Rick Perry Decries Gay 'Lifestyle' After Obama, Hillary Clinton Call For Discrimination To End Worldwide

After both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made impassioned speeches Tuesday urging gay rights abroad, Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry issued a response decrying the "deeply objectionable" gay lifestyle.

"This is just the most recent example of an administration at war with people of faith in this country," Perry said in a statement. "Investing tax dollars promoting a lifestyle many Americas of faith find so deeply objectionable is wrong. President Obama has again mistaken America's tolerance for different lifestyles with an endorsement of those lifestyles."

"This administration's war on traditional American values must stop," Perry said.

Obama announced a wide-ranging effort to use U.S. foreign aid to promote rights for gays and lesbians abroad on Tuesday. The president said the effort would include challenging attempts by foreign governments to criminalize homosexuality.

Tuesday's announcement marked the first U.S. government strategy to combat human rights abuses against gays and lesbians abroad, according to the White House. Obama called discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons a "global challenge."

Clinton also spoke out against discrimination of gays on Tuesday, comparing gay rights to both women's rights and civil rights.

"It is violation of human rights when people are beaten or killed because of their sexual orientation, or because they do not conform to cultural norms about how men and women should look or behave," Clinton said. "It is a violation of human rights when governments declare it illegal to be gay, or allow those who harm gay people to go unpunished."

This is not the first time Perry has spoken out against gay rights. In November, he signed a controversial marriage pledge started by the conservative Iowa group Family Leader, and in October he publicly urged New Hampshire to repeal the state's same-sex marriage law.

Comments

[Bob Kellerman]

02:36 AM on 12/12/2011

HE DOES NOT ACTUALLY HATE YOU
-- in fact, there are plenty of reports that he used to do what you do

HE WOULD JUST HATE NOT GETTING THE MONEY OF THE RICH SUPPORTERS
WHO NEED HIM TO SAY THIS CRAP

In a way, that is even MORE insulting

[Cam Brunner]

09:03 PM on 12/09/2011

We are closing schools, laying people off. Families are being foreclosed on and being put out in the streets. And all the Republicans running for President can talk about is who is Gay. We need to start looking at what is best for the country. We are not in high school any more. Hello!!! It is a good way to raise money. I think the Republicans have a “gay agenda”, more than the gay community has. They have nothing to say, so they go for the gay!

[Andy Harris]

02:15 AM on 12/09/2011

Here's Rick Perry's follow-up ad. Not much better.

http://thecomedycouple.com/2011/12/08/rick-perry-jacket-strong-parody-3/

[dartemis]

01:47 PM on 12/08/2011

Obviously we cannot tolerate crimes committed against a person because s/he is gay but that is a far cry from using taxpayer money to promote a gay agenda abroad. Many liberals posting here have protested our imperialstic tendencies to impose our values on other cultures yet, in this instance it is somehow okay? That is pure hypocrisy and this proposal, done I believe, to buy votes from the gay contingent, has solidified my intention to vote elswhere in the upcoming election..

[enordman]

10:15 PM on 12/08/2011

You're missing the point. It's not about "lifestyle" imposition, it's about equal rights. Plain and simple. Your position assumes that homosexuality is a lifestyle, which it most certainly is not.

[talkstocoyotes]

10:09 AM on 12/09/2011

Inevitably, some will assent to human rights being important but start prattling about the "gay agenda" when it's made clear that gays are not an exception. The same "thinking" used to be applied to Jews.

[MPerky]

07:44 AM on 12/20/2011

It's a choice.

[Bob Kellerman]

02:34 AM on 12/12/2011

OK, so we have said we withold aid for those who violate women's rights, childrens' rights, the rights of ethnic groups in their countries,
---- but we should leave out those lousy sinning Gays, they do not deserve a boost from us

[kade6767]

12:31 PM on 12/08/2011

The only thing I am upset about is using foreign aid for what Obama wants. Screw sending money to other countries to force our beliefs on them, we need that money here. I don't care what Perry says, everyone is entitled to their opinion whether we agree with it or not.

[SybillOnWheels]

03:11 AM on 12/11/2011

The U.S. has been donating vast sums of money (for years now) to various third world countries that actively persecute and often execute their citizens if it is discovered that those citizens are gay. You seriously don't take issue with this?

[chicamorena]

12:17 PM on 12/08/2011

Does anybody else think this guy is protesting a little too much? Makes ya go "Hmmmm...".

[profounddogs]

11:32 AM on 12/08/2011

Call Governor Rick Perry's office and tell them what you think about this. I did. :) Glad I could help.1-800-252-9600

[jerry23]

09:27 AM on 12/08/2011

This Clown is truly running out of Gas, Gas being his most abundant asset. The ship has sailed and he isn't on it. There seems to be a strategy that when your relevancy is flickering, shout something that is denigrating about LBGT Folks to get attention. At this point it just gets attention, not votes.

[SteveHansen]

05:49 AM on 12/08/2011

There is a word for people like Rick Perry:

bigot noun \ˈbi-gət\
a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance

We should use that word.

[dartemis]

01:39 PM on 12/08/2011

It sounds like you are describing the gay activist movement more than Rick Perry.

[Cavin G]

09:34 PM on 12/26/2011

Yes, the fact that I dislike someone who so fervently discriminates against me, trying to prevent me and others like me from getting simple freedoms, that is just the DEFINITION of bigotry!

[David Fabie]

05:38 AM on 12/08/2011

SO just to be clear, Rick Perry feels upholding the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a war on American Values. You know, it worked out so well the last time The Republicans nominated a Texas Governor with a 4th grade vocabulary and a penchant for confusing the voices in his head, with God, I can see why the GOP might be considering giving it another go. ...

[PeterinSydney]

03:16 AM on 12/08/2011

This fellow is running to be President for the wrong country. He should be running in Uganda or Nigeria.

[Michael Steaphens]

02:11 AM on 12/08/2011

Instead of spending our money for rights abroad,maybe Obama should concentrate on our rights here.Just one man's opinion...

[valkygrrl]

07:34 AM on 12/08/2011

what rights do you feel you've been denied?

[Michael Steaphens]

02:51 AM on 12/09/2011

Not necessarily rights denied,but rights trampled.Property rights,gun rights,the right to educate one's child as they see fit,to name a couple...

[kade6767]

12:32 PM on 12/08/2011

Absolutely. That money is better used here where we need it, not another country while we try to force our western beliefs on them.

[talkstocoyotes]

10:13 AM on 12/09/2011

Good idea. Let's take all the money we would have sent abroad and use it to advance civil rights for gays here at home.

That *was* what you meant, wasn't it?

[SybillOnWheels]

03:23 AM on 12/11/2011

So it's completely acceptable for U.N. member nations to actively seek out and execute their gay citizens?

[Cheyla]

12:43 AM on 12/08/2011

Bigot

[FantasticFourFan]

11:09 PM on 12/07/2011

Obviously he doesn't care much for that American tolerance he praises so highly if he thinks that allowing it somehow harms faith. BTW: I've never heard anyone explain how that works exactly. How is allowing gays to live their lives "harming" religion?

[Devinrigg]

02:28 AM on 12/08/2011

I'm a Christian (not remotely a Perry supporter) and the answer is that it harms my religion in no way whatsoever. I will say that anyone who claims to follow Christ and hates homosexuals (or anyone, for that matter) seriously needs to pull out their Bible and do some serious reading. I hope you and everyone don't perceive Christianity to be Perry's perversion of scripture.

[nb7264]

09:10 AM on 12/08/2011

I agree. The problem is that many GOP candidates present themselves as devout Christians and then take positions such as this one that are hateful and discriminatory againt certain people. I'm not a religious person. However, the quote that comes to mind when I see things such as this. "Judge not, lest ye be judged". These guys are always ready to judge people.

[WinWinSituation]

03:34 PM on 12/08/2011

I am an atheist and I approve of your message.

[averagezoe]

10:27 PM on 12/07/2011

It seems that every day I see something in the news decrying gay rights, gay sex, gay marriage and gay lifestyles. It's become redundant to even attempt to comment on anything Perry or the rest of the GOP freaks have to say, but I often wonder what the rationale behind their hatred really is. I would like to ask each one of them just how gay people living gay lifestyles impact the lives of the people in this country or the entire world, for that matter. What exactly does it take away from them, how does it alter their day to day lives, what negative and devastating affect does the gay community have on the world in general? To listen to Perry and cohorts, you'd think being gay was equivalent to having leprosy - a disease threatening to infect everyone exposed to it - so it must therefore be eradicated. But in reality, there is no discernable between gay and heterosexual people at all. Why then is there such hatred and vitriol spewing forth from the lips of the GOP candidates? How is that in any way helping them win the nomination?