Just how crazy is Christine O'Donnell? (1)

By Michael J.W. Stickings

We do this for Sharron Angle, so why not for Christine O'Donnell, who might just be even crazier? Why not indeed. Here we go...

How crazy is she? Well, she's crazy in her bigotry towards gays and lesbians, as Think Progress reports:

Despite having a lesbian sister, Delaware GOP Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell has long history of taking hateful and ignorant positions against gay people, as ThinkProgress has noted in our report on the former anti-sex activist. For example, O'Donnell has said she "cannot understand" why gay people are offended by homosexuality being called a "deviant sexual orientation," and has claimed that gay people are "attacking the very center of what is America -- freedom to have different views." But in a 2006 quote uncovered by the Washington Post's Greg Sargent, O'Donnell took an even harsher stance, calling homosexuality an "identity disorder":

People are created in God's image. Homosexuality is an identity adopted through societal factors. It's an identity disorder.

As Sargent writes, "O'Donnell's suggestion that gays suffer from a psychological disorder is far worse than other comments about gays that have already gotten media attention." Indeed, until 1973 the American Psychiatric Association considered homosexuality to be a disease, causing tremendous problems for gay men and women who were labeled mentally ill. Now, the APA states firmly that "homosexuality is not an illness, a mental disorder, or an emotional problem," and that "human beings cannot choose to be either gay or straight." O'Donnell has claimed that her views have "matured" since she was in her 20s, but the recency of this homophobic remark raises serious questions about how much her extremist beliefs have actually evolved.

Clearly, her views haven't really "matured" at all -- and now she pits her fundamentalist Christian nonsense (religious opinion masquerading as psychological diagnosis, as if she's in any position to diagnose anything!) against the scientific establishment (which has matured a great deal as it has learned more and more). She has no idea what she's talking about, but that obviously doesn't stop her from saying whatever she likes, without a trace of humility or doubt, to advance her bigotry.

Oh, and how are gays "attacking" American freedom? How does being gay, and having rights, stop others from being free and having different views? O'Donnell is free to speak her mind and express her bigotry, is she not?

Crazy? You betcha! But these days, of course, she's just a run-of-the-mill Republican, a party in which such hate and ignorance is standard fare.