Duck Dynasty Bigot Suspended by A&E

I never cease to be amazed at how the Neanderthals of the far right feel that they have a license to say any kind of horrible and untrue thing they want about gays.  No other minority in this country is such open game for overt hate and bigotry - even white supremacists have learned some level of decorum as to where they unleash their racists vitriol.  But not so with the homophobes.  A case in point is "Duck Dynasty" star (if star is the correct term) Phil Robertson who let loose with a rant in an interview in GQ Magazine.  Thankfully, A&E was not amused and suspended Robertson's bigoted and prejudiced ass.  Not surprisingly, the usual hate merchants are crying foul.  What's truly foul is the hate and bigotry that comes from the "godly folk."  It is little wonder that less than a third of the Milennials see clergy as honest and why a third of them no longer identify with institutional religion.  The New Civil Rights Movement looks at the Robertson saga.  Here are highlights:

A&E’s popular reality series “Duck Dynasty” has just entered the culture wars. The father of the clan, Phil Robertson, told GQ Magazine in an interview published today that being gay is illogical. The 67-year old Louisiana patriarch also compared homosexuality to bestiality, adultery, prostitution, alcoholism, lying, stealing — and terrorism. He also, unsurprisingly, says gay people are not going to heaven.

“It seems like, to me, a vagina—as a man—would be more desirable than a man’s anus,” Robertson says. “That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer.

GLAAD is speaking out, calling the comments “littered with outdated stereotypes and blatant misinformation.” And they’re talking with A&E about it.

Robertson’s “statement is far outside of the mainstream understanding of LGBT people,” GLAAD, in a press release notes. “In Louisiana, which passed a constitutional amendment banning marriage equality, 56% of the population support some sort of legal recognition, marriage or civil unions, for gay and lesbian couples according to Public Policy Polling released in August 2013.”

“Phil and his family claim to be Christian, but Phil’s lies about an entire community fly in the face of what true Christians believe,” GLAAD spokesperson Wilson Cruz says. “He clearly knows nothing about gay people or the majority of Louisianans – and Americans – who support legal recognition for loving and committed gay and lesbian couples.

Unfortunately, Robertson is becoming more and more representative of the types of individuals who make up the Republican Party base.