Fifty years ago, racist politicians like Strom Thurmond, Lester Maddox and George Wallace used their white constituency’s hatred of blacks to launch and sustain their politcal careers. Now a new class of bigots is coming out of the wordwork – but this time they’re using hompobia to grab the spotlight.

Rev. Keith Butler out of Detroit is one of these new Talibanis. The wrinkle is he’s black. Pam’s House Blend has background on the story:

I came across this article and couldn’t place this guy’s name for a moment. Then I recalled why it is familiar. Keith Butler was one of the black folks trotted out by the GOP at the NY convention in 2004 to add a dash of color.

He and fellow token, the infamous professional “ex-gay” Donnie McClurkin are also world-class homophobes that subscribe to the belief that being gay is a sin and that any comparison of any kindbetween the struggle for gay rights and the black civil rights movement is an insult. [The above McClurkin link goes to an excellent essay by Keith Boykin on McClurkin and the church’s ignorance on homosexuality.]

This “man of God” should be recognized as a fledgling member of the American Taliban, ready to impose his limited worldview on everyone.

There’s a footnote to the story about the three racist politicians mentioned at the top. Thurmond, Maddox and Wallace all recanted and apologized for their part in encouraging fear and hatred. And of course Strom kept secret for 60 years the fact that he’d fathered a child with a black woman.

No doubt we’ll hear recantations and apologies from the new Republican Talibanis one day – when it’s too late to undo the damage they are about to cause. And no doubt we’ll learn that among the newly prominent black gay-haters are a few who are playing around on the down low.