HRC Campaign Aims To Expose Mike Pence's 'Anti-LGBTQ Fanaticism'
- By
- Carlos Santoscoy
- | April 19, 2018
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, on Thursday launched a campaign to expose Vice President Mike Pence's long history of “anti-LGBTQ animus.”
HRC's “The Real Mike Pence” campaign includes a report, a microsite and a series of videos on Pence's record.
In announcing the campaign, HRC claimed that Pence is “quietly spearheading a change to radically undermine the rights of LGBTQ people and women, attack voting rights, undercut sound science, and enable the greatest assault on American institutions in modern history.”
HRC President Chad Griffin said that the campaign was important because Pence's “extremism” was going unnoticed.
“Mike Pence has made a career out of attacking the rights and equal dignity of LGBTQ people, women and other marginalized communities. Now as vice president, he poses one of the greatest threats to equality in the history of our movement,” said Griffin. “With the world distracted by Donald Trump’s scandal-ridden White House, Mike Pence’s nefarious agenda has been allowed to fly under the radar for too long. He has become not only the most powerful vice president in American history, but also the least scrutinized. No more. With this comprehensive new report, HRC is exposing the extent of Pence’s extremism, the threat he poses to equality, and all that we’re doing to combat his hateful agenda.”
HRC's 20-page report highlights Pence's record opposing LGBT rights, including marriage equality, LGBT protections, hate crimes legislation and open LGBT service in the military, as well as other issues important to the LGBT community such as reproductive health and voting rights. It also claims that Pence is influencing policy decisions in President Donald Trump's administration.
“[N]o vice president in history has wielded more influence, with less scrutiny, than Mike Pence,” HRC wrote. “While Donald Trump's scandals and erratic tweets dominate the airways, Pence has operated largely out of public view, stacking the administration with members of his inner circle, pushing his long-standing legislative priorities, and currying favor with donors and candidates across the country.”