Thursday, November 24, 2011

More Anti-Gay Rhetoric From Walker's Administration

While running for Lieutenant Governor, Rebecca "I don't like the way that table is looking at me" Kleefisch compared homosexual couples to dogs.  People were rightfully outraged at her mean-spirited, hate-filled comments.

Now comes another one of Scott Walker's cronies, the politically connected Laurie McCallum, wife of former governor Scott McCallum, who takes a stance that homosexual people should be treated worse than dogs:
Laurie McCallum, who was recently appointed by Gov. Scott Walker to a six-year term on the state’s Labor and Industry Review Commission, wrote that the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act applies only to sexual harassment. That contention was the basis for her dissenting opinion in a case involving Milwaukeean Chris Bowen, a machine operator who was subjected to years of anti-gay harassment as an employee of Stroh Precision Die Casting.

In a 2-1 decision, commissioners Robert Glaser and Ann L. Crump found that Stroh was responsible for fostering a workplace environment hostile to Bowen because of his sexual orientation. Stroh did not deny that the harassment occurred; nor did the company argue that anti-gay harassment is allowed under state law during the eight years that the case bounced around the court system.

But McCallum, the politically connected wife of former GOP Gov. Scott McCallum, defied nearly 30 years of precedent in state law by asserting that sexual “preference,” as she put it, is not a protected category in workplace discrimination cases.

McCallum’s stance alarmed civil rights advocates as well as her fellow commissioners, who warned that her view could upend legal tradition and “make it permissible to harass an employee based upon race, national origin, religion, age or disability,” as well as sexual orientation.
Scott Walker needs to condemn the vote by his political appointee and state that strongly opposes that decision. If he chooses not to do so, one can only presume that he is in agreement with it.

Then again, by not refuting that hateful stance, he only helps the recall movement. Perhaps he shouldn't say anything after all.

4 comments:

  1. That McCallum thinks being gay is a "preference" and not sexual "orientation" speaks volumes about her ignorance.

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  2. Gays should be given equality in this country.

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  3. It appears that Ms. McCallum is actually Bisexual herself, so for her it IS a matter of preference if she wants to kiss women or kiss men. It is confusing for her that other folks may be strictly heterosexual or homosexual and thus not able to choose what gender turns 'em on...

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  4. Bi-curious people usually go out of their way to talk "against" the very thing they secretly want to try...

    Haven't we seen many politicians not practice what they preach over the years?

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