Lib Radio Host to Gay Romney Supporter: Committing Suicide By Arsenic Better Than Waiting for 'Slow, Painful Death That Mitt Romney Will Bring'

Liberal radio host Michelangelo Signorile had a bizarre message for a gay Mitt Romney supporter who called into his show: Rather than vote for the Republican candidate he said it would have been easier to "go to the store, buy some arsenic and make a potion and take it." The advice came after the individual, named "Wess," told Signorile that he is a homosexual who recently voted for the GOP candidate.

"Are you a Romney supporter?," Signorile asked the caller.

"I'm not Republican, but yes I did vote for Romney," Wess responded.

This admission was apparently too much for the host to handle, as he began commenting about how wonderful President Barack Obama has been for gay rights, while also skewering Romney for his purportedly anti-gay views.

"Now, you went and voted for him. And it would have been much easier to go to the store and buy some arsenic and make a potion and take it," Signorile said. "That would have been much easier than waiting for the slow, painful death that Mitt Romney will bring."

As for Wess, Signorile personally attacked his knowledge base, claiming that he should not be permitted to cast a vote.

"You are the epitome of a low-information voter. You should not be allowed to vote," the host continued.

But Wess noted that, despite being gay and disagreeing with Romney's stance, Obama's views on same-sex rights are, in his view, politically motivated. The caller noted that the Republican "tells it straight out that he doesn't agree" with gay marriage.

"You're stabbing yourself right in the back," Signorile responded. "If somebody does things for you for the votes, you vote for them, Wess."

Listen to the interaction, below:

Considering suicides and other related issues, his words were viewed, by some, as insensitive. B. Daniel Blatt of the Gay Patriot blog sarcastically wrote, "Such tolerance." Commentator Andrew Sullivan added:

"...imagine if it had been Limbaugh. Wouldn't every gay group be assailing him for hate speech? Why the advice to commit suicide - a pretty raw topic given recent events for gay teens? Because the caller had the gall to say he was gay and voting for Romney. Signorile told him to go to a store, get some arsenic, make a potion and take it. He also said that low-information voters like his listener should not be allowed to vote at all. The gay left: one of the last bastions of tolerance. I learned that the hard way."

Following the fury, Signorile apologized on his blog:

After the caller said he voted for Romney, I said he should just get some arsenic, make a potion, and take it, which would be more painless. Not because I thought he should kill himself—I do not think gay Romney supporters should kill themselves—but because voting for someone who is committed to undermining your rights is a self-destructive behavior.

Any gay person who votes for Romney is undermining his own life, his own rights, and the lives and rights of all other LGBT people. And let’s be clear: It is Romney, with his bigoted positions (“Some gays are actually having children. It’s not right on paper. It’s not right in fact.”), who feeds a culture of hate that leads to gay teen suicides.

Read the rest of the apology here.

(H/T: Gay Patriot)