Monday, December 04, 2017

'Religious liberty' is merely the newest weapon in the 'war on the gays'



And here we go again with what I like to call "the eternal struggle." I call it that because we've been through this before and we'll probably go through it several more times in the future.

The anti-LGBTQ industry will meet us yet again at SCOTUS combat with the stakes being our equality. More specifically, a Colorado baker, with the assistance of groups who live to rip away LGBTQ equality, will see if he can use his religion as an excuse to discriminate against the LGBTQ community. The case has far reaching implications.

Don't be fooled by the spin pushed forth by anti-LGBTQ industry groups such as hate group the Family Research Council and the baker's lawyers from another hate group, the Alliance Defending Freedom. This case is not about a simple Christian being attacked or persecuted by pushy gays (which is always the spin that side puts out there) nor is it about a cake. It's not about religious freedom or religious liberty, What it's about is the same thing as the fight for marriage equality, the sodomy laws, or even the fight over adoption has been about.

It's about groups with lots of money and influence who are willing to hide their animus against the LGBTQ community behind a religious veneer while constantly working to deprive us of equality. When you pull back the phony religious layer, you will see that we are talking about decades of ugliness.

In the 70s, they said the children must be protected from "recruitment" since gays supposedly can't reproduce.

In the 80s, they exploited the ignorance regarding the AIDS crisis to make lgbts seem like deserving pariahs.

In the 90s. it was all about keeping us from receiving unfair "special rights."

And in the early 2000's, it was all about "protecting marriage."

So now we are in the middle of yet another con job propagated by slick verbiage, straw man arguments, junk science, and anecdotal stories taken out of context - i.e. "religious liberty."

Unfortunately, helping these groups are some Christians, such as the baker, who have allowed their religion to become an entitlement, an excuse to not treat their fellow man as they expect to be treated. And both of these entities are working together against their own moral creed because their idea of God's word about gays is more important than their integrity or consistency. They are all so busy lying and falsely portraying our community as the "invading other up to no good" that not only will they not recognize us as human beings, but they want to force that vision of us into law.

And mostly, it's about the struggle of the LGBTQ community to attain a sense of equality and dignity in spite of all of the lies and spin. I have hope that we will win this one. Like I said before, we've been through this so many times.

They tried to keep states from protecting our rights. We beat them in the courts.

They tried to keep criminalize our private sexual behavior. We beat them in the courts.

They tried to keep us from adopting. We beat them again.

They tried to brand simple talk of our families into that of sexual education. Again we beat them.

They tried to keep us from marrying. Well, you know how THAT ended.

I don't know what will happen tomorrow, but this I do know - we are not a people who allows failure to define us. Knock us down and we will rise up again stronger than before. We know how to win and we don't mind doing it the hard way.

1 comment:

Critical Dragon 1177 said...

BlackTsunami,

On the subject of religious liberty and discrimination, here is some recommended reading

When ‘Religious Liberty’ Was Used To Justify Racism Instead Of Homophobia
https://thinkprogress.org/when-religious-liberty-was-used-to-justify-racism-instead-of-homophobia-67bc973c4042/