In an echo of 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s infamous “deplorables” comment, former Vice President Joe Biden labeled some of those who believe marriage is between one man and one woman or oppose LGBTQ rights in any way as being among the “dregs of society.”
Speaking at the Human Rights Campaign National Dinner in Washington in 2018, Biden attacked “narrow-minded” people who try to “define family,” saying, “Any person of conscience, regardless of their religious or partisan beliefs, should be able to agree that discrimination … in any form is simply intolerable, illegal, wrong.”
“Using religion or culture as a license to discriminate, demonizing the community, individuals to score political points, is no more justifiable around the world than it is here at home, and our policies should reflect that,” said Biden, now the Democratic presidential nominee.
Christians and other conservatives were at the forefront of arguing for the traditional view of marriage to be upheld in the United States. However, the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage with its 2015 ruling in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges.
“Despite losing in the courts and in the court of public opinion, these forces of intolerance remain determined to undermine and roll back the progress you all have made. This time they, not you, have an ally in the White House,” Biden said in his 2018 address, referencing President Donald Trump.
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“They’re a small percentage of the American people, virulent people, some of them the dregs of society,” he said. “And instead of using the full might of the executive branch to secure justice, dignity, safety for all, the president uses the White House as a literal bully pulpit, callously exerting his power over those who have little or none.”
It’s not clear what Biden was speaking about there. Trump, a New Yorker, has been fairly friendly toward the LGBT community, voicing his support for equal rights and appointing the first openly gay man to a Cabinet post: former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell.
In June 2019, the administration announced a global campaign to end the criminalization of homosexuality.
Do you think Biden holds an intolerant view toward Christians who believe in traditional marriage?
Regarding same-sex marriage, Trump has no authority to roll back the Supreme Court’s ruling regarding the matter, nor has he indicated any desire to do so.
Was Biden’s former boss, Barack Obama, part of the “dregs of society” when he opposed gay marriage a little over a decade ago as a presidential candidate?
Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren asked Obama during a forum on religion to define marriage in August 2008.
“I believe that marriage is the union between a man and woman,” he said, adding, “I am not somebody who promotes same-sex marriage, but I do believe in civil unions.”
During the Democratic primary in July 2007, Obama also affirmed his view that individual Christian denominations should be able to decide if they want to recognize same-sex marriages.
Of course, after being elected as president, he flipped on the issue, refusing to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act when it was challenged in federal court, saying it was unconstitutional.
The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman for federal legal purposes and allowed states to decline to recognize same-sex unions from other states.
The law enjoyed strong bipartisan support in Congress and was signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton.
Biden himself, along with 84 of his Senate colleagues, voted for the legislation. Was he part of the “dregs of society” back then?
What Trump has done is uphold the religious freedom of Americans.
Left-wing groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union are upset that the president has rolled back Obama-era federal policies that discriminated against faith-based groups if they did not conform to LGBT dogma.
The Trump administration has also come out in opposition to male athletes who identify as female being able to compete against girls or women.
People of goodwill — both on the left and the right — have argued it is not fair to female athletes to open their sports up to boys or men.
Shortly after taking office, Trump rescinded the Obama administration’s transgender bathroom rules that forced states and localities to recognize the right of students to choose the bathroom they prefer based on their gender identity.
Despite what Biden might say, it’s not “dregs of society”-type thinking to have concerns about men who identify as women freely going into women’s bathrooms.
The Democratic nominee has placed a marker out there that indicates Christian churches and organizations will not be treated fairly if he should become president and they dare to hold views that differ from the current LGBT orthodoxy.
That should raise red flags for any who care about the First Amendment and the future of religious liberty in America.
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