With Liberty and Justice for Some.
When you stop and take a look at all the social progress society has made over the past decades–or even over the past several years–it should warm your heart to see just how far we’ve come from days of legal bigotry and hatred. That being said, there are still those among us who would rather remain in the past, clinging steadfastly to outdated social norms and exclusive lifestyles. Unfortunately for us, many of these people are politicians in the United States.
Everyone has the right to believe in whatever they choose, but throughout history, we’ve seen time and time again that any group that thinks itself superior to anyone else or is specifically prejudiced against any other group is never right in the long run. The fact that we can still be biased against other factions of society for simple biological or cultural reasons in 2015 is fairly mind-blowing, until you realize just how prevalent these hateful people are.
In American politics, when it comes to gay rights, the biggest issue you’ll hear about today is gay marriage. The majority of politicians on this list are huge advocates of “traditional marriage,” so while they claim their stances aren’t anti-gay, their actions would say otherwise.
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Start the slideshow below to see which American politicians are the biggest antigay advocates in Washington and around the country. Do they have your vote?
6. Sarah Palin
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Sarah Palin quickly rose to infamy for her outspoken and often contradictory statements after she ran for vice president alongside Mitt Romney in 2008. Known for her confusing arguments and flip-flopping on stances, the former Governor of Alaska has remained staunchly against gay marriage.
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Alaska became one of the first states to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriage, which Palin–who was a mayor at the time–agreed with. During her campaign for governor, she often iterated her support for this ban.
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As governor, Palin vetoed a bill that would have denied employee benefits to same-sex partners, but she later stated that she would would support changing that legislation. Otherwise, she has said that she supports a Federal Constitutional Amendment that would ban same-sex marriage, citing that traditional marriage is “a cornerstone of religion and civilization.”
5. Rand Paul
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Rand Paul, a US Senator from Kentucky, is also vying for the Republican nomination for the presidency. Compared to his fellow politicians, Paul is fairly neutral when it comes to gay rights. He has, however, made some discriminatory statements in the past. To be fair, Rand Paul can be rather straightforward, such as when he said “I don’t think I’ve ever used the word ‘gay rights,’ because I don’t really believe in rights based on your behavior.”
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Paul’s political agenda favors traditional marriage. Technically speaking, however, he is not against gay marriage, but supports “contracts between adults” for situations other than a man marrying a woman through a religious institution, much in the way that marriage has existed throughout history. He’s also stated that we need to keep marriage laws strict, implying that marriage equality could lead to bestiality.
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Furthermore, Rand Paul has used the word “gay” to mean “stupid,” such as when he stated “Call me cynical, but I didn’t think [Obama’s] views on marriage could get any gayer.” He’s also said that varying from traditional marriage has led to a moral crisis in the United States, and that we need another Great Awakening so that people can repent from their untraditional ways.
4. Michele Bachmann
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Former member of the House of Representatives and current hopeful for the Republican nomination, Michele Bachmann proposed a ban on recognizing same-sex couples in Minnesota, saying that God had told her to do so.
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In her rants against gays, Bachmann has warned that the gay agenda plans to abolish the age of consent, thereby embracing child rape. She also says that the gays will legalize polygamy and enact “hate speech laws across the United States” that will attack the more traditional community.
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Perhaps one of Bachmann’s most egregious assaults against the gay community is that she and her husband perform gay conversion therapies through her husband’s psychiatric business in Minnesota, despite the American Psychological Association’s warnings against it.
3. Mike Huckabee
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Current candidate for the Republican presidential nomination and former governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee is outspoken in his stance against gay marriage. During his time as governor, he outlawed gay marriage in Arkansas.
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Huckabee is also against same-sex adoption, citing that children should be adopted into “traditional” families. After President Obama appointed Eric Fanning, a gay man, Under Secretary of the Army, Huckabee wrote on his Facebook that “homosexuality is not a job qualification.”
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Mike Huckabee was present for the celebration of Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis being released from prison after refusing to grant same-sex couples marriage licenses. During the Pope’s visit to the White House, Huckabee denounced the President’s inviting of environmental and gay advocates to meet the Holy Father, calling it a “politicized cattle call for gay” activists. He also likened it to having a bar at an Alcoholics Anonymous event, so it looks like he think addiction is a joke, too.
2. Rick Santorum
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Former United States Senator from Pennsylvania and current candidate for the Republican nomination, Rick Santorum is one of the biggest anti-gay forces in the United States today.
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Santorum is very socially conservative and has said that legalizing gay marriage would eventually lead to polygamy and other “unnatural” marriages. He was also against repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” calling it a “social experiment.”
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In his most infamous statement, Santorum said, “In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That’s not to pick on homosexuality. It’s not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing. And when you destroy that you have a dramatic impact on the quality.”
He never apologized for these comments, which likened gay marriage to pedophilia and bestiality.
1. Ted Cruz
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Like many of his political associates, Ted Cruz, Senator Ted Cruz from Texas–current candidate for the Republican presidential nomination–is a heavy defender of traditional marriage and would go far to deny gays equal rights.
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Cruz warns that permitting gay marriage will directly lead to gay groups accusing Christians and religious organizations of being hate groups purely based on their beliefs. He believes that gay marriage should be a state decision, and that the nation is not responsible for making sexual orientation a protected legal class.
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Worst yet, Cruz likened marriage equality to jihad, which many Americans incorrectly perceive as terrorism. “We look at the jihad that is being waged right now, in Indiana, and in Arkansas, going after people of faith who respect the biblical teaching that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.” Little does he know that jihad means “holy war,” so, by definition, someone who is not religious could not carry it out.