Carl Paladino, the Tea Party-supported GOP candidate for governor of New York state, just one day before National Coming Out Day, spoke to several Orthodox Jewish organizations and attacked gay men and lesbians, the same day that eight members of a Bronx street gang were arraigned for anti-gay hate crimes including kidnapping, sodomy and robbery. Saying, “I don’t want [children] to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option. It isn’t,” Paladino went on to use gays to attack Andrew Cuomo, his Democratic opponent, saying, “I didn’t march in the gay parade parade this year — the gay pride parade this year. My opponent did. And that’s not the example that we should be showing our children, certainly not in our schools.”
There is no mistaking Paladino’s timing or intent. News of the anti-gay hate crimes, in which nine men are accused of stripping, beating, and sodomizing with a toilet plunger handle a seventeen-year old boy, and torturing another teen and then a thirty-year old man, have swept the nation. The gang leader of the nine men was accused in court yesterday of asking each of his victims before brutally beating them, “Is it true that you’re a fag?” His speeches also came one day before National Coming Out Day, an important event for the LGBTQ community, especially this year, after as many as ten gay, questioning, or perceived to be gay male teens were literally bullied to death in the month of September.
Paladino’s attacks on Sunday also included the statement, “I just think my children, and your children, will be much better off, and much more successful getting married and raising a family.” One line drawing particular scorn from gay rights groups, “There is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual. that is not how God created us,” was not spoken at the events.
Blogger Joe.My.God. reports on the author of Paladino’s prepared remarks. He writes, “It turns out that yesterday’s anti-gay speech by teabagger loon Carl Paladino was actually written by Rabbinical Alliance leader Rabbi Yehuda Levin, whose repulsive attacks on LGBT people have long been quoted on this blog.”
Paladino’s hate speech comes just three days after he aired a three-minute commercial in upstate New York that still has voters puzzled. After Paladino focused the gubernatorial race on his unsubstantiated claims that Cuomo had had an affair, Paladino, who himself fathered a daughter out of wedlock, said the race should be about the issues. In that same three-minute ad, Paladino then went on to mention Cuomo’s so-called love life, stating Cuomo’s “prowess is legendary.”
Empire State Pride Agenda, New York’s largest gay rights advocacy group, released this statement condemning Paladino’s speeches.
“In the wake of the hate crimes sweeping New York State, including the sickening abuse and torture experienced by three young men in the Bronx last weekend, and the rash of LGBT youth taking their own lives all across our country, it is unfathomable that Carl Paladino could espouse the homophobic position that the lives of gay New Yorkers are not as valid as his. Law abiding, tax-paying LGBT New Yorkers, and parents of LGBT children, should not have to worry that their governor will be siding with those who feel we are less than, that we are second class citizens living less valid lives than our neighbors. Apparently, Carl Paladino is fine with schools teaching that sentiment as well, and believes that to teach otherwise is brainwashing. Fortunately, what Carl Paladino calls brainwashing most New Yorkers call getting along.
“Will every New Yorker who fails to meet Carl Paladino’s personal morality code have to worry about being deemed invalid? Our extraordinary diversity is part of what makes New York great, and we will all need to work together to address the challenges we face in the coming years. This will be far harder if New Yorkers are divided or distracted by a governor and a government who are making judgments about whether or not some law abiding citizens are leading ‘valid lives.’”
Unwilling to backpeddle or apologize, Paladino then made the morning talk show rounds today. Via Huffington Post:
On “Good Morning America,” host George Stephanopoulos asked Paldino whether he believes “homosexuality is a choice.” “I’ve had difficulty with that,” he replied. “My nephew tells me he didn’t have that choice, and I believe it’s a very very difficult life for a young person. I believe that young people should not necessarily be exposed to that, without a really really mature background first so they can learn to do with it. It’s a very difficult thing, and I sensitize with it, totally.”
Paladino also dismissed concerns that his comments may have appeared insensitive at a time when the public’s attention has been drawn to LGBT suicides nationwide and brutal anti-gay hate crimes in New York.
“No, I think my comments were directed at the confusion people have had over this issue,” he said. “I wanted to clearly distinguish that my feelings about homosexuality were no different from those of the Catholic church. I’m a Catholic. … I only have one problem with homosexuality and that’s their desire to be married. And beyond that, I don’t have a problem whatsoever.”
On the morning shows, Paladino expressed his disgust with gay pride parades, saying on NBC that young people shouldn’t be exposed to watching “a couple of grown men grind against each other.” “I don’t think that’s proper,” he added. “I think it’s disgusting.”
It is important to note that Paladino made these remarks to religious organizations, stated his religion, and, to top it off, dubbed himself, “religious values candidate.”
Carl Paladino should remember that New York’s LGBTQ community, one of the largest in the country, is highly-influential, votes, and leads many of the industries that power New York.