Hastert Was Key Proponent Of Bush’s Anti-Gay Agenda
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President George W. Bush’s anti-gay agenda was aided and abetted by then-speaker Denny Hasert. His 2004 campaign was managed by then-closeted Ken Mehlman, and his running mate, Dick Cheney has a gay daughter.
Hastert wasn’t a strident culture warrior during his time in Congress. But he was a vital cog in the anti-gay political machinery that the GOP deployed for political benefit. And now it appears his involvement carried the same elements of duplicity and deceit as that of other Republican operatives of that era.
“The hypocrisy is breathtaking in its depth,” said Elizabeth Birch, former president of the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.
As speaker of the House from 1999 to 2007, Hastert didn’t just go along and vote the party line on various bills; he decided which pieces of legislation made it to the floor for a vote. During his tenure, he was a clear foe of the LGBT community.
Toward the end of his presidency, Bill Clinton was trying to broaden the federal hate crimes statute to cover acts of violence motivated by sexual orientation and gender identity. Calls for such legislation had picked up steam after the horrific assault and killing of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay man, in 1998. But Republicans, led by Hastert and other GOP leaders, repeatedly barred any such measure from passage.
“We’d like to see the Clinton-Gore administration focus more on the enforcement of the current laws we have, rather than try to create a partisan political bill that has little effect in the real world,” said Hastert spokesman Pete Jeffries in an April 26, 2000, article in The Washington Post.
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Jeffrey Samuels June 6th, 2015 at 12:37 pm
It seems to me that as time goes on, more and more anti gay people are ending up being outed as either pedophiles, gay themselves, adulterers or others who really should not be casting stones at innocent gay folk.
burqa June 6th, 2015 at 12:37 pm
I’d give 50 bucks for a press pass and the chance to ask Hastert:
Sooooo, Mr. speaker, do you still have your wrestling tights?
Anomaly 100 June 6th, 2015 at 12:58 pm
Lololol.
burqa June 6th, 2015 at 2:34 pm
…………and I’d cough up 50 more for the obvious follow-up question,
“Would you mind putting them on for us?”
I swear, I think I’d sprain every muscle in my head and neck trying to keep a straight face in the runup to getting those two questions out, …. on the Capitol steps with that big beautiful Capitol dome in the background, y’know……..all the press corps there, the Fix crew shooting me dirty looks….
allison1050 June 6th, 2015 at 12:59 pm
smiles
allison1050 June 6th, 2015 at 12:59 pm
Now THAT’S certainly rich! ;o)
FatRat June 6th, 2015 at 1:27 pm
Next Wrestlemania must have Hump-em-all Hastert and The Revolting Blob in a tag team match. lol
http://content7.flixster.com/question/63/76/00/6376005_std.png
The Revolting Blob (aka horny Principal Max Anderson from Billy Madison)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI4ptg7BlvU&feature=youtu.be&t=28
StoneyCurtisll June 6th, 2015 at 1:35 pm
it’s all so obvious now…
Hastert was doing his best to cover up any suspicions that he was a a sexual predator…
I have to wonder how many more of his victims are going to come forward.
John Richter June 6th, 2015 at 2:01 pm
Hastert better get a hold of Josh Duggars PR team and see if they can make him the victim in all this.
William June 6th, 2015 at 2:04 pm
_____
fabglamorista . June 7th, 2015 at 12:12 am
GOP’s = Grand Old Pedophile Sodomites = Dennis Hastert. The sex must have been great to agree to pay $3.5 million.