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Republican Hopeful is called 'Guilty of Fomenting Hate' Triangle Foundation Blasts Candidate's Anti-Gay Crusade |
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Compiled By GayToday
Manchester, New Hampshire –Gary Bauer, campaigning here Monday in the Republican
Presidential primary, said that Vermont's Supreme Court decision requiring that gay
and lesbian couples be granted equal rights with heterosexuals, was not unlike
the behavior of terrorists.
Speaking to reporters at his campaign headquarters, he said: "I think what the Vermont Supreme Court did last week was in some ways worse than terrorism.'' Arresting persons said to be linked to terrorists is laudable, Bauer continued, "I think we all celebrate anytime terrorism is thwarted.'' He said he saw the Vermont High Court's move as "a judicial decision that attacks America's deeply held values.'' He expressed his dismay that other GOP candidates had remained mum on the subject.
None of these GOP candidates, however, have pushed the envelope as far as has Gary Bauer, accusing the Vermont Supreme Court of committing an act "worse than terrorism." Jeffrey Montgomery, Executive Director of Michigan's Triangle Foundation replied to the candidate: "Bauer is fanning the flames of current terrorist-fever. Especially now, when the government is warning people against possible terrorists attacks, and people are being arrested at our borders as terrorist suspects. "Bauer is, once again, agitating against gays and lesbians. Bauer's scolding is only the latest in his irresponsible and dangerous fanatical crusade. "It's the kind of nutty statement we have come to expect from extremists on the right. He only continues his habit of muttering despicable, mean ravings which attempt to rouse people into action against gay people. "Typically, this is accomplished by demonizing gays and giving comfort and encouragement to unstable people who need little excuse to harm, maim or kill us." Montgomery, a gay spokesman for the national anti-violence movement, has been a frequent critic of Bauer and the would-be candidate's excess of anti-gay speech. In 1998, Montgomery helped spearhead a massive protest against Bauer when he appeared in Michigan days after the murder of Matthew Shepard. Montgomery and the 300 demonstrators called Bauer and his ilk responsible, in part, for the increase in anti-gay crimes and killings.
These groups laid the blame for such murders as Matthew Shepard's at the feet of Bauer. They initially made their views known on local radio stations and in the Gannett newspaper, Florida Today. . |
