Well I see the Christianist crazies in the United States are up to their old tricks. Once they burned women and gay people. Then it was the Harry Potter books.
Now it's a book about gay teens.
The offending book is Francesca Lia Block's Baby Be-Bop, a young adult novel in which a boy, struggling with his homosexuality, is beaten up by a homophobic gang. The complaint, which according to the American Library Association also demands $120,000 (£72,000) in compensatory damages for being exposed to the book in a display at West Bend Community Memorial Library, was lodged by four men from the Christian Civil Liberties Union.
Their suit says that "the plaintiffs, all of whom are elderly, claim their mental and emotional well-being was damaged by this book at the library," and that it contains derogatory language that could "put one's life in possible jeopardy, adults and children alike."
Which sounds pretty outrageous until you check out who they are...
Kookamunga. Do you think they call him Redneck Moses...or Crawdaddy Jesus?
But of course it's not funny. Because these are the kind of crazies that whip up the hatred that leads to the killing of abortion providers and the murder of gay people.
The number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people killed in bias-motivated incidents increased by 28 percent in 2008 compared to a year ago, according to a national coalition of advocacy groups.
"What we're also seeing, more disturbingly, is the increase in the severity of violence...The more visibility there is the more likely we're going to see backlash, and that's exactly what we see here."
Which means until these Christianist terrorists are arrested or locked up in an insane asylum, more gay people are going to be hurt or killed.
Because we're not going ANYWHERE. And if they think we're visible now they ain't seen nothing yet.
Which leaves me with one nagging question.
If I used the
Not that I would eh? But say I did.
Do you think my sausages would taste of possum.... or SQUIRREL?
The Christian Civil LIBERTIES and Book Burner's Union?
Muahahahaha.
Don't make me VOMIT...
What slays me is that they style themselves the Christian Civil . . .
ReplyDeleteDidn't know that Christians had the monopoly or exclusive franchise on Civil Rights! Unless . . .there's rights for pagans, idolaters, non-born-again-Christians, Muslims, Jews, infidels and assorted sundry others.
So . . .they're saying their civil rights are more important than the laws of the land and the right of Free Speech?
And that guy at the microphone reminds me of a failed evangelist gone to pot!
What a gathering of strange Wisconsin cheese-heads.
Better there than here.
Were they also excited about Harry Potter and DaVinci Code? Don't they understand the concept of fiction or don't they understand the use of allegory and imagery in Biblical literature? And they profess to be Christian?
Goodness, what an uphill battle we have against such harmful ignorance. I was lucky to be assigned to read Herman Hesse's Demian in my first college English class when I was still 17.
ReplyDeleteOur teacher drew parallels for us between the protagonist's quest for self-realization and the struggle of gays to overcome the societal pressures towards heterosexuality that ultimately conflict with who they are. The book really clarified for me how being gay was simply another way in which someone can find themselves "not normal". Hesse illustrated how everybody has SOMETHING "not normal" about them, so it makes no sense whatsoever to cast anyone out from a full and equal place in society.
I trust I would have reached a similar conclusion some other way eventually; but at the same time I am very glad to have avoided growing up in a society where the powers that be choose to burn the books they are too afraid to understand.
And how did these fragile old religious white men manage to totter into the young readers' area to be 'exposed' to the heinous radiation being emitted by this toxic tome? They were looking for a copy of "Viagra Niagara - Sex tours for Senior Straights on the Prowl" and took a left turn (left. always a bad idea) at Albequerque?
ReplyDeleteIf nothing else, they've ensured the readership of the book will go up.
It's always nice to know that staight anglo white men of faith should be in charge of everything because they're the tough-minded, rational actors of the race. Until they're not the centre of attention and need to be rescued from horrible assaults on their emotional security and quivering psyches, hands being patted the entire time.
And then they wonder why gay seniors would like a retirement lodge that is gay-only.
Hi Torontonian...gosh I don't know about that guy. Between the speech and the beard he resembles the Christian version of Mullah Omar.
ReplyDeleteI don't know the United States that well so I don't know where these people come from...and I'm afraid to find out. :)
All I know is that since my mum is a good Christian, so I know what they look like, if anybody comes up and declares themselves Christians my answer would be prove it.
Because these fanatics aren't Christians by any stretch of the imagination...
Hi Scott...I can't remember if I read Hesse at school...too many parties and too much pool. :)
ReplyDeleteBut I do know what it feels like to be "not normal" and why I relate to all the oppressed. It's the position of an outsider...who's there but not really...since everything in the culture tells you you don't belong.
Nowadays I quite enjoy my outsider status. I think it gives me a sensitivity and sense of perspective I might not otherwise not have.
But when I was younger it was harder, and I used to wonder how it would feel like to BELONG.
Now I realize I never will so I just try to enjoy it and laugh in the face of it all.
Although with this kind of crude bigotry bombarding me all the time sometimes it's hard... :)
Hi Niles...you know that's funny, I had the same thought. How on earth did that rube bigot ever find his way into a library? And what on earth would he want another book for when the Bible is his guide to EVERYTHING?
ReplyDeleteThe good news is that I've seen YouTubes of other citizens of that town standing up to defend the library and in the end the bigots didn't get their way.So that's encouraging.
Still your last sentence is so true. Unfortunately these views are more prevalent among older people, so many gay people in senior homes are forced to go back into the closet again or live out their last days in fear.
It's something I really must blog about more, to make sure they've fixed up the problem...and installed the sauna and jacuzzi...before I arrive... :)