Monday, August 06, 2007

Lying and Misrepresenting in the name of God is still a sin

Apparently the anti-gay industry just won't let go of this Jim Naugle thing.

A group of them (the usual suspects) have began a coalition, Healthy Public Places, in which they will spin more propaganda about the lgbt community.

They even have a webpage. However the only thing on it is a press release.

Stay tuned for "studies" that will show that lgbts are more likely to want to have sex in public places.

Paging Paul Cameron!

I have an idea. How about including a statement from area police who have said repeatedly that "gay public sex" is a nonexistent issue in Ft. Lauderdale.

Meanwhile, I ran across something interesting and disturbing.

In 2006, the group Operation Save America began this huge effort to stop Charlotte NC lgbts from having their annual pride event.

This group claimed that all sorts of lewd things were happening during the event.

They tried, unsuccessfully, to get the local government to do away with the event.

I should add that since that time, Charlotte Gay Pride, had suffered from member burnout and it looked like there wouldn't be an event.

Naturally Operation Save America took credit. But they took it too soon. Charlotte Gay Pride went on as scheduled.

But back to my original point. There is a video online from Operation Save America from the 2006 fight. Apparently they and other groups with the same endeavors wanted to show the so-called "nasty gay agenda" they were fighting against.

The video shows members of various "Christian" groups making speeches in front of a committee. This is undercut with footage from the Charlotte Pride.

Pastor Flip Benham of Operation Save America accused drag performers of having sex acts with children, some as young as three and four years old.

However, the footage from the event does not show that. It shows children coming up and giving money to performers. There is nothing lewd about that.

And it does show a drag performer holding a baby in her arms. The performer is not doing anything lewd.

And there is a picture, not video, but picture of a drag performer and a child. But don't get alarmed. The child looks as if he is about the give the performer money.

However, add a little ominous music, it probably looks like the performer is about to eat the child.

I might point out that some of the footage looks edited. We do not see the beginning and ending of events in sequence. And much of the footage from the event are pictures (such as the drag performer and the child).

There was this quick montage of a man looking like he was wearing just a t-shirt. It is not known if whether or not he was wearing shorts. Apparently he may have been manning a table from a "nudist" group.

Then there was something interesting.

Someone puts up a book to the camera and this book shows nude men as the unidentified person turns the page.

However, it is not known whether or not the book came from the table, and the person turning the pages is never identified.

And they also show different books and pictures but nothing as lewd as they made things out to be.

But here is something I found troubling.

Former Mecklenberg County Commissioner Hoyle Martin is shown at the meeting
reading something that he said came from "gay activist Steve Warren."

It reads in part:

If all these things come to pass quickly, we will subject orthodox Jews and Christians to the most sustained hatred and Vilification in recent memory. We have captured the liberal establishment and the press. We have already beaten you on a number of battlefields. And we have the spirit of age on our side. You have neither the strength to fight us nor the will, so you might as well surrender now.

Martin paraphrased the last part of the statment but that’s pretty much word for word what he said.

But in the video, Martin omitted something crucial about the piece

It was published in 1987.

Apparently Warren was a member of Act-Up and as many of us know, 1987 was the year that marked the beginning of gay groups beginning direct action campaign to protest homophobia and the inaction regarding AIDS and HIV in the gay community.

Act-Up was heavily involved in these tactics.

The question I have is just what in the hell does Warren who, as far as I know, is neither a native of North Carolina nor a member of the Charlotte Pride planning committee, have to do with Charlotte Gay Pride?

What does his piece, written over 15 years ago, have to do with Charlotte Gay Pride?

Nothing unless you want to scare ignorant people of faith about an alleged "gay agenda."
It is relatively easy to take the writings of one person and generalize about an entire community.

You are not just appealing to the person's fear but also their egos. Some folks who believe that homosexuality is a sin unfortunately also believe other nasty things about lgbts and these things have nothing to do with Biblical interpretation.

Like gays want to have sex with children.

After all to them, God says homosexuality is bad. And that means lgbts are bad people. Why would God speak against them if they weren't "evil?"

Their God never lies.

I suppose with that mode of thinking, Oprah Winfrey words and life doesn’t mean a thing. And neither does Vernon Jordan or Martin Luther King, Jr.

After all, why not take the actions someone like Willie Horton and demonize the African-American for that?

And who cares about people like Cesar Chavez? Augusto Pinochet and Manuel Noriega will suffice to brand all Latino folks.

And since we are going waaay back, let forget Pinochet and Noriega. Let's talk Santa Ana.

The sad thing is that through out the entire video, Benham and the rest used words like religion, faith, and family.

So I suppose using out-of-date pieces and distorting Pride footage is okay if you are trying to "protect" religion, faith, and family.

And I suppose that continuing to highlight a nonexistent problem in order to create a moral panic is okay also.

I am confused. Just where did Jesus say doing these things are okay?