Listen to this articleU.S. Rep. Mia Love apologized last month to Equality Utah Executive Director Troy Williams and Salt Lake City Councilman Derek Kitchen, “and other dear friends of mine” after sending an email blasting opponent Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams for approving of the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage.
“‘Moderate McAdams’ who says he was ‘pleased’ with the Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage,” the Labor Day email stated.
Then, in the last week of September, another email went out once again blasting McAdams for his pro-LGBT stance.
The email highlighted some of Rep. Joe Kennedy’s positions, including support for abortion rights, the Affordable Care Act, same-sex marriage, and opposition to the recent GOP tax cuts, and claims McAdams holds those same positions.
“Kennedy III champions gay marriage — Just like Ben!” the email read. “He certainly embraces East Coast liberal values, like his buddy Joe Kennedy — but these are not Utah’s values.”
An hour later, the campaign sent a second message touting Love’s role in freeing Utah resident Josh Holt from a Venezuelan jail. The second email also contained an apology, saying the previous email had been “sent in error.”
Love campaign spokeswoman Sasha Clark said the first email was sent in error by a vendor without campaign approval. Love later confirmed in a statement to The Salt Lake Tribune that the vendor responsible for the email was fired.
Equality Utah responded with a tweet, “Again, @RepMiaLove is using gay families to attack her political opponent @BenMcAdams. We thank Ben for his years of public support for the LGBTQ community. We need politicians who will unite Americans, not divide us. Sadly, Love’s campaign has chosen their path.”
Love later publicly stated support of the LGBT community.
“The rights of same-sex marriage families has [sic] been guaranteed by the Supreme Court, and we respect their constitutional privileges,” Love wrote.
McAdams released a statement as well, saying, that Love wants to reignite an old controversy for political gain.
“I’m proud that Utah stands out as a place where families, churches and LGBTQ advocacy groups are able to discuss, share their differences and find common ground,” McAdams wrote.
“I don’t know who Mia Love really is. When she speaks with me privately, she tells me ‘Troy, I love gay people, I support gay marriage.’ And then publicly, her campaign uses the gay community to pummel her opponent,” Williams told the Tribune. “Her campaign is using the LGBTQ community to attack other Americans. That’s not an accident, that’s intentional.”
