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 Annual Gun Rights Convention Vents Homophobic Rage Rosie O'Donnell called 'A Freak' for Her Honest Stance |
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By Stephanie Donald
Debbie Schlussel, a frequent guest on The Howard Stern Show and an avid supporter of the NRA referred to O'Donnell when she said, "She's not cool. She's a freak." Schlussel went on to bash actor Jude Law who recently admitted in an interview that he hesitated to handle a gun in the filming of his latest movie fearing it would contribute to people thinking guns were cool. Schlussel referred to the heterosexual Law as a "girly-man". Kelly Anne Conway, a conservative pollster, droned on for some time about how the "liberal" media has forced changes in the public school curriculum that put gay and lesbian tolerance ahead of the basic studies of math, English and History. "They're so worried now about how many mommies Heather has that (the teachers) run out of time" Conway went on to state venomously that gay and lesbian issues aren't important to "real" Americans. Grover Norquist, an NRA Board Member and columnist for American Spectator Magazine, not to be outdone, put forth the barb; "we don't have annual parades for gun owners so everyone can appreciate that gun ownership is an alternative lifestyle and look at how great we are." He also quipped that liberal Americans "don't want (men) to date women." Most of the homophobic remarks were made during the panel discussion with the 40,000 people who were in attendance at the annual convention. The panel was moderated by Susan Howard, former star of the television show Dallas. The homophobic tirade by each of the panel members was cause to register laughter and applause by the audience who were mostly made up of middle-aged hunters and gun enthusiasts who are all members in good standing of the NRA. Also in attendance was Tom Boyer, President of the Pink Pistols, a gay pro-gun group from San Francisco. Boyer left the panel discussion shortly after the gay bashing began. He promised to take the matter of the gay bashing up with "NRA Brass" at their next general meeting. He said for the most part he found his acceptance at the conference to be warm and friendly. He noted that the Director of the NRA came up to him and asked what he could do for the Pink Pistols. "So there's certainly an outreach effort," he noted. David Smith, Communications Director for the Human Rights Campaign, responded to these homophobic remarks by noting that he "failed to see the purpose of these vicious attacks and what they have to do with gun ownership." He went on to add: "The anti-gay remarks made at the NRA Conference in Reno, Nevada are indeed unfortunate and maliciously attacked the gay and lesbian community for no reason whatsoever. Why would gay bashing be a central issue of a gun conference?" Jubi Headley of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said:
When asked about Kelly Anne Conway's allegation at the NRA convention about public education suffering from diversity teaching, Headley responded, "You know, I'd love to meet with National Educators and find out if they even have programs to educate students about diversity and certainly whether such programs are causing students to fail learning the basics of education. I think that every suggestion of diversity education has been defeated almost every where nationwide." Headley believes that we've entered an age of all-out cultural war. "The first battle we need to win is to defeat the frame of thinking that says if you aren't conservative then you're gay." He added that he believes that the elections this fall will be won by those who center their campaigns around progressive issues. "I truly believe that candidates who take up gay and lesbian issues will prevail this fall." |
