HRC Blasts Pence for Endorsing Focus on the Family's Anti-LGBT Agenda

LGBT Advocacy group The Human Rights Campaign condemned Vice President Mike Pence's move to spend Friday celebrating the 40th anniversary of a virulently anti-gay group Focus on the Family.

The scheduled Pence appearance is being viewed by HRC as a clear indication of the Trump administration's hostility and opposition to LGBT equality during Pride Month.

"Mike Pence has spent his career attacking and undermining LGBTQ people and our families, and now, as Vice President, he's continuing the crusade," said JoDee Winterhof, HRC Senior Vice President for Policy and Political Affairs. "This is an extreme organization that promotes the dangerous and abusive practice of 'conversion therapy,' lobbies against allowing LGBTQ people to adopt children who need homes, and opposes anti-bullying efforts in schools.

"These views are not just antiquated - they are dangerous and wrong," Winterhof added. "And for the Vice President of the United States to lend credibility to them is beyond shocking."

Focus on the Family's animus towards the LGBT community is well-documented. The group has claimed that marriage equality would bring the destruction of civilization. "Human guinea pigs" was a label they gave to kids from same-sex couples. Moreover, they advocate for harmful "gay conversion therapy" and call transgender people "mentally ill."

Denver Post notes that Pence's views and that of Focus on the Family have long been aligned.

The anti-LGBT group has front and center backing Pence in 2015 when, as governor of Indiana, he came under fire for signing the "turn away the gays" bill titled "The Religious Freedom Restoration Act."

Focus on the Family was also quick to rush to Pence's defense when the Vice President was mocked for saying that he won't eat dinner alone with another woman or attend an event with alcohol.