Rick Santorum Doesn't Like Pink Balls

Santorum:"friends don't let friends use pink balls."

GOP Presidential candidate Rick Santorum is so afraid of "gay," so utterly homophobic, and so monstrously STUPID that he actually said this to a young man at a Wisconsin bowling alley today. In public. In front of reporters.

Yes indeed Senator Santorum, drag out the tired stereotypes again and again ... parlay your own ignorance into votes from the always-fearful, always-resentful, always-hateful wingnuts in your

woefully regressive corner of the GOP.

This is the gay equivalent of a "watermelon" joke.  Do you think Santorum would ever, EVER make one of those at a campaign stop, with reporters in the room?  And if he did, what do you think the consequences would be?  Care to make a bet about what would be on CNN, endlessly tonight? Or on what Fox News would be doing to counter the "liberal bias" of the real media? Even Fox would bail on him.  He'd be out of the primary race by 5PM Thursday.

In a piece celebrating the anniversary of Act Up today, Larry Kramer hit the nail squarely and angrily on the head:

"You only have to arrive at campaign and election time to know how much hate of gay people is out there. And we're back to allowing the straight world to treat us like shit, allowing candidates for the President of the United States -- the highest office in our country -- to say one revolting thing about us after another. Candidates don't dare say anything anti-Semitic out loud. But anyone can say any awful anti-gay thing that they want to. Doesn't this depress you enough to want to stuff their un-Christian words back down their poisonous throats?"  Larry Kramer, Huffington Post March 28, 2012

So -- for my straight friends -- when you're inclined to think that gays are making too much of a "trivial"  statement, just swap in a watermelon joke about black people or, really, any stupid stereotypical bit of "humor" that's no longer acceptable in a public setting.  Then ask yourself: why it is acceptable for him or anyone else to do this about homosexuals?  It may open your eyes to what makes us angry.  Words have consequences, especially if you're a public figure who can potentially wield political power.  This is true if you're a former US Senator, a Catholic Bishop in Rhode Island, or a County Supervisor in Virginia.  And - for my gay friends -- Kramer is absolutely right and we must always remember it.  We cannot let such things pass without notice, comment, mockery, and publication.  The longer we let them do it, the longer they will do it.

And fuck that.

source: TNCRM