Poor Scott Lively? Poor David Kato? Poor Uganda? No: Poor America - Our Religious Right Got Just What It Wanted!

One of my recurring rants about the extreme Religious Right is that whatever demonizing they inculcate into the minds of people, someone is going to get killed. It's happened in the past: the demonizing of GLBT people has resulted in bashings, murders and suicides. They disavow any wrongdoing, of course, going against common knowledge - and common sense - but hiding beneath the glorious cloak of religion, they feel they can get away with most anything. The latest murder simply confirms the extent to which their aspirations in Africa will go: David Kato was a dreaded "homosexual activist" (the term made pejorative by Family Research Council's Tony Perkins) in Uganda and was one of the people featured in Rolling Stone's* front page expose headlined "Hang Them!" 

David Kato was viciously bludgeoned to death last Wednesday, amidst not only the shock and horror of Uganda's LGBT community, but of the rest of the world. Kato was also an LGBT human rights activist of some reknown. Ironically, his fame reached its height when his picture was published in that (now infamous) tabloid shot. 

KUDOS to CLINTON:

The name of David Kato was known by our own State Department and Hillary Clinton had this to say about the murder:

This crime is a reminder of the heroic generosity of the people who advocate for and defend human rights on behalf of the rest of us -- and the sacrifices they make. And as we reflect on his life, it is also an occasion to reaffirm that human rights apply to everyone, no exceptions, and that the human rights of LGBT individuals cannot be separated from the human rights of all persons....We honor David’s legacy by continuing the important work to which he devoted his life.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will undoubtedly receive a rhetorical slap in the face by Tony Perkins, who, if memory serves us correctly, enlisted the services of a lobbying group for $25,000 to stop the U.S. Congress from admonishing Uganda for its proposed "Kill the Gays" bill.

WHATEVER IT TAKES

Let the backpedaling and disassociating rhetoric begin**: Scott Lively, co-author of The Pink Swastika has stated repeatedly that he had nothing to do with the "Kill the Gays" bill in Uganda, bemoaning the fact that the bill had a death penalty. However, back in 2009, after his "successful" presentations and lectures in Kampala, Lively exuded hubris about his exploits.

From Scott Lively's Defend The Family Newsletter, Mar. 17,2009:

I'm writing from Kampala, Uganda where I am teaching about the "gay" agenda in churches, schools colleges, community groups and in Parliament. My visit here is being treated as an international crisis by the "gay" activists and their media toadies, who are spinning lies in their usual manner, but the Ugandan response has been resoundingly positive ...

He [Stephan Langa - a "ministry partner" in Uganda] said that a respected observer of society in Kampala had told him that our campaign was like a nuclear bomb against the "gay" agenda in Uganda. I pray that this, and the predictions, are true. [emphasis and parentheses mine]

I still want to send them my remaining stock of about 100 or so copies of Seven Steps, but I didn't raise any money toward this in my last appeal. If you would like to help, please make a donation at www.defendthefamily.com/help/donate.php.

The "nuclear bomb" phrase has been duly noted by many LGBT rights activists, and for good reason: militaristic rhetoric has permeated the Right for a very long time.  And note that his newsletter post ends in a request for donations to support his work and his writings. Lively's seminal work The Pink Swastika was panned by historians and sales were poor  - until he started to hawk the book through churches and organizations like the Family Research Council and American Family Association. It's still being touted in the Right Wing WorldNetDaily.com by uber-conservative Michel Farah. The Pink Swastika is a small but steady moneymaker Lively is loathe to be rid of.

A particularly chilling video of a speaking engagement in Russia chronicled by Huffington Post's Alvin McEwen shows Lively disingenously decrying the audience not to applaud and cheer whenever he mentions bashings or (in this particular case) the manslaughter of gays.  His story concerning the incident in Sacramento turned out to be entirely false  as witnessed by the people who were on the scene. Besides this video, here is actual footage (below) of Lively speaking in Uganda about the "gay agenda" and how he, above everyone else, knows the most about it. Please be advised that this footage is included here only to emphasize the sincerity of Lively's demonizing: this is how America's Religious Right views the LGBT community and presents their view to the rest of the world.

  

And by no means does this demonizing view extend only to figures like Tony Perkins, James Dobson, Pat Robertson or Bryan Fischer. Think of it: "Whatever It Takes" - the motto of Pastor Rick Warren - has a chilling sound to it these days: Warren has not come across as a friend of the LGBT community, taking so very long to denounce the "Kill the Gays" bill in Uganda and doing so only under pressure from liberal evangelicals. "Whatever It Takes" may serve to underline the demonizing attempts of people to enact a kind of genocide in the name of God. 

EXPORTING HATE

OK, that last perception came across as a bit strident. Please forgive me for being overwhelmed by the brutal reality of the Religious Right's determination. However, I am not alone in believing that certain forces were the cause of Kato's murder. According to AP interviews, the notion that Kato's death was only the result of a theft*** is not holding any sway with the LGBT community nor with many others: "David's death is a result of the hatred planted in Uganda by U.S evangelicals in 2009," said Val Kalende, a Ugandan gay rights activist. "The Ugandan government and the so-called U.S evangelicals must take responsibility for David's blood."

Whatever the views about the murder, one thing stands out above all others: America's Religious Right has exported anti-gay sentiment to Africa - vehemently.

And some say - murderously.

*absolutely no relation to Rolling Stone Magazine. 

** Don Schmierer, who co-authored, with Lively, The Pink Swastika and accompanied him to Kampala, Uganda, has stated: “Naturally, I don’t want anyone killed but I don’t feel I had anything to do with that.”

*** Deja Vu: Does anyone remember the pronouncement of Congresswoman, Virginia Foxx when countering the proposed passage of the Hate Crimes bill? With Matthew Sheperd's mother looking on in horror, Foxx recounted the brutal bashing as "... we understood it was a robbery!"

Demonizing Gays And Abusing Puppies; How the Radical Religious Right Is Killing Us With Kindness, Neglect, And One Proposition At A Time

I can demonize with the best of 'em. First, because I know when I'm demonizing something or someone. Secondly, I can sense fear and know when to use it. But most of all, I can use hyperbole and make it seem possible. For example, I can say that "the Religious Right wants gay teens to commit suicide." I didn't qualify the statement by saying "some" of the Religious Right. I played upon progressives' fears by using the word "suicide" and demonized by using "wants." Then back up the statement with something, like posting a clip of a pulpit personality ranting about the "destructive gay lifestyle." It's really rather simple, isn't it? 

Which is why "social conservatives" and Religious Right leaders demonize all the time. It has a simple formula that's quick and cheap (unless, of course, you're insecure about your ability to demonize and think you need billboards and stuff). Demonizing, of course, is not new to religion, but Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) have strong "we -are-the-only-religion" doctrines and therefore lend themselves to demonizing everyone else on a large, all-inclusive scale: It's alway "us" vs "them" and "them" is immediately demonized. In her book, The Origin Of Satan, Elaine Pagels puts the process of Christian demonizing neatly:

"Jesus' followers did not invent the practice of demonizing enemies within their own group... they drew upon  traditions they shared with other first-century Jewish sects. ..The Essenes never admitted Gentiles to their movement. But the followers of Jesus did - cautiously and provisionally at first, and against the wishes of some members. But as the Christian movement became increasingly Gentile during the second century and later, the identification of Satan primarily with the Jewish enemies of Jesus, borne along in Christian tradition over centuries, would fuel the fires of anti-Semitism."

  - Elaine Pagels, The Origin of Satan ( Vintage, 1996, p. 34)

OK, enough of Demonizing 101. Let's go on to today's primary issue: how the Radical Religious Right (RRR) will be working its demonizing "agenda" into the country's ballot boxes this November. 


This coming election day, the RRR's "agenda" will be split between Tea Baggers and Republicans. Most of the Tea Party will be focusing on less government (always good for the RRR), while the Republican Party will concentrate on the RRR's other ideals: eradicating abortion, eradicating the "gay agenda," erasing the idea of global warming, slowly promoting the ideas of Dominionism and "Christian Only" republicanism, promoting the status quo (doing nothing), repealing as much "progressive" legislation as possible and promoting capitalism. They will, of course, cover everything with a beautiful cloak they call: "for the good of the country." 


Now let's look at some of the propositions and amendments that are on state ballots. There's a great website called Ballotpedia.org that lists and parses (impartially) all propositions for Nov. as well as ones in previous years and ones that are coming up in  the  future. So, from Ballotpedia.org, here goes (my own demonizing is in red):


MISSOURI: 


Proposition B - "Puppy Mill Cruelty" legislation. RRR: We love puppies, but not to the extent that we have to expand government to protect them. (Translation: "who cares?")


OREGON: 


Measure 74 - State to license marijuana farmers who can distribute crop to medical marijuana dispensaries. RRR: More crime! Costs too much! Too much regulation!! (Plus: We wouldn't be getting any money out of it!) NOTE: There are 26 local propositions concerning legalization of marijuana nationwide.


KANSAS: 


Question 1 - Allow citizens to bear arms in the state. RRR: The U.S. Constitution isn't enough! And tear out that part in the KANSAS Constitution about " no standing armies and militias"! (Bo Gritz will love us forever)
Question 2 - (file this one in the "WTF?" category) Eliminate mental illness as a voting disqualification. RRR: "These people are our friends. They are everyday Kansans. They have jobs, pay taxes and vote." (They also shoot guns)


ARIZONA: 


Proposition 107 - Amend Civil Rights Act to effectively ban all affirmative action legislation. RRR: "We should be judging people on their character and their merit and not their skin color or their sex..."  (But ya do, Blanche, ya do). 
Proposition 203  - Legalization of Medical Marijuana. RRR: "Saying that this is for medicine for sick people is an absolute smokescreen." ("Smokescreen" - get it? How witty!) 

Proposition 302 - Repeal of Arizona's First Things First Program (state's "Head Start" program). RRR: "Unless it's helping people who truly can't help themselves, no, we shouldn't do it." (How compassionate)


COLORADO: 


Amendment 63 - Protect the individual’s right to make health care decisions. RRR: "This is not just to address the mandate in Obama-care, this is to make sure Colorado never becomes like Massachusetts where government puts a gun to your head and says you will buy a private product whether you want it or not." (But how many people won't be able to afford health care's rising costs and premiums, Hmmm?) NOTE: for a list of state attorneys general who oppose "Obamacare," click HERE.
 
CALIFORNIA: 


Proposition 23 - Suspend AB 32, the Global Warming Act of 2006.  RRR: "This has been the blind leading the blind, political correctness that has collapsed the economy in California. California already has the fifth-cleanest air in the country, so why are we doing this when no one else is?" (Gee Whiz! Fifth! Hallelujiah! We can start polluting MORE again!) 


TENNESSEE: 


Amendment: Personal right to hunt and fish within state laws and property rights. RRR: "prevent radical animal rights activists and an increasingly urban state legislature from one day shutting down the activities." ("Durn city folks wants to take away our rights to hunt possum!" - NOTE: the opposition call this bill "frivolous and unnecessary, or as one PETA activist said: "If people have a right to hunt, why not a right to shop or golf?")

Underneath it all

The cool thing about Ballotpedia.org is that it lists all the things that were proposed for state votes but didn't make it - this time. Herein lies the true treachery (demonization mine) of  the RRR: a look at what they're trying to pass and will definitely try again:


Propositions nullifying Health Care Reform: such as Washington State's Health Insurance Freedom Act. States with similar "anti-ObamaCare" measures still in the works: Idaho, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arizona, Missouri, Georgia, Maine, Florida, Louisian, Ohio, Kansas (of course).


Personhood Amendments: Would recognize the personhood of the unborn from the earliest stages of life. States in which the amendment was proposed: Colorado, Nevada 


California Free Exercise of Religion Amendment: Creates Special Constitutional Rule for Speech Based on the Bible. (Reconstructionists want this one in a bad way!)

Oklahoma "Sharia Law" Amendment: no explanation necessary.


Ohio Immigration Reform Initiative: Let's all be like Arizona.


There's also the laws they hope to stop from ever getting off the ground: In particular, the Safe Schools Improvement Act which would include anti-bullying measures protecting LGBT youth. The RRR's reasoning: we don't want homosexual "indoctrination" of our youth. Extension: "we couldn't care less about your queer kids committing suicide, just keeps your filthy hands off our kids. But of, course, we'll tell you that we care about ALL the kids."

So the homophobic, racist RRR wants gay teens to commit suicide, doesn't care about abused puppies, people who use marijuana to ease pain, or planet earth, loves racial profiling, wants anyone who spouts the Bible to be exempt from law,  wants all crazies to carry guns, and wants us all to believe that they're really spewing all this crap "for the good of the country."


OK., that's my demonizing for the day. But before you sign off, take a look at Michelangelo Signorile's take on demonizing as he finally gets enough of the RRR's "blamelessness" in last month's teen suicides: