A Letter to Midland County Republicans

It came as no surprise to me that Gary Glenn is yet again running for public office. He just got done running for US Senate two years ago and now he is running for State Representative in the 98^th District of Midland. The shock came to us when we visited his website and saw that there are elected officials in Midland that have endorsed him.

I can only assume that they are not aware of Mr. Glenn’s history. I will attempt to chronicle the more notable pearls of wisdom from him for voters and elected officials so that they can make a more informed decision.

Firstly, there is a Youtube video in which Mr. Glenn says that the “homosexual lifestyle” is more dangerous than smoking. Using statistics from the 1980’s, he goes on saying that cigarette smokers reduce their lifespan by seven years and by practicing the “homosexual lifestyle” it is reduced by eight to twenty years. He goes on that the government wages campaigns against smoking and implies that the government should run campaigns against the “homosexual lifestyle”.

When asked if he supported the criminalization of homosexuality he responded in an email to the Michigan Messenger news website with: “The short answer to your question is yes, we believe that states should be free to regulate and prohibit behavior that’s a violation of community standards and a proven threat to public health and safety — including, as most of the United States did throughout its history, homosexual behavior.”

When Mr. Glenn was asked about what he thought of Michigan companies recruiting gays and lesbians, this was his response in an interview with Mission America (audio transcript available online):

"What ridiculous folly to suggest that only those individuals who engage in homosexual behavior given all of its severe medical consequences constitute the best and the brightest. It’s not really bright to engage in behavior that puts you at dramatically higher risk of mental illness and substance abuse and AIDS and cancer and hepatitis, and according to various sources, premature death. So to suggest that engaging in that type of behavior defines someone as the best and brightest, which seems to be the line coming out of corporate America, is just ridiculous."

If Midland chooses to elect Mr. Glenn to the House of Representatives in the 98^th District is he going to use it as a soap box to criminalize being gay? The last ten years of his activity in politics shows that he certainly will.

Do the Midland elected officials that have endorsed Mr. Glenn know who they have endorsed? I suspect not.

Midland voters should continue their current streak of exceptional and effective leadership like that Sen. John Moolenaar, Rep. Kevin Cotter and Rep. Jim Stamas and not debase themselves by electing Gary Glenn who is an outright bigot and will embarrass everyone in the district.