First of all, this is the ridiculousness of this point. The question should not be whether you’re gay or straight, but the question should be, why are you asking the question in the first place?….The point I’m getting the chance to make right now — and I really, really want to drive this home — is that we need to stop in America talking abut anybody in a public realm, besides what is important: the content of their character, the quality of their ideas, the courage within their hearts to serve others. Here we have an opponent trying to say god awful things, literally saying, I believe a guy should be a guy. Almost like saying you are not a man if you’re gay. That is so extreme. Let’s shine lights on this for a second and understand that my father taught me what manhood is about. And it’s not about whether you play football or enjoyed badminton. Being a man is about love. About kindness to others. About standing up for what’s right, about doing what’s important to do in the unfinished business of America.”
— Cory Booker preaching the gospel truth on All In with Chris Hayes regarding his U.S. Senate opponent Steve Lonegan’s homophobic, boneheaded comments regarding Booker’s sexuality.
middleagespread
A great response. True we should be judged by our character. In todays world we want to know who sleeps with who. If he is single, then he could just say he is available.
redspyder
The most perfect response would have been to be honest – gay or straight. I could care less what he thinks being a man is all about – he wants to be a senator. The last thing “all the unfinished business in America needs” is another politician who lies and/or evades questions about integrity. If he is hiding who he is, then he shouldn’t be running for office.
Scribe38
Sir I will be looking for your campaign site’s donation site. We need more men like you influencing the public conversation on gay rights.
Nyruinz
@redspyder:
His sexuality is nobody’s business, people need to start focusing on themselves rather than the lives of other people.
You think if more influential people come out we will be accepted right? wrong! Most homophobes are ignorant bottom line!
BJ McFrisky
In other words, “Yes, I am, so let’s move on.”
DarkZephyr
@BJ McFrisky: You missed his point entirely.
Dakotahgeo
@redspyder: I hate to burst your self-righteous bubble, but why the hell do you want to know intimate facts when they’re none of YOUR business?? You seem to be nothing but a right wing nosey assed person who can’t mind his own business! Honesty, my butt! You’re hiding behind the faux “honesty” button because you don’t have the common sense to address more important ideas! FAKE!
Dakotahgeo
@Nyruinz: THANK you for a most measured and to-the-point response! redspyder (what a stupid spelling!) is exactly what he says: “spy!” As long as politicians do their job and what is expected of them, I don’t care if they dance on ceilings and sing, “Sweet Georgia Brown.” I despise right wing goons!
BJ McFrisky
@DarkZephyr:
I agree that a politician’s sexuality is irrelevant in every way; however, his point was to evade the question with a song-and-dance answer—not that there’s anything wrong with that, politicians do it all the time. But his non-response, eloquent though it may be, is only going to haunt him into the election, so he should get used to fact this won’t be the only time he’ll be asked about it.
MK Ultra
100% agree. And I loved the way he handled that.
The fact is sexuality shouldn’t be relevant when voting.
But for many people it is. It might affect their vote (inappropriate of course but humans are flawed creatures)
A campaign isn’t about whom you go to bed with at night. It’s about your views and plans on the issues important to voters. And that’s what matters.
GeriHew
@redspyder: Why does he have to be gay or straight?
Are those the only acceptable options if you want to run for office in the USA?
Stefan
Who gives a shit. I don’t want to have sex with him so who cares? I want the hot ones to be gay–not this dog.
redspyder
@GeriHew: That’s the question he was asked & avoided. If the question included other options, and he evaded and avoided them, my complaint would be the same.
GeriHew
@redspyder: In the UK my local MP was asked if he was gay and he said no. When he later came out as bisexual he was accused by the National Press of having lied.
He just said “No” when he was asked if he was gay. Was he supposed to say: “No, I’m bi”?
His constituents obviously didn’t care anyway because he’s won his seat back twice since he came out. Simple fact of the matter is he’s a good MP who gets things done in the area he represents.
Bad Ass Biker
@Stefan: Dogs and hot ones are all in the eye of the beholder.
redspyder
Six respectful replies in moderation right now… someone doesn’t like criticism of this ‘perfect’ man
hf2hvit
@Dakotahgeo: OH, Dakotahgeo!!! GO SIS! GO! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
boring
@Stefan: You are a good person.
andy_d
Makes me wish I were able to vote for him (in the jurisdictional sense, that is).
Cagnazzo82
@andy_d: I can vote for him, and I definitely plan on doing so.
Steve Lonegan is an idiot.
And how he ever came up with the notion that mocking gays as being less than man would somehow win him more votes is beyond me. Why would he even want to have this fight?
It says a lot about his intelligence and reasoning skills… or lack thereof.
Christopher
Yes but can he bake.
dab822
mmmk. i will be his trophy husband. stand aside, all you detritus! i have actually followed him since when…so he is mine
1EqualityUSA
I’m being moderated for no reason. Queerty is so fucked up sometimes. As if we need another reason to let this site drop into oblivion…Screw it. Dawn is breaking and I must get moving. Die off, Queerty.
LadyL
@1EqualityUSA: Sorry to hear you’re being moderated; I’m always interested in what you have to say, 1EqualityUSA. (It’s happened to me once or twice as well–very annoying.)
LadyL
@1EqualityUSA: Yep; there they go again–just got “moderated” –thanks, Queerty!
Dakotahgeo
@hf2hvit: I thank you profusely, lolol! These low-flying right wing bats are bothersome but they usually do have a shelf life of less than ten seconds. Kudos!
Matt G
Maybe, goddess forbid, someone is so involved with what they believe to be a good and worthy cause their sexuality takes a backseat to what they do in their personal life. He is obviously very talented at speaking because his response was 100% on point. If he does like him some dick so be it- he can announce it when he’s ready and willing, it took ACoop a while too
Aries3dc
Interesting comments (as usual). The real headline here is that he was asked about his sexuality and it didn’t confirm or deny anything. He gave us a speech about how his sexuality does not matter. And as Chris Hayes pointed out — it DOES matter if he’s gay because there are currently no openly-gay men in the U.S. Senate. So, if he is gay, there is much to be gained by acknowledging that.
And BTW, public figures have a very limited zone of privacy; knowing their spouse/significant other is by no means intrusive.
1EqualityUSA
LadyL, Unless queerty censors this post worse than a Putin-in-panties-painting, thanks for your words. I checked out Joe.My.God this morning after getting so disgusted with Queerty and the conversation was hopping! Some of the comments reached 80’s to 100 (+). It’s too bad the format isn’t as user friendly. The content of the articles were good and the commenters were interesting. I cannot stand censorship. I enjoy your writing as well. I have an 8 month old puppy who has decided he doesn’t want me to write tonight, so I’ll take off for a bit. take care.
sean_brown21
@middleagespread: While I admire his response I can’t help but think he is merely beating around the bush on this one. He should have simply answered the question first.