Gary Glenn, who helms the Michigan
chapter of the anti-gay group American Family Association, announced
on Tuesday that he'll seek the Republican nomination in the race to
unseat Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow.
In announcing he was considering a
campaign, Glenn suggested he was motivated by Stabenow's support for
gay rights.
“My father was a U.S. Marine who
survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, who taught me a deep love and
willingness to fight for my country and all that it stands for.”
“And I believe that all that it
stands for – limited Constitutional government and limitless
opportunity, individual freedom tempered by commonly shared values –
is at a tipping point, at risk of being lost and perhaps never
recovered if the socialist, big government, 'redistribution of
wealth' ideology and redefinition of our culture being pushed by
Debbie Stabenow and Barak [sic] Obama isn't stopped,” Glenn said.
While Stabenow has yet to co-sponsor a
measure that would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the
1996 law that forbids federal agencies from recognizing the legal
marriages of gay and lesbian couples, she voted to repeal “Don't
Ask, Don't Tell,” the policy that bans gay and bisexual troops from
serving openly which expires on September 20, and supports passage of
the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would bar
workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender
identity.
Earlier this month, Glenn attacked a
local Holland, Michigan ordinance that would have enacted similar
protections as ENDA.
“Herman Miller, which is a major
employer and corporation in Holland, a furniture company, supported
this so-called gay rights ordinance on the claim that it allowed them
to attract the best and the brightest,” Glenn said on Linda
Harvey's Mission America radio program.
“What ridiculous folly to suggest
that only those individuals who engage in homosexual behavior given
all of its severe medical consequences constitute the best and the
brightest. It’s not really bright to engage in behavior that puts
you at dramatically higher risk of mental illness and substance abuse
and AIDS and cancer and hepatitis, and according to various sources,
premature death. So to suggest that engaging in that type of
behavior defines someone as the best and brightest, which seems to be
the line coming out of corporate America, is just ridiculous.”
Harvey agreed, adding that gay people
are also more likely to be violent and unable to sustain long-term
relationships: “You're right. And higher rates of domestic
violence and unstable relationships. I would not think of a
homosexual person as a good employment risk, I just wouldn't.”