Who is Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio and why does he seem to be increasingly prominent as the Republican candidacy pool starts to evaporate? Given the inordinate media focus on Donald Trump, the backgrounds and problematic extremist political values of his rival Republican candidates have not received as much protracted critical analysis as they should. This article will seek to remedy this and cite other corrective work from the same perspective. Rubio (44) is a Cuban resident of Miami who has previously been a Florida House of Representatives state legislator and Speaker for that legislature. He is currently one of two Republican US Senators for his native Florida. Unlike his rival Ted Cruz, Rubio has remained a Roman Catholic for his entire political career. Formerly a lawyer, he graduated from the University of Miami law school in the mid-nineties. Although Rubio was born in the United States, his businesspeople parents left Cuba in 1959 as economic refugees rather than as political refugees after the Castro regime came to power. As a Florida legislator, he did prove pragmatic, supporting the rights of farm workers and the children of illegal immigants, and has made apparent civil libertarian remarks about the overextension of police powers after 9/11. However, while his relationships were cordial with Governor Jeb Bush, that wasn't the case with his successor, Chris Christie. The pair clashed over Rubio's anti-science denialist approach to climate change and Christie's curtailment of a proposed Rubio property tax cut initiative. He also supported anti-racism initiatives within the Florida state legislature while he was its Speaker. In 2011, as a US Senator, he became more associated with fiscal conservative concerns than social conservative agenda items. These included maintaining high defence spending, tax credits to offset research and development costs, advocated for deregulation of small businesses, argued for the transparency of US foreign aid to recipient countries and other such initiatives. He also backs tax cuts, free trade and opposes government expenditure on US federal stimulus programmes. However, he has also lobbied for the removal of contraception from US employer healthcare plans, opposes gun control, and has been criticised for his poor US Congressional attendance record. He serves on Congressional subcommittees that primarily deal with commerce and environmental regulations, dealing with a range of such issues- aviation security, communication, information technology, oceans, atmosphere, fisheries, cybersecurity, East Asian, African and Pacific concerns, global health policy, counter-terrorism, intelligence, transnational crime and small business and entrepreneurship. He announced his intention to run for the Republican presidential nomination in April 2015 and has sought assistance from professional lobbyists. He is trying to position himself as an advocate for the US middle class and effective foreign policy operator. When it comes to social issues, Rubio is very much a conservative Catholic. He voted against refunding the US Violence Against Women Act, is an anti-abortion hardliner even in the context of rape and incest, opposes marriage equality and supports continued criminalisation of recreational and medicinal cannabis both. He also supports charter schools and teaching 'intelligent design' creationism in US public school science classes. The Advocatehas been scathing about Rubio's anti-LGBT stances. Rubio has said he'll appoint right-wing "originalist" justices to the US Supreme Court and intends to overturn theObergefelldecision as a consequence of these ideological purity plans. Ed Teetsel, his 'faith outreach director', was a principal signatory of the "Manhattan Declaration" of conservative Catholics and fundamentalist Protestants, which seeks to ban abortion and legislative against LGBTI rights. Rubio also supports radical "religious liberty" legislation that would legitimise business and service provider discrimination against US LGBT clients. He opposed the end of US military service discrimination, opposed the antidiscrimination Employment Non-Discrimination Act, opposes Obama's antidiscrimination federal contractor initiatives, and would also attack existing civil rights case law that is trans-inclusive, as well as US Department of Education protection for transgender school students against extremists and transphobic violence. As an opinion poll highflyer, he may be a potent threat to US LGBTI aspirants for social justice and equality if he is elected. Recommended: Wikipedia/Marco Rubio:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Marco_Rubio Brynn Tannehill: "Marco Rubio's America would be hell for LGBT people" Advocate: 16.12.2015: http://www.advocate.com/ commentary/2015/12 /16/marco-rubios-america- would-be-hell-lgbt-people Craig Young - 22nd December 2015