PA Former Dem Knocks Biden for Gay Marriage Support (Watch Video)

Remember Jo Ann Nardelli, the Blair County Democratic Party leader who defected this year over same sex marriage? She’s back, this time in a web video critical of Vice President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party platform on the issue.

In a video produced by Let Freedom Ring, Inc., a conservative 501(c)(4), and the affiliated Pa. Catholic Network, Nardelli denounces the party’s support for gay marriage. Neither group speaks on behalf of the Catholic Church or other denomination.

“When I heard Vice President Biden speak about same sex marriage, and I knew the platform for President Obama was same sex marriage, I know that definitely Mama Biden would not go with,” Nardelli says, after recalling meeting Biden’s sister.

“I, as a devout Catholic, could no longer uphold and stand up for that platform. I had to stand up for my faith,” she continues. “Vice President Biden, I think he sold out to the system. The Democrats of yesterday are not the Democrats of today.”

Nardelli had been the President of the Blair County Federation of Democratic Women and served on the Pa. Democratic State Committee. She abruptly left the party in May citing its position on same sex marriage.

However, some southwest Pa. Dems said her departure was the result of a political dispute; Nardelli had accused some party leaders of selling short her bid for Blair County Commissioner.

13 Responses

  1. Joann needs to decide what she believes in and then stick with it. It seems she found theogracy when she lost the dem ticket for commisioner. All of a sudden she has seen the light!!! Realy?!?!?! I didn’t think you ever walked the walk anyway.

  2. Roger, I hear you. Faithfulness is a virtue always. But still, no. Marriage is a place where Church and State overlap somewhat, however, marriage is the Church term which existed long before the US and its laws, a term used by the State, but not belonging to it. The word marriage is not your word to change anymore than blue is. What interest does the State have in whether a man and woman are joined together in the eyes of God? Property and children. The State has an interest in the next generation of its citizens.
    I see that it is as difficult for you to understand, but there is another level to this and just because your sister got off easy (without children) doesn’t make that the norm. I have a pregnant friend fighting cancer right now with other two children under the age of 5 hoping she survives. I have known women suffer strokes during pregnancy, bed rest, miscarriages… Your experience does not seem to include this around you anywhere, but there are reasons that society should provide extra protection for those of us who are assuming these risks.
    It really just isn’t the same as what you are doing.

  3. she left out the part of losing on democrat ticket for blair county commissioner now wants to run as republican oh brother what people will say and do to be elected oh wait isnt that a sin guess not

  4. And to Mary… there are plenty of heterosexuals who marry who either can’t or won’t reproduce. Should they be denied marriage rights is all it is about is creating children?

    My Republican sister has never been able to bear children but has been married 3 times. My Republican mother’s second marriage was well after childbearing years. Yet they can legally do what I can not: marry in this state.

    I was married in DC, but am still denied the over 1000 federal benefits that go with people who have civil marriage because it was a gay marriage. For 22 years my partner and I have built a great life together. All it will take is an illness or death to destroy all that, due to our relationship not being recognized both in Pennsylvania and federally.

    By the way: Catholics will NEVER be required to marry anyone they don’t want to. Even gays. Do they marry divorced people? Jews? Mixed marriages not promising to raise any children Catholic? No, they have religious freedom to marry whomever they want IN THEIR CHURCH.

    This is about something much bigger and the Catholic Church needs to butt out. All Americans deserve equal protection under the law. If benefits are given to couple regardless of if they are able to bear children or not, then ALL couples should get those benefits. Period.

  5. I remember Janne in all her patriotic “drag” at conventions. She seemed fake then and she seems fake now. All she’s ever wanted is attention. I am so happy the Repubs now have her.

    As she admits, she’s a part of the past. Good riddance.

  6. Yes, and that is how the definition applies to you.
    We deny people “rights” all the time. People do not have the “right” to go kill another person. They do not have the “right” to take other’s belongings. You are making up “rights” according to your, or their desires, and telling everyone else that they have to agree or they are bigots. Because they do not hold your opinions, you are intolerant to them and label them with hateful names.
    She is not sending gays to the back of the bus, or to a separate and inferior school, denying them housing or work. She is stating that two people who cannot reproduce do not require the protections that marriage provides to the unit which is made more vulnerable by virtue of procreation, which she believes in agreement with her Faith.
    If you are married and have ever had children you can know this to be true. If you know anyone who has had disabled children, or more than three children, or an unexpected pregnancy, you know this even more obviously true. If you know anyone who has become temporarily or permanently disabled due to pregnancy, you know this to be true.
    It is intolerant of the homosexuals to demand that they take over something which has existed for thousands of years, and render it meaningless in the process. I have had gay friends and coworkers and they are all designed by God in His Image and I treat them accordingly, but this is just misunderstanding (of marriage) and envy run amok.

  7. Yes, Republican conservatives stirring the fire…
    As a former Catholic- and a former of many other religions- I fail to see how the intolerance of religion will allow our species to succeed.
    How will it decrease my freedom if others have more?

  8. (From Webster’s) Bigot: a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance.

    She wants homosexuals to have less rights than heterosexuals, basically making them second class citizens. I think that qualifies as treating members of a group with intolerance.

  9. I guess we can’t all be as open minded as the group of you are… unless someone disagrees with you.
    Surely you are not a party to whether or not she is a devout Christian, and certainly you don’t know the meaning of the word “bigot”. SHE no longer supports the Democratic party but is not calling you names for being foolish enough to stay.
    Congratulations to her for having the intellect to question her long standing loyalty to this Party which has changed measurably, and for having the courage to state her change publicly. What witness to her Faith and her principles!

  10. In the United States of America, religious doctrine does not govern. And frankly I believe people like this are bigots and they hide behind the mantle of religious faith to give their bigotry license.
    Devout Catholic my eye.

  11. What a touching story. I think I’ll ponder it as I cast my ballot for President Obama in November.

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