# So... what's with all the anti-gay people at the RNC convention? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 30, 2004, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222 "2004-08-30T13:28:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/1 "2004-08-30T13:28:50Z")
Wasn’t this supposed to be a lipstick on the pig convention? Here’s our opening invocation leader, Sherri Dow: [http://www.meridianmagazine.com/ideas/040310defendersprint.html](http://www.meridianmagazine.com/ideas/040310defendersprint.html) Her article “Defenders of the Faith” eventually slips into “Lining Up With Hitler or Against Him” (not joking) Here’s one of the guys they have doing the Pledge of Allegiance, performing the National Anthem, and delivering invocations and benedictions: [http://www.straightgate.net/marriage\_statement10-2003.html](http://www.straightgate.net/marriage_statement10-2003.html) > [@](#): > > This is outright recruitment of young people into this decadent lifestyle. Common sense tells us that if this lifestyle were to become the dominant choice of our culture, our culture would soon be extinct. > > We also find that the gay community’s attempt to tie their pursuit of special rights based on their behavior to the civil rights movement of the 1960’s -1970’s abhorrent. Being black is not a lifestyle choice. You can physically see and determine our heritage. We are a race of people. Whereas, regarding the gay community, people do not know what they do in the bedroom unless they publicize it. The civil rights struggle was based on the depriving of human beings the most basic human rights simply because of the color of their skin. Our opposition to the gay lifestyle is based on a behavior choice that endangers family, children, and the core of society. The attempt to push into mainstream society this decadent lifestyle and to brand those who oppose it as haters is simply wrong. One of the performers that the religious right is so, so happy about, Donnie McClurkin: [http://exodus.to/news\_2004\_0827.shtml](http://exodus.to/news_2004_0827.shtml) [http://www.cbn.com/700club/profiles/donnie\_mcclurkin2.asp](http://www.cbn.com/700club/profiles/donnie_mcclurkin2.asp) McClurkin says that homosexuality is “a curse,” and that gays "are trying to kill our children. Fawell, who has reminded people that he still believes that gay people caused 9/11, is an acredited VIP who claims that he still has Bush’s ear and meets with him a lot. > **[Christian Right not on GOP speech list / Convention to air moderate speakers...](https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Christian-Right-not-on-GOP-speech-list-2730183.php)** > > Don't expect to see the reverends Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson or Franklin Graham at the... ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/2 "2004-08-30T13:47:52Z")
Damn. And still there are gay republicans who will vote for Bush and don’t seem to care about this. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/3 "2004-08-30T13:57:40Z")
> [@Apos](#): > > Fawell, who has reminded people that he still believes that gay people caused 9/11, is an acredited VIP who claims that he still has Bush’s ear and meets with him a lot. Isn’t this the guy who fucked his mother in a outhouse 😉 ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/4 "2004-08-30T15:44:46Z")
Umm- they’re Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/5 "2004-08-30T15:57:48Z")
> [@5 time champ](#): > > Umm- they’re Republicans. I have known many Republicans who are for gay rights and not bigots. That kind of bullshit cheap shot is what feeds into the partisan backbiting on here. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/6 "2004-08-30T16:21:03Z")
> [@Mockingbird](#): > > I have known many Republicans who are for gay rights and not bigots. So did they, like, get their plank adopted into the party platform or something? ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/7 "2004-08-30T16:34:06Z")
> [@5 time champ](#): > > Umm- they’re Republicans. > [@Mockingbird](#): > > I have known many Republicans who are for gay rights and not bigots. > > That kind of bullshit cheap shot is what feeds into the partisan backbiting on here. Thank you **Mockingbird**. **5 time champ** , would you care to retract your snipe? ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/8 "2004-08-30T16:35:44Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > So did they, like, get their plank adopted into the party platform or something? LIKE, ohmigawd, obviously not. :rolleyes: As if A has to do with B. I was making a comment on a poster making a broad generalization which reinfores the polarization of the board. You in response support that crap by going to support the generalization. :wally Your sentence, such as it is, did not need the word like. Val speak is long dead. if Moon Unit Zappa could move on, so can you. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/9 "2004-08-30T17:31:45Z")
But what about Motorhead? No one ever thinks of Motorhead. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/10 "2004-08-30T17:42:36Z")
Oooh. **5 Time Champ** committed a fallacy of division. Get him! ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/11 "2004-08-30T18:14:44Z")
There were people complaining (was it you **Liberal**?) that it looked like the RNC was going to have speakers that made them seem more moderate than the party’s platform really is. I suppose it’s at least more honest for them be openly anti-gay than to act like they aren’t or ignore the issue. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/12 "2004-08-30T18:16:06Z")
> [@Mockingbird](#): > > I have known many Republicans who are for gay rights and not bigots. > > That kind of bullshit cheap shot is what feeds into the partisan backbiting on here. Yes, but as the OP, which you seem to be ignoring, points out the convention seems to showing an anti-gay side. This is strange behavior as a political convention will play to the center. Any ideas as to why the Republicans you know, the ones for gay rights, are not being heard at the convention for their party? ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/13 "2004-08-30T19:22:08Z")
**5 time champ** answered a factual question, no need to jump on him. What’s with all the anti-gay people at the Republican convention? Those anti-gay people are Republican, and therefore at the convention. Geez, guys. ---
**Author:** ![Genghis\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/45deac/32.png) [@Genghis\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genghis_Bob)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/14 "2004-08-30T19:34:41Z")
> [@LaurAnge](#): > > **5 time champ** answered a factual question, no need to jump on him. > > What’s with all the anti-gay people at the Republican convention? Those anti-gay people are Republican, and therefore at the convention. > > Geez, guys. That’s the way I read \*\*5 time champ’s \*\* post: they’re at the Republican convention, therefore they’re Republicans. If you read the title of his post and then the body as a dialogue, his meaning is clear. It’s word-play. That said, I figured it wouldn’t be long before somebody would take offense and come along to register their outrage. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/15 "2004-08-30T19:40:16Z")
> [@](#): > > So… what’s with all the anti-gay people at the RNC convention? Well, apparently, on this particular issue, that’s where they’ll find other clueless idiots like themselves. I mean, jeepers. According to the cites quoted by the OP, these folks apparently actually believe that other people, just, like decide to be gay, that their gayness is nothing more than a ‘lifestyle’, like, say, skateboarding or dressing like Mods or Rockers, that these people who decide to be gay do so simply to avoid the responsibility of raising a family (how that ties in with the movement to legalize gay marriage is totally unclear,but whatever), and worst of all, they’re trying to turn all us straight arrows into irresponsible gay people as well. Let 'em damn themselves with the words out of their own mouths, I say. Assholes. ---
**Author:** ![GLWasteful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@GLWasteful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GLWasteful)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/16 "2004-08-30T19:57:30Z")
Well, they couldn’t very well allow them to walk around NYC unattended. After all, there are homosexuals who desire nothing more than to bring them aboard. So keeping them in the convention seems to be the wisest course of action. Personally, I think that it’s cruel. They should let the bigots run free, where nature can take it’s course. ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/17 "2004-08-30T21:19:23Z")
> [@neuroman](#): > > Thank you **Mockingbird**. **5 time champ** , would you care to retract your snipe? Nope, unless the Republican Party would wish to retract it’s 2004 Campaign of Fear, Hatred and Ignorance? Sorry, the goddamned Republicans should have thought about this before they let the Party of Lincoln be hijacked by hate-mongers, before they perverted the word liberal into a vile perjorative, and before they led us into war so Shrub could be some glorious Man-on-Horseback. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/18 "2004-08-30T22:13:05Z")
> [@Apos](#): > > So… what’s with all the anti-gay people at the RNC convention? They were going to a Fred Phelps rally and got lost? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/19 "2004-08-30T22:30:14Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > There were people complaining (was it you **Liberal**?) that it looked like the RNC was going to have speakers that made them seem more moderate than the party’s platform really is. I suppose it’s at least more honest for them be openly anti-gay than to act like they aren’t or ignore the issue. That might make sense, if these were people who were well known to the national media as being anti-gay. AFAICT, the national media hasn’t a clue about Dow’s and McClurkin’s positions; seems like we’ve got to rely on bloggers to provide news, while the established media concentrate on fluff and rumor. And from the WaPo, you’d be forgiven if you had no clue that Falwell was even around. Actually, a lot of us have been pointing out the GOP’s ‘makeover’ at the Convention. Remember all those pro-life Catholic types who were raising a ruckus about how Kerry shouldn’t take Communion since he’s a pro-choice Catholic politician? They’re awfully quiet lately, despite a number of pro-choice Catholic politicians with prominent speaking roles at the GOP Convention. Apparently, it’s OK to be a baby-killer if you’re a Republican. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222/20 "2004-08-30T22:33:21Z")
> [@5 time champ](#): > > so Shrub could be some glorious Man-on-Horseback. Considering how much trouble he has with a simple bicycle, I’d pay good money to see him try a horse. If it’s one named Dynamite or Diablo, so much the better. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-with-all-the-anti-gay-people-at-the-rnc-convention/262222.md?page=2)