Following in the footsteps of former Sen. Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum and megachurch preacher Rick Warren, Rep. Louie Gohmert, the jug-eared Texas Republican, took the House floor last week and compared gay people to pedophiles and necrophiliacs:
REP. LOUIE GOHMERT R-TEXAS: The definition of sexual orientation is wide open to all kinds of interpretation. And some day, some court, somewhere, will say, “You know what? Sexual orientation means exactly what those words mean.” If you’re orientated toward animals, bestiality, then, you know, that’s not something that can be used-held against you or any bias be held against you for that. Which means you’d have to strike any laws against bestiality, if you’re orientated toward corpses, toward children, you know, there are all kinds of perversions.
Leaving aside the heartlessness of this sort of rhetoric and the damage it does to gay teens in Texas and elsewhere, it has to be pointed out that Gohmert’s formulation is wrong. When people have sex with children, animals or corpses, the sex acts are non-consensual. When adults choose to have sex with each other, it’s not only consensual, it’s none of Louie Gohmert’s fucking business.
Gohmert befouled the House of Representatives with this barrage of monkey poo in reaction to a presentation on the floor by Democrats who advocate repealing the military’s anti-gay “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law. Here’s a clip and transcript of Rachel Maddow’s segment on DADT and Gohmert’s hate speech on the House floor last week:
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PATRICK MURPHY (D), PENNSYLVANIA: No longer can we afford to let go of 13,000 qualified and honorable troops. We must do right by our taxpayer. It makes no sense that we spend $1.3 billion to train these heroes up and then just to kick ’em out just because of their sexual orientation. And lastly, this policy simply is un-American. It goes against the very fabric which makes our country great-that we’re all created equal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: That was what a “call to action” looks like. And in this case, the caller was Congressman Patrick Murphy, Democrat of Pennsylvania. Congressman Murphy is a straight, married, Iraq war veteran. And he has taken the lead in the House in the effort to repeal the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
Congressman Murphy held an hour-long special session, of four speeches last night on “don’t ask, don’t tell.” He read letters from service members who opposed the policy. He introduced a lot of other House Democrats who are also pushing for an end to the policy. He touted the 176 co-sponsors who have now signed on to a House resolution that calls for a repeal of the law.
It sounds sort of inspiring, right? It sounds like momentum. So, naturally, after all of these stirring speeches and personal stories and the many mentions of the 176 co-sponsors, as if on cue, the proverbial Oscar the Grouch popped out of his trash can to remind everyone of the inertia that is resisting that momentum.
Immediately following the special hour against “don’t ask, don’t tell,” Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert of Texas took to the floor and randomly, relevant to no particular legislation being discussed, unveiled his own take on the gays.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. LOUIE GOHMERT R-TEXAS: The definition of sexual orientation is wide open to all kinds of interpretation. And some day, some court, somewhere, will say, “You know what? Sexual orientation means exactly what those words mean.” If you’re orientated toward animals, bestiality, then, you know, that’s not something that can be used-held against you or any bias be held against you for that. Which means you’d have to strike any laws against bestiality, if you’re orientated toward corpses, toward children, you know, there are all kinds of perversions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: All kinds of perversions.
One programming note, we are planning a special segment to introduce Congressman Louie Gohmert to America on tomorrow night’s show. So, you might want to arrange for child care as this segment may very well not be suitable for children or pets or corpses.
But regardless of Louie Gohmert’s best efforts to equate being gay with plots of several of these “Saw” movies, there is suddenly a lot of policy going on around gay politics. The president is set to address the largest gay rights group in the country this weekend. He’ll speak at a human rights campaign fundraiser on Saturday.
The Gay Rights National Equality March on Washington is then set for Sunday. The Associated Press is reporting tonight that the Obama administration is about to name its first openly gay ambassador.
The Washington, D.C. city council is considering a bill that would allow same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia. And after President Obama’s national security adviser said this weekend that the president would work on repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” quote, “at the right time,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has promised the first ever Senate hearings on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” responded immediately by saying, frankly, that the right time is now.
Joining us now is Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York.
Senator, thank you for coming on the show.
SEN. KIRSTEN, GILLIBRAND (D-NY): My pleasure.
MADDOW: Let me ask you, first off, do you know when we should expect a hearing on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?”
GILLIBRAND: I think we’ll have one this fall. And I’m looking forward to trying to have one for the Armed Services Committee probably in October or November.
MADDOW: Holding a hearing is a big step because since the implementation of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” despite all of the controversy, all efforts to repeal it and all of the debate, there’s not been a congressional hearing on it. What do you expect to be the outcome of the hearing?
GILLIBRAND: Well, the reason why I asked Chairman Levin to hold the hearing is because I think there’s an extraordinary amount of misinformation. And I think the American public, along with our Senate colleagues and House colleagues, need to hear the facts.
This policy has been in place for 16 years. We’ve lost over 13,000 service members, more than 800 of home are in mission critical areas, about 10 percent of our foreign language speakers in Farsi, in Arabic. And when we have so much pressure on our military, we want all of the best and brightest to be able to be serving.
MADDOW: Do you think that there are Republican senators right now who are licking their chops thinking about the opportunity to talk about a gay rights issue and hearings that will be undoubtedly televised and get a lot of attention? Do you think that Republicans will try to find some political advantage in talking about gay issues in Congress?
GILLIBRAND: They may well, but the facts are that the majority of the American public think repeal should take place. Because the bottom line is that people want the best and brightest in our nation to serve in our military, particularly when we have two wars and we have terrorism concerns all across the world.
And we want these very talented and well-trained individuals to be serving, and so most people want to see a repeal of this policy. It’s undermining the strength of our military. It’s immoral. It’s something that doesn’t reflect who we are as Americans. And it’s unjust. And I think we have to move forward on this national debate. And I think the facts will speak for themselves and I’m hopeful.
MADDOW: I think that it is persuasive in terms of the argument that’s been made to the American people. We’ve certainly seen the polling numbers move a lot and all of the academic work in terms of the documenting any affect on good order and morale. And the military backs up what you’re saying.
But we both know the reason it hasn’t been repealed thus far is because Democrats believe it’s too hard to do, that costs too much political capital particularly for a president worried about seeming too liberal. Do you think the White House is going to give you substantial support?
GILLIBRAND: I think the White House will support this. I think the president supports it. He certainly has so stated over the last several months and years. It’s something that is time. I mean, it’s a timely issue that is urgent and it’s a call to action.
And I do believe, as we begin to talk about the facts and roll out the evidence, that we will have the support in Congress that we need. And I think there’s more support than you think. I think there’s a number of senators that are considering their views on this issue. And I think the benefit of a hearing is we will get this evidence out to be debated fully.
MADDOW: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, thanks very much for joining us tonight. Good luck.
GILLIBRAND: Thank you.
Wow. Well according to Louis’ arguement about orientation doesn’t that apply of heterosexuals as well since they are ORIENTED to people of the opposite sex? He’s horrible.