Buck compared being gay to alcoholism, while Paladino called a gay pride parade “disgusting.” South Carolina’s own Jim DeMint said openly gay people should not teach at public schools. DeMint made the comments in 2004, but recently said he was privately pressured into apologizing for the remarks.

What do they all have in common? They all enjoy large amounts of support from tea-partiers – draw your own conclusions. To be fair, Democrats can be just as bigoted too (see: 34 Democratic House members in 2007 and 36 in 2004 that voted for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage).

I’m not going to get into the constitutionality of gay marriage (I only have 300 words), but I will say that it’s disturbing that gay bashing has turned into a legitimate policy platform. Despite their comments, Buck and Paladino both hold leads in their races. DeMint is the de-facto leader of the Tea Party that isn’t named Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck. Don’t have an economic plan? Bash a homosexual.

What’s my point? Well, maybe Americans aren’t as accepting as we’d like to think. Supporting politicians that make homophobic remarks turns a blind eye to their bigotry, and in effect, makes it OK. It could be that society just needs a scapegoat for things that go wrong (African Americans, Hispanics and Muslims know what I’m talking about).

Here’s to hoping the next scapegoat isn’t current event bloggers for the Garnet and Black…