Unfinished Lives

Bigot Watch: Rush Limbaugh on ‘Gay Gene,’ Abortion and Gay Babies

How many groups does this screed by Rush Limbaugh injure and offend?  Limbaugh pontificated in 2003 on how the hypothetical discovery of a “gay gene” would cancel LGBTQ support for women’s right to choose.  On the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, Limbaugh launched this broadside (see Joe Kovacs, World Net Daily.com:

“Imagine we identify the gene – assuming that there is one, this is hypothetical – that will tell us prior to birth that a baby is going to be gay. Just like a baby is gonna be redheaded and freckled and maybe tend to be overweight and so we tell the parents that, and the parents say “Nope, don’t wanna give birth to that child, [it’s] not gonna have a fair chance. Who wants to give birth to an overweight, freckle-faced redhead?” Bam. So we abort the kid.“Well, you add to this, let’s say we discover the gene that says the kid’s gonna be gay. How many parents, if they knew before the kid was gonna be born, [that he] was gonna be gay, they would take the pregnancy to term? Well, you don’t know but let’s say half of them said, “Oh, no, I don’t wanna do that to a kid.” [Then the] gay community finds out about this. The gay community would do the fastest 180 and become pro-life faster than anybody you’ve ever seen. … They’d be so against abortion if it was discovered that you could abort what you knew were gonna be gay babies.”

Limbaugh climbed up the ladder of notoriety on the backs of African Americans, women, and gay people.  As L.A. Progressive documents, “The Lyin’ King” compared White House staffers to pedophiles, feminists to “lesbian spearchuckers,” and in this choice quote from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, he draws a bead directly on LGBTQ people:  “When a gay person turns his back on you, it is anything but an insult; it’s an invitation.” In June 2010, Limbaugh made news by securing gay entertainer, Elton John, to perform at his fourth wedding, leading some to suggest that the conservative icon had become ‘gay friendly.’  Hardly.  He was a dangerous demagogue before sealing the deal with Elton John, and he remains one after.  The only thing that is put in doubt by the ‘wedding singer’ incident is the quality of Mr. John’s judgment.  Rush Limbaugh sets the tone for his legion of Dittoheads and for conservative opposition to all things LGBTQ.  The cynicism of his scenario on gay genetics, women’s right to choose, and gay babies is boundless, in our opinion.  Women have been and remain the chief allies of the LGBTQ community in the struggle for equal rights in the United States.  Lesbian scholar Suzanne Pharr got it exactly right when she wrote that “homophobia is a weapon of sexism.”  Limbaugh may love women enough to marry four of them in a row, but he advocates the second-class status of the gender he claims to love “till death do us part.”  When rhetoric dehumanizes people, robbing them of the dignity of their full personhood as Limbaugh routinely does to gay people, his is culpable for setting the conditions for hate crimes against the very gay babies he demagogues about on the radio.  When LGBTQ people grow up, face discrimination and irrational hatred, Rush simply washes his hands of any violence done them.  And, in the case of the gay baby scenario he set forth, we must ask the nagging question he left unanswered: “If a test were devised to ID a baby as LGBTQ before birth, Rush, how quickly would you and your supporters flip and become advocates of abortion?”   ~ The Unfinished Lives Team

July 4, 2010 - Posted by unfinishedlives | abortion, bi-phobia, Bisexual persons, Elton John, gay gene, gay men, Hate Crimes, hate speech, Heterosexism and homophobia, Lesbian women, Media Issues, Politics, Popular Culture, Racism, Roe v Wade, Rush Limbaugh, Slurs and epithets, Special Comments, transgender persons, transphobia | abortion, bi-phobia, bisexuals, Elton John, gay gene, gay men, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, Lesbians, Media Issues, Roe v Wade, Rush Limbaugh, Slurs and epithets, transgender persons, transphobia