THE REAL MIKE PENCE A LIFETIME OF ATTACKS ON THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY 1 THE MOST POWERFUL AND LEAST SCRUTINIZED VICE PRESIDENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY THE REAL MIKE PENCE THE REAL MIKE PENCE CONTENTS 3 INTRODUCTION 4 ATTACK ON MARRIAGE EQUALITY 6 ATTACK ON LGBTQ AMERICANS IN THE WORKPLACE n March 4th, 1841, in the early afternoon, William currying favor with donors and candidates across the coun- 6 PUSHING FOR A “LICENSE Henry Harrison was sworn-in as the 9th President try. He has even become the first vice president in history to TO DISCRIMINATE” Oof the United States. On March 26th, Harrison have his own Super PAC. And yet, many Americans do not became ill with a cold. On April 4th, at 12:30 am, less know anything about Mike Pence or his record. than 31 days after taking office, he died.1 Pence serves in an administration that has spent its first 10 ATTACK ON LGBTQ HEALTHCARE John Tyler succeeded him on the basis of Sec. 1, Article II of year in office bending the rules, defying the Constitution, the U.S. Constitution. A national debate, often heated, broke and upending the norms that protect the system of account- out over Tyler’s legitimacy as head of state, and it wasn’t ability for our elected officials. The Trump administration 12 ATTACK ON PLANNED PARENTHOOD until the Senate’s vote to affirm him as the 10th President has changed the game, so to speak. The vice presidency AND LGBTQ HEALTH of the United States — rather than a mere “acting presi- has also changed. The experience-bereft nature of Trump dent” — that Tyler was permitted to go about the work on everything from budgetary analysis to foreign policy of the country.2 has inflated the stature and influence of his second in 13 BLOCKING HATE CRIMES LEGISLATION command6. It was on a golf course in July before the Since that pivotal moment, eight more vice presidents have election that Trump made a chilling pitch to Pence as been sworn-in to the nation’s highest elected office following reported in The Atlantic: 14 ATTACK ON LGBTQ TROOPS the death or resignation of their predecessor 3, and three laws — with numerous amendments — have been passed “Coming into the game, Trump had formed an opinion by Congress defining the protocol for ensuring the powers of the Indiana governor as prudish, stiff, and embar- 15 CONCLUSION of the presidency are not hampered by issues of continuity.4 5 rassingly poor, according to one longtime associate. And every four years, the phrase “a heartbeat away from the Pence, meanwhile, had spent the primaries privately 16 PENCE’S INNER CIRCLE presidency” is trotted out by pundits to underline the impor- shaking his head at Trump’s campaign-trail antics, tance of dissecting vice presidential nominees. and had endorsed Senator Ted Cruz for the nomina- tion. But as the two men played golf, Pence asked 18 PENCE ON THE ISSUES And yet, no vice president in history has wielded what his job description would be if they wound up in more influence, with less scrutiny, than Mike Pence. the White House together. Trump gave him the same While Donald Trump’s scandals and erratic tweets domi - answer he’d been dangling in front of other prospec- nate the airwaves, Pence has operated largely out of public tive running mates for weeks: He wanted “the most view, stacking the administration with members of his inner consequential vice president ever.” circle, pushing his long-standing legislative priorities, and 1 How William Henry Harrison Invented the Inaugural Parade, The Washington Post, (January 18, 2017) 2 John Tyler’s stormy start to a mostly forgotten presidency, Constitution Daily, National Constitution Center, (October 1, 014) 3 The 25th Amendment: Succession of the Presidency, The National Archives, (February 10, 2017) 4 A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774 - 1875, The Library of Congress, (March 1, 1792) 5 Presidential Succession Act, United States Senate, (July 18,1947) 6 Picking a Partner, The Wall Street Journal, (July 15, 2016) 2 3 THE REAL MIKE PENCE THE REAL MIKE PENCE Pence was sold.7 Some have sought to peg Pence as a care coverage from millions of people, lobbying Congress to tional crisis” and asserting that his legislation was the only Ten years later, as Governor of Indiana, Pence still had “sane” voice in an otherwise chaotic administration, but pass an irresponsible tax bill, and working behind the scenes effective way to stop marriage equality.13 While in Congress, not given up his crusade to ban marriage equality at those closest to him — including the president — know to ban transgender members of the military from serving Pence co-sponsored the Marriage Protection Amendment, just about any cost. In 2014, U.S. District Court Judge his extremism is a defining element of his character. their country. which failed in both the House and Senate in 2004 and Richard L. Young, ruling on Baskin v. Bogan, struck down 2006. That proposed Constitutional Amendment would an Indiana law prohibiting state recognition of same-sex In a meeting with a legal scholar, as the conversation turned This report, which details Mike Pence’s long track record have imposed a federal ban on marriage in every state. marriages from other jurisdictions.15 Following the ruling, to gay rights, Trump pointed to Pence and said “Don’t ask of attacks on the LGBTQ community and others, aims to He also co-sponsored and championed the radical and Pence’s General Counsel wrote a memo to executive 8 that guy — he wants to hang them all!” begin placing a greater spotlight on Mike Pence’s extreme unprecedented Marriage Protection Act — legislation to branch offices that said the state’s ban on same-sex agenda. The American public deserves to understand the deny Federal Courts the jurisdiction to decide on questions marriage was “in full force and effect.”16 Pence wields inordinate power in this administration, stealth- motivations and ideology of a vice president that is largely involving same-sex marriage — which passed in the House ily influencing policy decisions, stacking the administration unknown, but inordinately powerful within a tumultuous in 2004 and died in the Senate. In a separate case — Bowling v. Pence — Judge Young with his own loyalists, and pushing his extremist ideology. White House. again ruled that Indiana had to recognize same-sex mar- Meanwhile, he has laid the groundwork for a presidential run, “[T]rue conservatives believe in conserv- riages performed in other states.17 Young had thrown out as his aides have said that he “wants to be ready” to run for ing, protecting, and defending the foun- an earlier case in which Pence was named as a defendant 9 president in 2020. dational institutions of our society and of because evidence suggested that the governor did not western civilization. True conservatives have authority to enforce the law. However, after the Pence This ambition is not new for Pence. In an op-ed for the New believe, as I do, that marriage was or- administration issued the memo directing agencies not to York Times, Stephen Rodrick notes that political strategists dained by God, established by law, that it’s comply with the decision in Baskin, the judge reversed his in Indiana thought Pence was interested in being governor the glue of the American family and the decision, stating “[T]he court, after witnessing the Governor mainly to check off executive experience on his presidential safest harbor to raise children. And true do what he claimed he could not do, reverses course candidate resume.10 conservatives also know that the only ef- and finds him to be a proper party to such lawsuits. The Even if checking off boxes on his resume, in each office fective response to judicial activism at the court wishes to reiterate that it finds the Governor’s prior Pence has held, his extreme positions seeking to undermine state and federal level is a constitutional representations contradicting such authority to be, at a In word and deed, Pence has attacked LGBTQ people, 18 the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ people, women and oth- amendment that defines marriage as the minimum, troubling.” women, immigrants, refugees, workers, and voters. He has ers has been a defining element of his agenda. union between a man and a woman.” attacked science, health, transparency, education, justice, Less than a year later, the Supreme Court ruled in During his 12 years in Congress, Pence introduced 90 bills and public safety. Pence as vice president is already danger- – Mike Pence, from the House floor, July Obergefell v. Hodges that state bans on marriage equality and other pieces of legislation, but none became law.11 His ously advancing his outdated agenda. But now he continues 13, 200414 are unconstitutional.19 Reacting to the decision, Pence said, real focus was on impeding progress — on everything from to do all of this — just a heartbeat away from the presidency. “I believe marriage is the union between one man and one marriage equality to open service of LGBTQ people in the woman, and I am disappointed that the Supreme Court failed military to funding for Planned Parenthood. to recognize the historic role of the states in setting marriage ATTACK ON MARRIAGE EQUALITY policy in this country.”20 The statement by Pence flew in the As governor, Pence was aggressively destructive in his pol- In 2003, before the Supreme Court’s decision in Lawrence face of his decade-long effort to amend the Constitution and icies. He forced through legislation to discriminate against v.