Marco Rubio celebrates anti-LGBT endorsement
Marco Rubio was endorsed by a man who demanded people stop waving Pride flags after the Orlando shootings
“I’m honored to receive John Stemberger’s endorsement and I look forward to working alongside Florida’s faith leaders to uphold our conservative values.”
—Marco Rubio, in a Facebook post celebrating the endorsement of John Stemberger in his Senate reelection campaign.
Stemberger is the president of Florida Family Action, an anti-LGBT organization that involves itself in the “moral, cultural and political issues that threaten [Florida]” — typically under the guise of caring about families, but in reality trying to keep LGBT people as second class citizens. In a statement, Stemberger championed Rubio’s efforts to protect “the institution of marriage” and religious freedom bills.
“Rubio is solid on our issues,” Stemberger said. “Florida faith leaders that I have spoken to in every corner of the state are elated by Marco’s decision to seek reelection. Throughout his time in the US Senate he has been a consistent and steadfast voice for all Floridians who believe in the sanctity of human life, the institution of marriage, and the constitutional principle of freedom of religion.”
Stemberger’s endorsement comes two weeks after the shootings at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Rubio told The Advocate, “I don’t need investigators to tell me the gay community was targeted in this attack…. It’s pretty clear that in addition to wanting to kill innocent Americans, there was an additional inspiration behind this. We are dealing with some evil, nasty human beings who are motivated by an ideology of hatred that needs to be defeated.”
Unfortunately, a similar ideology of hatred has now endorsed Rubio’s campaign. In the wake of the shootings, Stemberger demanded that people stop displaying Pride flags, because he didn’t consider the victims “gay” but “human beings” and “fellow Americans.”
“I am really tired of seeing special interest rainbow flags and wish we could see more American flags,” he wrote, adding: “Christians should be prepared to be attacked and persecuted if they do not bow down and pledge allegiance to the gay pride flag and all it supposedly represents.”
Stemberger has previously called LGBT people “a radical group of political operatives who want to force their aberrant views on human sexuality upon the rest of society.” He opposes same-sex adoption, saying, “Two moms, or two dads, are an objectively inferior choice when compared to the option of a married mom and dad.” He also said that same-sex marriage was “not just unnecessary, but is affirmatively harmful—to children, to culture and to the common good of society.”
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