“It’s not going to please the chaos caucus in the GOP,” he added.

Watch below or at the link:

 

Continue Reading

News

Debt Ceiling: McCarthy Faces ‘Lingering Anger’ and a Possible Revolt as Far-Right House Members Start Issuing Threats

Published

on

As House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) continues to negotiate a deal to avoid a debt crisis, members of the far-right Freedom Caucus are growing furious with him over broken promises he made to them.

According to MSNBC political analyst Steve Benen, with a slim GOP majority in the House, McCarthy is walking a tightrope to get a budget deal passed and may need help from House Democrats if members of his caucus refuse to go along with him.

As Benen points out, in order to win the speakership McCarthy agreed to an easier path for a motion to “vacate the chair” which could end his tenure as Speaker. That could come into play if the Freedom Caucus stages a revolt.

“… as the negotiations approach an apparent finish line, the House Republicans’ most radical faction is learning that it isn’t likely to get everything its members demanded — and for the Freedom Caucus, that’s not going to work,” he wrote in his MSNBC column.

ALSO IN THE NEWS: Trump in danger of heightened espionage charges after bombshell report: legal expert

Citing a Washington Times report that stated, “[Freedom Caucus members] want everything from the debt limit bill passed by the House last month plus several new concessions from the White House,” Benen suggested far-right House Republicans are now issuing veiled threats.

In an interview, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) stated, “I am going to have to go have some blunt conversations with my colleagues and the leadership team. I don’t like the direction they are headed.”

With Politico reporting, “The [House Freedom Caucus] was already unlikely to support a final bipartisan deal, but lingering anger with Kevin McCarthy could have lasting implications on his speakership,” Benen added, “If this is simply a matter of lingering ill-will from members who come to believe that GOP leaders ‘caved,’ the practical consequences might be limited. But let’s also not forget that McCarthy, while begging his own members for their support during his protracted fight for the speaker’s gavel, agreed to tweak the motion-to-vacate-the-chair rules, which at least in theory, would make it easier for angry House Republicans to try to oust McCarthy from his leadership position.”

Adding the caveat that he is not predicting an imminent McCarthy ouster he added, “But if the scope of the Freedom Caucus’ discontent reaches a fever pitch, a hypothetical deal clears thanks to significant Democratic support, don’t be surprised if we all start hearing the phrase ‘vacate the chair” a lot more frequently.”

Continue Reading

BREAKING NEWS

Prosecutors Tell Trump They Have a Recording of Him and a Witness: Report

Published

on

Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial have notified the ex-president’s attorneys they have a recording of him and a witness. The notification comes in the form of an automatic discovery form, CBS News reports, which “describes the nature of the charges against a defendant and a broad overview of the evidence that prosecutors will present at Trump’s preliminary hearing or at trial.”

CBS reports prosecutors have handed the recording over to Trump’s legal team.

It’s not known who the witness is, nor are any details known publicly about what the conversation entails, or even if it is just audio or if it includes video.

READ MORE: ‘Likely to Be Indicted Soon’: Trump Might Face Seven Different Felonies, Government Watchdog Says

According to the article’s author, CBS News’ Graham Kates, via Twitter, prosecutors say they also have recordings between two witnesses, a recording between a witness and a third party, and various recordings saved on a witness’s cell phones.

Trump is facing 34 felony counts in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case related to his allegedly unlawful attempt to hide hush money payoffs to a well-known porn star by falsifying business records to protect his 2016 presidential campaign.

See the discovery form above or at this link.

Image via Shutterstock

 

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.