UPDATED: Rubio Sells Out Conservatives On Immigration, And Here’s His Thanks

Laura Ingraham said last night of the 15 Republican Senators who voted for the Gang Of Eight bill that it was akin to a one-night stand with the Left – “they won’t respect you in the morning.”

If you’re looking for proof, here’s some evidence of how much favor Marco Rubio managed to curry from the Left by pushing that bill. Don’t even ask us how we managed to get on the distribution list for the group that put out this press release – we’re just thankful the junk mail filter didn’t catch this bit of hilarity…

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 (Tuesday) 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.

###

GetEQUAL is a national grassroots social justice organization whose mission is to empower the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community and allies to take bold action to demand full legal and social equality, and to hold accountable those who stand in the way. For more information, go to www.getequal.org. You can also follow GetEQUAL on Facebook at www.facebook.com/getequal or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/getequal.

UPDATE: It gets even better, as this thing turned out pretty much exactly how you’d expect…

Three Activists Led Away in Handcuffs from Rubio’s Office; Rubio Staffer Tries to Get DREAMer Deported

As Activists Call for More Humane Immigration Reform, Rubio Regional Director Tells Police a DREAMer in Room “Is Here Illegally”

TAMPA, FL — Earlier today, three LGBT activists staged a sit-in at the Tampa office of Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), calling for an end to his dangerous moves to radically increase border security in the Senate immigration bill and for an end to his obstruction of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

As these activists were being led away from Sen. Rubio’s office for drawing attention to these regressive views and to call on Sen. Rubio to “evolve” his views on immigration and employment discrimination, a Rubio staffer told the police officers in the room that one of the people in the room — GetEQUAL Co-Director Felipe Sousa-Rodriguez — “is here illegally.”

Despite the fact that Felipe was serving in a support role and was not risking arrest or otherwise breaking any laws, the officer proceeded to ask Felipe whether he has papers, and asked to see his drivers license.

Felipe is undocumented, sent to the U.S. by his mother in Brazil. He has a work permit under the Obama Administration’s “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” program (or DACA). He is also a DREAMer — the name given to young people brought or sent to the U.S. by family members to escape poverty and seek a better life.

Under the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program Secure Communities (S-COMM), law enforcement officers are not permitted to ask about an individual’s immigration status unless a law has been broken (http://www.ice.gov/secure_communities/). Even if an undocumented immigrant breaks the law and is arrested, ICE policies still do not require the individual to answer questions about her or his immigration status.

“It’s no wonder Senator Rubio embraced the ‘Border Surge’ amendment in the Senate yesterday, which will destroy border towns and immigrant families — his staff are doing exactly the same thing in their own office,” said Felipe Sousa Rodriguez. “The idea that Senator Rubio is taking immigration reform seriously is a joke — even his staff is engaged in profiling immigrants and deporting as many people as possible. Rubio is not just anti-LGBT, but he’s also anti-immigrant.”

Activists went to Sen. Rubio’s office today to call the Senator out for recent comments about the inclusion of same-sex binational couples in immigration reform and inclusion of LGBT Americans in workplace non-discrimination law, and to ask for an apology for Rubio’s stances on these issues.

Regarding immigration reform, Rubio recently said, “If this bill…gives gay couples immigration rights and so forth…it kills the bill. I’m done. I’m off it.”

When asked about ending LGBT employment discrimination, Rubio recently said that he opposes, “any special protections based on orientation.”

“I took action today because we need equality for all,” said Rev. Barb Lawrence, one of the three LGBT activists involved with the sit-in. “We need to stand up and take action against the bigotry of our political leaders.”

“We should all have equality. We are expected to obey the laws of this land and pay taxes, yet we are not treated equally under the law,” said Rev. Kimmy Denny. “We’re treated like second-class citizens, and we need political leaders like Marco Rubio to stop playing political games with our lives.”

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