Christian conservative and Colorado
House candidate Gordon Klingenschmitt worries a meeting with gay
rights activists might be a setup to pie him in the face.
Klingenschmitt, a vocal opponent of gay
rights, has refused to meet with three members of the Colorado
Springs LGBT community, citing a full schedule until after the fall
election.
In a letter to the rights activists,
Klingenschmitt said he would only agree to meet with them after
his “security staff” has deemed it would be a “safe meeting,”
The
Gazette reported.
In an email, Klingenschmitt wrote:
“Sadly, I've received threats from people who hate religious
freedom, and I wonder if the following video is representative of the
behavior of some people with whom you are inviting me to meet?”
Klingenschmitt attached a video of
anti-gay rights activist Anita Bryant getting a pie thrown in her
face during a live 1977 television interview. Bryant cried as the
pie ran down her face. Later, as one of the men who threw the pie
spoke to a news crew, Bryant's husband at the time, Bob Green, pied
him in the face with a pie one of the activists was carrying.
“If such a meeting is ever arranged,”
Klingenschmitt wrote, “I would require advance notice of the names,
addresses, and sufficient information for a background check on each
attendee, which if provided at your expense could certainly ease our
concerns and hasten our ability to meet in person to discuss any
potential future collaboration together as fellow citizens of the
Great State of Colorado.”
(Related: Gordon
Klingenschmitt: Rep. Jared Polis “to join ISIS in beheading”
anti-gay Christians.)