News, analysis and fact-checking of anti-gay rhetoric
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The FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistics aren’t as complete as they ought to be, and their report for 2004 was no exception. In fact, their most recent report has quite a few glaring holes. Holes big enough for Daniel Fetty to fall through.Chaffetz reacts to DADT report
Timothy Kincaid
November 30th, 2010
Utah representative Jason Chaffetz is one of my favorite legislators. Not because I ever agree with him, but because he’s such a loon that he makes for fun blogging.
Chaffetz is the buffoon who, upon the fifth state enacting civil marriage said, “The trend is still 45 states don’t.”
He’s the fumbling, bumbling fellow who was charged with making sure that the District of Columbia’s marriage law was blocked by Congress. Ah, Utah 3rd District, you surely must be proud.
And, consistent with his method of legislating, Chaffetz has now responded to the DADT report. Or, not exactly to the report…
Chaffetz, who has not yet read the study, said he is “still opposed to such a dramatic alteration in the midst of active war.”
Still opposed, based on, oh, nothing. There ya go, Chaffetz, that’s the ignorant lout with an uninformed opinion that we all know and love.
Eleven Republican legislators reveal that they oppose equality more than they oppose big government
Timothy Kincaid
February 3rd, 2010
One of the much-touted principles of the Republican Party is that government which is closer to the people is preferable to big centralized Federal government. For some Republican legislators that is just rhetoric to be ignored when big government better suits their personal agenda.
Nine Republican Senators and two Republican House Members have signed as co-sponsors to a bill to override the near-unanimous decision of the elected representatives of the District of Columbia to allow for marriage equality in that municipality. Although local elected officials and local election boards and local judges agree that this is a local decision and that it is not appropriate for the rights of some citizens to be up for majority veto, these Senators and Representatives believe that Federal intervention is the answer.
- The 9 Senate co-sponsors are Senators
Robert Bennett (UT) – Mormon
Sam Brownback (KS) – Catholic
Jim Bunning (KY) – Catholic
John Cornyn (TX) – Church of Christ (Restoration Movement)
Mike Enzi (WY) – Presbyterian
James Inhofe (OK) – Presbyterian
Pat Roberts (KS) – Methodist
David Vitter (LA) – Catholic
Roger Wicker (MS) – Southern Baptist
The 2 House co-sponsors are Representatives
Jason Chaffetz (UT) – Mormon
Jim Jordan (OH) – Grace Bible Church (independent)
This bill is going nowhere. It will not be brought up for a vote in either the House or the Senate. So the only reason to sign on is to publicly identify with the idea of forcing the city to do what the they want by use of the full power of the Federal government. These eleven Republicans do not really believe in what the Party claims to believe about local v. centralized power.
Conservatives are quick to claim that moderates who verge from the party platform on an issue or two are RINOs (Republicans in Name Only). I wonder if they will use the same term for these Republicans who have flipped the bird to one of the central tenets of the Party.
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Chaffetz feebly tries to stop DC marriage
Timothy Kincaid
January 27th, 2010
From the Mormon Church’s Deseret News
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, introduced a bill Wednesday that seeks to overturn a new District of Columbia ordinance allowing gay marriage, but he predicts Democratic leaders will not allow it to come to a vote.
Not only are the Democratic leaders going to ignore Chaffetz, so are the Republican leaders. The poor guy is the Rodney Dangerfield of Congress.
Chaffetz to fight DC’s marriage law
Timothy Kincaid
December 15th, 2009
As expected, Jason Chaffetz will be the pointman assigned to overturn marriage equality in Washington, DC. (SL Tribune)
A Utah Republican renewed his pledge Tuesday to prevent the nation’s capital from allowing gay couples to marry after the Washington, D.C., Council signed off on such a measure.
That Chaffetz is visible in this effort suggests to me that the Republican Party isn’t going to put up much of a fight. Jason isn’t exactly known for either his intellect or his abilities. He was also the lead in trying to block out-of-state marriages from being recognized in the capital. I wish him equal success.
Rep. Chaffetz: A Shining Illustration of Anti-Gay Intellect
Timothy Kincaid
July 8th, 2009
Representative Jason Chaffetz, a California Jewish Democrat turned Utah Mormon Republican, is now auditioning for the position of Congress’ Biggest Homophobe. As lead Congressional opponent to D.C.’s out-of-state marriage recognition bill he was strikingly inept, but he did manage to get some press by announcing:
“It’s not something I think we can just let go lightly into the night.”
Chaffetz got into BYU on a soccer scholarship so perhaps he can be forgiven for mangling Dylan Thomas’ poetry. But his other comments suggest that his approach to legislation is not particularly nuanced (abc4):
“Marriage should be defined as a union between a man and a woman. I don’t see much other wiggle room for it.”
This stance comes in a week where America’s fifth state legalized same sex marriages.
So, we asked the congressman whether he is going against a trend towards gay unions.
He said simply, “The trend is still 45 states don’t.”
Sorry, Jason, but a trend would be… oh, well… nevermind.
But now Jason has now found his cause. He has discovered that he can get the media’s attention by saying some rather, ummm, interesting things about gay folk. So he was quick to state his mind when he found that Rep. Tammy Baldwin wants to pass legislation that would give benefits to the domestic partners of federal employees. Baldwin thinks its a matter of equal compensation for equal work.
But Chaffetz called the legislation “directly discriminatory” against heterosexual couples that choose not to marry.
That argument didn’t get much traction with the other panel members who noted that gay couples don’t have the choice to marry in most states (including Utah). Rep. Gerry Connolly found his argument “a screaming contradiction”.
Ah, Jason. You haven’t yet figured out that everyone is laughing at you, have you?
