An MSNBC panel laughed at a conspicuously sexist and homophobic joke regarding Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) over the weekend while attacking his proposed 15-week abortion ban. Host Stephanie Ruhle joked that Graham has no business speaking on abortion because, she alleged, he’s a closeted homosexual and hasn’t ever seen women’s private parts.
Ruhle’s panel on the Friday episode of The 11th Hour included Nancy Giles from CBS Sunday Morning, CNBC’s Ron Insana, MSNBC columnist Liz Plank, and comedian and podcaster Judy Gold. They all laughed at her joke, which was in extremely poor taste.
“Why do this? Republicans don’t even support it across the board. He’s dividing Republicans. It’s not like you can get white evangelical voters to vote for you twice,” Ruhle said. “And now they’re knocking out a ton of other potential new voters.”
“And, the fact that he is telling women what to do with their bodies,” Gold claimed. “Go for it.”
Gold was not done. “He’s never seen a vagina! He’s never seen a naked woman!” she quipped, referencing longstanding rumors that Graham, a 67-year-old bachelor, is secretly homosexual. Naturally, the tolerant and open-minded panel had a big laugh about it.
This is hardly the first time the left has made homophobic wisecracks about the senator. Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki mocked Graham back in 2020, as a CNN contributor. She referred to him as “Lady G” when he was questioning Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates during her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the Trump-Russia hoax.
The tweet is still up:
only in 2020 does #LadyG get to push a bunch of debunked conspiracy theories while questioning @SallyQYates (aka an American hero)
— Jen Psaki (@jrpsaki) August 5, 2020
The truth is that making homophobic jokes about Republicans is a Democrat pastime. In 2018, Jimmy Kimmel hurled blatantly homophobic jokes at Sean Hannity on Twitter. The LGBT rights group GLAAD, usually willing to pounce on anything even slightly resembling homophobia, was curiously silent about it. And that’s really the problem, isn’t it? The oversensitive left cries foul over anything that could be considered even vaguely homophobic. Don’t want drag queens reading to toddlers? You’re a homophobe! Don’t want pornography in schools? You’re a homophobe! Didn’t believe Jussie Smollett was actually assaulted in the middle of the night by Trump supporters? You’re a homophobe! Do you still laugh at 1980s comedies? You’re a homophobe!
At a time when the slightest thing could trigger accusations of homophobia (or transphobia, for that matter) it’s curious that jokes that would otherwise trigger the outrage mob and generate massive calls for cancellation are just fine, as long as they are directed at conservatives. Joy Behar learned this the hard way last year, after she sparked some backlash for making a joke about Carl Nassib, the first openly gay active NFL player. “After they said ‘penetration in the end zone,’ they lose me,” Behar said. Most of her co-hosts laughed (it was actually a funny joke), but of course, she was criticized and she later walked it back. Had Nassib been a Republican, it would have been completely different.
There are many more examples, and they all point to the same undeniable fact: Democrats have a casual alliance with homophobia. They’ll wrap themselves in the rainbow flag and virtue signal their tolerance until they’re blue in the face, but they occasionally let their true feelings show.
