Anti-Gay Lawmaker Predicts a Violent Backlash Against Gays Seeking Civil Rights

Posted by Pam Spaulding, Pam's House Blend at 2:13 PM on March 18, 2008.

My, my, these bigots are getting bold. Oregon recently passed legislation that prohibits housing and employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, but there is a repeal effort under way, and one of the three lawmakers leading the charge is State Senator Gary George (sen.garygeorge@state.or.us).

The local LGBT publication Just Out, managed to snare an interview with George, and he had quite a lot to say about the uppity homos. A snippet.

Just Out: What sort of special rights do you feel that the Oregon Equality Act offers?

George: First off, I thought that was a fabrication of definition, in the sense that you gave special rights, it picks out another group, a lifestyle group, and says hmm, you have all these protections. The main thing that bothered us with the whole bill was the fact that here we go again, adding one more class of people that need to have special rights.

Just Out: What if an employee is fired because of his/her sexual orientation or gender identity? Isn't the Oregon Equality Act in place to guard against such discrimination?

George: As an employer, I don't wanna hear about it. This workplace is for work purposes. My advice to the gay community is SHUT UP, just don't talk about it. If you walk around talking about what you do in the bedroom, you should be on the pervert channel.

Just Out: What is your reaction to the recent murders of out gay youth in Florida and California?

George:Obviously murder is murder, there's no excuse for that. Here's what I'm saying, I think we're seeing a backlash, in other words if you push me too hard don't be surprised if I react. Gays will tend to react violently if people are oppressive toward them. If gays are oppressive toward straights, then you'll see a violent backlash. You're going to have a point where these groups develop and say I'm tired of these special privileges.

Jesus. These are truly hateful people. You have to wonder what this man would do if he had a child who didn't' fit gender norms, or was gay/lesbian. This man is justifying the tragic deaths of people because of discomfort some have with extending basic civil rights to a group of taxpaying citizens. This is sick.

As Blender Lee said, "civil but firm messages can be sent to Senator George at sen.garygeorge@state.or.us."

Tagged as: homophobia, oregon, gary george

Pam Spaulding blogs at Pam's House Blend.