I was thinking about the Republican debate last night the notion ran through my mind - "these suckers aren't anything but cocktail canape. If you wanna talk about an elected official who inspired fury, hate, and love, let's talk Jesse Helms."
A lot of the younger lgbt folks don't remember the five-term Senator from North Carolina and it's just as well. He was a nasty vicious racist, and above all, homophobic. In fact, his homophobia was so extreme, he would make Peter LaBarbera a gay icon. He has a certain place in history via his fight against AIDS funding in the 80s (amongst other things, i.e. the "damn lesbian" comment during the 1993 confirmation hearing of Roberta Achtenberg.)
The following video below is a trailer from Dear Jesse, a documentary which came out in 2007, a year before Helms died. It was created by gay filmmaker Tim Kirkman. Just imagine someone like Helms in the Senate today:
A lot of the younger lgbt folks don't remember the five-term Senator from North Carolina and it's just as well. He was a nasty vicious racist, and above all, homophobic. In fact, his homophobia was so extreme, he would make Peter LaBarbera a gay icon. He has a certain place in history via his fight against AIDS funding in the 80s (amongst other things, i.e. the "damn lesbian" comment during the 1993 confirmation hearing of Roberta Achtenberg.)
The following video below is a trailer from Dear Jesse, a documentary which came out in 2007, a year before Helms died. It was created by gay filmmaker Tim Kirkman. Just imagine someone like Helms in the Senate today:
On second thought instead of imagining a senator like Helms in Congress today, check out this adoring testimonial of Helms by Texas Senator Ted Cruz. It certainly gives one something to think about (or have nightmares over) seeing that Cruz is presently running for president.
