Gay right advocates chastise Marco Rubio’s speaking to pastors

Gay rights advocates say it’s insensitive of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump and Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio to speak at a conference of pastors sponsored by groups that they say are notoriously anti-gay on the two-month anniversary of the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando.

The advocates are protesting Thursday outside where the meeting is being held over two days in Orlando’s tourist district.

Rubio says in a statement that the meeting isn’t anti-gay but rather a celebration of faith.

But gay rights group Equality Florida says the speakers at the American Renewal Project conference have espoused hateful views and blocked same-sex marriage efforts.

The speakers include lawyer Mat Staver, who has represented Alabama’s chief justice and a Kentucky clerk in their efforts to block same-sex marriage.