Alan Keyes: Gay marriage is the "archetype of all crimes against humanity"

The conservative says that an "entire elite faction" is committing a crime against Americans

Published April 2, 2013 4:36PM (EDT)

     (Right Wing Watch)
(Right Wing Watch)

Alan Keyes, the former diplomat and perennial candidate for office, argued that gay marriage "is the archetype of all crimes against humanity,” and that an "entire elite faction is committed" to that crime.

Keyes appeared on the talk show of conservative Stan Solomon, and decried Republican Sen. Rob Portman for announcing that he supports marriage equality because of his gay son. “If you go down a road that satisfies your personal predilections and relationships and sacrifices the common good of the country, including the elementary institution by which civilization is sustained, then you’re not only derelict in your public duty, you are abandoning your obligation as a human being,” Keyes said.

“Frankly, people throw around words like ‘crime against humanity,’ I think that kind of disregard for the God-endowed natural rights of human being is the archetype of all crimes against humanity,” Keyes continued, “and I think we have an entire elite faction that is now committed to committing such a crime against the American people.”

Keyes, who opposed Barack Obama in his 2004 race for senator of Illinois, has been something of a trendsetter among Republicans: First in that he was a poll truther during the race (a poll that showed he only had the support of 43 percent of Republicans was “obviously generated by a biased media that has put out a lot of lies,” Keyes told the Harvard Crimson), and second in that he was one of the first to refer to Obama as a socialist (“Obama is an academic socialist, and I’m a conservative who believes in self-government," he said at the time).

Watch, via Right Wing Watch:


By Jillian Rayfield

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com.

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Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Alan Keyes Barack Obama Gay Marriage Gay Rights Illinois