Before running for office, [Dean] Young cut his teeth as a social-conservative advocate and spokesman for then-District Judge Roy Moore, who became a right-wing icon for keeping a stone sculpture of the Ten Commandments in his courthouse. "Either you get your lives straight or you get back in the closet where you came from," Young told gay rights activists at a 1996 rally in support of Moore. "The people of Etowah County are going to stand against the homosexual lifestyle and against things that are against the laws of God," he added.
At another rally at Moore's courthouse one year later, Young said of homosexuality, "If animals tried it, they would get bit." (According to biologists, animals try it all the time.) He added, "We love all homosexuals, but we don't appreciate their lifestyle. To the homosexuals who will not change, you are not welcome here in Etowah County or in the state of Alabama." [...]
Young justified his position in 2002 by noting that under the state's anti-sodomy statute, gay sex was technically a felony. Speaking out against the gay "lifestyle," he said, "is no different than speaking against murder and other crimes. It breaks the law of Alabama to have homosexual conduct and is against the laws of nature and nature's God." [...]
At a debate in October [2013], Young warned that America's days were numbered unless it took dramatic steps. "We are witnessing the end of a Western Christian empire," he said. "We will see the end of this nation if we don't do something, and do it fast." He summed up his views on stem cell research thusly: "Stem cell research, they tell me that fat has the same thing and there is plenty of fat here. We don't mess with babies." (The idea that fat cells could be a stand-in for embryonic stem cells is still being researched.)
Dean Young is running for Congress in Alabama. The special election primary is today. If Dean Young wins the primary tonight, he will likely be in Congress soon... And he'll replace Jim Wheeler and the Washoe County Republican Party as "Top G-O-TEA Crazy of the Week". At least this will be good news for Nevada Republicans?
Probably not. After all, this is only further proof of how radically out of touch the G-O-TEA is with the rest of the nation. Voting for slavery, decrying the reality of working women, and comparing LGBTQ people to murderers really don't make for good "minority outreach".
Why does this feel so familiar? Oh, yes. That's right. We've seen this crazy train before.
Believe it or not, attempts to dehumanize entire swaths of people don't make for good "minority outreach", either. Yet throughout this year's debate on comprehensive immigration reform (CIR), the G-O-TEA Culture Warriors have constantly attacked American families and berated entire communities. And now, they have the gall to complain about civil rights issues being "distractions from real issues"...
Like what?! Like another G-O-TEA induced manufactured crisis? Or perhaps another battle in the G-O-TEA's War on Women? Or maybe another round of spreading Obamacare misinformation? It certainly can't be "#4jobs", as the G-O-TEA's beloved austerity programs kill jobs.
This isn't helping. No really, this penchant Republican "leaders" have for leading the charge on all this G-O-TEA Culture War nonsense while dropping the ball on actual governance is only hurting the Republican Party going forward. We've been saying this repeatedly here. And we'll probably have to continue saying this for the foreseeable future, as Republican "leaders" just can't stop drinking that toxic "TEA".
We're still wondering what it will take for the Republican Party to make peace with the reality of 21st Century America, but we certainly know what won't help. When will they finally get that memo?
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