Pawlenty Cozies Up To Far Right, Solidifying Anti-LGBTQ Views

Headlines Anti-LGBT Group that Supports Extreme Views
Tim Pawlenty made a troubling choice for one of his first appearances in Minnesota after his multimillion dollar lobbying career: the Minnesota Family Council.
This group advocated “for laws that criminalize lesbian, gay, and bisexual Minnesotans” and disseminated widely debunked myths, such as the LGBTQ community being more likely to become pedophiles or committing acts of bestiality.
“Pawlenty is making it clear he will cater to the furthest extremes of the far-right in order to reintroduce himself to Republican voters, even if those values are completely out of touch with Minnesotans,” said Deputy Communications Director David Turner. “Minnesota has consistently rejected Governor Pawlenty’s far-right conservative ideas, and keynoting for extremist groups will only reaffirm Minnesotans don’t want him back in 2018.”
Around the country, as we have seen Republican Governors and legislatures attempt to enact laws that roll back the rights of the LGBTQ community, we have seen businesses threaten to move, withhold travel, or choose new locations for conventions and events. The negative effect of these policies on the economy is obvious to everyone – except Tim Pawlenty.
In the past, he has supported a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, vetoed an anti-bullying bill that would have protected LGBTQ students, and flip-flopped on supporting a discrimination ban on sexual orientation
These backwards policies would put Minnesota’s clean up of Tim’s mess in jeopardy, as businesses continually look for inclusive and welcoming locations for their employees.
Under Governor Mark Dayton,  Minnesota has named the first openly gay justice to the Minnesota Supreme Court, signed marriage equality into law, and strengthened the state’s anti-bullying laws.
This progress has helped lead to the lowest unemployment rate in 17 years at 3.1%, repayment of $2 billion in school debt and expansion of all-day Kindergarten, and converting a $6 billion deficit to $1.6 billion in reserves.