Carl Paladino, the Republican candidate for governor of New York, has come out against the gays. Paladino, notably, is the guy who forwarded emails onto his coworkers which contained racially offensive “jokes” (including jokes characterizing black people as monkeys), images of Barack and Michelle Obama dressed up like a pimp and a ho, and a picture of a woman having sex with a horse (the emails are detailed and depicted here — as a warning, though, my characterization of them as “racially offensive” is… understated, to say the least). Anyway, Paladino is a Tea Party candidate who has all of his morals in the right place, is my point.
And despite being pro-beastiality — or at least pro-women-having-sex-with-horses — he is apparently anti-homosexuality. Because homosexuality is just so unnatural.
The Republican candidate for governor, Carl P. Paladino, told a gathering in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Sunday that children should not be “brainwashed” into thinking that homosexuality was acceptable, and criticized his opponent, Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, for marching in a gay pride parade earlier this year.
Addressing Orthodox Jewish leaders, Mr. Paladino described his opposition to same-sex marriage.
“I just think my children and your children would be much better off and much more successful getting married and raising a family, and I don’t want them brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option — it isn’t,” he said, reading from a prepared address, according to a video of the event.
And then, to applause at Congregation Shaarei Chaim, he said: “I didn’t march in the gay parade this year — the gay pride parade this year. My opponent did, and that’s not the example we should be showing our children.” Newsday.com reported that Mr. Paladino’s prepared text had included the sentence: “There is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual.” But Mr. Paladino omitted the sentence in his speech.
Newsflash to New Yorkers: We are not all nearly as progressive and open-minded as we apparently think!
What’s most interesting about this story, though, isn’t the brazen homophobia in a city that has long been a haven for gay people and lefty folks generally; it’s the insistence that disgust with and discrimination against gays doesn’t amount to homophobia at all.
About an hour after Mr. Paladino’s remarks, [Democratic candidate for governor] Mr. Cuomo’s campaign released a statement condemning them.
“Mr. Paladino’s statement displays a stunning homophobia and a glaring disregard for basic equality,” it said. “These comments along with other views he has espoused make it clear that he is way out of the mainstream and is unfit to represent New York.”Mr. Paladino declined a request to be interviewed after his appearance. His campaign manager, Michael R. Caputo, denied assertions that Mr. Paladino was antigay, and noted that he employed a gay man on his campaign staff.
“Carl Paladino is simply expressing the views that he holds in his heart as a Catholic,” Mr. Caputo said in a telephone interview. “Carl Paladino is not homophobic, and neither is the Catholic Church.”
“The majority of New Yorkers agree with him,” Mr. Caputo added. He said the campaign had done its own polling.
During his appearance at the synagogue, with reporters in attendance, Mr. Paladino said: “Don’t misquote me as wanting to hurt homosexual people in any way. That would be a dastardly lie.”
Apparently you’re only homophobic now if you want to physically harm gay people. Just hating them, well… that’s expressing your heartfelt belief.
Paladino defended his remarks this morning, saying that he doesn’t hate gay people but that gay pride parades are no place for children, and I think we could use a morning laugh so here you are:
“Young children should not be exposed to that at a young age. They don’t understand, it’s a very difficult thing,” said Mr. Paladino. “And exposing them to homosexuality, especially at a gay pride parade — and I don’t know if you have ever been to one, but they wear these little Speedos and they grind against each other and it’s just a terrible thing.”
Less funny is the fact that Paladino’s statements come the same weekend three gay men were imprisoned and tortured in the Bronx. In response to those attacks, New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg asked, “How can one human being be so inhuman to another simply on the basis of who they are? What kind of twisted logic spurs a large group of men to show off their toughness by ganging up on helpless individuals? That’s not showing you’re tough, that’s just showing that you’re weak and despicable.”
I’d like to pose the same question to Carl Paladino.