The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence on Sunday hosted the National Organization for Marriage’s rally for antigay heterosexual Christian couples. The Providence Journal covered the event.
Antigay couples in attendance listened to Christian music, attended a worship service, and “renewed vows” against gay couples and their children.
One couple in particular, Paul and Lori Thomsen, traveled from out-of-state to convey the message that gay couples don’t love God, their families, or their partners:
“I came because I love God. I love my family. And I love my wife,” said Thomsen, a Warren native who now lives in Mansfield, Mass., with his wife of 21 years, Lori.
These couples implicitly declared to about 20-30 gay people in attendance:
“Marriage is for US and not for YOU.”
Some gay couples who attended opted not to bring their children, for fear of the children’s safety.
Such selfishness, elitism, and ostracism of children by antigay couples, NOM, and the Catholic church should sadden anyone who is concerned about the decline of Christian values among avowed social conservatives.
Children of gay couples deserve to have two married parents — but the National Organization “for” Marriage, the Roman Catholic Church, and their supporters vowed Sunday that the children of gay couples shall be treated as second-class citizens.
Earlier, the NOM expressed feigned outrage that consumers who favor tolerance would raise their voices in protest after it was disclosed that NOM had tricked two sponsors into donating foods to an antigay political and religious event, in violation of corporate guidelines against sponsorship of such events. NOM’s unmistakable message: Antigay consumers should enjoy special rights and sponsorships at the expense of tolerant consumers — and tolerant consumers should shut up and tolerate intolerance, deception, and violation of corporate policies.
If NOM were to successfully ban people from shopping wisely because other shoppers might lose special perks, then gay people would be compelled to silently buy products from bullies, Jews would silently buy products from anti-Semites, Christians would silently buy products from atheists, pro-lifers would silently buy products from abortion providers, and so on.
NOM’s hypocrisy and anti-Christian conduct are stunning.
Addendum: Video of speakers and attendees. (Hat tips: Pam Spaulding, Good As You)
data=”http://www.youtube.com/v/xIP37OMks8U?fs=1″>You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video
data=”http://www.youtube.com/v/-DOX1AaJcHU?fs=1″>You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video
data=”http://www.youtube.com/v/M5zalvUKQrA?fs=1″>You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video
Remember the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld? And the famous line, “No Soup for You!”
Now it’s “No Marriage for You!” (NoMFY)
How surreal!
If they’re so preoccupied with children, why haven’t they taken the Catholic Church to task for the abuse of children (boys AND girls, btw) by priests….and, to add insult to injury, transfer these guys to other parish’s, where they would abuse even more children?
This issue is STILL swept under the carpet…
Here in Los Angeles, three children were brutally killed by their care givers and Los Angeles county and one of it’s supervisors, Gloria Molina is critical of why the CPS failed these children.
The real question is, why did their PARENTS?!
Nearly EVERY foster care or other government welfare agency for children is overwhelmed, case workers less and less skilled and thousands of children are abandoned, millions are neglected and hungry or outright abused.
The children who died in custody of the adults in charged were
Dae’von Bailey, aged six, beaten to death by his mother’s boyfriend (who has been at large until early this morning).
Little Dae’von has five other half siblings also scattered among other adults.
Lars Sanchez, age four was decapitated with a knife by his mother who has a long history of mental problems.
And then, her name escapes me, there is the two year old girl, also beaten to death by her own parents.
The list of tragic children, murdered by the adults and/or parents is long and ugly.
And so is the list of children living in horrendous poverty, who are even homeless.
Yet, NOM and other ‘family and children’ advocates spend all their time and money, telling the world how awful it would be for gay people to marry or be parents!
And obviously, VERY little of their energy goes into legislating against heterosexuals who are criminally hurting children.
After all, a hetero child rapist can marry their victim…eventually. Especially if they have children from such a situation.
Mary Kay LeTourneau being such a person.
The more heterosexuals keep trying to sell how ‘superior’ they are in child care and marriage, the more I want to shout they aren’t fooling anyone but the most stupid and fearful among us.
The message of the anti-equality folks is steeped in two things and two things only.
It is either the religious doctrine and dogma (E.g. It’s in the book so God said it!) or now the new tact of concern for children.
What exactly are the harmful impacts of a child with gay parents? They can never enumerate those.
Then you get the parents with their underwear in a bunch because their kindergartner got to read King and King. But again this all goes back to the religious argument.
And the religious argument mostly comes form Leviticus but old Saul of Tarsus had a thing or two to say about we homos in his letters to Romans.
Back to the Levitical argument, it’s the passage 18:22 which states that man should not lie with another man as with woman.
In other words, most of the arguments being presented by the anti-equality folks have a strong misogynist root.
Because in times of Leviticus women were essentially chattel.
You get more insane writings of Saul of Tarsus masquerading as St. Paul in 1 Timothy 2:9-12. Saul subscribed to the view of women as chattel and so it explains his writing.
I think the anti-equality folks do fall back upon self-serving, sectarian religious doctrine, regardless of the consequences for those people whose religious doctrines are less self-serving and sectarian.
They view women as demure and obedient trophies to be won through marriage — except when they sponsor token women like Maggie Gallagher, Linda Harvey, Phyllis Schlafly, Janet Folger Porter, and Michelle Malkin: Exceptions that unfortunately prove the rule that anti-equality churches’ women may not lead in religion, business, or combat if they are serious about imposing an ancient and primitive Biblical lifestyle upon the modern world.
The Bible is historically, scientifically, theologically, and culturally inaccurate and inconsistent. Those who insist otherwise generally cherry-pick whatever verses they feel are self-flattering and which smear or smite their neighbors in simplest and dumbest fashion.
Their ultimate message: God loves me and my children, while he hates my neighbors.
I was amazed to find my dear friend from Catholic High School and his spouse featured in this article. Life has many surprises. Congratulations on your many years of marriage Paul and Lori. God has blessed you. I hope our paths cross again soon. your old friend, Jim
So, James, are you saying your friends are anti-gay bigots?
I understand Jim to be saying that Paul and Lori’s marriage can’t survive unless gay couples are erased from existence. Or exiled to Block Island. Or something.
Sounds like a wobbly appraisal on Jim’s part.
Maybe you homophobes should work on the basic principles of friendship before you tackle something as complicated and intimate as the bonds of marriage. I am still in close contact with anyone I would call a dear friend from high school. With any luck perhaps dear friends James and Paul can cross paths at a rally condemning the overturning of the Defense of Marriage Act.
I am sorry to have given the wrong impression. I have never left an online comment before, and I regret having made this one. However, since I did, let me try and put it in some perspective. I was naive to think that my comment would be significant to only Paul and Lori. As such, I guess I deserve the criticism. I knew Paul and Lori a long time ago, and believe them to be loving and caring people, and God has blessed them. This does not mean that I support the ideology represented in this story, in fact I truly doubt Paul and Lori espouse any of the hateful rhetoric either. I am a practicing Catholic who hopes and prays that the institution’s official stand on homosexuality and same sex marriage will soon change. My personal faith community or “parish” has never been exclusionary. The God that I pray to loves everyone, gay or straight, married or single, democrat and even republican. I actually believe God has a special glory in heaven reserved for gay people because of what they have sufferred at the hands of those claiming to be doing his work. “Blessed are you when men reproach you, and persecute you, and, speaking falsely, say all manner of evil against you, for My sake. Rejoice and exult, because your reward is great in heaven” Matt. 5, 12
Jim,
Don’t hold your breath on your “institution’s official stand on homosexuality and same sex marriage” changing in your lifetime. The roman church hierarchy is largely dominated by closeted, misogynistic homosexual men and the vocal laity, in this country at least, is dominated by right wing, misogynistic, upper income capitalists and their spokesmen (Koch Brothers, Tom Monaghan, Clarence Thomas, Pat Buchanan, Bill O’Reilly, Newt Gingrich & Randall Terry are just the tip of the iceberg). Fat chance there will ever be any gender equality or justice for LGBT people out of this sordid morass of narcissism.