Fox News' Bill O'Reilly on Monday
accused supporters of gay marriage of intimidating opponents into
submission.
O'Reilly made his comments while
discussing the controversy surrounding the recent resignation of
Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich. Eich lasted less than two weeks as CEO of
Mozilla, stepping down earlier this month over a $1,000 donation to
the campaign to approve Proposition 8, California's 2008
voter-approved constitutional amendment restricting marriage to
heterosexual couples. Proposition 8 stood until last year, when the
Supreme Court left in place a lower court ruling knocking it down.
(Related: Brendan
Eich steps down as Mozilla CEO over past support for Proposition 8.)
The incident, O'Reilly told panelists
Mary Katherine Ham and Juan Williams, highlighted how “one of the
reasons gay marriage has come on so strong in the USA is
intimidation.”
“If you donate money to a traditional
marriage cause, okay, we're going to hurt you. We're going to hurt
you. We're going to find out where you live. We are going to try to
take your job. Maybe do vandalism to your home – big, big
difference, is there not?” he said.
“Threats and demonization,”
O'Reilly added, “has put gay marriage over the top.”
“That is the technique that turned
the tide – intimidation and harm. That's what won it,” he said.
Writing
at Equality Matters, Luke Brinker responded: “Accusing gay
activists of using violence and intimidation to advance marriage
equality is part of a broader conservative narrative that depicts
LGBT people as being the real bullies, even as the LGBT community
continues to be disproportionately targeted for hate crimes.”