For Mike Pence, It Was Just Too Much When the RNC Let an HIV-positive Woman Speak at the ’96 Convention

Back in the mid-’90s when the AIDS epidemic had already ravaged a generation of gay men, Mike Pence—a self-styled Christian “family values” guy—wasn’t feeling all that charitable toward gay Americans or really anyone with HIV/AIDS. For him, it was the perfect chance to ride a homophobic wave to political stardom. Ari Rabin-Havt writes:

Writing in the Indiana Policy Review, a magazine published by a statewide think…