Sen. Gazelka to Bradlee Dean: Gay marriage ban supporters aren’t bigots
Tuesday, May 03, 2011 at 11:38 am
- 24 Comments
Republican Sen. Paul Gazelka was a guest on Bradlee Dean‘s Saturday evening radio program to talk about the amendment to put a ban on same-sex marriage into the Minnesota Constitution. Over the course of the program, which is part of Dean’s controversial ministry, You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, Gazelka spoke about activist judges and concerns that Republicans might be labeled “homophobes” or “bigots.” Dean and sidekick Jake McMillian said that homosexuals are criminals and America will be destroyed if homosexuality isn’t criminalized.
“We want you to cover this topic of the marriage amendment,” McMillian said to Gazelka. “The immoral crowd, a lot of folks don’t want to see this happen.”
“I would not call it the gay-marriage bill; it’s a defense of traditional marriage bill,” Gazelka responded, adding that it simply defines marriage as between one man and one woman, and it protects marriage from the judiciary branch.
“It’s been just known that that’s the definition, but over the last series of years activist judges around the country have just arbitrarily thrown out those marriage laws and said they were unconstitutional,” said Gazelka, pointing to the decision in Iowa several years ago.
“We feel like this is going to be a choice, made by a handful of judges, a handful of legislators or the people of Minnesota.”
Gazelka won his seat by defeating fellow Republican Sen. Paul Koering, who was the state’s only openly gay Republican elected official. Anti-gay groups campaigned heavily in the district to help Gazelka win.
McMillian said, “You and your colleagues that are in support of this are not scared of anything. You’re saying, ‘Hey, let’s bring it to the public.’ You notice the other side, and I’m talking about the immoral crowd, what they want to do is legislate away law and create new rights that never existed.”
He said it was happening “because the church laid down, if you will, when they said ‘Well, the judge said sodomy was OK’ and that was the first infringement on the law.”
He continued, “I support what you are doing because I believe it’s right, and I think the people will realize where law comes from: It comes from God.”
Gazelka said that a poll from the Minnesota Family Council and the National Organization for Marriage showed that people want the measure on the ballot.
“We have had done some polling within the last 6 months — first of all, whether or not people want to vote on this amendment — around 75 percent that want the opportunity to vote. It’s a lower number that wants to vote for it, but in the end it’s hard to predict,” he said, adding that Christian groups are more likely to vote for the amendment once it is one the ballot.
“But they are concerned about being labeled a homophobe and a bigot,” he said. “The Christian perspective should be about truth and love. It’s not being a bigot or a homophobe, but saying that marriage has limits.”
To that McMillian added, “I am a redeemed creature. Any homosexual can be a redeemed human being, but when it comes into lawless action it’s our duty as Christians to know what they law is and act on it.”
The Brainerd Republican said that the bill is expected to hit the Senate floor this week.
McMillian said, “We need to support guys like Sen. Paul Gazelka, Sen. Warren Limmer [the bill's author], and all the other senators that are out there supporting this bill.”
Dean said that conservatives shouldn’t care if people call them homophobes. “Conservatives that are afraid they might be called a homophobe. ‘Oh no! Somebody might be calling me names! Or how bout bigots, oh no!” he said. “Read the law and you’ll know who’s doing the hating. It’s them that are doing the hating. They did it to Jesus Christ. Are they not going to do that to you?”
Dean added, “We are exposing them for their lies against the righteous. [Homosexuality] has been illegal since the foundation of our country. It has been illegal. It’s the conceived sin of homosexuality. The end of sin is death and that’s exactly what [homosexuality] does.”
McMillian chimed in, “It’s against the law; sodomy is against the law. Homosexual unions are against the law.”
Dean added, “And until America gets there, they are going to be destroyed.”
The full exchange can be heard at the Sons of Liberty podcast page.
Follow Andy Birkey on Twitter24 Comments
Comment posted May 3, 2011 @ 12:10 pm
Which commandment is broken by being gay?
Straight people who commit adultery don’t lose the right to marry again, to have a spouse covered by insurance, etc.
Marriage has limits? How many times does Dean say Jesus allows a straight person to vow before God to be married until parted by death, and then break that vow with adultery – and (as with Newt) still be considered some kind of moral authority?
Garbage.
Comment posted May 3, 2011 @ 12:24 pm
The court is stacked with Pawlenty appointees, so that argument about activist judges is hogwash. You want to talk about activist judges? How about Scalia, Alito, and Roberts? How about the Citizens United ruling that said corporations are individuals? That’s activism on the bench.
As a sidenote, I think Bradlee Dean is gay. That’s why he’s so staunchly against “homosexuality”. The people most vociferously against “the gays” are inevitably discovered with another guy in an airport restroom, or coming off an international flight with a young male escort, or busted in the restroom of a public park, or arrested for getting some action in the bathroom of a downtown Minneapolis department store.
Comment posted May 3, 2011 @ 12:51 pm
The solution, of course, is simplicity itself: If you don’t want to be labeled a homophobe or a bigot, then don’t do bigoted, homophobic things :)
Comment posted May 3, 2011 @ 1:11 pm
I think I am ready to explode now!
That load of crap came from a MN Senator????
Comment posted May 3, 2011 @ 1:55 pm
If Anti-Gay marriage opponets are not BIGOTS, then what are they? Nor can you call them HOMOPHOBES either!
Sad day for Minnesota indeed.
Comment posted May 3, 2011 @ 2:03 pm
I’m a little confused on a statement made by the “sidekick”. He states the following…
“Jake McMillian said that homosexuals are criminals and America will be destroyed if homosexuality isn’t criminalized”.
Um, hmmm, well, um….how can you call someone a “criminal” then in the same sentence say that the actions that make this person a “criminal” need to be “criminalized” because the actions that this “criminal” is undertaking is not currently “criminalized”. How does that make someone a “criminal”?
Can we name this phenomenon of zealots talking out their asses on issues that they have no knowledge of, the “Bachmann Effect”?
On a lighter note…”Annie are you ok, are you ok, are you ok Annie??!!!!
Comment posted May 3, 2011 @ 2:57 pm
I’ve heard republicans argue against a moral imperative based on a Christian argument that the government should provide for the needy (food, clothing shelter, etc.). Dean’s sidekick McMillian even said so much when Gov. Dayton allowed him to speak at the governor’s signing of the order to expand Medicaid in the state.
Yet now they think they should be able to call upon a moral imperative to deny equal rights to all citizens? How come the government should be allowed to do some things based on Christian philosophy but not others?
Bunch of bigoted hypocrites if you ask me.
Comment posted May 3, 2011 @ 3:00 pm
The charge of bigotry is the only reasonable response. Why? Anti-gay sentiment is an irrational prejudice, very often of a fearful, ignorant, angry and delusional Christian variety.
As we see continuously with the anti-gay organizations and individuals they can barely open their mouths without lying, repeating misinformation, citing bogus research, and concocting absurd scenarios about the collapse of society if two women hold hands while staring into each other’s eyes, make marital vows to each other on a sunny blue-sky MN Saturday in June, while their friends and family look on with tears of joy in their eyes as they witness the ritual of two people publicly committing themselves to mutual support through life, formally cementing another bond that strengthens us all in our communities.
Scary! We’re all doomed!
Or, maybe not.
What an ugly sight to see these religious zealots on the sidelines with their torches and chants, the hate in their eyes. Incapable of bringing more goodness into the world, they launch themselves on a crusade of holy madness, trying to stamp out the joy of others.
When all the smokey clouds of bigotry are dispersed, an innocuous reality comes into view–two lovers wanting to spend their lives together.
How can this be the downfall of society?
Comment posted May 3, 2011 @ 3:22 pm
I do not believe in God (or in the Easter Bunny). I am gay and my so-called Christian, loving church threw me out. I have a great job as a manager, am well-respected, loved by many and pay taxes. So please explain to me exactly why you should have rights and privileges that are denied to me? Because your interpretation of your Holy book, not even shared by many Christians has a couple of words against gays– along with 10,000 other rules that you conveniently ignore? Or is it tradition, like slavery? Please enlighten us.
Comment posted May 3, 2011 @ 3:32 pm
Gazelka: In favor of a Christian theocracy in America, very much to the contrary of the founding fathers. Truly monstrous.
Comment posted May 3, 2011 @ 4:22 pm
Well, Senator Gazelka, if you’re not a bigot or a homophobe, you must be a fanatical religious zealot. Peas in a pod, sir, peas in a pod.
Comment posted May 3, 2011 @ 4:37 pm
Anyone wishing to deprive or marginalize a group is bigoted. Looked it up Republicans:
Bigot – noun, a person who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion.
or
a person who is intolerant of any ideas other than his or her own, esp on religion, politics, or race.
and
Homophobic: irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals.
The shoe fits! You’re wearing it! BIGOTS and HOMOPHOBES! Just speaking the truth.
Comment posted May 3, 2011 @ 4:47 pm
Just as th3e soutehrn slavers and segregationists were not bigots.
That comment about not being bigots is just another lie by people so corrupted that they dont know the meaning of the word lie
All they are doing is denying their own bigotry, Its the latest in the hate bag of tricks from conservative churches who seem to forget that Jesus told us to love thy neighbor as thyself.
And who are these people for the most part – the catholic church of the endless hidden molestation of children all over the world. Which in their german born and brought up POpe UNexcommunicated a bishop Williamson, who was a holocaust denier. Who had been kicked out of the chruch of England.\
Go to http://www.catholicarrogance.org and http://www.nobeliefs.com/nazis for multiple exposes about the church – of Adolph hitler, still not yet excommunciated.
And the evangelical churches (for the most part), still wedded to the need to demonize some minority group Blacks, Jews, and now gays, to sell what they call love.
As if they even had a hint of what that word really means.
Comment posted May 3, 2011 @ 4:54 pm
John l,
Dean and McMillan routinely refer to gays as criminals, as in the are guilty the “crime” of “sodomy”. Dean is in denial that the Texas case was decided making sodomy laws unenforceble.
You clearly need to listen to Dean’s show more. Although, I’m afraid it may cause brain damage.
Comment posted May 4, 2011 @ 9:11 am
@CJM: I completely agree about Bradlee Dean. He is the classic closeted homophobe, in the tradition of Hoover, Roy Cohn, and any number of anti-gay ministers. I also think he may be in such deep denial he doesn’t even realize it himself (even when he and his sidekick are making out during commercial breaks).
Comment posted May 4, 2011 @ 9:37 am
Jesus defines ALL sin as lack of love (Mt.22:36-40). So what is unloving about a homosexual relationship? Who is unloved, hurt and ready to file suit?
Comment posted May 4, 2011 @ 11:13 am
reedit
‘Well, the judge said sodomy was OK’
why isnt it okay? the anus is an erogenous zone and anal orgasms are possible. i know of no male heterosexual, who being so aroused, would refrain from anal sex with a heterosexual female, who was also so aroused, because of issues about sin, or because of issues about feces.
surely we know that congress makes no laws honoring the attitudes of any religion.
i know of no witch hunt in any church that is attempting to ferret out heterosexuals who engage in anal sex. in fact among heterosexual believers, the common undertstanding is that what happens in the marriage bed is no one elses business.
yet when married homosexuals, who are attracted to each other in the same way, engage in the same activity, there is no ending of the ridcule.
sounds like bigotry to me.
Comment posted May 5, 2011 @ 8:28 am
sod·om·y/ˈsädəmē/
Noun: Sexual intercourse involving anal or oral copulation.
Ok, not to be crude or anything, Bradly dean only does Missionary position? Is he married? If not then he better dang well be a Virgin as well.
Comment posted May 6, 2011 @ 8:38 am
Just proves how SICK the GOP, and Right wing wackjob ARE……..hey, WHERE ARE thye JOBS??? ALL this just to bring out the Vote AGAINST Obama in 2012….that’s thier motivation…..to get those Uber-Right wing Fake Christians out to Vote against thier Own Interests & the Black guy who’s NOT like them.
Comment posted May 6, 2011 @ 11:08 am
“As you know the definition of marriage is a very personal one,” said Senator Warren Limmer. OK, Senator. If you admit that the definition of marriage is “very personal,” then it is immoral and UNJUST to legislate that only one definition of marriage carry legal rights and responsibilities!
Comment posted May 13, 2011 @ 9:19 pm
The truth is we are all sinners & we will all perish if we do not turn from our sinful ways & accept Jesus as our Savior. Some Christians, that are for Traditional Marriage, love you enough to tell you the truth because we don’t want our “neighbors” to live in hell for eternity.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. ”
God will forgive anyone for anything if they will turn to Him instead of pushing Him away because some imperfect person has offended you.
Comment posted May 14, 2011 @ 1:20 am
the us supreme court made homosexual conduct legal in this country ( lawrence vs kansas (?) decision — not all that long ago. this removed all anti-sodomy laws in every state that still had them on the books. so these guys are deliberately trying to confuse the public about that. this backlash is very strong all across the country now and closely tied to the tea party. we cannot take our liberties for granted, the threat is real and very serious. they absolutely want religious law to take over the US, and they absolutely want to kill us. right wing americans instigated the proposed law in uganda to execute gays. we have to get our representatives to stand up firmly to these folks and stop acting dismissive about them. pooh-poohing them just feeds their perceptions about “elitists” on the left. good for rep. simon! send him a grateful shout-out. ask him how we can stop michele bachmann from killing us lgbts because that is what she imagines the US Constitution is telling her to do. and these guys in this article seem to be telling all good christians to go out there and martyr themselves against abortion clinics and lgbts. how do we talk millions of them down from this lunacy??
Comment posted August 11, 2011 @ 10:53 pm
It’s sad that bigotry is actually excused these days. Just hide behind religion.
What if my belief was that people should marry within their race? Would any politician defend my beliefs?
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