Fearless on my breath...

San Diego City Council candidate Lori Zapf makes an oopsie:

A relative unknown, Zapf is distinguishing herself from the five-candidate field to replace outgoing Councilwoman Donna Frye, but not in the way she intended.

In a June 6, 2006, e-mail to anti-gay activist James Hartline, Zapf said, “I absolutely want to keep homosexuals out of public office and not be allowed to influence our schools, textbooks, altering marriage, children and on and on.”

[...]

In an interview Wednesday, Zapf said she didn’t remember writing the e-mail until it was presented to her a few days ago by San Diego CityBeat magazine. She said her comments were focused on gay activists, not gays in general.

“I chose my words poorly because clearly I don’t believe that gays should be kept from office because I have supported and endorsed candidates who are gay, strongly and publicly,” Zapf said. “Have you ever had an e-mail that you sent that, you know, pops up years later, and it was a hastily written e-mail? … My words were hurtful.”

Sure, I mean who hasn't sent a blatantly homophobic email to an anti-gay activist claiming they'd do everything in their power to keep teh gheys out of public office? Mistakes were made, yadda, yadda. But what I appreciate is her wild verbal pinwheeling as she tries to keep her candidacy from tumbling over the cliff not unlike Wile E. Coyote. What's in her big box from ACME? Read on, my friends:

“I do believe homosexuality is a sin,” Zapf wrote. “I have three homosexual first cousins. I love them all and would ‘be seen’ in a photo with them. I believe they all live in sin and frankly all are very unhappy people and had horrible childhoods as well.”

She added later, “For whatever reason God allowed people to choose homosexuality. So, there must be a reason for it, although I don’t get it, like so may (sic) other things that don’t make sense.”

*golf clap* Well played, Ms. Zapf, well played. If you're going to respond to a homophobic email that's threatening your candidacy it takes real cojones to then dig yourself even deeper by way of explaining how the gays all live in sin, hate their lives and probably cried a lot when they were kids.