Alabama’s Governor Kay Ivey has a history for being virulently anti-LGBTQ. However, some are saying that it may be her own internalized homophobia that is informing these staunch views.
When gubernatorial candidate Scott Dawson called Ivey out on providing funding for an LGBTQ non-profit Free2Be, she responded that she doesn’t “agree with the agenda or the values of that organization. The funding is federal funding. It’s been going on since 2014. There are no Alabama tax dollars involved in this federal money. It’s a mandate from the feds that monies be paid this way.”
The mission of Free2Be is “to end violence while advocating for the Human & Civil Rights of Sexual & Gender Minorities.” While it’s sad to hear that neither politician is supportive of this organization, this is not the first time Ivey has made her homophobic views known to the public. Last year, she signed a bill that allowed adoption agencies to refuse LGBTQ parents.
Meanwhile, Ivey has been responding to former Alabama lawmaker Patricia Todd who, in a moment of frustration, suggested that Ivey is a lesbian herself. In a recently deleted Facebook and Twitter post, Todd wrote:
“Will someone out her for God’s sake….I have heard for years that she is gay and moved her girlfriend out of her house when she became Gov. I am sick of closeted elected officials.”
Posted by Patricia Todd on Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Todd has warned Alabama lawmakers in the past to beware of their own hypocrisy. “I hate hypocrites,” said Todd, who was Alabama’s first openly lesbian legislator. She recently moved to Orlando to work with a One Orlando Alliance.
Ivey’s team was quick to respond to Todd’s suggestion of her sexuality. “This is a disgusting lie being pushed by a paid, liberal political hack,” said Debbee Hancock, Ivey’s campaign spokeswoman said in a press release. “There is absolutely no truth to it.”
Todd has admitted that she knows she will get flak for these statements about Ivey but feels she has a “responsibility – not as the ‘head queer’ – to hold people accountable” and stresses, that she is not seeking political gain from this scandal. She has called it an “identity issue,” quoted in the AL.
When asked where she has heard these rumors and if she can corroborate them, Todd responded, “ask her directly if she has ever had a relationship with a woman.”
While we at GO are vehemently against outing anyone, we understand and empathize with Todd’s frustrations.
State primaries for the Democratic and Republican parties will take place June 5. Ivey became Governor in April, 2017, and she is seeking her first full term. We’ll keep you posted as this story unfolds.
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