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The virtual ink on Clay Aiken‘s morning press release announcing his candidacy for Congress is barely dry, and already the anti-gay attacks are coming in. Aiken, running for the U.S. Congress to serve the people of North Carolina, still has to win the Democratic primary, but that hasn’t stopped the Republican Congresswoman he would face in November from attacking him for being gay.
Ignoring Aiken’s heartwarming and beautiful video explaining why he’s running, Congresswoman Renee Ellmers, through her spokesperson Jessica Wood, released an email statement calling Aiken “a performer whose political views more closely resemble those of San Francisco than Sanford” — a clear anti-gay attack.
QNotes, a North Carolina-based LGBT news outlet that first reported the email from Ellmers’ spokesperson, adds that the email concluded Congresswoman Ellmers “best represents the values of the voters in the 2nd District and remains focused on fighting for their families.”
Because gay people don’t have families?
Aiken has a partner and the couple are raising a young son.
On her own campaign site, Ellmers writes, “I am pro-family. I believe that marriage is between one man and one woman.”
She also touts her support of bills like “H.Res.143 – Directing Speaker to take any and all actions necessary to defend DOMA.”
Think Progress notes that “Ellmers has a consistently anti-gay record. She opposed North Carolina’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage because it also banned civil unions, but she stillopposes same-sex marriage. She has supported bills to limit the religious freedom ofmilitary chaplains to officiate same-sex marriages and endorsed efforts to defend the Defense of Marriage Act. The Human Rights Campaign has given Ellmers a score of zero for not supporting a single piece of pro-LGBT legislation.”
In a follow-up report, QNotes adds that “former executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party…Dan Gurley, who is gay, criticized the statement and its tone.”
“You were offensive and childish, and if you worked for me or any client of mine I’d fire you. Surely you know better than this. You have offended many on both sides of the political aisle with your ill thought out comments. Not only are you uncreative, but your [sic] small minded.â€
…
“I’m embarrassed for [Ellmers] that this has happened. You should be ashamed. And you should be reprimanded,†Gurley told Wood.
QNotes adds:
Wood is the owner of an independent political consulting firm, Majority Connections, based in Durham. She describes herself as “Conservative, Christian, Southern†on her Twitter profile, where she also says, “My heart is in #Uganda,†the same country where extreme legislation criminalizing LGBT people may soon become law. That nation’s legislation could sentence LGBT people there to years-long prison sentences and, in extreme cases, death.
Image via Ellmers’ Facebook page