That former Congressman Chris Lee was so attracted to cross-dressers and transsexuals should not be a source of ridicule and derision. People in a free country can - and ought to have the right to - love, or have sex with, any willing partner. That Lee betrayed traditional family values is none of our business, and that he trolled Craigslist for dates with women, and women with penises alike, is newsworthy for its lack of good judgment, but were he a private citizen it would not be our concern - no big deal. His hasty self-return to private life is now explained. As a public figure, it matters because his brazen Craigslist hookups and flailing cover-up were not just hypocritical, but indiscreet.
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It all underscores the fact that the Republican anti-gay platform merely panders to the radical Christian fundamentalists who partly puppeteer that party. There are plenty of LGBT Republicans, and their personal, private sexual lives are nobody's business. It's ok to be a gay Republican.
Imagine what a better country this would be if sexuality was divorced (so to speak) from politics. If homophobia was excised from politics and from parties' platforms, the only place it would remain socially acceptable would be in the pews, prayers, and pulpits of radically fundamentalist houses of worship. Imagine if the very first public proclamation by Republican congressional candidates didn't involve homophobia.
The Republican Party used to stand for less government, (despite never practicing what they preach). Yet when it comes to sexuality, they out-Puritan the Puritans, which makes it exquisitely embarrassing when someone with an (R) after their name is caught outside the wife-two-kids norm.
Let Chris Lee date all the "passable transsexuals/cross-dressers" he wants. Let Carl Paladino watch all the gay porn, and patronize all the gay bars, he wants.
Whenever the topic turns to treating homosexuals like people, some cretin will chime in with an uninformed slippery slope argument about how tolerance of gay unions will lead to bestiality, pedophilia, and polygamy. It's a false equivalence; those three activities are victimization and abuse; of kids, of animals, and of multiple women. It's those kinds of "arguments" that hamstring rational discussion about this particular issue - because its terms are dictated and framed by the radical fundamentalists and their puppets.
Sexuality has nothing to do with running the country. It's time to legalize gay marriage - by Constitutional amendment if necessary - and to completely separate sexuality and state. Chris Lee and Carl Paladino will thank you.
