Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Anti-LGBTQ Congressman gives bizarre defense of rape and incest

Rep. Steve King
It always amazes me when folks accuse the LGBTQ community of all sorts of nasty things when more often than not, those who point the finger at us are the ones who should be watched.

Case in point,  Congressional Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). He has never been a friend of the LGBTQ community.

In 2010, he said that if we weren't open about our sexual orientation or gender identity, we wouldn't have a problem with discrimination.

In 2014, he defended anti-LGBTQ legislation from Arizona by claiming that homosexuality is "self-professed" behavior.

In 2015, he participated in an absolutely horrid anti-LGBTQ documentary created by long time religious right personality Janet Porter.

And he has been known to make homophobic jokes, such as in 2018 when he said he was hoping that SCOTUS justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor elope to Cuba.  Lastly, at the same event, he attacked his own party for endorsing a gay candidate in CA.

In addition to all of this, Rep. King has a history of making racist remarks. Earlier this year, that particularly controversy came to a head when he made arguments sympathetic to white supremacy during an interview. It led him to be stripped of his committee assignments. In February, several members of the anti-LGBTQ industry, including Porter and James Dobson, teamed up to defend King in hopes of helping get his assignments back.

However, I doubt they will be defending him after what he said on Wednesday.

According to the Huffington Post:
Racist Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said generations of people would not be here without rape and incest while making the case for anti-abortion legislation without exceptions for victims of those crimes. 
Speaking to members at the Westside Conservative Club on Wednesday, King argued that humanity would not have the population it does today if not for rape and incest, the Des Moines Register reported. 
“What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled out anyone who was a product of rape or incest?” King said. “Would there be any population of the world left if we did that? Considering all the wars and all the rapes and pillages that happened throughout all these different nations, I know that I can’t say that I was not a part of a product of that.” 
More from the Des Moines Register: 
The Kiron Republican was discussing his defense of not allowing exceptions for rape and incest in the anti-abortion legislation he tried to pass in Congress. Republican leadership had prevented bills he sponsored on banning abortions from advancing through the House, despite GOP support for the measures, King said.

As you would expect, King has been condemned all around, with several folks- including GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney - demanding that he resign.

Maybe Rep. King will be forced to resign because of this. However, if you ask me, I think he will be too stubborn to do the right thing and this entire incident will blow over until possibly election day 2020. Either way, this is yet another case of the LGBTQ community collectively sitting in our easy chairs and sipping our cups of tea while we observe yet another opposer of our equality pick up his cracked face from the ground.


'The New Hate Pastors' & other Wed midday news briefs

Steven Anderson

The New Hate Pastors - This is spookier and possibly more dangerous than mainstream religious right groups. If these pastors don't first self-destruct.

Christian conservative explains ‘deal with devil’ between Trump and evangelicals - You deal with you know who, you always get burned.

Republican official says the ‘sin’ of homosexuality kills gay men at age 42 - Just in case you didn't hear, anti-LGBTQ propaganda doesn't die so easily. 

Jake Shears on LGBTQ Acceptance in Music, Homophobia in the Industry and How Pop Is Changing - Well this is interesting. What do you think?