Opinion: Tell Sen. Hatch Gays Have Religion, Too

(June 10) -- Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has a legacy of making political statements that suggest the tip of his tongue often meets the bottom of his heel.

There are the more bizarre comments -- such as "capital punishment is our society's recognition of the sanctity of human life" -- to the flat-out offensive, like Hatch's recent comments about gays and lesbians.

While speaking before roughly 300 of his constituents at Dixie State University last week, Hatch shifted the focus from his musings on the lack of fiscal conservative representation in the Senate to a longstanding debate on whether or not he is a bigot.

In discussing the need for Republicans to better mobilize their respective bases to match Democratic efforts, the Utah senator said, "Gays and lesbians don't pay tithing, their religion is politics."

Hatch infamously once said, "I do know dumb-ass questions when I see dumb-ass questions."

Apparently, the same cannot be said of stupid answers.

To be fair to Sen. Hatch, he has previously expressed openness to potentially repealing "don't ask, don't tell." However, that instance of good judgment doesn't cancel out a pattern of gross misrepresentations of the gay population.

Take, for instance, a comment he made in 2006 in support of the Marriage Protection Amendment.

In a condescending comment about what type of American prioritizes the issue of traditional marriage, Hatch claimed that for "my constituents throughout Utah, and good, decent, clean Americans across the country, this is a critical issue."

That comment, along with his assertion that gays are without religion, certainly makes me feel dirty, only not for the reasons Hatch would cite.

For the Utah senator's information, there are plenty of religious gay people in America. Many of them are worshiping just as frequently as their heterosexual brethren.

But even if it were true that many gay people make politics their religion, there seems to be no reflection on what might have led to such a position.

Did it ever dawn on Sen. Hatch that perhaps one reason some gays remove themselves from the religious community is because of the isolation, the resentment and the type asinine commentary that people like him provide?

If Hatch can't even acknowledge that homosexuality doesn't stop individuals from professing affinity for Jesus, Allah and Yahweh, it's no wonder so many closeted gay Republicans turn to bathrooms for solace rather than their fellow members of the GOP.

And while plenty of gay Americans make politics a huge priority of their lives, without having equal rights under the laws of the land they don't have the luxury of being apolitical.

Hatch's core point -- that Republicans need to pull together the way left-leaning factions of the Democratic Party do -- is valid. Unfortunately, he presented that opinion in such an untrue and painfully disparaging manner.

Sen. Hatch often claims that he doesn't believe in any sort of prejudice. It's about time his mouth got the memo.


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