TAMPA, Fla. – Kansas secretary of state and Mitt Romney advisor Kris Kobach has compared LGBT people to drug users and polygamists. Kobach made the remarks while debating the GOP platform’s marriage equality language yesterday in Tampa.
While arguing against an amendment, introduced by Pat Kerby – a Republican National Convention delegate from Nevada – that would have ended the party’s support for the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, Kobach said, “Our government routinely judges situations where you might regard people completely affecting themselves … like for example the use of controlled substances, like for example polygamy, that is voluntarily entered into. We condemn those activities even though they are not hurting other people, at least directly. So this is worded way too broadly for inclusion in the platform.”
Kobach, who is perhaps best known for his significant role in the drafting of Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration law (SB 1070) and using fear tactics to spread his anti-immigration agenda, employs similar tactics when it comes to matters of LGBT equality. In 2004 he claimed that the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and other LGBT organizations supported “homosexual pedophilia.” Despite these remarks, Mitt Romney was quick to embrace Kobach’s endorsement earlier this year – saying he was “so proud to earn Kris’s support” and was pleased to “stand with this true conservative.”
Condemning Kobach’s remarks HRC Vice President of Communications Fred Sainz said, “Kris Kobach’s remarks are offensive and just the latest sign that the GOP platform is being influenced by people who certainly do not speak for the majority of Republicans. It’s time for leaders within the GOP to take some responsibility and realize that their outdated platform – and the incendiary and vitriolic language used by some of their colleagues like Kris Kobach – sends a dangerous message and has a very real impact on the LGBT community, particularly youth.”
Kobach’s remarks come a day after the GOP’s draft platform revealed that the Republican Party was continuing to ignore the mainstream values embraced by a majority of Americans and an increasing number of conservatives by doubling-down on its refusal to embrace marriage equality.
