Calling OUT the heretics: GOProud, Ann Coulter and Jimmy LaSalvia

Ann Coulter

QfN is a self-proclaimed religion and politics blog, but sometimes politics gets so disgusting that we can’t help but call out those political pundits that wear HUGE crosses around their necks but spew hatred in public. With that, we introduce a new periodic series here on QfN: “Calling OUT the heretics.” The first heretics to be identified by QfN are GOProud, Ann Coulter, and Jimmy LaSalvia, GOProud’s Executive Director. In an utterly shameful display in New York City, GOProud’s supporters gathered for “celebratory” event on September 25.

The GOProud organization (a political action committee) claims to be a coalition of conservative GLBT Americans dedicated to “redefining” GLBT issues. The organization has stated that it is not out to support gay marriage, which leads one to wonder how truly dedicated the organization is to the GLBT community. GOProud succumbed to a new low with its hosting of Ann Coulter as their “keynote” speaker at at the September 25 event. Today’s Religion Dispatch includes an article by Candace Chellew-Hodge about Coulter’s disgusting and insulting remarks that she gave at the event.

Here are two quotes from Coulter’s revolting “speech:”

“Marriage is not a civil right. You’re not black.”

“Blacks must be looking at the gays saying, ‘Why can’t we be oppressed like that?’”

What did GOProud’s Executive Director have to say about Coulter and her comments?

“I don’t agree with Ann Coulter about gay marriage, but there was a real conversation here. That’s what we’re trying to start. We want people to see that it isn’t ‘us versus them.’”

Are you serious Mr. LaSalvia? At least call out Ms. Coulter on her prejudice remarks regarding black Americans; have the guts to challenge her affirmation that gay rights are not similar to the rights of African Americans. Mr. LaSalvia you should be ashamed to have allowed such a forum for a truly bigoted woman.

Mr. LaSalvia, you are correct that we need to have a conversation, but the conservation that we need to have is not with a woman that purports to be a Christian but allows bigotry to flow in every sentence.

Because of this shameful appearance, GOProud, Ann Coulter, and Jimmy LaSalvia have been inaugurated as the first recipients of QfN’s “HERETIC” designation.

Black culture and homosexuality

Shayne Lee has a fascinating editorial that was featured on CNN.com today. The article explores how black culture in America perceives homosexuality and more specifically how black churches have “rejected” the rights of gay men and women. What’s fascinating, is that although the majority of black Americans vote for Democratic candidates, theologically black Americans tend to be quite conservative.

Lee’s editorial places a great deal of influence on the recent case of Bishop Eddie Long. Read the entire article online on CNN.

A pioneer of GLBT rights; A man of great faith is remembered in today’s New York Times

The New York Times features a beautiful article today that seeks to remind Americans of one of the gay rights movement’s early leaders — Rev. James Stoll, an openly gay Unitarian Universalist Minister who passed away in 1994. Of Rev. Stoll, Mark Oppenheimer writes:

But he was hugely responsible for introducing American churchgoers to gay rights. For those who support gay rights, he ought to be a hero; for those troubled by increased acceptance of homosexuality, he makes a vivid villain.

Rev. Stoll left not only his mark on human rights by advocating on behalf of GLBT Americans, but also his own life. When Rev. Stoll came out as a college student at Unitarian conference in September 1969, he stood in front of the audience and proclaimed “If the revolution we’re in means anything, it means we have the right to be ourselves, without shame or fear.” If only as a society we were to embrace these powerful words, I am confident that we would be a society that respected the beauty and uniqueness of God’s creation. According to one of the conference attendees at the 1969 conference, Stoll continued his speech by announcing that he was gay.

“Then he told us he was gay, and had always been gay, and it wasn’t a choice, and he wasn’t ashamed anymore and that he wasn’t going to hide it anymore, and from now on he was going to be himself in public. After he concluded, there was a dead silence, then a couple of the young women went up and hugged him, followed by general congratulations. The few who did not approve kept their peace,” recalls Mr. Bond-Upson.

This hero of the GLBT struggle for equal rights died on December 8, 1994. We can only hope that his life and work imbue our continuing struggle for equality.

Conservatives declare… WAR on gay marriage

I love headlines.

Sometimes, I wonder if editors read their headlines before posting them to the internet; this is especially the case with Human Events, which never ceases to amaze me with their artful language. In combing today’s news, I came across this headline:

Next Battle coming in Gay Marriage War

I had no idea that we were at “war.” I thought this was a democratic republic that welcomed a diversity of views. Is a policy dialogue a “war?”

The article’s author, Brian Raum from protectmarriage.com, focuses on attacking the recent decision by Judge Walker in California regarding the unconstitutionality of Proposition 8. Frankly, Raum writes his article with a tone that appears rather jealous of the praise that Olson and the pro-equality team have received from the press.

I highly recommend reading Raum’s article so as to understand how conservatives paint the definition of “judicial activism.”

I wonder if we should have a meeting of the queers and declare war on the conservatives? Instead, maybe we should just stop spending money at anti-gay establishments like Whole Foods and Target.

Conservative group plans protest against queer culture festival in Russia

Although Moscow may exercise the “iron fist” in regards to silencing gay activists and preventing gay-related events, Petersburg is celebrating its annual queer culture festival that began yesterday, September 16 and continues through September 25 in the Russian city. Interfax-Religion features a short article covering the protects that have been planned countering the event.

The Corporation of Orthodox Action (COA) has announced that it will organize a protest against the culture festival because they argue it is only “crowd of gays, lesbians and transgenders.” The COA characterize the planned protest as “legal measures – pickets, marches, media addresses and dialogue with authorities and society. St. Petersburg has clever, strong and active youth that will stand for moral values in the city of St. Peter.”

New Yorkers say YES to marriage equality

The Human Rights Campaign has launched a new ad series that seeks raise awareness regarding marriage equality in New York State. The ads feature prominent New Yorkers including Kenneth Cole and Julianne Moore, and will soon feature Whoopi Goldberg, Arthur Ashe, and other natives of the Big Apple.

The New York Times explains that although the ad campaign may have an effect on New Yorkers, the forthcoming marriage equality bill faces a series of hurdles including opposition from the powerful New York State Catholic Conference, which “represents the Bishops of New York State in matters of public policy.”

QfN will continue to post the videos that HRC’s new campaign puts out, but in the meantime here are the two ads that have already been released:

Today’s Queer Faith Audio Report: September 13, 2010

Introducing our new audio news feature. More to come :-). Click on the link for today’s headlines.

Queer Faith News for September 13, 2010

Fred Phelps and his gay-hating “church” torches holy book and American flag

A member of a protest conducted by the Westboro Baptist Church

Today’s Religion Dispatch features a report on the Westboro Baptist Church and their burning of a holy book and the American flag. In a single action, Westboro manages to offend millions of Muslims and millions of Americans. Though Rev. Terry Jones didn’t (thankfully) allow his “Burn-a-Qur’an-Day” to take part, the Phelps family burned the holy book and the flag. In writing about Ms. Phelps response to Terry Jones, Rebecca Barrett-Fox writes:

More recently Shirley Phelps-Roper, speaking for Westboro Baptist Church, called Jones “an apologist,” and predicted that the media, the public, and politicians would “browbeat him and he’ll back down at the last minute.” In preparation for Jones’ capitulation, Westboro Baptist Church announced its own plans to burn the holy book—for the second time, having gone performed the ritual in 2008—and the U.S. flag, offending Muslims and Americans at home and abroad and reorganizing the counter-protest landscape.

In explaining their burning of the Qur’an and the American flag:

The U.S. Flag and the Qur’an are both idols, argues the church. Westboro member Abi Phelps argued that the problem with the Qur’an isn’t just that it contains a false religion but that the book itself, as a material thing, is worshipped. And for the Westboro Baptist Church—which identifies as a Primitive Baptist church even as other Primitive Baptists disavow it—anything that looks like idolatry should be demolished. “Anyone should destroy anything that stands between them and salvation,” explained Abi Phelps, and that includes the Qur’an, Catholic statuary, Orthodox icons, crosses, and those fish bumper stickers that evangelical Christians love. That’s also why the church includes no images of Jesus (who, as God, should never be depicted as a “graven image”) in its sanctuary or literature.

Though the average American can easily ascertain how such burnings could be detrimental to American security, a press release from the Phelps community states:

The blasphemous talking heads (politicians, talk show hosts, false prophets, arrogant Pentagon perverts) of this nation of proud sinners have put the bulls-eye of God on the backs of these soldiers. Burning the Koran could not possibly imperil your soldiers any more than you already have.

Read the entire report on Religion Dispatch.

A Christian prayer of hope for LGBT equality (The Equality Prayer)

The Equality Prayer by the QfN Team

Dear Lord,

By your grace and guidance, may our world come to embrace your creation. May all humanity respect your creation in a way that affirms their being and welcomes their soul. May your love imbue not only the soil we walk on, but also the innermost parts of our beings. May we, your creation, be moved to act on behalf of the silent, on behalf of the marginalized, and on behalf of the persecuted. Lord, may we, your people, collect our hopes, dreams, and love so as to work on behalf of those who are in need of justice.

Lord Jesus Christ, may your Church always be a beacon of hope linked by unity, but not uniformity. May we always welcome those of different colors, races, sexual orientations, genders, religions, political affiliations, abilities, and those who are afflicted by disease. As we pray this evening, may our prayer be united in its hopes and fulfilled by our actions.

We are but people, your creation, yet by your love we can accomplish great things. Let us hope and enjoin our prayers to you, that one day our world may be but one fabric that is not defined by labels, but rather only by love. May we one day not only envision, but also see the beauty found in being truly welcoming, in being truly affirming, in being truly in love with your creation.

Lord Jesus Christ, we offer you this prayer with humble heart, but with a spirit that is both steadfast and contemplative. By our prayer, may the world be moved to action on behalf of all humanity without exception. Amen.

– – – – –

Permission will be granted to all requesting parties to reprint this prayer in its entirety with attribution to Queer Faith News (QfN). If you intend to reprint it in print form (not online), please email us explaining where it will be placed.

Faith leaders speak OUT against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

Religion Dispatch is on a roll this week! They have featured some fantastic articles over the past week (many of which QfN has featured or cited this past week). Today, they have an editorial by Alex McNeill on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT).

Harry Knox of the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Community Partnerships praised the recent ruling that declared “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to be unconstitutional by acknowledging the ruling as “a vindication of the tireless efforts of advocates over the last 17 years.” The recent decision includes an interesting twist which McNeill explains:

Since the “defendant” in this case is the federal government, any appeal will be seen as coming from President Obama, who has asked Congress to help him repeal DADT.

So it will be very interesting to see how the federal government responds to the court’s decision.

is From a faith leaders’ perspective, Harry Knox, who also the Director of the Human Rights Campaign’s Religion and Faith Program, said that “[progressive] faith communities care about justice for everyone” and for that reason “thousands of faith leaders are using social networking, their teaching and preaching opportunities, and their voices as prophetic leaders in the public square to amplify God’s call to remove the barriers to service for lesbian and gay people.”