Openly-homosexual anchor Anderson Cooper of CNN interviewed Florida attorney general Pam Bondi in Orlando yesterday, in the wake of Saturday night’s massacre committed by a Muslim homosexual at a prominent homosexual nightclub. Cooper relentlessly and doggedly tried to paint her as a homophobic bigot because she believes in natural marriage and defended it in court.
Here are some excerpts from Cooper’s grilling of Ms. Bondi, and how I might have responded to the same questions and challenges:
AC: “I talked to a lot of gay and lesbian people here yesterday who are not fans of yours and who said that they thought you were being a hypocrite, that you for years have fought—you’d basically gone after gay people, said that in court that gay people simply by fighting for marriage equality for trying to do harm to the people of Florida. To induce public harm, I believe was the term you used in court. Do you really think you’re a champion of the gay community?”
Homosexuals have the same right to life that every American has. What happened on Saturday night was a horrible crime. No one deserves to be cut down in cold blood no matter what his lifestyle might happen to be. I am adamantly opposed to vigilante justice in any way, shape, or form, and will defend everyone’s constitutional right to life, liberty, and property.
Now to your question, homosexuals have always had full marriage equality. They were always able to get married on exactly the same basis that anyone else could - to one, adult, non-relative member of the opposite sex. The same rules applied equally to everybody, so they’ve always had full marriage equality.
Marriage since the dawn of time has been the union of a man and a woman, and it’s the foundation of society. There’s nothing bigoted or hurtful about fighting to protect the cornerstone of civilization.
Now we may disagree about whether homosexuality ought to be normalized, but disagreement is not hatred, the truth is not hate speech, and discernment is not bigotry.
Now when you use the word “harm,” Anderson, the truth is that there are genuine health risks involved in the homosexual lifestyle, risks the public should be aware of, but perhaps that really is a conversation for another day. Let’s allow the families to grieve the loss of loved ones and perhaps we can talk again about the homosexual lifestyle later.
AC: “Do you worry about using language accusing gay people of trying to do harm to the people of Florida when doesn’t that send a message to some people who might have bad ideas in mind?”
Well, Anderson, you seem obsessed with the dangers involved in the homosexual lifestyle. So if you insist on talking about it, the fact is that it is a very risky lifestyle and represents a danger to public health. The CDC says that 60-65% of all HIV/AIDS victims are men who have sex with men. We love homosexuals enough to tell them the truth about homosexual behavior, to alert them to the dangers of the lifestyle and to offer help to those who would like to leave it.
AC: “The hotline that you’ve been talking about on television which allows family members and spouses of the dead to get information, which is incredibly important, and appreciate you talking about on the air, had there been no gay marriage, no same-sex marriage, you do realize that spouses, there would be no spouses, that boyfriends and girlfriends of the dead would not be able to get information and would not be able to visit in the hospital here. Isn’t there a sick irony in that?”
Hospitals for obvious reasons have always restricted access to spouses and immediate family members in cases of medical emergencies and urgent care. If marriage is a union of one man and one woman, which it has been since the dawn of time, then it’s appropriate to reserve access for those who are in natural marriages. There’s nothing sick or ironic about that at all. That’s just common sense, and perfectly consistent with the laws of nature and nature’s God.
AC: “It is about gay and lesbian victims … I’m just wondering though, is it hypocritical to portray yourself as a champion of the gay community when—I’m just reflecting what gay people told me they don’t see you as that.”
Well, I can’t help how people see me or others in the pro-family community. That’s beyond our ability to control. If you look at it the right way, we are champions of the gay community, because we love homosexuals enough to tell them the truth, the truth that will set them free. We know that homosexuality can leave people infected with incurable diseases and can shorten their lifespans by up to 20 years. We don’t want that for anybody. So while we are against homosexuality because of what it does to people, we are for homosexuals and for the homosexual community. We want what is best for them both in this life and in the life to come.
AC: “I’ll say I have never really seen you talk about gays and lesbians and transgender people in a positive way until now. I read your Twitter history for the last year and I saw you tweeting about, you know, national dog month and national shelter dog appreciation day or adopt a shelter dog month. It is gay pride month. You never even tweeted about gay pride month.”
Well, you’re right that I have not sent out Tweets celebrating gay pride month because this is simply not a lifestyle that should be celebrated or embraced by any rational society as the moral equivalent of heterosexuality.
AC: “So that’s your message to gay and lesbian people here. Because, again, I’m just telling you what people have been telling me to ask you. Moving forward, do you see yourself as being a vocal champion for gay and lesbian citizens in the state? I know a lot of gay and lesbian people in the state want to feel that the people that represent them, represent everybody in the state.”
Yes, I will continue to be vocal champion for the truth that will set gays and lesbians free. Silence in the face of self-destructive behavior is not love. No one can call himself a champion of any community if he is not willing to speak the truth to them. I believe what Jesus taught, that if we abide in his words, we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. So you can count on me to continue to speak the truth that will set our homosexual friends free.
AC: “Thank you very much, thank you for all you’re doing...”
You’re welcome, Anderson.
