In a November 5 discussion with a high school English teacher about her openly gay students, nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh claimed that openly gay students are “trumpeting” their sexuality and “inviting dissent.” Limbaugh then appeared to equate openly gay high school students with “militants in the gay community [who] are actually asking for this fight, because they want to be confrontational.”

From the November 5 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show:

CALLER: As a teacher, I am very concerned about some of my students who are openly gay.

LIMBAUGH: Yes?

CALLER: I'm concerned about what their lives are going to be like, because whether they want to marry or not, they shouldn't, as little 16-, 17-, 18-year-old kids, face the vilification and the demeaning that -- that comes from primarily conservative sources. I don't hear love -- you know, “Love the sinner, hate the sin?” They don't hear that.

LIMBAUGH: All right.

CALLER: And it's traumatizing. And I worry for them.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: What's -- what's important when you go to school, Claire? Is it your sexual identity or learning? What's important when you go to school? Learning how to prepare yourself for the rest of your life or trumpeting your sexuality? You know, there --

CALLER: I don't think anyone's trumpeting their sexuality.

LIMBAUGH: Well, how do we know then that they're gay if they're not --

CALLER: Certainly (overlapping conversations; inaudible) --

LIMBAUGH: -- how do we know it? I mean, there's -- there's -- how do we know who's gay and who's straight unless somebody's out there making a big case about it? I think --

CALLER: No, no one's making a big case --

LIMBAUGH: -- some people are inviting dissent.

CALLER: I have -- I have --

LIMBAUGH: I think some of the militants in the gay community are actually asking for this fight, because --

CALLER: Well, remember, I'm in South Carolina --

LIMBAUGH: -- they want to be confrontational.

CALLER: I'm in South Carolina. We don't have militant gays. I have students who have been hurt and have come to me to talk about it.