The repeal of DADT by the numbers.

I know its small but just give it a click to enlarge it.

I have to say that seeing it laid out like this makes me very proud of my country.  Very proud indeed.

Of course not EVERYBODY shares my pride.

Courtesy of Pink News:

A Catholic woman from Massachusetts says she is so disgusted by gay people that she fears leaving her house.

You know the TRULY sad thing is that this woman, Stacy Trasancos, has quite a lot in common with gay Americans. You see it is fear of running into homophobic people like her that makes many of our homosexual brothers and sisters too afraid to leave the closet.

Sunday Sermon [Ignorance and Hate]

This is ugly…

* * *

-=[ Hate ]=-

Hatred is never anything but fear -- if you feared no one, you would hate no one.

-- Hugh Downs

The only sin is ignorance.

A gay man was tortured in a house on a quiet block in the Bronx set on a steep hill in the Bronx. He was lured there because he was told there would be a party. He showed up last Sunday night as instructed, with cans of malt liquor. What he walked into was not a party at all, but a night of torture -- he was sodomized, burned and whipped.

Before setting upon their 30-year-old victim, the nine attackers, ranging from 16 to 23 years old and calling themselves the Latin King Goonies, had snatched up two teenage boys whom they beat, one of whom was sodomized with a plunger, until they admitted having sex with the man. All punishment for being gay.

The greatest evil is that good people do nothing… I have to admit outright that I am ashamed to say these animals call themselves Latino. They bring shame to every Latino/a -- every human being. Hate kills, and if you stand by and do nothing while something like this happens, if this doesn’t at least make you vote for asshole politician who at a sane outlook on sexual orientation, they you’re part of this crime. You’re part of every crime committed against people who’s only perceived transgression is having been born with a different sexual orientation than yours.

I have a friend who was once almost beaten to death. After she was beaten and brutally gang raped, her tormentors laughed as they urinated on her and left on a road like discarded trash. As a result of this beating, she lost sight in one eye, suffered broken facial bones, and had to go through months of a painful recovery process. As extensive as her physical injuries were, they paled in comparison to the psychological and emotional damage she endures to this day.

Why? What did this sweet and beautiful young woman do that warranted such treatment, I asked myself as I looked at her lying there in the hospital, her swollen, deformed face barely recognizable. The answer was quite simple: she was brutalized because she was perceived as being different by a group of predators. She had the audacity to be different. I couldn't understand and my mind could not grasp the degree of inhumanity evident in this act.

Hate and fear...

But even if I hadn't had a loved one brutalized in this manner, I would still fight against this blind hate. It affects all of us regardless of whether we're aware of our connection to it. The simple truth is that the things we often hate most about “other” people are reflected within our selves. Homophobes attack homosexuals because they fear their own inner insecurities about their own sexuality. Repression is never morality and what happens is that when we push our fears into the dark, they acquire power over us.

I have seen and witnessed this hate all my life. I am Puerto Rican, but my features could be considered European and as a result, I have heard many comments about Latino/as or blacks not normally uttered by whites in public. It works the other way around too: I remember once two Latinas making comments about me in Spanish, thinking I was white. The comments were very suggestive and as we were getting off the elevator, I wished them a nice day in Spanish and they freaked.

I have heard Blacks talk about “spics” and “whitey,” Latino/as talk about “niggers,” and whites talk about everybody. I learned early that this whole deal was screwed up. I learned early that people fear difference... and what they really fear and hate is themselves.

I bring this up because what these ignorant animals did shouldn’t be allowed to happen in any civil society. And if you really think this has nothing to do with you, think again: who will speak for you if you’re ever targeted for being perceived as different? I think about my friend lying broken on a hospital bed and I shudder at the thought that as a society haven’t truly progressed all that much. Because it was this same indifference by some, and outright hate by others, that contributed to that crime that night long ago.

Someone somewhere said that the greatest evil one can do is to do nothing, or something like that, and I have to agree.

Love,

Eddie

Breaking News: Traced Slur May Have Originated from Senate Staffer

¡Hola! Everybody...
I was hanging out on the comments page of one the blogs I follow, Joe.My.God, a blog dedicated to LGBT issues.

The author says that someone left the following comment on his post: “All faggots must die.”

of course, we old school flame warriors know this par for the course in the blogoshpere, except that Joe added:

“The above comment was left today by “Jimmy” on my post about the DADT cloture vote. The IP address *appears* to resolve to the neighborhood of GOP U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss’ Atlanta office. The ISP is “United States Senate.” I’m confident that the JMG internet sleuths can get to the source.

Here’s the IP: 156.33.20.72. Get busy, geeks!”

Check out the blog for updates. At least one reporter from the Atlanta Journal Constitution has picked up on the story (click here) and people are busy tracking down the origin of the comments. If this is from a senate office, hopefully someone will get reamed.

Eddie

Sunday Sermon, pt. II [Gay Pride]

¡Hola! Everybody...
I caught the following repost from one of my contacts, Joe.My.God. Some great posts there, mostly dealing with the civil rights struggle of the GLBT community. I'll let Joe tell it:

"It was June 27th, 1969.
The day that the fags, dykes, and queens of New York City finally said "Enough!" For some historical perspective, I'm posting the story that the New York Daily News ran about the Stonewall Riots. Note how the story drips with condescension and ridicule. We've come a long, long way in 41 years and we've still got some distance to cover, but today we should all offer up a shout, a snap, and a moment of thanks to the people who started us down this road."

* * *


HOMO NEST RAIDED - QUEEN BEES ARE STINGING MAD
-- by Jerry Lisker, New York Daily News, July 6th 1969

She sat there with her legs crossed, the lashes of her mascara-coated eyes beating like the wings of a hummingbird. She was angry. She was so upset she hadn't bothered to shave. A day old stubble was beginning to push through the pancake makeup. She was a he. A queen of Christopher Street.

Last weekend the queens had turned commandos and stood bra strap to bra strap against an invasion of the helmeted Tactical Patrol Force. The elite police squad had shut down one of their private gay clubs, the Stonewall Inn at 57 Christopher St., in the heart of a three-block homosexual community in Greenwich Village. Queen Power reared its bleached blonde head in revolt. New York City experienced its first homosexual riot. "We may have lost the battle, sweets, but the war is far from over," lisped an unofficial lady-in-waiting from the court of the Queens.

"We've had all we can take from the Gestapo," the spokesman, or spokeswoman, continued. "We're putting our foot down once and for all." The foot wore a spiked heel. According to reports, the Stonewall Inn, a two-story structure with a sand painted brick and opaque glass facade, was a mecca for the homosexual element in the village who wanted nothing but a private little place where they could congregate, drink, dance and do whatever little girls do when they get together.

The thick glass shut out the outside world of the street. Inside, the Stonewall bathed in wild, bright psychedelic lights, while the patrons writhed to the sounds of a juke box on a square dance floor surrounded by booths and tables. The bar did a good business and the waiters, or waitresses, were always kept busy, as they snaked their way around the dancing customers to the booths and tables. For nearly two years, peace and tranquility reigned supreme for the Alice in Wonderland clientele.

The Raid Last Friday

Last Friday the privacy of the Stonewall was invaded by police from the First Division. It was a raid. They had a warrant. After two years, police said they had been informed that liquor was being served on the premises. Since the Stonewall was without a license, the place was being closed. It was the law.

All hell broke loose when the police entered the Stonewall. The girls instinctively reached for each other. Others stood frozen, locked in an embrace of fear.
Only a handful of police were on hand for the initial landing in the homosexual beachhead. They ushered the patrons out onto Christopher Street, just off Sheridan Square. A crowd had formed in front of the Stonewall and the customers were greeted with cheers of encouragement from the gallery.

The whole proceeding took on the aura of a homosexual Academy Awards Night. The Queens pranced out to the street blowing kisses and waving to the crowd. A beauty of a specimen named Stella wailed uncontrollably while being led to the sidewalk in front of the Stonewall by a cop. She later confessed that she didn't protest the manhandling by the officer, it was just that her hair was in curlers and she was afraid her new beau might be in the crowd and spot her. She didn't want him to see her this way, she wept.

Queen Power

The crowd began to get out of hand, eye witnesses said. Then, without warning, Queen Power exploded with all the fury of a gay atomic bomb. Queens, princesses and ladies-in-waiting began hurling anything they could get their polished, manicured fingernails on. Bobby pins, compacts, curlers, lipstick tubes and other femme fatale missiles were flying in the direction of the cops. The war was on. The lilies of the valley had become carnivorous jungle plants.

Urged on by cries of "C'mon girls, lets go get'em," the defenders of Stonewall launched an attack. The cops called for assistance. To the rescue came the Tactical Patrol Force.

Flushed with the excitement of battle, a fellow called Gloria pranced around like Wonder Woman, while several Florence Nightingales administered first aid to the fallen warriors. There were some assorted scratches and bruises, but nothing serious was suffered by the honeys turned Madwoman of Chaillot.
Official reports listed four injured policemen with 13 arrests. The War of the Roses lasted about 2 hours from about midnight to 2 a.m. There was a return bout Wednesday night.

Two veterans recently recalled the battle and issued a warning to the cops. "If they close up all the gay joints in this area, there is going to be all out war."

Bruce and Nan

Both said they were refugees from Indiana and had come to New York where they could live together happily ever after. They were in their early 20's. They preferred to be called by their married names, Bruce and Nan.

"I don't like your paper," Nan lisped matter-of-factly. "It's anti-fag and pro-cop."
"I'll bet you didn't see what they did to the Stonewall. Did the pigs tell you that they smashed everything in sight? Did you ask them why they stole money out of the cash register and then smashed it with a sledge hammer? Did you ask them why it took them two years to discover that the Stonewall didn't have a liquor license."

Bruce nodded in agreement and reached over for Nan's trembling hands.

"Calm down, doll," he said. "Your face is getting all flushed."
Nan wiped her face with a tissue.

"This would have to happen right before the wedding. The reception was going to be held at the Stonewall, too," Nan said, tossing her ashen-tinted hair over her shoulder.

"What wedding?," the bystander asked.
Nan frowned with a how-could-anybody-be-so-stupid look. "Eric and Jack's wedding, of course. They're finally tying the knot. I thought they'd never get together."

Meet Shirley

"We'll have to find another place, that's all there is to it," Bruce sighed. "But every time we start a place, the cops break it up sooner or later."
"They let us operate just as long as the payoff is regular," Nan said bitterly. "I believe they closed up the Stonewall because there was some trouble with the payoff to the cops. I think that's the real reason. It's a shame. It was such a lovely place. We never bothered anybody. Why couldn't they leave us alone?"

Shirley Evans, a neighbor with two children, agrees that the Stonewall was not a rowdy place and the persons who frequented the club were never troublesome. She lives at 45 Christopher St.
"Up until the night of the police raid there was never any trouble there," she said. "The homosexuals minded their own business and never bothered a soul. There were never any fights or hollering, or anything like that. They just wanted to be left alone. I don't know what they did inside, but that's their business. I was never in there myself. It was just awful when the police came. It was like a swarm of hornets attacking a bunch of butterflies."
A reporter visited the now closed Stonewall and it indeed looked like a cyclone had struck the premises.

Police said there were over 200 people in the Stonewall when they entered with a warrant. The crowd outside was estimated at 500 to 1,000. According to police, the Stonewall had been under observation for some time. Being a private club, plain clothesmen were refused entrance to the inside when they periodically tried to check the place. "They had the tightest security in the Village," a First Division officer said, "We could never get near the place without a warrant."

Police Talk

The men of the First Division were unable to find any humor in the situation, despite the comical overtones of the raid.
"They were throwing more than lace hankies," one inspector said. "I was almost decapitated by a slab of thick glass. It was thrown like a discus and just missed my throat by inches. The beer can didn't miss, though, "it hit me right above the temple."

Police also believe the club was operated by Mafia connected owners. The police did confiscate the Stonewall's cash register as proceeds from an illegal operation. The receipts were counted and are on file at the division headquarters. The warrant was served and the establishment closed on the grounds it was an illegal membership club with no license, and no license to serve liquor.

The police are sure of one thing. They haven't heard the last from the Girls of Christopher Street.

* * *

That last sentence was prophetic indeed... though I doubt the reporter meant it in that way.

Hate and Fear [Homophobia]

¡Hola! Everybody...
I haven’t any time to write these days... This is from a while back. I thought I’d repost this in light of the horrible murder and decapitation of a gay man in Puerto Rico.

* * *

-=[ Homophobia]=

If you feared no one you would hate no one.

Nothing has been more effective in uncovering the dark side of homophobia than the work of researchers. One researcher, who interviewed over 400 men incarcerated for gay-bashing noted that the gay bashers generally saw nothing wrong in what they did, and more often than not, stated that their religious leaders and traditions condoned their behavior. One particular adolescent stated that the pastor of his church had said, “Homosexuals represent the devil, Satan.”

Another study showed that homophobes were more prone to be aroused by gay porn than others. Somewhere, deep inside, those who bash gays are actually lashing out at something inside of themselves. As with other marginalized groups, gays become the object of hatred and scapegoating. On a societal level, we purposely encourage hate for those who are deemed different. Killing a gay person, in an unspeakable manner is often considered less heinous than killing an individual who is heterosexual. The same can be said for other marginalized groups, such as black and brown people, or women, for example. A rape victim "asked for it" by dressing provocatively, or a massacred black man was deemed as reaching for a weapon.

Societies in which gender roles are strictly defined and where a high patriarchal god is worshiped are violent societies. We see that example in the US, one of the most “religious” of advanced democracies. We scream in outrage if a breast is exposed on prime time TV, but say nothing to the fact that our children are exposed to thousands of violent images and messages daily. We teach our young boys to hate gays. How many times have you heard one young boy call another a fag or a queer in jest or anger? Boys are taught that emotions are weak, that demonstrating kindness or love is weak or effeminate. Not manly. I once witnessed a man slash another man, horribly disfiguring his face for life, because one called the other a “faggot” in jest.

I used to run a leadership development workshop and when asked to define leadership values, almost no one ever mentioned nurturing as a valuable leadership asset. Nurturing, relating, bonding, empathizing -- these are all womanly qualities, not qualities that strong leaders possess (of, course, this isn’t true at all). I’ve heard grown men tell their daughters that they would prefer a whore as a daughter than a lesbian.

Much of this physical and psychological violence and hatred is rooted in religious fundamentalism and the social construction of rigid gender roles. The man who allegedly confessed to the hate crime in Puerto Rico said he became enraged when he realized the individual he thought was a woman, was a man dressed in women’s clothing. He had picked him up at an area known for its prostitution and he freaked when he realized the object of his lust was a homosexual. As I heard this, I realized that this man was attacking something he couldn't face inside himself. The tragedy being that the gay man dressed in women’s clothing died simply because everything his killer feared was projected onto him. How else do you explain the decapitation if not as some warped, deep-seated, repressed sense of self-loathing?

Hatred is an extreme form of anger but also a form of deep connection. The teachings of the path I follow take anger very seriously, because anger causes so much suffering. I see hate as being rooted primarily in fear. Fear being a powerful core emotion.

When anger is acted out and results in violence, the damage is obvious. Some years ago, I came across the words of Cambodian monk, Maha Ghosananda, who observed “When this defilement of anger really gets strong, it has no sense of good or evil, right or wrong, of husbands, wives, children. It can even drink human blood.” This was a tragic comment upon a bloody civil war that had torn Cambodia apart and literally killed almost everyone he knew.

An angry mind is a suffering mind. An angry mind is agitated and unyielding, constricted and narrow in its thinking. Judgment and perspective vanish. All sense disappears. One feels restless and driven. Nothing is satisfying, everything is tense. What happens during anger is that as the sense of self increases, as does the sense of the other. A major reason anger is so very painful is that it instantly creates a sharp distinction between self and other. An imaginary line is drawn that cannot be passed. For example, if I make the statement, “A faggot is the devil,” I am drawing a line as well as dehumanizing the object of my fear/ wrath.

There is also an intoxicating effect to anger. There is a strong feeling of self-righteousness. Thoughts rooted in justification take over: “He was dressed as a woman. He was not a real man. He was a freak!” This, combined with feelings of defiance and rectitude (“I am right!”), creates the killing ground for mindless hate and fear. Underlying the delusional intoxication of anger is the pain of a mind so narrowly constricted that it closes itself off from human all connection.

Anger is like a poison in the mind. It generates an unhealthy cycle of cause and effect. Every thought, word, or act has an angry after-effect. Like throwing a pebble into a pond, an act or thought sets into motion a series of ripple effects irradiating out in every direction. We are stuck with what we have done, and with the effects that we have caused.

I believe that the majority of harmful patterns of behavior are rooted in unconscious anger/ hatred/ fear. On a more subtle level, angry people gossip about others, spread false accusations about others as a way of justifying their angry/ fearful state of mind. Existing in an environment of fear, hate, and anger, they lash out at others and create the necessary condition that maintain their bloated egos. I guess the answer is not to respond in anger, but to generate love instead. However, one can also choose to love from afar. We can choose to minimize our contact with harmful and negative influences.

Unfortunately, sometimes there isn’t a choice: you can become an object of hate and violence simply for being you... for being black, a woman, or gay. The judicial response to this crime in Puerto Rico was beyond pathetic. I hear the Feds will intervene and I hope they do.

Eddie

Sunday Sermon [Homophobia & Religion]

¡Hola! Everybody…
I have a post on the Bible -- something positive. I wrote it a while back, but every time I think it’s cool to post, I’m deeply disappointed by The Christian wave. I can’t post it for fear it will encourage more evangelicals… I wrote most of the following four years ago. Since then, Americans have moved closer to recognizing rights for all.

* * *

-=[ Homophobia & The Christian Right ]=-

“Civil unions are about civil rights.”

I’ll just put it out there from the get-go: African Americans and Latino/as in CaliforniaOverwhelming, Blacks voted for the measure, Latino/as were divided. made me feel ashamed with regard to how they voted on Proposition 8, the referendum banning same sex marriage, last week.

Put simply, that vote was bigoted and hypocritical.

How is banning gays from marrying different from similar laws that banned interracial marriage?!!

The same arguments used today about gays are the same arguments used against Blacks not that long ago!

You would think people of color would be able to empathize. That seven out of eight blacks voted to support segregation and bigotry, and that Latino/as were “divided” on this issue is a fuckin’ shame. I am embarrassed today to say that I am aligned with the motherfuckers that voted for this crap. You should be ashamed as well, because if you voted for this, then these are the people you’re aligned with:

Opposition to same-sex marriage, especially in the Bible Belt and among religious conservatives, has been fierce, religion being used as the weapon of choice against homosexuality. Of equal importance, in terms of the national polity, has been the issue of religious extremism, or religious fundamentalism. Unfortunately, we have our own homegrown extremism right here in the states.

Nothing has been more effective in uncovering the dark side of homophobia than the work of researchers. One researcher, who interviewed over 400 men incarcerated for gay-bashing noted that the gay bashers generally saw nothing wrong in what they did, and more often than not, stated that their religious leaders and traditions condoned their behavior. One particular adolescent stated that the pastor of his church had said, “Homosexuals represent the devil, Satan,” and that the Rev. Jerry Falwell had echoed that charge.

Such Christians opposed to equality for homosexuals usually appeal to the moral imperatives of the Bible, claiming that Scripture is very clear on the matter, often citing verses that support their opinion. If others disagree, they accuse them of perverting and distorting texts contrary to their “clear” meaning. However, investigate further and they are not so coherent when it comes to economic conduct (the so-called “free market”), the responsibilities of wealth, and the consequences of greed.

According to my own research there are basically nine biblical citations usually invoked as relating to homosexuality. Four (Deuteronomy 23:17, I Kings 14:24, I Kings 22:46, and II Kings 23:7) simply forbid prostitution, by men and women.

Two others (Leviticus 18:19-23 and Leviticus 20:10-16) are part of what some biblical scholars call the Holiness Code. The code explicitly bans homosexual acts. However, it also prohibits eating raw meat, planting two different kinds of seed in the same field and wearing garments with two different kinds of yarn. In addition, tattoos, adultery, and sexual intercourse during a woman’s menstrual period are also expressly prohibited -- outlawed, actually.

Now, get this: there is no mention of homosexuality in the four Gospels of the New Testament! The moral teachings of Jesus are not concerned with the subject.

In addition to the above, three references from St. Paul are frequently cited (Romans 1:26-2:I, I Corinthians 6:9-11, and Timothy 1:10).But Paul was concerned with homosexuality only because in Greco-Roman culture it represented to him a sensuality that conflicted with his own Jewish/ Christian spiritual upbringing. He was actually against lust and sensuality in anyone, including heterosexuals. To say that homosexuality is bad because homosexuals are tempted to commit morally doubtful acts is to also say that heterosexuality is bad because heterosexuals are like-wise tempted (I delve a little more into this in my second installment on the history of love).

For Paul, anyone who places his or her interest ahead of God’s is condemned, a verdict that falls equally on everyone, gay or straight.

Let’s take Sodom and Gomorrah and recall that the story is not about sexual perversion and homosexual practice. It is about inhospitability, according to Luke 10:10-13, and failure to care for the poor, according to Ezekiel 16:49-50: “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.”

The reason why fundamentalism is so dangerous is that, in the hands of religious conservatives and nut jobs like the Christian Right, Scripture is used to incite otherwise good people to act from an attitude of fear and hate rather than love and compassion.

Fortunately, the religious right does not speak for all U.S. Christians. In fact, in survey after survey, the vast majority of Americans actually disagree with the Kook Kristian Koalition. I would suppose that a good many Christians are included in that group. I would also like to state right here and now that if I am judging any Christian for whatever reason, then I am no better than the very people I am critiquing. Who am I to say who is a good, or “real,” Christian or not? Moreover, isn’t that very same fundamentalism we pretend to abhor -- just another form of self-righteousness?

In any case, advocates of slavery used the bible for justification, for example. Modern conservatives have actually used the very same bible (very convincingly, I might add) to protect their own demented economic self-interests.

Ultimately, the same bible that, on the basis of some archaic (and now useless) social code of ancient Israel and a tortured reading of Paul is used to condemn all homosexuals and homosexual behavior, also includes metaphors of redemption, renewal, inclusion, and love. These are principles that invite homosexuals to accept themselves and take responsibility for their freedom and demands that their fellow Christians accept them as well!

Love,

Eddie

Resources (aka the “Educate Yourselves You dumb Muthafuckas” section)

Anti-miscegenation laws overturned on 12 June 1967 by Loving v. Virginia

State	First law passed	Races banned	Note
Alabama	1822	Blacks	Repealed during Reconstruction, law later reinstated
Arkansas	1838	Blacks	Repealed during Reconstruction, law later reinstated
Delaware	1721	Blacks
Florida	1832	Blacks	Repealed during Reconstruction, law later reinstated
Georgia	1750	All non-whites
Kentucky	1792	Blacks
Louisiana	1724	Blacks	Repealed during Reconstruction, law later reinstated
Mississippi	1822	Blacks, Asians	Repealed during Reconstruction, law later reinstated
Missouri	1835	Blacks, Asians
North Carolina	1715	Blacks, Native Americans
Oklahoma	1897	Blacks
South Carolina	1717	All non-whites	Repealed during Reconstruction, law later reinstated
Tennessee	1741	Blacks, Native Americans
Texas	1837	Blacks, Filipinos
Virginia	1691	All non-whites	Previous anti-miscegenation law made more severe by Racial Integrity Act of 1924
West Virginia	1863	Blacks

Sunday Sermon [Rick Warren]

¡Hola! Everybody,
Today, I rail against “undercover evangelicals.” I mean, if you’re gonna be a born again ma’fucca, the least you can do is be upfront about it so I can avoid you! LOL

* * *

-=[ Rick Warren’s Purpose-Driven Life: Whose Purpose? ]=-

“”The bible teaches that since entered the world, way back with the very first human beings, we have lived in an imperfect, broken planet, and that causes hurricanes and tornadoes.”

-- Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life

Perhaps some of my readers are familiar with Rick Warren’s the Purpose Driven Life, the best selling hardcover nonfiction book in publishing history. What may not be as familiar is Mr. Warren’s purpose or agenda.

The Hawaiian shirt-wearing evangelical pastor of twenty two thousand at the Saddleback megachurch in Lake forest, California once collected $7 million in cash on one Sunday. His church services are so huge, babies checked in to the nursery are assigned bar codes in order to avoid losing them. His church provides several service styles, including gospel, guitar-driven, and even “hula and island style.”

None of this would matter if we didn’t live in a free society threatened by the agenda of the radical religious right. Unfortunately, we do live in such times and Warren is one of the most influential of the evangelical assault on freedom. While he denies not being part of the religious right’s agenda, good-ole Warren has gone on record as being “firmly a cultural conservative.” He believe opposing abortion, gay rights, stem cell research, human cloning, and euthanasia are “non negotiable” and “not even debatable” for people of true values. Now, before any “born againers” get it twisted, I’m not against people having their religious beliefs/ values. I just don’t like it when you try to ram it down my throat or make your beliefs law.

Warren went so far as to call the Terry Schiavo debacle “an atrocity worthy of Nazism.” The only thing atrocious about the Terry Schiavo case was the behavior of the religious zealots, who manipulated the tragedy to serve their own agenda. Oh yeah, Warren has compared homosexuality to having sex with a horse (where do these clowns get their material?!!)

Warren likes to say he’s not political, but that’s bullshit. Prior to the 2004 elections, he set up voter registration booths on Saddleback’s church patio and, most telling, he sent letters to 150,000 pastors insisting their congregations vote for Bush. So when Warren insists he’s not part of the Looney evangelical right, he’s bullshitting. Actually, he’s telling a lie.

Most recently, the pastor even joined forces with rocker/ activist Bono at Live 8.

No wonder latte-sipping libruhls, Volvo owners, and sinners alike are so out of the loop. Rick Warren is one of the most influential leaders in the country, yet most people outside of the church know next to nothing about him. The likely successor to Billy Graham’s mantle has ministered to leaders such as George Bush, Bill Clinton (talk about stealth conservativism!), and Rupert Murdoch and claims to have personally signed a copy of the Purpose Driven Life for Fidel! LOL!

Warren’s influence is puzzling for me. I mean, he really believes that David killed a giant with a slingshot and other biblical stories you are likely to catch on Xena: Warrior princess reruns. He also believes that Noah had never seen rain before The Flood, because in Old Testament times “God irrigated the earth from the ground up.” He believes and states all of the above and yet he has influenced millions. If I tried that shit, I’d be put away (again).

Warren’s Purpose Driven Life encourages people to discover their own God-given purpose through forty daily readings in order to achieve happiness in life. His “God is Your Buddy” preaching style (as well as his Hawaiian shirt collection) defines his God-given purpose. I always get nervous around people who think (and say) their doing “God’s work” because who the fuck knows if it’s true?!! LOL! You have a direct line to God?!! Seriously, being that absolute is, in my not so humble opinion, the root of 90% of the world’s problems. I get nervous when people start saying their doing God’s work because historically speaking that’s usually entails a lot of pain.

Warren’s true genius lies in marketing. He set out with the conscious purpose of seeking to bring sinners to his church. Employing focus group mentality and methodology, he’s one of the innovators of the “seeker sensitive” branch of evangelicalism: casual churches where sinners will feel comfortable. Seeker sensitive churches like Warren’s are in the business of marketing themselves to sinners. Pastors like Warren intentionally orchestrate the church experience to appeal to sinners. By the way, according to Warren, sinners are “unrepentant pagans.” So you ma’fuccan Wiccans leave that New Agey mumbo jumbo at home! LOL!

Church slogans at Saddleback promise “God’s extreme Makeover” and sermons can be watched in a variety of settings, including on-premises café equipped with live feeds of the service.

I call it “Corporate Christianity” and I doubt it resembles anything even closely remote to the teachings of a 1^st century radical rabbi who hung out with a bunch of losers and outcasts.

But here’s Warren’s true purpose in his own words (discussing the launching of his international PEACE Plan):

“Jesus said, ‘This Gospel shall be preached into all the world to every nation and then the end will come.’ He’s not coming back until that happens… The question is will we get to be the ones who get to be on it or not. Will we be the generation who says, ‘Let’s make this happen!’”

You should be scared…

Love,

Eddie

Homophobia

¡Hola! Everybody,
When I came to work today (I’m usually the first one in), there was a huge flood -- the result of a busted pipe in our upstairs cafeteria. The rest of my day will be spent dealing with canceling appointments and rescheduling meetings. My morning “blog time” was subsumed by the flood, so it’s another repost. Most of you haven’t read this and those that do read me, don’t read everything, so it may be worthwhile.

On another note, I plan to be in Phillie on the 21^st of this month. If any of my readers live there (or near there), let me know, I’ll stay an extra day and we’ll dinner or something. I’ll be attending more conferences this year, so I may be coming to a city near you.

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-=[ Homophobia and Religious Fundamentalism ]=-

The issue of gay marriage is always a hot button topic (which is really a civil rights issue!). Opposition, especially in the Bible Belt and among religious conservatives, has been fierce, religion being used as the weapon of choice against homosexuality. Of equal importance, in terms of the national polity, has been the issue of religious extremism, or religious fundamentalism. Unfortunately, we have our own homegrown extremism right here in the states, though you wouldn't be able to tell.

Nothing has been more effective in uncovering the dark side of homophobia than the work of researchers. One researcher, who interviewed over 400 men incarcerated for gay-bashing noted that the gay bashers generally saw nothing wrong in what they did, and more often than not, stated that their religious leaders and traditions condoned their behavior. One particular adolescent stated that the pastor of his church had said, “Homosexuals represent the devil, Satan,” and that the Rev. Jerry Falwell had echoed that charge.

Such Christians opposed to equality for homosexuals almost always appeal to the moral imperatives of the Bible, claiming that Scripture is very clear on the matter, often citing verses that support their opinion. If others disagree, they accuse them of perverting and distorting texts contrary to their “clear” meaning. However, if one were to investigate further they are not so clear when it comes to economic conduct (the so-called “free market”), the responsibilities of wealth, and greed.

I have seen that there are basically nine biblical citations usually invoked as relating to homosexuality. Four (Deuteronomy 23:17, I Kings 14:24, I Kings 22:46, and II Kings 23:7) simply forbid prostitution, by men and women.

Two others (Leviticus 18:19-23 and Leviticus 20:10-16) are part of what some biblical scholars call the Holiness Code. The code explicitly bans homosexual acts. However, it also prohibits eating raw meat, planting two different kinds of seed in the same field and wearing garments with two different kinds of yarn. In addition, tattoos, adultery, and sexual intercourse during a woman’s menstrual period are also expressly prohibited -- outlawed, actually.

Now, get this: there is no mention of homosexuality in the four Gospels of the New Testament! The moral teachings of Jesus are not concerned with the subject.

In addition to the above, three references from St. Paul are frequently cited (Romans 1:26-2:I, I Corinthians 6:9-11, and Timothy 1:10).But Paul was concerned with homosexuality only because in Greco-Roman culture it represented to him a sensuality that conflicted with his own Jewish/ Christian spiritual upbringing. He was actually against lust and sensuality in anyone, including heterosexuals. To say that homosexuality is bad because homosexuals are tempted to commit morally doubtful acts is to also say that heterosexuality is bad because heterosexuals are like-wise tempted (I delve a little more into this in my second installment on the history of love).

For Paul, anyone who places his or her interest ahead of God’s is condemned, a verdict that falls equally on everyone, gay or straight.

Let’s take Sodom and Gomorrah and recall that the story is not about sexual perversion and homosexual practice. It is about inhospitability, according to Luke 10:10-13, and failure to care for the poor, according to Ezekiel 16:49-50: “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.”

The reason why fundamentalism is so dangerous is that, in the hands of religious conservatives and nut jobs like the Revs. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, as well as the hundreds of lesser-known, but just as dangerous clerics, preachers, and pundits, is they use Scripture to incite otherwise good people to act from an attitude of fear rather than their virtues.

Fortunately, the religious right does not speak for all US Christians. In fact, in survey after survey, the vast majority of Americans actually disagree with the likes of Falwell and Robertson. I would suppose that a good many Christians are included in that group. I would also like to state right here and now that if I am judging any Christian for whatever reason, then I am no better than the very people I am critiquing. Who am I to say who is a good, or “real,” Christian or not? Moreover, isn’t that very same fundamentalism we pretend to abhor -- just another form of self-righteousness?

In any case, the bible is not for Christians alone to interpret. Advocates of slavery, for example, actually used the very same bible (very convincingly, I might add) to protect their own demented economic self-interests. On the other hand, it was this very same Bible that inspired slaves to revolt and liberate themselves.

Get this: they same Bible that was used to keep churches segregated is the source of inspiration of the Rev. Martin Luther King, jr. and the civil liberties movements of the 1960s.

The same bible that anti-feminists use to keep women silent in churches, is the very same Bible that preaches liberation and says that in Christ there is neither male nor female, slave nor free.

Similarly, the same bible that on the basis of some archaic (and now useless) social code of ancient Israel and a tortured reading of Paul is used to condemn all homosexuals and homosexual behavior, also includes metaphors of redemption, renewal, inclusion, and love. These are principles that invite homosexuals to accept themselves and take responsibility for their freedom and demands that their fellow Christians accept them as well.

Love,

Eddie