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Army secretary nominee responds to ‘homosexual activists’ & ‘liberal left’

Army secretary nominee responds to ‘homosexual activists’ & ‘liberal left’
Army Secretary nominee Mark Green Photo: GOP

Mark Green and his army of Christian defenders are mad, gosh darn it, about how he is being portrayed in some media reports as a religious right homophobe who wants to reverse gains made by LGBTQ troops.

“The liberal left has cut and spliced my words about terrorism and ISIS blatantly falsifying what I’ve said,” the Tennessee state senator posted on Facebook Tuesday.

Dr. Green — he received his medical degree from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio — outlined five points that he felt needed to be clarified in view of reports that show him to be virulently anti-LGBTQ, among other things.

And this, he said, served as a warning to “certain people” who he claimed “are cutting and splicing my words to paint me as a hater. It will not stand.”

The manifesto was accompanied by a share of an item appearing in God and Country, a conservative Christian news source, which was headlined: “Homosexual Activists Target Army Secretary Nominee Mark Green. Because He’s Christian.”

The “article” cites HRC executive director Chad Griffin, quoting his opposition to Green as a replacement for out secretary Eric Fanning, as well as the American Military Partner Association. Griffin said:

The concern is that even if LGBT members continue to be allowed to serve openly, having an anti-LGBT service secretary could create a negative command climate.

“That ignores,” wrote God and Country, “the fact a homosexual Secretary of the Army served over troops who were morally opposed to such behavior — which, if what the HRC says is true, would have created a ‘negative command climate’ for them.”

The web posting likewise poo-poohed AMPA’s claim that Green opposes transgender “equality” — their quotation marks — because he must “crush evil.”

According to the site, he only wants to “protect women,” and that is what it says Green really meant when he said this:

The government exists to honor those people who live honorably, who do good things – to reward people who behave well and to crush evil. So that means as a state senator, my responsibility very clearly in Romans 13 is to create an environment where people who do right are rewarded and the people who do wrong are crushed. Evil is crushed.

So I’m going to protect women in their bathrooms…

Green also believes transgender rights are a states issue. To this point and his claim that women need protection if transgender people use appropriate bathrooms, LGBTQ Nation published a list of myths that have been widely debunked in 2016, by trans write and advocate Brynn Tannehill.

Right Wing Talking Point: Sexual predators will exploit protections for transgender people.

Politifact busted this one. So did the Washington Post. There is no evidence that people have ever exploited transgender inclusive non-discrimination ordinances in the US to commit crimes.  They concluded: “We haven’t found any instances of criminals convicted of using transgender protections as cover in the United States. Neither have any left-wing groups or right-wing groups.”

Most mainstream media outlets, like the LA Times, Washington Post, and New York Times have concluded that this talking point is nothing more than fear mongering.

Right Wing Talking Point: Let the states decide.

You know we’re talking about the south, right? Where 50 years after Loving v. Virginia republicans control everything, and 46% of them think interracial marriage should still be illegal, (only 30% believe it should be legal)? Where Alabama didn’t remove anti-miscegenation laws until 2001? And 11 states still have Jim Crow laws on the books? Where 12 years after Lawrence v. Texas, a dozen states still have anti-sodomy laws on the books?

So, given all of this, what makes anyone think that these states would come up with a solution that is constitutional?

Green’s Senate confirmation hearing is expected in mid- to late-May.

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