Marco Rubio Defends Appearance at Antigay Event 

Marco Rubio is scheduled to speak at an event organized by a coalition of antigay groups next week in Orlando, on the two-month anniversary of the Pulse shooting, but Thursday the senator spoke out, saying it was disingenuous to call the event "anti-LGBT."

"The event I will be speaking at in Orlando is a gathering of local pastors and faith leaders. Leave it to the media and liberal activists to label a gathering of faith leaders as an anti-LGBT event. It is nothing of the sort. It is a celebration of faith," Rubio told The Tampa Bay Times.

"Rediscovering God in America," the event Rubio will speak at, is organized by the Florida Renewal Project. The group has close ties to the American Renewal Project, which has a history of supporting Anti-LGBT policies.

"I have always supported a traditional definition of marriage. But I recognize that a significant number of Americans hold a different view. Because marriage is regulated by the individual states, they have the right to petition their state legislature to change the law. And those of us who support traditional marriage also have a right to oppose those efforts," the Florida senator told the Tampa Bay Times.

In an interview with The Advocate after the Pulse shooting in June, Rubio said, "I don't need investigators to tell me the gay community was targeted in this attack." "Watch the videos. We know what ISIS has done to people they accuse of being homosexual. They throw them off of buildings. They execute them," said the senator.