Homer posted this a few days ago on his blog. He probably gets a zillion times the hits that I do but I thought I’d pass it along.
My friend Jim Burroway and his colleagues at Box Turtle Bulletin deserve to be thanked for their tireless work. A couple of years ago I ran into Jim at the library, where he was busy collecting information to refute the “science” of the anti-gay folks. He told me he was planning a new blog to cover this issue, and now his hard work has paid off. Box Turtle Bulletin covers current issues and has detailed articles exposing the truth behind the “ex-gay” business.
If you monitor the articles on BTB you begin to wonder whether we are entering a new stage in the homosexual civil rights movement. The anti-gay crowd senses they have lost, and so some of them have started to advocate violence towards and imprisonment of gay people. A couple of examples:
- Laurie Higgins of the Illinois Family Institute, described as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center*, states that attempts to thwart bullying of children based upon their perceived behavior discriminates against Christian children, who apparently should be able to bully others at will.
- American anti-gay activists support the forced outings of LGBT folks in Uganda, where men and women can be arrested and imprisoned for being perceived as being homosexual. One of these Americans, Scott Lively, believes gay people should be forced into “conversion” therapy.
- Science Fiction author Orson Scott Card, now on the board of the National Organization for Marriage, writes an editorial in which he whips up anti-gay hysteria by stating that “They steal from me what I treasure most, and gain for themselves nothing at all. They won’t be married. They’ll just be playing dress-up in their parents’ clothes.” The old sticks and stones saying is not entirely accurate. Words can hurt you.
And so on. These groups are getting desperate- they are losing. We can expect them to lash out in many ways. Some will do so by labeling us perverts or worse. Others will attempt to get anti-gay laws passed and civil rights protections removed. Some will advocate violence towards gays.
What they won’t be able to do is to keep these things a secret from most people anymore. I am glad that Jim and his friends at Box Turtle Bulletin are aggressively covering these awful people. It is interesting to see the reaction of the anti-gay creeps when light is shined on their activities.
* I’ve supported the Southern Poverty Law Center financially since long before I knew they tracked anti-gay hate groups.
Rob: The Church and the state both have distinct purposes. History should teach Christians that an overbearing state can threaten religious liberty! Sadly, I suspect many of the “hate groups” referred to are revivalistic groups, that are far removed from both the teaching and worship of the Protestant Reformation.
The Church must be free to teach and discipline under the Scriptures; but the state isn’t called to do that. It must, of course, try and punish rape, assault, robbery, etc. But I fail to see where the gay community does this more than other communities. (You will excuse this observation from an outsider.)
In the public school, to bully kids because they are Christian or gay is equally wrong. Neither is tolerable. So much for my editorial!
Hmmm. I don’t think the church should be free to teach “scripture” without limits because many people interpret it to mean things that are not true. Additionally, the freedom of any religion stops at the civil rights of others. Anyone that thinks their religion gives them the right to condemn homosexuality or even say that there is anything remotely unnatural about it is guilty of a hate crime. Same for condemning Jews, Christians or Muslims, etc. Religious-sponsored bigotry is wrong.