LGBT issues
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Brownback#LGBT_issues
In 1996, as a member of the House of Representatives, Brownback voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage for purposes of federal law as the union between a man and a woman.[138] Brownback has stated that he believes homosexuality to be immoral as a violation of both Catholic doctrine[139] and natural law.[140] He has voted against gay rights, receiving zeros in four of the last five scorecards as a U.S. senator from the Human Rights Campaign.[141][142][143][144][145] He opposes both same-sex marriage and same-sex civil unions.[140] He opposes adding sexual orientation and gender identity to federal laws that address hate crime.[140][146] He has declined to state a position on homosexual adoption,[147][148] although a candidate for chair of the Kansas Republican Party claims he was blackballed by political operatives affiliated with Brownback for not opposing homosexual adoption.[149] Brownback supported "don't ask, don't tell,"[150] the U.S. government's ban on openly homosexual people in the military. Brownback has associated with organizations such as the Family Research Council[151][152] and American Family Association.[153][154] Both organizations are listed as anti-gay hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
In 2003, Brownback worked with Alliance for Marriage and Traditional Values Coalition to introduce a Senate bill containing the Federal Marriage Amendment, a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would federally prohibit same-sex marriage in the United States.[155][156][157][158] The bill was a response to Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, the Massachusetts state court decision finding that same-sex couples had the right to marry in Massachusetts.[155][156][157] In reaction to the Goodridge decision, Brownback stated that same-sex marriage threatened the health of American families and culture.[159]
In 2006, Brownback blocked the confirmation of federal judicial nominee Janet T. Neff because she had attended a same-sex commitment ceremony.[160][161][162] At first, he agreed to lift the block only if Neff would recuse herself from all cases involving same-sex unions.[160][161][162] Brownback later dropped his opposition.[160][161][162]
In April 2011, Brownback began work on a Kansas government program to promote marriage, in part through grants to faith-based and secular social service organizations.[163][164] In June 2011, the administration revised contract expectations for social work organizations to promote married mother-father families.[165][166] It explained the change as benefiting children.[165][166]
In January 2012, Brownback did not include Kansas's sodomy law in a list of unenforced and outdated laws that the legislature should repeal.[167][168][169][170] Gay rights advocates had asked his administration to recommend its repeal because the law has been unenforceable since the Supreme Court's Lawrence v. Texas decision in 2003.[167][168][169][170][171]
In February 2012, the Brownback administration supported a religious freedom bill that would have stopped cities, school districts, universities, and executive agencies from having nondiscrimination laws or policies that covered sexual orientation or gender identity.[172][173][174]
In 2013, after oral arguments in United States v. Windsor, the U.S. Supreme Court case striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act, Brownback publicly reaffirmed his opposition to same-sex marriage.[175]
In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court denied petitions to review several federal appellate decisions overturning state bans on same-sex marriage.[176][177] The court's actions favored repeal of Kansas's ban on same-sex marriage because two of the appeals (Kitchen v. Herbert and Bishop v. Oklahoma) originated in the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, which includes Kansas.[176][177] In response, Brownback defended Kansas's same-sex marriage ban as being supported by a majority of Kansas voters and criticized "activist judges" for "overruling" the people of Kansas.[178][179][180]
On February 10, 2015, Brownback issued an executive order rescinding protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender state workers that was put into place by then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius eight years previously.[181] In the edition of Feb 11 of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart suggested that an internet campaign similar to the campaign for the neologism "santorum" could introduce a sex-related neologism "brownbacking" in order to embarrass Brownback.
