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July 29, 2015 11:18 AM UTC

"Dr. Chaps" Says Drown Gay Boy Scout Leaders (Yes, Really)

  • 18 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #2: The Colorado House LGBT caucus weighs in strongly:

“Gordon Klingenschmitt is inciting physical violence against scoutmasters for their sexual orientation, plain and simple. This type of language is hateful and certainly below the station of any elected official, especially in 2015.

“Moreover, Rep. Klingenschmitt has a history of using his platform as an online minister to spread vitriol and violence, especially against members of the LGBT community. Sadly, it is no longer a surprise to hear this type of sentiment from Rep. Klingenschmitt, but that history of hateful speech does nothing to blunt its effect in this particular instance. If House Minority leadership does not act, then they are condoning this type of conduct from one of their caucus members; House GOP leadership’s actions will speak volumes.”

In March, Rep. Klingenschmitt was stripped of his post on the House Health, Insurance, and Environment committee after saying, “This is the curse of God upon America for our sin of not protecting innocent children in the womb and part of that curse for our rebellion against God as a nation is that our pregnant women are ripped open,” after the brutal attack on Michelle Wilkins of Longmont.

—–

UPDATE: Colorado LGBT advocates react angrily to Rep. Gordon “Dr. Chaps” Klingenschmitt’s latest remarks, a statement from One Colorado moments ago:

“After making numerous comments over the past year attacking lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families, Representative Klingenschmitt just can’t seem to get enough. He recently called on the Boy Scouts of America to drown all gay leaders in its organization. Gay adults are involved in scouting for the same reasons everyone else is; to serve youth, and to help them grow into good, strong citizens. These comments are reprehensible – and he should be ashamed of himself for making them.

“One Colorado calls on the leaders of the Colorado Republican Party, and Republican leadership in the State House, to condemn Representative Klingenschmitt’s comments and affirm that no one should be targeted for violence just because of who they are, or who they love.

“While experience tells us we shouldn’t hold our breath for an apology from Mr. Klingenschmitt, an apology is exactly what is owed – not just to gay scouts and leaders across the state, but to the countless friends and family members who are tired of seeing their loved ones attacked just for being who they are. Simply put, Representative Klingenschmitt – the fair-minded people of Colorado deserve better.”

Liberal group ProgressNow Colorado takes it a step further, calling (again) for Klingenschmitt to resign–and for House Minority Leader Brian DelGrosso to step up and take some responsibility for his caucus:

“Just how far is too far?” said ProgressNow Colorado executive director Amy Runyon-Harms. “After Rep. Klingenschmitt claimed that a sitting member of Congress from our state wants to ‘behead Christians,’ and that the tragic attack on a pregnant woman in Longmont last March was ‘the curse of God,’ ProgressNow Colorado called for him to resign. Instead, House Minority Leader Brian DelGrosso restored Klingenschmitt to his committee assignments as soon as the media stopped paying attention, and swept the matter under the rug. That was a huge mistake, and today Republicans are paying the price as Klingenschmitt once again brings shame upon the entire state of Colorado.”

“It would be easy to dismiss Klingenschmitt’s statements as the ravings of a deranged lunatic, except for the fact that he is an elected Republican legislator in the state of Colorado,” said Runyon-Harms. “By not acting to distance themselves from Rep. Klingenschmitt, Colorado Republicans are validating what he says. Every day that goes by with Klingenschmitt continuing to serve as a Republican legislator, his hatred speaks for them. It has to stop, and the only ones who can stop it are Klingenschmitt’s Republican legislative leaders.”

“It is months past time for Colorado Republicans to ask Rep. Klingenschmitt to resign,” said Runyon-Harms.

—–

Raw Story’s David Edwards reports on the latest over-the-top emanations from the mouth of GOP Colorado Rep. Gordon “Dr. Chaps” Klingenschmitt–and this one can fairly be described as a doozy. In all our time discussing Klingenschmitt’s wacky declarations about demons possessing President Barack Obama or Rep. Jared Polis wanting to “behead Christians,” we’re pretty sure he has never actually called for the various agents of evil in the world he identifies to be, you know, physically harmed.

Until now:

Colorado state Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt (R) said on Monday that it would be “better” for the Boy Scouts of America to drown its gay scoutmasters in the “depths of the sea” instead of lifting a ban on them…

“If your boy is in one of those organizations, you need to get him out of there,” he warned. “Because what they’re going to do is promote homosexual men to mentoring and camping with your boys in the woods. And it will lead to child abuse… The children are in danger. It’s not about the sexual pleasure of the adults.”

Klingenschmitt pointed viewers a verse from the book of Matthew: “Whoever causes one of these to little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”

“This is what Jesus said about child molesters,” the Republican lawmaker insisted…

Klingenschmitt goes on to say that gay Boy Scout leaders being drowned would be preferable to the wrath of the Almighty God “when he throws them into hell.” Klingenschmitt himself says he would rather be drowned than face God’s judgment for the molestations that must surely follow if the Boy Scouts let gay scoutmasters come out of the closet.

Got that? According to the elected Republican representative of Colorado House District 15, who never misses the chance to pose with big-name Republicans for a photo, and who was reinstated to his committee assignments by House Minority Leader Brian DelGrosso after calling a vicious attack on a pregnant Longmont woman “the curse of God upon America,” murdering gay Boy Scouts would be doing them a favor.

To be honest, we weren’t sure how “Dr. Chaps” could ever top his previous outrages–but it looks like he just did.

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18 thoughts on ““Dr. Chaps” Says Drown Gay Boy Scout Leaders (Yes, Really)”

  3. So, it's the rape victim who has sinned, not the perpetrator???? How wrong can you be??  Well, I guess we know now.  He should be a headliner in the Democratic campaign to paint all Republicans with this nonsense.

  5. Things you can do about Chaps:

    1. Question his tax exempt status

    Klingenschmitts' tax-exempt org, Pray in Jesus Name / Persuade the World ministries, could lose its tax exempt status because it is a hate group. It shouldn't be tax-exempt anyway, because Chaps is constantly endorsing and furthering the campaigns of national candidates (Cruz, Santorum, Huckabee, Fiorina, etc). Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has Project Fair Play, which is already lawyered up to investigate and prosecute violations of this nature. Write to them about Gordon Klingenschmitt at americansunited@au.org. I have. Write to the IRS, too. You can complain anonymously. 

    And, on top of that, it looks to me as though Chaps is a tax evader. He claimed on a talk show that he made 800,000 in donations for 2014. One of the organizations he promoted that he was collecting for was an orphanage in India. His tax filings show no donations to an orphanage. It appears that he collected money under false pretenses, which is a violation that can be reported to the FTC consumer affairs tip line..

    2. Vote for his opponent in SD12 (if you're registered as a Republican)

    Since they are not in legislative session until next year, Brian DelGrosso, the minority house R leader, has no leverage against Chaps, especially because Chaps is not running for state rep again – he's going for Senate District 12.  Rep. Waller, the former rep for HD15, has said that he wants Chaps to step down – that he can't keep wearing two hats. No word on whether the Colo GOP under House will financially support Chaps' bid for the Colorado Senate, but they shouldn't. If you're a registered Republican,you might have some leverage there. Go to your state assembly and vote for Bob Gardner , a pretty good moderate Republican who actually is interested in governance, as the party's supported SD12 candidate. Then Chaps will be S O L as far as running for office.

    If I were a registered Republican, I'd want to go to that state assembly, anyway. It should be entertaining, in a horrifying kind of way, with all of the straw-poll vs unbound delegates, the House vs. anti-House factions, etc. If you can't go, at least let your precinct captain or someone who is going, know how you feel about the SD12 seat.

    1. Isn't the New Life Church the organization that gave us the meth-smoking bisexual (or is it straight with issues?) man-whoring Reverend Ted Haggard?

    1. Chaps needs to be hung around the neck of DelGrosso and the Colorado Republican Party "like a millstone." And don't drown them, just make sure every voter gets to see it.

      1. No, she will be Sec. of State. She's going to explain American Exceptionalism (a/k/a the self-centered, nationally-egotistical notion that our shit doesn't stink compared to that of the rest of the humanity) to the rest of the world. Should be entertaining…… 

        One of the Koch brothers will be Sec. of Interior, the other, Sec. of Energy. Which brother gets which office is immaterial.

        Tank will be Sec. of Homeland Security. And the Donald will be his own Treasury Sec.

    4. No, Chaps will not be Sec. of State.

      But Trump will ask the Congress to set up a new cabinet department called the Department for the Propagation of Virtue and the Suppression of Vice. It will be modeled after a similar agency which Afghanistan under the Taliban had. Chaps will be appointed to run it.

      While the new department's charge will include suppressing breast-feeding during depositions (or as the Donald once put it, "That's disgusting!") and gambling, there will be an exception for any and all casinos or similar such establishments owned by POTUS.

  8. There are at least two constants in Colorado political life. One is that Gordon Klingenschmitt will say stuff that is really banal, anal, stupid, and spotlight-seeking, proving once again that he “ain't” no Christian, despite his pronouncements. Second is the usual, on-cue, hysterical reaction from Amy Runyon-Harms.

    I really don't see why people get so worked up over this guy. Laughter is the best medicine here. Laugh at him, mock his silliness, blow him off (why are you so afraid of gays? is that telling us something about what's in your closet?  etc.). And just for the record, I suspect that young kids have more to fear from heterosexual adult leaders than from gay scout leaders. 

    If you really must do something, follow mamajama's advice, which is fairly accurate except for the implication that a hate group can't have an IRS exemption. I don't think I want the IRS to make that sort of determination. Gordon is gettable on the other stuff contained in her post.     Regards,  C.H.B.

    1. IRS code is fairly clear, but is not enforced. It's not a matter of what you might prefer, bur what is in existing tax law with precedents from 30-40 years ago.

      I found four other organizations in tax code 7.25.3.7.2.1  (02-23-1999) that lost their tax exemptions because of preaching discrimination: Bob Jones University, which forbade interracial dating; and three other private schools which were intentionally discriminatory. Klingenschmitt has given material aid and publicity to anti-Muslim groups, and his latest crusade advocating that gay Scout leaders should be drowned fits the criteria of discrimination. Churches also must not advocate politically, and Chaps does.

      From the article:

      Groups that espouse hate can be stripped of their tax-exempt status, said Marcus Owens, who ran the IRS’s exempt organizations division in the 1990s. That happened to the neo-Nazi group National Alliance in 1982. The Council of Conservative Citizens has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “notorious, racist hate group.”

      However, Owens says Republicans in Congress have made it virtually impossible for the IRS to revoke the tax-exempt status of political groups after the recent, so-called tea party scandal. Republicans criticized the IRS for what they said was inexcusable targeting of conservative 501(c)(4)s. And the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said the agency had employed “inappropriate criteria” in scrutinizing some groups’ tax-exemption applications. 

      The "tea party" scandal referenced above wasn't a scandal; The IRS investigated as many progressive and liberal groups, or more, than conservative groups. But because Lois Lerner was a sloppy administrator, now the professional victims have another reason to cry that the Federal Government is biased against them.

       

    2. What's harder to laugh at is that he won an election, that he is the kind of Republican the voters of Colorado Springs support. That's way more depressing than funny. And as far as policy goes, he's right in line with the 21st century GOP. He just  expresses himself in a more over the top offensive way. 

      1. The thing is…these people relish the barrage of brickbats they receive.. That, "persecuted for thy names' sake" thing is like a mini martyrdom …without the pain of, say…self-immolation.

        Publicly insulting his righteous rhetoric has about as much effect as peeing in the ocean. In fact..it is his goal, proof of his piety.

         

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