Wednesday, February 04, 2009

The religious right's Biblically nice rhetoric

First, one little matter.

I noticed Michelle Malkin saying that due to the Tom Daschle situation, President Obama's transition has been a disaster.

Oh stop it already. Like I'm actually shocked that Malkin is criticizing Obama. She would call his State of the Union address a disaster if he coughed briefly while giving it.

If she wants induce shock, she would give President Obama credit for something.

I don't think it's a big deal. Clinton had Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood, Bush had Linda Chavez, and now Obama has Tom Daschle.

It happens and it's called getting a feel for the office.

Now onto other matters - I ran across a hilarious bit in One News Now by former Concerned Women for America spokesperson and now director of Cultural Affairs at Liberty Counsel and 2008 Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters Misinformer of the Year Matt Barber.

And what is he talking about? Why lgbt folks yet again in a piece entitled Homosexuality & the laws of moral physics.

So now being a phony expert gives one expertise in "moral physics." I guess it's not enough for the religious right to fake credentials in legitimate sciences; they are now creating imaginary ones.

Anyway, it's a rather long and ponderous piece of mumbo jumbo in which Barber cites Biblical texts talking about homosexuality (and naturally excluding the parts that say homosexuals should be executed, which is highly ironic seeing that he complains about people cherry picking the Bible).

But I noticed what isn't there. Where is the "homosexuality is a dangerous lifestyle" lie that I have come to expect from folks like him? Where are the discredited studies or the studies taken out of context?

I know. Wishful thinking.

Paul Cameron and gerbils still have a place in religious right lies about lgbts.

But I think there will be some subtleties played from now on.

This emphasis on the "religious wrongness of homosexuality" will probably be a recurrent theme. And the minute that President Obama tries to push something pro-lgbt forward, count on the religious right to use this theme to get them over in the African-American community.

It's not as farfetched as one thinks. The minute hate crimes legislation or ENDA comes up, expect the religious right to put on their consoling faces and try to be the heterosexual black community's best friend (despite months of inferring that black folks are racists for supporting Obama). Expect them to exploit the idea that black folks are highly religious and therefore disapproves of homosexuality in a high number.

As a black gay man, I can tell you that the notion is bullshit. It's the inability to talk about lgbt issues in the black community that has led the notion to flourish. But that's irrelevant right now.

What will most likely happen next will be the following - the black community will be too proud to admit that it is being used and the lgbt community will be too angry to realize that the religious right is counting on it to behave irrationally. Neither side will unite against the common enemies of ignorance and fear.

This will thereby lead to the end result - black folks will be angry, gay folks will be angry, Obama will be humbled, the religious right will have more press, and lgbts of color like myself will end up feeling like Gloria Vanderbilt after that custody trial.

Geez, I almost miss the Paul Cameronesque rhetoric already.
Maybe we are getting to Porno Petey

Peter LaBarbera is on another one of his crusades about bondage events:

BREAKING STORY — Columbus, Ohio Holiday Inn Hotel Hosts ‘Winter Wickedness’ Perversion-Fest

But this one is different.

LaBarbera is generally known for attending gay subcultural events (such as Folsom Street Fair), taking pictures of the most outrageous things he sees there, and then describing the events as indicative of the entire lgbt community.

So imagine my shock when I see that the event he has attacked this time (wait for it) has absolutely nothing to do with lgbts.

I kid you not. This alleged Winter Wickedness Perversion Fest seems to be strictly heterosexual.

Will wonders ever cease? And it brings up two points.

In the past, when Peter went on his jags about "homosexual perversion," he was accused of unfairly targeting the entire lgbt community. He would never talk about heterosexual subcultural events.

You think maybe he has taken the criticism to heart?

And one other thing. When talking about Folsom Street Fair and the like, he would use the events to generalize about the alleged perversions of homosexuality - thereby inferring that what he took pictures of was indicative of all lgbts, including those who have never attended Folsom Street Fair or any gay subcultural event.

His commentary today was free of such generalizations about the alleged "radical heterosexuals" or how heterosexuals are behind the "perversion of America."

It's an important point to remember when Peter does in fact try to use another gay subcultural event to stigmatize the entire lgbt community.