Women's Rights Employment Law Blog

Is homophobia the new blatant racism of 21st century America? So far, it definitely seems like it is. And our president seems to be the leader of the pack that thrives on manipulating gay marriage issue for political purpose.

Just when Bush’s approval rating fell to a historic low among voters since his reelection, one would have assumed him to have a change of heart --also considering that Laura Bush and Mary Cheney definitely urged him to rethink on the issue.

But George W. instead chose to use the politics of hate and fear—those unique selling proposition of Republicans—to seek clues. And he found it among the white evangelicals among whom his support had plunged a remarkable 22 percent! And As Charlie Cook of The Cook Political Report says, “If he wants to stem his losses, he has to find something other than the war in Iraq and Katrina and gas prices and budget deficits for his voters to focus on.”

Astrid Fiano recommends a recent Rolling Stone National Affairs essay by Tim Dickinson which surveys how gay-bashing is a continuation in the historic roadmap of oppression. Dickinson quotes Gavin Newsom, the San Francisco Mayor, “The same rhetoric that’s being used today against the gay community was used then against interracial couples.”

The president's steadfast refusal to eliminate the historic oppression already has GOP candidates like Rick Santorum (R-Homophobe from PA) enjoying a field day in their homophobic strides. Santorum has described homosexual acts as part of a class of deviant sexual behavior that are “antithetical to a healthy, stable, traditional family”. And more infamously: "If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual (gay) sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything." And considering that this man is in fact the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, the number-three job in the party leadership of the Senate, we have someone else to worry about now.