Indiana Governor Pence says he abhors discrimination, but in 2000 he advocated against anti-discrimination protections for gays

During a news conference in Indianapolis on Tuesday, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said he wants legislation on his desk by the end of the week clarifying that the state’s new religious freedom law does not allow discrimination against gays and lesbians. (Darron Cummings/AP)

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence insisted at a press conference Tuesday that the religious freedom law he signed last week, which has been widely interpreted as an effort to newly enshrine a right to refuse public accommodations to gays and lesbians, “does not give anyone a license to discriminate.”

“I abhor discrimination,” Pence said. “I believe in my heart of hearts that no one should be harassed or mistreated because of who they are, who they love, or what they believe.”

Facing nationwide scrutiny and a growing boycott against his state from celebrities, sports teams, prominent athletes, a variety of businesses and even city and state governments — several of which have banned taxpayer-sponsored travel to Indiana — Pence pledged to “fix” the controversial law, which he’d backed strongly before signing.

Yet that’s unlikely to get Pence off the hook or quickly shift the longtime conservative’s newfound public reputation as someone who is out of touch with America today. With all eyes on the embattled governor, it wasn’t long before his political history was unearthed, shedding light on core political principles that directly contradict his statements Tuesday.

Laid out on his congressional campaign website, Pence’s views in 2000 were preserved by the Wayback Machine, a digital Internet archive that takes snapshots of the web and stores them for history.

Screenshot of the agenda outlined on Mike Pence’s 2000 congressional campaign website, as preserved by the Wayback Machine.

Under “Strengthening the American Family,” the “Pence Agenda” enumerates positions that flow from the belief that “the traditional two parent family is the nucleus of our civilization.”

One of those positions is opposing efforts to end discrimination against gays and lesbians.

“Congress should oppose any effort to recognize homosexual’s [sic] as a ‘discreet and insular minority’ entitled to the protection of anti-discrimination laws similar to those extended to women and ethnic minorities,” the Pence agenda states.

“Congress should oppose any effort to put gay and lesbian relationships on an equal legal status with heterosexual marriage,” the site continues.

Once elected to Congress, Pence vocally opposed the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” U.S. military policy. (Watch his emphatic House floor speech on the matter below). Though Pence said in 2010 that the policy was a compromise that should be preserved, in 2000 he urged its repeal as being too welcoming of gays, whom he said should not be allowed to serve at all, even if closeted.

“Homosexuality is incompatible with military service because the presence of homosexuals in the ranks weakens unit cohesion,” Pence’s old congressional campaign site states.

When asked for comment on the striking difference between such positions and the claims Pence made Tuesday, the governor’s press secretary, Kara Brooks, told Yahoo News via email, “Governor Pence clearly stated his views on discrimination at today’s press conference.”

Asked whether Pence still believes that gays and lesbians should not be entitled to the protection of anti-discrimination laws — or if the governor’s views have evolved — Brooks replied: “He answered the question you are asking at the press conference.”

Whether Pence did, in fact, answer that question is debatable, as his 2000 agenda was not addressed directly during his remarks.

Nor was the fact that gays aren’t the only group of people Pence has said should not have the rights they have since secured.

Pence also urged Congress to end mixed-gender basic training and mixed-gender housing on military bases as well as to continue the historic prohibition on women serving in military roles related in any way to combat.

“While women have always made an important contribution to national security, we must resist liberal impulse to use the military to advance the interest of women in civilian culture at the expense of military readiness and effectiveness,” Pence’s 2000 campaign website stated. “America must not become the only nation in the world to use women in combat positions.” In 2013, the Pentagon   lifted its ban on women in combat.

Pence ultimately served in the House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013 and voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which loosened restrictions on equal-pay lawsuits, as well as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which sought to ban sexual orientation-based discrimination in the workplace.

He also co-sponsored the Federal Marriage Amendment, which was aimed at constitutionally defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman.