Over the weekend, liberals took to Twitter, mocking Congressman Steve Scalise (R-La.) for his “homophobic” and “anti-gay” views on marriage. Liberals gloried in the fact that one of the Capitol Police officers who took a bullet saving him was none other than a married lesbian black woman. Scalise remains in a “serious” medical condition, slightly less dangerous than his earlier “critical” condition.
“The universe doesn’t joke around. The officer who saved bigoted, homophobic Rep. Steve Scalise during baseball practice was a black lesbian,” tweeted George Takei, an actor best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek television show.
The universe doesn't joke around. The officer who saved bigoted, homophobic Rep. Steve Scalise during baseball practice was a black lesbian.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) June 17, 2017
The “homophobic” slur comes from Scalise’s support for traditional marriage. The liberal Daily Kos listed the Republican’s myriad sins against LGBT orthodoxy: he authored a constitutional amendment to protect marriage, voted to amend the Constitute to define traditional marriage, voted to “protect anti-same-sex marriage opinions as free speech,” and argued that the state definition of marriage supersedes federal gay marriage.
These positions may be out of favor among liberal activists, but they are still mainstream understandings of marriage — and the idea that Scalise is “homophobic” because he wanted to protect the free speech of people who oppose gay marriage is absurd.
The further suggestion that Scalise would be somehow offended or insulted at being saved by a lesbian black woman is also absurd, as Crystal Griner was part of the congressman’s protective detail.
But Takei and the Daily Kos were far from alone in attacking Scalise, and mocking him for being saved by a married lesbian cop.
Joy-Ann Reid, MSNBC host of the show “AM Joy,” tweeted that “Rep. Scalise was shot by a white man with a violent background, and saved by a black lesbian police officer, and yet…” he voted against gay marriage, for the House Republican health care bill, and supported a bill to repeal a semiautomatic weapons ban.
Rep. #Scalise was shot by a white man with a violent background, and saved by a black lesbian police officer, and yet… #AMJoy pic.twitter.com/Qm96T90c6Y
— AM Joy w/Joy Reid (@amjoyshow) June 17, 2017
“Crystal Griner risked her life to save SteveScaliese. She was comforted in the hospital by her wife. Scalise is against same sex marriage,” tweeted Elzie Lee “LZ” Granderson, a commentator for CNN and ESPN.
Crystal Griner risked her life to save @SteveScalise. She was comforted in the hospital by her wife. Scalise is against same sex marriage.
— LZ Granderson (@LZGranderson) June 15, 2017
“I hope Congressman Scalise has a full recovery & realizes a black lesbian police officer saved his anti-gay voting life,” comedian Dana Goldberg snidely tweeted.
I hope Congressman Scalise has a full recovery & realizes a black lesbian police officer saved his anti-gay voting life. #VirginiaShooting
— Dana Goldberg (@DGComedy) June 16, 2017
“The anti-gay white supremacist was saved by two black people, one of which was a lesbian,” tweeted Lisa Pease, a co-author of a book about the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X. Pease describes herself as a “JFK Democrat,” but clearly supports same-sex marriage, something the Catholic Kennedy did not.
The anti-gay white supremicist was saved by two black people, one of which was a lesbian. https://t.co/MpJY7vKgcE
— Lisa Pease (@lisapease) June 19, 2017
Although he did speak to a group founded by David Duke, a former grand wizard of the Klu Klux Klan, Steve Scalise emphatically disavowed such racist ideology in 2014.
A few Republicans shot back at these attacks. Outspoken Trump supporter American Mike tweeted, “Am i [sic] missing something? What makes Scalise anti-gay? Is it because he didnt [sic] want the word marriage appropriated?”
https://twitter.com/DeplorableMikeX/status/876505966400950278
Each of these attacks omitted the fact that the shooter, James T. Hodgkinson, was an outspoken Bernie Sanders supporter who posted that Trump was a “traitor,” adding: “It’s time to destroy Trump & Co.”
Yes, a white man shot Steve Scalise, but he was a Democrat, urged on by anti-Trump rhetoric. Yes, one of the heroes who was shot defending Scalise (who remains in serious condition by the way) is a black lesbian.
But this does not mean Scalise has to support gay marriage, and he is not a “homophobe” for refusing to do so. The fact that liberals are mocking this man and exaggerating his politics to make him seem hateful — while he struggles for his life in a hospital bed, a victim of the violent effects of such rhetoric — is utterly shameful and staggers belief.
Disagree with Scalise and his positions, but do not mock a man when he’s down, especially when exaggerating liberal rhetoric got him shot in the first place.
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