Are LGBT Questions Not Important Enough For The Political Debates?

Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

Adam Dupuis | October 6, 2016

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There are many political platform beliefs that we all must consider and evaluate each candidate and his / her running mate on before they get our vote.  If you're only concerned about one issue, is that enough to base your vote? 

Is the health, welfare, rights, and well being of LGBT citizens a major issue for you in this US Presidential election? Is it THE issue?  If it is, you may not have heard too much about that topic in the last two debates.

Many viewers were fuming after Tuesday night's vice presidential debate as neither moderator Elaine Quijano nor Sen. Tim Kaine brought up LGBT rights as a challenge to Gov. Mike Pence — a glaring oversight, according to The New York Times.

LGBT rights have been a quieter topic this election season, perhaps in part because last year the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. But as of July, 40 percent of registered voters still called the treatment of LGBT people a "very important" issue, a Pew poll found, and transgender rights, such as the North Carolina bathroom law, continue to cause controversy and headlines. That's not to mention the mass murder of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub last June, an attack that almost certainly targeted the LGBT community.

Pence has spent much of his political career in opposition to LGBT rights, including the promotion of conversion therapy. And that's not to mention the biggest elephant in the room:

Mr. Pence's most controversial moment as a national figure — and the biggest stumble of his political career — came after he signed a law in Indiana that critics had warned would allow businesses to discriminate against gay men and lesbians. Facing an enormous backlash, Mr. Pence first defended the law and then walked it back. The episode seemed likely to tarnish him as a national figure in a lasting way.

... [But the] lone mention of gay rights came when Mr. Kaine noted that Mr. Putin "persecutes L.G.B.T. folks and journalists." Mr. Pence now appears likely to escape the 2016 election without any extensive airing of this formative moment in his career. [The New York Times]

"Honestly, I feel a little insulted that as my community faces a wave of discrimination, we were ignored," Lucas Grindley responded in The Advocate. "Sometimes it feels like the world read about the Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality and just checked a box; the gays are fine now ... The vice-presidential debate is a reminder that if we get complacent, if we don't speak up for ourselves, we will easily be ignored." Jeva Lange  - theweek.com

I remember hearing Mike Pence mention Orlando as a terrorist attack, but that may have been it.  I wish one of the four candidates would talk more about the layers involved with the Pulse incident for it is more than a terrorist attack, if that at all.

 

Dailydot.com elaborates quite well on Mike Pence's history as well as gathered several tweets about the lack of LGBT questioning during the debate.  Head over to their site for all the info, but here is a sample of the tweets.

We can yell at the media for not asking any LGBT based questions.  We can criticize one side not attacking the other on their LGBT stance.  But if we had the chance, what would we ask them?   What would we ask both sides?   There are so many unanswered questions as to how each candidate would handle being president and vice president. 

If you had the ability to ask a question of both candidates, or all four candidates, what would it be?


h/t:  theweek.com, Dailydot.com

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