Shannon Hames lives in the northern suburbs of metro Atlanta with her partner Melissa. She works as a professional organizer and volunteers with several Atlanta LGBT groups and blogs at Sinnerviewer.
Yesterday, I took Sweet Melissa and my teens to a BBQ hosted by a local Republican women’s group. It was to host a candidate for Governor of Georgia, John Oxendine. He has served as Insurance Commissioner for many years, but I don’t know much about him other than he has an affinity for tricked out Crown Victoria’s and he knows how to read a crowd.
I have no idea how I ended up on the invitation list because it said, “Please forward this to your pastor and church family!” Apparently, they were unaware that my pastor and church family recently prayed for my death and kicked me out of the church after I told them that I was gay.
We knew most of the crowd came directly from church and, I would say, they were mostly geriatric. At 40 years old, I was the spring chicken in the room. Oxendine shared his vision for Georgia and I did agree with many of his positions (pro-vouchers, pro FairTax). He also shared his views on abortion (he values life) and made my kids snicker quietly by stating, “My son, still in his mother’s womb for the next 4 weeks, is just as alive as my grandmother. Well, she died some years ago. But, you know what I mean.” Classic!
He was also very pro gun and went into a diatribe about how utterly shameful it was that “Nancy Pelosi’s California had fewer gun restrictions than Georgia does.” He went into the history of how these gun laws were born when the War Between the States ended and how we can’t carry our guns into a church now because the churches are where the freed slaves met and they didn’t want people going into the churches to kill them. He wants to amend the constitution and have those gun restrictions repealed. Excellent. He has no idea how many people who have been persecuted by the church will thank him for allowing them to now legally enter a church armed to the teeth.
Waiting to ask my questions, a man who seemed to know him became the question monopolizer and making me wonder if he was a plant. It was then announced that he was out of time. All of the seniors stood in line to take a picture with Ox.
Melissa and I got in line (the end of the line) so we could ask him about our civil rights. I told him the things that I agreed with him on, but I asked him about what he would do about my lack of civil rights since the state passed legislation banning same sex marriages. His solution:
“Well, I don’t know what the Georgia constitution says about civil unions but I don’t think it would be legal on any level.”
WTF? He knew every jot and tittle about the constitution as it pertained to the gun laws, but is totally unfamiliar with what the rest of it might say?
Call me crazy, but I am having a real problem with a man ready to do deadly battle to amend the constitution to repeal restrictive gun laws so holsters will be the hottest fashion accessories in the state. But when it comes to my civil rights, it’s too effin bad for me?
By the way, when he told Sweet Melissa and I that he didn’t care what we did in our bedroom, he was totally staring at her tits.
As we left, we heard his campaign rep say, “We are going to win this election by going through the churches. Church to church to church.” Next candidate, please.
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