Marco Rubio tweets hate at the LGBT community on the first day of Pride Month
On the first day of June, a month now designated as a celebration of LGBT citizens the world over, Mark Rubio chose to poke the LGBTQ+ community in the eye with a sharp stick. I have not been blessed with Rubio’s freedom from empathy, so I do not know if he was unaware of the significance of the date. Or if he thought the timing of his hateful point would give it more attention. Regardless, he made it. Specifically, he tweeted,
Let us unpack this. First, what would Rubio’s position have been if Biden had said he would cut off federal resources to schools that discriminated against white men? I guarantee that he would have given it his full support. Although I doubt he would publicly acknowledge any Democratic achievement. He is not motivated by fairness or justice. Homophobia is the acid in his soul.
Second, what is “radical” about Biden’s transgender & LGBT policies? Treating every person equally is so grounded in America’s founding philosophy that it is central to one of the best-known sentences of the Declaration of Independence.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Rubio, like his fellow bigots, will not be beholden to any decency expressed in America’s founding documents. Nor will he pay heed to the guidance offered by his Savior, the Son of God.
Rubio is a religious man, with public piety embarrassing in its extent. You do not have to take my word for it. “Christian” is the first word in his Twitter bio. And the man peppers his feed with random biblical verses. But while he tells everyone within social media earshot that he is a Christian, there is nothing in his words to support that contention.
Jesus was known for his tolerance of “the other” — immoral women, thieves, lepers, immigrants, and even tax collectors — and saved his scorn for religious hypocrites and the look-at-me, sanctimonious believers. He would have been disgusted with Rubio and his politics of division and hate. The Gospels make clear that Jesus had compassion that is beyond Marco’s comprehension and desire.
In John 4, Jesus is sitting next to a well in Samaria, when he asks a local woman for a drink of water. She was surprised as Jews did not mix with the Samaritans as the ‘chosen people’ considered that tribe their social inferiors. It turns out that not only is she a second-rate foreigner, but Jesus also knows she is a prostitute. He does not care. And offers her salvation anyway.
Rubio would have thrown her in jail.
A Samaritan is also the hero of one of the Gospels’ best-known parables. In Jesus’s account (Luke 10:30-37) a man journeying to Jericho was attacked by robbers, stripped, and beaten almost to death. A Priest came upon the man and passed by on the other side of the road. Later, a temple functionary did the same. Finally, a Samaritan showed up. Bandaged the victim. Put him up in a local inn. And gave the innkeeper some money — with a promise to cover any additional expense.
Rubio would have acted like the Priest.
In (Matthew 9) Jesus goes to dinner at Matthew the tax collector's house — along with more tax collectors and other disreputable types. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard their question, he said, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Rubio would have been as puzzled as were the Pharisees.
LGBTQ+ are not sinners any more than cis-gender heterosexuals are. But as Rubio considers them such, the Gospels’ references to sinners, and Jesus’ care and concern for them, should instruct Rubio he is an unChristian moralist. He is a man so drunk on his own bile he is blind to the teachings and compassion of the man he claims to revere. And he cannot find a drop of human kindness in his soul
He is no better with immigrants.