Does she, or doesn’t she?
Cindy McCain, wife of U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) spoke out against the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in an anti-bullying campaign this week, only to seemingly perform an about face just one day later.
Appearing in an anti-bully video produced by the NO H8 Campaign and released Thursday, Cindy McCain she said, “Our political and religious leaders tell LGBT youth that they have no future … They can’t serve our country openly.”
The next line in the video, by other announcers is, “These laws that legislate discrimination teach bullies that what they’re doing is acceptable.”
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To which Cindy McCain replies, “Our government treats the LGBT community like second class citizens, why shouldn’t they?” Watch here:
The comments are the first time Cindy McCain has publicly criticized the military’s ban on openly gay service members, a policy that her husband continues to work to prevent its repeal. The Senator, a decorated war veteran, led a Republican effort in September to block a vote to the repeal the 17-year-old ban.
But on Friday, Cindy McCain, who is traveling in Europe, seemed to reverse her position on DADT, sending this message via Twitter:
Appearing on “Meet the Press” on Sunday, NBC’s David Gregory asked Sen. McCain about the his wife’s statement, “I fully support the NOH8 campaign and all it stands for and am proud to be a part of it. But I stand by my husband’s stance on DADT,” to which Sen. McCain interrupted with this response: “Which is, a complete and thorough study and review of the effects on battle readiness and morale.”
“I respect the First Amendment rights of every member of my family,” Sen. McCain added.
Since her flip on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” bloggers and LGBT activists have called Mrs. McCain a liar, hypocrite, and not worthy of bearing the NO H8 symbol.
“Her lying homophobic face needs to be yanked from that video immediately,” said John Aravosis, Editor of AMERICAblog.
NOH8 videographer Adam Bouska told ABC News that the reference to the military’s gay ban was part of a script that all participants in the video read. Bouska said the editors chose to include Mrs. McCain’s delivery in the final cut, he said, “to make it as powerful as we can and as effective as we can.”
The NOH8 Campaign is a photo project and silent protest launched by Bouska and his partner Jeff Parshley. The campaign launched in 2008 following the passage of Proposition 8 in California, which amended the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.
