Andy Towle has the background on this disturbing video:
Check out this archaic assemblage of bigots at Coudersport, Pennsylvania’s public library at a presentation meant to counter the screening of Out in the Silence, a documentary by filmmaker Joe Wilson about what it’s like to be LGBT in a rural Pennsylvania town (Wilson’s subject was Oil City, PA, his hometown, two hours away).
Wilson had screened Out in the Silence a month before the presentation you’re about to see here, to a standing room only crowd and faced fierce opposition from the local Tea Party and Dr. Robert Wagner, who speaks in this video.
Behind Wagner, is Diane Gramley, President of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Family Association, and a resident of Oil City who plays a central role in Wilson’s film for opposing Wilson and his partner’s same-sex marriage announcement in the local paper.
Referring to transgender people in the video, here’s what Robert Wagner says:
“I’m gonna put a ball bat in my car, and if I ever see a guy (transgender individual) coming out of a bathroom that my granddaughter’s in, I’m gonna use the ball bat on him…In the good old days, before ‘she-males’ existed, they just called such people perverts.”
This is, of course, a pigheadedly ignorant refusal to understand what it means to be transgender. Those who know better scare those who don’t into believing that allowing space for transgender people to use facilities in line with their gender presentation is somehow tantamount to letting dirty, perverted old men go to the bathroom with young girls. But it’s good to have a “Bible-believing conservative” on video threatening violence against people. It shows people how they really are.
Later in the video, a quote from Bryan Fischer is read, where he says that gays should be barred from public office, and the crowd of bottom-feeders cheer and applaud the idea.
The heartwarming thing about this video, though, is this: Note the ages of the people in attendance. The anti-gay side of society is aging, rapidly, and the young people simply don’t buy the bigotry they’re trying to sell. The days of anti-gay hatred will indeed come to an end.
Scary people, nonetheless.
Tags: AFA, American Family Association, anti-gay hatred, Bigotry, Bryan Fischer, Coudersport Pennsylvania, Diane Gramley, Pennsylvania, Robert Wagner, transgender17 Comments »
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Yes.. the old white folk are askeered. They can’t die off soon enough.
And as I’ll be a RIPE 55 this year, ya can’ts take me to task fer utterin’ such ’cause I’m talkin ’bout many in MY generation. I’ll give you some boom I tell you what.
Comment by Gew — September 1, 2010 @ 4:43 pm
yup. smack in the middle of Pennsyltucky.
Comment by Emily K — September 1, 2010 @ 7:55 pm
“Christians” don’t threaten to bash others with a baseball bat; they don’t revile others; and they don’t threaten to bar people from running for office, because these immoral actions conflict with Christ’s commandments to treat others as we want to be treated.
Comment by Michael — September 1, 2010 @ 9:02 pm
Amen Michael, amen. Christians would confront that angry man and let him know he is not following Christ but is being mislead by his own fear and hatred and that he needs to repent.
Comment by Bob — September 1, 2010 @ 9:10 pm
PennsylTUCKY? Very classy Emily K. Really. Nice.
Comment by Gene — September 1, 2010 @ 9:44 pm
That’s what everybody “in the know” calls that part of Pennsylvania. Hell, that’s what the liberals who live there call it.
Comment by Evan Hurst — September 1, 2010 @ 10:02 pm
You have commented on my mother’s birth town and you’ve crossed the line. If you don’t believe me, I have a recording of “Potter County USA.”
I am gathering from your post, you wouldn’t know a trans-gender person if the baseball bat hit you in the head.
Comment by Russ Campbell — September 1, 2010 @ 10:05 pm
I don’t get it.
Comment by Evan Hurst — September 1, 2010 @ 10:41 pm
Mr. Campbell demonstrates why drunk-commenting is a bad idea…
Comment by Robert — September 1, 2010 @ 10:42 pm
There is a long-standing description of Pennsylvania that is fairly accurate: You have Philadelphia in the east, Pittsburgh in the west, and Alabama in the middle.
Comment by Richard Rush — September 1, 2010 @ 11:13 pm
AND we call the “Alabama” part “Pennsyltucky,” because “Pennsyl-bama” doesn’t roll off the tongue quite so easily.
Comment by Evan Hurst — September 1, 2010 @ 11:17 pm
If gays were barred from holding public office the Republican ranks would be rather thinned out wouldn’t they?
Comment by J M — September 2, 2010 @ 7:55 am
It’s true, Evan and Gene. I live in Philly, PA, and was born in the ‘burgh. So I consider myself a bit “in the know” about my home state. BTW, the south has nothing on the population of hate groups out there. Even as far east as Chester County you get open bigotry and racism.
fyi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsyltucky
Comment by Emily K — September 2, 2010 @ 8:48 am
Amazing how fundamentalist “christians” is ready to grab a ball bat and start killing people. What fucking planet are they on?
Comment by Neal — September 2, 2010 @ 12:47 pm
But…but…Emily K, I am confused about location names now. If Pennsyltucky is outside Philly, where is Moosylvania? (BTW every person I know from Philly is THE BEST!!!!! At least 3 good friends from there. No kidding. Must be something in the water. Too bad it can’t be bottled and shipped all over.)
Comment by DaveTheWave — September 2, 2010 @ 1:33 pm
I live in Pittsburgh(Greenfield, a small town outside of Pittsburgh,anyways) but I originally came from the Central Area(Centre County) portion of Pennsylvania. And yes, it is true what they say about Pennsylvania: You have New York(Philadelphia) on one side and California(Pittsburgh) on the other with Pensyltucky in the middle. Sad to say, but true.
The central part of Pennsylvania is mostly older baby boomer generational types(in other words your angry Glenn Beck audience)Most of them are either retired or about to be retired from their jobs and they don’t want no socialist like Obama coming in and telling them how to live their lives(read: we don’t take orders from no “n****r) Coudersport is a hot bed for organizations like Aryan Nation and the KKK…or any small town backwoods ghost town where they have experienced a lot of lay off and cut backs. It’s all about God, gays and guns in Pensyltucky…trust me.
Comment by Ray Sager — September 2, 2010 @ 2:50 pm
Ray beat me to it…
I recall a statistic somewhere that PA averages the largest number of Klan rallies per year of any state in the U.S. That may be outdated, but that’s reality in the “T” (another old reference to the shape of the “red” area of the state.
Also, unlike many college towns, State College (home to Penn State) is nearly as red as the rest of that area. PSU is considered one of the worst large campuses in the U.S. for LGBT students.
Comment by Matt — September 2, 2010 @ 10:54 pm