Sen. Tom Coburn is Not a Legitimate Voice for a Gay Publication

by Michael Jones · 2009-10-20 18:12:00 UTC
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Tom Coburn

Like Karl Rove writing for The Nation, or Sarah Palin joining PETA, there are certain things you just don't expect to see. One of those was Sen. Tom Coburn writing for a gay publication, but that all changed today with the rabidly conservative Senator co-authoring a piece in The Advocate urging gay people to reject the Obama administration's attempts to reform health care.

The piece, "Government Run Health Care Isn't the Answer," is an attack on national health care reform as nothing more than an attempt to create roadblocks and bureaucracies. It's essentially the Sarah Palin death panel argument, watered down with a few bones for the LGBT population. Reading the article you might think that Sen. Tom Coburn is the second coming of the Messiah, sent to Earth to save the Ryan White CARE Act -- one of the most important HIV/AIDS pieces of legislation in the country.

The problem is that Sen. Tom Coburn has made a career out of insulting the LGBT population. A month ago, one of his senior staffers said at a Family Values Summit that all pornography is homosexual in nature, and that little boys should be told they'll turn gay if they watch porn. And then in 2004, Sen. Tom Coburn himself said that the gay agenda "is the greatest threat to our freedom that we face today." He then went on to blame abortion and adultery on homosexuality.

Sen. Tom Coburn has also trashed same-sex marriage, and voted against legalizing gay adoption. But now he wants to try and sell his private insurance industry-laden health care plan to LGBT audiences?

Sorry, Sen. Coburn. Go sell crazy someplace else. And The Advocate? While you should feature diverse perspectives in your magazine, let's not get carried away by featuring voices from some of the most anti-LGBT politicians in the country. Should we assume that Rep. John Boehner or Maggie Gallagher will be on your pages next month?

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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