Where Mike Pence goes, homophobia follows.
So it’s not surprising that Pence’s calendar involves campaigning for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker today and speaking at the NRA’s national meeting in May. All three are well matched in their disdain for LGBT rights.
As an added bonus, during his Wisconsin swing Pence will be speaking to a pro-Trump PAC which has its own homophobic affiliations.
Pence has been making the rounds of late, raising money for Republican candidates facing a terrible landscape in the midterms and not so incidentally building on his own ambitions to be president.
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In light of a stunning loss by Republicans in a statewide judge race, Walker is feeling the heat. A visit by Pence can help shore up Walker’s base, which elected him twice and helped defeat a recall initiative against him.
Pence doesn’t need to reaffirm Walker’s antigay credentials. To circumvent the Supreme Court, Walker called for a constitutional amendment allowing individual states to ban marriage equality. (The Supreme Court ruling itself was “a grave mistake,” according to Walker.)
Then there was the dogwhistle reference to pedophilia when the Boy Scouts decided to allow gay leaders. Banning gay leaders “protected children,” Scott argued.
As if stumping for Walker isn’t enough, Pence will also be speaking at a forum sponsored by America First Policies, a so-called “dark money” PAC with close ties to the Trump administration. Ostensibly, the group isn’t focused on social issues, but that doesn’t mean that homophobia isn’t part of the organization.
Among the Trump loyalists working at the PAC is Carl Higbie. Higbie, a former Navy SEAL, was forced to resign from the White House two months ago after recordings surfaced of him making homophobic, racist and sexist comments in 2013.
“Go ahead and twist the knife a little, little bit more,” Higbie complained about marriage equality. “I mean, you are breaking the morals, the moral fiber of our country. You know, I don’t like gay people. I just don’t.”
Just to make sure he’s covering all the antigay bases, Pence announced that he will also be appearing at the NRA annual meeting in May. While the organization is supposed to be about gun rights, it also has a strong anti-LGBT streak.
Of course, if you looked closely at Pence’s calendar for any given week, you’d probably see the same roundup of homophobic candidates and organizations. After all, those are Mike Pence’s base.
