Paul Babeu, meet Frank Antenori

by David Safier

According to Paul Babeu's "Meet Paul" page on his Paul for Congress website (it's sheriffpaul.com, by the way):

Army Major and Iraq War Veteran

Sheriff Babeu served for over 20 years in the Army National Guard, entering as a Private/E-2 and retiring with the rank of Major. During his tenure he served a tour in Iraq and spent 16 months deployed in Arizona as a Commander with Operation Jump Start (OJS), Southwest Border Mission. Major Babeu commanded over 700 men and women on the United States border with Mexico, reducing illegal entries by 94%.

I sure hope Babeu never met up with Frank Antenori during their tours of duty. Because Fightin' Frank does not take to the idea of gays serving in the military. At all. The idea of serving with a man who might be checking Frank out is . . . well, I'll let him speak for himself. From the Star's December, 2010, Political Notebook:

Hard-boiled in military culture, Republican state Sen. Frank Antenori isn't known for being a verbal wallflower.

So you almost knew he wasn't going to offer much in the way of political niceties when he dished about "don't ask, don't tell" with a reporter for the Yellow Sheet, a publication of the Arizona Capitol Times.

Formerly with the Army Special Forces, Antenori said he "can't remember" when he last agreed with U.S. Sen. John McCain, but he's down with the senator's resistance to allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military.

"I can't even tell you how many times I was spooning with some other guy on the side of a mountain under a poncho in fricking Pakistan in the middle of fricking winter freezing my a** off. I would not want to say, 'Is that your pistol that's sticking me in my back?' " Antenori told the reporter. Then he went on to draw an analogy with "me demanding the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders let me shower with them, and I promise, 'I'll be good, I swear.' "

"The primary role of the military isn't social experimentation," he added. "It's killing people and breaking things."

Reached Thursday, it turns out Antenori was not referring to any recent incursions into Pakistan, but training his unit did with the Pakistani Army in the mid-1990s.

Then he elaborated. "If they're men and they're homosexual, then they are attracted to men, so I would consider them part of the opposite sex, and a lot of units don't allow that," Antenori said.

He said he can't wait for the call from the cheerleaders. Why wouldn't they? he queried. "Because I'll get a little excited maybe. So what's the difference if you've got a homosexual man near half a dozen barrel-chested freedom-fighters in good shape? It's the same thing, if you look at it from that perspective."

I can't decide where to start in on Antenori's comments, so I'll just let them speak for themselves.