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Teaching Gay History & Manipulating Black Voters

In California a law was passed that requires public schools to include prominent gay people and gay rights milestones into the school’s curriculum. Of course the Evangelicals and Tea Party members are organizing and working to get 504,760 signatures from registered voters to get a ballot referendum that would repeal this law. They are telling would-be voters that the new mandate would inappropriately expose young children to sex, infringe on parental rights and silence religion-based criticisms of homosexuality. I first read about this on a popular blog that has a large African-American following. Then I started to read some of the comments and I couldn’t believe how vicious the homophobia and hate speech was in a large majority of the posts. Some of the homophobia was expected, but I didn’t expect the amount of sheer ignorance that was prevalent in almost every comment. So of course I had to leave a comment of my own in hopes that someone would read it and see the world from a different perspective. So here’s what I wrote:

After reading some of the comments, it’s clear that I can’t assume that everyone who read this article and are reading my comment are intelligent enough to see what’s going on here. First let me explain one thing that most of the “Bible beaters” are missing… so listen close. This law in no way allows any school or teacher to teach or discuss ANYTHING DEALING WITH SEX OF ANY KIND… GAY OR STRAIGHT. I’m puzzled by the huge leaps, exaggerations and assumptions being made by those leaving comments here. If all I knew about this story came from the “Bible beaters”, I’d think the schools were having classes that taught children how to have gay sexual intercourse complete with pictures videos diagrams and live demonstrations. I know I’m being a little facetious here but it’s not that far from reality. The TRUTH is, this law allows the school curriculum to include FACTS about some very important people in American history that happen to be gay. Learning about the gay uprising at “Stonewall”, or learning about the gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin who worked in the trenches of the Civil Rights Movement as a close advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King (who was well aware of Rustin’s sexuality and accepted him for who he was instead of condemning him), or learning about Glenn Burke who’s a legend in Major League Baseball who refused to stay in the closet and live a lie just to keep his job, or learning about Harry Hay who started the first national gay rights organization and who’s credited as the “father” of the gay right movement, or learning about Harvey Milk who lost his life fighting for ethnic, gender and gay equality… and there are hundreds of other notable brave figures and important events that are a part of American history that shouldn’t be ignored just to pacify the ignorance of religious zealots. This country, it’s citizens, and our children deserve better than that. America is a land governed by laws that ensures our freedom. This works because our freedom is absolute without the taint of religion. This ideal/promise is written in the first amendment of our Constitution in very plain English. It erects a proverbial wall of separation between church and state. When we start letting religion interfere with government, we are no longer a free country. Just look at how well establishing a religious dictatorship works in Iran.

The other issue that needs to be addressed is the timing of this ballot referendum. I want people to open their eyes and realize when they’re being played. The closer we get to the presidential election, you’ll see stories and articles deliberately planted and precisely timed to manipulate the African-American community. Republicans have used this same tactic over and over again to distract us from real issues, and it seems to work every time. Remember President Bush and how he got elected? He had more African-American votes than any other Republican candidate in recent history. They know how prevalent homophobia is in our community, so they launched a PR campaign that targeted Black churches and got them all stirred up and scared that gay’s would get equal rights if they didn’t elect him. And that’s all it took. The church my mom attends received faxed messages with urgent warnings about the so-called “gay agenda” to recruit their children and spread Aids to everyone. I couldn’t even read the whole document because it saddened me that my people were buying into this B S. And as a consequence Bush got elected and proceeded to destroy and obliterate the Black middle class. So I beg of you, whether or not you agree or disagree with gay rights, PLEASE DO NOT LET THEM TRICK US THIS TIME because the stakes are too high and the future of our community hangs in the balance… gay and straight.

Tracy Morgan’s Gay Bashing Rant

Comedian Tracy Morgan has come under fire lately because of some homophobic remarks he made during his live comedy show in Tennessee about a week ago. The first half of this blog is taken from a post written by a man named Kevin Rogers who was in attendance at the show and was deeply offended by Mr. Morgan’s hate speech. The second part of this blog is my response to all of this. And the last part is a small update on everything that has happened since this incident first began.

Kevin Rogers Post:

So tonight was the night, Tracy Morgan in the hallowed halls of the Ryman Auditorium.  The show was your typical hysterical dick, cum and pussy humor… I have to say it was hilarious and well worth at least 40% of the $86 we spent per ticket to see him. I figured at some point the gay jokes would fly and I’m well prepared for a good ribbing of straight gay humor.  I have very thick skin when it comes to humor; I can dish and I can take. What I can’t take is when Mr. Morgan took it upon himself to mention about how he feels all this gay shit was crazy and that women are a gift from God and that “Born this Way” is bullshit, gay is a choice, and the reason he knows this is exactly because “God don’t make no mistakes” (referring to God not making someone gay cause that would be a mistake).  He said that there is no way a woman could love and have sexual desire for another woman, that’s just a woman pretending because she hates a fucking man.  He took time to visit the bullshit of this bullying stuff and informed us that the gays needed to quit being pussies and not be whining about something as insignificant as bullying. He mentioned that gay was something kids learn from the media and programming, and that bullied kids should just bust some ass and beat those other little fuckers that bully them, not whine about it.  He said if his son that was gay he better come home and talk to him like a man and not [he mimicked a gay, high pitched voice] or he would pull out a knife and stab that little N (one word I refuse to use) to death. He mentioned that Barack Obama needed to man up and quit being all down with this just because he has a wife and two daughters. All of this being followed by thunderous cheer and “You go Tracys”.  Tracy then said he didn’t fucking care if he pissed off some gays, because if they can take a fucking dick up their ass… they can take a fucking joke.  The sad thing is that none of this rant was a joke.  His entire demeanor changed during that portion of the night.  He was truly filled with some hate towards us.

MY RESPONSE:

Kevin Rogers story was SHOCKING to me.  Out of all the stories I read about this incident, none of them actually quoted anything that Tracy Morgan said.  So because of this, I felt like maybe it was something small that got blown up by the press.  But after reading this, I do not see how any journalist could write an honest and truthful piece about this without letting the reader know exactly what was said.  His actual words were far beyond anything I had imagined.  This has totally changed my opinion of Tracy Morgan.  I was fan, but now I’ll never watch or listen to anything he puts out ever again.  What he said can’t be brushed over with an apology.  His apology means nothing to me because I know it will only be about him trying to save his career.  He’s a sad little hate filled man, and I hope people will see him for what he is and stop supporting anything that he is a part of.  Why would anyone want to support someone like this?  I hope that gay rights organizations are not trying to solicit any kind of public apology from him.  It would be insulting.  Someone that says the kind of things he said doesn’t change the way they think overnight, or go to some weekend siminar and magically become a changed man.  That kind of ignorance and hatred comes from a very deep dark and disturbed place, and any proclamations of change should be met with extreme skepticism.  As long as he’s on 30 Rock, I’ll NEVER watch that show EVER again.  The sad part of it all was the reaction Tracy got from the audience.  A large majority of them were cheering him on during his homophobic rant.  To me that’s a confirmation of the long and treacherous road ahead we have yet to travel to reach total equality for our community.

STORY UPDATE AND TRACY’S “APOLOGY”:

Morgan has agreed to go to Nashville with GLAAD to protest the state’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill, according to E! Online. He spoke to E!’s Marc Malkin about his regrets over his rant, emphasizing his belief that all children should be loved, regardless of sexuality.  “I know how bad bullying can hurt,” Morgan said. “I was bullied when I was a kid. I’m sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean it. I never want to use my comedy to hurt anyone. My family knew what it was like to feel different. My brother was disabled and I lost my father to AIDS in 1987…. Parents should support and love their kids no matter what. Gay people deserve the same right to be happy in this country as everyone else. Our laws should support that.”  In an interview with Russell Simmons at Global Grind, Morgan apologized again for his verbal tirade that sparked national outrage, swore off his hate speech and came out for marriage equality.  “Of all the sicknesses, there is probably none more abusive than homophobia. My heart is committed to giving everyone the same rights that I deserve for myself,” Morgan said. “I don’t care if you love the same sex as long as you have the ability to love someone I am deeply sorry for the comments I made. What I am most sad about is the comments I made about kids and bullying.”

Morgan also noted his support for gays serving in the military — an issue solved by the recent repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and then insisted he believed in gay marriage, too. “I believe everyone deserves the right to be happy and marry who they want too; gay, white, black, male or female. Let me know where the rally’s at Russ. I’m there!” Morgan promised.  The words came as he works to make amends, not only with his public, but his friends, too. Tina Fey, his “30 Rock” co-star and executive producer slammed his comments but noted that she believed Morgan was a loving person.  “It doesn’t line up with the Tracy Morgan I know, who is not a hateful man and is generally much too sleepy and self-centered to ever hurt another person,” Fey said in a statement.  Another co-star, Cheyenne Jackson, said that he was “disgusted” by what Morgan had said.

Was Tracy’s apology sincere?  Is he serious about making amends?  Does he understand how hurtful and dangerous his gay bashing tirade was?  I wish I had the answer to those questions, but only time will tell. When I began to write this blog, I kept thinking about something Mya Angelou said in an interview with Oprah.  It seemed to fit this situation perfectly, and I’ve found it to be true in my life as well.  This very wise woman said “When someone shows you who they are, believe them”.JULY 4 2011 UPDATE

To view free streaming episodes of 30 Rock or Saturday NIght Live, visit the links below.
30 Rock seasons 1 through 5:
http://www.tv-links.eu/tv-shows/30-Rock_10/
Saturday NIght Live seasons 1 through 36:
http://www.tv-links.eu/tv-shows/Saturday-night-live_12110/

The Mormon Proposition

“The Mormon Proposition” details in devastating fashion the efforts of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to help pass the 2008 California ballot measure that defined marriage as solely consisting of a union between a man and a woman. Writer/Co-Director Reed Cowan’s film reveals a disturbing truth of the increasing overlap between church and state. This documentary is extremely well done and at times it even brought me to tears (which is EXTREMELY rare). I wish I could get every person in this country to watch this amazing documentary. I thought I knew everything that went on with proposition 8, but this film exposed a lot of new & shocking information that left me speechless. If this film doesn’t move you, then you have to be a soleless heartless pitiful sociopath incapable of any human emotion… or a practicing Mormon (I’m only being facetious here, so please no hate mail).

The legal battle to declare Proposition 8 unconstitutional is currently underway, which means the ending to this story has yet to be written. Will we write an ending of triumph and redemption, or will we continue this story of intolerance and hate? 

Watch the full length documentary for free below:

SIGN THE "FREEDOM TO MARRY" PLEDGE

http://www.freedomtomarry.org/


Missionaries of Hate

Uganda Missionaries of Hate
The African country of Uganda joined up with some very prominent AMERICAN Evangelicals (à la Pastor Rick Warren) to draft a piece of legislation in Uganda that would make being homosexual a crime punishable by either life in prison or DEATH. Yes, you heard me right… DEATH! In other words, if I lived in Uganda, and I were in a same sex relationship with a man that I loved, both of us would be arrested and sentenced to DEATH. Can you imagine getting arrested for being in love?  These evil people that claim to be “Christian” are all doing this in the name of God. These American evangelicals have millions of dollars at their disposal donated to fund a huge campaign to fight those who are gay and rob them of their basic civil rights and impose their beliefs on everyone. There are so many problems and ills that plague our society today like poverty, famine, disease, homelessness, poor education, racial genocide, war, etc but instead of using their power and resources to combat some of those issues, they choose to fight the gay community in order to strip them of their rights and in Uganda possibly end their life.  This makes no sense at all. What is “Christian” about that? I really didn’t intend to write all this and shout from my soapbox but things like this really angers me. The real point of this blog post was to get you to watch this 45 minute documentary about Uganda’s “kill the gays” bill and how American Evangelicals played a huge role in the creation of the bill. I’m warning you now that this video is very inflammatory and so ridiculous at times that you just want to laugh from frustration. The most absurd part of it is when the church pastor shows his congregation gay porn during one of his sermons condemning gays. Yep, I kid you not… gay porn on display right in front of the whole congregation, kids included. Just watch it, and let me know what you think. Evil comes in many forms and in this particular documentary the evil is in the pulpit.
Here’s the full documentary “Missionaries Of Hate”

The Religion Debate Continues

I posted a copy of my blog entry entitled “Religion Seeks To Kill Spirituality” on a popular gay African American discussion forum that I’m a member of.  It had the same effect that the original had when I first posted it on this blog… it BLEW UP and stirred controversy which led to an interesting debate among those who read it.  I was really impressed by everyone’s ideas and how perspicacious and well articulated their arguments were.  Sometimes in those type of forums, people can get very disrespectful and overly argumentative when others disagree with their point of view, but for some reason this discussion didn’t head that way at all.  I was so pleased with our discussion, so I decided to post the “back & forth” repartee here on my “Blue Options” blog.


ENJOY 🙂

CLICK TO READ THE REST OF THIS BLOG ENTRY WITH A LIST OF ALL COMMENTS

THIS WAS THE ORIGINAL BLOG POST THAT STARTED IT ALL:

I hate to see “so called” Christians use religion as a tool to perpetuate hate and intolerance. The problem with religion is it’s one size fits all ideology. This ideology is what causes intolerance to flourish. This is also why spirituality and religion are two very different things, and why religion seeks to kill spirituality. Religion is man-made and divisive. Spirituality is divine and unifying. Religion selects the designated few, while spirituality embraces the divine in us all.

I believe there’s something very dark in the human spirit that religion seems to prey upon. Like when slavery was legal in this country. These slave owners considered themselves Christians. They had no problem committing some of the worst most heinous atrocities on a fellow human being on a daily basis, and they saw nothing wrong with this. Those slave owners weren’t some dumb illiterate back-woods hicks that didn’t know any better. They were educated highly respected pillars of their community, and still they saw nothing wrong with what they were doing. We were all born with an inherent sense of right and wrong. I know murder is wrong, with or without a law that tells me so. When we start looking in a book to gage our moral compass, or letting a book written by man tell us how we should live our lives, we lose one of the greatest gifts God has given us, which is FREEWILL and the ability to think for ourselves. Once we give that up, our minds become easily manipulated. This is so dangerous because the people that we look to for guidance may have deceitful motives or devious intentions, but because you gave up your critical thinking abilities, you can’t see the evil in this person and in their actions, so you follow him blindly.

I don’t want anyone to think I’m bashing Christians, because I’m not at all. I was raised in a very religious Christian home, so I have a great respect for the message it teaches. I’m addressing religion as a whole here, and the beliefs of religious extremist. I do believe in God, and I consider myself a spiritual person, but If you want to give me a label, all I can say is I do not identify myself as “a Christian”, and that’s because I do not allow other people to define my relationship with God because that’s between me and him. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me and my way of thinking because I hope after reading this, you’ll start to use your gift of “freewill” and “critical thinking” to find your own path and discover what you truly believe.

  
1ST COMMENT:

40 or 50 years ago the church folks would have taken you to the altar and tried to pray a demon out of you for this post (I’ve seen it done, especially in the COGIC). But now in 2010 when Black folks are being educated like never before and are using their brain to THINK instead of following like little lost sheep to the slaughter…………….it can be truly appreciated by so many more.

My compliments to you for this post.

(Yup, fixin’ to click on that link and read more. LOL) 

2ND COMMENT:

I LOVE THE WAY YOU WORDED THIS AND EXPLAINED IT! ITS SO TRUE. A LOT OF PEOPLE IGNORE THE WHOLE “SPIRITUAL” ASSETTS OF THE HUMAN BEING. WE OURSELVES ARE A SPIRIT. WE FUNCTION IN SPIRIT. EVERY CHOICE WE MAKE, IS MADE IN OUR SPIRIT WHETHER IT BE RIGHT OR WRONG. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE IN BEING A CHRISTIAN WITH MORALS, AND BEING A INDIVIDUAL SPIRIT WITH MORALS BECAUSE WHEN YOU LIVE IN YOUR SPIRIT YOU ARE SELF-AWARE AND CONSCIOUS OF THE THINGS THAT WILL HARM, NEGLECT, DESTRUCT, AND OR RUIN THE SPIRIT. COMMON SENSE HAS ALOT TO DO WITH IT! IF A PERSON RUNS AROUND DOING BAD THINGS AND DECEITFUL THINGS THEY DISAPPOINT THE SPIRIT WITHIN BUT THEY DONT NOTICE IT USUALLY UNTIL THEY SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES! BUT ABOVE THAT THEY DISSAPPOINT GOD WHICH IS THEN CAUSING THEM TO ASK FOR FORGIVENESS WHICH WOULD START WITH ONE’S SELF. YOU HAVE TO FORGIVE YOURSELF IN ORDER FOR GOD TO FORGIVE YOU! THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO SAY BUT I’M JUST GONNA END WITH THIS: THERE IS A HIGHER POWER. THERE IS A SUPERNATURAL POWER. THERE IS A INNER POWER AND THERE IS A EXISTING POWER(WHICH WOULD BE THE POWER TO EXIST WITHOUT THOUGHT) SO THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO LIFE THAN WHHAT IS TOLD, SAD THING IS THAT PPL DNT WANNA TAKE THE TIME TO FIND A MEANING FOR THEMSELVES!

3RD COMMENT:


“WE FUNCTION IN SPIRIT. EVERY CHOICE WE MAKE, IS MADE IN OUR SPIRIT WHETHER IT BE RIGHT OR WRONG”

spirit/soul …… ughhh girl….

Soul is a type of music, but some people believe it to be some kind of spiritual thingie that every human is supposed to have, and which is supposed to survive when his physical body dies. But since this thing is non-physical, it again cannot interact with the physical world without violating basic science. So we have the same situation as with “god”: a “soul” could hypothetically exists, but it can have no connection with the physical world.

I think the word you’re using(spirit) is wrong what you need to be using is the word conscious . try it , plug inn the word “conscious ” where you have “spirt” and that then be correct .


4TH COMMENT:


Religion is not the culprit people are for perverting good teachings.


5TH COMMENT:


This is coming from the guy who just made up his own doctrines in a previous post- take responsibility for your actions don’t blame some words on a page which have a choice to adhere to or not


6TH COMMENT:


made up ????????
“take responsibility for your actions don’t blame some words on a page which have a choice to adhere to or not”
WTF Are you talking about yet once again …. and who are you talking about … hunny hush please ..



7TH COMMENT: I wrote this one in response to comment #1


You’re right. I’ve seen it done before too. Thanks for checking out my blog and leaving a comment. It’s good to know that there are other “level headed” intelligent thinkers here besides me (lol).


8TH COMMENT:


stop making excuses. this is all u need to know- God is real, He requires His ppl to b a certain way. going to church is good for the soul for many reasons im too lazy to explain, praying is good, being spiritually encouraged is good. Living an active homosexual lifestyle is a sin and u all know it, but are just too weak to admit it.


9TH COMMENT: I wrote this comment in response to comment #8

You’re entitled to your opinion, and I respect your beliefs… but I really feel sorry for you. I know how much self-hatred it takes for you to actually believe all of that. I hope and pray that you’ll find the strength and courage to live your life in a way that brings happiness to you and your soul. Life is such a precious thing, and our time here on earth is way too short to not live it to the fullest. 

 

10TH COMMENT:

ok u dont have to pray fpor me man..i dont hate myself- i love myself 100% im just stating what is true and what God-the creator of the universe wants–u r totally blind. yes its good to live life to the fullest, but lliving in sin is not living at all—-gay life is sin—if it was ok, it would be accepted from the beginning of time. i understand gay feelings that we cant control exist, but actually acting on those feelings is the sin and evil im talking about. u need to reflect on things more, dont make me sound like i’m the one confused. i’m not—u r. 

11TH COMMENT: this comment was written by someone who addressed comment #10

I think what is throwing people off are the mixed messages you are sending. On the one hand you say you believe that sexual gay expression is wrong and against God. On the other, your two profile pictures are extremely homoerotic and sexually provocative (bare chest, tight underwear showcasing your erect penis). Even your profile name, “hung112”, is highly suggestive. These indicate blatant intellectual inconsistency and maybe moral even hypocrisy. Few people will take you seriously if you profess one thing but yet (apparently) do quite another.

12TH COMMENT: this is #10 responding to #11


yes i know this. its the reason i didnt even want to comment. it is very hyporytical of me. but i do stand by what i say; i need to do this, or do my spiritual thing–i cant do both. so i agree with you


13TH COMMENT: this is #11 responding to #12


I appreciate that you were truthful and transparent regarding your struggle. A less honest, less secure person (many of whom are on BGC) would have snapped defensive or even hostile when confronted like this. If you know the Lord and believe the Word, I hope that you would yield yourself to him fully and turn away from all the things that displease him.
I know it’s not popular, but the truth is that those who claim to follow Christ should live righteously as he commanded:

“That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” 

Ephesians 4:22-24



14TH COMMENT: I wrote this comment in response to comment #10 and I think it’s a very fitting end to our discussion:


I understand what you’re saying, but the one thing that I take issue with in your response, was the part where you say you’re just stating the truth. I have strong beliefs and I never shy away from discussing my beliefs with other people that are willing to engage and debate those beliefs and ideas. But as strong as my beliefs are, I would NEVER EVER be arrogant enough to believe that I alone possess the only truth there is.

You also said that I made you sound like you’re confused. If I did imply that in my previous response, I’m sorry because that was not my intention. I do believe you’re misguided, but not confused.

Part 2 of "Religion Seeks To Kill Spirituality"

This is a continuation of my previous blog post from Tuesday March 16 2010 entitled “Religion Seeks To Kill Spirituality”.  I got such a huge response from one of the shortest blogs I’ve ever written.  One of those readers sent me a message that I read and intended to write a short thank you message to reply to him.  Well, it didn’t turn out as short as I intended.  I guess I still had a whole lot to say on this issue, and his response was the catalyst that sparked the fuse (lol).  So I’d like to thank and acknowledge him for being the inspiration for this blog post.

His message is written below in red and italics, and my response follows it in dark blue:

We agree on this issue. Sometimes I feel like Socrates and that the state of South Carolina will figure out a way to put me to death for not believing.
I have no doubt that some of these evangelicals would put that into law in a split second if they could. It’s all very very sad, and it’s something I will NEVER ever understand. There’s something very dark in the human spirit that religion seems to prey upon. Like when slavery was legal in this country. These slave owners considered themselves Christians. They had no problem committing some of the worst most heinous atrocities on a fellow human being on a daily basis, and they saw nothing wrong with this. Those slave owners weren’t some dumb illiterate back-woods hicks that didn’t know any better. They were educated highly respected pillars of their community, and still they saw nothing wrong with what they were doing. We were all born with an inherent sense of right and wrong. I know murder is wrong, with or without a law that tells me so. When we start looking in a book to gage our moral compass, or letting a book written by man tell us how we should live our lives, we lose one of the greatest gifts God has given us, which is FREEWILL and the ability to think for ourselves. Once we give that up, our minds become easily manipulated. This is so dangerous because the people that we look to for guidance may have deceitful motives or devious intentions, but because you gave up your critical thinking abilities, you can’t see the evil in this person and in their actions, so you follow him blindly.

I don’t want anyone to think I’m bashing Christians, because I’m not at all. I was raised in a very religious Christian home, so I have a great respect for the message it teaches. I’m addressing religion as a whole here, and the beliefs of religious extremist. I do believe in God, and I consider myself a spiritual person, but If you want to give me a label, all I can say is I do not identify myself as “a Christian”, and that’s because I do not allow other people to define my relationship with God because that’s between me and him. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me and my way of thinking because I hope after reading this, you’ll start to use your gift of “freewill” and “critical thinking” to find your own path and discover what you truly believe.

If you haven’t seen this documentary, then I’d suggest you buy a copy and watch it quick.  It covers a lot of the points I made in this blog.  It’s informative, but it’s done in a humorous way… classic Bill Maher cynicism and wit.  This is a definite MUST SEE.  Here’s a link if you want to buy it on Amazon.com Religulous

Or if you’re too cheap to buy it, click on the title of this blog entry and you can watch it for free (streaming directly from icefilm site). You can thank me later:

Religion Seeks To Kill Spirituality

I hate to see “so called” Christians use religion as a tool to perpetuate hate and intolerance. The problem with religion is it’s one size fits all ideology. This ideology is what causes intolerance to flourish. This is also why spirituality and religion are two very different things, and why religion seeks to kill spirituality. Religion is man-made and divisive. Spirituality is divine and unifying. Religion selects the designated few, while spirituality embraces the divine in us all.
RECOMMENDED READING:

What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality

Their Own Receive Them Not: African American Lesbians And Gays in Black Churches
What the Bible Really Says About HomosexualityTheir Own Receive Them Not: African American Lesbians And Gays in Black Churches

Broken Spirit

Today I feel so very sad, tired, and somewhat defeated. My initial outrage and anger (that I felt when I first became aware of Uganda’s gay death penalty bill) has slowly turned into angst on the cusp of despair. I grew up in a very rural extremely small White town in the south right in the heart of “The Bible Belt”, so I’m very well aware of the homophobia that exist in most conservative and Christian households here, so I’m not at all naive about their beliefs and opinions about gays. I usually just chalk-it-up to ignorance, and continue living my life as open and honest as I can. I’ve always believed that my character as a person who happens to be gay, is a lot more effective in changing the minds of those that are homophobic, way better than any magazine article, movie, argument, debate, march, or protest can. By knowing someone who’s gay, they can see them as a person with the same hopes and dreams as they have, and not just an issue to be for or against. But when I learned that an American “Christian” evangelical group were going back and forth to Uganda to aide them in committing the worst human rights atrocity in my lifetime, I began to lose my faith in the goodness of man and doubt the compassion and love in Christianity. I know this particular situation with Uganda involves only one of many religious organizations and/or churches, but I feel that a majority of those groups and churches share equal blame in this. By not speaking out against an injustice of this magnitude, it makes them culpable. The few that have came out with public statements are choosing their words very carefully so they can appear sympathetic to the gay community without admitting that their homophobia indirectly contributed to the creation of this “kill the gays” bill. The only thing that frustrates me just as much as homophobia is unacknowledged and/or unaddressed hypocrisy. And these people are pushing both buttons at once.

While I was reading the latest developments about this story, searching different blogs and established print media (on the web); I stumbled upon something that switched my anger into utter despair. I noticed that a majority of the comments that were left on all the African American targeted blogs were siding with Uganda’s attempt to execute gays. That just blew me away. I really didn’t expect that amount of hatred from my own race. A race that I’m proud to be a part of, a race that has first hand knowledge of how oppression and violent injustice feels. I just don’t understand… why, or how this came to be. I would of never guessed that my race would ever under any circumstances, take on the role of the oppressor. I just can’t get my head around that one. I’ve tried and tried and tried to make sense of it all, but disappointingly, it turns into a contest of futility. If I can’t convince my own race to change and see things rationally, then what chances do I have to convince a whole country.

*FIND MORE INFORMATION ABOUT TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THIS BLOG POST BELOW:

Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill is a piece of proposed legislation under consideration in Uganda. It was proposed on 13 October 2009 by… more

Uganda’s "Kill The Gays" Bill Sponsored By A U.S. Christian Group

Just when I start allowing myself to think that the fight for equality and gay rights are progressing; I get blindsided with the most disturbing shit I’ve ever heard. The law makers in Uganda have teamed up with a Christian religious organization here in the United States to introduce a bill that if made into law will make homosexuality a capital crime punishable by DEATH in their county. This law is the inevitable culmination of hate, intolerance, ignorance, bigotry, religious zealotry, political propaganda, and hubris dogma that ironically reveals how much evil can exist in the heart of man. I can not find words that would adequately express and convey my feelings about this. Just knowing that this kind of thing is going on in this day and age baffles me. I go through a roller-coaster of emotions every time I hear, read, or think about it. The most profound of those emotions are anger and helplessness. I’m most angry about the involvement of this well known American religious group (known as “The Family”) that wrote and supported the bill that Uganda is now making into law. What’s Christian about that? It’s absolutely ridiculous to believe that killing gay people has anything to do with God or Christianity…

Here are some recourses to help you learn more about this issue. You’ll also find startling information about some of “The Family’s” well known supporters and members like Rick Warren, Pat Robinson (from the 500 club), and several Congressman and Senators who are connected to the group, including John Ensign, Bart Stupak, Joe Pitts, James Inhofe, Tom Coburn, Charles Grassley and Zach Wamp.

http://rawstory.com/2009/11/author-the-family-proposed-ugandan-law-execute-hiv-men

Video clip from the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC:

Ugandian Official David Bahati talks about homosexuality and why he thinks they deserve to die:

NPR Interview & discussion about Uganda’s Anti-Gay History:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121605525

News article from the BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/news/2009/12/091218_gay_uganda_law_wt_sl.shtml


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