Mike Pence has made it abundantly clear that he has no love for the LGBTQ+ community. His wife openly and proudly teaches at a school that denies education to children that members — or whose parents are members — of that community. He openly opposes any and all efforts to grant equal rights to same-sex couples. He’s adamantly against same-sex marriage and adoption and loudly opposed the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which would allow members of the LGBTQ+ community to openly serve in the military. Not to mention the fact that, in the past, he has openly supported the use of federal funding to medically treat people “seeking to change their sexual behavior.”
He didn’t outright say shock or conversion therapy. But it doesn’t take a genius to read between those lines either.
So, when he met with and hosted the first openly gay prime minister today, you can imagine that the encounter was awkward, at best.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his partner, Matt Barrett, arriving for breakfast here at the US Vice President Mike Pence’s residence in Washington. Quite a significant moment… pic.twitter.com/WRZaUwkAuH
— Shane Beatty (@ShaneBeattyNews) March 14, 2019
Taoiseach (TEE-shock) Leo Varadkar, the prime minister and head of government of Ireland and his partner, Matt Berrett, met for breakfast at Vice President Pence’s home in Washington this morning. And to say the least, the encounter was uncomfortable.
The men held themselves with an air of dignity, but the video footage certainly showed Pence acting a bit standoffish. While the meet and greet outside of the Pence home went down without much trouble, the entire experience felt cringy. Because of course it did.
We can only imagine how uneasy the couple felt knowing what they do about the Pence family. While chances are high that Pence and his family will always be monumental shitheads, we can cross our fingers and hope that this meeting will serve as a turning point for the Vice President. Perhaps seeing a happy, powerful couple in this capacity will flip some sort of switch in him and prove that people of the community aren’t in any need of any sort of “conversion.”
Honestly, though, we’re not holding our breath.
Featured image via DC Tribune gallery
