Lesbian couple has South Dakota legislator in a writing flurry about anal sex

Hickey

What do you do when you are a South Dakota legislator and pastor who finds out that a lesbian couple will be challenging your state's anti-marriage equality law? Well if you are Republican Steve Hickey, you write a 600 word letter-to-the editor mainly talking about anal sex between gay men.

I kid you not. From Talking Points Memo:

When he learned that South Dakota is poised to become the latest state to face a legal challenge against its same-sex marriage ban, Steve Hickey was inspired to take action. The Republican state House representative and pastor submitted a letter to the editor this week to the Argus Leader, South Dakota's largest newspaper. He titled it "A One Way Alley for the Garbage Truck" and challenged the "medical and psychological communities" to weigh in on the matter.

 . . .  "Certainly there are board-certified doctors in our state who will attest to what seems self-evident to so many: gay sex is not good for the body or mind," he wrote. "Pardon a crude comparison but regarding men with men, we are talking about a one-way alley meant only for the garbage truck to go down. Frankly, I’d question the judgment of doctor who says it’s all fine."

According to Talking Points Memo, at the present time the opinion writer who either accepts or rejects letters to the editor,  Brenda Wade Schmidt, has not given a decision on whether the letter will be published. She said there are concerns about its length and appropriate language. To tell the truth, I found the letter to be a bit dull.

Talking Points Memo interviewed Hickey about the letter, which is posted in its entirely on his Facebook page:

 Hickey told TPM on Wednesday he was driven to write the letter after Nancy Robrahn and Jennie Rosenkranz, a lesbian couple from Rapid City, S.D., announced their intention to become the first state residents to challenge its gay marriage ban. The couple was married on Saturday in Minnesota in a wedding that was officiated by Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, setting the stage for South Dakota to become the 29th with a marriage equality court case.

 . . .  In his phone interview with TPM, he acknowledged that heterosexual couples "absolutely" participate in anal sex, too, but then proceeded to focus squarely on the "health of homosexuality." He wrote in the letter that "historically, homosexuality has been a notable marker of the downfall of past civilizations" and he told TPM that gay marriage will cause society to "decline morally." Yet, he insisted it's really a public health issue. Hickey told TPM it's obvious that anal sex isn't good and urged the medical community to back him up. But he's dismayed that doctors are, according to him, discouraged to tell the truth.

And this, boys and girls, is why we win. Not only can't our opponents not see past their fevered imaginations of gay male sex, but they are in clueless dismay to the fact that not only us but the rest of decent society has.

This isn't Hickey's first swing against lgbt equality. In January, he sponsored a bill which would allow businesses to deny services to anything that would be against the business owners' “sincerely held religious beliefs." At the time, he was quoted as saying that gay rights would take the United States down the road of Iraq.