Once again, I find myself disgusted by Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence.
Republican VP Approved ‘The Pink Newsroom’
A short column appeared called “The Pink Newsroom” in the December 1993 issue of Indiana Policy Review. This column, written while the Review was under Pence’s leadership, spoke of the “ethical police” in newsrooms across America. The Wall Street Journal spoke of an employment fair geared towards gay journalists, and the folks at the Review were not happy.
The author wrote:
“Will a gay writing on gay issues be identified as would the owner of the local Ford dealership if he were to write on the issue of Fords?
As we understand the nature of both the political and scientific debate, the demand is that gaydom [sic] be elevated from a pathological condition or mere sexual preference to the status of one of several natural human divergences like hair or skin color.”
Later, the author stated:
“A gay editor, like any other editor, might be convincing in a contention that he did not allow his sexually motivated behavior to play a part in news or editorial judgment. But when the matter is the special interest of organized homosexuals, how can the argument for anonymity be made?”
Mr. Pence, do all of your decisions stem from the fact that there is a woman in your bed at night? I highly doubt it.
This idea that a person’s sexual identity has any bearing on their work life in general is preposterous. The reason the owner of the local Ford dealership would be identified as such is because they have a vested financial interest in selling Fords and are likely in competition with other car dealerships in the area. This is NOT THE SAME THING as a person’s sexual (or gender, for that matter) identity.
And, “a gay?” Really?
‘Endless Line Of Pro-Choice Women’
Pence relinquished the reins to the Review in 1994. However, he wrote a piece in 1996 regarding the GOP Convention. In this piece, he wrote:
“An endless line of pro-choice women, AIDS activists and proponents of affirmative action may have struck a chord with the Washington press corps.
They bombed, however, in Peoria …
Whether the elites in the media and the GOP like it or not, traditional pro-family conservatives make up the bedrock of modern Republican electoral success.”
Pence would love to have a Republican party that excludes all people who don’t fit inside his little mold. Well, congratulations, Gov. Pence. You have it. And it’s failing miserably.
Pence Called Out Before For Not Answering Yes Or No
Pence has been in hot water many times for his anti-gay stance. He wound up signing an amended version of his “religious freedom” bill after an outcry and threats of boycott last spring. Additionally, he is a vocal advocate of gay “conversion therapy” and worked with the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins to get conversion therapy language written into the 2016 GOP platform.
Pence also was asked a simple question regarding whether or not he believed that people should be able to be fired from their jobs simply for being gay or transgender. That’s a question with a yes or no answer, folks. And yet Pence, after some moments of silence, never really answered it.
Watch him stumble over it here:
Featured Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr under CC BY-SA 2.0 license
