Vice President Mike Pence was “heartened” by news a high school senior was putting together the first LGBT pride festival to be held in Columbus, Ind., according to a statement released by his press secretary Wednesday.
“Vice President Pence commends Erin Bailey for her activism and engagement in the civic process. As a proud Hoosier and Columbus native, he’s heartened to see young people from his hometown getting involved in the political process,” Alyssa Farah told USA Today.
Bailey is spearheading the April 14 event as part of her senior project at Columbus Signature Academy-New Tech and began planning in 2017.
“I am organizing Columbus Pride Festival because I feel it is important for members of the LGBTQ community to know that Columbus is a welcoming and diverse community. Even though Mike Pence is openly anti-gay, that doesn’t mean that all of us in his hometown are,” the 18-year-old told Huffington Post.
In 2015, Pence was met with harsh criticism when he signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law while governor of Indiana. Critics of the legislation claimed it unfairly targeted LGBT residents in the Hoosier State.
Pence later signed an amendment to the law intended to protect gay people.
Pence’s past positions on LGBT issues came under renewed scrutiny during the South Korea 2018 Winter Olympics when openly gay athletes like Adam Rippon and Gus Kenworthy announced their intention to boycott him.
