Openly lesbian Stephanie Miller is
coming under fire for suggesting Rush Limbaugh wouldn't back Texas
Governor Rick Perry for president if he was gay.
Responding
to a POLITICO.com piece on how the Perry team would address
lingering rumors that he's gay if Perry decided to enter the crowded
race for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, Miller joked that “if
[Perry] turns out to be gay, Rush won't be friends with him.”
After a co-host mocked, “noted homosexual Rick Perry,” Miller
shushed him: “we don't know that for sure, POLITICO.”
The mention was enough to catch the ear
of conservative media watchdog Newbusters,
who accused Miller of spreading the rumor and claimed she was being
hypocritical not coming out sooner herself.
“Miller is a liberal radio talker and
Perry is a conservative governor,” Newsbusters wrote. “Hence,
whatever it takes to demean Perry is justified, even if Miller loses
her honor in the process.”
But
as Mediaite's Frances Martel points out, Miller made doubly sure
to mention that the rumor was just that, a rumor: “Miller goes out
of her way to tell POLITICO to hold their horses on this one. To
raise the specter of hypocrisy at Miller because she happens to be
gay doesn't exactly tackle the key problem [that] arises in even
bothering to address these rumors as if they had any impact on Rick
Perry as a political figure that has the power to influence millions
of American lives.”
“Sure, Miller is as guilty as
POLITICO and Newsbusters for polluting the national discussion with
the topic – in fact, the only innocent party here on this front is
Rush Limbaugh.” (Martel argues that Limbaugh's homophobia needs to
be reassessed in light of the fact that he hired openly gay singer
Elton John to perform at this wedding.)
We would add that Miller, unlike Perry,
has never opposed gay rights.