NEW YORK – GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, today voiced outrage towards the U.S. Senate for confirming Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State by a vote of 57-42 despite his clear anti-LGBTQ record and professional ties to the Family Research Council, a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated anti-LGBTQ hate group. Sen. Joe Donnelly, Sen. Doug Jones, Sen. Angus King (I), Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, Sen. Joe Manchin and Sen. Bill Nelson all joined Senate Republicans in pushing through this dangerous confirmation.
“Senators who cast their vote to confirm Mike Pompeo showed complete disregard for the global LGBTQ community by ignoring his ties to anti-LGBTQ hate and extremism, including his work promoting groups like the Family Research Council which supported Uganda’s efforts to execute LGBTQ people,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD. “President Trump and his anti-LGBTQ cabinet continuously underestimate the resilience of the LGBTQ community who will stand strong in our fight for safety, equality, and acceptance at home and abroad — with or without the support of the U.S. State Department.”
Prior to Mike Pompeo’s April 12th committee hearing, GLAAD Campus Ambassador Tony Hernandez hand-delivered research Pompeo’s anti-LGBTQ record to the Senate offices of all 21 members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations urging them to question Pompeo to his anti-LGBTQ record. Sen. Booker, Sen. Shaheen, and Sen. Coons all heeded the call made sure that Pompeo’s anti-LGBTQ agenda was put on full display. During that hearing, Pompeo directly stated he opposes marriage equality and refused to denounce his past statements calling being LGBTQ a “perversion.”
Mike Pompeo’s anti-LGBTQ record goes far beyond his personal beliefs, Pompeo has worked closely with the Family Research Council (FRC), an anti-LGBTQ group which openly supported Uganda’s efforts to punish and execute LGBTQ citizens – known as the “Kill the Gays Bill,” promotes and defends the dangerous practice of conversion therapy, and actively opposed overturning laws that criminalize being gay.
Currently, we are facing deeply troubling times with widespread anti-LGBTQ state violence and discrimination globally. Authorities in Chechnya have detained and attacked over 100 LGBTQ citizens because of their perceived sexual orientation and 27 men have reportedly been killed by Chechen government officials. At least 141 people were arrested in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta during a May 2017 raid that was part of a county-wide anti-LGBTQ crackdown. In Azerbaijan, police carried out mass arrests of as many as 100 LGBTQ people. Similar crises are happening in Egypt, Russia, Ghana, Bangladesh, and beyond.
Read more on Mike Pompeo’s extensive anti-LGBTQ record and ties to the designated hate group FRC via GLAAD’s Trump Accountably Project.
Mike Pompeo’s Connections to Family Research Council:
Consulted with Tony Perkins while serving as CIA Director: “Pompeo has consulted with Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, an organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled an anti-gay hate group.” [The Washington Post; 8.24.17].
Has made (at least) six appearances on Family Research Council’s anti-LGBTQ radio show. Live with Tony Perkins: October 6, 2016; March 22, 2016; July 26, 2016; September 3; 2015; July 22, 2015; May 5, 2014.
Family Research Council endorsed Mike Pompeo during his re-election to the U.S. House in 2014, specifically citing his “support for marriage” and “traditional family values” as reasons behind their support: The culture has been challenged beyond all reasonable limits. The strong, conservative men and women elected in 2010 and 2012 need reinforcements…The votes you have cast on the life issue reflect your concern for mother and child and your support for marriage as between one man and one woman.” [Pompeo for Congress, 3.5.14]
One of thirty House of Representative members to join the Family Research Council on an amicus brief challenging the Affordable Care Act in the case National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius. [FRC; 10.27.11]
Anti-LGBTQ Record of the Family Research Council (FRC):
Actively lobbied against a congressional resolution denouncing Uganda’s “kill the gays bill:” “The blog Joe. My. God.,working with a reporter from Gay City News, reported that the conservative Family Research Council spent $25,000 “to lobby Congress against approving a resolution denouncing Uganda’s plan to execute homosexuals. The site posted three screencaps from the Family Research Council’s lobbying report; they suggest $25,000 was spent on lobbying what FRC described as “Res.1064Ugandan ResolutionPro-homosexual promotion.” [CBS News; 6.4.10]
Claimed the Ugandan bill that aimed to punish and execute LGBTQ people “upholds moral conduct:” The President [Obama] criticized Ugandan leaders for considering enhanced penalties for crimes related to homosexuality…The President said that “We may disagree about gay marriage, “but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are.” Mr. President as long as you characterize efforts to uphold moral conduct that protects others and in particular the most vulnerable, as attacking people, civility will continue to evade us.” [Family Research Council via the Internet Archive; 2.4.10]
Opposed overturning Texas “Homosexual Conduct” law, which criminalized consensual sexual intimacy between same-sex couples: “To extend homosexual sodomy the same protections given to the marital union would undermine the definition of marriage and could open the door for homosexual marriage. The court should demonstrate judicial humility and decline to deconstruct in radical and revolutionary ways the bedrock social institution of marriage.’” [Family Research Council via the Internet Archive; 6.25.03]
Spent over $75,000 to lobby to keep “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” in place: “The Traditional Values Coalition and the Family Research Council, have each spent more than $75,000 so far on their overall lobbying expenditures this year. Both groups support keeping the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in place.” [Open Secrets; 11.3.10]. Family Research Council President, Tony Perkins, also claimed there is “blood of young marines” on hands of legislators who voted to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. [YouTube, Right Wing Watch; 11.20.10]
Lobbied against LGBTQ-inclusive hate crimes legislation: “Social conservatives said the hate crimes bill would violate the First Amendment, and would be a step toward a larger gay rights agenda they oppose. ‘Expanding hate crimes puts America in lock step with the stated agenda of homosexual activists who will turn next to the so-called Employment Non-Discrimination Act, followed by the repeal of the ban on homosexuality in the military and then the Defense of Marriage Act,’ the Family Research Council warned on its Web site.” [The Washington Post; 10.23.09]
Printed and disturbed flyers defending the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion therapy: “Although much attention has been focused on counseling techniques or therapies for unwanted same-sex attractions and on the work of “ex-gay” ministries, there is startling evidence that considerable numbers of people experience significant change in some aspects of sexual orientation, particularly their behavior, quite spontaneously, without therapeutic intervention.”[Family Research Council via the Internet Archive; 7.5.10]
Testified in favor of anti-LGBTQ conversion therapy before legislative bodies in New Hampshire, Washington D.C., Maryland, Massachusetts, and Vermont: “Testimony by Peter Sprigg in Opposition to New Hampshire House Bill S. 587-FN” [Family Research Council; 2.21.17], “FRC’s Peter Sprigg Testifies before D.C. Council on Proposed Sexual Orientation Change Efforts Ban” [Family Research Council; 6.27.14], “FRC’s Peter Sprigg Testifies Before MD State House in Opposition to Bill Prohibiting Sexual Orientation Therapy for Minors” [Family Research Council; 3.2.18], “Family Research Council Expert Testifies Before Massachusetts General Court” [Family Research Council; 6.7.17], Testimony by Peter Sprigg in Opposition to Vermont Bill S. 132 [Family Research Council; 2.26.16]
Lobbied against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) proposed legislation that would prohibit discrimination in hiring and employment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. [Open Secrets; bills FRC lobbied, 2013]
Mike Pompeo’s Personal Anti-LGBTQ Record:
Vowed to continue to fight against abortion, marriage equality, and related matters “each and every day:” As a Kansan, I hold a deep reverence for the sanctity of life, the solidarity of family, and the solemnity of marriage. I will continue the fight to uphold these fundamental ideals each and every day…I also fully support the traditional institution of marriage. Strong families are the most important building block of our Republic, and we must preserve them for the sake of our community and our culture. [Vote Smart; 1.1.13]
Insists families with same-sex parents are less “ideal”: “I think as you look back at civilization, look back at history, you find the strength of these families having a father and a mother is the ideal condition for childbearing,” Pompeo said. “Doesn’t mean there aren’t great families with single parents, great young men and women raised without either parent. If you’re asking for what is ideal, I think it’s being raised by a man and a woman.” [Vote Smart; 10.22.14]
Opposed the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, suggesting that “when you enter the army you give up a few of your rights, there’s a few things that you can’t do that we get to do a civilians, so I would not a have supported that policy—or would.” [YouTube; September 23, 2010 District 4 Congressional Debate; 9.14.10]
Called the US Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling granting marriage equality to all fifty states as “a shocking abuse of power:” “Creating, out of nowhere, a federal right to marry, flies in the face of centuries of shared understanding of our Constitution,” Pompeo said in an email Friday. “It is a shocking abuse of power. It is wrong. I will continue to fight to protect our most sacred institutions; Kansans and our nation deserve no less.” [Vote Smart; 6.26.15]
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