What Will It Take for Mike Pence to Respect LGBTQ Americans?

Early Tuesday morning, Empire actor Jussie Smollett alleged he was attacked by two men while walking to an apartment in Chicago. Smollett, who is black, said that one of the attackers put a noose around his neck and poured an unidentified substance on him. According to the police, the two attackers were also “yelling out racial and homophobic slurs,” at Smollett, who is gay. Smollett also told the police that the attackers yelled, “MAGA country.”

“Let me start by saying that I’m OK,” Smollett said in a statement released by his publicist on Friday. “My body is strong but my soul is stronger. More importantly, I want to say thank you. The outpouring of love and support from my village has meant more than I will ever be able to truly put into words.”

It’s hardly surprising that the homophobic attack appears to have been perpetrated by supporters of the Trump administration. Vice President Mike Pence is explicitly anti-LGBTQ, and has been for a long time. Last month, it was revealed that his wife Karen had taken a teaching job at a school that prohibits LGBTQ students and faculty. Pence used his Christianity to justify his right to discriminate. “The criticism of Christian education in America should stop,” he said, adding that “major news organizations attacking Christian education is deeply offensive to us.”

The attack on Smollett is one of countless reminders that Pence is not just some bigoted old white guy leafing through the Bible for passages that will rationalize his hatred; he’s the vice president of the United States, and the Trump administration’s tacit endorsement of discrimination against the LGBTQ community only emboldens people to express their hate in public, including with violence. On Thursday night, the actress Ellen Page, who is gay, appeared on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert to tee off on Trump and Pence, essentially blaming the latter for the attack on Smollett:

“It feels impossible not to feel this way now with the president and Vice President Mike Pence, who wishes I couldn’t be married. Let’s just be clear. The vice president of America wishes I didn’t have the love I have with my wife. He wanted to ban that in Indiana. He believes in conversion therapy. He has hurt LGBTQ people so badly as the governor of Indiana, and I think what we need to know and I hope my show Gaycation did this in terms of connecting the dots to Jussie Smollett, I don’t know him personally, I send all my love. Connect the dots. This is what happens. If you are in a position of power and you hate people and you want to cause suffering to them, you go through the trouble, you spend your career trying to cause suffering, what do you think is going to happen? Kids are going to be abused and they’re going to kill themselves, and people are going to be beaten on the street.”


https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/what-will-it-take-for-mike-pence-to-respect-lgbtq-americans-788247/