Who says Republicans don't have a conscience?
Gay hotelier Ian Reisner, who with Matt Weiderpass hosted a dinner party in New York City, NY last week, for Ted Cruz, wants you to know he's sorry. He has written on his Facebook page
I am shaken to my bones by the e-mails, texts, postings and phone calls of the past few days. I made a terrible mistake. I was ignorant, naive and much too quick in accepting a request to co-host a dinner with Cruz at my home without taking the time to completely understand al of his postiions on gay rigths. I've spent the past 2 hours reviewing videos of Cruz' statements on gay marriage and I am shocked and agrey. I sincerely apologize for hurting the gay community and so many of our friends, family, allies, customers, and employees. I will try my best to make up for my poor judgement.
Again, I am deeply sorry.
You bet he and Weiderpass (who later issued a weaker apology) are sorry, given that a boycott has arisen on Facebook. Evidently, neither Reiser nor Weiderpass is familiar with the Internet, which would have informed them that the Texas Republican, ten other GOP Senators and one GOP Representative, in February re-introduced the State Marriage Defense Act. That would allow each state to determine for itself whether to prohibit same-sex marriage and require the federal government to defer to state law to determine whether a couple is married under federal law.
Leaving the matter up to the states- as if the Civil War had never occurred or had been won by the Confederacy- has become the fallback position for politicians opposing same-sex marriage. Additionally, as the Dallas News reported, while campaigning in Iowa on April Fools' Day Cruz
reiterated his vow to press for a constitutional amendment that would clarify the power of state legislatures to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. If the high court does legalize gay marriage nationwide, he added, he would prod Congress to strip federal courts of jurisdiction over the issue, a rarely invoked legislative tool.
So Reisner is "shocked and angry" now that he has learned of Ted Cruz's views on marriage. However, he and Weiderpass apparently are not shocked and angry that Cruz, who has forgotten President Reagan sent arms to Iran in violation of the Boland Amendment, once claimed "This president of the United States is the first president we've ever had who thinks he can choose which laws to enforce and which laws to ignore."
Even now, neither guy is concerned that Cruz has charged "global warming alarmists are the equivalent of the flat-earthers," or opposes a woman's right to choose (unless her life is at stake), or has advocated a flat tax because the bottom 90% having only as much wealth as the top .1% (graph below from Emanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman) is inadequate.
Standing up for the inalienable right to own assault weapons or threatening to shut down the government over the Affordable Care Act or was just fine with Republicans Reisner and Weiderpass. The Texas senator was inspiring until they found out that he doesn't believe individuals like themselves should have the right to marry each other- or, rather, that their support would cut into their bottom line.
Their candidate has been fairly hostile toward women in terrible crisis, the poor and middle class, the uninsured, victims of gun violence, and the planet itself. Finally, they have noticed that he doesn't much care for people like themselves, either. Time to act.
A couple of great guys.
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