Each week, Queerty picks one blowhard, hypocrite, airhead, sanctimonious prick or other enemy of all that is queer to be the Douche of the Week.
Have a nominee for DOTW? E-mail it to us at [email protected].
Just when you think the goalposts have moved and our enemies have to camouflage their hatred in softer tones, a GOP honcho vomits up something we’d expect to hear from Jesse Helms (may he rot in Hell.)
Dave Agema, a member of the Michigan RNC committee, posted a link on Facebook to an article describing just how harmful homosexuality is, not just to those who practice it but to the general population.
Among the “facts” in “Everyone Should Know These Statistics on Homosexuals”:
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
- Homosexuals live unhealthy lifestyles, and have historically accounted for the bulk of syphilis, gonorrhea, Hepatitis B, the “gay bowel syndrome” (which attacks the intestinal tract), tuberculosis and cytomegalovirus.
- 73% of psychiatrists say homosexuals are less happy than the average person, and of those psychiatrists, 70% say that the unhappiness is NOT due to social stigmatization
- 33% of homosexuals ADMIT to minor/adult sex
- Judge John Martaugh, chief magistrate of the New York City Criminal Court has said, “Homosexuals account for half the murders in large cities”
- Captain William Riddle of the Los Angeles Police says, “30,000 sexually abused children in Los Angeles were victims of homosexuals”
- Because homosexuals can’t reproduce naturally, they resort to recruiting children. Homosexuals can be heard chanting “TEN PERCENT IS NOT ENOUGH, RECRUIT, RECRUIT, RECRUIT” in their homosexual parades.
You can read the full article here
Just on the face of it, these so-called factoids are obviously bullshit. “Homosexuals account for half of the murders in large cities”? We were obviously suspicious of that one—it turns out Judge Martaugh was on the bench in the 1940s and ’50s, and was a crusader against immortality and perversion. (He’s theonewho convicted Lenny Bruce of obscenity.) So he’s not exactly an objective authority on anything.
We couldn’t even find any mention of a “Captain William Riddle” on the LAPD, but based on the other assertions, he was probably on the beat during the Civil War.
The rest of these bullet points are either out of context, outdated, or outright lies.
Dozens of Michigan Republican leaders have called for Agema to resign. “This isn’t about what we believe either politically or as women and men of faith. This is about common decency,” said Dennis Lennox, who is leading the call for Agema’s ousting. “We do not have confidence in Mr. Agema representing the best interests of our fellow Michigan Republicans and as a result ask him to resign from his seat on the Republican National Committee.”
Agema says calls for him to step down are “a joke.” In an email to the Detroit Free Press on Thursday, he accused “liberal Republicans” of twisting his words:
“I think it was a piece worth sharing given the debate over gay marriage that is happening in the Supreme Court. I strongly maintain my position in support of marriage between a man and a woman and I will not back down from my core beliefs in support of strengthening the family.”
Isn’t it the religious right who keep saying their opposition to marriage equality doesn’t mean they hate gays? We really wish you guys would make up your mind.
Before he was elected a member of the Michigan delegation to the RNC in 2012, Agema was a Michigan state representative from 2007 to 2012. He’s also the president of the Sabath House Ministries, a member of the Allied Pilots Association and the NRA.
And, lest we forget: Dhe’s a douche!
Scribe38
It is not just this a@@hole in Michigan, but the whole damn state. I heard someone say this week that Michigan is the Mississippi of the North and I believe he was correct. I have lived here all my life and have witnessed how this state has gotten worst overtime for gays. I am working on a degree and plan on leaving this state as soon as possible. I am not the only one, young people can’t wait to leave here. This state is anti-gay (marriage band voted in state constitution), anti-teacher, anti-union(right to work), anti-elderly(pass new taxes on retirees) anti-minority. If your a gay man looking to visit someplace, don’t pick Michigan.
balehead
One person says this and you blame the whole state???? I think Free speech is an important right…..even if he is a “douche”….just not sure if he’s the only dbag on here…
Elloreigh
With a Republican controlled House, Senate, Court, and Governorship, the GOP views Michigan as fertile ground for experimenting some of their more estreme public policy positions.
And with a surname like Agema, I know all I need to. The -ma ending is common in Dutch names, and much of western Michigan politics are dominated by people with ties to the Dutch Reformed Church or its close relatives. I still cringe when I hear the names “DeVos” or “Van Andel” from my time living in Grand Rapids. The DeVos family in particular were big contributors to the campaign in favor of our state’s ban on recognizing same-sex anything. Although to be fair, they were dwarfed by contributions from affiliates of the Roman Catholic Church.
Elloreigh
@balehead: Scribe38 is largely right, though. Michigan has been in a state of decline for decades, and thanks in no small part to Republican dominance.
Truth Addict
Just remember, if you are going to use Agema’s rationale, christians are responsible for millions of deaths, slavery, the genocide of American Indians and the subjugation of women. So, who would you rather be friends with?
Teleny
If these comments weren’t so filled with hate they would be funny. How on Earth do you recruit for the glbt community? Do we have give aways for recruiting a dozen new members? Is the HRC giving out medals for star recruiters? Do we set up stands at Colleges??? Am I missing out on something?
And what is this gay bowel syndrome? I’m not sure that I want to know….
What a wack job.
Dionte
@Scribe38: after I finish my degree I’ll be right behind you.
dkmagby
@Scribe38: Hence why Detroit is going down the shitter pretty quickly
MuscleModelBlog.com
Those statistics are ridiculous. I am surprised that an elected official would quote something like that. Unbelieveable.
Scribe38
@balehead: You don’t understand it is the whole state, not just what this guy said. The GOP pushed through anti-gay marriage into the constitution during Bush’s re-election year, but some same-sex benefits remained. State schools offered same-sex health care to employees,some city’s had hiring protections for gay people. The City of Detroit had same-sex health care for non-union employees and the Democrat Governor at the time was considering allowing state employee same-sex health care. All of that is basically gone dude! The new GOP rule has stripped health care from gay families.
Anti-choice laws have been pushed through, as the state attempts to be the reddish state in the North. The GOP barred two female congress women from talking during a session because the women used the correct name of female body parts. They are pushing through efforts to force women to have a device pushed inside of them for sonograms before they can receive an abortion.
After the GOP stripped affirmative action they started taking colleges to court over entry polices. They are trying to strip one college of state funding just because they gave a fair contract to teachers, before the dead line of right to work comes into law.
Michigan SUCKS FOR EVERY ONE EXCEPT WHITE STR8 MALES!
D9W
Is it just me or is Dave Agema just a closet case? I bet someone knows what is in his closet.
hf2hvit
He’s probably watched hours and hours of gay porn just to be sure how “filty” it is…HOURS
jmmartin
Surely you realize the irony of saying “Jesse Helms, may he rot in hell”? Jesse Helms obviously was a Christian fundamentalist. Hell is the bugaboo by which religions, and especially monotheisms, keep believers in line, which amounts to helpless, pathetic thrall and enslavement to The Priesthood. (By that name I include all dogma-preaching purveyors of myth and superstition of whatever religious bent they happen to act as shills for its perpetuation.) That thing known as “eternal damnation” draws men and women into a lifetime of living for a non-existent afterlife when all should be living only for the one chance they have for being true, honest, and good in the only life they can know. It is religious dogma which stigmatizes the sexual minorities, and allows our persecution by clerics and congregants alike. Freedom from religion — its abolition, devoutly to be wished — will free us from the chains of misery doled out by bigots and scoundrels. In fact, religion is the Last Refuge of the Scoundrel.
Billysees
From the article —
“We couldn’t even find any mention of a “Captain William Riddle” on the LAPD, but based on the other assertions, he was probably on the beat during the Civil War.”
Cute and funny…way to go editors….
On the serious side, good and interesting comments —
No. 3 · Elloreigh
No. 6 · Teleny
No. 9 · MuscleModelBlog.com
yaoming
If “homosexuals are less happy” then why do they call us “gay”? It doesn’t make sense.
“Gay Bowel Syndrome” – that’s a good one, too. Is that the opposite of an irritable bowel?
Scott Amundsen
@Teleny: “And what is this gay bowel syndrome? I’m not sure that I want to know….”
The reason you do not know what it is is that it does not exist; it is an invention of homophobes that dates back to the Seventies and possibly earlier. The fact is that Gay men are no more prone to bowel ailments than anyone else.
Scott Amundsen
As for his refusal to resign, THAT decision needs to be taken out of his hands. If the RNC had any brains left they would THROW him out for peddling such egregious nonsense.
brokeback gypsy
Michigan gay republicans (and yes they are out there) need to stand up to this guy. The RNC says they need to change, but don’t know how. This is how – boot the guy out for such comments.
Zoe Brain
Kaifetz, J. “Homosexual Rights Are Concern for Some,” Post-Tribune, 18 December 1992
is the source that first mentions “Captain William Riddle of the Los Angeles Police”
No-one at the LAPD appears to have heard of “Captain William Riddle”.
FStratford
@Scribe38: I’m not so hot on Michigan myself, but there are some great university towns in there.
MPersonally, and you need not agree with this, I think North Dakota is the Mississippi of the Nort. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/02/17/1187741/-North-Dakota-The-Least-Gay-State
Cam
This is what the guy is thinking now.
Wait a second, so you all told me I couldn’t publicly talk about how we really feel about minorities and women, and NOW I can’t talk about gays either?!?!?!?!?
hephaestion
Judge John Martaugh, chief magistrate of the New York City Criminal Court has said, “Homosexuals account for half the murders in large cities” ???????
So, are we half the murderers or half the murdered?
Nick Bolt
The quote of Captain William Riddle appears to be a cut-and-paste job of unrelated facts pulled from a news article put out by the Los Angeles Times Service on November 19, 1976. Although the article does state that he was “commander of the Juvenile Division” of the LAPD, the quote attributed to him is fabricated. Here’s a copy of the article:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19761119&id=5E0aAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XCkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3066,6125231
Scott Amundsen
@brokeback gypsy: The problem isn’t limited to Michigan; the entire Republican Party has become infested with these vermin; they are so loud and so obnoxious that the impression is that the entire GOP hates Gays, Blacks, Latinos, and Women, not necessarily in that order, and the sensible Republicans left in the Party (I know they’re there but sometimes I wonder) are either shouted down or are intimidated into silence with threats of being primaried out in the next election.
Scribe38
@FStratford: I agree, Ann Arbor is very liberal college town (awesome safe school), however because of the GOP in Lansing they are no longer able to treat their gay employees fairly, or allowed to use minority status as part of admission process, preventing to school of representing the racial mix of the area(b.t.w. I currently have a 4.0). State law has been changed in such a way to tie the hands of schools that they are powerless. The Mississippi comment was spoken this week on NPR by the head of Michigan’s Affirmations group, while he was talking about gay rights (lack of) in Michigan. Never been to North Dakota but I will take the advice and not spend my spring break cash there.
Elloreigh
@FStratford: Thing is, if the University’s that help make these towns great are forced to choose policies that change the culture of their institution, it may eventually effect their ability to maintain their status as leading universities, and that spells trouble for the towns they’ve helped build and support.
For example, re-centralizing things like IT, HR, and Finance. Reason? It’s expensive to pay all those people. So you pay an outside consultant to tell you that 80% of your spend in those areas is on “redundant commodity services” that “don’t serve faculty and students”, so that you can justify a “reduction in force”.
Worse, the state decides to punish you by withholding >$40 million in funding because you had the audacity to sign contracts with your union before the crappy “right to work” act took effect. That really ought to elevate the quality of education taking place there.
The plain fact is that the more extreme factions of the GOP want to eliminate publicly funded education. No public schools, no state-funded universities. That way, the big money fat cats can control the content of what gets taught, to their advantage.
So I wouldn’t put to much faith in Michigan universities and university towns remaining great. They’re being setup to fail.