Only in America
Only in America would we find one Republican candidate for president criticizing another Republican candidate for president for not being homophobic enough. And for once the big mouth isn’t Donald Trump. This time, Donald Trump is the target and Ted Cruz the bigot throwing accusations at his opponent.
It is interesting to note that Cruz had nothing to say negatively about Trump when the New York real estate guru and presidential candidate said that Mexicans were rapists. Nor did Cruz blink an eye when Trump mocked a disabled reporter or said that all Muslim Americans should be banned from the country.
In the last televised Republican debate, however, Cruz worked overtime to call out his political rival for his views on homosexuals in the military.
He said: “There are many, many wonderful, wonderful working men and women in the state of New York.
“But everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro-abortion or pro-gay marriage, focused around money and the media.
“Not too many years ago, Donald did a long interview with Tim Russert. And in that interview, he explained his views on a whole host of issues that were very, very different from the views he’s describing now.
“Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan. I’m just saying.”
No doubt few Republicans, and even fewer Democrats, remember the interview Cruz referenced, since it was delivered back in 1999, 17 years ago. The Donald was appearing on Meet the Press hosted by Russert when Trump signaled that he had no issue with gay people serving in the military.
Asked about gay soldiers, Trump says: “I mean, hey, I lived in New York City and Manhattan all my life, OK? So, you know, my views are a little bit different than if I lived in Iowa perhaps, but it’s not something that would disturb me.”
There was no mention of Trump’s assertion last year that any undoing of gay-marriage was impossible.
During an interview, when asked if same-sex marriage was a “dead issue for the GOP”, he replied: “Some people have hopes of passing amendments, but it’s not going to happen.
“Congress can’t pass simple things, let alone that. So anybody that’s making that an issue is doing it for political reasons. The Supreme Court ruled on it.”
While having a slightly better record on LGBT rights than his competitors in the Republican presidential race, Trump is hardly a friend of the community. More likely to turn the other cheek than he is to support gay rights, Trump has said in the past that he would not use his Presidential power to veto the First Amendment Defense Act.
That’s the bill that would ban the federal government from taking any action whatsoever against a person who “believes or acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.”
Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, Dr. Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, former Senator Rick Santorum, and former Governor Mike Huckabee has all signed a pledge to back the act, should it become law.
Although Trump did not sign, and doesn’t favor the bill, he will not veto it should it become law.
Maggie Gallagher of the American Principles Project , a lobbyist who previously ran the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage, revealed that Trump has assured her he would not veto the law.
She told EWTN: “It’s a piece of legislations that will protect gay marriage dissenters from being punished by our own government because we do not agree with gay marriage.
“The good news is two of the top three Republican candidates have agreed to prioritize passing FADA in their first 100 days in office.
“Donald Trump at least said he would not veto the legislation, but would not commit to passing it.”
Let homophobia reign.
Photo Credit: bbc.com
