Analyzing and refuting the inaccuracies lodged against the lgbt community by religious conservative organizations. Lies in the name of God are still lies.
For the past several weeks, conservative media outlets have been stoking fears about a new California law that will allow transgender
students to have access to school facilities and sports teams that
match their gender identity. The law has drawn criticism from outlets
like Fox News, which warns that the law will allow boys to sneak into girls' bathrooms and engage in inappropriate behavior.
Case in point: Media Research Center Content Specialist Dan Joseph, who on August 15 released a video in which he poses as a transgender female and asks a woman if she would be comfortable with him using the same restroom as her.
That point of the video happens at 5:31. Media Matters also says:
Other than attempting to feminize his voice, Joseph doesn't
present himself in any way as a female in the clip. He is wearing men's
clothing, has a full goatee, and goes by his male name, "Dan." His impersonation is a perfect example of everything that's wrong with how conservative media imagine transgender people.
Unlike Joseph's character, most people who are actually transgender
make efforts to present and appear in a way that matches their gender
identity. Transgender women don't typically walk around in men's
clothing will full faces of facial hair. They don't typically refer to
themselves as "a transgender." And they certainly don't stand outside of
women's restrooms announcing themselves and asking passerbys for
permission to "go in there... and change and shower and stuff."
Media Matters points out that the purpose of this video is not to give accurate information about the transgender community, but to gin up fear and anger by amplifying the homophobic stereotypes created about transgenders.
And the newest anti-gay lie which will hit the streets will involve the Air Force. According to Todd Starnes of Fox News:
The U.S. Air Force said that a well-known drag queen group was invited
to perform on base during a “Diversity Day” celebration because drag is a
“symbol of gay pride and unity. But the performance sparked outrage
among some airmen who called the drag show “totally offensive and
inappropriate.”
Jewels and the Brunchettes performed to a small crowd at the Los Angeles Air Force Base on Aug. 8, the military confirmed.
The Air Force said in a statement to Fox News that “Diversity Day”
featured eight cultural groups and was meant to “foster equality and
diversity in the workplace.”
Photographs provided to Fox News show an individual wearing a giant
wig and sporting form-fitting dresses performing to a sparse crowd
underneath the American flag.
“Drag acts to this day represent the struggle for freedom and
equality of the LGBT community, while at the same time providing a
deep-rooted historical form of entertainment for the LGBT culture,” said
Peggy Hodge, a spokesperson for the Office of Public Affairs.
And the offended airmen? Well we don't know who they are. Starnes allegedly only quoted one:
One airman, who asked not to be identified, told Fox News he was
offended by the performance and said it had no place on a military base.
“I am really surprised that this happened on a military
installation,” the airman told Fox News. “I get that people want to be
able to have committed relationships with members of the same sex, but
this crossed the line.”
The airman said it was ironic that the Air Force is cracking down on
Christians being able to openly share their faith but they would allow
individuals to dress in drag.
How do I put this nicely? I smell bullshit. As luck would have it, the American Family Association's One News Now also ran a story on this same issue using the same talking point as Starnes but from the mouth of Bryan Fischer:
Fischer points out that while the Air Force is apparently okay with drag queens, it continues to be hostile to Christian chaplains, officers, and enlisted personnel who publicly share their faith.
"Right now the American military, particularly the Air Force, is extremely hostile to any kind of expression of Christian faith,” he laments, “and they have clearly come down on the side of sexual perversity over biblical values in this case – and that ought to be a concern to every American citizen."
The AFA spokesman says the Air Force has not yet responded to his group’s request to meet with military leaders to discuss what AFA considers blatant acts of “anti-Christian hostilities” aimed at those in the Air Force – including chaplains – who publicly share their faith.
So that's going to be the new talking point - " Christians are being persecuted in the Armed Forces while gays get special treatment." Diversity Day has nothing to do with this complaint by Starnes and Fischer that Christians are being treated unfairly on military bases. They have been complaining about this for a while now, regardless of the fact that the Pentagon has said this is not going on. From a May 2, 2013 article in the USA Today:
"The U.S. Department of Defense has never and will never single out a
particular religious group for persecution or prosecution," Pentagon
spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen said in a statement. "The
Department makes reasonable accommodations for all religions and
celebrates the religious diversity of our service members."
"Service
members can share their faith (evangelize), but must not force
unwanted, intrusive attempts to convert others of any faith or no faith
to one's beliefs (proselytization)," Christensen added.
Neither Starnes nor Fischer will tell you that there have been several complaints and incidents of Christian members of the military either aggressivelyattempting to convert non-Christian soldiers or violating the military's position of religious neutrality. One case led to a lawsuit in 2008 involving Army Spc. Jeremy Hall, an atheist who claimed he was discriminated against.
And none of those incidents have anything to do with the policy of allowing gays to serve openly in the military. The attempt to combine the two is a sad effort to attack the idea of gays in the military while playing the "anti-Christian persecution" card.
No doubt we will be hearing more about this incident. Now that Starnes has put the incident out there - as he has done many a times with several fake moral panics - we should expect other religious right and conservative groups to amplify the talking point to the level that it will be pushed by the mainstream media.
Meanwhile, those on our side of the spectrum will be caught twiddling our thumbs . . . again.
Sweet Cakes By Melissa, Oregon Bakery, Under State Investigation For Anti-Gay Discrimination - A lot of folks who feel that business should discriminate aren't from the generation that remembers that this sort of behavior was a hallmark of segregation, anti-Semitism, and racism against other ethnic groups. And I ask again, if we allow secular discrimination based on the argument of "religious liberty," then where is the line drawn? We open a nasty door.
A lot of folks seem to not understand just why are gays angry at Donnie McClurkin. Some have remarked to me that he is merely sharing his "testimony" of how he was molested as a child and how God delivered him from "homosexuality" which he acquired due to that rape.
No matter how many times I attempt to press upon folks the absolute wrongness of McClurkin's connection of pedophilia with homosexuality, they still don't get it. So I decided to try another tactic. The following is a 1950s video which implies the same message as McClurkin's. It demonstrates just how wrong McClurkin is with his "testimony."
"WWE is proud of Darren Young for being open about his sexuality, and we will continue to support him as a WWE Superstar. Today, in fact, Darren will be participating in one of our Be A Star anti-bullying rallies in Los Angeles to teach children how to create positive environments for everyone regardless of age, race, religion or sexual orientation."
Let's be honest. Young is the first openly gay WWE superstar, but he is not the first gay wrestler. There have been rumors of others for a long time and it is known that former long-time wrestler and WWE mentor, Pat Patterson, is openly gay and in a relationship.
Recently, California governor Jerry Brown signed what has been called a historic bill which guarantees transgender students equal access to facilities - including bathrooms - based upon their gender identity. The bill also allows them to compete on sports teams based upon their gender identities.
And naturally conservatives and the religious right are screaming bloody murder as well as conjuring up false images of boys invading girls' bathrooms and showers in order to rape them.
Of course none of these things has ever happened in the several other states who have protections in law for transgender students. However, we all know that people tend to forget their senses when it looks as if their children are threatened.
It's something religious right groups count on. A prime example of this hysteria comes from the following CNN debate:
CNN invited hate group leader Randy Thomasson to appear on the network to condemn a new California law ensuring
the rights of transgender teens to use facilities and participate in
programs corresponding to their gender identities. Thomasson appeared
along with the Transgender Law Center's Masen Davis, a transgender male.
At the end of the segment, Thomasson told Davis and host Brooke
Baldwin, "Hey, good to talk to you ladies." Appearing on the August 13 edition of CNN Newsroom, Thomasson, president of the anti-LGBT hate group Save
California, peddled standard transphobic tropes about "sexually
confused" transgender individuals, before closing with his snide remark:
In reality, the measure would merely affirm current law which
prohibits California public schools from discriminating against
transgender students. Allowing access to appropriate facilities
and participation on school teams is an important step to deal with the
high rates of bullying and harassment faced
by transgender students. As a recent decision by the Colorado Rights
Division stated, refusing this kind of access to transgender students
“creates an environment that is objectively and subjectively hostile, intimidating, or offensive.”
After all of this Donnie McClurkin crap, I want to spotlight something positive about lgbts of color. And something which will make me laugh.
Openly gay black comedian, Sampson, manages to do it for me. He is funny, refreshing, and an excellent role model for lgbts of color. Keep an eye out for this guy. He is very talented.
The "ex-gay" gospel singer has been steadily making the rounds of the radio shows and Christian media after being unceremoniously dumped from Saturday's concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington.
McClurkin was uninvited due to past comments he made regarding homosexuality, including implying that homosexuality is linked to pedophilia.
On Tuesday morning, he was on the Tom Joyner Morning Showexplaining his side of the story. It was a very sad interview because it was one-sided and totally inaccurate in a big respect. Joyner and co-interviewer Roland Martin pretty much did everything but reach into their pocket and hand McClurkin money for his troubles.
I found the interview extremely nauseating. But one exchange between Martin and McClurkin caught my attention. According to the transcript:
ROLAND MARTIN: Do you believe it’s fair, Donnie? I mean the
comments that gays and lesbians are upset about you made more than a
decade ago about formerly being gay, talking about it as being a sin.
You made those comments more than a decade ago. Is it fair for an
activist to, you know, a decade later to say, oh, because he made those
comments in that period he shouldn’t do something today here in 2013?
DONNIE MCCLURKIN: Well, it’s not fair, and it’s been an ongoing
battle. It’s been an ongoing political battle. But in fairness we’re
talking about a peace rally. And we’re talking about a group of people
who have been lobbying for a long time for equality and tolerance. But
now to have none concerning anybody else who said anything that is
against, or not through their agenda. I don’t have a problem.
But Martin is inaccurate. McClurkin's anti-gay rhetoric is more recent than a decade ago. According to Rod McCollum from his blog, Rod2.0 Beta:
And a portion of this is on video beginning at 6:17:
Now in all fairness, Martin - being the interviewer - is allowed to get some facts wrong. But wasn't it up to McClurkin to correct him?
As a matter of fact, I noticed that in the interview, McClurkin made no attempt to address specifically his comments about gays, except for to say the following:
You can’t call me a homophobic if I’ve been a homosexual. That’s
quite a stretch. But for them to think that it’s fair, or okay, or
tolerant, to uninvite someone simply because they have opposing views,
but have never said anything derogatory about them, just simply gave my
testimony about what happened with myself.
He also said:
I believe that (the Mayor) owes the City of D.C., an apology. He’s done a
disservice to the faith based community. And I can take the blow, but he
needs to be more concerned about his constituency. And to do something
like this at a Martin Luther King peace rally is totally against what
Martin Luther King stood for.
McClurkin should be aware that King also stood for honesty and before he continues to cling to his cross of martyrdom, he should practice a little himself.
When opponents like Jennifer Morse of NOM's Ruth Institute claim that they speak against marriage equality and lgbt rights because they supposedly love gays, keep the following Facebook comment in mind:
The American Family Association's One News Now is claiming that McClurkin may have grounds to sue via an anti-discrimination ordinance. Of course this is nonsense. McClurkin himself, in a recent video, is claiming that he was "threatened and bullied."
McClurkin never fully explained the controversy behind his Washington D.C. booking and only provides an oblique, cursory reference. "This is all about a stand that I took," said the gospel legend and Pentecostal minister. "But I was never was derogatory against any lifestyle."
Donnie McClurkin is a liar. His stance has been extremely derogatory. The video above is him at a the 2009 COGIC Youth Conference. McClurkin is having what he seems to think is a religiously infused train of thought about the problems in the black community
But check out 6:17 when he begins harping on "feminine men." Then he says the following:
"No, no no. Don't applaud like it's a bash. It's because we failed. We failed! We didn't father our children."
Then later in the video, starting at at 8:38, McClurkin talks about how he was molested when he was eight-years-old. It's an awful story which he proceeds to make worse by linking pedophilia to homosexuality. It's a vulgar, disgusting ramble which McClurkin seems to be saying that existence of gay men is due to a lack of good parents and an abundance of evil predators.
I don't care how much screaming or talking in tongues he
does, I don't care how "anointed" he is supposed to be, McClurkin doesn't know what he is talking about. My heart goes out to him. It was an awful thing what happened to him as a child but gay men are not the products of pedophilia or rape. It's an ugly thing to imply and for him to now claim that he has not been derogatory towards gays when we have the evidence on tape is sad.
As I said before, I had already given my opinion about McClurkin being uninvited. The 1963 March on Washington was coordinated and successfully engineered by an openly gay black man, Bayard Rustin, who had to stay in the background of the African-American Civil Rights Movement because of ignorance and homophobia.
In light of this, what in the hell was anyone thinking inviting someone like McClurkin to this celebration? It's an insult to not only Rustin's memory, but in light of hearing McClurkin's comments, the spirit of the 1963 March itself. The march was about freedom from ignorance and bigotry - two qualities which McClurkin demonstrated that he had so much of that they could have been oozing out of his pores along with the sweat.
But no matter how you feel about this controversy, count to yourself just how many times will McClurkin and his supporters address the ugly comments he made in the above video instead of playing the victim.
Count how many times McClurkin and his supporters will just happen to evade specific details regarding his rhetoric.
If you are truly a man of God, Mr. McClurkin, you shouldn't be afraid to address what you have said. You shouldn't run away from your words.
I, and so many others, await hearing from you, especially those "feminine men" you talked about.
Many of them happen to be very good friends of mine.
To some folks, the lgbt community seems to be a cash cow. We have too many people earning a living attempting to defame us or deny us equality.
We collect them unfortunately.
For example, here is yet another one, Austin Ruse of the C-FAM (Catholic and Human Rights Institute.) Now earlier, he actually defended Russia for its draconian anti-gay laws. Today, while substituting for another religious right radio show host, he not only continues to defend the law but actually claims that most people in America would actually defend the law. Of course, watch how he defines this law as an attempt to keep gays from "recruiting" children:
Somehow, I have a hard time believing this. Perhaps its because of the source. You see, there is something else you should know about Ruse which is solely my opinion of him.
The man's an idiot, a 24-carat moron whose mind is a blank slate just ready to pop in whatever religious right propaganda against gays that exists.
And I say this because I have had contact with Ruse in the past. In 2009, we butted heads on my blog in regards to a pro-lgbt resolution at the United Nations. We went back and forth in the comments section of this post.
I found one part of his nonsensical rambling so amusing that I simply had to make a blog post out of it. Apparently Austin thinks that there are 20 gender identities. However, watch how he tap dances around the subject when asked to name them.
A while back, I told the lgbt community to watch out how for Fox News because the network will soon become a news entity where anti-gay propaganda would be able to be pushed to millions without the courtesy of a pushback or correction. From Equality Matters comes several examples of how this is slowly but steadily happening:
The only thing I can do thus far is report that this is happening. But it will take a large lgbt organization to start educating and raising hell about this. Hello, GLAAD!
Some members of the religious right, such as this guy - former chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt, think about gay sex too much to be complaining about it.
“I ask you, does it make sense to honor the 50th anniversary
of a march whose coordinator was shoved in the background due to
homophobia by inviting someone as a headliner who is committing the same
offense against gays in the present? Absolutely not.”
There is going to be a controversy regarding Saturday night's concert in Washington, DC regarding the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. From the blog of B.Scott:
Gospel singer Donnie McClurkin, who back in 2002 declared God
delivered him from “the curse homosexuality,” did not appear in a
Saturday evening concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of the March
on Washington, after several gay activists objected to his participation
in the event.
McClurkin was scheduled to perform at the
D.C. government-sponsored concert with other singers at the Martin
Luther King Jr. Memorial during the “Reflections on Peace From Ghandi to
King” event. But at the request of Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D), who
fielded concerns from the activists Friday, the Grammy-winning singer
decided not to perform.
“The commission on human rights and
Donnie McClurkin’s management decided that it would be best for him to
withdraw because the purpose of the event is to bring people together,”
said Gray’s spokeswoman, Doxie McCoy. “Mayor Gray said the purpose of
the event is to promote peace and harmony. That is what King was all
about.”
However, in a statement released on
video, McClurkin took issue with how the situation was portrayed. He
said the mayor “uninvited me from a concert that I was supposed to
headline.” He said “I was asked not to attend.”
The video is here if you want to watch it. Of course McClurkin makes out like he was the victim in this situation. In a comment on his video, McClurkin says the following:
CIVIL RIGHTS ARE FOR EVERYONE...gay, straight, religious, secular, male,
female, all cultures and colors. Let's not mistake that everyone who
lives here in america...everyone should have equal rights..whether we
believe them to be right or wrong. They're just BASIC rights for ALL~!
My spiritual stance is right...but cannot infringe on anyone's choice to
do as they choose as long as it a basic right. everyone will not follow
our christian principles..so what do we do with those who don't...don't
give them the right to live civilly? This isn't a theocracy...so even
if I, you or we don't agree...everyone has to be able to live a full
life.
But Mr. McClurkin, what about those children you maligned in 2009 at the COGIC youth conference? In 2009, McClurkin said the following about lgbt children at the conference:
I see feminine men, feminine boys, everywhere I go ... No, don't applaud 'cuz it ain't funny. It's because we failed. I see them everywhere."
In that same post I linked to (from Rod McCollum - Rod2.0 Beta), McClurkin said the following about lesbians:
"These young girls are just as bad as the boys in homosexuality, you don't see it. They can hide ... but there are some evil young hard butch girls."
In 2008 while in Barbados, he compared gays to drug dealers and prostitutes:
"The lifestyle began to grow. The girls did not want a broken man . . . . In homosexuality, there's always someone to abuse you. My lust for man and lust for God was pulling me one way and tearing me apart." ..
"He said Donnie, go and talk to others. I don't condemn it, so don't condemn them. God does not hate the homosexual, he hates the sin," said McClurkin, adding he is now a sincere, compassionate man, who keeps his masculinity, is ready for a wife and who is "transformed by the blood of Jesus".
But here is the thing. Nowhere in the video did McClurkin address those comments he made; comments which most likely had a lot to do with him being disinvited from the concert. And don't expect him or anyone defending him to mention those comments. My guess is that they are going to turn the situation around to make him seem like a so-called victim of the alleged homosexual agenda.
And that, my friends, is my problem with this incident - the dishonesty which i am guessing will come from McClurkin and many of his defenders.
My personal opinion is that McClurkin is not the type of person I would have invited in the first place to sing at a concert honoring a march on civil rights, particularly not THIS march.
You see, the 1963 March on Washington was coordinated and successfully accomplished by Bayard Rustin, an openly gay African-American who was an integral part of the African-American civil rights movement. Rustin also mentored Dr. King on nonviolent resistance.
Rustin had to serve in the background because of the homophobia of the times not only from the white community, but also the African-American community. Several prominent civil rights leaders did not want him involved and one, Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, was going to start a rumor that he and Dr. King were lovers.
So Rustin never got his due for what he did in the Civil Rights Movement. Now I ask you, does it make sense to honor the 50th anniversary of a march whose coordinator was shoved in the background due to homophobia by inviting someone as a headliner who is committing the same offense against gays in the present?
Absolutely not.
The irony of it all would most likely escape McClurkin. Instead of trying to create an aura of victimhood for himself, perhaps he should think about those whom his rhetoric victimized.
Had today's technology been around back then, I doubt Rustin would have
exploited it to address the attacks on his sexual orientation. I somehow don't see
Rustin posting videos of himself complaining about how he was treated. Rustin didn't care about such things. He only cared about the cause of social justice.
According to Dave Daubenmire, this post is exactly what he talks about "being sodomized by the Left." But I just can't help myself. He is easy pickings. And he has such a "purty lil' mouth."
I have featured my personal hero, Bayard Rustin, before in a segment of Know Your LGBT History but with this week's news that President Obama will be posthumously awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom - the highest award given to a civilian in this country - I thought I would make today's post a special tribute featuring the documentary on Rustin's life, Brother Outsider.
I especially like the name of the documentary because there are so many times in which I feel like an outsider to both the lgbt and black community. The black community doesn't seem to want us as lgbts and the gay community sometimes ignores us, tries to whittle down our cultural specificity, or confines us in ideological or intellectual cages:
