Scores of people cheered and waved signs as ministers and religious activists delivered speeches Sunday during a Freedom Plaza rally against same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia.
Chanting “let the people vote,” Bishop Harry Jackson, pastor of a church in Beltsville, Md., and Rev. Walter Fauntroy, Washington’s former congressional delegate, were among a series of speakers to call on the D.C. City Council to allow a voter initiative that seeks to ban same-sex marriage in the city.
[For the full article, see here.]
Same-sex marriage, despite much "religious" rhetoric to the contrary, is a civil rights issue! Indeed, LGBT rights is the major civil rights issue of our time!
To deny same-sex couples the civil and sacramental rights that accrue to heterosexuals who wish to make a lifetime commitment to each other is downright discrimination!
And for African-Americans who have a legacy of suffering unspeakable oppression in the U.S. to not understand this fundamental principle is amazing to me, and should be amazing to any rational person!
In the above cited article, Rev. Anthony Evans said, "...We were astonished to hear the chairman of the City Council not only willing to ignore God’s word but was determined to defy the teachings of Christ concerning marriage and defy God by declaring same-sex marriage as not a religious issue but a human rights one.”
Rev. Evans invokes "God's word" but fails to mention (or perhaps even see) Jesus' statement in the context of heterosexual marriage: "For there are some eunuchs , which were so born from their mother's womb...." (Matthew 19:12)
Rather than exegete the above passage here, which Faris Malik has superbly done, it must be emphasized that "God's word" by no means discounts same-sex marriage; same-sex marriage in no way "[defies] the teachings of Christ concerning marriage," and, contrary to Evans' assertion, the conferring of same-sex marriage rights is not a religious issue but is, in fact, a human and civil rights issue!
Same-sex marriage is a civil right, and our civil rights are not to be given or withheld by appealing to the Bible (or, more particularly, certain people's interpretation of selected verses of the Bible), but we are under the Constitution, the Judicial interpretation of which defines our civil rights; those civil rights are not to be up for grabs by the vote of the majority or by the assertions of any religious or secular leaders!
Shame on people like Rev. Harry Jackson and Rev. Anthony Evans who seek to deny the dignity and sanctity of marriage to others, bearing false witness against and discriminating against Gay people, while at the same time profiting from the legacy of civil rights activists that have enabled them to enjoy the liberation that they seek to deny to another minority group!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
A MUST READ: THE INVISIBLE MONSTER
On his excellent blog, Christ, The Gay Martyr, my good friend Don Charles has just written a two-part post entitled, The Invisible Monster that deals with discrimination against LGBT people in the work place; he uses some of his own experiences in his discussion
Two excerpts from his two-part post read as follows, and I strongly urge you to read both parts of his excellent post in their entirety:
If you're a perceptibly homosexual or transsexual person working in a heterosexist environment, it's best that you police your sense of humor. If you don’t, someone else will! Office humor is notoriously raunchy, but you must be extremely careful of what you say in jest. Any joke or humorous comment with even a hint of sexual connotation can and surely will be used against you. Remember what the heterosexist mentality dictates: LGBT folk should be viewed as purely sexual beings who can't help but act out inappropriately. Their uncontrollably prurient impulses must be kept in check!....
The worst thing about heterosexism on the job is that it's so damn hard to prove! Bigoted managers and administrators are smart enough not to call you a "tranny" or a "faggot" or a "dyke" to your face. Although you strongly suspect the motive behind what’s going on, you're hard-pressed to affix a label to the kind of harassment you're enduring. There's nothing concrete you can point to that screams "I hate Gay people" or “I hate transfolk” in such a way that an EEOC investigator could understand it....
What is particularly sinister about the kind of job discrimination to which Don Charles refers is what Sociologists call "Moral Alchemy." That is, "in-group virtues" are made by xenophobes to be "out-group vices" when discounted members of a minority group engage in the very same behavior that is strongly approved when a member of the dominant group engages in that behavior .
So, for example, if a Straight person seeks to better him/herself on the job, he/she is viewed as "a valuable employee." If a Gay person seeks to better him/herself on the job, he/she might well be viewed as a mere sycophant who is trying to be a rate buster who is trying to make other people look bad.
In other words, what is viewed as being a positive when a member of the dominant group does something, is frequently viewed as a negative when a discounted member of a minority group does the very same thing.
Moreover, there is discrimination visited upon discounted minority group members that are not easy to classify as "discrimination," save when it is members of that minority group that are uniquely treated in a discriminatory manner! And, particularly in a large organization, that proof is very hard to ascertain.
Don Charles concludes his post by asking: "Do you have a personal story of heterosexism and/or transphobia on the job? Please share it with me in my comments section."
I strongly urge you to take him up on his offer in the comments section of his two-part post, The Invisible Monster.
Your comments would help so many other people struggling with discrimination in the work place!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
OBAMA TO SIGN BILL WIDENING HATE CRIMES LAWS
At a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden Wednesday afternoon, President Obama plans to sign a bill into law that was more than a decade in the making. It is an update to the federal hate crimes statute that Congress initially passed in 1968.
For the first time, the law that had previously protected people from attacks motivated by race, religion or ethnicity will include gay, lesbian, transgender and disabled people.
[For the full article, see here.]
You can also hear the audio on the above site.
For the first time, the law that had previously protected people from attacks motivated by race, religion or ethnicity will include gay, lesbian, transgender and disabled people.
[For the full article, see here.]
You can also hear the audio on the above site.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
ROMAN CATHOLIC HERESY AND SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
Bishop Richard Malone made this brief Youtube video affirming that only heterosexual marriage is to be recognized, to which I want to call your attention (Thanks to Pam's House Blend.):
Now, notice two major points:
1. He begins by saying, "We believe...." People believe a lot of things, and a lot of those beliefs are not necessarily true!
2. However, and even more egregiously, he states, ""Living a Christian sacramental marriage is a fundamental way of attaining salvation." Where did that idea come from? It's certainly bears no relationship to any Christian theology with which I am familiar! His statement is not only preposterous, but it is heretical!
The Bible teaches, particularly through the Apostle Paul, that God imputes salvation to us, and that imputation occurred before the worlds were even formed. (See, for example, Ephesians 1:4; Romans 8:29); the free gift of God's grace (unmerited favor) is appropriated by our faith (trusting God over and above seen circumstances). (See, for example, Romans 5:1-2)
Moreover, read Galatians 2:16: "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."
Gay Christians can and do trust Jesus! If one lives under the Law, the strictures of mere human beings, the yokes of bondage placed by such institutions as the Roman Catholic Church, he/she has nullified faith and thrown God's gift of God's grace back in God's face.
The Bible makes it clear that it is only by faith that we can please God (Hebrews 11:6), and not some man-made belief system that serves to justify organizational and individual prejudices for which there are usually financial, psychological, social, and political rewards to be garnered.
To even suggest that heterosexual marriage within the Christian tradition "is a fundamental way of attaining salvation," Bishop Malone is not only being heretical, contravening the Bible, but is grasping at false straws to make an argument in a way that merely shows his and others' desperation due to the bankruptcy of their prejudices against same-sex marriage.
And for him to pontificate that Gay people should not be discriminated against, also shows the Bishop Malones of the institutional Church world to be terribly naive or cynical in the extreme.
Gay people are discriminated against, and the RC Church is one of the major religious vehicles that provokes and seeks to justify that discrimination.
And, as we see in this brief video, that discrimination is based on false biblical exegeses, heretical theology, and just plain downright blind prejudice!
Now, notice two major points:
1. He begins by saying, "We believe...." People believe a lot of things, and a lot of those beliefs are not necessarily true!
2. However, and even more egregiously, he states, ""Living a Christian sacramental marriage is a fundamental way of attaining salvation." Where did that idea come from? It's certainly bears no relationship to any Christian theology with which I am familiar! His statement is not only preposterous, but it is heretical!
The Bible teaches, particularly through the Apostle Paul, that God imputes salvation to us, and that imputation occurred before the worlds were even formed. (See, for example, Ephesians 1:4; Romans 8:29); the free gift of God's grace (unmerited favor) is appropriated by our faith (trusting God over and above seen circumstances). (See, for example, Romans 5:1-2)
Moreover, read Galatians 2:16: "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."
Gay Christians can and do trust Jesus! If one lives under the Law, the strictures of mere human beings, the yokes of bondage placed by such institutions as the Roman Catholic Church, he/she has nullified faith and thrown God's gift of God's grace back in God's face.
The Bible makes it clear that it is only by faith that we can please God (Hebrews 11:6), and not some man-made belief system that serves to justify organizational and individual prejudices for which there are usually financial, psychological, social, and political rewards to be garnered.
To even suggest that heterosexual marriage within the Christian tradition "is a fundamental way of attaining salvation," Bishop Malone is not only being heretical, contravening the Bible, but is grasping at false straws to make an argument in a way that merely shows his and others' desperation due to the bankruptcy of their prejudices against same-sex marriage.
And for him to pontificate that Gay people should not be discriminated against, also shows the Bishop Malones of the institutional Church world to be terribly naive or cynical in the extreme.
Gay people are discriminated against, and the RC Church is one of the major religious vehicles that provokes and seeks to justify that discrimination.
And, as we see in this brief video, that discrimination is based on false biblical exegeses, heretical theology, and just plain downright blind prejudice!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY SEXUAL SUPPRESSION IS OFTEN TOXIC TO OTHERS
I'm 5'6" tall and have never played professional basketball! What kind of credibility would I have in your eyes if I lectured you on the proper way to play professional basketball? Clearly, the answer is likely, "none."
Now, Roman Catholic clergy presumably do not engage in romantic/sexual relations, so why do people give credibility to those RC clergy who would dare teach us on the subjects of romance and sexuality?
Compounding this bizarre scenario where gullible people do take seriously the toxic pontifications of assorted RC clergy and the Vatican regarding sexual matters, is the fact that there is so much condemnation emanating from all too many RC sources regarding sexuality that they view as "normal" and also sexual expression that is, in their eyes, "disordered" or even "intrinsically evil."
So, we have the hateful rhetoric of the Archbishop of Guam regarding same-sex love and its protections:
Islamic fundamentalists clearly understand the damage that homosexual behavior inflicts on a culture. This is why they repress such behavior by death...It may be brutal at times, but any culture that is able to produce wave after wave of suicide bombers...is a culture that at least knows how to value self sacrifice.
[For the full text, see here.]
So, Gay people must suppress their God-given sexuality because of the "damage that homosexual behavior inflicts on a culture," damage that is elusive to any rational person. And this Archbishop's statement goes so far as to applaud Islamic fundamentalists who "repress such behavior by death."
And this egregious pronouncement is done in the name of "Christianity?" This is not any type of Christianity to which any Christian can relate!
Fundamentalists of any stripe, be it from the RC Church, the LDS Church, or from any denomination, church, or secular authority are birds of a feather who flock together. Hence, the Vatican holds its arms open to reactionary Anglicans, even going so far as to allow them to have their own liturgy and married clergy within the context of Roman Catholicism, some doctrines of which are antithetical to those of Anglicans and protestants in general.
Just as I wouldn't trust someone like me to lecture you on the finer points of professional basketball, I wouldn't trust presumably celibate clergy who (unless called by God to do so) suppress their God-given sexuality and seek to impose the warped values and questionable psychological dynamics they possess onto others who have no reason to see any contradiction between sexuality and spirituality.
The Apostle Paul said, "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." (Romans 8:6) I wholeheartedly agree with his statement!
That's why when those who succumb to enforced celibacy seek to impose their own sexual views and values onto others, they are projecting their preoccupation with sex borne of its daily suppression; their condemnation of others' sexuality and sexual expression is likely a projection of their own sexual frustrations borne of sexual suppression that is not healthy unless one is gifted by God to be celibate.
Moreover, by suppressing such a primal urge as sex, sex is what is largely thought about in that person's daily life, even more than when one is free to express him/herself sexually. We all think of sex quite frequently (Yes, even at my age!), but can you imagine the preoccupation with sex when one suppresses this very God-given primal urge?
Therefore, one is carnally minded particularly when one is forced to be celibate; the healthy integration of sexuality with one's spirituality allows one to live a full, abundant life that partakes of all of the gifts that God has bestowed on God's children! So, one can truly be spiritually minded when his/her sexuality is integrated into his/her life that, for the Christian or for any religious person, has been dedicated to God.
Moreover, to enforce celibacy, as occurs among RC clergy, contradicts the Apostle Paul's admonition:
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. (1Timothy 4:1-5)
Paul well knew, as do most of the rest of us, that carnality is borne out of repression and suppression, and that whatever God has created is good! And God created sexuality for our pleasure, as well as for procreation for those for whom that is possible. And no person or institution should be in the business of "forbidding to marry!"
Why would God make sexual activity so pleasurable if God wanted us to abstain from it, or restrict it to only one type of relationship that is not natural for a given person? For a heterosexual it is unnatural for him/her to want to marry someone of the same sex; for a homosexual it is unnatural for him/her to want to marry someone of the opposite sex. This is not rocket science!
Since God created Gay and Straight (and bisexual and transgender) people, God wants us to live abundant lives that only comes from living lives of authenticity that comes from partaking of the unique gifts, among them our sexuality, that God has conferred upon us.
And like being Straight, being Gay is a gift from God, and to deny that gift is to not only stunt the spirituality of that person but is tantamount to throwing that gift back in God's face.
The Archbishop of Guam, the Vatican, and all religious homophobes are advocating that others throw God's gift of sexuality back in God's face, and by so doing are helping to create lives of self-loathing manifested in untold suffering, suicides, assaults, and murders of LGBT people.
And this suppression of sexuality, the projection of one's warped views of sexuality onto others, and the condemnation of the sexual lives of Gay people bears no relationship to Christianity!
Now, Roman Catholic clergy presumably do not engage in romantic/sexual relations, so why do people give credibility to those RC clergy who would dare teach us on the subjects of romance and sexuality?
Compounding this bizarre scenario where gullible people do take seriously the toxic pontifications of assorted RC clergy and the Vatican regarding sexual matters, is the fact that there is so much condemnation emanating from all too many RC sources regarding sexuality that they view as "normal" and also sexual expression that is, in their eyes, "disordered" or even "intrinsically evil."
So, we have the hateful rhetoric of the Archbishop of Guam regarding same-sex love and its protections:
Islamic fundamentalists clearly understand the damage that homosexual behavior inflicts on a culture. This is why they repress such behavior by death...It may be brutal at times, but any culture that is able to produce wave after wave of suicide bombers...is a culture that at least knows how to value self sacrifice.
[For the full text, see here.]
So, Gay people must suppress their God-given sexuality because of the "damage that homosexual behavior inflicts on a culture," damage that is elusive to any rational person. And this Archbishop's statement goes so far as to applaud Islamic fundamentalists who "repress such behavior by death."
And this egregious pronouncement is done in the name of "Christianity?" This is not any type of Christianity to which any Christian can relate!
Fundamentalists of any stripe, be it from the RC Church, the LDS Church, or from any denomination, church, or secular authority are birds of a feather who flock together. Hence, the Vatican holds its arms open to reactionary Anglicans, even going so far as to allow them to have their own liturgy and married clergy within the context of Roman Catholicism, some doctrines of which are antithetical to those of Anglicans and protestants in general.
Just as I wouldn't trust someone like me to lecture you on the finer points of professional basketball, I wouldn't trust presumably celibate clergy who (unless called by God to do so) suppress their God-given sexuality and seek to impose the warped values and questionable psychological dynamics they possess onto others who have no reason to see any contradiction between sexuality and spirituality.
The Apostle Paul said, "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." (Romans 8:6) I wholeheartedly agree with his statement!
That's why when those who succumb to enforced celibacy seek to impose their own sexual views and values onto others, they are projecting their preoccupation with sex borne of its daily suppression; their condemnation of others' sexuality and sexual expression is likely a projection of their own sexual frustrations borne of sexual suppression that is not healthy unless one is gifted by God to be celibate.
Moreover, by suppressing such a primal urge as sex, sex is what is largely thought about in that person's daily life, even more than when one is free to express him/herself sexually. We all think of sex quite frequently (Yes, even at my age!), but can you imagine the preoccupation with sex when one suppresses this very God-given primal urge?
Therefore, one is carnally minded particularly when one is forced to be celibate; the healthy integration of sexuality with one's spirituality allows one to live a full, abundant life that partakes of all of the gifts that God has bestowed on God's children! So, one can truly be spiritually minded when his/her sexuality is integrated into his/her life that, for the Christian or for any religious person, has been dedicated to God.
Moreover, to enforce celibacy, as occurs among RC clergy, contradicts the Apostle Paul's admonition:
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. (1Timothy 4:1-5)
Paul well knew, as do most of the rest of us, that carnality is borne out of repression and suppression, and that whatever God has created is good! And God created sexuality for our pleasure, as well as for procreation for those for whom that is possible. And no person or institution should be in the business of "forbidding to marry!"
Why would God make sexual activity so pleasurable if God wanted us to abstain from it, or restrict it to only one type of relationship that is not natural for a given person? For a heterosexual it is unnatural for him/her to want to marry someone of the same sex; for a homosexual it is unnatural for him/her to want to marry someone of the opposite sex. This is not rocket science!
Since God created Gay and Straight (and bisexual and transgender) people, God wants us to live abundant lives that only comes from living lives of authenticity that comes from partaking of the unique gifts, among them our sexuality, that God has conferred upon us.
And like being Straight, being Gay is a gift from God, and to deny that gift is to not only stunt the spirituality of that person but is tantamount to throwing that gift back in God's face.
The Archbishop of Guam, the Vatican, and all religious homophobes are advocating that others throw God's gift of sexuality back in God's face, and by so doing are helping to create lives of self-loathing manifested in untold suffering, suicides, assaults, and murders of LGBT people.
And this suppression of sexuality, the projection of one's warped views of sexuality onto others, and the condemnation of the sexual lives of Gay people bears no relationship to Christianity!
Friday, October 23, 2009
FILM: THE MORMON PROPOSITION
The Mormon Proposition will explain once and for all just how the Mormon Church operates, and how they have led the fight against marriage equality all across the United States since Utah became the first state to ban same-sex marriage in 1995. 29 states have followed Utah's lead, and the Mormon Church has made sure of that.
The film also goes into great depth about how the Mormon Church has destroyed so many lives and families in its desire to impose its will on others.
Please tell the world about this incredible documentary. It is a film for all to see.
[For the full article, see here.]
[Also check out its website.]
What is the Mormon proposition? The film is expected to showcase the major gay marriage battles the Mormon Church has backed since Utah became the first state to ban gay marriage in 1995. And how church officials attempted to conceal their deep involvement in the issue. Is the Mormon Church the mastermind puppeteer of the anti-gay marriage movement?
In a blog post, [Director Reed] Cowan said the film had divided his family.
“My determination [to finish the film] has been tested. At this writing, I have lost communication with my sisters and my mother and my father. They are wonderful people and they are Mormons. The fear they have over what this film will say has worn thin to the point that our relationships are stressed and I fear broken forever,” he said.
The film is being considered for a Sundance Film Festival premiere in January.
This is the trailer from The Mormon Proposition:
The film also goes into great depth about how the Mormon Church has destroyed so many lives and families in its desire to impose its will on others.
Please tell the world about this incredible documentary. It is a film for all to see.
[For the full article, see here.]
[Also check out its website.]
What is the Mormon proposition? The film is expected to showcase the major gay marriage battles the Mormon Church has backed since Utah became the first state to ban gay marriage in 1995. And how church officials attempted to conceal their deep involvement in the issue. Is the Mormon Church the mastermind puppeteer of the anti-gay marriage movement?
In a blog post, [Director Reed] Cowan said the film had divided his family.
“My determination [to finish the film] has been tested. At this writing, I have lost communication with my sisters and my mother and my father. They are wonderful people and they are Mormons. The fear they have over what this film will say has worn thin to the point that our relationships are stressed and I fear broken forever,” he said.
The film is being considered for a Sundance Film Festival premiere in January.
This is the trailer from The Mormon Proposition:
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
THE DANGER OF THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT
It’s sad, in this day and age, that people don’t study history, and people have never stopped giving to those who seek power and control. Of course, there are many who don’t want to take responsibility for their own lives, so this works for them. They financially support others (religious right leaders) who in turn excuse their lives from their actions by placing what happens in the hands of their “God”.
[For the full commentary, see here.]
Many people want to be told what to do and even what to think!
Indeed, many people go so far as to ideologically and financially support clergy who impose their prejudices onto their followers, frequently enabling those clergy to live lavish lifestyles, and who give their gullible followers permission to justify prejudice against a targeted minority group, and do so in the name of God.
By equating their own prejudicial and often self-serving interpretations of certain selected verses of Scripture, whether against women, African-Americans, or LGBT people, with what they say is "God's will," they are contravening two of the Ten Commandments: committing the sin of idolatry (equating the Bible with God) and bearing false witness.
Indeed, by elevating their own preconceived prejudices and xenophobia as Divine law, they are committing the worst kind of idolatry: idolizing of one's own prejudicial self-interests by equating those prejudices and interests with God's will, thereby worshiping themselves as god; they further compound their idolatry by condemning people whom God has made in God's image.
Adding insult to injury, they often ignorantly and/or willfully misrepresent what verses of Scripture they select to support their xenophobic claims, and they often lie about those whose civil and sacramental rights they seek to deny. In addition, they neglect far more weightier aspects and verses of Scripture that provide the very foundations of Christianity, the Christian life, and the Gospel of grace!
For example, when was the last time you heard a homophobic clergy person quote from "The Sermon on the Mount," Matthew 5-7? These verses come closest to revealing the heart of Jesus and His will for our lives than anything else in the Bible!
I also doubt anyone has ever heard a homophobic pastor quote from Matthew 19:12 where Jesus, when asked about heterosexual marriage, says: "For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb...." These eunuchs are undoubtedly God's LGBT children! (See here.)
We often hear from homophobic clergy that same-sex marriage presents a threat to the institution of marriage, a claim that is foolish on its face. It's divorce of heterosexuals that provides that threat and same-sex couples who seek to marry (or who are married in the handful of states where same-sex marriage is legal) can in no rational way be seen as being any kind of threat to the institution of marriage.
However, rationality plays no part in separating one from his/her prejudices, particularly when those prejudices are spoon fed by clergy as being "in the will of God."
And when clergy and other professing Christians remain silent amidst the oppression of LGBT people (or any other minority group), they are just as culpable in that oppression as are those who spew hateful rhetoric against God's LGBT children!
Moreover, financial, psychological, social, and political capital can be gained by creating "outsiders" to denigrate and even demonize! (I strongly suspect and suggest that if there were more money to be made by supporting LGBT rights many, if not most, reactionary clergy and politicians would be proudly marching in Gay Pride Parades!)
In this connection, I want to conclude this post by quoting a few excerpts from an article I wrote some time ago entitled It's Not About Issues, that I hope you will read in its entirety:
The same hatred shown toward African Americans in the justification of White Supremacy is the exact same hatred shown toward LGBT people and the justification of heterosexism! Some of the manifestations of that hatred are, of course, different, but the hatred and the justifications for that hatred are exactly the same!....
By portraying Christianity as being under attack, they are using the same rationale and tactics as was used by White Supremacists in creating an "enemy" so that they could portray themselves as victims of a grave threat that only by electing someone who had a mind-set like theirs, regardless of religious or spiritual commitment, could help remedy. Such a portrayal not only garners increased revenue for religious reactionaries, the handmaidens of the Power Elite, but helps enable them to ensure the status quo that they perceive will keep them in control and help keep the minority group(s) they despise under their thumb, so as to maintain their influence and control of most of the institutional Church, maintain what they tout as the moral high ground, and maintain their definition of "Christianity" in the public's mind....
What is important to them is to maintain their mind-set of exclusion of "the other," their constructed enemy, be that "other" African Americans, women, LGBT people, or whatever enemy they seek to construct so as to maintain both their hegemony in society, and to help assure that the existing social structure continues to favor them and their ideology, an ideology that has relatively little to do with their "Christian" profession, and certainly nothing to do with Christianity itself!
[For the full commentary, see here.]
Many people want to be told what to do and even what to think!
Indeed, many people go so far as to ideologically and financially support clergy who impose their prejudices onto their followers, frequently enabling those clergy to live lavish lifestyles, and who give their gullible followers permission to justify prejudice against a targeted minority group, and do so in the name of God.
By equating their own prejudicial and often self-serving interpretations of certain selected verses of Scripture, whether against women, African-Americans, or LGBT people, with what they say is "God's will," they are contravening two of the Ten Commandments: committing the sin of idolatry (equating the Bible with God) and bearing false witness.
Indeed, by elevating their own preconceived prejudices and xenophobia as Divine law, they are committing the worst kind of idolatry: idolizing of one's own prejudicial self-interests by equating those prejudices and interests with God's will, thereby worshiping themselves as god; they further compound their idolatry by condemning people whom God has made in God's image.
Adding insult to injury, they often ignorantly and/or willfully misrepresent what verses of Scripture they select to support their xenophobic claims, and they often lie about those whose civil and sacramental rights they seek to deny. In addition, they neglect far more weightier aspects and verses of Scripture that provide the very foundations of Christianity, the Christian life, and the Gospel of grace!
For example, when was the last time you heard a homophobic clergy person quote from "The Sermon on the Mount," Matthew 5-7? These verses come closest to revealing the heart of Jesus and His will for our lives than anything else in the Bible!
I also doubt anyone has ever heard a homophobic pastor quote from Matthew 19:12 where Jesus, when asked about heterosexual marriage, says: "For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb...." These eunuchs are undoubtedly God's LGBT children! (See here.)
We often hear from homophobic clergy that same-sex marriage presents a threat to the institution of marriage, a claim that is foolish on its face. It's divorce of heterosexuals that provides that threat and same-sex couples who seek to marry (or who are married in the handful of states where same-sex marriage is legal) can in no rational way be seen as being any kind of threat to the institution of marriage.
However, rationality plays no part in separating one from his/her prejudices, particularly when those prejudices are spoon fed by clergy as being "in the will of God."
And when clergy and other professing Christians remain silent amidst the oppression of LGBT people (or any other minority group), they are just as culpable in that oppression as are those who spew hateful rhetoric against God's LGBT children!
Moreover, financial, psychological, social, and political capital can be gained by creating "outsiders" to denigrate and even demonize! (I strongly suspect and suggest that if there were more money to be made by supporting LGBT rights many, if not most, reactionary clergy and politicians would be proudly marching in Gay Pride Parades!)
In this connection, I want to conclude this post by quoting a few excerpts from an article I wrote some time ago entitled It's Not About Issues, that I hope you will read in its entirety:
The same hatred shown toward African Americans in the justification of White Supremacy is the exact same hatred shown toward LGBT people and the justification of heterosexism! Some of the manifestations of that hatred are, of course, different, but the hatred and the justifications for that hatred are exactly the same!....
By portraying Christianity as being under attack, they are using the same rationale and tactics as was used by White Supremacists in creating an "enemy" so that they could portray themselves as victims of a grave threat that only by electing someone who had a mind-set like theirs, regardless of religious or spiritual commitment, could help remedy. Such a portrayal not only garners increased revenue for religious reactionaries, the handmaidens of the Power Elite, but helps enable them to ensure the status quo that they perceive will keep them in control and help keep the minority group(s) they despise under their thumb, so as to maintain their influence and control of most of the institutional Church, maintain what they tout as the moral high ground, and maintain their definition of "Christianity" in the public's mind....
What is important to them is to maintain their mind-set of exclusion of "the other," their constructed enemy, be that "other" African Americans, women, LGBT people, or whatever enemy they seek to construct so as to maintain both their hegemony in society, and to help assure that the existing social structure continues to favor them and their ideology, an ideology that has relatively little to do with their "Christian" profession, and certainly nothing to do with Christianity itself!
Monday, October 19, 2009
LOVE AND BOLDNESS IN THE FIGHT FOR LGBT CIVIL RIGHTS
Sigmund Freud once remarked: How bold one gets when one is sure of being loved.
For close to 50 years, I've been blessed with unconditional love by the Light of my life, and it's been her love that has enabled me to live my life and to achieve any success I might have achieved.
As an invaluable co-worker with God, she has made possible every good thing that has ever happened in my life!
Only a profoundly good and intuitive person like my wife, Eileen, a saint if there ever was one, could have put up with a madman like me for close to half a century, and the following song by Jr. Walker and the All Stars states that feeling far better than I can.
I very much want same-sex couples to have the same dignity, legitimacy, rights, and joy that my wife and I have had, and for them to know that they are unconditionally loved by God and, hopefully, by other people in their lives.
I am absolutely convinced that LGBT people hold a special place in God's heart, and are among God's most wonderful gifts to society and to Christ's Church.
And that knowledge by LGBT people of God's (and, hopefully, others') unconditional love will yield the boldness necessary for us to fight like hell for full and equal civil rights for LGBT people and for same-sex couples, and empower us to never give up that fight until they shove six feet of dirt in our faces.
This song is dedicated to the Light of my life, Eileen:
Saturday, October 17, 2009
INTERVIEW WITH REV. PETER J. GOMES
Whether you are a Christian or not, this video of the interview with Rev. Peter J. Gomes, minister at Harvard University, is a wonderful explication of both the Bible as well as its relationship to God, Christianity, the spiritual life, and the stuff of life amidst which we all live.
Rev. Gomes is the author of several books, two of which I think are absolutely superb: "The Good Book: Reading the Bible With Mind and Heart"; "The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus: What's So Good About the Good News?" I strongly urge you to read both of these books!
Rev. Gomes is a gay Christian who is about the most thoughtful and erudite contemporary exponent of the Christian faith and the Gospel who will give you a perspective about the subjects with which he deals that you may well not have been exposed to before!
This interview occurred before Obama was elected President, and Gomes deals with the role of race and class in U.S. society, and predicted that "race" would be a significant issue that would have to be dealt with in every aspect of U.S. society should there be a Black President. One doesn't have to listen to too many reactionary radio talk shows to hear some of the hosts and callers talk about, "taking our country back" which, in my opinion, is often code for them wanting a white person back in the office of President.
I must say that I disagree with Rev. Gomes when he attributes equal authority to the Old and the New Testaments; advocates the relevance of the Law within the Old Testament.
I firmly believe that Jesus fulfilled the whole Law within Himself; His life, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven replaced the Law with the Gospel of grace (God's unmerited favor to those who trust God over and above seen circumstances.) that the Apostle Paul beautifully explicated, particularly in the Books of Romans and Galatians.
This is the video of the interview with Rev. Gomes that I urge you to see in its entirety:
Rev. Gomes is the author of several books, two of which I think are absolutely superb: "The Good Book: Reading the Bible With Mind and Heart"; "The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus: What's So Good About the Good News?" I strongly urge you to read both of these books!
Rev. Gomes is a gay Christian who is about the most thoughtful and erudite contemporary exponent of the Christian faith and the Gospel who will give you a perspective about the subjects with which he deals that you may well not have been exposed to before!
This interview occurred before Obama was elected President, and Gomes deals with the role of race and class in U.S. society, and predicted that "race" would be a significant issue that would have to be dealt with in every aspect of U.S. society should there be a Black President. One doesn't have to listen to too many reactionary radio talk shows to hear some of the hosts and callers talk about, "taking our country back" which, in my opinion, is often code for them wanting a white person back in the office of President.
I must say that I disagree with Rev. Gomes when he attributes equal authority to the Old and the New Testaments; advocates the relevance of the Law within the Old Testament.
I firmly believe that Jesus fulfilled the whole Law within Himself; His life, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven replaced the Law with the Gospel of grace (God's unmerited favor to those who trust God over and above seen circumstances.) that the Apostle Paul beautifully explicated, particularly in the Books of Romans and Galatians.
This is the video of the interview with Rev. Gomes that I urge you to see in its entirety:
Thursday, October 15, 2009
THERE IS NO ROOM FOR COMPROMISE WHEN IT COMES TO CIVIL RIGHTS!
In an article entitled, Solmonese Responds to Calls He Resign that appears in The Advocate, one commentator, Lonnie Lopez stated the case for aggressive grassroots activism very clearly:
As Howard Zinn put it: We are citizens. We must not put ourselves in the position of looking at the world from their eyes [meaning the politicians] and say, "Well, we have to compromise, we have to do this for political reasons." We have to speak our minds. This is the position that the abolitionists were in before the Civil War, and people said, "Well, you have to look at it from Lincoln's point of view." Lincoln didn't believe that his first priority was abolishing slavery. But the anti-slavery movement did, and the abolitionists said, "We're not going to put ourselves in Lincoln's position. We are going to express our own position, and we are going to express it so powerfully that Lincoln will have to listen to us." And the anti-slavery movement grew large enough and powerful enough that Lincoln had to listen. That's how we got the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th and 14th and 15th Amendments.
Some people want to believe that there is inherent justice in the world; some people believe that politicians have their constituents' best interests at heart; some people believe that administrators of Gay rights organizations are being as aggressive as they can in this civil rights struggle; some people believe that "the milk of human kindness" will eventually win out without aggressive grassroots and organizational activism to achieve equal rights; some people leave the fight to achieve equal rights for LGBT people to others; some people believe that Obama has too much on his plate to issue an Executive Order removing DADT and aggressively deal with Congress to remove DOMA.
There is to be no room for the allowance of second-class citizenship in any society, let alone the U.S. that boasts itself to be "the land of the free," and where "separate is not equal."
There is no "freedom" in any civil society when a minority group is deprived of civil rights that accrue to the dominant group!
If heterosexuals are allowed to marry, same-sex couples must be allowed to marry!
Heterosexual love is in no way superior to same-sex love, and that reality must be codified into law and, eventually, it will thereby be codified in the hearts of most people in society!
And without aggressive grassroots and organizational activism, there will never be federal recognition of same-sex marriage (and all of the other civil rights that are likely to ride on its coattails).
Had it not been for the organizational and activist skills of Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, A Philip Randolph, Fannie Lou Hamer, Thurgood Marshall, and others, we would still have segregation and Jim Crow laws!
And the fight for LGBT civil rights is no different, and no less important, than the struggle for African-American civil rights that occurred not all that long ago in the U.S.!
As Howard Zinn put it: We are citizens. We must not put ourselves in the position of looking at the world from their eyes [meaning the politicians] and say, "Well, we have to compromise, we have to do this for political reasons." We have to speak our minds. This is the position that the abolitionists were in before the Civil War, and people said, "Well, you have to look at it from Lincoln's point of view." Lincoln didn't believe that his first priority was abolishing slavery. But the anti-slavery movement did, and the abolitionists said, "We're not going to put ourselves in Lincoln's position. We are going to express our own position, and we are going to express it so powerfully that Lincoln will have to listen to us." And the anti-slavery movement grew large enough and powerful enough that Lincoln had to listen. That's how we got the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th and 14th and 15th Amendments.
Some people want to believe that there is inherent justice in the world; some people believe that politicians have their constituents' best interests at heart; some people believe that administrators of Gay rights organizations are being as aggressive as they can in this civil rights struggle; some people believe that "the milk of human kindness" will eventually win out without aggressive grassroots and organizational activism to achieve equal rights; some people leave the fight to achieve equal rights for LGBT people to others; some people believe that Obama has too much on his plate to issue an Executive Order removing DADT and aggressively deal with Congress to remove DOMA.
There is to be no room for the allowance of second-class citizenship in any society, let alone the U.S. that boasts itself to be "the land of the free," and where "separate is not equal."
There is no "freedom" in any civil society when a minority group is deprived of civil rights that accrue to the dominant group!
If heterosexuals are allowed to marry, same-sex couples must be allowed to marry!
Heterosexual love is in no way superior to same-sex love, and that reality must be codified into law and, eventually, it will thereby be codified in the hearts of most people in society!
And without aggressive grassroots and organizational activism, there will never be federal recognition of same-sex marriage (and all of the other civil rights that are likely to ride on its coattails).
Had it not been for the organizational and activist skills of Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, A Philip Randolph, Fannie Lou Hamer, Thurgood Marshall, and others, we would still have segregation and Jim Crow laws!
And the fight for LGBT civil rights is no different, and no less important, than the struggle for African-American civil rights that occurred not all that long ago in the U.S.!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
WHEN IT COMES TO EQUALITY FOR LGBT PEOPLE, THE LDS CHURCH KNOWS NO SHAME
Just in case you aren’t familiar, the Mormon Church used to preach segregation. It was their firm belief that being a person of color was a punishment from God and people of color were lesser than white people…and that was up until 1978! It was in that year former President Jimmy Carter threatened the LDS church with taxation if they did not stop preaching segregation, and amazingly enough, God spoke to the elders, and within weeks of the taxation threat, told them being a person of color was no longer a punishment from God, therefore they should be accepted into the church.
Secondly, how is anyone, who enjoys full benefits of marriage, employment, housing, etc….you know, all the rights, liberties and freedoms offered to everyone in America except for those of us in the LBGT community, going to claim they are being oppressed…and compare their oppression to that of what people of color experienced during and prior to the Civil Rights Movement?
This statement [By Elder Dallin Oaks that he did not consider it provocative to compare the treatment of Mormons after the passage of Prop. 8 to that of blacks in the civil rights era.] is not only stupid and delusional, but it’s extremely disrespectful towards anyone of color, and it demonstrates the lengths people will go to in their attempt to prevent American citizens who are a member of the LGBT community from ever enjoying full equality and maintain our second class citizenship.
[For the full article, see here.]
At least one Mormon leader has the ignorance and/or temerity to equate anti-LDS backlash regarding their hateful animus against same-sex marriage and their strident advocacy for Prop. 8 with the way Southern blacks were intimidated during the civil rights movement.
If this isn't an outright disgrace, and if this isn't symptomatic of toxic religion and the attempt to brainwash gullible people into believing that the LDS Church is the "victim" in this backlash by decent people who demand equal rights for LGBT people and same-sex couples, I don't know what is!
The LDS Church and the Roman Catholic Church, along with most churches within the institutional Church, by their rhetoric and/or actions and/or silence amidst the oppression of our LGBT sisters and brothers, are a disgrace to God, to Christianity, and to biblical scholarship!
They must be called to account and confronted for the lies they perpetrate, and the untold suffering and damage they do to LGBT people and their families, and they must also be taxed!
They are spewing their hatred that often results in spiritual, emotional, and physical violence, and they do so with the benefit of tax-exemption.
Secondly, how is anyone, who enjoys full benefits of marriage, employment, housing, etc….you know, all the rights, liberties and freedoms offered to everyone in America except for those of us in the LBGT community, going to claim they are being oppressed…and compare their oppression to that of what people of color experienced during and prior to the Civil Rights Movement?
This statement [By Elder Dallin Oaks that he did not consider it provocative to compare the treatment of Mormons after the passage of Prop. 8 to that of blacks in the civil rights era.] is not only stupid and delusional, but it’s extremely disrespectful towards anyone of color, and it demonstrates the lengths people will go to in their attempt to prevent American citizens who are a member of the LGBT community from ever enjoying full equality and maintain our second class citizenship.
[For the full article, see here.]
At least one Mormon leader has the ignorance and/or temerity to equate anti-LDS backlash regarding their hateful animus against same-sex marriage and their strident advocacy for Prop. 8 with the way Southern blacks were intimidated during the civil rights movement.
If this isn't an outright disgrace, and if this isn't symptomatic of toxic religion and the attempt to brainwash gullible people into believing that the LDS Church is the "victim" in this backlash by decent people who demand equal rights for LGBT people and same-sex couples, I don't know what is!
The LDS Church and the Roman Catholic Church, along with most churches within the institutional Church, by their rhetoric and/or actions and/or silence amidst the oppression of our LGBT sisters and brothers, are a disgrace to God, to Christianity, and to biblical scholarship!
They must be called to account and confronted for the lies they perpetrate, and the untold suffering and damage they do to LGBT people and their families, and they must also be taxed!
They are spewing their hatred that often results in spiritual, emotional, and physical violence, and they do so with the benefit of tax-exemption.
Monday, October 12, 2009
MORE EVIDENCE OF THE CYNICAL BETRAYAL OF OBAMA AND THE WHITE HOUSE
What is surprising to me is that LGBT people and progressives are surprised that Obama and the White House hold us in disdain. After they drank the Kool Aid of Obama's empty rhetoric, they may now be seeing the truth of his cynical betrayal of many of the values we hold dear, such as equal rights for LGBT people.
So which Barack Obama is it -- the one who said to challenge him, or a fragile flower that panders to LGBTs then has a coward source backstab? To me the WH has just declared war on us after a wine and dine with the right kind of LGBTs that don't make trouble for them. Someone has to answer to this....
So the gay community, and its concerns about President Obama's inaction, and backtracking, on DADT and DOMA, are now, according to President Obama's White House, part of a larger "fringe" that acts like small children who play in their pajamas and need to grow up. (And a note to our readers: The White House just included all of you in that loony "left fringe.")
[For the full article, see here.]
Here's the video alleging the White House's position :
So which Barack Obama is it -- the one who said to challenge him, or a fragile flower that panders to LGBTs then has a coward source backstab? To me the WH has just declared war on us after a wine and dine with the right kind of LGBTs that don't make trouble for them. Someone has to answer to this....
So the gay community, and its concerns about President Obama's inaction, and backtracking, on DADT and DOMA, are now, according to President Obama's White House, part of a larger "fringe" that acts like small children who play in their pajamas and need to grow up. (And a note to our readers: The White House just included all of you in that loony "left fringe.")
[For the full article, see here.]
Here's the video alleging the White House's position :
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ANDREW SULLIVAN CALLS FOR THE RESIGNATION OF JOE SOLOMNESE OF THE HRC
In this brief video, Andrew Sullivan tells it like it is, and highlights the pathetic and seemingly self-satisfied acquiescence of the head of the Human Rights Campaign (which, as Sullivan accurately states, should be called the LGBT Rights Campaign) to the status quo by giving Obama a pass until 2017.
Sullivan calls for Joe Solomnese's resignation! As you probably know, Joe Solomnese is the head of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest asserted LGBT Rights organization.
Solomnese, of course, is quite unlikely to resign, particularly given the fact that he "received a total compensation package of $338,400 in 2008." [See here.]
With that kind of compensation package, why wouldn't Solmonese be quite satisfied?
Plus, he and a number of other professional "activists" seem to enjoy the empty rhetoric of Obama, particularly if they can be in his presence, rub elbows with him and other politicians, and even be invited to share finger food and even dine with him!
It cannot be said of Solomnese, and some other seeming political "activists" who court and hope to be rewarded by the status quo and/or with Obama's favor, of what Shakespeare said in his play Henry lV, "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."
This is the video with Andrew Sullivan that is well worth watching:
Sullivan calls for Joe Solomnese's resignation! As you probably know, Joe Solomnese is the head of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest asserted LGBT Rights organization.
Solomnese, of course, is quite unlikely to resign, particularly given the fact that he "received a total compensation package of $338,400 in 2008." [See here.]
With that kind of compensation package, why wouldn't Solmonese be quite satisfied?
Plus, he and a number of other professional "activists" seem to enjoy the empty rhetoric of Obama, particularly if they can be in his presence, rub elbows with him and other politicians, and even be invited to share finger food and even dine with him!
It cannot be said of Solomnese, and some other seeming political "activists" who court and hope to be rewarded by the status quo and/or with Obama's favor, of what Shakespeare said in his play Henry lV, "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."
This is the video with Andrew Sullivan that is well worth watching:
Sunday, October 11, 2009
REV. TROY PERRY'S SPEECH AT THE NATIONAL EQUALITY MARCH
Please listen to this heart-felt talk by Rev. Troy Perry at the National Equality March. [Thanks to Kittredge Cherry on Facebook for highlighting this speech.]
Rev. Perry is one of God's greatest LGBT civil rights activists that the world has ever known!
Rev. Perry is one of God's greatest LGBT civil rights activists that the world has ever known!
WE WANT ACTION
When thousands of gay rights activists march to the Capitol at noon today for the National Equality March, they will be looking for more than speeches from the White House.
"Last night, President Obama made that speech [at the Human Rights Campaign’s annual dinner in Washington]. He had no intention of addressing our community and he took the bully pulpit, and he got up there, and he expressed very beautiful intentions," march organizer Sherry Wolf said. "It was a very beautiful speech. [But] what is he going to do? And when is he going to do it? That’s the question."
[For the full article, see here.]
The Equality March, if nothing else, will present a concerted voice from the grassroots that rhetoric (especially empty rhetoric) is no substitute for action!
Hopefully, this march will not only put pressure on Obama and other "liberal" politicians to back up their rhetoric with actions that give LGBT people full and equal civil rights, but will motivate the grassroots within local jurisdictions to lobby their legislators and agitate for equal rights under the law as currently accrue to all heterosexual citizens.
As you know, at the local levels, I feel that one of the best tactics is to choose one homophobic church and continuously peacefully picket that church each and every Sunday when they have services, carrying signs and forthrightly stating how their rhetoric of hate and discrimination is antithetical to the Gospel of Christ!
We cannot underestimate the impact that homophobic religion has had in denying full and equal civil rights to LGBT people, including, of course, the right to same-sex marriage.
"Last night, President Obama made that speech [at the Human Rights Campaign’s annual dinner in Washington]. He had no intention of addressing our community and he took the bully pulpit, and he got up there, and he expressed very beautiful intentions," march organizer Sherry Wolf said. "It was a very beautiful speech. [But] what is he going to do? And when is he going to do it? That’s the question."
[For the full article, see here.]
The Equality March, if nothing else, will present a concerted voice from the grassroots that rhetoric (especially empty rhetoric) is no substitute for action!
Hopefully, this march will not only put pressure on Obama and other "liberal" politicians to back up their rhetoric with actions that give LGBT people full and equal civil rights, but will motivate the grassroots within local jurisdictions to lobby their legislators and agitate for equal rights under the law as currently accrue to all heterosexual citizens.
As you know, at the local levels, I feel that one of the best tactics is to choose one homophobic church and continuously peacefully picket that church each and every Sunday when they have services, carrying signs and forthrightly stating how their rhetoric of hate and discrimination is antithetical to the Gospel of Christ!
We cannot underestimate the impact that homophobic religion has had in denying full and equal civil rights to LGBT people, including, of course, the right to same-sex marriage.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
MORE OF OBAMA'S EMPTY RHETORIC TO THE HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN
"I will end 'don't ask-don't tell,'" Obama said at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay civil rights advocacy group. Obama reaffirmed his commitment to end the ban, but did not give a timetable or the specifics that some activists have called for.
The law was passed by Congress in 1993 and signed by President Bill Clinton, who also promised to repeal the ban on homosexuals in the military but was blunted by opposition in the military and Congress.
"We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve the country," Obama said. "We should be celebrating their willingness to step forward and show such courage ... especially when we are fighting two wars.
"I appreciate that many of you don't believe progress has come fast enough," Obama said. "Do not doubt the direction we are heading and the destination we will reach."
[For the full article, see here.]
This is the same old tired cynical rhetoric we've heard from Obama for the last several months, and I have no doubt that many in the HRC, and many others, continue to buy into it!
Only a very naive, often self-loathing, gullible masochist can take his empty rhetoric seriously!
It must be remembered that Obama can merely issue an Executive Order eliminating DADT! That decision rests solely with him and, to this date, he has yet to eliminate it.
His mere rhetoric shows his disdain for LGBT people, and his likely belief that many, if not most, will buy into his empty rhetoric and "charm" that has gotten him so far on so little in his political career.
His empty rhetoric is pathetic, and anyone who takes that empty rhetoric seriously is even more pathetic!
The law was passed by Congress in 1993 and signed by President Bill Clinton, who also promised to repeal the ban on homosexuals in the military but was blunted by opposition in the military and Congress.
"We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve the country," Obama said. "We should be celebrating their willingness to step forward and show such courage ... especially when we are fighting two wars.
"I appreciate that many of you don't believe progress has come fast enough," Obama said. "Do not doubt the direction we are heading and the destination we will reach."
[For the full article, see here.]
This is the same old tired cynical rhetoric we've heard from Obama for the last several months, and I have no doubt that many in the HRC, and many others, continue to buy into it!
Only a very naive, often self-loathing, gullible masochist can take his empty rhetoric seriously!
It must be remembered that Obama can merely issue an Executive Order eliminating DADT! That decision rests solely with him and, to this date, he has yet to eliminate it.
His mere rhetoric shows his disdain for LGBT people, and his likely belief that many, if not most, will buy into his empty rhetoric and "charm" that has gotten him so far on so little in his political career.
His empty rhetoric is pathetic, and anyone who takes that empty rhetoric seriously is even more pathetic!
THE PATHETIC HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN
If there was any doubt the Human Rights Campaign was colluding with Democrats and the White House to give Barack Obama a pass on your civil rights, confirmation arrived yesterday, when the organization told its "millions" of members not to judge the president today, but wait until January 19, 2017....
It's preposterous that an organization charged with defending and demanding the rights of LGBT Americans — and already facing allegations of telling Obama to give preference to some gay rights legislation while ignoring others — just told the entire world that the gay community can wait until Obama is moving out of the White House to expect our rights. The ramifications of HRC's message are dire; the media and other gay organizations around the world take cues from this organization, and if this is the agenda they are pushing, we worry it'll reverberate into a message the "gay community" is behind....
[For the full article, see here.]
With friends like these, who needs enemies?
Professional "activists" who make money and build careers around their pseudo-activism, often in the name of political expediency, that may even go so far as to caution the powers that be to retard the struggle for full and equal civil rights are, at the very least, pathetic and, at the very worst, traitors to the cause that they say they espouse and for which they are handsomely paid.
Here's Jason Bellini's commentary on this matter, and we can only hope that the rhetoric and passion of Dan Choi as seen in this brief video is reflected in the speeches to be held at the Equality March tomorrow.
I can assure you that Rev. Troy Perry's speech will reflect that passion, a passion he has exhibited for over 40 years.
It's preposterous that an organization charged with defending and demanding the rights of LGBT Americans — and already facing allegations of telling Obama to give preference to some gay rights legislation while ignoring others — just told the entire world that the gay community can wait until Obama is moving out of the White House to expect our rights. The ramifications of HRC's message are dire; the media and other gay organizations around the world take cues from this organization, and if this is the agenda they are pushing, we worry it'll reverberate into a message the "gay community" is behind....
[For the full article, see here.]
With friends like these, who needs enemies?
Professional "activists" who make money and build careers around their pseudo-activism, often in the name of political expediency, that may even go so far as to caution the powers that be to retard the struggle for full and equal civil rights are, at the very least, pathetic and, at the very worst, traitors to the cause that they say they espouse and for which they are handsomely paid.
Here's Jason Bellini's commentary on this matter, and we can only hope that the rhetoric and passion of Dan Choi as seen in this brief video is reflected in the speeches to be held at the Equality March tomorrow.
I can assure you that Rev. Troy Perry's speech will reflect that passion, a passion he has exhibited for over 40 years.
Friday, October 9, 2009
BROTHER OUTSIDER: THE LIFE OF BAYARD RUSTIN
Any time, and particularly as we approach the National Equality March this weekend, it is enlightening and emboldening to see the video of the life story of the consummate hero, organizer, and activist for the African American civil rights movement, Bayard Rustin.
It was Bayard Rustin who taught Martin Luther King the essence and techniques of non-violence, and it was he who organized the 1963 March on Washington which was a protest against the horrific oppression and discrimination visited upon African Americans in the U.S.
Unfortunately, as a gay man, he was relegated to the background, and even Martin Luther King accepted his resignation when Adam Clayton Powell threatened to out Rustin and falsely state that he and King were having an affair and, thereby, threaten the credibility of the civil rights movement.
To Rustin's shock, MLK accepted his resignation, and it was A. Philip Randolph, a prominent and well respected civil rights leader, who brought Rustin back into the fold.
The heroism of Rustin can't be over-estimated! If any one person can be credited with the organizational, tactical, and strategic success of many of the key aspects of the African American civil rights movement, it is Bayard Rustin, and I strongly urge you to watch the following videos detailing his life and work, entitled Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin.
At a time when LGBT people are routinely defamed, and are still viewed and treated as second-class citizens, and are deprived of most of the fundamental rights that accrue to heterosexuals, the story and legacy of Bayard Rustin is a breath of fresh air amidst the bearing of false witness against LGBT people by most of the institutional Church (just as occurred against African Americans prior to the success of the African American civil rights movement), and by many gullible people in secular society who falsely believe the lies and distortions emanating from the mouths of ignorant and/or mendacious clergy and their followers!
The National Equality March promises to be a major step in galvanizing both anger and meaningful activism at both the grassroots and organizational levels and, of course, I hope that promise bears fruit.
Please click on this link to see Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
MORE OF OBAMA'S UPCOMING CYNICAL RHETORIC REGARDING LGBT RIGHTS
President Obama will speak to a gathering of gay rights activists this weekend, a day before thousands of people are expected to march on Washington in a demonstration calling for greater legal protections for gays, lesbians and transgendered Americans....
While the president has professed support for overturning the ban on gays in the military and called the law that precludes federal recognition of same-sex marriages discriminatory, he has not engaged on gay rights issues as actively as some had hoped.
[See here.]
Ya think?
In a post I wrote on September 19th entitled, Obama Has Shown Himself To Be A Traitor, A Liar, And A Coward In Regard To LGBT Rights I said, in part:
Obama is, in my opinion, a traitor, a liar, and a coward in regard to LGBT rights, who is also out of his league as President for other assorted reasons that are beyond the purview of this blog to deal with; he is likely to be a one-term President, if the Republicans can get someone with "charm" and name recognition to run against him in 2012.
And, particularly given his cynical betrayal of LGBT people, I will not be at all unhappy should that scenario occur!
For any LGBT person, ally or Progressive to take his words regarding equality for LGBT people seriously is living in denial; anyone who believes his stated "support" for Gay rights when he could merely issue an Executive Order (which would take him about 5 minutes to write) rescinding DADT; when his Justice Department affirmed DOMA in federal court, invoking pedophilia and incest as two of its points, is living in a dream world.
He's a two-bit loser, and it's time that more progressives got their heads out of the sand, woke up, and smelled the coffee of his cynical betrayal of LGBT people, and progressives.
And his likely upcoming typically cynical rhetoric, whether at this coming Saturday's annual dinner for the Human Rights Campaign (a day before the Equality March), or to any other LGBT Rights group, makes his past, current, and likely future betrayal of LGBT people even that much more egregious and offensive!
He might well throw much of his constituency a bone by signing the bill on ENDA which Congress, given its current composition, is likely to pass, but that doesn't take much courage as it both acquiesces to the Congress' initiative and also courts the votes he needs to win the 2012 presidential election.
It's high time that we swallowed the bitter pill that Obama doesn't give a damn about equality for LGBT people, and that he probably never has! [For example, see here.]
While the president has professed support for overturning the ban on gays in the military and called the law that precludes federal recognition of same-sex marriages discriminatory, he has not engaged on gay rights issues as actively as some had hoped.
[See here.]
Ya think?
In a post I wrote on September 19th entitled, Obama Has Shown Himself To Be A Traitor, A Liar, And A Coward In Regard To LGBT Rights I said, in part:
Obama is, in my opinion, a traitor, a liar, and a coward in regard to LGBT rights, who is also out of his league as President for other assorted reasons that are beyond the purview of this blog to deal with; he is likely to be a one-term President, if the Republicans can get someone with "charm" and name recognition to run against him in 2012.
And, particularly given his cynical betrayal of LGBT people, I will not be at all unhappy should that scenario occur!
For any LGBT person, ally or Progressive to take his words regarding equality for LGBT people seriously is living in denial; anyone who believes his stated "support" for Gay rights when he could merely issue an Executive Order (which would take him about 5 minutes to write) rescinding DADT; when his Justice Department affirmed DOMA in federal court, invoking pedophilia and incest as two of its points, is living in a dream world.
He's a two-bit loser, and it's time that more progressives got their heads out of the sand, woke up, and smelled the coffee of his cynical betrayal of LGBT people, and progressives.
And his likely upcoming typically cynical rhetoric, whether at this coming Saturday's annual dinner for the Human Rights Campaign (a day before the Equality March), or to any other LGBT Rights group, makes his past, current, and likely future betrayal of LGBT people even that much more egregious and offensive!
He might well throw much of his constituency a bone by signing the bill on ENDA which Congress, given its current composition, is likely to pass, but that doesn't take much courage as it both acquiesces to the Congress' initiative and also courts the votes he needs to win the 2012 presidential election.
It's high time that we swallowed the bitter pill that Obama doesn't give a damn about equality for LGBT people, and that he probably never has! [For example, see here.]
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
COUNCIL MEMBER DAVID CATANIA INTRODUCES A BILL TO MAKE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE LEGAL IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Great News for Washington, D.C!
Also notice Rev. Harry Jackson's familiar rhetoric that he wants this civil right for Gay people put up to a majority vote of the electorate. He's so clueless that if his stance had been taken regarding African-Americans, we'd still have segregation and Jim Crow laws.
Also notice Rev. Harry Jackson's familiar rhetoric that he wants this civil right for Gay people put up to a majority vote of the electorate. He's so clueless that if his stance had been taken regarding African-Americans, we'd still have segregation and Jim Crow laws.
Monday, October 5, 2009
HOMOPHOBIC AND TRANSPHOBIC VIOLENCE AS KILLING THE SELF
Dr. Nancy J. Chodorow, in a report given to a group of psychoanalysts, in part said the following in seeking to explain the roots of homophobia:
In particular men and in particular situations, both gender and sexual orientation are rigidly dichotomized, fragmented identifications, and any internal challenge to the separateness of maleness and femaleness or of heteroerotic and homoerotic fantasies and attachments threatens real disintegration. Characteristically, the badness, femininity and submissiveness to men has to be split off and projected outward where these in turn become extremely persecutory potential identifications. Those who represent the split off and bad projections threaten not only persecutory return, but also disintegrative flooding to meld and fuse with the self. They need to be attacked and destroyed. [See here.]
It might be stated that the often erroneous dichotomizing of sexual and gender categories, once experienced as not really being part of one's self, frequently results in the need, the intense desire, to persecute that now recognized part of one's self that often becomes projected upon the person (or group of people) that has called attention to the unconscious, unwanted, homosexual and/or transphobic feelings aroused by the very existence of that other person; it is felt that that person and what he/she represents has to be destroyed, for in destroying that other person, the self-identified "heterosexual" victimizer is seeking to destroy that unwanted homosexual part of himself.
This brief video highlights the frequent relationship between homophobia and homosexual desire:
As my good friend, Don Charles wrote on his blog, "Christ, The Gay Martyr," regarding "Machismo" as being a taken for granted fact of life that underlies much of homophobia and transphobia:
In a culture dominated by Machismo, there is no room for persons of blended gender! We undermine the gender fascism that Machismo preaches. We contradict the world view that demands dominant men and subservient women. We will always be perceived as a threat to the concept of "pure" masculinity; our sexual orientation alone guarantees that. As I've stated before, all it takes to qualify as a gender outlaw is to be a man-loving-man or a woman-loving-woman. [See here.]
Gay people and people of blended gender threaten the man-made construction, the fiction, of sexual and gender polarities as being "normal," as being "the way things are meant to be." Hence, the homophobic and transphobic rhetoric emanating from the pulpits in most of the institutional Church, justifying such unchristian rhetoric and discrimination in the names of "the Bible," "morality," "tradition," "family values," "for the good of the children," etc.
And, often to help "sanitize" the rhetorical victimizing of Gay and transgender people by many professing "Christians" is to appeal to the Bible and to God, as irrational as are those "justifications" to those who have even a scintilla of spiritual sense!
For the homophobic and transphobic, any person, group, or event that brings to consciousness the realization of a threat to his avowed sexuality (particularly male heterosexuality) results in a profound threat to those whose very unconscious lives put the lie to "the normality" of sexual and gender polarity; the fiction of the homophobe's "avowed heterosexuality" which, as a defense, he has selected as the core part of his avowed identity.
Hence, his felt need to suppress his sexual feelings by projecting his anger onto any person or group that exhibits any attributes that bring to his consciousness, or even highlight, his repressed sexual feelings.
And when that core part of his identity is in any way threatened by bringing to his consciousness the reality of his actual sexuality and/or gender status, he feels the need to engage in Reaction Formation by victimizing "the other" whom he has spent a lifetime trying to hide and avoid within himself.
Hence, homophobia and transphobia often results in the murder of that "other" that, in reality, is unconsciously (and sometimes consciously) experienced as the desperately unwanted and resented part of the perpetrator's self.
So, the victimizer or murderer is in a very real sense futilely seeking to murder that very part of himself that he terribly despises, and that he has projected upon that very person or group that has brought to his consciousness the reality that he can't bring himself to acknowledge, even to himself.
So the terrible irony of much of the dynamics of homophobia and transphobia is that many of those who are most phobic regarding sexuality and gender performance are very likely to be those who are most threatened by those very features that they, themselves, resentfully (and often unconsciously) possess!
In particular men and in particular situations, both gender and sexual orientation are rigidly dichotomized, fragmented identifications, and any internal challenge to the separateness of maleness and femaleness or of heteroerotic and homoerotic fantasies and attachments threatens real disintegration. Characteristically, the badness, femininity and submissiveness to men has to be split off and projected outward where these in turn become extremely persecutory potential identifications. Those who represent the split off and bad projections threaten not only persecutory return, but also disintegrative flooding to meld and fuse with the self. They need to be attacked and destroyed. [See here.]
It might be stated that the often erroneous dichotomizing of sexual and gender categories, once experienced as not really being part of one's self, frequently results in the need, the intense desire, to persecute that now recognized part of one's self that often becomes projected upon the person (or group of people) that has called attention to the unconscious, unwanted, homosexual and/or transphobic feelings aroused by the very existence of that other person; it is felt that that person and what he/she represents has to be destroyed, for in destroying that other person, the self-identified "heterosexual" victimizer is seeking to destroy that unwanted homosexual part of himself.
This brief video highlights the frequent relationship between homophobia and homosexual desire:
As my good friend, Don Charles wrote on his blog, "Christ, The Gay Martyr," regarding "Machismo" as being a taken for granted fact of life that underlies much of homophobia and transphobia:
In a culture dominated by Machismo, there is no room for persons of blended gender! We undermine the gender fascism that Machismo preaches. We contradict the world view that demands dominant men and subservient women. We will always be perceived as a threat to the concept of "pure" masculinity; our sexual orientation alone guarantees that. As I've stated before, all it takes to qualify as a gender outlaw is to be a man-loving-man or a woman-loving-woman. [See here.]
Gay people and people of blended gender threaten the man-made construction, the fiction, of sexual and gender polarities as being "normal," as being "the way things are meant to be." Hence, the homophobic and transphobic rhetoric emanating from the pulpits in most of the institutional Church, justifying such unchristian rhetoric and discrimination in the names of "the Bible," "morality," "tradition," "family values," "for the good of the children," etc.
And, often to help "sanitize" the rhetorical victimizing of Gay and transgender people by many professing "Christians" is to appeal to the Bible and to God, as irrational as are those "justifications" to those who have even a scintilla of spiritual sense!
For the homophobic and transphobic, any person, group, or event that brings to consciousness the realization of a threat to his avowed sexuality (particularly male heterosexuality) results in a profound threat to those whose very unconscious lives put the lie to "the normality" of sexual and gender polarity; the fiction of the homophobe's "avowed heterosexuality" which, as a defense, he has selected as the core part of his avowed identity.
Hence, his felt need to suppress his sexual feelings by projecting his anger onto any person or group that exhibits any attributes that bring to his consciousness, or even highlight, his repressed sexual feelings.
And when that core part of his identity is in any way threatened by bringing to his consciousness the reality of his actual sexuality and/or gender status, he feels the need to engage in Reaction Formation by victimizing "the other" whom he has spent a lifetime trying to hide and avoid within himself.
Hence, homophobia and transphobia often results in the murder of that "other" that, in reality, is unconsciously (and sometimes consciously) experienced as the desperately unwanted and resented part of the perpetrator's self.
So, the victimizer or murderer is in a very real sense futilely seeking to murder that very part of himself that he terribly despises, and that he has projected upon that very person or group that has brought to his consciousness the reality that he can't bring himself to acknowledge, even to himself.
So the terrible irony of much of the dynamics of homophobia and transphobia is that many of those who are most phobic regarding sexuality and gender performance are very likely to be those who are most threatened by those very features that they, themselves, resentfully (and often unconsciously) possess!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
AN EMAIL FROM MICHAEL MOORE
The following is an email sent out by Michael Moore that is very appropriate for those who label themselves "Christians," yet in one way or another oppress any of God's children:
For Those of You on Your Way to Church This Morning ...a note from Michael Moore
Sunday, October 4th, 2009
Friends,
I'd like to have a word with those of you who call yourselves Christians (Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Bill Maherists, etc. can read along, too, as much of what I have to say, I'm sure, can be applied to your own spiritual/ethical values).
In my new film I speak for the first time in one of my movies about my own spiritual beliefs. I have always believed that one's religious leanings are deeply personal and should be kept private. After all, we've heard enough yammerin' in the past three decades about how one should "behave," and I have to say I'm pretty burned out on pieties and platitudes considering we are a violent nation who invades other countries and punishes our own for having the audacity to fall on hard times.
I'm also against any proselytizing; I certainly don't want you to join anything I belong to. Also, as a Catholic, I have much to say about the Church as an institution, but I'll leave that for another day (or movie).
Amidst all the Wall Street bad guys and corrupt members of Congress exposed in "Capitalism: A Love Story," I pose a simple question in the movie: "Is capitalism a sin?" I go on to ask, "Would Jesus be a capitalist?" Would he belong to a hedge fund? Would he sell short? Would he approve of a system that has allowed the richest 1% to have more financial wealth than the 95% under them combined?
I have come to believe that there is no getting around the fact that capitalism is opposite everything that Jesus (and Moses and Mohammed and Buddha) taught. All the great religions are clear about one thing: It is evil to take the majority of the pie and leave what's left for everyone to fight over. Jesus said that the rich man would have a very hard time getting into heaven. He told us that we had to be our brother's and sister's keepers and that the riches that did exist were to be divided fairly. He said that if you failed to house the homeless and feed the hungry, you'd have a hard time finding the pin code to the pearly gates.
I guess that's bad news for us Americans. Here's how we define "Blessed Are the Poor": We now have the highest unemployment rate since 1983. There's a foreclosure filing once every 7.5 seconds. 14,000 people every day lose their health insurance.
At the same time, Wall Street bankers ("Blessed Are the Wealthy"?) are amassing more and more loot -- and they do their best to pay little or no income tax (last year Goldman Sachs' tax rate was a mere 1%!). Would Jesus approve of this? If not, why do we let such an evil system continue? It doesn't seem you can call yourself a Capitalist AND a Christian -- because you cannot love your money AND love your neighbor when you are denying your neighbor the ability to see a doctor just so you can have a better bottom line. That's called "immoral" -- and you are committing a sin when you benefit at the expense of others.
When you are in church this morning, please think about this. I am asking you to allow your "better angels" to come forward. And if you are among the millions of Americans who are struggling to make it from week to week, please know that I promise to do what I can to stop this evil -- and I hope you'll join me in not giving up until everyone has a seat at the table.
Thanks for listening. I'm off to Mass in a few hours. I'll be sure to ask the priest if he thinks J.C. deals in derivatives or credit default swaps. I mean, after all, he must've been good at math. How else did he divide up two loaves of bread and five pieces of fish equally amongst 5,000 people? Either he was the first socialist or his disciples were really bad at packing lunch. Or both.
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
Join Mike's Mailing List | Join Mike's Facebook Group | Follow Mike on Twitter | Become Mike's MySpace Friend
For Those of You on Your Way to Church This Morning ...a note from Michael Moore
Sunday, October 4th, 2009
Friends,
I'd like to have a word with those of you who call yourselves Christians (Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Bill Maherists, etc. can read along, too, as much of what I have to say, I'm sure, can be applied to your own spiritual/ethical values).
In my new film I speak for the first time in one of my movies about my own spiritual beliefs. I have always believed that one's religious leanings are deeply personal and should be kept private. After all, we've heard enough yammerin' in the past three decades about how one should "behave," and I have to say I'm pretty burned out on pieties and platitudes considering we are a violent nation who invades other countries and punishes our own for having the audacity to fall on hard times.
I'm also against any proselytizing; I certainly don't want you to join anything I belong to. Also, as a Catholic, I have much to say about the Church as an institution, but I'll leave that for another day (or movie).
Amidst all the Wall Street bad guys and corrupt members of Congress exposed in "Capitalism: A Love Story," I pose a simple question in the movie: "Is capitalism a sin?" I go on to ask, "Would Jesus be a capitalist?" Would he belong to a hedge fund? Would he sell short? Would he approve of a system that has allowed the richest 1% to have more financial wealth than the 95% under them combined?
I have come to believe that there is no getting around the fact that capitalism is opposite everything that Jesus (and Moses and Mohammed and Buddha) taught. All the great religions are clear about one thing: It is evil to take the majority of the pie and leave what's left for everyone to fight over. Jesus said that the rich man would have a very hard time getting into heaven. He told us that we had to be our brother's and sister's keepers and that the riches that did exist were to be divided fairly. He said that if you failed to house the homeless and feed the hungry, you'd have a hard time finding the pin code to the pearly gates.
I guess that's bad news for us Americans. Here's how we define "Blessed Are the Poor": We now have the highest unemployment rate since 1983. There's a foreclosure filing once every 7.5 seconds. 14,000 people every day lose their health insurance.
At the same time, Wall Street bankers ("Blessed Are the Wealthy"?) are amassing more and more loot -- and they do their best to pay little or no income tax (last year Goldman Sachs' tax rate was a mere 1%!). Would Jesus approve of this? If not, why do we let such an evil system continue? It doesn't seem you can call yourself a Capitalist AND a Christian -- because you cannot love your money AND love your neighbor when you are denying your neighbor the ability to see a doctor just so you can have a better bottom line. That's called "immoral" -- and you are committing a sin when you benefit at the expense of others.
When you are in church this morning, please think about this. I am asking you to allow your "better angels" to come forward. And if you are among the millions of Americans who are struggling to make it from week to week, please know that I promise to do what I can to stop this evil -- and I hope you'll join me in not giving up until everyone has a seat at the table.
Thanks for listening. I'm off to Mass in a few hours. I'll be sure to ask the priest if he thinks J.C. deals in derivatives or credit default swaps. I mean, after all, he must've been good at math. How else did he divide up two loaves of bread and five pieces of fish equally amongst 5,000 people? Either he was the first socialist or his disciples were really bad at packing lunch. Or both.
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
Join Mike's Mailing List | Join Mike's Facebook Group | Follow Mike on Twitter | Become Mike's MySpace Friend
Saturday, October 3, 2009
MARRIAGE EQUALITY PROPOSED IN ILLINOIS; VATICAN, LDS, AND RELIGIOUS ANTIPATHY TO GAY RIGHTS
Illinois state senator Heather Steans introduced the legislature's first marriage equality bill on Thursday. Called the Equal Marriage Act, the bill was assigned the cheer-friendly number of 2-4-6-8. [See here]
This is the video of Sen. Steans' announcement:
In contrast, even while foaming at the mouth in its antipathy toward same-sex marriage and defamation of LGBT people, the Vatican is dancing as fast as it can in relation to its many sexual scandals. [See here]
"Sex" provides much of the root of homophobia: Such as the fear of sex; the fear of one's sexuality; the fear of one's being perceived as not clearly being in a (falsely) culturally approved and constructed dualistic box of gender performance and/or identification that is viewed by others as being appropriate to his/her anatomy.
It is no accident that the Roman Catholic Church is notoriously homophobic while at the same time having sexual scandals involving young victims that seems to know no bounds; offenses committed and facilitated by men who claim to be celibate heterosexuals who wear dresses and gowns.
Moreover, despite the admonition of the Apostle Paul that no one could or should forbid anyone to marry, all priests (who must, according to Roman Catholic doctrine, be men) must remain celibate.
Despite often stated "spiritual" reasons for mandated celibacy among the RC priesthood, the bottom line is that sexual expression is viewed by the Vatican as something that is largely antithetical to living a truly spiritual life that, to its way of thinking, can only accrue to those who remain celibate.
So, it's no wonder that with this warped view of sex and sexuality, the RC Church and most of its clergy would feel, and express, revulsion against same-sex love, since many of their clergy are likely to be sexually fearful and/or sexually frustrated and repressed, unless they have been called by God to be celibate for God's sake.
The Apostle Paul wrote, "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.(1Timothy 4:1-5)
Despite the biblical admonition to not ever forbid anyone to marry, the RC Church contravenes that admonition, often attracting sexually and/or emotionally stunted people to its ranks, and rejects healthy Gay people from its seminaries in favor of those who are often self-loathing closet cases who live lives of almost unendurable suffering by having to repress this most primal urge; they sometimes externalize their repressed sexuality onto vulnerable young people.
And, to add insult to injury, the Vatican blames Gay people for their sexual scandals [Also see here.], rather than blame itself for flouting Scripture regarding enforced celibacy; for rejecting healthy Gay people; for tacitly encouraging repressed, self-loathing closet cases; for consigning sexuality to an inferior position regarding the spiritual life.
The healthy integration of sexuality and spirituality is seemingly foreign to their views of sex and sexuality!
Similarly, it is no accident that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is notoriously homophobic while at the same time having a history of polygamy that was integrated into its theology until they were threatened by the federal government.
In 1890, "The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government could deny the right to vote or hold office to all Mormons who practiced the Law of Abraham, or who merely believed in plural marriage. Later in the year, they ruled that the Edmunds-Tucker Act was constitutional, and that the federal government could repeal the LDS church charter and dissolve the church." [See here.] So, given this court ruline, pragmatism overrode theology for the LDS Church!
Given its checkered history of sexual/marital practices, it is remarkable that the LDS Church argues against same-sex marriage based on its belief in "traditional family values."
So, we have the tragic situation where major denominations within the institutional Church are notoriously homophobic, and most denominations within that institutional Church are homophobic to varying degrees, and a courageous politician, Heather Steans of Illinois, seeks to move the ball of equality forward by doing the right thing!
The Church should be in the vanguard of fighting for equal rights and justice for all of God's children!
Yet, regarding most of the institutional Church, we see the very opposite, where so many intelligent, decent, and sensitive people accurately see much of what is proclaimed to be "Christian" to be nothing more than Reactionary sham religion that seeks to deprive people of equal rights and medical care; most of its gullible followers bearing false witness against God's very own LGBT children.
Whether she knows it or not, Senator Steans is doing God's work!
And those who seek to deprive LGBT people of equal rights, and who defame them as much as they can, and who give money to keep them as second-class citizens who are often viewed as pariahs precisely due to the lies promulgated by homophobic clergy and their blind followers, are doing nothing short of serving the demonic!
This is the video of Sen. Steans' announcement:
In contrast, even while foaming at the mouth in its antipathy toward same-sex marriage and defamation of LGBT people, the Vatican is dancing as fast as it can in relation to its many sexual scandals. [See here]
"Sex" provides much of the root of homophobia: Such as the fear of sex; the fear of one's sexuality; the fear of one's being perceived as not clearly being in a (falsely) culturally approved and constructed dualistic box of gender performance and/or identification that is viewed by others as being appropriate to his/her anatomy.
It is no accident that the Roman Catholic Church is notoriously homophobic while at the same time having sexual scandals involving young victims that seems to know no bounds; offenses committed and facilitated by men who claim to be celibate heterosexuals who wear dresses and gowns.
Moreover, despite the admonition of the Apostle Paul that no one could or should forbid anyone to marry, all priests (who must, according to Roman Catholic doctrine, be men) must remain celibate.
Despite often stated "spiritual" reasons for mandated celibacy among the RC priesthood, the bottom line is that sexual expression is viewed by the Vatican as something that is largely antithetical to living a truly spiritual life that, to its way of thinking, can only accrue to those who remain celibate.
So, it's no wonder that with this warped view of sex and sexuality, the RC Church and most of its clergy would feel, and express, revulsion against same-sex love, since many of their clergy are likely to be sexually fearful and/or sexually frustrated and repressed, unless they have been called by God to be celibate for God's sake.
The Apostle Paul wrote, "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.(1Timothy 4:1-5)
Despite the biblical admonition to not ever forbid anyone to marry, the RC Church contravenes that admonition, often attracting sexually and/or emotionally stunted people to its ranks, and rejects healthy Gay people from its seminaries in favor of those who are often self-loathing closet cases who live lives of almost unendurable suffering by having to repress this most primal urge; they sometimes externalize their repressed sexuality onto vulnerable young people.
And, to add insult to injury, the Vatican blames Gay people for their sexual scandals [Also see here.], rather than blame itself for flouting Scripture regarding enforced celibacy; for rejecting healthy Gay people; for tacitly encouraging repressed, self-loathing closet cases; for consigning sexuality to an inferior position regarding the spiritual life.
The healthy integration of sexuality and spirituality is seemingly foreign to their views of sex and sexuality!
Similarly, it is no accident that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is notoriously homophobic while at the same time having a history of polygamy that was integrated into its theology until they were threatened by the federal government.
In 1890, "The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government could deny the right to vote or hold office to all Mormons who practiced the Law of Abraham, or who merely believed in plural marriage. Later in the year, they ruled that the Edmunds-Tucker Act was constitutional, and that the federal government could repeal the LDS church charter and dissolve the church." [See here.] So, given this court ruline, pragmatism overrode theology for the LDS Church!
Given its checkered history of sexual/marital practices, it is remarkable that the LDS Church argues against same-sex marriage based on its belief in "traditional family values."
So, we have the tragic situation where major denominations within the institutional Church are notoriously homophobic, and most denominations within that institutional Church are homophobic to varying degrees, and a courageous politician, Heather Steans of Illinois, seeks to move the ball of equality forward by doing the right thing!
The Church should be in the vanguard of fighting for equal rights and justice for all of God's children!
Yet, regarding most of the institutional Church, we see the very opposite, where so many intelligent, decent, and sensitive people accurately see much of what is proclaimed to be "Christian" to be nothing more than Reactionary sham religion that seeks to deprive people of equal rights and medical care; most of its gullible followers bearing false witness against God's very own LGBT children.
Whether she knows it or not, Senator Steans is doing God's work!
And those who seek to deprive LGBT people of equal rights, and who defame them as much as they can, and who give money to keep them as second-class citizens who are often viewed as pariahs precisely due to the lies promulgated by homophobic clergy and their blind followers, are doing nothing short of serving the demonic!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
SPEAKERS AT THE EQUALITY MARCH, OCTOBER 11TH
The following is a complete listing of speakers to date for October 10 and 11:
Stuart Applebaum, Richard Aviles, Jarret Barrios, Dustin Lance Black, Julian Bond, Marsha Botzer, Staceyann Chin, Lt. Dan Choi, Tanner Efinger, Hawaii Board of Education member Kim Coco Iwamoto, Cleve Jones , Michelle Lopez , Robin McGehee , David Mixner , Nicole-Murray Ramirez , Chloe Noble , Tobias Packer , the Reverend Troy Perry , New York City Council speaker Christine C. Quinn, Los Angeles City Council member Bill Rosendahl, Babs Siperstein, Judy Shepard , Maxim Thorn , Urvashi Vaid , Derek Washington , Falls Church City Council member Lawrence Webb , Kip Williams , Sherry Wolfe, and Kit Yan .
[See here.]
I can't tell you how happy I am that my friend, Rev. Troy Perry, will be one of the speakers. He's not only the most charismatic, articulate and courageous LGBT rights activists in modern history, but he's got a heart for God and has been called by God to show all LGBT people that God created them just as they are, and loves them as God's very own children.
If you want a treat, ">buy the DVD, "Call Me Troy," which details his life!
He was the Founder of the Metropolitan Community Churches in 1968, and was its Moderator for thirty-seven years! Now, he travels all over the world speaking about God's unconditional love for LGBT people!
To learn more about Rev. Troy Perry, I strongly urge you to read his books: "The Lord is my Shepherd and He Knows I'm Gay"; "Don't Be Afraid Anymore"; "10 Spiritual Truths For Successful Living For Gays And Lesbians (and Everyone Else)."
Troy Perry: Pastor and Prophet," edited by Chris Glaser details significant of his life, struggles, and work by those who know him best, and who have worked with him over these many years. That, too, is a treat to read!
He's a genuine inspiration and hero! And I'm delighted that he will be speaking at the Equality March!
Stuart Applebaum, Richard Aviles, Jarret Barrios, Dustin Lance Black, Julian Bond, Marsha Botzer, Staceyann Chin, Lt. Dan Choi, Tanner Efinger, Hawaii Board of Education member Kim Coco Iwamoto, Cleve Jones , Michelle Lopez , Robin McGehee , David Mixner , Nicole-Murray Ramirez , Chloe Noble , Tobias Packer , the Reverend Troy Perry , New York City Council speaker Christine C. Quinn, Los Angeles City Council member Bill Rosendahl, Babs Siperstein, Judy Shepard , Maxim Thorn , Urvashi Vaid , Derek Washington , Falls Church City Council member Lawrence Webb , Kip Williams , Sherry Wolfe, and Kit Yan .
[See here.]
I can't tell you how happy I am that my friend, Rev. Troy Perry, will be one of the speakers. He's not only the most charismatic, articulate and courageous LGBT rights activists in modern history, but he's got a heart for God and has been called by God to show all LGBT people that God created them just as they are, and loves them as God's very own children.
If you want a treat, ">buy the DVD, "Call Me Troy," which details his life!
He was the Founder of the Metropolitan Community Churches in 1968, and was its Moderator for thirty-seven years! Now, he travels all over the world speaking about God's unconditional love for LGBT people!
To learn more about Rev. Troy Perry, I strongly urge you to read his books: "The Lord is my Shepherd and He Knows I'm Gay"; "Don't Be Afraid Anymore"; "10 Spiritual Truths For Successful Living For Gays And Lesbians (and Everyone Else)."
Troy Perry: Pastor and Prophet," edited by Chris Glaser details significant of his life, struggles, and work by those who know him best, and who have worked with him over these many years. That, too, is a treat to read!
He's a genuine inspiration and hero! And I'm delighted that he will be speaking at the Equality March!
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