Tom Coburn says whaaa?
This was a story too good to pass up posting.
Tom Coburn is a Republican senator from the state of Oklahoma. He has written an opinion piece for The Advocate Online that calls on the LGBT community to oppose "government health care rationing", i.e. public option healthcare. He does this by invoking the Ryan White Act, contending that thousands of Americans have, and will die, and millions of dollars will be spent on ineffective government programs. In the end of his piece he states we can make sure "every man, woman and child in this country has access to quality, affordable health care" without "creating an inefficient and expensive government program."
Now, I'm no expert on healthcare, and surely in the LGBT community there are various opinions as to what Congress and the President should be doing. My issue here is Tom Coburn turning to the LGBT community for support. This man has no business trying to woo us. Let's take a walk down Tom Coburn memory lane, and examine his positions on our issues.
In Tom Coburn's mind, the "gay agenda" is the biggest danger facing America today.
"The gay community has infiltrated the very centers of power in every area across this country, and they wield extreme power...That agenda is the greatest threat to our freedom that we face today. Why do you think we they rationalization for abortion and multiple sexual partners? That's a gay agenda."
Coburn has opposed gay marriage and in 2006 voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would have put into the US Constitution that marriage is between one man and one woman. He also opposes gay adoption and anonymous HIV testing.
Perhaps most famous of all of his anti-gay statements is this:
"Lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they'll only
let one girl go to the bathroom. Now this about that. Think about that issue. How is it that
that's happened to us?"
So, while we may not all agree on the solution to healthcare, we can agree that Tom Coburn has no business courting a community he has vilified time and time again.
