During Sam Brownback's Senate
confirmation hearing on Wednesday, the former Kansas governor, in
line to be ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom,
refused to say whether foreign laws criminalizing gay sex were always
unjustified.
President Donald Trump nominated
Brownback to the post in July.
Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, a former
Virginia governor, asked Brownback whether laws criminalizing
same-sex relations under the guise of religious freedom are ever
justified.
“I don't know what that would be, in
what circumstance,” Brownback answered. “But I would continue
the policies that had been done in the prior administration in work
on these international issues.”
“I really would expect an unequivocal
answer on that,” Kaine replied. “But my time is up.”
(Related: U.S.
votes against U.N. resolution condemning death penalty for same-sex
relations.)
Brownback also defended his decision as
governor to rescind an executive order issued by then-Governor
Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, that prohibited employment
discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The
order only applied to state workers.
“I just don't think it's a right that
the executive branch should create without the legislative branch,”
Brownback
answered. During another round of questioning, Brownback
suggested the order created special rights: “That was an order that
created a right by the executive branch that wasn't available to
other people and it wasn't passed by the legislative branch,” he
said.
Brownback is also a vocal opponent of
marriage rights for same-sex couples.