Conservatives say the darndest things, especially when it comes to gay people.
Last week, the Minn Post outed Bob Frey (pictured), running for a seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives, for claiming that AIDS is caused by an “enzyme” that, when “deposited anally,” kills the immune system. He also called sodomy “a voluntary act to destroy the immune system.” The story made national news and inspired dozens of tweets to the political hopeful from people seeking more of his “scientific” wisdom.
Is it less dangerous 4 straight women to perform oral sex & swallow heterosexual or homosexual ejaculate? @BobFreyMN http://t.co/rbhF1IorC6
— Jason Evan Mihalko (@jaypsyd) July 10, 2014
@jaypsyd @BobFreyMN I wonder if there’s a test I can run for them. Put in a drop of dye and see if the ejaculate turns pink or blue?
— Amy D. Cubbage (@amydcubbage) July 10, 2014
Last question, Bob. Are the enzymes dangerous if they are deposited elsewhere? @BobFreyMN http://t.co/rbhF1IorC6
— Jason Evan Mihalko (@jaypsyd) July 10, 2014
Hey @BobFreyMN, the sperm enzymes in my ass wanted to say good morning. And a leprechaun gave me a pot of gold. #lgbt http://t.co/Vxm7V9t0B9
— Joe Bua (@JoeWatchesTV) July 11, 2014
But Frey isn’t alone is his over-the-top, scientifically inaccurate and, frankly, stupid beliefs about gay people. Plenty of other conservatives have made similarly idiotic remarks.
Scroll down to see the very best of the worst comments made about gay people in recent history…
Bryan Fischer
Perhaps no other conservative has made more incendiary comments than the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer. He’s likened gay rights activists to blood-sucking leeches, called gay people hazardous to public health, and compared Boy Scouts who marched in a gay pride parade to Hitler Youth.
He also accused the show Modern Family of “poisoning” American culture and suggested gay people were face-eating cannibals. His most recent tirade came last week after Burger King unveiled their new “Proud Whopper.” Fischer told radio listeners: “When people sit down to eat a hamburger, the last thing they want to be thinking about is two guys having sex!”
Speak for yourself, Bryan.
Linda Harvey
Okay, maybe there is another conservative who has made even more idiotic comments than Bryan Fischer: Linda Harvey. Over the years, she’s called Halloween a Satanic gay holiday for the “gender confused,” likened gay people to empty water bottles and zombies, and called President Obama “racist” for supporting gay equality.
But it doesn’t stop there. Earlier this year, Harvey called gay sex “medically risky” and “improper.” She also said that LGBT youth who have been forced out their homes by their families are to blame for their own homelessness, calling them “stubborn” and addicted to “the premature independence of the homosexual life.” (Whatever the hell that means.)
Michele Bachmann
Whenever hot mess/failed 2012 Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann opens her mouth something crazy falls out. She once claimed gay people were causing “spiritual warfare” for wanting to get married, and suggested that God personally phoned her to request she introduce an anti-marriage equality bill in Minnesota. Most recently, she announced in tortured English: “The gay community have so bullied the American people and they have so intimidated politicians that politicians fear them and they think they get to dictate the agenda everywhere. Well, not with the Constitution you don’t!”
Rick Santorum
While we’re on the subject of failed 2012 Presidential hopefuls, Rick Santorum is another one who can’t seem to keep his frothy mouth shut about the gays. Last fall, he said the ’90s sitcom Will & Grace sparked the destruction of our republic.
He’s also claimed the Republican Party would be committing suicide if it embraced same-sex marriage, and that marriage equality will undoubtedly lead to polygamy and incest. But don’t get the wrong impression, folks. He doesn’t actually have anything against gay people. According to his wife, Karen, “he loves them!”
Elisa Chan
San Antonio City Councilwoman Elisa Chan found herself thrust into the national spotlight last summer when an audio recording of her calling gay people “so disgusting!” was leaked online. Other highlights from the tape included Chan saying that being gay was a choice, adoption should be banned, and that gay people take “hormone shots” to “look gay.”
She also made disparaging comments about trans people, saying she wanted them to pull down their pants so she could “check the equipment.” After the tapes went viral, Chan went into hiding. In October 2013, she resigned from her job, but not because she had been publicly exposed as a homophobe as some might have hoped. It was to mount a campaign for Texas State Senate. Ugh.
Antonin Scalia
Despite insisting he has nothing against gay people, 78-year-old Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has made some nasty and, at times, downright hateful remarks, including likening homosexuality to murder and animal abuse, speaking in favor of anti-sodomy laws, and, in what may be one of the weirdest metaphors in SCOTUS history, comparing last year’s Supreme Court ruling on DOMA to an “overcooked loaf of meat.”
We’re counting down the days until his tenure on the court is cooked.
Got other examples of particularly horrendous antigay pronouncements. Please let the world know in comments…
BJ McFrisky
Or not.
John Edwards, 2008, on gay rights: “I’m not comfortable around those people.”
Bill Richardson, 2008: “I believe that [Bernard McGuirk}’s a faggot.”
Or Obama’s invitation to Donnie McClurkin—notorious for his “ex-gay” stance—to play at a campaign rally.
All liberal Democrats. James Kirchick wrote an excellent piece in The Advocate about this very issue. Check it out.
1EqualityUSA
Nancy “wiggling” Elliott of New Hampshire.
petensfo
And don’t forget Supreme Court Justice Alito in the Prop 8 decision calling gay couples seeking marriage a “social experiment,” completely blind to his own hetero-white-privilege & the fact that so many have waited their whole lives for the rights he takes completely for granted.
Not so bad, one might think, except that he is a SUPREME COURT JUSTICE!!!!!!!
Cam
@BJ McFrisky:
But of course what BJ leaves out is that whatever individual Dems do or say, the party has pushed gay rights forward. Whereas the GOP platform planks in many states advocate stripping gays of rights, AND every single one of their potential presidential candidates as spoken out against gay rights / marriage.
DB75
@Cam: Cam – I have to agree with you.
I’m sure there are those that are Democratic or other that may not be on board for full equality. That group is likely small in comparison to the rest of the party(ies). I do think examples would be helpful.
I never vote down party lines. I don’t believe in Red or Blue – I’m all for Purple (actually Lavender – but whatever). I vote per the issue. However, due to the fact that the GOP in my state is not only pushing more of the same against LGBT persons, but also pushing now conversion therapy – I have a hard time wanting to support anyone part of that party – regardless of the rest of their record.
RSun
@Cam: And while BJ’s examples are anti-gay…they are not nearly as “crazy” as the Republican examples in this article.
Franco C.
Their eyes scare me at night when I try to sleep.
doug105
Sclia is 78
Kennedy is 77
Ginsburg is 81
Bryer is 75
and Thomas 66
Frankly, this matters far more to me than whoever the V.P. candidates are for the next few terms, and the toxic waste the republican party has made of its self by pandering to the teabagging nuts is proof it just needs to die so something else has a chance.
nf0603
I never understood why nobody had the guts to advise Bachmann that she’s doing it all wrong. She looks like someone would be a hardcore fag hag and supporter of the LGBT community, yet she does the opposite. Go march in a pride parade, tweet some love for the gays, talk about how awesome gay people are, etc… She seems to forget Anita Bryant’s career trajectory because she alienated the audience who would’ve embraced her most.
DB75
@nf0603: Good point, but the common sense of this is lost on people like her. She has her mind made up that she is right – regardless of how many times she is proved to be wrong.
Some people need to be unhappy and complain about others. I find that shows a lack of control in their own lives when they seek to control others. Just sayin….
DarkZephyr
@BJ McFrisky: Those examples are a**holish but do you *really* think they compare to the examples Queerty gave? I don’t see anywhere in the article that states that Democrats are *never* homophobic. But the homophobia of Republicans is part of their freaking *platform* for God’s sake. And the things that they say ARE extremely ludicrous. And as Cam pointed out, the Democratic party does not make homophobia its platform. But here you are again, eager to stick up for those who hate us. I will never understand you BJ.
BJ McFrisky
@DarkZephyr: Frankly, it’s the religious arm of the Republican party who’s anti-gay, not conservatives as a whole, so you’re wrong when you state things like the RNC makes “homophobia part of its platform.” Being as you’re hardly going to find “homophobia” on their website, that’s an irresponsible statement made out of pure ignorance.
courthousedoc
@BJ McFrisky: Let’s see. Which party has a plank in their platform in support of an anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment? There are 4 Republican senators on record in favor of marriage eqaulity. So 43 are opposed to it and only 4 are in favor of it? Chris Chrstie, hardly a conservative, says the GOP should keep fighting against marriage equality. No, it isn’t just the religious in the party, it is the vast majority of the elected leadership. Their only hope is the younger GOP who do support marriage equality. The older generation is firmly in the bigot camp. And they aren’t moving.
courthousedoc
So you couldn’t find anything from Todd Starnes, Brian Brown, Tony Perkins, Matt Barber? Really?
Ben Dover
@BJ McFrisky: From the official Republican Party platform, p. 10:
“Defending Marriage Against An Activist Judiciary”
“A serious threat to our country’s constitutional order, perhaps even more dangerous than presidential malfeasance, is an activist judiciary… A blatant example has been the court-ordered redefinition of marriage in several States.”
“A Sacred Contract: Defense of Marriage”
“Congressional Republicans took the lead in enacting the Defense of Marriage Act…”
http://www.gop.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2012GOPPlatform.pdf
It’s not that hard to look up these things!
tjr101
And when presented with facts BJMcFrisky goes silent. Well done Ben Dover, BJ very well knows the truth but ignores it.
phoebe
The ‘enzyme’ goes m/f and m/m; because of the sex between f/f………..not so much.
Lvng1tor
The best part of this whole thing is @BJ McFrisky: trying to equalize the playing field….come on guys he’s not worth responding to he’s a joke.
DarkZephyr
@phoebe: So you are going to perpetuate that simply to give yourself a pat on the back? AIDS is caused by a f**king virus and you KNOW it.
gaym50ish
How could they leave out Bryan Fischer’s absolutely craziest comment — his repeated assertion that most gay men have to wear adult diapers?
jmmartin
I was arguing a case before the local court of appeals, a case involving a client who was the 30-year companion to a woman thought to be dying of cirrhosis. The client had been promised the house bought by the dying woman at a time when both of them were lovers, but the purchaser reneged. I was trying to convince the panel of three judges, including the chief justice, that the women had a “fiduciary” relationship that would have extended the statute of limitations. (The case had been thrown out of court because the trial judge said my client should have filed it earlier.) I was unsure whether I should bring up same sex marriage, which is still illegal in my state. At one point, the chief justice said something with the prefatory words, “Well, if this had been a normal marriage…I mean, bla bla bla….” I think he realized that he had just called my client and her companion abnormal, which is why he reversed himself quickly. It was then that I told the panel, “If lesbians were permitted to marry we would not be here. They would have gone to the divorce court,” and because ours is a community property state, the property would have been divided 50-50 BY LAW. People just can’t help being prejudiced.
man5996853
@BJ McFrisky: So you would liken the horrifically disparaging, hateful remarks of the Republicans above to name-calling and saying “I’m not comfortable around those people”? So if I called you a douche would that be the equivalent of calling you a self-loathing, troll faggot?