Randy Forbes Again Prostitutes Himself to the Christian Rught

As I've noted on this blog before, local Virginia Congressman Randy Forbes (pictured at left) was a law school classmate of mine.  Back in law school, Forbes seemed normal and certainly did not come across as a religious extremist or someone seething with anti-gay hatred.  Yet since his election to first to the Virginia General Assembly and later to Congress, his behavior suggest that either (1) The Family Foundation worked some sort of "Stepford Wife" transformation on him,  (2) he perhaps suffered some sort of head trauma that has caused a nasty personality transformation, or (3) his a lying, pandering whore to the Christofascists.  In that latter regard, nowadays, Forbes' nose is so far up the Christianists' butt cheeks, it is literally a wonder that the man doesn't suffocate. Not to mention that he more and more acts as if he were one of the closeted self-loathing closet cases of the type noted in the University of Rochester study earlier this year on homophobes.  In keeping with his virulent religious extremism, contempt for the religious freedoms all citizens and self-prostitution to the ugliest Christianist groups, Forbes came out foaming at the mouth over the participation of uniformed service members in the San Diego Pride parade over this past weekend.   Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot:

Congressional Republicans challenged Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Tuesday to explain why the Defense Department allowed active-duty troops to wear their uniforms while marching in San Diego’s gay pride parade last weekend.

Rep. J. Randy Forbes, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, issued a statement condemning the waiver. Forbes represents parts of Virginia, including Chesapeake.

“I am calling on the Defense Department to halt these dangerous exceptions to policy for political purposes,” Forbes said. “This decision was an outrageous and blatantly political determination issued solely to advance this administration’s social agenda.” 

Inhofe, who serves on the Armed Services Committee, also pointed out that administrative action has been taken against service members who have violated the rule.

“If the Navy can punish a chaplain for participating in a pro-life event or a Marine participating in a political rally, it stands to reason that the Defense Department should maintain the same standard and preclude service members in uniform from marching in a gay pride parade,” Inhofe wrote.

If Forbes and Inhofe bothered to do their homework - admittedly a novel concept for Republicans -  rather than merely repeating the script given to them by certified anti-gay hate groups, they'd know that most Pride organizations are 501(c)(3) charitable organizations that do not engage in political events (I'm on the board of directors of HR Pride which is such a charitable organization).  Apparently, to the Neanderthals in the GOP and their Christianist puppet masters, any time a gay citizen participates in a community event in uniform, it somehow becomes political.  As for Inhofe's lame comparison of non-profit pride organizations which do ZERO lobbying for legislative action to abortion rights organizations and political events, the man shows that he's either a bigot or and idiot - or more likely both.  Ditto for Randy Forbes.