Florida students protest Sasse appointment over LGBTQ issues
by Brooke
Migdon and Al Weaver - 10/10/22 4:10 PM ET
University of Florida students and faculty are protesting the possible naming of Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) as the institution’s next president.
Protesters interrupted a question-and-answer session attended by Sasse on the school’s campus on Monday, where they argued his opposition to same-sex marriage and his positions on LGBTQ issues made him unsuitable to serve as the school’s leader.
The students and faculty protesting Sasse say he has a documented history of embracing anti-LGBTQ messaging and criticizing the legislation and landmark judicial decisions on which modern LGBTQ rights hinge.
A Change.org petition organized by Leyka Rumalla, a junior at UF, urges the university’s board of trustees to reject the recommendation by a search committee that Sasse be selected for the post. The petition argues that Sasse’s political views “do not align with the values that the students at the University of Florida hold.”
“They are discriminatory and non-representative of our student population,” the petition states.
Sasse issued a statement following the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states that called the decision “a disappointment.”
“Marriage brings a wife and husband together so their children can have a mom and dad,” Sasse said. “As a society, we need to celebrate marriage as the best way to provide stability and opportunity for kids.”
More than seven years later, preserving the “sanctity of marriage” is still listed as a top priority on Sasse’s website, and the Nebraska senator has been critical of the House-passed Respect for Marriage Act — federal legislation that would address a national patchwork of marriage laws by requiring all states to recognize same-sex and interracial unions as legally valid.
The senator sought to quell the criticism during his Monday appearance, where the first question of the session centered on the Nebraska Republican’s opposition to same-sex marriage.
more
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3681727-florida-students-protest-sasse-appointment-over-lgbtq-issues/