L. Brooks Petterson was just using "a bit of sarcasm" and didn't mean to belittle gay rights with a recent comment about same-sex marriage statement, his spokesman says.
L. Brooks Patterson
In a recent Oakland Press interview about the U.S. Supreme Court’s consideration of two same-sex marriage cases,the Oakland County executive said: "If the Supreme Court opens the floodgates, then I’m going to marry my golden retriever."
A follow-up in the same paper by Carol Hopkins notes that his crack "has stirred up the LGBT community." She quotes a letter from White Lake reader C. J. Cooley:
"For L. Brooks to make such a statement only helps to spread the misconceptions and hate of what the equal rights to marriage movement is all about."
Patterson's communications director, Bill Mullan, says his boss is "a staunch and vocal supporter" of gay rights.
"While the county executive used a bit of sarcasm to make a point about changing a thousands-of-years-old institution, his record speaks louder than words," said Mullan.
