David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network reported on Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s latest anti-LGBT broadside where Rubio tries to play the victim for opposing marriage equality, writes Brandon Lorenz on the HRC Blog.
“Today, his deep faith drives public policy positions on social issues such as traditional marriage,” Brody wrote. In the interview, Rubio played the victim, suggesting that opponents of marriage equality such as himself, faced a “clear and present danger” from supporters of marriage equality. Here’s what he said:
“If you think about it, we are at the water’s edge of the argument that mainstream Christian teaching is hate speech,” Rubio told CBN News. “Because today we’ve reached the point in our society where if you do not support same-sex marriage you are labeled a homophobe and a hater.”
While Rubio referenced his Catholic faith in the interview while highlighting his opposition to marriage equality, the New York Times reported today that Catholic voters overall are supportive of marriage equality. “In an especially ambitious survey conducted over the course of 2014 by the Public Religion Research Institute, about 60 percent of Americans who called themselves Catholic said that they approved of same-sex marriage, versus about 30 percent who didn’t. The spread among all respondents was 54 to 38, and the group that clearly stood in the way of same-sex marriage wasn’t Catholics. It was evangelical Protestants.”
Bloomberg reported that while recently speaking to MSNBC, Rubio highlighted his opposition to same-sex marriage and suggested that states be left to decide the issue. What he ignores is recent polling from his home state of Florida showing support for marriage equality. A recent poll by the nonpartisan Public Religion Institute showed that Florida supports marriage equality by a 52-40 margin.
For more about Marco Rubio’s anti-LGBT record, visit 2016RepublicanFacts, which highlights how Rubio campaigned with anti-LGBT organizations like the National Organization for Marriage, and how he opposed basic efforts to protect LGBT Americans from employment discrimination, among other issues.
