The 13 (Mostly Antigay) Senators Who Voted Against Sec. Pete Buttigieg [View all]

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While it’s unknown if their votes were motivated by antigay animus, some of the U.S. Senate’s leading homophobes were among the 13 who voted against confirming Pete Buttigieg as secretary of Transportation.

Buttigieg, who is gay, became the first out member of the LGBTQ+ community to be confirmed as a Cabinet member. The vote was 86-13, with one senator, Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, not voting.

Those who voted against confirmation were all Republicans: Sens. Richard Shelby and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama; Tom Cotton of Arkansas; Marco Rubio and Rick Scott of Florida; Roger Marshall of Kansas; Bill Cassidy of Louisiana; Josh Hawley of Missouri; James Lankford of Oklahoma; Tim Scott of South Carolina; Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee; and Ted Cruz of Texas.

Most of them have low scores, primarily zeroes, on the Human Rights Campaign’s Congressional Scorecard, which rates members of Congress on their support for LGBTQ+ rights (or lack thereof). Some were rated on their records in the U.S. House before joining the Senate, such as Marshall and Blackburn, and some have not been in elected office long enough to be rated (Tuberville and Hagerty).

Cruz is the most notorious of the bunch. The senator, who sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, is a longtime opponent of marriage equality and supporter of restrictions on transgender people’s use of public restrooms. In 2015, he joined his father, extremist anti-LGBTQ+ preacher Rafael Cruz, at an event held by the equally extremist minister Kevin Swanson, who has said the Bible supports the death penalty for homosexuality.

https://www.advocate.com/politics/2021/2/02/13-mostly-antigay-senators-who-voted-against-sec-pete-buttigieg