Rick Perry: “Homosexuality is like alcoholism, which can be treated, but I still won’t expand Medicaid so people can afford treatment.”
— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) June 12, 2014
This past weekend, the Texas Republican Party approved a new platform plank that endorsed ex-gay therapy for those “who are seeking escape from the homosexual lifestyle.” Asked about the platform Wednesday night, Gov. Rick Perry (R) seemed to defend it by suggesting that homosexuality is comparable to alcoholism…. Perry has a long history of shunning homosexuality. When the Supreme Court overturned Texas’ sodomy law, which criminalized gay sex, he rebuked the 6-3 decision as the product of “nine oligarchs in robes.” He saw “absolutely no reason” for the Boy Scouts of America to admit gay Scouts, suggesting the organization should oppose a “flavor of the month” like homosexuality just like Sam Houston opposed slavery and secession. He has also joined other conservatives in defending the “religious liberty” of those who might discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, proclaiming in a 2012 presidential campaign ad that he would “end Obama’s war on religion.”
I suppose it’s easier than showing the leadership and effort necessary to solve the very real problems (and they’re legion) facing Texas. Why would you, when you can fire up your base by directing all manner of hatred and propaganda at “The Gay?” Governor Goodhair seems to believe that the “homosexual issue” is a thing…and that it’s needs to be stopped before it infects more of our precious, impressionable children. It’s not an “issue,” it’s people who want nothing more than to live and love as they see fit without being told what they can or cannot do.
To call Perry’s comparison of homosexuality to alcoholism offensive wouldn’t begin to do justice to the easy arrogance Governor Pander McCrazy brings to the table. I understand that Perry and his fellow hyper-Jesus-y Social Conservatives believe “The Gay” to be a mortal sin and an abomination before God. Good on them. If they believe that, there’s a very simple solution available to them: don’t engage in sexual relations with members of the same gender. What they don’t have is the right to codify their hatred and prejudice into law and effectively render an entire class of citizens as “less than” because they believe their lifestyle to be “icky.”
Sure, haters like Rick Perry may have numbers on their side in Texas, but being a majority doesn’t confer moral superiority. Worse, I really have to wonder why hyper-religious Social Conservatives like Governor Goodhair are so fixated on the private sexual habits of those who merely want to live and love as they choose. What are they so afraid of? Do they live in terror of catching “The Gay?” Or are they really just tremendously uncomfortable with a repressed uncertainty they feel about their own sexuality? No, I’m not saying Rick Perry’s gay, but the volume and vehemence with which he condemns homosexuality does speak to someone terrified of having to admit the truth to himself.
The American Psychiatric Association diagnoses alcohol dependence in the context of tolerance, withdrawal, abundance, inability to control use, and a negative impact on other life activities. The APA has not diagnosed homosexuality as a disorder since 1973.
I’d ask why we can’t just live and let live…but that presumes Social Conservatives view the LGBT community as anything but sub-human. Whatever the case, being gay is neither disease nor disorder. It’s a lifestyle. Social Conservatives don’t have to like it, but they don’t have the right to force their idea of what’s right, moral, and appropriate sexual behavior on society as a whole.
So much for that whole Conservative “small government” thing, eh?? Move along, sheeple. No hypocrisy here….
