Commentary

Marco Rubio: No ‘special’ rights for gay Americans — but I’m not ‘a bigot’

Marco Rubio: No ‘special’ rights for gay Americans — but I’m not ‘a bigot’

I wish I understood why allowing married, bi-national same-sex couples to apply for a visa through the marriage-based green card application process is such an abomination to Marco Rubio.

Sen. Rubio is a member of the “Gang of Eight” senators — Democrats and Republicans — who have been given the task of writing the immigration reform bill.

AP

I understand this is a daunting task, and I understand this is a bill which is long, long overdue. However, when Sen. Rubio says this: “If this bill has in it something that gives gay couples immigration rights and so forth, it kills the bill. I’m done,” you can rest assured that the bill will not be kind to gays and lesbians searching for U.S. citizenship.

Perhaps all we have to do is take a look at his voting record in the Senate and the statements he’s made to understand the soul of Sen. Marco Rubio.

On the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), when asked if he would be supporting this piece of legislation which makes it illegal to fire someone for being gay, his answer was: “I haven’t read the legislation. By and large I think all Americans should be protected but I’m not for any special protection based on orientation.”

Sen. Rubio also voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act which included a new protection for LGBT people.

Sen. Rubio is also on the record as supporting a federal amendment to the United States Constitution which would totally and permanently ban same-sex marriage.

Sen. Rubio wasn’t a member of the Senate in 2010, but has gone on the record as saying he would have voted against repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Sen. Rubio recorded robocalls for the National Organization of Marriage during last year’s elections urging Americans to absolutely deny equal rights to gays and lesbians.

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In 2006, Sen. Rubio was serving in the Florida House when the state of Florida was dealing with its inability to place foster children with some children being forced to sleep in a state conference room. Sen. Rubio “dismissed expanding the program to include gay couples who wanted to take in children. ‘Some of these kids are the most disadvantaged in the state,’ Rubio said. ‘They shouldn’t be forced to be a part of a social experiment.’”

When asked if he believed that homosexuality was a sin he answered this way: “I can tell you what faith teaches, and faith teaches that it is. And that’s what the Bible teaches…”

He also says that, regarding his choices as a lawmaker: “As a policymaker, I can just tell you that I’m informed by my faith and my faith informs me in who I am as a person. But not as a way to pass judgment on people.”

At CPAC on March 14, 2013, Sen. Rubio said the following: “I respect people who disagree with me on certain things, but that means they have to respect me too. Just because I believe states should have the right to define marriage in a traditional way does not make me a bigot.”

Bigot is defined by dictionary.com as: “a person who is intolerant of any ideas other than his or her own, esp on religion, politics, or race.”

You decide…

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