US: Republican accused of plagiarising anti-gay speech
A Republican candidate has been accused of plagiarising a state congress speech opposing same-sex marriage.
Marilinda Garcia, who is running for the US House of Representatives in New Hampshire and was hailed as a “rising star” by the Republican National Committee – delivered a speech attacking the state’s equal marriage law.
However, according to lobbying group Granite State Progress, entire portions of the speech the 31-year-old state congresswoman gave appears to have been lifted from a five years old National Review article.
In the speech, Garcia said: “A man and a woman who unite biologically may or may not have children depending on factors beyond their control, but the point is that a same-sex couple cannot thus unite.”
The National Review article stated: “A man and a woman who unite biologically may or may not have children depending on factors beyond their control; a same-sex couple cannot thus unite.”
Garcia continued: “With respect to the purposes of marriage, they’re not equivalent. And so, this psychic benefit can not be granted without telling a lie about what marriage is, and why a society and legal system should recognize and support it.”
While the National Review article stated: “With respect to the purposes of marriages, they’re not equivalent; and so this psychic benefit cannot be granted without telling a lie about what marriage is and why a society and legal system should recognize and support it.”
Zandra Rice Hawkins told Huffington Post: “Marilinda Garcia is a Koch-funded and scripted candidate who sticks closely to the talking points provided by her big dollar donors.
“On the occasions she has had to speak in more detail about her own record and positions, she has struggled.
“Now we learn that she plagiarized major sections of a speech she gave on the House floor.
“We cannot be certain this was the only time Garcia has taken someone else’s work and passed it off as her own.”
