box turtle Mug

A prefix attached to the names of anti-gay conservatives who tend to use absurd comparisons between bestiality and same-sex marriage to vilify gays and lesbians. Origins: Prepared remarks for Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) to be delivered to the Heritage Foundation included the following statement: "It does not affect your daily life very much if your neighbor marries a box turtle. But that does not mean it is right. . . . Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife." Although Cornyn never used the remarks, the speech caught attention on liberal blogs, especially after the speechwriter, Ben Domenech, was fired from the WashingtonPost.com blog for his history of plagiarism. It is still not clear whether the box turtle remark was original to Domenech, or lifted from somewhere else.