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Find yourself someone who loves you as much as people on the political right love saying weird and presumptuous things about their political opponents’ gender expression and sexuality. In a two-hour-long conversation with Daily Mail online reporter Charlie Spiering, conservative talking head Tucker Carlson spent an entire segment alternately questioning Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz’s sexuality and asserting that Walz is gay.
“I’m just saying the guy looks super, super gay” to me, Carlson said, getting the ball rolling for what would be a super normal conversation, which was posted to Carlson’s YouTube channel on Saturday.
It’s become clear over the last several weeks that Republicans are absolutely fixated on their own bizarre notions of sex and gender. From the $65 million GOP candidates have spent on anti-trans ads since August to Republican candidate Donald Trump treating a Pennsylvania rally crowd to a truly bizarre anecdote about golf legend Arnold Palmer’s penis, conservatives can’t seem to get enough of these totally normal narratives about gender. Carlson joined the chorus of gender-obsessed weirdos and spent a portion of the episode criticizing Walz for mannerisms that, Carlson said, make him look “obviously very gay” like his use of “jazz hands,” something for which Trump campaign advisor Jason Miller called Walz a “wildly gesticulating effeminate caricature” just two weeks ago.
Carlson said Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz “met at an abortion clinic” where she picked him as a running mate because he “seemed fussy and bubbly.” Carlson also referred to Walz as “her little gay friend […] and they’re hanging out at abortion clinics together.”
“I was a little surprised that [Kamala Harris] picked Tim Walz,” Carlson continued. “If you want a gay guy, why not just go with Pete Buttigieg?” Ironically, Carlson has previously accused the gay Secretary of Transportation of “lying” about being gay.
“They’re the ones always running around being like, ‘it’s great to be gay,’” Carlson continued. “Okay, if it’s great to be gay then why is it an attack on him for me to say that? If there’s nothing wrong with being gay, then why would it be somehow crazy or out of bounds or taboo or offensive for me to say to Tim Walz ‘You seem gay. Are you gay?’”
This kind of homophobia and gender policing is not exactly a surprise coming out of Carlson’s mouth, given the pundit’s history of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric on Fox News and his personal platforms, going as far as to blame mass shootings on trans people. After all, this is someone who said the “end of men” was near and the only way to combat it was through testicle tanning. (Obvious to say, but this is not medically sound advice.)
But Carlson’s most recent attack seems like a convoluted two-pronged way to simultaneously call Walz’s masculinity into question and implicitly criticize the Minnesota Governor’s positive record on supporting queer and trans rights.
While there’s no evidence whatsoever of Walz being gay — he’s been married to his wife Gwen for 30 years — the candidate does have a public record of repeatedly defending LGBTQ+ people. During his tenure as Minnesota Governor, he made the state a sanctuary for trans people and signed a law banning conversion therapy. Walz also advised Mankato West High School’s first-ever Gay-Straight Alliance during his time as a high school teacher before entering a career in politics, making him a gem to some LGBTQ+ voters.
“We see it now, you know that the hate is transferred to the trans community. [Republicans] see that as an opportunity,” Walz said in an interview with Glennon Doyle and soccer star Abby Wambach on their podcast last week. “If you’re watching any sporting events right now, you see that the closing arguments for Donald Trump is to demonize a group of people for being who they are.”
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