User:Humanengr/compressed v2

Gabbard's political positions are broadly similar to those of other 2020 Democratic primary contenders on healthcare, climate, education, infrastructure, and criminal justice reform,

but she has distinguishable positions on issues ranging from Democratic Party internal politics to foreign affairs, criticizing what she terms the "neoliberal/neoconservative war machine" for pushing US involvement in "counterproductive interventionist wars".

Economy and financial reform
Gabbard has advocated for financial reform since first running for Congress, including such measures as restoring the Glass-Steagall Act and breaking up too-big-to-fail banks. In 2019, she introduced the Wall Street Banker Accountability for Misconduct Act. During the 2019-2020 coronavirus outbreak, Gabbard supported a temporary universal basic income of $1000 per month. Gabbard supports eliminating corporate income tax breaks for "offshoring" and led protests against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, criticizing both the deal itself and the secrecy surrounding the negotiations: "Because of a woeful lack of transparency, the American people know very little about his this agreement will benefit multi-national corporations at the expense of the American worker."

Environment
In 2012, Gabbard received the Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter's endorsement in the Democratic primary election for Congress. In 2016, she protested construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline near the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Indian Reservations in North Dakota.

In 2017, Gabbard introduced the Off Fossil Fuels for a Better Future Act ("OFF Act") to transition the United States to clean renewable energy.

In 2018, Gabbard spoke in favor of a Green New Deal, which at the time was a draft resolution to eliminate fossil fuel use from the economy within a decade. In February 2019, she expressed concerns about the vagueness of the version of the Green New Deal proposed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) and Ed Markey (D-MA), saying "I do not support 'leaving the door open' to nuclear power unless and until there is a permanent solution to the problem of nuclear waste" and so did not co-sponsor the legislation.

Gabbard successfully passed an amendment to the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act that would require the Department of Energy to reexamine the safety of the Runit Dome, a leaking Cold War era nuclear waste site in the Marshall Islands. She later called for "fresh eyes" to ensure a more independent assessment of the waste site's safety.

Foreign policy
Gabbard criticizes what she calls the "neoliberal/neoconservative war machine" for U.S. involvement in "counterproductive, wasteful foreign wars", saying they have not made the United States any safer, and for starting a New Cold War and nuclear arms race. *
 * Gabbard is widely portrayed as an apologist for America's enemies and has been accused of being a "Russian asset". When asked about her coverage in the mainstream media, Gabbard has said "We have seen for a long time how the mainstream media has been complicit in further pushing and pursuing the foreign policy establishment narrative."
 * Gabbard is widely portrayed as an apologist for America's enemies and has been accused of being a "Russian asset". When asked about her coverage in the mainstream media, Gabbard has said "We have seen for a long time how the mainstream media has been complicit in further pushing and pursuing the foreign policy establishment narrative."
 * Gabbard is widely portrayed as an apologist for America's enemies and has been accused of being a "Russian asset". When asked about her coverage in the mainstream media, Gabbard has said "We have seen for a long time how the mainstream media has been complicit in further pushing and pursuing the foreign policy establishment narrative."
 * Gabbard is widely portrayed as an apologist for America's enemies and has been accused of being a "Russian asset". When asked about her coverage in the mainstream media, Gabbard has said "We have seen for a long time how the mainstream media has been complicit in further pushing and pursuing the foreign policy establishment narrative."
 * Gabbard is widely portrayed as an apologist for America's enemies and has been accused of being a "Russian asset". When asked about her coverage in the mainstream media, Gabbard has said "We have seen for a long time how the mainstream media has been complicit in further pushing and pursuing the foreign policy establishment narrative."

Gabbard's views on Islamic terrorism distinguish her from mainstream Democrats. In 2016, she spoke out against Islamism, "a radical political ideology of violent jihad" shared by ISIS and Al-Qaeda "aimed at establishing a totalitarian society governed by … a particular interpretation of Islam.” Gabbard has said she is mindful that most Muslims are not extremist, but criticized the Obama administration for refusing to say that "Islamic extremists" are waging a war against the United States.

She has said "When it comes to the war against terrorists, I'm a hawk", but "when it comes to counterproductive wars of regime change, I'm a dove,"   and has spoken in favor of a "very limited use of drones" in situations where the "military is not able to get in without creating an unacceptable level of risk."

Refugees
In 2015, she sponsored a bill with Duncan Hunter (R-CA) to prioritize accepting refugees such as Christians and Yazidis targeted by Islamic State who "face forced conversions to Islam, mass abductions, sexual enslavements, and executions,"

After the 2015 ISIS terrorist attacks on Paris, Gabbard voted with Congressional Republicans in favor of "extreme vetting" of Iraqi and Syrian refugees. She called for a suspension of the Visa Waiver Program until the intelligence community addressed the risk of suicide bombers entering the U.S. with European passports.

In 2017, in response to an expected order by President Trump's to ban refugees, Gabbard said, "We shouldn’t ban refugees from entering our country" but we should instead "address the root cause that is making people flee their homes— regime-change wars" and "responsibly ensure thorough vetting" of refugees "is in place."

Gabbard also sees the "root cause of mass immigration on our southern border" being the "history of US military intervention in Latin America that left countries destroyed." Gabbard has spoken in favor of increasing skilled immigration and believes that immigrants should be assessed as individuals and for what they can contribute rather than by their nationality and background.

Regime change interventions and sanctions
In her February 2, 2019 campaign launch, Gabbard called out "neolibs and neocons" from both parties promoting regime change which she considers counterproductive to defeating ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and other terrorist organizations. The Intercept has described her as "an outspoken critic of U.S. involvement in the Middle East." Rolling Stone columnist Matt Taibbi remarked that Gabbard is "not an isolationist. She’s simply opposed to bombing the crap out of, and occupying, foreign countries for no apparent positive strategic objective, beyond enriching contractors".

As early as 2011, Gabbard was calling for an end to the U.S. war in Afghanistan, and in 2015 she introduced a bipartisan bill with Austin Scott (R-GA) to end U.S. efforts to overthrow the Syrian Arab Republic led by President Bashar al-Assad.

In 2017, she introduced a bill, the Stop Arming Terrorists Act, to prohibit the Department of Defense from "knowingly providing weapons or any other form of support" to Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups or any individual or group affiliated with any such organization.

While Gabbard had voted in 2016 in favor of sanctions regarding Iran, she has since condemned the act of "starving [other nations] with draconian sanctions". In December 2020, she introduced H.Res.1270 to impose sanctions that inflict suffering on civilian populations.

Nuclear weapons and arms race
Gabbard decries powerful politicians who "beat the drums of war and ratchet up tensions" between the U.S. and nuclear-armed countries", dragging the country toward a New Cold War arms race, thereby bringing "the front lines … to our doorstep, as we sit on the precipice of nuclear war" and expressed disappointment that no moderators at the Democratic presidential primary debates "raised the issues or asked a question related to the most existential threat we face in this country."

Afghanistan
In 2011 and the following years, Gabbard repeatedly requested an end to the Afghanistan war.

At the Democratic debate on July 31, 2019, Gabbard accused Trump of continuing to betray Americans by repeatedly walking back his plans to withdraw from Afghanistan, adding that she would bring would be "to do the right thing" and "bring our troops home within the first year in office and end the wasteful regime change wars …."

After The Washington Post reported on systematic misleading of the American public by the US government about the situation and progress of the Afghanistan war, Gabbard accused the military-industrial complex, contractors and consultancy companies of profiting from "a scam that ripped the US taxpayers off over a trillion dollars since 9/11 in Afghanistan alone."

India
Gabbard supports a strong US-India relationship "for many reasons—not the least of which is the war against terrorists." Critics charge she is too close to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She disputes claims she is partial to any political party in India.

Gabbard was critical of the U.S. decision to deny Modi a visa over allegations of his involvement in the 2002 Gujarat riots, saying it could undermine the U.S.-India relationship. In January 2019 The Intercept published an article stating that Gabbard had links with Hindu nationalist organizations. Gabbard rejected the idea that meeting with a democratically elected leader was evidence of collusion with that leader's party. An earlier version of The Intercept's article searched Gabbard's donor list for "names ... of Hindu origin" to "show Gabbard's broad base of support in the Hindu-American community". Gabbard criticized this as religious bigotry, saying that Christians would not be subject to such scrutiny based on their names. The Intercept removed the sentence with an apology, saying that it was not intended "to question the motives of those political donors" and apologized "for any such implication".

Iran
Despite her initial criticism of it, Gabbard voted in favor of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action which imposed restraints on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting nuclear-related sanctions against Iran. She opposed the Trump administration's decision to withdraw from the JCPOA and has said that as president she would reenter the agreement, but also negotiate on remaining issues in order to find a diplomatic solution and deescalate tensions.

Since 2018, Gabbard repeatedly attempted to insert amendments into the National Defense Authorization Act to prevent the President from starting a war with Iran without Congressional approval, and introduced the No More Presidential Wars Act make starting or joining a war without Congressional approval an impeachable "high crime and misdemeanor". However, these previous legislative efforts did not find majorities in Congress.

In 2019, she warned about the danger of a potential war with Iran and criticized the Trump administration for elevating tensions.

In 2020, she denounced Trump's assassination of Iran's Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis as an act of war against Iran without Congressional declaration of war. She said the act of war against Iran broke the fragile alliance between Iran, Iraq and the U.S. in combating ISIS, potentially causing a resurgence of terrorist groups. Iran's withdrawal from the JCPOA.

Gabbard criticized the U.S. military's 2020 Baghdad International Airport airstrike (which killed high-level Iranian General Qasem Soleimani) as an act of war by President Trump and a violation of the U.S. Constitution, arguing that the president did not have congressional authorization for this act.

In 2020, she said she would deescalate tensions with Iran by ending the "crippling" economic sanctions and reentering JCPOA to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapon capability.

Israel
In March 2015, unlike 58 other Democrats, she did not boycott Benjamin Netanyahu's address to the U.S. Congress, saying at the time that relations "must rise above the political fray, as America continues to stand with Israel as her strongest ally."

In January 2017 Gabbard voted against a House resolution condemning the U.N. Security Council resolution on Israeli settlements built in the West Bank but said, "I share the Obama administration's reservation about the harmful impact Israeli settlement activity has on the prospects for peace." She criticized Israel's use of live ammunition along the Gaza fence in May 2018.

On July 2019, Gabbard voted in favor of House Resolution 246, which expressed House opposition to the Global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS Movement) movement, reaffirmed support for a two-state solution, while at the same time affirming the right to protest or criticize the policies of the U.S. or foreign governments. She co-sponsored House Resolution 496, introduced by Rep. Ilhan Omar on July 17, to affirm "that all Americans have the right to participate in boycotts in pursuit of civil and human rights at home and abroad, as protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution".

Saudi Arabia
In 2016, she opposed a $1.15 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia. In 2018 she supported invocation of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 to stop U.S. involvement in the the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, saying the U.S. is complicit in a humanitarian disaster. Also in 2018, after Trump indicated the U.S. would not sanction Saudi Arabia over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, Gabbard tweeted at Trump, "being Saudi Arabia's bitch is not 'America First’."

In October 2019, Gabbard requested the Trump administration end all aid to Saudi Arabia until the investigation into possible Saudi involvement in the September 11 attacks is concluded and made public.

Syria
In 2013, Gabbard opposed the Obama administration's proposed military strikes against Assad in Syria. In 2015, she tweeted: "Al-Qaeda attacked us on 9/11 and must be defeated. Obama won’t bomb them in Syria. Putin did." She characterized efforts to overthrow Assad as counterproductive in that "it actually helps ISIS and other Islamic extremists achieve their goal of … taking control of all of Syria—which will simply increase human suffering in the region, exacerbate the refugee crisis"

In October, 2015, CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked Gabbard: "Does it not concern you that Bashar al-Assad's regime has been brutal, killing at least 200,000, maybe 300,000 of its own people?". Gabbard responded by commenting "the same things that are being said about Assad right now were said about Gadhafi" and Saddam Hussein "by those who were advocating for the U.S. to go in and intervene, to overthrow those regimes" and dictators. If the response is in the same way as in those wars, she continued, "we will end up with a situation far worse than we're seeing today ... with far greater human suffering, with far greater persecution of religious minorities and Christians in Syria, and our enemy will be far stronger." Hezbollah, and the Russian and Iranian involvement in Syria, were "working towards defeating our common enemy", meaning groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda, who she said made up "the vast majority" of the "so-called Syrian rebels."

In November 2015 introduced legislation to block CIA activities in Syria and U.S. military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. This legislation was referred to House committees and subsequently blocked.

In March 2016, Gabbard was one of three members of Congress to vote against House Resolution 121, which condemned the government of Syria and "other parties to the conflict" for war crimes and crimes against humanity," saying that though Assad was a "brutal dictator," the resolution was "a War Bill—a thinly veiled attempt to use the rationale of 'humanitarianism' as a justification for overthrowing the Syrian government". In November 2016, she met with Trump in an effort to convince him of her point of view. In 2017, Gabbard cited US "regime-change" involvement in Syria as a source of the Syrian refugee crisis.

In January 2017, Gabbard had two unplanned meetings with Assad during a trip to Syria and Lebanon. Gabbard said that the Syrian people's message was "powerful and consistent: there is no difference between 'moderate' rebels and al-Qaeda (al-Nusra) or ISIS—they are all the same". She described the Syrian conflict as "a war between terrorists under the command of groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda and the Syrian government".

On January 18, 2017, Gabbard went on a one-week "fact-finding mission" to Syria and Lebanon, during which Gabbard met various political and religious leaders from Syria and Lebanon—as well as regular citizens from both sides of the war—and also had two unplanned meetings with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. In April 2017, Gabbard expressed skepticism about claims that Assad used chemical weapons against civilians in Khan Shaykhun, and which were followed by a military attack against Syria by the United States. Gabbard said, "a successful prosecution of Assad (at the International Criminal Court) w[ould] require collection of evidence from the scene of the incident", and that she "support[ed] the United Nations' efforts in this regard". In a 2018 interview with The Nation, Gabbard said the United States had "been waging a regime change war in Syria since 2011". After getting scrutiny for her views on Assad, Gabbard called Assad "a brutal dictator. Just like Saddam Hussein".

Gabbard expressed skepticism regarding claims that Assad used chemical weapons against Syrian civilians, saying that "there is evidence to suggest that the attacks may have been staged by opposition forces for the purpose of drawing the United States and the West deeper into the war." Following the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack, Gabbard called for a U.N. investigation into the attack and prosecution of Assad by the International Criminal Court should he be found responsible. After Trump ordered the 2017 Shayrat missile strike targeting the Syrian airfield believed to be the source of the attack, Gabbard called the strike reckless "without care or consideration of the dire consequences of the United States attack on Syria without waiting for the collection of evidence from the scene of the chemical poisoning." Her statements were sharply criticized both by former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden.

In a 2018 interview with The Nation, Gabbard said the United States had "been waging a regime change war in Syria since 2011. Central to that war to overthrow the Syrian government of Assad, the U.S., along with its allies Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar, has been providing direct and indirect support to terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda". In an August 2019 interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo, Gabbard said of Assad: "He's a brutal dictator. Just like Saddam Hussein. Just like Gadhafi in Libya. The reason that I'm so outspoken on this issue of ending these wasteful regime-change wars is because I have seen firsthand this high human cost of war and the impact that it has on my fellow brothers and sisters in uniform".

In August 2019, Eliot Higgins described Gabbard's views on chemical weapons usage in the Syrian Civil War, as expressed on her campaign website, as a "contradictory error-filled mess".

Gabbard told The Washington Post in September 2019: "It is in our national security interests to end our regime change war in Syria. That war is prolonging the suffering of the Syrians, preventing Syrian refugees from returning home, strengthening al-Qaeda and Iran’s influence. Diplomatic relations are not a stamp of approval — they’re necessary to prevent war and resolve conflict. I would reestablish relations with Syria, whoever their president is, and work to bring peace to its long-suffering people."

In October 2019, Gabbard introduced legislation invoking the War Powers Resolution of 1973 to remove all troops from Syria which have no Congressional authorization for deployment. The legislation specifically opposes US President Trump's announcement to militarily "secure the oil" in Syria with the prospect of perhaps having to "fight for it", as well as Secretary of Defense Esper's announcement to deny Syrian forces access to the oil. Gabbard called the US government's action in Syria "the next step of the modern day siege that has been happening in Syria since 2011. It deprives the Syrian people of the resources they need to survive and to rebuild their lives." Gabbard also called for an end to arming terrorist groups and an end to the "draconian" sanctions against Syria that prevent "the most vulnerable people" in Syria from getting "power, food and medicine".

Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan
In October 2019, Gabbard described Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a "radical Islamist megalomaniac" and accused his government of supporting the Al-Qaeda and Islamic State terror organizations. She described the method by which Trump partially withdrew troops from northeastern Syria as "laying out a red-carpet, a green light for Erdoğan and Turkey to launch an ethnic cleansing and offensive against the Kurds."

In 2017, Gabbard was blacklisted by Azerbaijan for taking part in a visit to Armenia and the disputed breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh which is populated and governed by ethnic Armenians. In October 2020, she accused Turkey of encouraging and inciting the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. Gabbard called on the U.S. Senate and Trump to officially recognize the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 as a genocide.

Ukraine
In 2022, she blamed the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine on the Biden administration's foreign policy and argued against economic sanctions on Russia. Gabbard stated that the United States is trying to turn Ukraine into another Afghanistan.

Venezuela
In the wake of the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, Gabbard said the United States needed to stay out of Venezuela and let that nation choose its government.

Healthcare and GMO labeling
Gabbard supports a national healthcare insurance program that covers uninsured, as well as under-insured people, and allows supplemental but not duplicative private insurance. She has since advocated for a two-tier universal health care plan that she calls "Single Payer Plus", loosely modeled after Australia's system and allowing for both supplementary and duplicative private insurance. In Gabbard's view, "If you look at other countries in the world who have universal health care, every one of them has some form of a role for private insurance." In 2019, she cosponsored House Resolution 1384, Medicare for All Act of 2019, a bill that would allow private insurance.

In 2013, Gabbard sponsored legislation to require GMO labeling. In 2015, she criticized the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, saying it merely creates "an illusion of transparency." In 2016, she voted against a GMO-labeling bill, saying it was too weak.

Pesticides
In February 2019, she criticized Monsanto for "falsifying pesticide safety studies" regarding Roundup.

Veterans Issues
In 2014, Gabbard introduced a bill to allow veterans not getting timely healthcare from the VA to get care from non-VA medical providers. This bill was incorporated into the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act passed later that year. In 2015, Gabbard and Scott Perry (R-Pa.) launched a new Congressional caucus dedicated to helping post-9/11 veterans and introduced legislation with Chris Stewart (UT-02) to expand veterans’ healthcare options. In 2016, Gabbard, working with John Kline (R-MN), amended the National Defense Authorization Act expanding military retiree access to health care and as co-chair of the Post 9/11 Veterans Caucus helped introduce and pass the Forever GI Bill to extend and improve the GI Bill benefits granted to veterans, surviving spouses, and dependents. In January 2019, together with Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), she introduced the Retired Pay Restoration Act to expand retirement benefits for disabled veterans.

Disability issues
In addition to cosponsoring several bills important to the disability community, she has opposed bills such as the 2017 ADA Education and Reform Act as she believed it would effectively dismantle the ADA and impose undue requirements on individuals with disabilities before they could sue businesses for violating accessibility laws.

Drug policy and criminal justice reform
Gabbard has been outspoken against a "broken criminal justice system" that "favors the rich and powerful and punishes the poor." and puts "people in prison for smoking marijuana" while allowing pharmaceutical corporations responsible for "opioid-related deaths of thousands to walk away scot-free with their coffers full". Gabbard said that as president she would "end the failed war on drugs, legalize marijuana, end cash bail, and ban private prisons".

In 2018, she co-sponsored the First Step Act as a first step toward "comprehensive criminal justice reform, … greater sentencing reform, and [to] eradicate the private prison industry." In 2019, She introduced the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act and the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act.

In 2020, Gabbard called for legalizing and regulating all drugs, citing Portugal's model for drug decriminalization and introduced legislation to allow Armed Services members to use products containing CBD and other hemp derivatives.

Assange, Snowden, and Manning
Gabbard has stated the U.S. government should drop charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange: "[H]is arrest and all … that just went down … poses a great threat to our freedom of the press and to our freedom of speech" She has also expressed concerns that "our government … can basically create this climate of fear against … those … publishing things that they don't like …. This … threatens every American — the message … we are getting is 'Be quiet, toe the line, otherwise there will be consequences.'"

She would also pardon NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and take action to "close the loopholes" in the law Snowden exposed. Of Snowden and Chelsea Manning, she said, "there is not an actual channel for whistle-blowers like them to bring forward information that exposes egregious abuses of our constitutional rights and liberties, period. There was not a channel for that to happen in a real way, and that's why they ended up taking the path that they did, and suffering the consequences."

In October 2020, Gabbard introduced two bipartisan resolutions in the House of Representatives to pardon and drop all charges against Edward Snowden and Julian Assange respectively. She also introduced a bill to reform the Espionage Act -- HR8452 ("Protect Brave Whistleblowers Act") -- which was supported by Daniel Ellsberg, best known for leaking the Pentagon Papers.

In November 2020, Gabbard called for President Donald Trump to pardon Edward Snowden and Julian Assange.

Campaign finance reform
The Financial Times identifies campaign finance reform as one of Gabbard's signature issues. In December 2016, Gabbard co-sponsored the We the People Amendment, which proposes an amendment to the Constitution that would abolish corporate personhood and would hold that campaign contributions would not be protected under the First Amendment. In October 2018, Gabbard was one of only four members of Congress who had pledged not to accept corporate campaign donations.

Civil liberties
Gabbard is an original member of the bi-partisan 4th Amendment Caucus. In 2014 remarks on an NSA phone data mining bill, Gabbard said: "We still have yet to hear of a single example of how national security has been strengthened by allowing bulk data collection." On January 29, 2019, Gabbard was awarded an 'A+' rating "as a champion for protecting a free and open internet and civil liberties" from Restore The Fourth and Fight for the Future.

Education
Gabbard supports making community college tuition free for all Americans while making all four-year colleges tuition free for students with an annual family income of $125,000 or less. The tuition would be funded by a new tax on trading stocks and bonds.

Election integrity
Gabbard introduced the Securing America's Elections Act of 2018 to require voter-verified paper ballots in federal elections in case of any audit or recount.

Family policy
Gabbard co-sponsored the Family Act legislation to grant employees 60 days of paid, job-protected leave to care for a newborn child or for any family member for medical reasons. She advocates universal basic income to allow one parent to either provide childcare themselves at home or to pay for childcare. She also advocates for expanding pre-kindergarten education to all Americans.

Gun control
Gabbard has an F-rating from the NRA and a 100% rating by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Gabbard supports comprehensive pre-purchase background checks, closing loopholes in laws regarding domestic violence and suspected terrorism, and a ban on military-style assault weapons and high capacity magazines.

LGBT issues
In 1998, then-teenage Gabbard supported her father's successful campaign to amend the Constitution of Hawaii to give lawmakers the power to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples. The "Alliance for Traditional Marriage" spent more than $100,000 opposing same-sex marriage. In her campaign for the Hawaii legislature in 2002, Gabbard emphasized her role in getting a constitutional amendment passed that made same-sex marriage illegal in Hawaii, and vowed to "bring that attitude of public service to the legislature." Until 2004 she voted and lobbied against same-sex marriage in Hawaii. She publicly apologized for that position in 2012. She apologized again after launching her presidential campaign in 2019.

As a Hawaii state legislator in 2004, Gabbard argued against civil unions, saying: "To try to act as if there is a difference between 'civil unions' and same-sex marriage is dishonest, cowardly, and extremely disrespectful to the people of Hawaii who have already made overwhelmingly clear our position on this issue. ... As Democrats, we should be representing the views of the people, not a small number of homosexual extremists." She opposed Hawaii House Bill 1024, which would have established legal parity between same-sex couples in civil unions and married straight couples, and led a protest against the bill outside the room where the House Judiciary Committee held the hearing. The same year, she opposed research on students' sexuality and asserted that existing harassment figures indicate that Hawaii's schools were "not rampant with anti-gay harassment".

In 2012, Gabbard apologized for her "anti-gay advocacy" and said she would "fight for the repeal" of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In June 2013, she was an initial cosponsor of the legislation to repeal DOMA. After launching her presidential campaign in 2019, she apologized again and said that her views had been changed by her experience in the military "with LGBTQ service members, both here at home and while deployed". She has been a member of the House LGBT Equality Caucus during her first, third, and fourth terms in Congress, and received an 84% rating in her fourth term (after receiving 100%, 88% and 92% in her previous three terms) for pro-LGBT legislation from the Human Rights Campaign, a group that advocates for LGBT rights.

On December 10, 2020, Gabbard and Republican U.S. Representative Markwayne Mullin introduced a bill titled the "Protect Women's Sports Act" that would seek to define Title IX protections on the basis of an individual's biological sex, making it a violation for institutions that receive federal funding to "permit a person whose biological sex at birth is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls." If passed, this bill would effectively ban many transgender athletes from participating in programs corresponding with their gender identity. Gabbard received condemnation from LGBT organizations and activists after introducing the bill, including the Human Rights Campaign, saying: "Gabbard has lost all credibility as an ally."

On April 4, 2022, Gabbard endorsed Florida's Parental Rights Bill, popularly dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill by its opponents, which forbids discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in public school classrooms for kindergarten through third grade. Gabbard stated the bill "bans government and government schools from indoctrinating woke sexual values in our schools to a captive audience." She also suggested the bill should apply to all grades.

Media and party
In a 2019 campaign email, she wrote that "our freedoms and democracy are being threatened by media giants ruled by corporate interests who are in the pocket of the ‘establishment war machine'" and has blamed the political establishment and mainstream media for ignoring or smearing her. She introduced legislation to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, a policy that required media outlets to present contrasting views on any political or social issue.

Sex work decriminalization
On March 7, 2019, Gabbard told BuzzFeed News "If a consenting adult wants to engage in sex work, that is their right, and it should not be a crime." She continued, "All people should have autonomy over their bodies and their labor." A spokesperson for her presidential campaign cited that comment later that month and added, "She believes it should be decriminalized, and that is the action we would take on the federal level."

In February 2020, she echoed the same words in a statement to Reason. The sex worker advocacy group Decriminalize Sex Work gave her a grade of A− on sex work decriminalization, making her only presidential candidate to get a score above a B−.

Tech industry
Gabbard has called for breaking up "big tech companies" who, together with "overreaching intel agencies", she says "take away our civil liberties and freedoms in the name of national security and corporate greed". She supports net neutrality, and has criticized Facebook for banning users. In Gabbard's lawsuit against Google for temporarily suspending her campaign's advertisement account, her lawyers contended that Google should be considered a "state actor" and that Google's program to verify election ads amounts to a regulation of political speech, thereby violating the First Amendment.

Women's issues and abortion
Gabbard was an original cosponsor of bills to transfer decision-making in military sexual assault cases from the chain of command to experienced trial counsel to determine the appropriate trial path to pursue; hold congressional perpetrators personally and financially accountable for sexual harassment abuses of power; expand pro-bono legal services for domestic violence survivors; and revise and reauthorize various programs and activities to prevent and respond to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.

Gabbard supports reproductive rights, her early opposition to abortion changed by her military experience in Iraq seeing "the destructive effect of having governments … act as moral arbiters for their people." While she has a 100% voting record with both Planned Parenthood and NARAL, she opposes abortions during the third trimester of pregnancy, "unless a woman's life or severe health consequences is at risk." In December 2020, Gabbard introduced a bill to ensure a healthcare practitioner exercises proper care if child survives an abortion.

Trump administration
On November 2016, President-elect Donald Trump asked to meet Gabbard to discuss Syria, ISIS, al Qaeda, and other foreign policy issues. Gabbard accepted over concern that Republican neocons will grow in influence once Trump takes office in January and escalate the war to overthrow the Syrian government. She later called the Trump administration's 2017 Shayrat missile strike reckless and "short-sighted."

Gabbard did not join congressional Democrats opposing Steve Bannon's appointment as Trump's chief strategist, but did co-sponsor a bill to remove him from the National Security Council.

Gabbard vehemently criticized the administration's decision not to sanction Saudi Arabia over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

In an October 2019 press conference with family members of victims of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, Gabbard asked the Trump administration declassify the investigation of Saudi Arabian government official involvement in the September 11 attacks and reintroduced House resolutions to push for this goal.

In December 2019, Gabbard voted "present" when the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump, criticizing Republicans for "blindly supporting their party leader and abdicating their responsibility to exercise legitimate oversight" and and Democrats for using "extreme rhetoric that was never conducive to an impartial fact-finding process". She introduced H. Res. 766, to censure Trump for several of his foreign policy decisions and "send a strong message to this president and future presidents that their abuses of power will not go unchecked".

After the primary
After ending her presidential campaign, Gabbard has taken conservative positions on culture war issues including abortion and transgender rights,  endorsed the controversial Florida House Bill 1557 (referred to by critics as the "Don't Say Gay" bill).

In March 2022, she said media freedom in Russia is "not so different" to that of the United States. A number of academic sources described her claim as false, saying that in Russia the government represses independent media and free speech, which includes imprisoning critics of the invasion of Ukraine.