The Last Thing to Bear Jesse Helms’s Name

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Maybe Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) has a really wicked sense of humor.

How else do you explain her current attempt to rename an appropriations bill intended to provide assistance to foreign countries combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases after recently deceased Senator Jesse Helms?

Helms was a throwback to the period when bigots could serve openly and proudly in the U.S. Senate. He fought funding for AIDS research, saying, “The government should spend less money on people with AIDS because they got sick as a result of deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct.” At a different time, he contextualized his comments by saying, “Nothing positive happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, and nothing positive is likely to happen to America if our people succumb to the drumbeats of support for the homosexual lifestyle.” He once said that AIDS prevention literature was “so obscene, so revolting, I may throw up.”

Those his position on AIDS in Africa would soften over time, he remained a steadfast opponent of progress in the States. The man didn’t mince words, and wasn’t ashamed of his positions. “The Bible is unmistakably instructive on the sin of sodomy,” he said in the mid-90s. “I confess I regard it as an abomination.” He once admitted he voted against a Clinton appointee “because she’s a damn lesbian.”

And now an AIDS bill may carry his name. That’s either an incredibly vicious way of marring the bill and insulting AIDS victims, or its an incredibly savvy way of tarnishing Helms’s legacy. Which do you think it is?

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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