Scared of the Sissy Mob!

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You know, all my young life I was put down with all the usual names - sissy, faggot, queer, homo, etc. And of course everybody knows people like us are too weak, too girly, too useless to accomplish anything worthwhile.

Oh but now that us queer folks have stood up and roared back, the religionists and the homophobes are quaking in their boots at the prospect of - too funny - mob rule! Apparently, in their minds standing up for your rights in the best American tradition, like free men and women, is tantamount to anarchy. Like a plantation owner, they're telling us, Now you just be good little ****ers and get back to work, and don't you dare complain about the world we've set up and run for you. Right.

So they ran this full-age ad in the NYT this week, making it sound like raving bands of homos are assaulting the Bastille and driving tumbrils through the streets. Too funny. But to run something like this, they must secretly realize that their days are numbered as lords and masters of our fate. They must be pretty damn scared. That's rich.

Now I do agree with them on one point, when they say "violence and intimidation are always wrong, whether against believers, gay people, or anyone else." Agreed.

But as Joe.My.God. says,

They are asking for support to do EXACTLY what WE have been doing: exposing and publicly shaming anyone who resorts to anti-gay bigotry. So it's HATE when we do it, but OK when they do. How fucking typical.

You'll note that they decry the "violence" of the anti-Prop 8 protests, but remain as silent as always about the uncountable brutal attacks against LGBT people which are committed EVERY DAY of EVERY YEAR by people trained by THEM to hate gay people from the moment they know what the word means.

Joe is exactly right (him and me and Signorile have got to be related somehow, the telepathy here is amazing). They train people to hate us. They encourage it. They brew it and they spew it. And they keep that hatred enshrined in the law of the land.

All. That. Must. Stop.

The HRC - which I think is getting a bad rap lately, not entirely deserved - made a great reply yesterday to the ad:

Today, members of the Human Rights Campaign's Religion Council responded forcefully to a full-page ad in the New York Times that implies there is an organized attempt to foment mob intimidation and violence toward the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints due to its actions dehumanizing lesbian and gay people in the recent election campaign, particularly in California around passage of Proposition 8, which stripped gay families of the right to a civil marriage. The ad was sponsored by NoMobVeto.org, a project of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

When did the LDS Church become the victim? It’s hard to believe, but that is exactly what it is trying to convince the public of. It is continuing to spend an excess of dollars in an attempt to mislead the public and transform its image. But the truth is that this is the same church that conducted a national broadcast to every temple, calling on members to organize and write checks to the Prop 8 campaign. The same church that donated more than half of the $40 million behind Prop 8, even though California Mormons represent just 2 percent of the state's population. Yes, it’s the
same church.

Don’t allow them to replace the truth with their own version of the truth. Use our Religion Council’s message today to take action and demand the truth:

Click here to write a letter to the New York Times
Click here to send an email to the Becket Fund, the organization that paid for the misleading New York Times ad
Click here to share your personal story with NoMobVeto.org and let them know how the passage of Prop 8 affected your life

Members of the HRC Religion Council posted their own reactions:

"Several signatories to the ad are generals in the culture wars," said Rev. Susan Russell of All Saints Church (Epsicopal), Pasadena, Calif. "They lied about gay people in the campaign, and now they are lying again when they say we are in favor of mob intimidation and violence. I personally talked legitimately angry demonstrators in California out of such action and every credible LGBT organization called for peaceful resistance to the Prop 8 travesty. Many of the leaders cited in this ad preach hate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, then look the other way when LGBT people are the victims of hate crimes. This ad is an act of individual and corporate hypocrisy."

Bishop John Selders of Amistad United Church of Christ in Hartford, Conn. commented, "As an African-American, I've heard this before. A few frustrated members of a minority group respond in anger to a new indignity and the oppressor calls them anarchists. Satan, sometimes called the Father of Lies, is at work when powerful people seek to dehumanize those who are less powerful."

Rev. Dr. Miguel de la Torre of Iliff School of Theology in Denver agreed, “I am always struck that those in power, those who manipulate the truth to maintain oppressive structures, present themselves to the public as the ones being persecuted. Make no mistake, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a powerful organization with an agenda of imposing a narrow religious view upon the rest of America. As we Hispanics say, ‘que vergüenza’ (what a shameful act).”

Calls for tolerance of certain religious viewpoints rings hollow in a world where religion often stands by tolerating violence perpetrated on God’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children," was Rev. Dr. Erin Swenson's reply. Dr. Swenson is a Presbyterian minister and psychotherapist in Atlanta.

Rev. Dr. Ken Stone of Chicago Theological Seminary said, "While I agree that violence and anti-religious bigotry need to be combated, we must also demand an end to the violence undertaken by those religious institutions that not only encourage but also fund bigotry against lesbians and gay men. Where will the Becket Fund be when we call for endorsements of hate crimes and employment protection legislation for LGBT people?"

Here's what Rev. Dr. Mary A. Tolbert of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the Pacific School of Religion had to say: "The 'No Mob Veto' ad would be more convincing as a statement of concern for civil debate over the well-organized and well-funded participation of the LDS church in the passage of Prop 8 had it not itself ended with a clear threat of intimidation toward anyone criticizing that church's role in the election. As the Christian gospels demonstrate in Jesus' action of overturning the tables of money-lenders in the temple, sometimes speaking the truth to entrenched and wealthy religious leaders requires a dramatic stroke. To protest the enormous financial involvement of a religious body in stripping equal rights from California LGBT people, their families, and their children is in no way anti-religious bigotry; it is instead, like the example of Jesus in the temple, an attempt to speak the truth to those rooted in power and wealth whose actions serve to deprive other human beings of the equal respect and dignity all of God's children deserve."

Rev. Rebecca Voelkel of the Institute for Welcoming Resources of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force summed up: "As a Christian, I was taught not to 'bear false witness.' One of the deepest tragedies of the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign in California was its bearing false witness-- more plainly stated, its lies-- about the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons. This ad is one more example. In response to the passage of Proposition 8, faithful, honorable, patriotic Americans from every walk of life and of many sexual orientations and gender identities gathered to say no to lies and yes to love, truth and the American way. To name these overwhelmingly peaceful gatherings as mobs dishonors me, my family, members of my church and so many others who participated in them. As a Christian, my religious tradition also admonishes me to speak the truth in love. Therefore, I prayerfully ask those who have run this ad and others like it, to stop your false witness. Instead, and especially in these times, our country and our world need all of us, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, pagans and all people of faith, to work on behalf of the dignity of all human beings."