On Friday, Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) proclaimed that “right-to-life,” “pro-assault weapon,” “anti-gay” “extreme conservatives” are not welcome in New York State, and Glenn took particular issue with Cuomo’s use of the term “anti-gay.” While Glenn explained that he does not know a single individual who does not support a homosexual’s right to live in this country, there are places in the world that are in fact anti-gay. With the Sochi Olympics just around the corner, ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos sat down with Russian President Vladimir Putin and asked how gay rights protestors would be handled given the country’s propaganda laws.
“Anti-gay? I don't know anybody who is anti-gay – at least not any of my friends,” Glenn said on radio this morning. “We could talk about the Russians. In fact, Stephanopoulos asked Putin about the gay laws in Russia. You want to hear about anti-gay? It would sound like this.”
Watch Putin’s interview on ABC’s This Week below:
STEPHANOPOULOS: If gay or lesbian athletes engage in a protest, wear a rainbow pin or other protest, would they be free from prosecution under the propaganda law?
PUTIN: Acts of protest and acts of propaganda are somewhat different things. They are close, but if we were to look at them from the legal perspective, then protesting the law does not amount to propaganda of homosexuality or sexual abuse of children. That's one. Two is that I would like to ask our colleagues, my colleagues and friends that as they try and criticize us, they would do well to set their own house in order first. I did say after all, and this is public knowledge, that in some of the states in the U.S., homosexuality remains a felony.
STEPHANOPOULOS: The Supreme Court has struck those laws down.
PUTIN: How are they in a position to criticize us for what is a softer liberal approach to these issues than in their own country?
“How is that a softer approach when you are jailed for it,” Pat asked.
When you consider the Russian government is actively strengthening the country’s laws related to homosexuality, Putin’s comparison of the United States and Russia make little to no sense.
“Talk about the direction of law. The direction of the law in the United States is the opposite. Those are old laws that are being nullified,” Glenn said. “He is putting in new laws that are being strengthened. So the direction is going the wrong way. And Russia is fascist.”
As Glenn sees it, there is simply no room for that type of intolerance in his life.
“Anybody within the sound of my voice that hates a gay person because they're gay, you have no place calling yourself a fan of mine, and you are not a fan of mine. You have no friendship here. If you hate people because they are conservative, you have no place as a friend of mine,” Glenn said. “If you hate somebody just because they're liberal, they're gay, they are different than you in one way or another, you are no different than the monsters who say I can't be friends with them because they're handicapped. I can't be friends with them because they're Jewish. I can't be friends with them because they're Muslim.”
“If that's who you are, I don't want to have anything to do with you, however, you have a right to be my neighbor. You have a right to be somebody in the community and somebody's whose voice is heard. And I'm not going to silence your voice. You're just wrong,” he concluded. “I'm not afraid of your opinion. If that's your opinion, then I want you to say it because I then know who you are, and I have a right to associate or disassociate from you. I have no problem with that. I'm not afraid of your opinion.”
Front page image courtesy of the AP
