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Dana Nessel clapped back at Limbaugh, who'd said Americans wouldn't vote for Pete Buttigieg because he kisses his husband on the debate stage.
Michigan's first openly gay statewide elected official, Attorney General Dana Nessel, has trolled Rush Limbaugh for Valentine's Day by tweeting a photo of her kissing her wife, Alanna Maguire, on election night in 2018.
\u201cIn honor of Valentines Day, here is an awkward picture of me making out with my super hot wife on election night. \u2066@PeteButtigieg\u2069 is not going back in the closet, and neither am I. Happy VD to you too, Rush Limbaugh. #Loveislove https://t.co/O8I7MlvAMx\u201d— Dana Nessel (@Dana Nessel) 1581697268
Nessel's tweet came in response to remarks Limbaugh made on his radio show this week, saying Donald Trump would "have fun" on the presidential debate stage if Pete Buttigieg is the Democrats' nominee. Democratic leaders are probably saying, "OK, how's this going to look, 37-year-old gay guy kissing his husband onstage next to Mr. Man Donald Trump?" the right-wing talker said on Wednesday's edition.
Limbaugh, who has a long record of homophobia, transphobia, racism, and misogyny, went on to say that Democrats likely recognize that "America's still not ready to elect a gay guy kissing his husband on the debate stage president."
However, Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., has done well among Democrats in the first two votes of the primary season, placing first in the Iowa caucus by narrowly beating U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont (in terms of pledged delegates) and running a close second to Sanders in the New Hampshire primary.
Even Trump took some issue with Limbaugh's statement, saying on Geraldo Rivera's podcast this week that some Americans would vote for a gay president and some would not, while he would be open to supporting a gay person for the office (despite the numerous anti-LGBTQ actions he has taken as president).
On his Wednesday broadcast, Limbaugh, who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, from Trump at the State of the Union address, also dissed other Democratic presidential hopefuls. He called Sanders a "dyed-in-the-wool socialist," made fun of Sen. Elizabeth Warren's assertion of Native American heritage by saying she was "barely out of the teepee," and writing off Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former Vice President Joe Biden even though Klobuchar placed third in New Hampshire and there are many, many primaries to come.
So far, Limbaugh does not appear to have reacted publicly to Nessel's tweet. Nessel is not just an out official but a major advocate for LGBTQ equality. When she was an attorney in private practice, she argued a marriage equality case in Michigan that was eventually consolidated with others and went to the U.S. Supreme Court, resulting in the 2015 ruling for equal marriage rights nationwide. As attorney general, she has made sure her office investigates complaints of anti-LGBTQ bias and decreed that adoption agencies with state contracts can't discriminate; the latter action is being challenged in court.
