In the close Mississippi race for Trent Lott's Senate seat, Republican Roger Wicker ran this ad accusing Democrat Ronnie Musgrove of taking money from "the largest gay rights group in the country," as well as from pro-choice groups and other liberal lobbies. However, the Advocate looked into the matter and reports:
...the [Human Rights Campaign and other mentioned] political action committees have never sent money directly to Musgrove, according to the candidate's Federal Election Commission disclosure report. And...neither NARAL, HRC, nor Friends of Hillary have endorsed Musgrove, whom the blog Talking Points Memo describes as being a socially conservative, economically populist Democrat.
So Republican Wicker is pretty scummy. But as Radley Balko, at Reason magazine's Hit and Run, blogs, Musgrove is not someone to cheer, either:
Democrat Ronnie Musgrove promptly denounced the ad, though not because of the ridiculous gay stereotypes. Rather, he wants to assure the voters of Mississippi that he dislikes those gays as much as anyone. From his campaign's press release:
"In March 2000, Musgrove supported a ban on adoption by homosexuals or same-sex couples. The ban not only pertained to adoptions in Mississippi, but also ensured that Mississippi would not recognize adoptions by gay individuals or couples from other states if the parents moved to Mississippi."
Musgrove pledges to not only stop Mississippi from recognizing gay adoptions, but to see to it that if gay couples arrive in his state with their adopted kids, Mississippi won't recognize any parental relationship.
Despite the real progress that's been made in much of America, our advances are still subject to setbacks (after November, gay marriage may no longer be legal in California). Even worse, there are regions where, as far as the treatment of gay people is concerned, it's still 1950.
9 Comments for “Beyond Washington”
posted by Pat on
Sounds like each candidate is really trying to out-antigay the other. It would be hard to find a lesser of two evils hear.
posted by Bobby on
Now you people see why gun control is such a bad idea? You got two homophobes attacking you and encouraging others to attack you as well. How are you gonna defend yourself? With love and kisses?
Gays in Mississippi and all over America need their guns. So do blacks, and I’ve been reading a book about the history of the Klan, it turns out that sometimes the Klan would go into a black home, take their guns, and then come back and beat them up or kill them.
posted by Zach on
As a gay guy who lives in Mississippi, I’m as unhappy as anyone about this awful exchange. I find not recognizing the rights of gay couples to their own children especially disgusting, and am amazed that anyone can support such a position and maintain the vision of himself as a decent human being.
All that said, no one in my generation (I’m in college) would deem any of this worth listening to, and quite a few might see it as cause to not vote for either.
Incidentally, I’ve never once felt I needed a gun to keep myself safe, except for a few times after watching particularly effective horror films. : )
posted by Bobby on
Young people rarely vote, Zach. That’s why their views rarely matter.
“I’ve never once felt I needed a gun to keep myself safe,”
—Maybe you’ve never been gay bashed, never had a bottle thrown at you, never had someone yell f-g from a passing car.
posted by Jeff Epperly on
LOL. You guys are a riot.
posted by Rob on
What do you expect from a state where 30% of the population are obese, and their senators abstained from voting for the apology on lynching, despite most lynching occurring in their state?
posted by Bobby on
Your comment about the obese is very stupid, Rob. It’s like me commenting on the pimple thing Obama has on the left side of his nose. What about your favorite liberals like Michael Moore, Rosie O’Donnel, Margaret Cho and Bruce Villanch? Hello! They’re not exactly skinny. Mississippi is a great state, it has fantastic mountains, beautiful scenery, a very low cost of living, low taxes and sexy fun-loving southerners.
I’d rather deal with their homophobia than with the homophobes in California and New York, who by the way, do kill people.
But fine, you want to attack people for their obesity. Ok, what about all those gays with AIDS? What about all those californians with skin cancer? Just keep spitting against the wind, it all comes back.
posted by Rob on
Your comment about the obese is very stupid, Rob. It’s like me commenting on the pimple thing Obama has on the left side of his nose. What about your favorite liberals like Michael Moore, Rosie O’Donnel, Margaret Cho and Bruce Villanch? Hello! They’re not exactly skinny.
My favorite liberals? I don’t really care for those people, except for Bruce Villanch, since I don’t know the guy.
Mississippi is a great state, it has fantastic mountains, beautiful scenery, a very low cost of living, low taxes and sexy fun-loving southerners.
Sorry, instead of obesity, I should probably mention that it is one of the <http://www.statemaster.com/red/graph/edu_bes_edu_ind-education-best-educated-index&b_desc=1“>worst educated states in America, and that explains the homophobia quite a lot. Of course I’ve already mentioned it has the most lynchings as well.
I’d rather deal with their homophobia than with the homophobes in California and New York, who by the way, do kill people.
Their homophobia tends to kill gays too.
posted by Bobby on
“Sorry, instead of obesity, I should probably mention that it is one of the worst educated states in America, and that explains the homophobia quite a lot. Of course I’ve already mentioned it has the most lynchings as well.”
—Fine, that’s a better argument, except that there’s plenty of homophobia among the educated as well. One of the reasons I became so turned off by liberals is because I got sick and tired of hearing them speak well about racial minorities, religious minorities, and others while telling their f-g jokes and making incredibly homophobic remarks.
So this Mississippi bashing doesn’t sit well with me.