{"id":49077,"date":"2017-01-10T10:01:26","date_gmt":"2017-01-10T15:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/guest-post-that-time-attorney-general-nominee-sessions-celebrated-a-homophobic-singer\/"},"modified":"2017-01-10T10:01:26","modified_gmt":"2017-01-10T15:01:26","slug":"guest-post-that-time-attorney-general-nominee-sessions-celebrated-a-homophobic-singer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/guest-post-that-time-attorney-general-nominee-sessions-celebrated-a-homophobic-singer\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: That time Attorney General nominee Sessions celebrated a homophobic singer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest Post: That time Attorney General nominee Sessions celebrated a homophobic singer<\/b><\/p>\n

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The following is a guest post by Jeremy Hooper,\u00a0special projects consultant at\u00a0GLAAD and lead researcher on\u00a0GLAAD’s Trump Accountability Project.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sure, when you\u2019re a public figure, sometimes you have to be polite. People share their voices and views, and even if their ideas or acts might not be your cup of tea, you still smile. Nod. Thank them for their time. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, if you\u2019re a sitting US Senator and the person before you sings a song that viciously condemns hundreds of thousands of your constituents under a thesis that the nation has become \u201clike Sodom of old,\u201d you might want to tame your enthusiasm just a little bit. You certainly don\u2019t want to stop right after the most hostile part of her song and give her some mid-tune applause. You also probably shouldn\u2019t follow her performance by telling her, on mic, that she did a \u201cgreat job.\u201d Oh, and you <\/span>definitely don\u2019t want to sum up the whole production by giving it a full-on, enthusiastic, senatorial standing ovation right.<\/p>\n

Yet that\u2019s precisely what Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the man<\/a> who is going before his US Senate colleagues in hopes of becoming this country\u2019s next Attorney General, did at a 2010 town hall meeting in his state. Even though the singer belting just inches in front of him peppered her \u201cWe Want America Back\u201d song with lines like…<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re trying to convince us that what\u2019s wrong is right, what\u2019s abnormal is normal, and that what God himself called an abomination is nothing more than an \u2018alternative lifestyle.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

…Senator Sessions had no problem blessing that performer with the aforementioned chain of \u00a0praise. Take a look for yourself. The song begins at 3:30:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Preliminary Introductions at Town Hall Meeting with Sen Jeff Sessions<\/a> from Wetumpka Tea Party<\/a> on Vimeo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If he agrees with the song\u2019s sentiment, that\u2019s bad. If he disagrees with much of the tone and tenor yet still rose to his feet to give it his approval, that\u2019s bad judgement. Either is concerning for a potential US Attorney General.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though maybe Team Trump just solved its problem finding an inauguration performer?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As Sessions begins his confirmation hearing for Attorney General, check out <\/span>his Trump Accountability Project<\/a> profile for more on his\u00a0record, including some of the following gems:<\/p>\n

—\u00a0A former deputy, a black man<\/a>,\u00a0testified<\/a>\u00a0that Sessions called him “boy<\/a>,” warned him about how he talked to white people, and said that Sessions thought the Ku Klux Klan was “OK, until he learned that they smoked marijuana.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

—\u00a0Equated<\/a>\u00a0support for Federal Marriage Amendment with changing the constitution so that it opposed slavery: \u201cWhen a case comes up of this kind, we can say with certainty there is a likelihood, and many scholars believe a very high likelihood, that the Court would rule that traditional marriage is too restrictive, it has to be changed from the way the people have defined it. We do not have to accept that. We have every right to amend the Constitution. The laws in the Constitution provided for slavery—that was changed.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

—\u00a0Opposed<\/a>\u00a0the nomination of US Supreme Court justice Elena Kagan in large part because of what he perceived as her LGBTQ support. (More\u00a0here<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

—\u00a0Reportedly<\/a>\u00a0fought to stop LGBTQ conference: As Alabama’s attorney general in 1996, Sessions attempted to stop the Southeastern Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual College Conference from meeting at the University of Alabama under a state law passed in 1992 that made it illegal for public universities to fund in any way a group that promotes “actions prohibited by the sodomy and sexual misconduct laws.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

—\u00a0Known for<\/a>\u00a0his hardline stances on immigration, for decades opposing any bill that includes a path to citizenship.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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January 10, 2017<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Issues:\u00a0<\/div>\n