skevidence

Jimmy LaSalvia’s Evidence Showing Gays Don’t Care Much About ENDA

Jimmy LaSalvia, the sad and misinformed head of GOProud, runs an organization that cares more about money than your right to marry. So it’s unsurprising LaSalvia told a gathering of Temple College Republicans about how gay Americans aren’t terribly concerned with hate crimes and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

“If the No. 1 issue for gay and lesbian voters was hate crimes and ENDA, then 1.3 million gay people would not have voted for John McCain, because he did not support those pieces of legislation,” LaSalvia told the “small turnout.” Which is like saying if the No. 1 issue for lower-class voters in rural America is not health care and putting food on the table, because those same people voted for George W. Bush, whose policies gave tax breaks to the wealthy and removed social services for those who need them the most. Sometimes voters do not vote in their own best interests, and you have people like LaSalvia, and his misinformation campaigns, to thank.

As the Temple News notes,

LaSalvia explained most gay conservatives would argue that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the policy banning gay and lesbian military members from serving openly, should be a higher priority as opposed to ENDA and hate-crimes legislation, which he said affects relatively few people. He cited bigoted employers looking for loopholes to fire gay people, and hate crime cases being prosecuted as reasons for this sentiment.

Yes, repealing DADT would protect thousands of gay servicemembers. And while this has never been a game of “Which piece of legislation is better and more deserving of passage?” (because that is also a game of “Which type of discrimination can we tolerate longer?”), passing ENDA would undoubtedly protect millions of gay Americans who cannot simply assume they can be out in the workplace without the threat of losing their livelihood.

[Temple News]

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