As Pride Month kicks off and Donald Trump’s VP contenders push extreme, anti-LGBTQ policies and rhetoric, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“Donald Trump’s VP contenders are just like him: extreme, hateful, and out of touch with the American people. Trump’s VP contenders have long records of spewing hateful rhetoric and pushing dangerous anti-equality policies that put LGBTQ Americans at risk – from voting against protecting marriage equality and workplace discrimination protections to championing conversion therapy. These shameful records should be disqualifying, but for Trump, being hateful and out of touch is part of the running-mate litmus test. In November, the American people will reject Trump and whichever MAGA minion he chooses as his running mate.”

Donald Trump’s VP contenders have signed, sponsored, and backed hateful anti-LGBTQ legislation.  

NBC News: “North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum has signed a bill into law that allows public school teachers and state government employees to ignore the pronouns their transgender students and colleagues use, the governor’s office announced Monday. The new law also requires teachers to tell parents or legal guardians if students identify as transgender. It also prohibits transgender students from using the bathroom of their choice without prior approval from a parent or guardian.”

Politifact: “As speaker of the Florida House, Rubio did support Florida’s Amendment 2 in 2008, a measure banning same-sex marriage and civil unions in the Sunshine State.’”

Fox News: “Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., on Tuesday pushed a bill to ‘combat indoctrination in schools’ by cutting off federal funds from public elementary and middle schools whose staff addresses a student by a different pronoun or name without parental consent.”

Salt Lake Tribune: “Lee’s bill, titled the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act, would bar federal, state and local government agencies that receive federal adoption assistance funding from taking such action against a provider for adhering to policies that reflect their religious beliefs, according to a news release. He’s sponsoring the legislation with Sen. Tim Scott, R-S. C., and 21 other Republican lawmakers.”

Newsweek: “Thirty-six Republicans on Tuesday voted against the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that would protect same-sex and interracial marriages in the United States.” 

Republicans who voted against the bill include: Marsha Blackburn and Tom Cotton.”

Fox 13: “A vote to codify same-sex marriage into federal law split House Republicans on Tuesday, with roughly a third of the GOP conference voting with Democrats in favor and the rest opposing.”

Republicans who voted against the bill include: Byron Donalds.

ABC News: “If signed into law, the four bills would walk back local ordinances that protect LGBTQ employees, legalize the controversial practice of ‘gay conversion therapy”’and imprison doctors for up to 15 years if they provide certain transition-related medical care to transgender youth…

“The bills — submitted late Monday by Rep. Anthony Sabatini, Sen. Dennis Baxley, Rep. Bob Rommel, Sen. Joe Gruters, Rep. Michael Grant, Sen. Keith Perry, and Rep. Byron Donalds — sparked outrage among many LGBTQ advocates and their allies.”

Marriage and Religious Freedom Act: “Prohibits the federal government from taking an adverse action against a person on the basis that such person acts in accordance with a religious belief that: (1) marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or (2) sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.”

Cosponsored by: Tom Cotton.

​​Associated Press: “Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed an education bill Wednesday that creates a new school voucher program, raises minimum teacher salaries and places restrictions on classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity… The legislation also prohibits classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation before fifth grade, similar to a Florida prohibition that critics have called the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law. It also puts into law an executive order Sanders signed in January on classroom instruction of critical race theory.”

Office of Sen. Marco Rubio: “U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and colleagues introduced the Protecting Conscience in Healthcare Act to prohibit federal or state government agencies and ‘covered entities,’ such as hospitals and health clinics, from requiring employees to participate in activities that promote radical gender ideology. … Senator Rubio was joined in his efforts by Senators Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and J.D. Vance (R-OH).”

Employment Non-Discrimination Act: “A bill to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Republicans who voted against the bill include: Tim Scott and Marco Rubio. 

These MAGA extremists have also spewed dangerous rhetoric about LGBTQ people while cozying up to homophobic groups.

Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: “In response to a question from the crowd, Cotton said he believes marriage should be between a man and a woman. ‘We have 5,000 years of recorded history on that, and untold years of unrecorded history,’ he said. ‘The best way to raise children is in a two-person, one man and one woman, stable family.’”

CNN: “Rep. Tulsi Gabbard in the early 2000s touted working for her father’s anti-gay organization, which mobilized to pass a measure against same-sex marriage in Hawaii and promoted controversial conversion therapy.”

Louisiana Illuminator: “Texas Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt said that instead of parents jumping to gender-affirming care when a child tells them they have gender dysphoria, meaning their gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth, they should instead question ‘the root cause of that feeling.’ He compared that decision to his toddlers, whom if they could ‘have their way, they would have ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner and for every single meal in between. Oh, the wisdom of children.’”

Washington Examiner: “[Kristi Noem] said she had ‘never supported gay marriage’ and that ‘a lot of my faith has to do with that.’”

Newsmax: “Rubio at Faith & Freedom Summit: Marriage Is Between a Man and a Woman”

BuzzFeed News: “Rubio Headlines Fundraiser For Policy Group That Supports Conversion Therapy”

Washington Post: “This is the exotic view expressed by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who joined an amicus curiae brief from “Leaders of the 2012 Republican National Convention Committee on the Platform,” of which Blackburn was a co-chairman.

“The ‘Republican Party’s advocacy for traditional marriage is not about animus toward a particular subset of Americans based on sexual preferences,’ they wrote.  The party, rather, believes that undermining the traditional family means ‘encouraging the growth of government and removing a key bulwark against government, particularly tyrannical and totalitarian ones.’”

Newsweek: “[Tim Scott] supports ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ opposes same-sex marriage, and considers homosexuality a morally wrong choice, like adultery. ‘We are by nature sinful,’ he said sadly. All these positions stem from what he calls ‘timeless principles.’”

Washington Examiner: “Vivek Ramaswamy says ‘LGBTQIA+ movement’ has become a ‘cult’: ‘It’s not about logic’”

Fact: The overwhelming majority of Americans support marriage equality.

PRRI: “Two-thirds of Americans (67%) support allowing same-sex couples to marry legally, an increase of 13 percentage points from 2014.”

Gallup: “U.S. Same-Sex Marriage Support Holds at 71% High”