“They’re looking at Mayor Pete, 37-year-old gay guy, mayor of South Bend, loves to kiss his husband on the debate stage. And they’re saying, ‘OK, how’s this going to look, 37-year-old gay guy kissing his husband onstage next to Mr. Man Donald Trump? What’s going to happen there?’”
Rush Limbaugh
Last week controversial conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh drew bipartisan criticism when he suggested that America is “still not ready to elect a gay guy kissing his husband on the debate stage president.”
The 69-year-old conservative icon and longtime cigar smoker has been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, and his days are numbered. You’d think an individual diagnosed with a terminal disease would be contemplative and concerned with his legacy, and consequently be very careful about the words that he speaks to his weekly audience of 20 million.
But Limbaugh has a decades long history of making homophobic, racist and misogynist comments, and his pending mortality isn’t enough to make him curb his worst instincts.
Dinosaurs like Limbaugh are dying out, witness the fact that many leading conservatives criticized his homophobic remarks. Even President Donald Trump disagreed with Limbaugh’s assessment. When asked by radio host Geraldo Rivera if Americans were ready to elect a gay man to be president he replied:
“I think there would be some that wouldn’t, but I wouldn’t be among that group, to be honest with you. … It doesn’t seem to be hurting Pete Buttigieg … very much.”
Let’s examine Limbaugh’s vile comments:
“They’re looking at Mayor Pete, 37-year-old gay guy, mayor of South Bend, loves to kiss his husband on the debate stage.”
Limbaugh depicts Mayor Pete as an exhibitionist who loves to kiss his husband on the debate stage. Mayor Pete loves his husband, and he has every right to kiss him at home, or in public, though I’m not sure he has ever kissed him on the debate stage.
“And they’re saying, ‘OK, how’s this going to look, 37-year-old gay guy kissing his husband onstage next to Mr. Man Donald Trump?”
How’s it going to look? Very endearing that Mayor Pete has so much love and affection for his husband. That’s how it’s going to look. If only Trump would demonstrate affection for his wife.
Donald Trump, “Mr. Man”, really? Are we talking about Cadet Bone Spurs who was too cowardly to fight in Vietnam? Are you talking about the short-fingered vulgarian who is so insecure that he mocks and ridicules the physical appearance of his political rivals, including women? I’d rather have a beer with a real man like Pete Buttigieg, a veteran who has the courage to run as an openly gay presidential candidate, than with weak and insecure men like Limbaugh and Trump.