Tag: Mike Pence

Posted on

Mike Pence Bans Media From Breakfast Meeting With Openly Gay Irish Prime Minister

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar with Vice President Mike Pence and
Second Lady Karen Pence

After Ireland’s first openly gay leader said he would bring up LGBTQ rights with Vice President Mike Pence at a breakfast meeting, Pence barred media from attending the meeting.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the press before the meeting that he would be bringing up the issue of LGBTQ rights to the veep during the annual St Patrick’s Day meeting at the U.S. Naval Observatory where Pence and his wife Karen reside.

Ahead of the event, Pence stipulated that the media were only allowed to capture the arrival of the pair outside Pence’s residence.

Pence’s anti-LGBTQ policies and positions are well known from opposing open service in the military and same-sex marriage to supporting so-called “ex-gay” therapy.

Mr Varadkar expressed disappointment at the media ban but added, “It allows us maybe to have a frank conversation that’s easier to have without the media present.”

Posted on

Adam Rippon To Mike Pence: “Are You Still For Me? Are You Still For Other LGBTQ Americans?”

Out Olympian Adam Rippon on CNN’s New Day this morning said now that the Winter Olympics are over, he’d be willing to meet with Vice President Mike Pence about LGBTQ issues.

“Now is the right time,” Rippon said. “The Olympics are over. You don’t get to make any sort of change if you don’t try to at least try to reach across and have the opportunity to speak.”

Rippon said he himself doesn’t have anything personal to address with Pence, but he’d like to see LGBTQ folks who have been affected by Pence’s anti-gay policies have a chance to speak with the veep.

“He tweeted at me and he said I want you to know that I’m for you and I’m for all the Olympians, which I think that’s great, but I don’t believe it, because when I go home, are you still for me? Are you still for other LGBTQ Americans? That’s where I feel like the tweet is almost disingenuous.”

Watch below.

Posted on

News Round-Up: February 23, 2018

(image via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• Fitness model Quin Bruce looks ready for date night. #ThatFace #ThoseArms #Woof

 • Sixteen year-old Joshua Rush, who plays the Disney Channel’s first openly gay character on Andi Mack, says it was important to him to “do it right.”

• Members of the Republican-controlled Virginia House of Delegates on Thursday killed a proposed amendment to the House budget bill that would have added sexual orientation and gender identity to its nondiscrimination provision.

• In the aftermath of last week’s school massacre in Parkland, Florida, several major businesses are ending their partnerships with the National Rifle Association.

• According to Donald Trump, CNN and MSNBC are “failing.” But not according to the latest info from the Standard Media Index which shows that MSNBC grew its revenue from from January 2017 to last month by a 62% and CNN jumped 32% year-over-year. Fox News showed a polite 17% increase.

• Brendan Fraser says a Hollywood bigwig sexually assaulted him by fondling his butt (and more) and the incident affected his acting career.

• Out bronze medalist Adam Rippon says with the Olympics coming to a close, he would definitely take time to chat with Vice President Mike Pence about LGBT issues.

But – Rippon doesn’t think the two have much to chat on: “Mike Pence doesn’t stand for anything that I was taught when I grew up, and I think that it’s important if you’re given the platform to speak up for those who don’t have a voice.”

Posted on

Mike Pence Tweets Gay Olympian: “We Are FOR YOU”

Adam Rippon

Out U.S. Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon has no time for Vice President Pence, and it really bothers Pence.

From USA Today:

Vice President Pence on Thursday took to social media to criticize a USA TODAY Sports report as “#FAKENEWS” that U.S. Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon rebuffed a request that his office set up a conversation between the two men.

At about the same time as Pence took to Twitter, a White House official was explaining to reporters traveling with the vice president to South Korea that Pence’s team did contact the U.S. Olympic Committee. But the vice president’s office was offering— not requesting — a meeting with Rippon and wanted to give the skater as much space as possible. The official declined to be identified.

Columnist Christine Brennan reported on Wednesday that Pence had become so concerned about criticism he faced from Rippon, an openly gay athlete, that his staff reached out to the USOC to set up a conversation between the two.

Rippon turned the offer down, two people with knowledge of the proposed conversation told USA TODAY Sports. After the column was published Wednesday, Pence’s deputy chief of staff Jarrod Agen insisted no effort was made by the Vice President’s office to set up a conversation.

The whole spat began in January when Rippon made it clear he was no fan of Pence or the idea of the vice president being selected to lead the U.S. delegation to the Olympic opening ceremony.

“You mean Mike Pence, the same Mike Pence that funded gay conversion therapy? I’m not buying it,” Rippon responded.

Pence didn’t get his sitdown with Rippon, but he tweeted directly to the U.S. athlete saying, in part, “I want you to know we are FOR YOU.”

Posted on

Gus Kenworthy: VP Mike Pence “Seems Like A Bad Fit” To Lead Olympic Delegation

Via The Hill:

Freeskier Gus Kenworthy, one of the first two openly gay male athletes to represent the U.S. in the Winter Olympics, told Ellen DeGeneres that he things Vice President Pence is a “bad fit” to lead the U.S. delegation to Pyeongchang, South Korea, this month.

Kenworthy’s comments echoed those of figure skater Adam Rippon, who has harshly criticized Pence and the Trump administration in general over their treatment of LGBTQ rights. Rippon, who is also openly gay, was named to the Olympic team just weeks before Kenworthy.

“[Pence] seems like such a strange choice,” Kenworthy said Monday on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

“To have somebody leading the delegation that’s directly attacked the LGBTQ community, and a Cabinet in general that just sort of stands against us and has tried to do things to set us back, it just seems like a bad fit.”

Pence has a long history of opposing LGBT rights and supporting anti-LGBT legislation. He’s encouraged funding for so-called “conversion therapy,” signed legislation that would allow discrimination against LGBTs into law, opposed allowing gays in the military and same-sex marriage.

Watch his chat with Ellen below.

Posted on

Podcast: Out Olympians Not Happy With VP Mike Pence; 2 More Men Allege Sexual Assault By Porn Actor

In this week’s podcast:

• Olympic slopestyle skier Gus Kenworthy isn’t keen on Vice President Mike Pence leading the US delegation at the 2018 Winter Olympics

• Sir Ian McKellen celebrates the 30th anniversary of his coming out

• Two more men have come out accusing porn actor Topher DiMaggio of sexual assault. Is this a case of “he said/he said?”

All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report

Note: If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, here are just a few of the resources available to help.
RAINN
The Anti-Violence Project
The Human Rights Campaign

Posted on

Gus Kenworthy Agrees With US Figure Skater Adam Rippon On VP Mike Pence’s Olympic Role

Gus Kenworthy qualifies for 2018 Winter Olympics

Out Olympic athlete Gus Kenworthy has responded to fellow Team USA Olympian, figure skater Adam Rippon, who recently questioned the wisdom of Vice President Pence leading the Olympic delagation into the 2018 Winter Games.

Pence has a notoriously anti-LGBT history as governor of Indiana and a congressman.

From LGBTQ Nation:

“I actually found out about it from Adam Rippon’s quote about it,” he told USA Today. “I feel the same way as him. I think it’s not the person I would have expected, and I think it sends mixed messages because this is the first time we’re seeing out U.S. Olympic athletes competing in the Winter Olympics, and then we have someone leading the delegation that doesn’t support that, and doesn’t support the LGBT community, and has spoken against it. I think it doesn’t send the right message. It’s unfortunate, but it is what it is.”

“I think that I’ve gotten to live authentically and share who I really am with my family and friends. It’s made me feel so comfortable,” he said. “I think that it’s showcased in my skiing. I feel so free and liberated and it’s one last thing I have to think about, about being in the closet and worrying about outing myself. My skiing has benefited from that, from being free.”

“The fact that I am out, I think it’s going to warrant me having a better time in Korea, and really getting to experience it,” he added. “When you’re in the closet, you can’t enjoy anything quite as much. I don’t think I had the Olympics experience I was hoping for, and now that I’m out, I’m going to really take it all in and have such a better time.”

Kenworthy has become the face of gay US Olympians having come out in 2015 after winning a silver medal at the 2014 Sochi Games.

He will be competing in his second Olympic games in slopestyle skiing.

Posted on

Vice President Mike Pence’s Bold-Faced Lie On Military Pay During #TrumpShutdown

Check out Vice President Mike Pence’s bold-faced lie speaking to US troops in Syria today.

“I’m sure you’re all aware of what’s happening in Washington, D.C. Despite bipartisan support for a budget resolution, a minority in the Senate has decided to play politics with military pay. But you deserve better.

“You and your families shouldn’t have to worry for one minute about whether you’re going to get paid as you serve in the uniform of the United States. The President, the Vice President, and the American people are not going to put up with it.”

During her time on the Senate floor yesterday, Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri specifically introduced a measure to ensure payment to military service members during the shutdown.

GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shut it down with his own objection on record.

Let’s go to the video tape.

(h/t JoeMyGod)

Posted on

“Make America Gay Again” Sign Posted Next Door To Mike Pence Vacation Home

Jason Auslander / The Aspen Times

Vice President Mike Pence surely got the message posted on the mailbox next door to the home he’s vacationing at in Aspen, Colorado.

And that message was, “Make America Gay Again.”

Neighbors of the home near Aspen where Pence and his wife, Karen, are staying posted the message Wednesday or Thursday on a stone pillar that sits at the end of driveways to both homes, Pitkin County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Buglione told the Aspen Times.

Pence, a well-known homophobe who has fought LGBT rights for years, has described himself as a “Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order.”

#AndTheCrowdGoesWild!

Posted on

Donald Trump “Embarrassed” Mike Pence Has Pets, Calls Them “Low Class”

Vice President Mike Pence (L) and Donald Trump (R)

Just one more horrible thing to learn about Donald Trump.

Last week, folks were quoting an article at The Atlantic by Mckay Coppins wherein Donald Trump was quoted as saying Vice President Mike Pence wants to “hang” all the gays.

But what didn’t get hardly any attention was the next paragraph where a White House adviser shared that Trump was embarrassed that Pence brought his family pets with him to Washington, D.C.

Apparently, Donald Trump thinks having pets is “low class.”

When it was reported last January that the Pences would be moving some of their family pets—which include two cats, a rabbit, and a snake—into the Naval Observatory, Trump ridiculed the menagerie to his secretary, according to a longtime adviser. “He was embarrassed by it; he thought it was so low class,” says the adviser. “He thinks the Pences are yokels.”