Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard on Friday announced that she will seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2020.

But the 37-year-old Gabbard is being criticized for her opposition to LGBT rights in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Gabbard's father, Mike Gabbard, headed The Alliance for Traditional Marriage, which in the late 90s actively opposed marriage equality. The political action committee spent more than $100,000 in support of a constitutional amendment that gave lawmakers the power to “reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples.” The amendment was approved.

Mike Gabbard was a leading anti-LGBT activist in Hawaii. On his Let's Talk Straight Hawaii radio show, Gabbard rallied against LGBT rights. He also was the director of Stop Promoting Homosexuality, CNN reported.

The Alliance for Traditional Marriage called gay people “unhealthy” and said that society should not accept same-sex unions. It also supported therapies that attempt to alter the sexual orientation of people who are lesbian, gay or bisexual.

In a 2000 press release from The Alliance for Traditional Marriage, Tulsi Gabbard attacked LGBT rights activists who opposed her mother's bid for the state's board of education.

“This war of deception and hatred against my mom is being waged by homosexual activists because they know, that if elected, she will not allow them to force their values down the throats of the children in our schools,” Gabbard is quoted as saying by the group.

When she first sought public office, Gabbard touted working with her father to pass the marriage amendment.

“Working with my father, Mike Gabbard, and others to pass a constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage, I learned that real leaders are willing to make personal sacrifices for the common good. I will bring that attitude of public service to the legislature,” she told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in 2002.

Gabbard won her race, making her the youngest woman elected to the Hawaii state legislature. As a state lawmaker, she opposed a 2004 bill that sought to recognize gay and lesbian couples with civil unions.

“To try to act as if there is a difference between 'civil unions' and same-sex marriage is dishonest, cowardly and extremely disrespectful to the people of Hawaii. As Democrats, we should be representing the views of the people, not a small number of homosexual extremists,” she said at the time.

While running for Congress, Gabbard apologized for her past comments.

“I want to apologize for statements that I have made in the past that have been very divisive and even disrespectful to those within the LGBT community. I know that those comments have been hurtful and I sincerely offer my apology to you and hope that you will accept it,” Gabbard said.

In Congress, Gabbard has been a strong supporter of LGBT rights, earning a perfect score in the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) latest Congressional Scorecard, a measure of a lawmaker's support for such rights.

As a Democratic member of the Hawaii Senate since 2006, Mike Gabbard has introduced legislation aimed at limiting marriage to heterosexual couples.