Marco Rubio, the candidate of tomorrow, isn't even trying to hide his outreach to conservative homophobes anymore. On Friday, he told GOP faithfuls that denying gays marriage equality wasn't about discriminating—never mind the fact that it would shut same-sex couples out of more than 1,100 rights and benefits related to areas of governance like social security, taxes, immigration, and health care.
“The debate is about how do you define an institution, the institution of marriage, which has been defined the same way for all of human history,” [Rubio] said at the Presidential Family Forum in Des Moines on Friday. “That’s what the debate is about. It’s not about discriminating against anyone. The debate is about how do you define an institution.”
Rubio also hired homo-hater Eric Teetsel earlier this month as his new director of "faith" outreach. Here's a little taste of Teetsel via Zack Ford:
One of the beliefs Teetsel believes is most under attack is the condemnation of homosexuality. In an August blog post describing the current era as an “evil age,” Teetsel bemoaned the Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision as “further obscuring the truth about the immorality of homosexuality.” He believes the Bible provides a singular solution for those “struggling with same-sex attraction,” and that solution is a life of chastity.
All of this should pose a real conundrum for Paul Singer, the billionaire Republican donor who recently endorsed Rubio but has also put more than $20 million into pro-LGBT causes over the last decade. The contradiction was pointed out by Betsy Woodruff in a piece titled: “Can Marco Rubio Have It All on Gay Marriage?”
When New York legalized same-sex marriage in 2011, Singer played a pivotal role in the successful effort by meeting with Republican legislators and spending significant sums on advertising to praise the move’s backers.
Just a year later, the billionaire’s future presidential favorite cut an automated phone call for an organization that fought Singer tooth-and-nail in the halls of Albany: the National Organization for Marriage, which is the country’s most energetic and outspoken group fighting same-sex marriage. NOM teamed up with the Floridian to tape robocalls about the importance of opposing marriage equality. The calls went to swing-state voters and voters in states where the issue was on the ballot.
Progressive activist Joe Sudbay offered an alternative take on that article: