Paul Ryan Virtually A Zero at the Human Rights Campaign
Added by admin on August 11, 2012.

http://gaycitynews.com/paul-ryan-virtually-a-zero-at-the-human-rights-campaign/

"Actually, I came on to talk about the debt crisis we have and the budget," Ryan complained when asked his views on marriage equality by David Gregory on "Meet the Press" this past February. "I support the Wisconsin amendment to define marriage between a man and a woman... I don't know why we are spending all this time talking about this. We've got a debt crisis coming and the administration just gave us a budget that simply just charts another path to debt and decline."

It's not simply that Ryan is reluctant to take the plunge on marriage rights for same-sex couples. Throughout his years in Congress, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the Washington-based LGBT lobby, has identified only one instance in which the 42-year-old Wisconsin Republican has ever taken a pro-LGBT position.

In 2007, 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.

Ryan's advocacy didn't last long, however. When Republicans unsuccessfully tried a parliamentary maneuver to shelve the bill after passage –– with what is known as a motion to recommit –– he joined 26 other GOP ENDA supporters in the unsuccessful effort to kill the bill they had voted for just moments before.