To This Day (Video Sunday)

Check out the "To This Day" project.

One town's war on gay teens

Rolling Stone has a searing article about the rate of suicides in the Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota (Michelle Bachman's district). It is a must read, as it shows how a culture grew up in which teachers were not allowed to make any positive references to gay people, and literally looked the other way as gay kids were bullied mercilessly. At the same time, the local right wingers explained the spate of gay suicides as having nothing to do with bullying, and entirely reflecting the "unhealthiness" of being gay.

 This is an utter failure of institutions that should put a child's welfare first. It's a shameful example of the bigotry, ignorance and hatred against which we must continue to fight--and a shameful example of how so-called "Christians" can be anything but.  Here's a selection (my emphases) but you should definitely read the whole thing 

 Yet while everyone in the district was buzzing about the neutrality policy, the board simply refused to discuss it, not even when students began appearing before them to detail their experiences with LGBT harassment. "The board stated quite clearly that they were standing behind that policy and were not willing to take another look," recalls board member Wenzel. Further insulating itself from reality, the district launched an investigation into the suicides and unsurprisingly, absolved itself of any responsibility. "Based on all the information we've been able to gather," read a statement from the superintendent's office, "none of the suicides were connected to incidents of bullying or harassment."  

 Just to be on the safe side, however, the district held PowerPoint presentations in a handful of schools to train teachers how to defend gay students from harassment while also remaining neutral on homosexuality. One slide instructed teachers that if they hear gay slurs – say, the word "fag" – the best response is a tepid "That language is unacceptable in this school." ("If a more authoritative response is needed," the slide added, the teacher could continue with the stilted, almost apologetic explanation, "In this school we are required to welcome all people and to make them feel safe.") But teachers were, of course, reminded to never show "personal support for GLBT people" in the classroom.

Who is the bully?

I'm getting tired of the religious opponents of equality claiming that THEY are being bullied.

Last time I checked, I wasn't trying to deny the civil rights.  I wasn't denigrating their families, telling lies about them, and demonizing them.  I'm not suing to get married in their churches (something they lie about  regularly).  I am perfectly happy to let them believe what they want and live as they choose.  I only want them to return the favor.

It's ironic, isn't it ?  that they feel free to say the most insulting, vicious things about us, and when we complain, they bleat about persecution.  But no one is assaulting them for being Christian though they claim they are at risk.  By contrast, hate crimes against gay people in California went up by 17% after Prop H8 passed.  And we're not talking about stealing a yard sign before an election.  (More here).

Disagreeing is not bullying.  Religions who force their faith in the public square don't get a bye from being challenged.

Recently, Kate Kendell took on Elizabeth Santorum, who claims persecution because the mean ol' gay  people don't like their relationships being compared to bestiality, incest, and polygamy.

Your husband believes that LGBT people cannot be trusted to serve in the military, raise children, form stable relationships or be fully respected under the law. According to you, Rick may love us, but honey, his love is killing us, and we want nothing to do with this abusive relationship. Our community has endured expulsion from family, mass firings, daily epithets, assaults, harassment, humiliation, death, and suicides. We know that if your husband becomes president of our country our long suffering will only deepen and magnify.

So yes, we are calling him what he is: a sanctimonious bigot who believes that we are dangerous, sick, and evil. We are telling the truth about his vision and his beliefs about us. That is NOT bullying, it's about saving our own lives. Your husband would erase the landmark and life-saving changes we have seen over the past few years, and revisit the hell of a government that does not see us as fully human. Given what so many of my brothers and sisters live through daily, you calling us bullies is contemptible.

In Mississippi, about 46% of Republicans think inter-racial marriage should be illegal.  I find that an abhorrent statistic in 2012. Nationally, something under 20% of people think interracial marriage is wrong.   I would such an opinion bigoted:

•obstinately convinced of the superiority or correctness of one's own opinions and prejudiced against those who hold different opinions  
• expressing or characterized by prejudice and intolerance :

 I have pointed out before that it took until the 90s for a plurality of people to approve of inter-racial marriage, which was made legal in 1967, when a scant 20% approved!

By contrast, over half of Americans now believe that gays should have the rights of civil marriage.  An additional 25% or so think we should have civil unions.  But the conservative Mormons and the Roman Catholic hierarchy think that they have the right to force their religious views on the rest of the country dissallowing marriage AND civil unions between same sex couples.

And they claim persecution when we challenge them.  Why are we letting them get away with this?

Michigan's bully protection law: the religious right plays victim

Why is Michigan protecting religious tormenters? You may have heard by now that Michigan passed an "anti-bullying law" that exempts anyone who bullies based on religious belief. That is, if a "Christian" kid harasses a gay kid, and says that his religions says gays are an abomination, it's protected speech.

Because, you know, the real question is Who Would Jesus Bully?

Amy Sullivan writes,

This year, Republicans only agreed to consider an anti-bullying measure that did not require school districts to report bullying incidents, did not include any provisions for enforcement or teacher training, and did not hold administrators accountable if they fail to act. …. But it was the addition of special protections for religiously-motivated bullying that led all 11 Democratic senators to vote against the legislation they had long championed.…

To understand what happened in Michigan, it’s important to know that social conservatives consider themselves the real victims. ....In other words, social conservatives believe that efforts to protect gays from assault, discrimination or bullying impinge on their religious freedom to express and act on their belief that homosexuality is an abomination. That’s stating it harshly, but it is the underlying belief.

This belief, however, relies on a warped understanding of religious liberty. Freedom of religious expression doesn’t give someone the right to kick the crap out of a gay kid or to verbally torment her. It doesn’t give someone the right to fire a gay employee instead of dealing with the potential discomfort of working with him.

It’s also a highly selective conception of religious liberty. The same religious conservatives who applaud the religious exemption in Michigan’s anti-bullying bill would be appalled if it protected a Muslim student in Dearborn who defended bullying a Christian classmate by saying he considered her an infidel.

Remember, the current battle over LGBT equality is with the religious right who bleat that they are the victims, that the big mean gays will storm their churches and destroy their religion, and therefore, they need unique protections from The Gay. This victim card is being widely played and needs to be recognized for what it is: the last resort of the true bullies, whose only goal is to hurt and inflict pain.

After all, you don't get to kill your parents and then claim mercy because you're an orphan.