Editorial: Christianity Inc. Strikes Again

Washington D. C. -- In Tennessee today, a bill passed that state's Senate Education Committee which would prohibit teachers from discussing homosexuality in kindergarten through eighth-grade classrooms. According to the Knoxville News Sentinel's Capital reporter, Tom Humphrey:

The measure (SB49) is sponsored by Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, who unsuccessfully pushed the same idea - nicknamed the "don't say gay" bill - for six years as a member of the state House before he was elected to the Senate.

As introduced, the bill would have put into law a declaration that it is illegal to discuss any sexual behavior other than heterosexuality prior to the ninth grade.

I spoke by phone this afternoon with Mr. Humphrey, who told me that Senator Campfield is absolutely convinced that Tennessee schools are teaching kids about homosexuality. Humphrey also told me that spokespersons for both the Tennessee State Board of Education and the state Department of Education testified before that same committee that they are unaware of any such activity.

Does this bill have a chance for passage? Political observers in Tennessee say that most likely it will not, but then again, that part of the American political landscape falls under the influences of the theocratic thinking legislators from the Christian Right, who have made it abundantly clear that as far as they are concerned, it's perfectly acceptable to have the majority vote on the rights of a minority- particularly Gay folks.

What begs the question is why? Why is this so damn necessary? The Anti-Gay Christian Right claims that the LGBT activists are acting in a pseudo fascist way to push an agenda that runs contrary to the values of most Americans. They MUST save America's children from the evil Homosexuals.

Indeed? Closer to the truth is the fact that slamming Gays is profitable and lucrative not only financially but politically. Virtually everyday I walk by the "House that Hate Built," the headquarters of the Family Research Council on G street here in Washington. Its in an up and coming gentrified redeveloped area around DC's Chinatown, across the street from the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. Its sitting on an expensive parcel of property and frankly, its an expensive looking building as well. That building was built with dollars generated by the fear tactics employed by the FRC against a non-existent "Homosexual" agenda. Bashing Gays is big business and these people earn their livelihood doing so.

The last time I checked, the only true "agenda" if you will to what any LGBTQ person wanted was the ability to live their life unfettered and free not unlike their fellow citizens. Imagine that? Only wanting to be able to have the freedom to love, marry, and raise a family.

That state senator mentioned above has spent the past few years getting himself reelected and most likely, deriving income for his campaigns, by utilising fear tactics taken out of the Anti-Gay playbook similar to FRC or the American Family Association, etc.

Imagine for just a moment, that instead of focusing all of that money, and all of those efforts on demonising the LGBTQ folk, that money was spent on badly needed financial assistance for education, job training, or even medical help for the citizens who cannot afford health insurance or proper medical/dental care.
The Tennessee bill wasn't the only bit of annoying Anti-Gay news today, nope, there was this earlier today on Joe.My.God's blog:

It is very concerning that your company would knowingly advertise during a television show that condones and promotes transgender lifestyles to an audience that is almost exclusively watched by young teens and children. You would think by the number of episodes that MTV devotes to including the relationship between a female to male transgender high school student and a bi-sexual lesbian student that such relationships are a common occurrence in America’s high schools. The odds of this bizarre relationship occurring in high schools are extremely rare. Yet, MTV feeds this salacious and irresponsible propaganda to an audience made up of almost exclusively young teens and children as if it were common place. MTV airs a free promo for PFLAG on DeGrassi which directs kids to an organization that will encourage our youth to embrace a different sexual identity that may stay with them for life. Will your company continue to advertise on this irresponsible show?

That text was from a letter delivered to sponsors of the MTV Network show Degrassi from the Florida Family Association's chairman David Caton, who has launched an advertiser boycott against MTV because the network's Degrassi series positively portrays a young transgender man. [ Degrassi airs on MTV's Teen Nick channel.]
Followed by a lovely bit of news that Oklahoma's Republican Governor signed a bill into law that severely restricts a woman's reproductive rights making abortions after 20 weeks a felony.
From the Huffington Post:

Republican Gov. Mary Fallin has signed a pair of bills intended to further restrict abortion in Oklahoma.
Fallin on Wednesday signed a bill that makes it a felony for doctors to perform abortions after a woman reaches 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act" presumes a fetus can experience pain after 20 weeks. It includes an exemption for abortions performed when the life of the mother is at risk or if there is a risk of physical impairment of a "major bodily function."

I'm fairly certain that there was yet another "Christian inspired" movement that preceded that legislation.
For now, I'm seriously at the point where I am wondering where this nonsense is going to end.

~ Brody Levesque