Despite a record number of states legalizing same-sex marriage, Michael Sam coming out and the very real prospect of a film about a gay mathematician taking home the ‘Best Picture’ prize at the 87th annual Academy Awards, 2014 was filled with reminders that the arc for LGBT civil rights is never a straight line. Brian Tashman at RightWingWatch.com has assembled a list of the ten worst anti-LGBT stories of 2014 demonstrating just how far we have to go on the long, hard slog toward full equality.
10.) Comparing LGBT Americans to Nazis and terrorists
It can never be said that leaders of the Religious Right don’t love their metaphors. When they’re not accusing the LGBT community of being Nazis, members of ISIS or simply your garden-variety of terrorists, Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage, Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel and Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association have all said opponents of LGBT rights today are facing a situation reminiscent of the oppression African-Americans endured under Jim Crow (minus the lynching, restrictions on voting, separate water fountains and, well, just about everything else black people went through during that period in our nation’s history.)
9.) Calls for civil disobedience to stop the gay menace
There exists no greater threat to this nation than – gasp! – full equality for members of the LGBT community. Naturally, that requires acts of civil disobedience. According to the report, “Janet Mefferd hoped that an anti-gay Rosa Parks would soon emerge, while Matt Barber, who has pledged to bring back “some of the civil disobedience that we saw in the ‘60s during those civil rights struggles” to stop the “LGBT sexual orientation agenda,” said that anti-gay activists will be acting just like Martin Luther King Jr. by demonstrating against gay rights.” Don’t forget your sunscreen. D.C. summers can be brutal.
8.) Calls for secession
Actually, this may not be a bad idea altogether. Reagan administration official, Douglas MacKinnon, has called for all the Southern states to secede in order to start a new country utterly devoted to traditional values. He wants to call it simply ‘Reagan.’ We think it should be called the United States of Texarkissolina. But we’re crazy that way.
7.) Dave Agema wins the annual ‘Gays will destroy America’ award
Well, someone had to win it. You’ll recall Mr. Agema. He’s the Michigan GOP politician who endorsed Russia’s ‘anti-propaganda’ laws as good, “common-sense” measures and published a scientific survey – not – on Facebook proving once and for all that homosexuals are “filthy.” Oh, do behave!
6.) Josh Duggar works to repeal Fayetteville’s non-discrimination ordinance out of love for gay people
Josh Duggar loves you. No, really, he does. In fact, when he sold cars, he sold cars to gay people. But, damn it, don’t you know we’re just a bunch of Klansman looking to silence the straight majority by not allowing them to discriminate based on one’s sexual orientation? (What is it with all these dreadful chapters from black history anyway?)
5.) Rick Perry’s new eyeglass frames permit him to be even dumber
Folks, don’t you get it? You see, just as you may feel the need to follow a particular lifestyle, you have the right to unfollow a particular lifestyle. Speaking in California to the Commonwealth Club, Perry states, “Whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle or not, you have the ability to decide not to do that,” Perry philosophized to audible groans from the crowd. “I may have the genetic coding that I’m inclined to be an alcoholic, but I have the desire not to do that, and I look at the homosexual issue the same way.” Must be the new frames.
4.) Ted Cruz’s DOMA 2.0
Poor Ted. While his heart has been “weeping” over the string of legal victories for same-sex marriage, he’s also been busy reconfiguring the U.S. Constitution so that “the 14th Amendment cannot be used in cases involving equal rights for gays and lesbians.” Sounds to us like the only ones weeping are the Founding Fathers who never meant the Constitution to be used as a tool to take away someone’s rights. (And isn’t “weeping” a little, well, you know, gay?)
3.) DADT: Who? Us bitter?
The ban on openly gay soldiers was lifted in 2011. But that hasn’t stopped the Religious Right from continually predicating the overthrow of our military from imminent “sissification.” But since that hasn’t happened yet, perhaps Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, is on to something: “[T]he end of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell will make the U.S. more “vulnerable to terrorism” because gay soldiers will take after the ancient Greeks in bringing their lovers to the frontlines so they can “give them massages before they go into battle.” Free massages? Sign us up!
2.) Michael Sam’s End Times-triggering kiss
How dare Michael Sam kiss his boyfriend on national television after receiving a call that he had been drafted by the St. Louis Rams? Talk about apoplectic. That kiss was called everything from “sewer filth”; “yucky”; “gross”; “cringe-inducing” and “nauseating.” And if that weren’t enough, Rush Limbaugh warned, “Sam’s decision to come out of the closet is evidence that heterosexuals are under assault.” Insert Jim Crow/Hitler/terrorist metaphor here.
1.) Uganda: We like you. We really, really like you.
Just for the record, Ugandans aren’t the only ones cheering their barbaric new anti-gay laws. Concerned Women for America, Liberty Counsel and the American Family Association defended Uganda, with the latter condemning criticisms of the law as Satanic. Meanwhile, Glenn Grothman, a Wisconsin lawmaker who last month won his race for an open seat in the U.S. House, also attacked opponents of Uganda’s anti-gay law, warning that people like Sec. John Kerry will bring about God’s judgment on America for his criticisms of Uganda. Sure, but can they identify Uganda on a map?
Stop whining. You’re winning the battle.
Gaguy – Go back to Free Republic with the rest of the traitors.
Are we being too “uppity” for your tastes?