Evil Gay Anarcho-Fascists: Protest Reax

Well, we got people's attention with all the Prop 8 protests last week. Some was positive, but here are some negative reactions: some funny, some hateful, some appalled.

As I've said before, nonviolence is the only way to go here, folks. Let's get smart, not stupid. Remember: we are the 5 percent, straights are the great big 95 percent. It's a new day in America, but even so, violence and vandalism on our part won't get us what we want.

I well recall growing up in the segregated South of the 1960's, and the reactions of my parents and their friends to the riots and violence of those times: "You see how the n*ggers are when you let them get out of line . . . " they would say. They ignored all the good arguments in favor of civil rights and focused only on the looting, burning, and spilled blood.

And in fact, the grown-ups of my childhood never were persuaded by even the nonviolent civil rights leaders; they simply acquiesced, eventually, in the face of the new civil rights laws and court orders. Of course, the anarchy and race war they feared would follow all that never came to pass; but fear is a powerful, dangerous thing. We need to lessen people's fears about gay people, not increase them.

I do pray the hotheads among us simmer down and listen to reason. Rex Wockner celebrates what he terms Activism 4.0:

We have now indeed entered Activism 4.0 or whatever the hell you want to call it. Our "leaders" let us down and you -- you, the average gay or lesbian citizen who just wants to have equal rights and maybe even get married -- you have seized power by using Facebook and your blogs, e-mail and Twitter, MySpace and text-messages to launch a new gay movement . . . . You don't have to listen to the gay "leaders" who failed you anymore, you don't have to give them any more money, you just have to figure out what you want to do next with the power that now is yours -- to get what you want: Full equality.

Yeah, well that sounds real nice, Rex. But I don't know. I'm all for grassroots organization; but without a clear leader, without a clear strategy, will the results be anything but mediocre, at best? It's one thing to alert a bunch of folks about a party in the streets and get them to show up; it's quite another thing to do the grueling long-haul work of educating and persuading the 95 percent to vote for equal rights.

Will all this grassroots energy coalesce into an effective, enduring force for change, or just peter out after the Next Big Groovy Thing comes along? I think some leadership is needed, and the national orgs are probably doing some much-needed reassessing of themselves right now. Sort of like the Republican party, you know?

Joe Jervis has a great post on the piggish Newt Gingrich, who is very sure of where this is all going:

I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion.

Joe also has pictures of Newt's three wives and tells how he got them, to show just how sincere Newt is about all his traditional religion.

Joe also has a long quote by ex-gay preacher James Hartline, who raises the anarchy warning in this newsflash from Heaven:

Each time homosexual activists attempt to force their agenda on California, there have been raging, massive, incinerating fires sweeping across the California landscape.

Today, people are running for their lives as 800 California homes have burned down and the firestorm is spreading like a nuclear holocaust. Yet, the radical homosexual anarchists rampage upon the streets of this state demanding the destruction of marriage and family, and the establishment of their socialistic dark vision for society.

You see, the problem is this: God has plans for California in the near days ahead. Thus, these attempts to force an ungodly tyranny on this state are being met blow with blow by God. God is saying, "California shall be a refuge for America when the catastrophes come. California belongs to Me, not the advocates of sexual anarchy."

Yeah, he's an idiot. But people listen to preachers like this, and believe them. They won't turn the channel and listen to us, especially if we are being ugly and violent. They will remember that one image to the exclusion of all others. Let's not give them the ammo to shoot us down with.

On AOL's Political Machine, blogger Liza Porteus Viana asks, "Is Anarchy the Answer in Proposition 8 Protests?" I'm not sure why she calls a handful of asshole incidents "anarchy" but I think the choice of words is telling: people's deepest fears are being stoked now. Liza says,

Yes, there's frustration, but funneling that frustration into more productive, effective methods of pushing your cause will do a lot more good than just further alienating those whose support you could use. If the idea is to encourage others to be more open-minded and accepting of those different from them, beating them into submission (metaphorically speaking, hopefully) might not be the best route.

And you should read some of the posted comments below Liza's story, which includes a local news clip of one of those incidents she mentions. A selected few:

Angiebaby: How is vigilante violence going to effect this cause? beating people, vandalizing churches and racial persecution never have, and never will, bring a positive solution to any problem.

reidgator: To the supporters of gay rights: be very careful. Your use of violence may incite others who disagree with other outcomes of this election. Can those who disagree with Obama as president use violence? Some of them may be declraing "We should fight!" Hw about por-life supporters? Can they use violence?

BH: The cause? What is the cause? Is it to turn our civilization into a dmonic III world country? God has set up laws and iit's time our country began to inforce the laws. Marriage has always been recoginized to be between a man and woman. Your cause is evil and children are watching. But more important, God is watching!. Turn from you sin and turn to God and He will deliver you and set you free.

Truth Man: Marriage is between one man and one woman. Thomas Jefferson never envisioned a bunch of queers demanding we change the definition of marriage.

BH, again: Enough is enough, if you want to live in sin in the privacy of your own house, so be it, but don't try to force it on our children, which you are doing in the schools now, and on decent human beings. There is good and evil even though the liberals are doing everything they can to turn our nation into something evil. The blood of the unborn is on your hands and God hears that blood crying out to Him for vengeance. Yes, he is a God of love,but He also is a God of judment. Americans need to rise up and stop this before it's too late.

me: am not gay but voted yes on Prop 8. Violent protestings will not gain a thing. They will only confirm what many already believe. You're going to screw things up for yourselves.

Listen to what these commenters are saying, people: there's a lot of fear and misinformation being spewed about us. Of course, they are totally wrong-headed, but they are part of the big 95 percent. What alternate, positive message have we got to offer to the fair-minded people? We have to persuade, we have to give respect if we want to get respect. Respect - and votes - can't be demanded.

So guys, please stop and think about what you're doing when you get loud and rowdy. Don't louse this moment up for all of us.

You want this to be a free country? Act like it. You want your rights, you better respect the other guy's, too. I'll close with an excerpt from a San Jose Mercury editorial:

Anger is not a strategy. Harassment will not change minds and can cause a wider backlash. Stifling others' rights of expression is destructive to the cause of a minority.
One ugly case was the boisterous protest by dozens of gay marriage supporters outside a small Los Angeles restaurant where the owner's daughter had contributed $100 to Proposition 8. The loss of customers threatened the livelihoods of employees, some of whom were gay and opposed the initiative.

Economic actions dating back to the Montgomery bus boycott are staples of any civil rights struggle. Gay marriage supporters are posting the identities of Proposition 8 donors, and people certainly are free to not patronize businesses owned by those who disagree with them. But the selective boycotts of small donors clearly is meant to send a message of intimidation and suppress the First Amendment right of expression. That is not just self-defeating but dangerous.

Supporters of equal rights would be wiser to focus on persuading others of the justice of their cause, which will only grow clearer over time.