Happy Pride Month
(Unless you're a hater.)
Themis Klarides, a Republican, is running for U.S. Senator in the blue state of Connecticut. Klarides is a former state representative, state House minority leader, and a former WWE ring girl.
(I know! We don’t have many colorful candidates in Connecticut but there you are.)
Anyway, Klarides posted the above (to my mind) non-controversial tweet on Wednesday, the first day of Pride Month, and just because I had a little time on my hand, I read the comments.
Reader, they were awful — homophobic, mean-spirited, and ignorant as you can imagine. I don’t think any one should be surprised, but we should maybe retain the ability to be saddened by the hatred and some people’s inability to discern and reason.
I suppose any member of the GOP should expect this from their own party, despite certain members of the chattering class insisting that the party has moved on from arguing against marriage equality. In fact, the party of Lincoln has made a point of making it as difficult as possible for members of the LGBTQ community to exist. You cannot make a concerted effort to spread lies about a group of people and then expect to be able to turn off that spigot — which is more like a fire hose — at will just to mark Pride Month.
Good grief. Just went over and Liked her tweet and thanked her. Thanks for the head’s up. If we want some loyal opposition (and I certainly do) we need to treat them decently when they do something decent.
Thanks for writing this Susan. Today, Heather Cox Richardson gave us a history lesson regarding the GOP discussing how Margaret Chase Smith bravely stood up against Joe McCarthy and her party. The accusations of McCarthy resemble those by 45 and his cultists in that they both lack proof! Klarides deserves credit for her tweet, not hateful condemnation.