Her anti-war stances (also called anti-interventionist by the mainstream press) are further complicated by her Islamophobia. She criticized Obama for not saying "Islamic extremism" and she was for bombing Syria before she was against it. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/10/15/rep-tulsi-gabbard-the-democrat-that-republicans-love-and-the-dnc-cant-control/?utm_term=.c9415bcc5a8c …
Gabbard was homeschooled, and she grew up in a close knit religious group, an offshoot of the Hare Krishnas led by a yoga teacher/guru named Chris Butler.
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Butler's teachings included vegetarianism, environmentalism, peacefulness/aloha, and rabidly anti-gay sentiments. The group entered politics in the 90s and early aughts, making common cause with the anti-gay, anti-abortion right. One of their candidates was Gabbard's pa.
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Tulsi Gabbard currently supports same-sex marriage and abortion rights. The character of her support, however, is a trickier question.
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In the New Yorker profile, Tulsi's quoted as saying, in the summer of 2017: "Just because that’s not my life style, I don’t think that government should make sure that everybody else’s life styles match my own."
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But the author notes that in a later conversation Tulsi also said that “gay marriage should be celebrated.” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (Here's a second link to that excellent profile: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/11/06/what-does-tulsi-gabbard-believe …)
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Gabbard toes the line adequately on LGBTQ rights. She seems to support transgender people who serve in the military. https://gabbard.house.gov/news/press-releases/rep-tulsi-gabbard-statement-president-trump-s-decision-ban-transgender … Her heart may not be with LGBTQ rights- but neither was Hillary Clinton's- or Barack Obama's.
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To summarize: Tulsi Gabbard has been called a progressive but it might be more accurate to think of her as an eclectic. Her most principled beliefs revolve around environmentalism and support for veterans. Her weakest are LGBTQ rights, and she's a question mark on labor.
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End of conversation
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