‘Homophobic’ Republican sinks to new ‘Trumpian’ lows branding gay opponent as ‘creepy’
Fred Upton’s supporters described Jon Hoadley as a “pedo sex poet”. (Jon Hoadley/ Facebook)
Republicans are being accused of pushing “anti-gay stereotypes” in a “homophobic” television advert that branded a gay congressional candidate as “creepy”.
The advert targets Jon Hoadley, an openly gay congressional candidate from Michigan. He is challenging incumbent Republican Fred Upton in the state’s sixth district.
The bizarre advert, led by the National Republican Campaign Committee’s Super PAC, picks apart comments made by Hoadley years ago in blog posts in an effort to discredit his campaign.
The advert has been condemned by the LGBTQ Victory Fund, the only national organisation dedicated to electing LGBT+ people to public office.
In a statement released Thursday (1 October), the group said the advert is “the latest in a well-funded and orchestrated effort to use anti-gay attacks to derail Hoadley’s campaign”.
LGBT+ community urged to stand by gay congressional candidate Jon Hoadley.
The LGBTQ Victory Fund has called on allies of the LGBT+ community to “speak out and condemn these attacks”.
Annise Parker, president and CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, also accused Hoadley’s opponent Fred Upton of “running the most homophobic campaign in America”.
“His refusal to denounce these Trumpian tactics makes his self-righteous calls for ‘civility’ look absurd,” Parker said.
“His silence cued supporters to invest more than $500,000 in misleading attack ads that purposely perpetuate the ugliest of anti-gay stereotypes.
“Fred is so embedded in Trump-land that he can no longer differentiate between the typical rough and tumble of campaigning and the politics of hate he claims to deplore.”
The group said Upton has attempted to shift the blame for attacks on Hoadley to outside political groups – however, they lambasted the Republican for refusing to condemn the vitriol.
His refusal to denounce these Trumpian tactics makes his self-righteous calls for ‘civility’ look absurd.
Furthermore, the LGBTQ Victory Fund said the advert sues “out-of-contest” quotes from a blog and a poem written by Hoadley 15 years ago when he was an undergraduate student.
The advert claims Hoadley referred to women as “breeders” and wrote about children wearing thongs. The LGBTQ Victory Fund said these comments were made in “clearly satirical” discussions about the hyper-sexualisation of children.
“The phrase has been removed from context to imply that Jon is a paedophile, an accusation that has been repeated multiple times in many ways by the NRCC and pro-Upton operatives,” the LGBTQ Victory Fund said.
The group also said Hoadley had been deliberately misquoted to imply that he was encouraging people to use drugs.
