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.

Trevor project flashmob: Talk to me (video Sunday)

The Trevor Project is a suicide prevention hotline for at-risk youth.

Gay teen suicides are an act of radical activism. Really.

Baylor College is a evangelical university in Waco, TX. The students there would like a collegiate version of a gay-straight alliance. The university will not allow it. (As a private university, they have substantial leeway on issues of speech). From Change.org:

Need proof for why students on campus ought to have an outlet like the Sexual Identity Forum to discuss issues in a safe space free from rabid rhetoric or language that denies LGBT any sense of dignity? Take a look at an email Professor Francis Beckwith sent students about the Sexual Identity Forum, where he compares the idea of recognizing an LGBT group on campus with recognizing the work of Klansmen or Skinheads.

"The freedoms of speech and assembly to which you appeal are legal rights in relation to the government. Baylor is not the government. So, its policy on the proper use of our sexual powers is no more impeding your right to speech or assembly as it is impeding the rights of Klansmen and Skinheads to speak and assemble on campus," said Professor Beckwith.

Don't you just love how a group like the Sexual Identity Forum -- which really wants to just create a safe space for students of all walks of life to talk about things like bullying, suicide, and harassment -- all of a sudden magically becomes this political group capable of overturning Baylor's religious history? Prof. Beckwith continues in the note, suggesting that terms like "LGBT suicide" and "bullying" are actually political terms meant to push a radical gay rights agenda.

"Although you describe your forum as 'respectful,' the terms you employ for discussion are not respectful. They reveal a deep hostility to those who believe that homosexual conduct is disordered: 'hate crimes,' 'homophobia,' and 'LGBT suicide.' Each of these terms has been employed numerous times in the public square to intimidate and marginalize many of my brothers and sisters in Christ who as a matter of conscience cannot cooperate with the approval of homosexual conduct, since they believe such conduct is deleterious to the good of the human person," Prof. Beckwith adds.

Wow. Just wow. So it's not the bullying by people who hate gays, or the physical violence that some do in the Lord's name against LGBT people that deserves condemnation, according to Prof. Beckwith. Its gay rights activists who, in simply talking about hate crimes or suicide, marginalize Christians.

Prof Beckwith's entire email is a piece of work. He's a devout Catholic, by the way. Love how he co-opts the term "Christian", once again suggesting that all Christians are monolithic on this subject. But along with Change.org, I'm really amazed that LGBT suicide is a act of homosexual radicalism. I'm still shaking my head over that one.

Stop the Bullying: Seth's Mom tells his story (video Sunday)

Because every child is precious.

Another bullying victim commits suicide

From Pennsylvania.

Students at Midd-West High School cried out against bullying Friday as they mourned the loss of a classmate who in the early morning hours walked about 13 miles from his home to Routes 11-15, where he ran in front of a southbound tractor-trailer after leaving a suicide note at his home.

Freshman Brandon Bitner, 14, of Mount Pleasant Mills, ran in front of the truck at 3 a.m. near Liverpool, according to state police at Newport.....

There seems to be little doubt in the students’ minds why Bitner did what he did.

“It was because of bullying,” friend Takara Jo Folk wrote in a letter to The Daily Item.

“It was not about race, or gender, but they bullied him for his sexual preferences and the way he dressed. Which,” she said, “they wrongly accused him of.”

Bullying a gay kid for being gay attacks their very being. And the Conservative groups that protest anti-bullying legislation want the ability to continue to attack. Gabriel Arana writes at The American Prospect ,

One Minnesota city changed its policy to require that teachers be "neutral" when it comes to discussing sexual orientation (so a teacher can tell kids not to call the gay kid "gay," but she can't tell the class that there's nothing wrong with being gay).

He also distinguishes "bullying" from "harassment". He follows up on Americablog,

Conservative Christians like to pretend that there's a big difference between picking on a gay kid -- i.e., "bullying" -- and disapproving of homosexuality, but in reality one stems from the other. In practice, it's tough to indoctrinate someone into thinking being gay is wrong, immoral, disgusting, and then ask him or her to treat a gay person with respect; it's a natural human instinct to recoil from things that you perceive to be bad or harmful, and no matter how many times you pledge to "love the sinner but not the sin," when it comes down to it, even adults can't carry that out, much less children.

Meanwhile another child is dead.

Voices of Faith Speak Out: it starts with us

Excerpts from a sermon by the Rev Michael Hopkins, Episcopal Priest.

So who in their right mind let the Samaritan lepers into the Church? Jesus did. And too many of his followers have been trying to keep them out ever since. And this exclusion is death dealing to our young people. .....

You know the world doesn’t have to be like that. God doesn’t want it to be like that. The Church should not want it to be like that either, or it should just close up shop because it isn’t good for a whole helluva lot, making straight white “normal” people feel better about themselves while at best ignoring the rest of us and at worst seeking to do us harm in the name of an angry God.

The antidote starts here, as always, with our own thanks, which has the power to heal and to save. Let us receive this power of acceptance and go forth into the world as Samaritan lepers, all of us, full of good news.

And let us be clear to our brothers and sisters, “You must stop your words that take away people’s worth. They are death dealing. Young people listen to them and kill themselves. Stop, just stop it, in the name of Jesus Christ, stop it.”

Voices of Faith Speak Out: ecumenical statement against bullying

There's a statement signed by diverse groups including The Episcopal Church, The United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalists, the Baptist Alliance, the Presbyterians, the Metropolitan Community Church and many others: Clergy against bullying call for action and time of healing in wake of gay teen suicides and anti-gay violence

We, as leaders of faith, write today to say we must hold ourselves accountable, and we must hold our colleagues in the ministry, accountable for the times, whether by our silence or our proclamations, our inaction or our action, we have fueled the kinds of beliefs that make it possible for people to justify violence in the name of faith. Condemning and judging people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity can have deadly consequences, both for the victims of hate crimes and those who commit them.

There is no excuse for inspiring or condoning violence against any of our human family. We may not all agree on what the Bible says or doesn't say about sexuality, including homosexuality, but this we do agree on: The Bible says, "God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God and God in them." Abiding in love – together – is the rule we must all preach, teach, and seek to live by.....

To that end, we pledge to urge our churches, our individual parishes or offices, our schools and religious establishments to create safe space for each and every child of God, without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity. And we ask you to join us in that pledge.

Today, we personally pledge to be LGBT and straight people of faith standing together for the shared values of decency and civility, compassion and care in all interactions. We ask you, our colleagues, to join us in this pledge.

We want our children and the children of the communities we serve to grow up knowing that God loves all of us and that without exception, bullying and harassment, making fun of someone for perceived differences, and taunting and harming others is wrong. The Golden Rule is still the rule we want to live by.

We pray today that you will join us in being the faces of a faith that preaches and demonstrates God's universal acceptance and offers to one and all safe space to live, to learn, and to love and be loved.

Obama: It Gets Better (video)

Okay. Thank you Mr President.

Tony Perkins Defends Bullying

The epidemic of suicide of LGBT youth has been in the press of late. And, true to form, Right Wing Culture Warrior Tony Perkins, of the Family Research Council, is directly in place to promulgate lies (thanks to an op/ed in the Washington Post).

The Washington Post says that Perkins' column is necessary balance to the on-line chat they hosted with gay activist Dan Savage. Of course, that's like saying an article about geology needs to be balanced by a rebuttal from the Flat Earth Society. Do they balance civil rights stories with polemics from white supremicists?

Perkins rant looks terribly scholarly, with links to actual research, but as usual he picks and chooses and mis-represents that which he is quoting. He says,:

Some homosexuals may recognize intuitively that their same-sex attractions are abnormal--yet they have been told by the homosexual movement, and their allies in the media and the educational establishment, that they are "born gay" and can never change. This--and not society's disapproval--may create a sense of despair that can lead to suicide....The most important thing that Christians can offer to homosexuals is hope--hope that their sins, just like the sins of anyone else, can be forgiven and their lives transformed by the power of Jesus Christ.

As Dan Savage says,

The religious right points to the suicide rate among gay teenagers—which the religious right works so hard to drive up (see above)—as evidence that the gay lifestyle is destructive. It's like intentionally running someone down with your car and then claiming that it isn't safe to walk the streets.

But one of the most moving take-downs is in a rebuttal piece by Sirdeaner Walker whose son Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover killed himself because of anti-gay bullying.

Mr. Perkins' tactic, and that of others like him, is to use faith and religion to divide us. They seek to thwart efforts to deal with a problem at the heart of this current crisis--anti-gay bullying and harassment....

And we need to be clear on one thing - addressing anti-gay bullying is not a controversial issue. If you move through the smoke screen organizations like Family Research Council try to create, you realize addressing anti-gay bullying is simply the right thing to do if we care about all of our young people.

Check out the Post site for more outraged rebuttals of Tony Perkins, like this one and this one.

Oct 20: Wear purple in memory of those lost

There's a Facebook page for this event.

On October 20th, 2010, we will wear purple in honor of the 6 gay boys who committed suicide in recent weeks/months due to homophobic abuse in their homes and at their schools. Purple represents Spirit on the LGBTQ flag and that’s exactly what we’d like all of you to have with you: spirit. Please know that times will get better and that you will meet people who will love you and respect you for who you are, no matter your sexuality. Please wear purple on October 20th. Tell your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors and schools. RIP Tyler Clementi, Asher Brown, Seth Walsh, Justin Aaberg, Raymond Chase and Billy Lucas. You are loved.

Children will listen: the NY gubernatorial candidate, and another youth suicide

A story from New York, and one from Oklahoma.

Carl Paladino, gubernatorial candidate in New York (tea-party Republican), doesn't much like gay people:

Paladino[,] told a gathering in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Sunday that children should not be “brainwashed” into thinking that homosexuality was acceptable, and criticized his opponent, Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, for marching in a gay pride parade earlier this year.

Addressing Orthodox Jewish leaders, Mr. Paladino described his opposition to same-sex marriage.

“I just think my children and your children would be much better off and much more successful getting married and raising a family, and I don’t want them brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option — it isn’t,” he said, reading from a prepared address, according to a video of the event......Newsday.com reported that Mr. Paladino’s prepared text had included the sentence: “There is nothing to be proud of in being a dysfunctional homosexual.” But Mr. Paladino omitted the sentence in his speech.

He's a good Catholic. With an illegitimate child. Well, i guess since Sarah Palin, illegitimate children in stalwart Republican families are nothing to be ashamed of. (Call me old-fashioned in my "family values", but I don't believe in bearing children outside of legal commitments. ) . Mr Paladino also has very questionable taste in the emails he forwards.

The Times goes on,

Brian Ellner, head of the marriage initiative for the gay advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, said that the Republican’s remarks were insensitive given a recent swirl of news about suicide in the gay community and antigay violence.

The New York City Police Department announced on Friday that nine men in the Bronx had lured three men they believed were gay and then tortured them. Last month, a student at Rutgers University jumped off the George Washington Bridge after two classmates broadcast his sexual encounter with a man over the Internet.

Mr Paladino of course claims he has no animus to GLBT people, even while they are being tortured and bullied to death.

Meanwhile, in Norman, Oklahoma, 19 year old Zach Harrington sat in the audience listening to a city council meeting where the locals weighed in about whether the city should acknowledge LGBT History month. A week later, he killed himself, and his family see a clear line linking the two events.

Support for and opposition to the proclamation were fairly even and the public comment portion of the agenda item lasted for three hours — the entire time allotted.

...One man said he moved to Norman because he thought it was the kind of place that would never accept the GLBT community with open arms....Some of those who opposed the proclamation claimed that members of the GLBT community would use it to infiltrate the public school system, essentially allowing the “gay lifestyle” to become a part of the curriculum....Numerous residents also claimed the Bible was their guiding light, citing the ancient text as their primary reason for opposing the proclamation and the GLBT community in general.

And for those in attendance, it was hard to ignore the intolerant grumblings, the exasperated sighs and cold, hard stares that followed comments from supporters of the GLBT proclamation....

Harrington’s family, who described him as a private young man who internalized his feelings and emotions, said it was this “toxic” environment at the Sept. 28 council meeting that may have pushed their gay son and brother over the edge.....
“When we talk about our feelings in a hypothetical way and we send our toxic thoughts out in a public setting that way, they will affect people in a negative way,” Nikki [Harrington, Zach's sister] said. “People need to think about the things they are saying and ask themselves, ‘Is this right?’”

Well, Mr Paladino?

Ellen on Tyler (video)

Gay college student commits suicide

Words fail. From AmericaBlog:

18 year old Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University in New Jersey, reportedly jumped off a bridge to his death after his roommate secretly set up spy cameras in his dorm room, filmed him making out with another guy, and then posted the videos on Twitter.

The roommate also invited his Twitter followers to come watch Tyler, live, via hidden camera during a second date. The day after, Tyler announced on Facebook that he was going to kill himself, and shortly thereafter jumped off a bridge to his death....

This is what it means to be gay in America in 2010. I think a lot of people who aren't gay, and even many who are, like to think that we're all rich and live in big welcoming cities where being gay is about as big a handicap as being left-handed. We say we want our civil rights, but I think a lot of people think we've got things pretty good, and behind closed doors, they probably call us whiners too.

And I'm sure our lives are pretty good, and just as good as straight people's, except for the part about not being able to get married, have children in many states, keep a job - oh yeah, and that nagging desire to kill ourselves because so many of us grew up thinking we were horrible people who would never be loved, or find love....

Gay civil rights isn't a "social issue." It's our lives. A lot of us, myself included, grew up thinking we'd never see the age of 30 because we'd have to kill ourselves once people found out we were gay. A lot of people have no idea how hard it is to grow up being gay. To grow up thinking God made you wrong. Thinking you will never find love. Thinking your own family and friends will disown you once they know who you really are. And hearing the President of the United States - one of the "good" guys - say that you don't deserve the right to marry the person you love.

Right on, John.