Idaho GOP State Rep: ‘Slave Owners Were Good People Who Made Bad Decisions, Like Gays’

Ever wonder why some people open their mouths and begin spewing out toxic gas before they stop to think? Is it just a slip-up, or does such a Freudian slip reveal what is truly resting deeper in their subconscious?

This is the question I pondered when I read the comments of Republican State Representative Paul Shepherd. Shepherd, who is apparently not the sharpest knife in the drawer and is also known as being rabidly anti-gay, allowed the rights to his domain name–paulshepherdusa.com–to lapse. As a result, Dylan Hailey, a gay rights activist, bought the domain and changed the site into a pro-gay forum.

When Shepherd was contacted by the press about the new web site which contains his name, here was how he responded:

“Slave owners were very good Christians and good people. They weren’t terrible, rotten, horrible people. And that’s how I see gay people.”

Apparently this jackass needs a history lesson, and I will be glad to provide one, especially in light of the fact that I happen to be a native of a state which was in the Confederacy:

Mr. Shepherd, I would urge you to do some reading and discover what the majority of us in the country were aware of some time ago: Slavery was evil, and anyone who engaged in it as a slave owner was, by definition, a bad person. Just because they claimed to be Christians does not exonerate them for the massive wrong of owning other human beings.

Secondly, to compare slave owners to gay people is not only ignorant, it is a deeply flawed analogy. Gay Americans do not want to own other people against their will. All they want are the same rights that everyone else has in this country.

As for the terrible, rotten, and horrible part of your misguided statement, I can only say that it would appear you are the one to whom those most aptly apply.

This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org.

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