Last updated on May 17th, 2012 at 02:23 pm
Denial is a conservative’s friend. As it denies the war it is waging on women, the same is true about the GOP’s war on the LGBT Community. The war is on multiple fronts from spending millions to defend the so called Defense of Marriage act, to Mitt Romney’s promise to reinstate DADT and comparable policies at the state level.  Most recently, right wing homophobes aligned with Neo Nazis to make Amendment 1 law in the state of North Carolina.
Amendment 1 was not merely a ban on same sex marriage, which was already outlawed in North Carolina. It is a amendment to North Carolina’s constitution which bans legal unions other than between one man and one woman. According to ballotpedia:
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Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State. This section does not prohibit a private party from entering into contracts with another private party; nor does this section prohibit courts from adjudicating the rights of private parties pursuant to such contracts.
In other words, under North Carolina’s constitution, same sex couples will not be recognized in any form. This is not for lack of trying by more enligtened North Carolinians.
For example, dailytarheel.com reports:
In Orange County, 79 percent of voters voted against the amendment. Orange county recorded a nearly 44 percent voter turnout rate in the primary.
Conservatives managed to garner enough support for this measure with a little help from the Neo Nazi group, World Wide White Pride which supported the measure in the name of preserving the caucasion race. That’s exactly the argument Jodie Brunstetter, wife of State Senator Peter  Brunsletter used when justifying her support for the measure.
In fact, according to the Huffington Post, Mrs. Brunstetter said
The reason my husband wrote Amendment 1 was because the Caucasian race is diminishing and we need to uh, reproduce.
To be sure, Mrs. Brunstetter’s comment makes you want to take a shower. There are more comments and actions by conservatives that have a similar effect.
There was the time audience members booed a gay soldier during a candidates debate.
In response to a question about DADT (and waiting until the audience stopped booing the man who asked it)Â former Presidential candidate, Rick Santorum had this to say:
I would say, any type of sexual activity has absolutely no place in the military,†he said. “And the fact that they’re making a point to include it as a provision within the military that we are going to recognize a group of people and give them a special privilege to — to — and removing “don’t ask/don’t tell†I think tries to inject social policy into the military. And the military’s job is to do one thing, and that is to defend our country.
Then there’s pray the gay away Michelle Bachmann. She explains how same sex couples can get married. Courtesy of the Washington Post:
“They can get married,†Bachmann responded, “but they abide by the same law as everyone else. They can marry a man if they’re a woman. Or they can marry a woman if they’re a man.â€
Then there is Dominic Dieter, the “screw your daughter straight guyâ€Â who later made one of those “if anyone was offended apologies.
Aside from the homophobic statements, Conservatives oppose anti bullying legislature because such laws would somehow impose the so called homosexual agenda in the schools. Seriously. Watch it explained in this video, courtesy of Think Progress.
So, aside from supporting a ban on same sex marriage; seeking to reinstate Don’t Ask Don’t tell to send gay members of the Military back to the closet; spending money we supposedly defending the Defense of Marriage act while cutting programs to feed and educate our children and giving a nod and a wink to bullying the gay away, the GOP doesn’t have any issues with the LGBT community at all.
On the positive side, the President announced that he supports same sex marriage. During an interview with ABC’s Robin Robert’s, President Obama said:
I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.
See Jason Easley’s report for more details.
Conservatives say there is no war on the LGBT community, but there certainly is one. It’s proven in the policy, and backed up by ugly rhetoric from homophobes and Neo Nazis. In addition, Senator Peter Brunsletter’s wife’s comment lends credence to the theory that the passage of Amendment 1 in North Carolina is the Trojan Horse meant to clear the path for similar limitations of marriage rights.
Image from comingoutjournal
Former contributor.
