Opinion: Since Pence announced his presidential campaign, I felt it was important to look back at the kind of leader he was before people decide whether or not they want him back in the White House.

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Former Vice President Mike Pence announced his presidential campaign this past week. In the video he released, Pence paints himself as a progressive leader who will “fix” the damage that Biden created; he also mentions how divisive Trump was while he was president.

The first polls have him in the single digits and not realistically winning the race. However, Pence wants to paint himself as this progressive leader who just wants to unite America under the banner of the American dream. I figured now was a good time to remind ourselves of some of the things this man did during his last time in the White House.

There are so many streams of hate coming out of that man. It’s hard to pick one to start with. Let’s take a look at a few of his actions surrounding the LGBTQIA+ community. He blocked hate crime prevention bills in Congress multiple times to not criminalize hate crimes toward LGBTQIA+ people.

He claimed this was due to lack of evidence that the attacks were to do with bigotry. However, the Human Rights Campaign did a study in 2020 that revealed over 25 trans men and women in the U.S. were murdered for expressing their identity. 

Unfortunately, he doesn’t stop harming people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity; his comments about condoms not being effective in 2002 led to an increase in HIV transmissions that year.

Now let’s look at his comments about women. Let’s start with Pence explaining multiple times that he refuses to meet with women if his wife is not there, as he doesn’t think it is possible to not be sexually drawn to a single woman sitting alone. We could also discuss his critique of the movie “Mulan” and how he refused to believe that she would have been able to save China.

One thing I find interesting about these ideologies is how both of these examples stem from his belief men and women cannot coexist without the relationship becoming sexual. When you add in how homophobic he is, it makes some sort of twisted sense.

“He is connected to someone who just got indicted,” said Grace, a newly registered voter, when I asked if she had fears about Pence in office. Even after denouncing Trump as reckless, the question still remains: How can we be expected to tolerate him now after all the things he helped Trump do to harm the people they are supposedly protecting? What do those people look like? Do they look like the typical American family of today? Or one from the 1950s?
The last thing I would like to briefly bring us is the time Pence called systemic racism “a left-wing myth.” I felt that was a necessary addition because it really encapsulates just how bigoted and ignorant this man is. While the chance of him being elected is already low, let this be a reminder of why not to vote for him.