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

categories: LGBT and the Media, LGBT Health Care, LGBT Rights and Politics

Published October 20, 2009 @ 06:12PM PT

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?

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Comments (5)

Excellent article. He is talking out of both sides of his mouth. He does not speak for any of us.

Posted by Martin Martinez on 10/20/2009 @ 06:45PM PT
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Tom Coburn is an intolerant conservative, as evidenced in which he called the LGBT rights movement a threat. Him writing for a LGBT publication is very unusual, however it's all political, because he wrote negativity on the public health care option in that publication. Tom Coburn is a very conservative Senator, from the conservative state of Oklahoma, in which will unfortunately keep insulting the LGBT rights movement, but the movement is superior.

Posted by Edwin Bonilla on 10/20/2009 @ 06:47PM PT
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I can't help myself, this guy is a fucking moron. Honestly though, how can a person be such a god damn retard?

It takes a serious type of mentally impaired person to think that he can get help from people he has abused at every possible opportunity.

I think we should dissect him to see if there's some special thing to make him such an idiot.

Posted by Paul Hockhousen on 10/20/2009 @ 09:19PM PT
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He's probably thinking the same thing a lot of you folks have been thinking...In effect, that obama's bullshitted you and now he wants to do the same...

That or he just plain thinks that the L.G.B.T. community is dumber than a brick.

I agree with mr. martinez that no media source is so obligated to be fair and unbiased that they must allow just anyone to have their articles published by them.

However...Im also confused as to what it was that made it such a good article ?

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 10/21/2009 @ 03:58AM PT
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WTF?!?!?!

SERIOUSLY! WTF were the editors of Advocate magazine thinking?

Posted by Dave Hershey on 10/21/2009 @ 10:13AM PT
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Author

Michael is the Communications Director for the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, and previously was Communications Director for Pax Christi USA, a progressive Catholic human rights organization.