After Months Of Being Coy, GOP Governor Tells Anti-Gay Group He Opposes Gay Marriage

My opinion about same-sex marriage “really doesn’t matter” embattled Wisconsin Republican governor Scott Walker told reporters back in June. But now, weeks before the election, apparently it does.

Perhaps you were thinking Gov. Scott Walker, who will turn 47 just two days before next month’s election, was a possible “yes” on same-sex marriage? Sorry to disappoint, but the Republican, non-denominational, evangelical Christian governor of Wisconsin is not about to be painted as sympathetic to LGBT people.

Back in June, and several times after, Governor Walker told reporters his position on same-sex marriage “really doesn’t matter.” It sounded like he was trying to offer his LGBT constituents a modicum of support. 

Throughout the summer, some tried to get Walker, who is running for re-election, to take a stand in support of marriage equality, but the Governor wouldn’t say one way or another how he felt.

But apparently, without a word, last month the Governor sought the endorsement of one of Wisconsin’s most anti-gay organizations. And he got it today.

“Time and again over the last four years, Scott Walker has shown that he understands that Wisconsin’s best resource is her married dad-and-mom families,” Julaine Appling Wisconsin Family Action director and president, said in the announcement. “When these families are strong and independent, Wisconsin is strong.”

The AP reports that “Walker says in the Sept. 5 letter to Wisconsin Family Action that he passed anti-abortion measures and he supports marriage between one man and one woman.”

Appling is a veteran in the anti-gay culture wars.

Back in 2011, The New Civil Rights Movement reported that Appling “famously called for nine-month jail sentences and fines of $10,000 for anyone married in another state who attempted to live in Wisconsin.”

“I think we have been extremely tolerant to let them live wherever they choose,” said Appling, whom the Wisconsin Gazette describes as, “a never-married woman who lives with her lifelong companion, Diane Westphall, in a home they own jointly in Watertown,” adding, “The two also work side by side at WFA.”

The Gazette reports that it was Appling’s group that was responsible for many of the phony ballots, working in conjunction with Americans for Prosperity, (AFP), a right-wing group funded by the infamous Koch Brothers. The ballots even had her WFA return address.

And, did I mention there was an admission? “We’re part of a coalition, and we’re doing this,” Ms. Appling announced proudly, and she stuck to that line right up until the time she was warned the ballots constituted mail fraud. At that point Appling suddenly denied any knowledge of the campaign and claimed AFP had used her group’s return address without permission.

What made me take particular notice of Julaine Appling this week was to whom she sent her phony absentee ballots. Understanding her peculiar paranoia, I suppose it will not come as a surprise to you that the target of Appling’s voter suppression scheme was the Wisconsin Gay Community.

Earlier this year, Appling lost her Wisconsin Supreme Court bid to kick same-sex couples off the state’s domestic registry.

 

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr