Jeremy Walters is learning the hard way that Facebook status messages are not private. A Republican running for the Iowa House in District 67, Walters – who on his website focuses mainly on taxes and education, among other non-wedge issues – decided to take to his Facebook page to vent his hatred toward gays. He did so using mainly the Bible as a reference, but he probably should have used a grammar textbook instead:
homosexual “GAY” not of God!!!! In the Bible it reads; Leviticus 20:13- King James Bible If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. So the people that don’t have God in their life or don’t belive in God they are a fool. Only a Fool says there is no God.
Wow, what a mouthful! You’d think that Walters would have been satisfied after typing all of that…but you’d be wrong. That didn’t quite get the homophobic rage out of his system. A mere 12 minutes later, he decided that he didn’t get his point across in the first status message. Or maybe he felt like he didn’t drive any chance he had of ever being taken seriously again into the ground far enough. Either way, he posted this doosie:
The Holy Bible say if your “GAY” homosexual they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. This tells me a lot so should we kill them NO. They Need to ask God to forgive them of their sins and mean it turn away from it. They also need to know that when it says that their blood shall be upon them that tells me it is AIDS. Thats how I feel.
And then he fell asleep with his thumb in his mouth and his Bible on his chest, satisfied that he’d really stuck it to them homosexuals, who dare to enjoy the right of marriage in the state of Iowa. Take that!
Too bad it blew up in his face. Almost immediately, the civil rights group One Iowa demanded that the Iowa GOP condemn Walters’ anti-gay comments. And the comments were apparently abhorrent enough to convince the Iowa GOP that, yeah, they’d better distance themselves. Matt Strawn, the chairman of the party, released the following statement:
Mr. Walters' comments are inappropriate and in no way represent the beliefs of the Republican Party of Iowa. HIV/AIDS does not discriminate, and our hearts and prayers go out to any Iowa family facing this disease.
According to the Des Moines Register, a party spokeswoman has also stated that Walters will not be allowed to volunteer for the Iowa GOP’s State Fair booth as scheduled.
After the backlash against him, Walters took down the Facebook status messages and had this to say (see if you can make any sense out of this): "I'm sorry, that's how I felt because I had friends that passed away of having AIDS."
It’s all fine and dandy that the Iowa GOP is distancing itself from Jeremy Walters. Any party with any amount of political sense would do the same. But let’s make no mistake – Jeremy Walters’ position is not so completely out there that the entire Iowa Republican Party is disavowing it. The disavowal is a political move, plain and simple. Most politicians wouldn’t dare say something like that about AIDS or gay people in public, but that’s a testament to societal progress, not Republican progress. The party overwhelmingly opposes not just same-sex marriage, not just gay rights, but homosexuality itself. Republican politicians continually refer to homosexuality as a lifestyle choice or a behavior. Republican politicians repeatedly rail against the fight for gay equality as an assault on the family and on society in general. Republicans incessantly use the Bible as a justification to keep gays from enjoying equal rights. Given the Republican view on homosexuality, is Walters’ position really that unbelievable? Is it really that far out of the GOP mainstream?
The Republican Party can distance itself from Jeremy Walters all it wants, but his anti-gay rant is the logical result of the hatred and bigotry regularly spewing from mainstream Republicans.
UPDATE: Walters has issued an "apology," shown below.
I am not against people having a gay lifestyle, and the statements made on Facebook have been taken the wrong way. The statement regarding gay homosexuality was not meant to be offensive and I deeply appologize.
As far as the quote from Bible; I was replying to someone elses post. It should have been posted as a comment on their page, not my Facebook wall. I appologize for the mistake and if this statement offened anyone. Both postings have been removed and these comments do not pertain to my campaign or the Republican Party of Iowa. My passion is to listen and learn from the people so I can represent them at the statehouse. Everyone makes mistakes, please forgive me.
There you have it. Everyone makes mistakes, huh?
In other news, Walters has changed his privacy settings so the public can no longer view his Facebook wall.