Billionaire gay ‘marriage’ advocate backs Marco Rubio
Billionaire Paul Singer, best known in politics for his backing of Jewish and LGBT causes, has backed Florida Senator Marco Rubio in the GOP presidential race.
The biggest donor in the 2014 race, Singer's LGBT activism is due to the orientation of his son, Andrew. The elder Singer has created at least two groups dedicated to protecting the state of Israel, loosening immigration laws, and expanding the role of government in promoting the LGBT community's goals.
Rubio's star has risen since last week's GOP debate, especially with potential competitors for donors either leaving the race, such as Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, or dropping in polls, such as former Florida governor Jeb Bush.
CNN reports that in a letter sent to donors, Singer said Rubio is "the best explainer of conservatism in public life today," and "in a field full of promise, but also of risk for the party, Senator Rubio is the strongest choice."
Singer specifically praised Rubio for the latter's views on higher education and welfare, support for Israel, and a pledge to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Speaking in Iowa, Rubio said he was "grateful" for Singer's support, because "he's someone that's successful at raising money."
"But you know, resources alone are not enough. You have to have the right ideas and the right principles and convince people that you're the right person for the job. But we're grateful to have his help, obviously," Rubio stated.
Rubio is one of the most hawkish candidates in the Republican primary. He is well-known for his promotion of a Senate immigration bill in 2013 that was derided by many conservatives as "amnesty." His view on marriage largely diverges from Singer's. In April, he said that "there is no federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage."
"There isn't such a right," Rubio told The 700 Club's David Brody. "You have to have a ridiculous reading of the U.S. Constitution to reach the conclusion that people have a right to marry someone of the same sex."
Rubio also defended the rights of religious conservatives to express their beliefs, saying that LGBT activists "want to stigmatize, they want to ostracize anyone who disagrees with them as haters."
"I believe, as do a significant percentage of Americans, that the institution of marriage, an institution that existed before government, that existed before laws, that institution should remain in our laws recognized as the union of one man and one woman," he said.
However, the executive director of the LGBT-focused Log Cabin Republicans told Reuters in the spring that the Catholic senator is "not as adamantly opposed to all things LGBT as some of his statements suggest."
Angelo said his group had quarterly meetings with Rubio's office "going back some time," though the senator himself never attended those meetings. Shortly before speaking to Brody, Rubio said he would attend the homosexual "wedding" of a gay loved one, and also that he believed "that sexual preference is something that people are born with," as opposed to being a choice.
Rubio has consistently said the legal definition of marriage should be left up to the states. Marriage is not the only LGBT issue that Singer has promoted; he has put millions behind state and federal efforts to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act into law. The act would eliminate the liberty of employers to take sexual orientation into account when making employee decisions.
