Tuesday, September 27, 2011

NC legislator can't back up anti-gay claims when pressed on them

This is so sad that I almost feel sorry for NC legislator James Forrester. Earlier today, he was on the Michelangelo Signorile radio show attempting to justify his support of the ballot amendment in that state which would outlaw marriage equality.

Earlier this month, Forrester made the claim that gay men have shorter lifespans than heterosexuals. Signorile challenges him on this (starting at 6:11) and when push comes to shove, Forrester can't back this up. Forrester initially says that his claim came from the Centers for Disease Control, but this is not true.

And Signorile ain't having none of it. Forrester then tries to pull up Frank Turek's name and Signorile calls him out for citing a phony expert. And that's just one of the gold nuggets of the interview. According to Think Progress:

The senator also couldn’t explain how same-sex marriage undermined the institution and even threatened to end the interview when Signorile asked if Forrester would be introducing legislation to ban divorce. “I can’t answer all these questions you have,” he conceded:
SIGNORILE: Why don’t you ban divorce, why not?
FORRESTER: That wasn’t my intent of the legislation.
SIGNORILE: Is divorce a good thing? I’ll ask you some yes or nos, how’s that? Divorce a good thing?
FORRESTER: I think I’m going to end this conversation right now because I see you’re completely negative, on the other side, trying to set me up.

There was no set-up, Mr. Forrester. The simple fact is that you don't know what the hell you are talking about.

The interview in general  is a bit long but is a joy to listen to. It also underscores that when anti-gay folks are up against those who are schooled in refuting homophobic lies, they crumble like a new cookie:






Hat tip to Think Progress.

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3 comments:

Unknown said...

Wouldn't a commitment of marriage actually greatly reduce the likelihood of STD transmission?!?

Why are they working to ban something that would clearly have an extremely beneficial effect on life expectancies and reduced numbers of HIV infections?!?!?

Unknown said...

If this weren't so sad I'd be howling with laughter. I just can't believe there are people who still deny such basic facts. The problem is that he wouldn't even understand if you sat down and explained it, because of his deep faith.

Kathleen Knowles said...

I dont think Senator Forrester was sufficiently informed on the nature of Michalangelo Signorile and his radio show. That would be consistent with his general lack of knowledge. This is hilarious in a very dismal fashion.