Persecuted Christians
In the aftermath of the passage of Prop 8 in California, gays have become the ultimate scapegoat. Not only have we been told that it is our fault for not reaching out to the homophobes in the African American community, now they are uncritically reporting that bigots who contributed to the Yes on 8 campaign are being threatened by angry gays and lesbians and therefore want the fact that they contributed hidden from public scrutiny:
Supporters of the ballot measure that banned gay marriage in California have filed a lawsuit seeking to block their campaign finance records from public view, saying the reports have led to the harassment of donors.
“No one should have to worry about getting a death threat because of the way he or she votes,” said James Bopp Jr., an attorney representing two groups that supported Proposition 8, Protect Marriage.com and the National Organization for Marriage California. “This lawsuit will protect the right of all people to help support causes they agree with, without having to worry about harassment or threats.”
Mr. Bopp can go fuck himself as far as I’m concerned. Once again we have the typical reaction from the religious right. To turn gay people into some kind of scary boogie man who is going to kill you and recruit all of your children. How about this for a reply: Nobody should have to worry about getting death threats for their choice of who they want to marry. I bet I could come up with a whole lot more examples of gay men and women being beaten, raped, and killed by so-called christians then the other way around. In fact I challenge the AP to come up with even ONE instance of a gay person committing violence against a prop 8 supporter.
But this is just typical propaganda. They want to turn the victim into the victimizer. Just read anything from 1930’s Germany about the Jews and you’ll get the picture. Instead of reporting about the people who poured millions of dollars to strip the rights away from other Americans, the AP wants you to feel sympathy for them because the evil gays are threatening them with violence. BULLSHIT!
Furthermore, I agree with Bopp that everyone has the right to the secrecy of their vote in this country. That does not, however, extend to contributions to campaigns. Everyone else in this country knows that when they contribute to a campaign that that information becomes public. When I google my name, the first thing that comes up is the donor tracker thing from Huff Post showing exactly how much I donated to Hillary Clinton this year. And while I may regret some of those donations now given her silence on the flagrant corruption and lies of the administration that she is now a part of, I knew going in that such information would be public. Those are the rules, right? Hell, ask Murphy at Puma Pac about people making hay out of your former contributions. Of course the smears against her were ludicrous, but she never said that her privacy had been violated because her previous donations had been made public. That’s because she is not a hypocrite. In fact, even your voting record is public (ask Caroline Kennedy), the only thing that is private is who, or what, you choose to vote for.
But the AP and the bigots for whom they are pumping out propaganda think the donors need protection (special rights if you will) from the scary gays, so they have filed a lawsuit:
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Sacramento, asks the court to order the secretary of state’s office to remove all donations for the proposition from its Web site.
It also asks the court to relieve the two groups and “all similarly situated persons” from having to meet the state’s campaign disclosure requirements. That would include having to file a final report on Proposition 8 contributions at the end of January, as well as reports for any future campaigns the groups undertake…
The lawsuit filed Wednesday cites a series of incidents in which those who gave money to support Proposition 8 received threatening phone calls, e-mails and postcards. One woman claims she was told: “If I had a gun, I would have gunned you down along with each and every other supporter.”
Another donor reported a broken window, one said a flier calling him a bigot was distributed around his hometown and others received envelopes containing suspicious white power, according to the lawsuit.
If you read the whole article, the author subtly turns from accusations of physical violence, as above, to legitimate forms of protest against people who support hate:
Businesses employing people who contributed to the Proposition 8 campaign have been threatened with boycotts, the suit said.
But, really, what is this all about? Well I have a guess, and its green and it doesn’t grow on trees. That’s right, money:
Supporters of the gay marriage ban fear the donor backlash will hurt their efforts to raise money in the future, perhaps to fight an initiative seeking to overturn the ban.
“Several donors have indicated that they will not contribute to committee plaintiffs or similar organizations in the future because of the threats and harassment directed at them as a result of their contributions … and the public disclosure of that fact,” the lawsuit said.
Now we get to the part where the bigots expose themselves for the
WWJD?
unbelievable capacity that they have for hypocrisy. If you look closely enough, they are using the very opposite strategy that they have used for years to defend their persecution of gay people.
For example, the lawsuit claims that:
laws requiring disclosure of campaign contributions can be overturned or restricted if a group can make “an uncontroverted showing” that identifying its members can result in economic reprisals or threats of physical coercion.
So what about the boycott of Disney for their support of gays and lesbians by these very same people? Or for that matter the boycott of any organization that dares to show solidarity with gays and lesbians?
And these are also the same people, who are SO afraid for their safety that they want special protection under the law, that have been screaming for years that including gays and lesbians under hate crime statutes would not only give gays special, unfair, protective status, it would violate the first amendment rights of every preacher in the land that opposes homosexuality. This is from Concerned Women for America:
Liberal activists increasingly invoke such phrases as “hostile speech” and a “climate of violence” to describe pro-family opinion on homosexual issues. The net effect is to reclassify legitimate opinion and free speech as “hate speech” that can be censored…
As the definition of “hate crimes” expands, practitioners of traditional religion and those who support policies favoring the traditional family increasingly will face legal sanctions.
What a bunch of whining hypocrites. If you are going to use your money to support the denial of civil rights to Americans, you should at least have the guts to take it when people question your moral integrity, and in particular choose to not spend their money where it may support you. But these bigots want it both ways. They claim to be victims of discrimination in need of protection from the courts while at the same time wanting to continue their own discrimination against gays and lesbians without repercussions. And in the hypocrisy of all hypocrisies, it is this very discrimination that they want protected. It is starting to make my head spin. Well homophobes, you paid for Prop 8, now you own it. Don’t complain now, because as I’m sure you’re all aware, in a capitalist system such as ours, caveat emptor….of course I’m sure we could make a deal that if we make your donations private, it also cancels out your vote, but somehow I don’t think you’ll find that fair.
SILENCE=DEATH
Posted by garychapelhill 
