Box Turtle Bulletin

Emrich rants about being connected to “kill gays” bill

Bob Emrich, the leader of the Yes on 1 Campaign in Maine that blocked marriage equality from going into effect, is upset that “homosexual activists/bloggers” have reported that he sent out to his buddies a newspaper article which praised the Uganda “kill gays” bill. So he has sent out a new email to clarify his position (below the jump).

Well, actually, it’s primary purpose is to rail against human rights, defend the “intentions” of those who wrote the “kill gays” bill, and accuse gay people of “say[ing] and repeat[ing] anything in order to promote homosexual behavior while denigrating anyone who dares disagree with them.”

While Emrich says that he does not believe that gay people “should be punishable by death or life imprisonment”, he clearly sympathizes with the motivations of the bill and equates consensual same-sex relationships (like those he opposed in Maine) with “sexual abuse of minors and disabled persons.” It should also be noted that Emrich does not disavow the bill, his support for its intent and motivation, nor the criminalization of homosexuality in Uganda or the United States.

Emrich and his campaign have been quick to say anything to discredit, demean, and demonize gay individuals and couples. Yet when he is called on his distribution of an endorsement of evil, he wails and moans that he is a victim of an unwarranted attack.

Were we to adopt the tactics of Bob Emrich and Stand for Marriage Maine, we would use the following ad in the next election in which we are protecting ourselves from attack by anti-gay activists:

[Show anti-marriage ad]
Voiceover: Supporters of Proposition X tell you that they don’t hate gay people, they just want to protect tradition. But opponents of marriage equality never seem to want to stop there.
[show picture of Bob Emrich]
This leader of the anti-gay campaign in Maine went to Uganda immediately after the vote. He came back and sent to all of his supporters a copy of an article which praised legislation in that nation that would punish gay people with a life sentence or with death.
[show picture of a noose]
He said there is an important lesson to learn from Uganda and asked how our culture – the American culture – has lost its way.
[show picture of anti-gay activists]
Although supporters of Propositions like Prop X try and talk about culture and tradition and children, their smiling faces hide a much more sinister agenda, a very un-American agenda.
[Cue picture of happy people going to vote]
On November X, you have a chance to stop them. You can tell them “no”. Vote NO on Proposition X

This could be followed by ads that talk about anti-gays trying to stop health insurance or domestic partnerships in states where they said “we only want to protect marriage”, and other instances in which the anti-gay agenda was pursued after the voters had been lied to.

If, of course, we decided to go that direction.

For more information on the situation in Uganda see our full coverage here.

I recently sent you a copy of an article from a Ugandan newspaper. The point of the article was a warning to fellow Africans about the “moral confusion” being imported from western civilization. The article also pointed out how this moral confusion is often disguised as “human rights” with this statement: “The so-called human rights activists have hijacked the driver’s seat and are sending nations into the sea of permissiveness in which the Western world has already drowned.”
Someone forwarded my email to a gay blogger who, of course, was offended and twisted my email into an endorsement of the death penalty for homosexuals. With no concern for accuracy or originality, the ranting of the one blogger has been copied by others and widely distributed. These are people who have a twofold purpose. They will say and repeat anything in order to promote homosexual behavior while denigrating anyone who dares disagree with them.
While I thank the bloggers who have given my emails much wider distribution that I could have done, I want to clarify a couple of points.

4. Lastly, while they insist on making everything about homosexuality, I do not share their obsession. They seem determined to portray me as some kind of extremist, but the reality is that they came to Maine to redefine marriage and I responded to that challenge. If that means I am going to remain a target for their wrath, so be it. And if they attack Maine again, I will gladly join those who desire to protect our important values, undeterred by their slander.