Tag: Marco Rubio

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Jake Tapper To Marco Rubio: “You’re The Candidate Of Yesterday” On Marriage Equality

Speaking to newly announced GOP candidate for 2016 presidential nomination, Sen. Marco Rubio attempts to parse his position on same-sex marriage with young Republican voters:

“You are casting yourself as a candidate of a new generation, but there is an issue where you are very out of step with younger voters,” Tapper said, citing a Pew poll that showed 61% of young Republicans are in favor of same-sex marriage.

“On that issue, same-sex marriage, Senator, you’re the candidate of yesterday,” Tapper declared.

Rubio began by offering up the same defense that Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has been known to use, saying that gay marriage is a “state issue” that he would not have to address as president.

Also, he added, “I think there’s still a significant number of Americans that believe that the definition of marriage should be that of one man and one woman, as it has been for thousands of years.”

“But they’re a minority,” Tapper pointed out.

Boom!

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Sen. Marco Rubio On Gay Adoption

As House Majority Leader in Florida in 2006, Marco Rubio had this to say about gay couples adopting children (via Tallahassee.com):

“Some of these kids are the most disadvantaged in the state,” said House Majority Leader Marco Rubio of West Miami.

“They shouldn’t be forced to be part of a social experiment.”

Interesting fact since today the Florida legislature voted to officially repeal the state’s ban on gay adoption.

Rubio’s office hasn’t responded to requests to see if his position has changed.

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Sen. Marco Rubio Makes It Official In Announcement For 2016 GOP Nod

And then there were three…

Sen. Marco Rubio becomes the third Republican to announce he is running for the GOP nomination for president in 2016.

Rubio told his top donors that he is running because he feels “uniquely qualified” to pitch his Republican Party as one that will defend the American Dream.

The first-term Republican from Florida told his biggest backers on a conference call on Monday that he sees the coming presidential campaign as a choice between the past and the future. In a swipe at Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton, Rubio said the former first lady “is a leader from yesterday.”

Rubio says he has always felt the United States is about tomorrow.

Rubio spoke on a conference call with donors before a flashy political rally set for Monday night in Miami.

Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul have both previously announced their campaigns for the GOP nod.

(from Huffington Post)

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News Round-Up – February 20, 2015

Eamon and Colin Farrell

Some news stories you might have missed:

• Colin Farrell used to kick the sh*t out of his gay brother’s bullies. Go Colin!

• A Tennessee woman is charged with beating her son for acting “feminine and gay”

• Walmart has announced plans to raise their minimum wage to $10 an hour. In other news, hell has frozen over…

• Arkansas state Sen. Jason Rapert says the best way to deal with ISIS would be a “strategically placed nuclear weapon.” He doesn’t include a plan to deal with the nuclear fallout that would affect allies like Israel.

• Sen. Marco Rubio has missed a greater percentage of votes over the course of his career than anyone else currently in the U.S. Senate

• The government of Chile has announced it will end formal opposition to marriage equality

• Newsflash – new study shows attractive guys tend to be jerks

• TLC raises over $430,000 through a Kickstarter campaign to produce their next album

Rozonda ‘Chilli’ Thomas and Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins of TLC

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News Roundup: January 10, 2015

News stories you may have missed:

• The creators of WICKED are hoping for 2016 release of major motion picture adaptation of their blockbuster Broadway musical.

• Sen. Marco Rubio doesn’t understand the role of the judicial arm of government.

• Even with HUGE loopholes built in for “religious liberty,” haters in Plano, Texas, are gearing up to repeal the recent protections passed by the city council for LGBT folks.

• A Texas lawmaker has authored legislation that would take away a state employee’s salary and pension if they should ever issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple.

• North Carolina is heading to SCOTUS asking for review of the ruling which overturned the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

• George Zimmerman, the man who killed Trayon Martin, has been arrested. Again. For the 4th time since his Trayvon Martin trial.

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Sen. Marco Rubio speaks at anti-gay Florida Family Policy Council fund-raiser

This past weekend, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) gave the keynote speech at the anti-gay group Florida Family Policy Council’s annual awards dinner.

From the AP report:

“The moral well-being of our nation is our business. It’s everybody’s business,” Rubio said to applause at the Florida Family Policy Council fundraising dinner. “The debate we should be having isn’t whether or not we have a right to talk about values and morals in the public square, the debate we should be having instead is which values and morals our nation should focus on.”

[snip]

The dinner was raising money for the group that led the petition drive to put a gay marriage ban on the state ballot. The constitutional amendment was approved by voters in 2008. Videos shown before and after Rubio spoke showed its president, John Stemberger, speaking against gay marriage, gay scout masters and allowing people who have had sex changes to teach in schools.

Rubio recently voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that would outlaw workplace discrimination against those in the LGBT community.

(via Towleroad)

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Sen. Marco Rubio opposes ENDA as “special protections based on orientation”

When asked if he planned to support ENDA should it come up for a vote soon, Sen. Marco Rubio said  “I haven’t read the legislation,” Rubio told Scott Keyes of ThinkProgress.  “By and large I think all Americans should be protected but I’m not for any special protections based on orientation.”

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2013/06/video-sen-marco-rubio-r-fla-on-enda-im-not-for-any-special-protections-based-on-orientation.html#storylink=cpy

So, “all Americans” unless you are gay?

Freedom to Work, the national LGBT group supporting ENDA and workplace nondiscrimination, has condemned Rubio for his position:

“Freedom to Work condemns Senator Rubio’s retrograde stance against basic workplace protections for gay and transgender Americans,” said Tico Almeida, a first-generation Cuban-American who is President of the LGBT organization Freedom to Work.

“Like Rubio’s family, my parents also abandoned Communist Cuba because America is a place where every individual should be empowered to build a successful career based on talent and hard work rather than getting held back because of irrelevant characteristics like sexual orientation or gender identity.

“It’s just plain sad that Rubio is mimicking the kind of anti-gay discriminatory positions that the Castro regime took during decades past. It seems the Senator has learned too little about American values.”

More at the Miami Herald.

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Sen. Marco Rubio threatens immigration reform if it includes something for “gay couples”

Sen. Marco Rubio promised again today that he will torpedo the current immigration reform legislation that he helped craft if the amendment allowing gay US citizens to sponsor their foreign partners is not removed.

From Yahoo News:

“If this bill has something in it that gives gay couples immigration rights and so forth, it kills the bill. I’m done,” Rubio said Thursday during an interview on the Andrea Tantaros Show. “I’m off it, and I’ve said that repeatedly. I don’t think that’s going to happen and it shouldn’t happen. This is already a difficult enough issue as it is.”

The amendment, introduced by Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, would grant green cards to foreign partners of gay unauthorized immigrants who seek legal status under new rules in the bill.

Leahy originally introduced the measure during the Senate Judiciary Committee markup of the bill, but he withdrew it under pressure from Republican lawmakers who said it would reduce the chance of the bill passing.

Sen. Leahy re-introduced his amendment on Tuesday and won applause from several LGBT rights groups.

That being said, I don’t see the amendment surviving the debate and markup process in the Senate. And even if it somehow did survive, the GOP controlled House would never go for it.

So while it’s a nice gesture from Sen. Leahy, I think it’s more symbolic than anything at the end of the day. This won’t be our turn, in my opinion.

Repeal DOMA and the problem goes away.