Bigot Watch: Read Darryl Metcalfe’s Anti-Gay Memo

Chances are you’ve heard of State Representative Darryl Metcalfe, the Tea Partier from Butler County, Pa., who’s notorious for being one of the Commonwealth’s most vehement anti-gay supporters. If not, here’s a little background: In a profile written last year in the Philadelphia City Paper (full disclosure: I worked there at the time), local reporter Daniel Denvir wrote:

Metcalfe is the House’s most prominent critic of gays: He opposed Philly’s program to market the city to gay tourists, saying that tax dollars should not be used to ‘promote immoral behaviors’; he tried to cut state funding to universities such as Temple because they offer domestic-partner benefits; he sued a gay New Hope couple for attempting (and failing) to get a marriage license; and he opposed Domestic Violence Awareness Month, calling it part of ‘the homosexual agenda’ to support a ‘sinful lifestyle’ because it recognized male victims of rape.

Gross, right? Well, apparently the a-hole’s up to his old shenanigans again. On Saturday, Philadelphia Weekly blogger Randy LoBasso wrote about a recent memo that was passed around to House members, in which Metcalfe states:

In the near future, I will be introducing legislation proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Pennsylvania providing for the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. …  It is important that we support traditional marriage and have constitutional amendments to protect it at the state level. Marriage is a common good, not a special interest. Special interests should not have the right to redefine marriage for all of us.

To back it up, on Friday, the American Family Association of Pennsylvania sent out an “Action Alert” for members to call their House representatives in support of the memo, stating that:

Homosexual activists are unrelenting in their march towards ‘marriage equality. … They will not be satisfied until same-sex ‘marriage’ has been legalized across the country.”

The positive twist? Poll results released Friday by Equality Pennsylvania hint that that little memo just may burn flames:

A majority of Pa. Republicans support some form of legal recognition of same sex relationships. 14 percent support full marriage equality; 39 percent said gay couples should be allowed civil unions but not marriages. 45 percent said there should be no legal status at all.

People like Metcalfe are the reason Pennsylvania remains one of the only Northeastern states that doesn’t allow gay marriage. Call your reps to let them know how much you he and his memos suck.

UPDATE: Brian Sims responds to Darryl Metcalfe’s anti-gay-marriage bill.