Republican politicians and media outlets have a new hero: Dr. Steven Hotze of Texas. Hotze—whose medical views
include the idea that women shouldn't take the birth control pill because it makes them less attractive to men—is seeking to repeal Obamacare over a technical interpretation of whether it qualifies as a revenue bill that should have originated in the House, not the Senate. His suit fell short in U.S. District Court, but he's appealed that ruling and his case is
currently before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Hotze hasn't won anything, but he's captured the imagination of conservatives, especially in his home state of Texas where he's active in Republicans politics. Certified nutcase Rep. Louis Gohmert recently wrote an op-ed in National Review praising Hotze and proclaiming confidence that his case would make it to the Supreme Court and a couple of weeks ago, U.S. Senator John Cornyn joined Hotze on Fox News to make the pitch for Hotze's cause.
As Mother Jones' Tim Murphy writes, not only do conservatives love Hotze for his position on Obamacare—Fox host Neil Cavuto hailed him as "the doctor fighting to let you keep your doctor" during his appearance with Cornyn—but Hotze also fits right in with their anti-gay agenda. For example:
And for decades, he's trafficked in hysteria over equal status for gay citizens, which he has said would give gay people "a free hand to come and have relations with a minor, molest a child." [...]
"Once you allow them acceptability, then you allow them to proliferate," he told the Third Coast magazine in 1982. "And they proliferate by one means, and one means only, and that's recruiting. And they recruit the weak. They recruit children or young people in their formative years."
And, Murphy writes, it's not just stuff from the past:
When Democrat Annise Parker, whom Hotze had targeted in that 1985 race, was seeking to become the first openly gay mayor of a major American city in 2009, Hotze's group sent out 35,000 mailers noting her ties to an LGBT political group.
Yes, I understand that it's theoretically possible to oppose Obamacare without also being a hate-filled bigot. But that notwithstanding, it's hard not to notice that every time a new anti-Obamacare hero rises on the right, it seems like that's
exactly what they are.