National Coming Out Day: Buck McKeon Explains What Happens When You Get A Camel's Nose In Your Tent

As we've pointed out many times in the past, California Congressman Buck McKeon is the ultimate Washington whore, sucking up immense, legalistic bribes from whichever industry whichever committee he's sitting on is supposed to oversee. Once, when he was the ranking Republican on the Committee on Education and the Workforce he was the biggest beneficiary of the for-profit student loan industry. Now that he's the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, the former mayor of Santa Clarita is on the take from defense contractors-- to the tune of over a quarter million dollars this year alone... the most of anyone in the House. War industries have pumped well over a million dollars into his political career so far, the 5th largest recipient of cash from the arms makers of anyone in the House of Representatives.

He's the war contractors' and the armaments industry's man on the inside-- the antithesis of what Dwight Eisenhower was hoping for in a public servant when he warned the country about the toxic rise of the Military-Industrial Complex way back in 1961 when McKeon was still a Mormon missionary looking for converts. So there was general shock Inside-the-Beltway when McKeon threatened to cut off all money to the Pentagon unless the military bans marriage equality. McKeon was born in the 1930's and he's obviously losing his mental facilities (just watch the video). His conservative mindset can't come to grips with equality for gay men and women. As Corey Robin explains in The Reactionary Mind, "the right is fundamentally inspired by a hostility to emancipating the lower orders." What conservatives all have in common is "the impulse to defend power and privilege against movements demanding freedom and equality." That's an apt description of what's left of the deteriorating McKeon mind.

In this Newsmakers video, McKeon starts talking about his anti-gay mania at around the 18 minute mark if you just want to get to that-- but I recommend you watch the whole clip if you have time to see how this crazy old man's mind creaks along.



McKeon's record on gay-issues is abysmal-- even by Republican standards. He has a career-long ZERO from Progressive Punch on key votes. You don't get worse than a zero. That means he voted to keep DADT and voted against including the LGBT community in hate crimes legislation and against every other bill that has sought to promote safety and equality for gay men and lesbians. As we explained on the fledgling ActBlue page dedicated to replacing Congress' worst homophobes, McKeon isn't just a garden variety homophobe. A militant Mormon bigot, what he's doing is threatening to defund the entire U.S. military-- endangering U.S. troops in the field and our national security-- unless the Pentagon takes the anti-gay action that he sees as coinciding with his own religious beliefs. Remember, even The Hill is reporting that McKeon "said that he would rather go without a defense spending bill this year than compromise on allowing military chaplains to conduct gay marriages."

Retired military chaplains have been aghast at McKeon's ugly, naked bigotry-- and are speaking out.

The Forum on the Military Chaplaincy is far from happy about the actions of House Armed Services Committee chairman Buck McKeon of California. McKeon wants desperately to impose his religious beliefs upon the military and the military’s chaplains. He has even threatened to kill the Defense Appropriations Bill if his ban on chaplains conducting same-sex marriages is not left in that bill.

Retired US Army Chaplain Colonel Paul Dodd stated “Many chaplains – Episcopal, Lutheran, United Church of Christ, and Unitarian Universalist Chaplains, among others – would be prevented from performing weddings or commitment ceremonies allowed by their denominations if Chairman McKeon gets his way. We stand for the rights of chaplains from all faiths to conduct services in accordance with that faith.”

In honor of National Coming Out Day, how about making a contribution to the campaign of Dr. Lee Rogers, McKeon's Democratic opponent and someone dedicated to equality for all Americans. His response to McKeon's bigoted and irresponsible threats were the kind of straight forward common sense you always hear from him:

"McKeon's decision to hold defense funding hostage if he can't block gay marriage in the military is reprehensible. Marriage equality rights should not be suspended when you put on our nation's uniform.  There's still an American flag sewn to that uniform, and that flag stands for freedom."