Presidential candidates discover opinionated gays are everywhere [video]
This week brought about a number or quotes from gay people (and their supporters) who had close contact with the 2012 candidates for U.S. President:
”I asked him if he’s elected, how does he plan to engage gay Americans. How are we to support him? And he told me to support Obama.”
Scott Arnold, a gay man who spoke with former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich at a coffee house in Oskaloosa, IA. He told the Des Moines Register that he was disheartened, frustrated, and uninspired by Gingrich’s response. (Des Moines Register)
”I do think he’s trying to (pander), but I don’t blame him…. At this point, this is not necessarily a ploy but he can’t for public office reasons be on one side, so maybe this is his way of winking at the gay public in New York and saying I really need your vote now.”
Matt Katz, a gay man who had been married to his husband, Aaron Lafrenz, for several months when they received a surprise letter from Barack Obama. The President had sent a note of congratulations to the couple on their New York wedding. Katz said he thought the letter was a joke, but later found out a friend had written to the White House asking for the letter of recognition to be sent. Katz told ABC News that he was happy to have received the letter and that he had plans to frame it. (ABC News)
”I’m openly bisexual and I didn’t want to be told that if I wanted to serve in the military that I couldn’t, and I just think [the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell] policy is completely ridiculous…. Nobody should be able to tell somebody who they can or cannot love. I just don’t agree with it.”
Rebecka Green, a bisexual 14-year-old who confronted Gov. Rick Perry on his opposition to gays in the military who are fighting for his right to run for President. Perry is seen on video replying that homosexuality is a sin, with an unrelated comment about the Boy Scouts ban on gays, that DADT was working, and with that tired old line about “hating the sin but loving the sinner.” Green’s father is told National Journal that Perry’s anti-gay ad was “backward” because Christians are dominant and privileged, where as “LGBT persons have not.” The Texas Governor mentions that he was confronted the day before by another man who asked Perry what he would do if one of his children was gay. (National Journal)
”I wonder if you’re aware that 10% of the population is gay. And if you have 28 children, then 2.8% of those kids are very likely gay.”
Kathy Schnell, a woman who confronted Michele Bachmann and her “therapist” husband Marcus Bachmann at a pizza restaurant in Iowa. Schnell is seen on video asking Rep. Bachmann for her signature on a sign that apparently reads, “Gay Friendly Iowan,” which she does. Marcus Bachmann is heard telling Schnell that her Kinsey Report-based facts are wrong and a myth. Mr. Bachmann is often accused of being a closeted gay man by comedians and commentators due to his alleged pray-the-gay-away practices, and because he recently said, as the First Spouse, that he would campaign against same-sex marriages and abortion. (CNN)
”It’s good to know how you feel — that you do not believe that everyone is entitled to their Constitutional rights.”
Bob Garon, a gay veteran of the Vietnam War, who was visted by Mitt Romney at a restaurant in New Hampshire. Garon asked the former governor of Massachusetts if he supported the repeal of gay marriage in New Hampshire. Romney said he indeed supported the effort to make gay marriage illegal in that state again; adding that the Defense of Marriage Act defined marriage as being a privilege for men and women only, and that, when the Constitution was written, marriage was between a man and a woman. Garon told reporters after Romeny skirted away that he was gay and was having breakfast with his husband when Romney stopped by. (ABC News)
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