Pence was a staunch opponent of gay rights during his 12 years in Congress. In case after case, he cited worries about gay rights impeding on the religious freedoms of the faithful.
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In the early 1990s, Pence was a board member for the Indiana Family Institute, a conservative advocacy group that has long opposed gay rights.
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In 2000, his campaign website declared he wouldn't support federal funding to care for people living with HIV/AIDS unless money was cut to programs "that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviors that facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus." He advocated instead for programs that would seek to change "sexual behavior."
In 2007, Pence worried that a bill to protect gays and lesbians from workplace discrimination could be used to discriminate against Christians. "If an employee keeps a Bible in his or her cubicle, if an employee displays a Bible verse on their desk, that employee could be claimed by a homosexual colleague to be creating a hostile work environment," he said on the floor of the U.S. House.
In 2009, he opposed efforts to expand the definition of a hate crime to include the victim's sexual orientation, fearing that a pastor's sermon condemning gay sex could be considered hate speech. "This will have a chilling effect on religious expression, from the pulpits, in our temples, in our mosques and in our churches," he said. "And it must be undone."
Pence was an outspoken champion of a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. In multiple floor speeches, he said marriage was "ordained by God."
He also opposed President Barack Obama's decision to end the "don't ask, don't tell" military policy that prevented openly gay and lesbian people from serving in the military.
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Pence applauded this and called for an amendment to Indiana's constitution banning same-sex marriage.
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Pence said at the time that Pence supported the effort to “defend Indiana’s right to define the institution of marriage for the residents of our state.”
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In 2014, Pence threw his support behind an amendment to Indiana's constitution that would have banned same-sex marriage. Even some of Pence's fellow Republicans felt the measure went too far.
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Pence sided with shielding religious rights in the contentious statewide debate over whether to protect LGBT Hoosiers from discrimination.
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