After Citing Orlando Shootings as a Reason to Run Again, Marco Rubio Will Speak at Anti-LGTBQ EventFresh off his failed attempt to win the Republican nomination for the presidency, Florida Senator Marco Rubio announced that he would not run for re-election, before finally deciding that he would. His motivation, he said, was the Orlando nightclub shooting that left 49 Floridians dead and another 53 injured.
In early June, Rubio told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that the deaths gave him “perspective,” adding:
“I‘ve been deeply impacted by it and I think when it visits your home state, when it impacts a community you know well, it really gives you pause, to think a little bit about your service to your country and where you can be most useful to your country.”
After the shooting, Rubio seemed to soften his rhetoric on LGTBQ issues acknowledging, at least, that the Orlando victims were targeted because of their sexual preferences. He told the Advocate, “I don’t need investigators to tell me the gay community was targeted in this attack.” But since Rubio has yet to meet an opinion or policy position that he can’t abandon on a moment’s notice, the Florida Senator has agreed to speak at an anti-LGTBQ event sponsored by the Liberty Counsel. The event, titled “Rediscovering God in America Renewal Project,” will be held in Orlando later this month.
The Liberty Counsel which, in the parlance of conservatives is a “pro-family” group, has a long history of anti-LGTBQ political activity. The Miami New Times reports:
The group is run by Mat Staver, also known as the attorney who represented Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk famous for refusing to let gay people get married. During that whole ordeal, Staver attacked “the media” and “liberals” for not siding with Davis.
“They want her scalp to hang on the wall as a trophy,” he said of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Rubio will be one of the featured speakers at the event. New Times notes Rubio will be joined by a number of other terrible people including David Barton, Fred Lowery, and some guy who blames Islamic terrorism on LGTBQ people.
Though Rubio has tried to position himself as the hip, youthful candidate who goes to raves and listens to EDM, his positions on everything from LGTBQ issues to immigration (another issue he’s had multiple feelings about) are retrograde bullshit. In a 2010 profile of Rubio, New Times described him as a “world-class opportunist” and a “hypocrite”; both have proven to be an accurate representation of Florida’s junior Senator. Rubio’s decision to join the Liberty Counsel at an anti-LGTBQ even in Orlando is just another demonstration of his unmatched spinelessness.
http://theslot.jezebel.com/after-citing-orlando-shootings-as-a-reason-to-run-again-1784724640
