Speaking Friday at the Conservative
Political Action Conference (CPAC), Vice President Mike Pence
defended his wife for teaching at a school that does not allow LGBT
students or students with LGBT families to enroll and refuses to
employ LGBT individuals.
Pence told the audience of
conservatives that “freedom of religion is under attack” in the
United States. He cited as an example criticism his wife Karen Pence
received for teaching art at the Immanuel Christian School in
Springfield, Virginia.
“The freedom of religion is not just
enshrined in the constitution, it's enshrined in the hearts of the
American people,” Pence
said. “But make no mistake about it, the freedom of religion
is under attack in this country. Lately, it's actually become
fashionable for media elites and Hollywood liberals to mock religious
belief.”
“My own family recently came under
attack just because my wife Karen went back to teach art to children
at a Christian school. Let me say before all of you, I couldn't be
more proud of my wife,” he added as the audience applauded and an
emotional Karen Pence waved.
GLAAD was among the groups that
criticized Pence's decision to work at the school and called on
Immanuel administrators to abandon their anti-LGBT policies.
“It’s disturbing Second Lady Karen
Pence would put her stamp of approval on an institution that actively
targets LGBTQ students at one of the places where they should feel
the safest,” Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO at GLAAD, said in
a statement.
Mike Pence, a Republican, previously
defended the second lady, saying in an interview that he was “deeply
offended” by the criticism of his wife's decision to work at a
Christian school opposed to LGBT rights.