Mike Pompeo just hinted that he considers LGBTQ civil rights 'superfluous' [View all]

[Behind the Aegis]

In a recent speech, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said that he considers certain human rights unnecessary or even superfluous. Although his office declined to specifically say which ones — denying that he wants to curtail any U.S. civil rights — Pompeo has long spoken against LGBTQ right and reproductive freedom, leading some to speculate that those are the ones he meant.

Pompeo made the comments while speaking at Kansas State University’s Landon Lecture Series. Bloomberg.com elaborates on Pompeo’s comments:

“From time to time have framed pet causes as fights for rights to bypass the normal process by which political ends are achieved,” Pompeo said Friday at Kansas State University. “This is an imperfect analogy, but the thirteenth ice cream cone isn’t as good as the first one was. And with respect to unalienable rights, more, per se, is not always better.”

The speech … hit a theme Pompeo has made a centerpiece of his time as America’s top diplomat — that certain “unalienable rights” such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, have been diluted by political interest groups at home and corrupt regimes overseas.

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