Republican Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett dug himself deeper into the trenches of bigotry last week.
In an interview with Harrisburg’s CBS 21 that aired Oct. 4, Corbett compared same-sex marriage to incest. The comment came after reporter Sherry Christian questioned the governor about backlash his administration experienced for comparing same-sex marriage to unions between children in a recent court filing.
“I think a much better analogy would have been brother and sister, don’t you think?” he questioned the quickly flabbergasted Christian.
Sure, the comment is offensive — not to mention ridiculous, bigoted and ill-fitting of the leader of a state government. But the way in which Corbett delivered the remark was even more repulsive.
After uttering the statement, Corbett flashed a conspiratorial half-smile and slight chuckle, almost as if he were attempting to invite Christian into his ridicule of same-sex couples. Christian wasn’t having that, thankfully, as she seemed to look off-set, fumble a moment and respond with, “I don’t know. I’m gonna leave the comments to you and your team.”
But the cavalier manner in which Corbett drew the comparison is illustrative of the fact that he simply doesn’t get the concept of same-sex marriage. As is his repeated foot-in-mouth disorder when this issue is raised.
This past summer, he issued an “apology” after his administration compared the issuing of marriage licenses to same-sex couples to licenses for 12-year-olds in a court filing in the state’s suit against Montgomery County Register of Wills D. Bruce Hanes, who issued same-sex marriage licenses this summer. Corbett assured the public he was not aware that comparison would be made in the filing and went on to say it would “never” happen again.
Fast-forward two months, and now it’s Corbett himself making a new and equally inane comparison.
In his quickly issued apology last week, Corbett rationalized that he was simply trying to cite other relationships prohibited from marriage. However, that’s not what Christian asked — she asked a simple, open-ended question about backlash and Corbett, at the ready, chose to make another stupid comment.
In addition to his misleading justification, Corbett also delivered this gem: “My words were not intended to offend anyone. If they did, I apologize.”
Every time he opens his mouth on this issue, he gets it wrong.
Instead of demonstrate his sheer lack of knowledge and understanding about same-sex couples, maybe Corbett should take this opportunity to educate himself.
Find out what exactly the Montgomery County licenses mean to the 174 couples who rushed to the county to receive them. Talk to Maureen Hennessey, whose wife of 20 years died earlier this year and she is navigating inheritance-tax penalties and other financial obstacles on top of her grief. Stop any number of Pennsylvanians walking down the street, as the majority support state recognition for same-sex couples.
Or, he could continue to make off-the-wall, asinine comments that will hopefully bring the end of his days in office sooner rather than later.