Friday, January 20, 2012

Who's the bully?

I'm getting tired of the religious opponents of equality claiming that THEY are being bullied.

Last time I checked, I wasn't trying to deny the civil rights.  I wasn't denigrating their families, telling lies about them, and demonizing them.  I'm not suing to get married in their churches (something they lie about  regularly).  I am perfectly happy to let them believe what they want and live as they choose.  I only want them to return the favor.

It's ironic, isn't it ?  that they feel free to say the most insulting, vicious things about us, and when we complain, they bleat about persecution.  But no one is assaulting them for being Christian though they claim they are at risk.  By contrast, hate crimes against gay people in California went up by 17% after Prop H8 passed.  And we're not talking about stealing a yard sign before an election.  (More here).

Disagreeing is not bullying.  Religions who force their faith in the public square don't get a bye from being challenged.


Recently, Kate Kendell took on Elizabeth Santorum, who claims persecution because the mean ol' gay  people don't like their relationships being compared to bestiality, incest, and polygamy.
Your husband believes that LGBT people cannot be trusted to serve in the military, raise children, form stable relationships or be fully respected under the law. According to you, Rick may love us, but honey, his love is killing us, and we want nothing to do with this abusive relationship. Our community has endured expulsion from family, mass firings, daily epithets, assaults, harassment, humiliation, death, and suicides. We know that if your husband becomes president of our country our long suffering will only deepen and magnify.

So yes, we are calling him what he is: a sanctimonious bigot who believes that we are dangerous, sick, and evil. We are telling the truth about his vision and his beliefs about us. That is NOT bullying, it's about saving our own lives. Your husband would erase the landmark and life-saving changes we have seen over the past few years, and revisit the hell of a government that does not see us as fully human. Given what so many of my brothers and sisters live through daily, you calling us bullies is contemptible.
In Mississippi, about 46% of Republicans think inter-racial marriage should be illegal.  I find that an abhorrent statistic in 2012. Nationally, something under 20% of people think interracial marriage is wrong.   I consider such an opinion bigoted:

•obstinately convinced of the superiority or correctness of one's own opinions and prejudiced against those who hold different opinions  
expressing or characterized by prejudice and intolerance :

 I have pointed out before that it took until the 90s for a plurality of people to approve of inter-racial marriage, which was made legal in 1967, when a scant 20% approved!

By contrast, over half of Americans now believe that gays should have the rights of civil marriage.  An additional 25% or so think we should have civil unions.  But the conservative Mormons and the Roman Catholic hierarchy think that they have the right to force their religious views on the rest of the country dissallowing marriage AND civil unions between same sex couples.

And yet THEY claim persecution when we challenge them.  Why are we letting them get away with this?


11 comments:

Ann said...

And the RC laity agree with the majority in this country. In fact as a group they have even higher support than any other religious group.

Ann said...

Christian religious group

Murdoch Matthew said...

Standard right-wing tactic: accuse others of doing what you are doing (and did first). Makes any response seem like the playground "And you're another!" and it confuses onlookers, who are reduced to the role of teacher or mother: "You both stop it!" They must be constantly challenged, but they keep doing it because it works.

Murdoch Matthew said...

Digby considers this practice today:

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/wingnuts-little-helpers.html

After observing this phenomenon for many years, I've come to believe that it's actually a thought process not a well thought out propaganda technique. They have a finely tuned sense of the zeitgeist, which they just naturally apply to their own philosophy. They fit the world around them into their own worldview rather than confronting the dissonance. It's the only way they can make sense of things.

I suppose we all do this to some extent, but the hardcore right is the only one to make a profit at it. Their well fed preachers and talk show hosts are human Prozac, reassuring their flocks that "everything's fine, everything's fine, don't worry, you're not crazy, they are."

JCF said...

Look at the home-schooling movement.

Twenty years ago, conservatives educated their own in conservative private schools. Now, even THAT is seen as too much of a possibility for a "dangerous worldview" to break into their young'uns lives. ONLY home-schooling can guarantee proper indoctrination.

The Christianists' world is becoming smaller and smaller.

I fear for how their children will survive in the Global Era. [Even as fear their children, for the possible violent confrontations they may have w/ me, who embodies the perceived threat!]

dr.primrose said...

The big-city mayors have organized to push for marriage equality -- Gay marriage draws support from U.S. mayors -- according to a story posted this afternoon by the L.A. Times.

"Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was among a group of 80 mayors in Washington on Friday who pledged their support for gay marriage and announced an initiative aimed at expanding marriage rights for same-sex couples.

"The initiative, called Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, was announced during a press conference held at the U.S. Conference of Mayors' winter meeting. Villaraigosa will co-chair the group.

"The mayors have pledged to push their cities to pass laws allowing same-sex marriage and urge Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman. Critics say it unfairly denies federal benefits to same-sex married couples and allows states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted in other states.

...

"The group, among others, includes Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago and Mayor Annise Parker of Houston, who is openly gay. The group is an offshoot of Freedom to Marry, a national organization that pushes for same-sex marriage rights.

"Also among the mayors in the group is Republican Mayor Jerry Sanders of San Diego, who in 2007 relented on his previous opposition to same-sex marriage, saying that he could not accept that his daughter was less worthy of marriage because she is a lesbian."

Counterlight said...

I've been complaining about this very thing for years and years. The Christianists are people used to always being in charge, waking up to find that they only have most of the power and not all of it these days. Gays are just one more challenge to their God given supremacy and sense of entitlement.

JCF said...

Meanwhile, the holocaust continues:


Phillip Parker, 14, Has Killed Himself
Another one. From WSMV.com:

A Gordonsville boy's parents say bullying caused their son to take his own life. Phillip Parker, 14, died this week. His parents said he was constantly bullied for being gay.

... "He was fun, he was energetic, he was happy," said Gena Parker, Phillip's mother.

To his many friends, Phillip was known as the boy who told everyone they're beautiful.

"He kept telling me he had a rock on his chest," said Ruby Harris, Phillip's grandmother. "He just wanted to take the rock off where he could breathe."

Phillip's family said they reported their concerns over their son's bullying to Gordonsville High School on multiple occasions, but the bullying by a group of students just got worse.


http://www.towleroad.com/2012/01/phillip-parker-14-has-killed-himself.html

:-(..

ENOUGH!!!! }}-0

IT said...

Oh, JCF it makes me just sick

dr.primrose said...

According to Episcopal Cafe, a marriage equality bill is on verge of passing in the state of Washington.

WV - diketo

dr.primrose said...

And it looks as if real progress is being made in the New Jersey legislature although the governor has threated to veto any bill the legisature passes -- see here.