Iowa State Rep. Dwayne Alons, the Republican lawmaker, was asked whether he agrees with the positions about gays put forth by the Family Leader, the umbrella group of the Iowa Family Policy Council led by the state’s leading bigot Bob Vander Plaats. Things like how the state’s homosexuality problem is a greater health risk than smoking. Alons went even further.
In an interview with Think Progress‘ Igor Volsky, Alons says, the “whole [homosexual] lifestyle has brought a lot of problems to society…For the most part when you look at some of the issues that have been brought up by homosexuals’ lifestyle, there are a lot of negatives that have been brought into society and I think government is trying to deal with that and should be dealing with that. … Well, look at all that has been spent, you know, with the AIDS and with the issues related to dying at an early age. I think life’s longevity — of a lot of these folks is below 50, when you know, the normal people that do not enter into that kind of relationship, their either late into their 70s or early 80s for longevity. A lot more actual productive years and contributing to society.”
So how might we fight off all these negative symptoms of The Gay: By “having a limitation on one man and one woman [in marriage] would be a pathway to get that as a basic foundational direction.”
B
Dwayne Alons claimed that homosexuality led to an early death (below age 50 on the average). That tells us something – he’s getting his “facts” from discredited sources (Some defrocked(?) psychologist named Paul Cameron published that claim, obtaining the age of death from obituaries in gay publications, which gives highly distorted results – read http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_cameron_obit.html for an explanation). You can draw your own conclusions from that regarding Alons’ intelligence.
Alons attributed these alleged early deaths in part to a lack of stable family relationships that marriage provides, which he indicated is part of the reason he thought heterosexuals lived longer. So, what he logically should have concluded based on his premises is that, if you want homosexuals to live longer, you should let them get married.
Instead he’s pushing for policies that his own statements claim are killing people. Unfortunately, the dull-witted reporter interviewing him did not ask the obvious question – “if stable marriages result in longer lifespans and if shorter lifespans for gays is a problem as you claim, then why don’t you want gays to be able to get married?”
Danny
If you look at the criteria for genocide, there is some question as to whether politicians who violate human rights are guilty of genocide against gay people.
Jim Hlavac
@Danny:
Indeed, what many of our opponents want is a cultural genocide against gay folks. Some of the more obstreperous are calling for an actual genocide of “execute” or “export.” This will be their undoing. The nation will be appalled as these folks get more airtime — oh how I hope they get the biggest public forum possible. I know it’s counterintuitive, but these enemies of ours are our best friends.
But as a 52 year old gay man, with plenty of 50-plus gay friends — the whole idea is so ludicrous as to be beyond belief. It’s a willful denial of reality. It’s into LA-LA land, and as it becomes more generally known they’re saying this, the entire attitude of the nation will shift to — “What on earth are they talking about?” This guy got his info from the Iowa Families Coalition and all their few allies with similar names — and their “studies” have “shown” that “gay men die at age 41.” It’s bizarre. I hope they shout it from the rooftops so loudly that even a president will say, “My God, what a bunch of idiots.”
This, I feel, will happen soon. Within the next few years, whether we have a Republican or Democratic president, he or she will simply have to say “This is nuts.” I am confident of this.
scott ny'er
what a stupid man. I hope he continues to make asinine statements like Palin and thus show his stupidity to America. I want to see more of stupid people like him in his party and want them to be very public so America wises up.
Danny
Any one of the following actions are considered acts of genocide intended to bring about the destruction of a group, in whole or in part:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
In many parts of the USA, politicians are guilty of not merely 1 of these, but up to 4 of these. Committing just 1 of these actions constitutes genocide against gay people. Committing 2 or more removes all doubt.
Shannon1981
How do so many crazy people wind up in positions of power? And@Danny: that breakdown is downright scary. When you look at it like that, they are trying to kill us off, and no, that isn’t an extreme opinion.
Greg
Dearest JD,
Re: ” …their either late into their 70s…”
It’s THEY’RE. As in “they are.” “Their” is possessive, as in “their state rep is a douchebag bigot.” Please, for the love of Tyra Banks’ lifetime supply of Spanx get it right. I may not have a degree in journalism, but at least I know to proofread.
Thank you.
[img]http://blog.vh1.com/files//2010/03/dr2_7_252gif8.gif[/img]
ewe
Creation theory is not the place for government representatives to be promoting. AIDS is an indiscriminate virus. Where are all the lawsuits seeking to remove elected public servants that do not uphold thier responsibilities to all their constituents? I don’t hear him putting down black women for being a high risk group. Linking the words “heterosexual, loving, children and longevity” followed by the one man and one woman stance is homophobic propaganda that has no defense except a very strange gODD concept. Until these people are actually held accountable for denying gay people representation, they will go on and on with their ignorant jargon until they are removed from office.