The Palin Pro-Gay Retweet Heard Round the World

Looking over Sarah Palin's Twitter feed is a somewhat ridiculous enterprise. Sort of like those medieval court physicians who would pore over the royal bed pans for clues as to the king's health. (That's really not a dig on Ms. Palin — most Twitter streams are pretty much sh*t).

But the woman does have a habit of making news with the medium. "Refudiate," "death panels" and more have climbed out of her fecund stream and taken over the public discourse.

Well now she's making a splash with a retweet...

To understand why this is newsworthy you'd first need to know that Tammy Bruce is an "independent conservative" Republican. She's a commentator and talk show host who is pro-gay, pro-gun, pro-choice and a lesbian.

The tweet in question was commenting on those awful videos by Navy Captain Owen Honors which spent an inordinate amount of time making fun of gays. She clarified what she meant in a later post...

Ms. Bruce's point is well taken and reflects a larger meme taking hold that those complaining the most vocally about gays probably are wrestling with their own same-sex sexual impulses. (And hey, even if that isn't always true, it might serve to shut up a few gay-baiters for fear they'll be mistaken for gay themselves!)

Independent conservative (or contrarian) that she is, it's not surprising that Tammy Bruce would post something like this. It is very surprising however that Sarah Palin would retweet it!

For starters Captain Honors has received a groundswell of support from members of the military, many of whom feel he's being unfairly persecuted. Palin's retweet sets herself against this tide — and somewhat at odds with what seems like her natural base.

It is possible that the retweet was a mistake and Palin or her Tweetmaster (new word!) didn't understand Tammy Bruce's underlying point. But the thing was posted last night and Palin has yet to comment further — or "refudiate" it by deleting the post from her Twitter stream, so I guess we'll have to take it at face value.

This is great for the GLBT community I think, because the retweet is sure to garner a lot of attention and it advances that meme amongst her conservative fanbase that the vocally anti-gay probably have something of their own to hide.

The retweet might also mean that gays and lesbians have to reassess Sarah Palin. Sure, there are many reasons for liberals (and the serious-minded) to take issue with the woman. But her position on GLBT issues might not be one of them.