Democratic presidential contender Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) is under fire for her past activism and statements in favor of traditional marriage and against “homosexual activists.”
Gabbard, described by CNN as “the first Hindu and American Samoan” elected to Congress, made a surprise announcement Friday that she would be running for president in 2020.
She is a left-wing Democrat and Iraq War veteran with a history of iconoclastic stances. In 2016, she resigned from a leadership position on the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to support Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), for president, and was one of the first to raise the alarm about then-chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s effort to tilt the Democratic Party presidential primary in favor of establishment favorite Hillary Clinton.
Just last week, Gabbard blasted Democrats in the Senate — including a fellow Hawaiian and fellow “progressives” — for questioning a judicial nominee’s Catholic faith, including his membership in the Knights of Columbus.
Though she did not mention Sens. Marie Hirono (D-HI) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) by name, she accused them in an op-ed in The Hill of “fomenting religious bigotry.”
Now, however, Gabbard is facing similar accusations after a CNN report by researched Andrew Kaczynski that detailed her family’s past support for traditional marriage.
When Tulsi Gabbard first ran for office she touted her work to pass a measure allowing the Hawaii to ban same-sex marriage as the reason she should be elected.
The organization she worked for supported gay conversion therapy and ex-gay ministries. https://t.co/VxKBt1mQkH
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) January 14, 2019
On Twitter, Kaczynski opined that Gabbard’s anti-gay views were “next level.”
The report, “Tulsi Gabbard once touted working for anti-gay group that backed conversion therapy,” accuses her of “anti-gay” stances (original link):
Tulsi Gabbard herself is quoted in a 2000 press release from The Alliance for Traditional Marriage. In it, she attacks gay rights activists who were opposed to her mother Carol’s bid for the state’s board of education.
Tulsi Gabbard’s anti-gay efforts continued after she became a state representative.
Shortly after Gabbard announced her presidential ambitions Friday, her testimony at a hearing opposing a civil unions bill in 2004 resurfaced.
“To try to act as if there is a difference between ‘civil unions’ and same-sex marriage is dishonest, cowardly and extremely disrespectful to the people of Hawaii,” Gabbard said at the time. “As Democrats we should be representing the views of the people, not a small number of homosexual extremists.”
Gabbard has since changed her views and apologized for her past statements in 2012, according to the New Yorker.
The left-wing media seized on the story. “Tulsi Gabbard’s Homophobic Remarks Surface After 2020 Presidential Announcement,” ran a headline at HuffPost. On social media, writer Mark Harris declared Gabbard a “flat no.”
Some conservatives defended her:
Yes I’m a conservative
But I’m a Christian first
And Tulsi Gabbard defended Christians from Senate Democrats
RNC was nowhere to be found
— Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) January 13, 2019
Gabbard has yet to respond, though she has been serving in the Army National Guard this weekend.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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