Judd Deere, deputy White House press secretary, proudly pointed to Vice President Mike Pence’s scheduled meeting with the Irish prime minister, an openly gay man, as proof that Pence is not “anti-gay.”
For all of you who still think our @VP is anti-gay, I point you to his and the @SecondLady’s schedule tomorrow where they will join Taoiseach @LeoVaradkar and his partner Dr. Matthew Barrett for lunch in Ireland. ?? @merrionstreet pic.twitter.com/Cj5kMpln0U
— Judd Deere (@JuddPDeere45) September 3, 2019
Pence hosted Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and his partner, Mike Barrett, at his residence in March.
Pence, a very conservative Christian, has long opposed LGBTQ rights and has said that same-sex marriage indicates a “societal collapse.”
Politicos on Twitter have largely responded with derision.
From a Slate reporter:
everyone knows the number one best way to prove that you’re down with gay people is to make a big show of of announcing that you’re about to be in the vicinity of a gay person https://t.co/9wGzFYQ1wn
— Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) September 3, 2019
From a Lawfare editor:
The Pences don’t believe such unions should be valid and equal in the eyes of God or under the laws of the United States, but they are willing to have lunch with a gay couple. https://t.co/U7LFUdPL45
— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) September 3, 2019
From BuzzFeed News reporter:
wish more people would understand how evangelical Christians think of gay people: not as pathogens, but as morally lost — and like all lost people within that moral framework, “saveable.” contact does does not mean “pro-gay” https://t.co/e6M7OJioQn
— Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) September 3, 2019
