After we attended and posted video of a speech by Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) to a group of young conservatives, in which she compared marriage equality to pedophilia, incest, and allowing three year old children drive cars, Hartzler faced criticism and tried to explain that her comments were “misconstrued.” Then, on Wednesday, a young Missouri activist confronted Hartzler at a public forum, asking her about her anti-gay comments and leadership role in the campaign to pass a state constitutional amendment banning marriage equality. Hartzler repeated her line that her Eagle Forum Collegians speech was misconstrued and said that the activist, who is openly gay, “shouldn’t feel bad” about the constitutional amendment because gays were already banned from marrying by statute. Now, the discriminatory ban is just enshrined in the Missouri Constitution.
Watch Hartzler’s original comments:
