Brody's Scribbles.. Have You Noticed A Certain Shrillness In The Air?

By Brody Levesque | WASHINGTON DC -- As LGBTQ persons celebrate Pride this month it seems that those opposed to equality & human dignity appear to have become more shrill in their denunciation of any LGBTQ person or their rights.

For example, the retail clothing giant OLD NAVY is selling t-shirts that celebrate LGBTQ persons as a vital and vibrant component of the human species. As you can imagine, the so-called "Family Values Crowd" led by the Mississippi based American Family Association's Bryan Fischer is morally outraged, disgusted, and whatever other applicable term they pick by this "repugnant" acknowledgment of "immoral behaviour" by the clothing retailer. The AFA is also blasting home improvement retailer Home Depot for supporting the "immoral" conduct of LGBTQ persons.

There's also been an uptick of anti-gay tirades launched by the Family Research Council condemning for example U. S. Defence Secretary Gate's wholly appropriate response to a U. S. Marine Sergeant who questioned why those who thought homosexuality was immoral and wrong couldn't be allowed to leave the service before their contract had run its course. The Secretary in so many words told the Marine to get over himself. FRC's Tony Perkins was beside himself that the poor young Marine's "values" and "beliefs" were being ignored if not outright rejected by the Secretary and the Defence Department as a whole.

Then today comes word from the Houston Chronicle that Texas Governor Rick Perry is holding a "prayer" event in August because of what the Governor sees as a breakdown of "American Values." The Chronicle reports:

Gov. Rick Perry's Aug. 6 day of prayer and fasting at Reliant Stadium is generating significant heat nationwide, with critics protesting the exclusively Christian focus of the event and Perry's partnership with the controversial American Family Association, which advocates against gay rights.

Expressing objections on a variety of religious and cultural grounds, some opponents have organized a protest on Facebook, while others are urging the nation's 49 other governors invited by Perry to boycott the event.

To host the Reliant Park event, Perry chose the Mississippi-based American Family Association, a nonprofit that operates a network of 192 radio stations with 2 million followers that has been labeled a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center for what the SPLC calls the dissemination of "known falsehoods" about homosexuality. The AFA also has called for numerous boycotts against companies and entities it says "promote the homosexual agenda."

Of course LGBTQ organisations are not happy with this:

"Governor Perry's decision to work with such blatantly anti-LGBT groups on an event billed as a day of prayer is disturbing," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights organization. "Governor Perry has called on governors from all other states to join him in recognizing the day of prayer. HRC is calling on governors across the nation to not support the August 6th event, and take a stand against the hijacking of religious values by those who actively work to suppress LGBT Americans."

All of this begs the question- Why? Seriously, in these tough times with 9% and higher unemployment, with foreclosure rates rising, and with other ills of society not being addressed, why is the christian right so obsessed with demonising LGBTQ persons?

Yesterday the Catholic Charities in Illinois announced that it was going to sue the state today over Gay adoptions according to this from the Chicago Tribune:

"In this lawsuit, Catholic Charities is seeking a declaration from the court that what charities are doing is completely legal and it's proper under Illinois law and that they may continue their decades long practice of dealing with married couples and singles who are not cohabitating, " says Peter Breen with Thomas More Society. It is representing Catholic Charities.

Catholic Charities is suing the state over new legislation that would require it to place children with gay or unmarried couples. It claims it is exempt from provisions of a state law that lets gay and straight couples form civil unions.

"Illinois law protects Catholic Charities and other religiously based adoption agencies due to their significant religious beliefs from being bound by those laws," says Breen.

What strikes me though above everything else that I am seeing being reported in the media is that the American people, or at least those being polled by Gallup & other credible polling outfits, is that the vast majority of Americans are getting past rampant homophobia. 

However, this doesn't seem to stop the shrillness those of the "Family" values crowd which makes me think that Americans are finally figuring out that all those organisations are based on is getting money to "hate the gay" and that's all there is to them.