Dan Coats

—Claimed openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual army personnel would “seriously undermine the effectiveness, the normal discipline [and] the good order” of the military.

—Was one of the authors of military’s discriminatory “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and a vocal opponent of its 2010 repeal, saying that gay service members’ “behavior lifestyle can’t be such that it interrupts the morale of the fighting unit.”

—Co-wrote a letter (with notoriously anti-LGBTQ Senator Strom Thurmond) threatening to pursue further legislation if the Clinton administration did not pursue “don’t ask, don’t tell”-related discharges aggressively enough.

—Opposes marriage equality: “I think marriage is between a man and a woman and that’s the way it has always been defined…. I don’t think we have to interfere with someone who chooses an alternative lifestyle, but I just don’t think it falls under the category of marriage.”

—Called the marriage equality debate itself “an indication of deep moral confusion in our nation that we are even having this debate” and called his opposition to marriage equality “a matter of self-preservation in our society.”

—Said of same-sex couples: “When we prefer traditional marriage and family in our law, it is not intolerance. Tolerance does not require us to say that all lifestyles are morally equal.”

—Voted against LGBT-inclusive Employment Nondiscrimination Act.

—Claimed a lesbian public official’s support for making the Boy Scouts an inclusive organization was “an example of a radical agenda that is outside the mainstream of civil rights.”

—Notorious anti-LGBTQ activist James Dobson endorsed and described Coats as “a consistent leader of pro-family causes.”