In this week of stupid people saying stupid things, Sandy Rios of the American Family Association had to give her opinion about an openly gay man being appointed as Army Secretary.
Eric Fanning was finally confirmed after an eight month holdup. GOP senator Pat Roberts was the sole objection. This makes him the first openly gay Army Secretary, another historic moment for the Obama administration and even more so for the armed services. In a statement that no one asked her for, Rios said Fanning won’t be good at his job because he’s gay and therefore not an “alpha male.”
“When it comes to leading men into battle, when it comes to being secretary of the Army, I’ll take an alpha male any day. I’m sorry. I know these war-like men too well and I don’t think most of them — very few of them are gay. You that are in the gay community, if you were to describe your friends and colleagues who are in this community, I don’t think you would describe them as warriors. I’m sure there are some, but still, I would prefer an alpha male.”
Sandy, let me give a little bit of a history lesson. Remember that movie “300” about those brave Spartans who held off an army of thousands? Well the historical Spartans were the special forces of their day, an elite fighting force feared all over the ancient world. No one was tougher. And as part of their culture it was common for men serving together to bond, both platonically, and on occasion, sexually, to help encourage unit cohesion.
You want to say that they weren’t alpha males? Because I sure don’t.
That aside, the idea that someone can’t be good at their job based solely on his or her sexuality is bigoted and entirely backwards. Rios could not help but make a dig about Religious Right activist Jerry Boykin’s controversy after he threatened violence against trans people and lost his job.
“That’s where we’ve come: an openly gay man is the secretary of the army while the founder of the Delta Force, because he disapproves of transgender bathrooms in North Carolina, is fired from teaching at a college. It’s just amazing.”
Listen to Rios’ comments here:
And if you need a laugh, watch this face-off between Ms. Rios and Alan Colmes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dKN5_XiOC8
Feature image via Getty/Alex Wong
