U.S. House Speaker Pelosi likens healthcare protests to anti-gay rhetoric

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) said Thursday that she worries that the protests over President Obama's healthcare legislation may resemble the anti-gay rhetoric of the late 1970s.

In 1978, Harvey Milk, the first openly gay member of the city's board of supervisors, and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone where assassinated.

"I have concerns about some of the language that is being used, because I saw this myself in the late '70s in San Francisco. This kind of rhetoric was very frightening, and it created a climate in which violence took place."

Pelosi said she does not think the debate has crossed into dangerous territory but warned that sometimes the "ears that it is falling on are not as balanced as the person making the statement."

The Republican Party strongly disapproved of her statement. U.S. Representative Pete Sessions (R-Texas) who is chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, rejected her statement.

"The speaker is now likening genuine opposition to assassination," he said. "Such insulting rhetoric not only undermines the credibility of her office, but it underscores the desperate attempt by her party to divert attention away from a failing agenda."

Protests have become more and more common, not only in opposition to U.S. President Obama and his health care plans, but in general with the passage or Prop 8 in California, and all the national tea parties (the 'tea parties where largely organized by Senior Republican Party Members in opposition to big government, and U.S. President Obama).

The health care reform protests have even reach the Commonwealth; see video coverage from Hillbilly Report:

Trace Creek Baptist Church Health Care Informational Meeting Videos


Paducah, Kentucky, The Good Ol Boy Whiners, Lies, CNN Express And Health Care


Health Care Rally in Somerset, Kentucky. Photos And Videos


Walmart Health Care And Pension Plans For Members Of Congress


Howard Dean (former Governor of the State of Vermont, and former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee) Discusses Healthcare


Do you agree with U.S. House Speaker Pelosi?