Is pam bondi gay

Pam Bondi fought tooth and nail to keep gay marriage banned in Florida until she could fight no more. Pam Bondi, now U.S. Attorney General, has a long history of opposing LGBTQ+ rights—from same-sex marriage to trans youth protections.

-elect has a new prospective nominee for U.S. Attorney General in former Florida AG Pam Bondi, a longtime ally whose opposition to marriage equality once led her to a tit-for-tat saber rattling on LGBTQ+ acceptance with CNN host Anderson Cooper. TALLAHASSEE — State Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a television interview Tuesday that she is not being “hypocritical” in portraying herself as an advocate for the gay community after the.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday struggled to reconcile her role in the state’s fight against same-sex marriage with her response to the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando. Bondi, the first woman attorney general in the state serving , led the legal fight against gay marriage. She waged a war on drugs and "pill mills. But she also was caught up in an uproar over a curiously-timed political contribution from and was once involved in a " canine custody battle " over a St.

Bernard that became separated from its family during Hurricane Katrina. The year-old Tampa Bay-area native got her start in the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office as a prosecutor, then spent a long stretch as the office's spokesperson. Now she is known as a longtime loyalist and for her strong advocacy for conservative causes — plus, she's no stranger to controversy.

In , Bondi vowed to crack down on "pill mills," clinics that overprescribed opioids like Oxycontin and exacerbated the already deadly overdose crisis. Bondi made combating prescription drug abuse a "top priority," and with Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature passed legislation HB and established the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, which did result in a decrease of prescribing and use.

The program required the opioid-prescribing clinics to register with the state and have a physician-owner.

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The law created established prescribing requirements and prohibitions for doctors at these clinics. The "pill mill crackdown" did lead to a decrease in overdoses linked to prescription opioids and heroin, and, according to one researcher, prevented more from becoming addicted. One study estimated 1, lives were saved from prescription opioid overdose over a month period as a result of the legislation.

In , a group of gay marriage advocates sued the state of Florida alleging the state was discriminating against LGBTQ residents by not recognizing marriage certificates from other states. Toward the end of the year, Florida filed an emergency petition to keep the state's marriage ban after Tallahassee-based U. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled that it was unconstitutional, but six months later the U. Supreme Court's ruling ended the state's fight and declared gay marriage constitutional in all 50 states.

After the ruling, Bondi said the Supreme Court had finally provided "the clarity our state and country was seeking" : "Legal efforts were not about personal beliefs or opinions, but rather, the rule of law," she said in a statement. In in a tense on-air moment with CNN's Anderson Cooper , who confronted Bondi over her opposition to same-sex marriage in Florida in an interview after the Pulse shooting in Orlando, Bondi said she never said she disliked gay people.

At the time, the New York Attorney General was looking into 's seminars, which consumers said were scams. Many alleged they paid for training materials and personalized instruction which were never delivered. Then Bondi canceled her plans to sue and cited insufficient grounds to proceed — after a deposit from 's charity, the J. Foundation, according to the Associated Press.

At the time, Bondi said there was nothing improper about accepting a donation from . She added it involved a small amount of money compared to the cost of running a statewide campaign and rejected a suggestion that politically it might have made sense to return the check. Bondi argued she tried to give the money back to the foundation; was fined by the Internal Revenue Service for using charity money for a political contribution.

Using a charity to make a political contribution is a federal offense. On April 10, , BP's offshore drilling platform called Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico and left oily water and beaches on the coast of Florida, killing sea life, including dolphins, fish and birds. It wasn't unusual for a furry four-legged friend to accompany Bondi to the lower level of the Florida Capitol for cabinet meetings.

On April 22, , she found a taker for 'Wrangler,' a mixed-breed pup she carried around the meeting room," wrote then-Democrat Capitol reporter Bill Cotterell. Wrangler was just one special guest. Socks , a black and white border collie and lab mix, was invited to the Christmas tree presentation ceremony.