04/14/2009
Gay Iowa Senator Matt McCoy Receives Death Threat
The Victory Fund reports that openly gay state senator Matt McCoy has received a death threat in the wake of Iowa's Supreme Court decision striking down the state's same-sex marriage ban:
"Iowa officials confirmed State Senator Matt McCoy, the legislature’s sole openly gay member, received a death threat via voice message at his private job. The threat came amidst a protest at the state capitol involving thousands of people opposed to marriage equality for same-sex couples."
McCoy released a video message shortly after the Court's decision saying that "Iowa will not go back" on marriage.
Security was heavy at the state capitol in Des Moines yesterday as approximately 300 marriage equality foes held a rally in the pouring rain. Same-sex marriage will begin in the state in just a few days and the bigots are desperate to do something to stop it.
"At the rain-drenched rally, Republican candidate for governor Bob Vander Plaats demanded Culver immediately intervene rather than wait as gay-marriage opponents work to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot. The earliest voters could see the issue would be in 2012, and that seems unlikely given opposition by Democratic leaders in the Legislature. 'I don't want to wait two years,' said Vander Plaats. 'I want this governor to issue an executive order that says there will be a stay on all same-sex marriages until the people of Iowa have the right to vote. If I were governor today, I would issue that executive order immediately.' Culver spokesman Phil Roeder dismissed Vander Plaats' statement. 'Governors in Iowa do not have the ability to prevent or overturn a decision of the Supreme Court through an executive order,' said Roeder. 'It's disappointing that some people, especially politicians, would try to mislead the public into thinking that governors do have such power.'"
Culver has said he is respecting the Supreme Court's decision. Senator majority leader Mike Gronstal has said he has "no intention" of taking up legislation against the decision.
Another video of remarks (the first one is here) by McCoy, shortly after the decision, AFTER THE JUMP...
Posted 11:11 AM EST by Andy Towle in Gay Marriage, Iowa, News | Permalink
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Watching both party camps in this last election, I was struck by how... absurdly voracious and visual the right wing are in this country. They are wired so differently from mainstream [everyone else], and to them, all this hate-speak, all the death threats, all the shootings, are completely justifiable. To call them "fringe" is a mistake, because from what I can gather, there are still sufficient pockets of these whack jobs that want so much to have the upper hand that any variation from their Christian perceptions is deemed unacceptable. The recent violence in Pittsburgh, these death threats in Iowa, all this is just the tip of the iceberg. I look at this, not just as the age of Change, but the age of US martyrdom... homeland terroism; where the pin heads will rile themselves into such a self feeding frenzy that these instances will become commonplace across the country.
And the news-for-entertainment outlets will just feed the fires; incessantly.
Posted by: Rad | Apr 14, 2009 12:36:09 PM
It is time to fight fire with fire. We must make the haters afraid to even leave their houses. They have yet to experience the full wrath of GayRage.
Posted by: Attmay | Apr 14, 2009 12:39:33 PM
No kidding Attmay - Anyone whom has been severely harmed by HATE knows that fighting back is SELF-DEFENSE and COUNTER-TERRORISM.
To others whom have been lucky enough to avoid injury or death (so far), they see this fighting back as "too violent" and radical. Too bad. If the Big Gay Orgs do not start fighting discrimination like REAL WARRIORS instead of wimpy p*ssies, more and more regular folks will turn to violence and destruction towards the people whom HATE US and WISH TO DO US HARM.
I've been accused of being a terrorist before (lol); I'm an Equality Counter-Terrorist, bee-yatches.
Posted by: John Bisceglia | Apr 14, 2009 1:13:56 PM
No, you're not! You're a fat dude sitting behind a computer.
Posted by: crispy | Apr 14, 2009 1:38:44 PM
I doubt Republicans are trying to intentionally mislead anyone in Iowa regarding the powers held by the governor. Being Midwestern Republicans, I imagine they had no clue themselves. Ignorance is so embarassing...to those who know better, anyway.
Posted by: Ugh | Apr 14, 2009 1:45:34 PM
it would be great to fight back physically, but the haters usually send their wives and kids to fight their battles. The pussy husbands will sit home and get fat.
Posted by: AS13 | Apr 14, 2009 2:01:00 PM
If this is his first death threat, I'm actually amazed and impressed. I would have assumed that he would have been barraged with them since the day his sexual orientation became public info.
I wonder if this meets Mike Huckabee's standard for anti-gay discrimination.
@Attmay - and who gets to decide who is guilty of being a "hater"? Mike Huckabee? You?
Acting like members of Stormfront isn't the answer to creating a better world. It's quite the opposite.
Posted by: paul c | Apr 14, 2009 2:02:48 PM
How the hell are you a gubernatorial candidate when you have no idea of what the powers of the governor are?
What a tard.
Posted by: Jackson | Apr 14, 2009 2:37:50 PM
Check out the Victory Fund's great 7-minute documentary about Matt McCoy's political career/coming out process here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2ajvjzNd_o&feature=channel_page
Posted by: DCposter | Apr 14, 2009 5:03:43 PM
Agreed with the comments regarding electoral ignorance (or its pretense).
So many on the Right (including many elected officials) do not seem to have a basic understanding of the system of checks & balances, and the division of powers between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches at either the state or Federal level.
Or ... just as sadly ... they *do* understand, but lie to whip up the "peepul" and gain power.
Posted by: Joe | Apr 14, 2009 5:13:12 PM
Attmay and John, rage is fine, except when it's stupid. We won in IA. Wingnuts don't like that, so they're getting crazy with rage. That is not something we want to emulate. Supporters of equality should always be visible, always argue well and clearly, protest forcefully when necessary, and keep working in a smart, focused fashion towards our goals. Leave the hissy fits with weapons to the zealots who know they're on their way to losing the battle. We're better than that. Self-defense in a dark alleyway is a good thing, random rage against lunatics in the political arena is not.
Posted by: Ernie | Apr 14, 2009 5:36:45 PM
So we won in Iowa. Do you think we're going to win in the Deep South without a fight?
These people will stop at nothing. We must always be on the defensive.
Posted by: Attmay | Apr 15, 2009 12:10:52 AM
"We must always be on the defensive."
Actually, we should be on the offensive. We should be the ones controlling our fight, smartly arguing our case, as we did in IA and VT. Raging blindly at wingnuts makes us look like wingnuts. I think everyone agrees we must fight; it's the tactics we disagree about.
Posted by: Ernie | Apr 15, 2009 9:23:08 AM