LGBT activists are staging a sit-in at Senator Marco Rubio’s Tampa office, in protest of his anti-gay stances on immigration reform and employment discrimination.
Full info from GetEQUAL after the jump:
The U.S. Supreme Court continues to deliberate over whether LGBT Americans have the constitutional right to marry via cases involving California’s Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act. However, despite poll after poll indicating that a majority of Americans support marriage equality, politicians like Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) continue to stand in the way of LGBT equality.
Senator Rubio has recently attempted to hijack the Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill moving through the Senate (S. 744) in order to keep binational same-sex couples out of the bill, and has also recently come out against the common-sense Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) — showing that he dead-set on taking the country backward, not forward. Activists with GetEQUAL are pushing back on these attempts by taking action in Rubio’s office today.
WHO: LGBT activists with GetEQUAL
WHAT: Sit-in at Senator Rubio’s office in Tampa
WHEN: Today (June 25) at 12noon ET
WHERE: 3802 Spectrum Boulevard, Suite 106, Tampa, FL
“Most Americans believe that their LGBT friends, family, and neighbors should have equal rights under the law — yet Senator Rubio keeps pushing our country backward,” said Jarrod Scarbrough, GetEQUAL Florida State Lead. “Senator Rubio believes it’s okay for me to be fired just because I am gay. As a resident of Florida and his constituent, I am ashamed of his position,” said Scarbrough.
Despite recent historic gains in the struggle for marriage equality at the ballot box and in state legislatures, LGBT Americans are still subject to discrimination in the workplace in most states in the United States, including Florida.
Additionally, an estimated 267,000 undocumented immigrants identify as LGBT, making meaningful immigration reform crucial for the well-being of the LGBT community. Senator Rubio has threatened several times to leave this important piece of legislation if binational same-sex couples are included in the bill.
GetEQUAL activists in Florida are taking action in Tampa today to call attention to Senator Rubio’s backward stances on LGBT equality, especially relevant given today’s Supreme Court decision[s] and the upcoming vote on immigration reform.
“Senator Rubio is very simply on the wrong side of history. He has used same-sex couples as an excuse to walk away from an important piece of legislation. His cruel political moves show he is out of step with voters in our country,” said Felipe Sousa-Rodriguez, Co-Director of GetEQUAL. “Today’s action symbolizes the beginning of our resistance against his bigoted stances and our commitment to shed light on the fact that he is holding immigrant families hostage who desperately need meaningful immigration reform to pass,” said Sousa-Rodriguez.
Protesters will not leave his office until Senator Rubio declares his support for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and his commitment that he will not continue pushing immigration reform to be dangerously conservative.
