RNC Official Praises Russia's Anti-Gay Laws

Screenshot from Agema’s Facebook page - click image to enlarge

I get challenged often as to why I did not remain in the GOP and "work for change from within."  I have one principal response.  The first is that I am a realist and, given the current nature of the GO base, working from within is impossible.  And I am not a masochist.  Hence my decision to work against the GOP with a goal of hoping that repeated electoral defeats might at some point force the GOP to change.  But, back to why I left the GOP.  Dave Agema, National Committeeman for the Republican National Committee (RNC), has come out praising Russia's anti-gay laws as "common sense" with little or no care that the laws are encouraging violence against gays.  As The New Civil Rights Movement notes, Agema has an ugly history of spreading anti-gay lies and hatred.  Here are excerpts:

It was less than a year ago that the name Dave Agema drew national attention — and outrage. Agema had posted on his Facebook page a link to a website that labels gay people as “filthy,” claims the “median age of death of lesbians is 45 (only 24% live past age 65),” “Homosexuals are 100 times more likely to be murdered,” “25-33% of homosexuals and lesbians are alcoholics,” “50% of suicides can be attributed to homosexuals,” and “78% of homosexuals are affected by STDs.” And that is just a sampling.

Unlike most other politicians — and unlike any decent person — Agema (image, above, with his wife, via his Facebook page), not only refused to apologize or see the error of his actions, he steadfastly stood by his post and later comments, even when members of his own party were calling for his resignation.

Now, Agema is at it again.   Agema’s Facebook page  . . . shows a link to an article at the Illinois Family Institute, a group that appears on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of active certified anti-gay hate groups. The IFI is also affiliated with the American Family Association (another anti-gay hate group) and says it has a “working relationship with other Christian ministries like the Liberty Council and the Alliance Defending Freedom.”

That article offers full-throated support for President Vladimir Putin’s anti-gay laws, which have engendered an increase in anti-gay hate violence.  Agema offered simple commentary: “Common sense in Russia!”

Anti-gay groups  . . . . are flocking to support the policies of Vladimir Putin, merely because he opposes homosexuality.  It is a frightening barometer of the level of conservative anti-gay hate.

When I complain about such horrific anti-gay ideology in the GOP,  former GOP colleagues accuse me of being obsessed on "a single issue."  These people depict gays as near vermin, want to criminalize us and bar any recognition of our life partnerships.  Why would anyone sane want to work with these people?