More recently, Pence pushed back on guidelines issued by President Barack Obama’s administration directing school districts to allow students to use the bathroom reserved for the gender in which they identify.Īlong with many other conservatives, Pence opposed Obama’s directive and said it was a state issue. Pence’s spokesman recently told The New York Times that it is “patently false” that the vice president-elect supports conversion therapy. “Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior,” Pence’s website said. “I would still have a problem with it because there’s no question, to mainstream homosexuality within active duty military would have an impact on unit cohesion would have an impact on recruitment, an impact on readiness, that’s been established and written about and chronicled for many many years,” he told MSNBC.Īnd during his 2000 congressional run, Pence had a statement on his website that suggested support for conversion therapy, a controversial attempt to change people’s sexual orientation that has been dismissed and criticized by major health organizations. But Democrats, along with traditionally right-leaning business organizations, rallied against the change.īack in 2010, then-Congressman Pence also criticized efforts to repeal “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” the federal policy banning openly gay Americans from serving in the military. In 2014, Pence and Indiana conservatives attempted to amend Indiana’s constitution to ban same-sex marriages. It was not the first time Pence was involved in significant policy issues impacting the LGBT community. In April 2015, Pence signed a new version of the measure that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, a move that infuriated many of Indiana’s social conservatives.
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The Disciples of Christ church group threatened to pull their convention out of Indianapolis. Some faith-based organizations also protested.
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The business community - including Apple and the NCAA - protested the move, and some companies threatened to boycott Indiana. “The Constitution of the United States and the Indiana Constitution both provide strong recognition of the freedom of religion but today, many people of faith feel their religious liberty is under attack by government action,” Pence said at the time. The Indiana governor attracted significant national attention in March 2015 when he signed into law a measure that would allow businesses to turn away gay and lesbian customers to protect the businesses “religious freedom.” Indiana was the first state to enact such a measure. While some have praised Trump for his support for the LGBT community, Pence’s history of conservative positions related to gay rights have alarmed others. “I have no idea what (the vice president elect) will think about, but I hope he will change his mind,” she added. “A respectful message showing, in my case, my disagreement with some of his thinking,” Ilse Heintzen told WJLA, a CNN affiliate.
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Roughly half-dozen pride flags are outside of homes on the block where Pence lives and neighbors say more are on the way. The flag represents a symbol of pride in the LGBT community. Some neighbors have put up rainbow flags since the Indiana governor moved in to protest what they call his anti-gay policy positions. Until he moves into the Naval Observatory after taking office, the vice president-elect is renting a $6,000-a-month home in Chevy Chase, a swanky neighborhood in the Northwest quadrant of the nation’s capital. (CNN) - Some Washington residents who disagree with Mike Pence’s positions on gay rights are making their values known to their new neighbor. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.