Ted Cruz names gay marriage-denier Carly Fiorina as Vice President choice
Ted Cruz has named Carly Fiorina, who has a record of opposing same-sex marriage, as his Vice President running mate.
The Republican Presidential hopeful, who has an appalling record on LGBT issues himself, named Fiorina after teasing that he would make an announcement on Wednesday.
“After a great deal of consideration and prayer, I have come to the conclusion that if I am nominated to be president of the United States that I will run on a ticket with my vice presidential nominee Carly Fiorina,” said Cruz during a rally in Indianapolis.
“Ted could not be more right in what he said: There is a lot at stake, and in fact, this is a fight, this is a fight for the soul of our party and the future of our nation,” said Fiorina, a previous Presidential hopeful, and the only female in the Republican race.
“I’ve had tough fights all my life. Tough fights don’t worry me a bit,” she added.
Last year she went through a bizarre ordeal after being filmed saying equal marriage would become the “law of the land”, before denying outright that she had ever said it.
The candidate previously opposed equality and insisted courts shouldn’t rule on the issue, but ahead of the Supreme Court ruling in May she conceded: “I think the Supreme Court ruling will become the law of the land and however much I agree or disagree with it, I wouldn’t support an amendment to reverse it.
“I very much hope that we will come to a place now in this nation where we can support their decision, and at the same time support people’s right to hold religious views and protect their right to exercise those views.”
However, in a strange twist, Fiorina later claimed she never made the comments- despite video proof that she did.
The right-wing Senator Cruz remains in the Presidential race to ‘block’ Mr Trump from getting the Republican nomination, even though it is now mathematically impossible for him to win outright himself.
Senator Cruz has strongly backed new anti-LGBT ‘religious freedom’ laws allowing religious people to discriminate against married gay couples and trans people, and also claimed transgender people are a threat to his daughters.
He doubled down on his anti-trans policies over the weekend, by cracking jokes about Donald Trump after Mr Trump came out in favour of trans rights.
His rhetoric parrots the most extreme anti-LGBT groups campaigning on the issue, with one ad depicting a man raping a little girl in a bathroom. Rape is illegal in all 50 states.
It’s not just trans people Cruz has an issue with: he’s also pledged to void all same-sex marriagesand faces tough questions about his links with ‘death to gays’ pastors.
