Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Matt Barber demonstrates religious right dogma - when in doubt, lie like hell

I knew it would happen.

The wolves are now chasing President Obama over his embracing of the lgbt community. Obama's adminstration posted a list of lgbt goals on the official White House webpage so now one of our favorite anti-gay spokespeople, Matt Barber, has gone apoplectic. Let's look at his ramblings, shall we?

Obama Begins Full Court Press on Extremist Homosexual Agenda within Minutes of Taking Oath of Office: Barber

Gotta love the semantics there. Not the usual tired phrase "gay agenda." Barber goes full tilt with "extremist homosexual agenda."

The title demonstrates that Barber doesn't want gay rights to be discussed with logic and reasoning. He just goes for the jugular.

And it gets better:

Repealing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) signed by Bill Clinton – the only line of defense keeping all 50 states from being forced to recognize so-called “same-sex marriages” from extremely liberal states like Massachusetts and Connecticut;

So I guess all of those statewide amendments the religious right pushed and continue to push were for naught. Don't tell that to the Mormons.

Passing constitutionally dubious and discriminatory “hate crimes” legislation, granting homosexuals and cross dressers special rights – denied other Americans – based on changeable sexual behaviors;

That entire sentence is a huge lie. Hate crimes legislation already exists in cases of race and religion and the legislation in general covers everyone. The argument here is whether or not to add sexual orientation to it. And that phrase about "cross dressers" was just wrong and designed to invoke fear. Well at least he didn't say "she-males." I guess he leaves that phrase for Lou Sheldon and the Traditional Values Coalition.

Passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) which would force business owners (religious and otherwise) to abandon traditional values relative to sexual morality under penalty of law;

Another lie. Churches and other religious groups are exempt from ENDA. But notice how Barber phrases it - business owners (religious or otherwise). This means that Barber believes that even in the most mundane settings (i.e. a fast food restaurant), the business owner can say that he is a Christian and can therefore deny someone the opportunity to work solely based on their sexual orientation. That's simply not right. A business owner should not be able to discriminate in the case of sexual orientation just as he or she should not be able to discriminate in the case of race, gender, or religion (which ironically is an accurate changeable behavior).

Creating intentionally motherless and fatherless homes and sexually confusing untold thousands of children by expanding “gay adoption.”

Yet another lie. LGBT homes do not create motherless and fatherless homes. I think a quick view of the American foster care system will attest to that. And no studies say that lgbt homes create sexually confused youngsters (except for the studies that are carefully manipulated by Barber and company). Accurate studies actually say that lgbt homes are as loving and fulfilling for children as heterosexual homes. I guess Barber feels that children in lgbt foster homes should be taken out of the home even if they bond with the foster parents, such as the recent case in Florida. It's sad how these so-called pro-family groups and spokespeole have reduced the care of children into some type of competition. All homes that provide love and support to children should be accepted.

It's apparent that through his wailing, Barber is trying to designate himself as a credible religious right voice.

At least he has got the first rule of religious right organization dogma down pat - when in doubt, lie like hell.