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Gay MSNBC host Thomas Roberts revealed today that a pair of powerful GOP leaders just swooned over his engagement and marriage to Patrick Abner. Reince Priebus and Sean Spicer, the chairman and chief spokesman of the Republican National Committee, cheerfully congratulated Roberts in 2011 and 2012, just as the GOP cheerfully touted its aversion to gay people.

Caught in an apparent contradiction, Spicer activated his MSG DSCPLN module and emailed The Politico:

Believing marriage is between one man and one woman and being polite, courteous and respectful are not mutually exclusive.

Which is false in two ways. Spicer, like most elite Republicans, does not in fact believe that marriage is limited to heterosexual couples. (Just ask their official organ, National Review.) Yet Spicer’s party, which Spicer is paid to defend, continues to trade in gay-hating in hopes of further consolidating political power. Meanwhile, Spicer and Priebus congratulate their gay friends on their wonderful, beautiful marriages, and email Dylan Byers to explain they were just being polite.

[Video via MSNBC]