Paul Ryan on LGBT Rights: 'I Don't Know Why We Are Talking About This'

So, we know Mittsy picked Paul Ryan to be his Veep because, unlike Paulie's plan for the US budget, Mittsy would pay less in taxes than he has already admitted to paying, though probably more than the alleged zero he has paid in taxes for many years.But, Mittsy and Paulie share another common bond: they both, at one time, and once, supported LGBT rights.

Back in Ott-Seven, Paul Ryan was one of 35 Republicans to vote for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act [ENDA], which at that time only proposed to protect against job bias based on sexual orientation, not gender identity or expression. But then, apparently because he flips better than Mittsy flops, Ryan then joined 26 other GOP ENDA supporters in the unsuccessful effort to kill the bill then moments later voted for it.

Ryan's lukewarm--I'm for it, I'm against, No, I'm for it--support for ENDA puts him right in step with Mittsy, who, though he once unequivocally supported it, while running for the Senate in 1994, is now vehemently opposed to the legislation because, he says, it harms business. The bill subsequently died in the Senate.

And that was the beginning and end of Paul Ryan's oh-so-slight support of LGBT rights. In 2004, and again in 2006, Ryan voted for a federal amendment banning same-sex marriage; he voted twice against the Hate Crimes bill to protect LGBT citizens, including when it was signed into law by President Obama, and he voted twice against ending DADT, and in his home state of Wisconsin, he supported a constitutional amendment to ban marriage for gays and lesbians in the state's constitution.

That was in 2011, but if we travel back to 1999, we also find that Paul Ryan voted to ban gays and lesbians in the District of Columbia from adopting children, and opposed establishing a domestic partnership registry in the District as well. Add\that all together and it's no surprise that Paul Ryan gets a ZERO from the Human Rights Campaign on its congressional scorecard.

When the subject of LGBT comes up today, Paul Ryan accuses the media of focusing on a "meaningless" issue and changes the subject, as he did on Meet The Press this past February, when asked about marriage equality: "Actually, I came on to talk about the debt crisis we have and the budget, and I think that's the driving issue of this election. But look, I supported the Wisconsin amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman."

Then Ryan used Obama to back up his opposition to marriage equality: "If I recall from the last presidential campaign, President Obama and Vice President Biden said that they support marriage as being between a man and a woman, so I don't know why we are spending all this time talking about this."

Now, this was before both President Obama and Vice president Biden came out in support of marriage equality, but, seriously, who do we want to see in power? A pair of flip-flippers? Or a pair of men who see that now the time is right for equality? A man who works for the LGBT community, or a man who wonders why we even bother having the discussion?

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