Gay Candidate Comes Under Attack in Michigan's 6th Congressional District

Something's rotten in the state of Michigan.

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton is using out-of-context 15-year-old Internet postings in a strategic move against Democratic challenger Rep. Jon Hoadley.

On Tuesday, the LGBTQ Victory Fund released a statement>released a statement condemning the homophobic attacks by Upton and the National Republican Congressional Committee on his openly gay Democratic challenger for the Michigan 6th congressional district.

In addition to referring to Hoadley as a "pedo sex poet" – terminology the Victory Fund describes as a "startling and defamatory use of homophobic tropes about gay men as pedophiles and sexual deviants" – the NRCC has also drawn from the Democratic contender's live journal from fifteen years back, expressly taking cherry-picking phrases and statements and "perpetuating homophobic stereotypes." In a statement, Annise Parker, President and CEO of LGBTQ Victory Fund said:

"Fred Upton is resorting to digging up Jon's puerile college blog posts and pulling together out-of-context words and phrases because he can find nothing else to criticize about Jon's public service record... If Upton wants to be a digital avenger working to critique 15-year-old internet postings, why does he remain silent on the racist, sexist, transphobic and anti-immigrant tweets that are a constant from this White House? Where is his rebuttal of Donald Trump's tweets denying the extent of a pandemic that has killed 180,000 Americans with no end in sight?

It is pathetic to see Fred resort to becoming an internet troll at a time when our president's words and actions have led to a resurgence in hate crimes, white supremacy and divisiveness. Any media outlet that reports on Fred's take on Jon's internet musings from 15 years ago should also ask for Fred's takes on Trump's tweets from just the past week."

Hoadley's live journal contents taken out of context for the NRCC's homophobic smear include "satirical discussion about whether all 'gay men desire to be flower girls'" to which a friend joked that "he has no desire to see a 'four-year-old wearing a thong'"; and a passage about going to a leather bar to "learn about crystal meth," and after attending an informational meeting about the dangers of the recreational drug, ending his entry with "don't do meth."

Compounding the homophobic attacks, Michigan Republican Party Chairman Laura Cox is calling for the removal of Hoadley from the Vice-Chair of the State House Appropriations Committee position after a journal post of Hoadley's resurfaced, joking that his past sexual partners were "victims." Both Hoadley and his Democratic challenger in the primaries, Jen Richardson, issued a video statement in early August condemning a New York Post hit-piece on Hoadley, both candidates vowing to work together to win the district.

Traditionally, the 6th district tends to lean Republican. However, it appears as though this election might be competitive for Democrats. If Hoadley wins, he would be the first openly gay representative from Michigan in US Congress.