Too stupid to breathe: Anchorage mayor Dan Sullivan

Yes, I know this is a Florida blog and all that, but I've developed this strange fascination with America's 49th state ... or, more to the point, the peculiar brand of right-wing nutjob that the state seems to produce. Of course, the most famous example of that is former governor and erstwhile vice presidential candidate (can you even imagine?!) Sarah Palin, as chronicled here regularly. But ol' Sarah Clown Car is hardly the only tundra-tastic politician whose breathtaking ignorance ought to be revealed to the world in all its repulsive glory.

Today, Blast Off!'s popular widely loathed series "Too Stupid To Breathe" honors another Alaskan who might just have spent too much time outdoors without a warm hat: brand-new mayor of Anchorage Dan Sullivan. The mayor (right, needless to say), a Republican (also needless to say) who took office on July 1, put his apparently iced-in brain to work this week by vetoing a measure that would have outlawed discrimination against gay Anchorage...ites (Anchorageans? Anchoragers? Anchorsaweigh?). But the truly heinous thing about this, and the reason he earns the title Too Stupid To Breathe, is the rationale behind his decision (link is PDF): there's no evidence (says he) of discrimination against gays.

My review shows that there is clearly a lack of quantifiable evidence necessitating this ordinance. My review also shows that the vast majority of those who communicated their position on the ordinance are in opposition.

Note that Mayor Sullivan didn't say that a majority of people in Anchorage opposed the ordinance -- rather, only the majority of those who contacted the mayor's office opposed it (allegedly). I thought that it was the majority of the legislative body (in this case, the city Assembly) mattered more than who made the most phone calls or wrote the most angry, hate-filled letters and emails, but maybe I'm wrong. After all, Dan probably can see Russia from his office, so it's really not part of America anyway, right?

Also, the basic ignorance of reality in this instance by others who agree with the mayor is shocking even to someone like me, who should be used to the typical Republican aversion to facts by now:

Assembly Chairwoman Debbie Ossiander, a surprise vote against the measure last week, said she hasn't changed her mind.

Ossiander said she doesn't believe it's right to discriminate against gay people. But she said last week she feared that some language in the compromise might force businesses to create special facilities -- unisex bathrooms, for example.

Oh, no, we can't have unisex bathrooms! That's worse than socialism! (It's also a ludicrously stretched interpretation of gay rights legislation but, then, you already knew that.) You think Ms. Ossiander ought to get together with former Fort Lauderdale mayor Jim Naugle? They both have a peculiar obsession with gay rights and bathrooms .... Moreover, the unisex-bathroom argument sounds a lot like the one gay rights opponents used unsuccessfully in Gainesville, Fla., earlier this year. It's ignorant, it's childish, and it's wrong.

And get a load of this fucktard:

“This ordinance was going to force small-business owners particularly to accommodate people who choose a certain lifestyle,” said the Rev. Jerry Prevo, pastor of the Anchorage Baptist Temple and a leader of the measure’s opponents.

“Once you give special rights to homosexuals,” Mr. Prevo said, “then the next step is you legalize homosexual marriage and so forth.”

Well, yes, that is the next step! We should legalize same-sex marriage! Oh, wait ... that's not what he's saying ...

Anyway, Prevo is dredging up the old "lifestyle choice" argument and how people will be "forced" to accept gay people. Didn't we get past that, like, a couple of decades ago? Does anyone still argue legitimately that being gay is a choice? Would you choose to suffer through discrimination and be told that the rights straight people take for granted are "special rights" as far as you're concerned, and you're "forcing" others to tolerate you? No, I didn't think so ....

In short, Mayor Sullivan, whatever your "review" shows you, it shows the rest of us who live in reality that you're a bigot ... and you're also too stupid to breathe.