(Michael Key/The Washington Blade)
Linda Harvey has long been known around these parts as the most homophobic woman in America. Far above the rest of the Religious Right when it comes to expressions of hatred toward LGBT people, she makes Porno Pete look like a clown and the Westboro Baptist Church look like a kennel full of newborn lab puppies. Just recently, she urged her followers to try to turn the children of gay unions against their parents. She continually looks for loopholes in anti-bullying campaigns which will allow fevered wingnuts such as she to bully children with their spiritual beliefs. She believes that people shouldn’t be treated by gay doctors or nurses, or taught by gay teachers. She actually believes gays and lesbians should be disallowed from living our lives in the way we please, which is a strikingly un-American belief for a woman on the side of the political spectrum most known for carrying around pocket Constitutions.
In other words, I am rarely surprised by the depths of her hatred. I thought she had reached rock bottom last week in the story about encouraging people to turn kids against their gay parents, but at least that was a general attack on people. This is far worse.
Last week, a federal judge ordered Ohio state officials to recognize the out of state marriage of John Arthur and James Obergefell, who have been together for over twenty years. Mr. Arthur is dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease, and they married in Maryland recently. The judge ordered that Ohio officials record Arthur’s status as “married” on his death certificate. The men are obviously more than devoted to each other, a model of what marriage could and should look like for anyone, regardless of sexual orientation.
Ready for Linda to come in and exhibit the empathy of a common sociopath? Deep breaths. Here we go:
Ohio-based Religious Right activist Linda Harvey today expressed outrage that a district court judge ruled on behalf of a gay couple, who are both Ohio residents but were married in Maryland, against the state’s ban on same-sex unions. One of the men has Lou Gehrig’s disease and is seeking to have his partner listed on his death certificate as his surviving spouse and be buried in the same family plot.
Harvey called their lawsuit “nonsense” and charged that if the men wanted to be married, they should have married women: “There’s no discrimination or inequality, either of these men could be married to a woman.” She said that the couple is in a pretend marriage, just like a girl who pretends to be a doctor simply because she believes she is one:
“Can marriage just be what anyone thinks it is? Here’s a possible analogy. Sophie wants to be a doctor, she’s never gone to medical school but in her mind she’s qualified to treat patients, even perform surgery. But the law only allows the practice of medicine by those who have attended medical school, passed the state board exams and so on. But isn’t this unequal protection? Aren’t Sophie’s fantasies valid? She believes she should be allowed to practice medicine therefore the requirements to be a licensed MD are unconstitutional for her.”
Breathtaking cruelty, isn’t it? Just breathtaking. There’s no need to add another word of commentary, beyond the fact that if there’s still a contingent of people in the United States who view fundamentalist Christians as exemplars of love and goodwill, Linda sure does seem hellbent on stomping it out single-handedly.
Listen:
