Could Senator Marco Rubio make it any clearer how he feels about the LGBT community?
First, he blocks Judge William Thomas’ nomination to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, preventing him from becoming the first openly gay federal judge. Then, he refuses to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), the bill that would prevent employers from discriminating against gays in the workplace.
Now, Rubio is scheduled to give the keynote speech Nov. 16 at the annual dinner of the Florida Family Policy Council Annual (FFPC), one of the biggest anti-gay groups in the country. FFPC is headed by John Stemberger, best known for working to keep the Boy Scouts from allowing gay members.
Rubio says he’s anti-gay marriage, but not a bigot.
“Just because I believe that states should have the right to define marriage in the traditional way does not make me a bigot,” Rubio said at a speech he gave to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), earlier this year.
By the way, the dinner this year honors Liberty Counsel Chairman Mat Staver with the Daniel Webster Lifetime Achievement Award. Staver, who says that children with gay parents will end up “behind bars for committing violent crimes” and said the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) was a slap in the face to the military.
With rumors of a 2016 presidential run, Rubio is cementing his radical right-wing credentials. Stemberger chaired Florida for Marriage, which led the campaign to pass a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex unions. He founded the anti-gay Boy Scout alternative Trail Life USA. Staver has accused progressives of using LGBT rights to “ultimately implode America.”
The eighth annual Policy Awards Dinner will be held at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando. Eric Metaxas, author of Bonheoffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, will do an on-stage interview with Rubio, presumably so he can espouse more anti-gay rhetoric.
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