HRC puts spotlight on dangerous VP Pence

LGBTQ civil rights advocates often refer to the government in the White House as the “Trump-Pence Administration” to remind people of the low-key VP with the dismal record on equality.

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights group, recently launched “The Real Mike Pence,” with a report and microsite documenting the vice president’s long history of anti-LGBTQ animus and the inordinate influence he and his inner circle wield in the administration.

HRC, in the report, warns Pence is “amassing enormous power in an administration hobbled by clueless advisers, inexperienced staffers and a revolving cast of lawyers. Pence is exploiting that alarming leadership void by quietly spearheading a charge to radically undermine the rights of LGBTQ people and women, attack voting rights, undercut sound science, and enable the greatest assault on American institutions in modern history.”

The report lays out Pence’s record:

• Record of support for the abusive and discredited practice of so-called “conversion therapy.”

• Pursuit of a license to discriminate against LGBTQ people as governor of Indiana and now as vice president.

• Attempts to block hate crime legislation.

• Work to block funding for HIV and AIDS prevention.

• Efforts to undermine access to health and reproductive care essential to LGBTQ people.

Said HRC president Chad Griffin: “With the world distracted by Donald Trump’s scandal-ridden White House, Mike Pence’s nefarious agenda has been allowed to fly under the radar for too long. He has become not only the most powerful vice president in American history, but also the least scrutinized. No more. With this comprehensive new report, HRC is exposing the extent of Pence’s extremism, the threat he poses to equality, and all that we’re doing to combat his hateful agenda.”