I’m working on a story right now on the boys in Gibson County, Tennessee, who were assaulted while trying to attend a service at one of the guys’ father’s church. According to reports, the attackers were the boy’s father [the pastor] and two deacons [one of whom is the boy's uncle]. So here I sit, compiling my notes on that and making phone calls, and then I see this story, out of a different part of Tennessee:
MADISONVILLE, Tenn. – A 17-year-old senior at Sequoyah High School was reportedly shoved, bumped in the chest and verbally harassed by his principal last week for wearing a T-shirt in support of efforts to establish a gay-straight alliance (GSA) club on campus. In response, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Tennessee sent a letter to the school district today demanding that students’ rights to free speech be protected in the classroom.
The ACLU has been assisting the student, Chris Sigler, in his and other students’ efforts to overcome resistance from school officials to establish a GSA. Principal Maurice Moser had previously threatened to punish students who circulated petitions about the club.
“It is totally unacceptable that a young man who was peacefully exercising his First Amendment rights would have his speech shut down by the public school principal,” said Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee. “Last week’s incident clearly illustrates the hostile environment LGBT students face at Sequoyah High School. Given this context, it’s especially important that supportive voices like Sigler’s can be heard in order to overcome the school’s resistance to a GSA.”
Here, I will answer my own question as to what the hell is wrong with Tennessee:
Anti-gay wingnuts are babies. They are not adults in any sense of the word. They react to any perceived slight to their fragile, ignorant worldviews no better than toddlers. They lash out and scream and cry and no amount of reasoning or coddling will sate them. The problem is that these babies are adult-sized and they have been granted positions of authority in Third World states like Tennessee. [Sorry if you're from there. So am I. I'm slinging shit at my own here.]
When the people we are brought up to show respect and deference to fail to pass the simplest smell test of what it means to be a “grown-up,” we end up with situations where high school principals physically assault kids, pastors and deacons physically assault kids, and state “family values” leaders bitch, moan and then gloat about what a good job they done did hurtin’ LGBT families across the state. And they know that, in the age of the internet, their antics travel fast, leading to millions of people at all points across the country and beyond beginning to mock, scorn and laugh at them, and in a way that makes it worse, as their resentment against the “cultural elites,” the people they hate and of whom they are secretly painfully jealous, causes them to dig their heels in even further and strengthens their commitment to hurting anyone who challenges their pea-brained worldviews.
It’s a sad situation, but that, in short, is what the hell is wrong with Tennessee.
[h/t Towleroad]
We should start calling them “adult-sized toddlers.” These actions remind me of the scary, infinitely powerful small boy on a classic “Twilight Zone” episode, who killed and harmed people for introducing any thought contrary to his own limited knowledge to his little world. They have proven that they’re definitely not “pro-family” or in the business of advocating for children.
1) The ACLU is full of s**t and never provides adequate help to victims of anti-gay prejudice. Here, a student was allegedly assaulted by a school official, but the ACLU apparently didn’t even help him to file a police report. Let me explain why. The ACLU’s aim in this is to get in and get out as fast as it can, in order to use the victim as a poster boy to say “We helped him; now give us money.” It wanted to have the poster boy to use to beg for money, without making a big investiture in time. It especially doesn’t want to have to be bothered offering the apparent gay victim and true legal services. No court case will be brought, the victim’s guardians have not even signed with the ACLU for legal representation, this is b******t that will leave the school just as bad as it ever was, and in fact, perhaps worse, because the ACLU will come and go and the school will see that there are no real consequences for this kind of behavior.
2) The alleged victim of the domestic violence incident involving various of his family members torturing and assaulting him and his boyfriend is a tough one. The first thing is, why was no police report filed? The victims obviously have no means of escape, or else, are brainwashed by the abusing family members into believing that if they tried to escape, they would be harmed. I personally feel that the Tennessee Attorney General should be alerted to this alleged instance of domestic violence and the fact that local authorities appear to be hostile to the victims. I would also try to engage domestic violence victims’ advocates in that area and urge the apparent vicitms to get into contact with one of those advocacy groups. NOTE: In domestic violence situations, it is urgently important that the victim not make contact with an advocacy group through a computer or other electronic device on which the abuser(s) could trace the contact made with the advocacy group. Domestic violence offenders will use that kind of evidence against the victim, as a justification for beating or otherwise abusing them.
@Scott, the ACLU does what it can with limited resources. They and Lambda Legal were very helpful to me in fighting off the Liberty Counsel when it threatened to file a frivolous lawsuit over my articles about an Exodus International billboard advertising campaign in 2006.
Here’s a positive solution for everyone to consider, instead of bashing groups that make a difference:
Take an hour or two off from reading blogs or Facebooking, and either volunteer for, or donate to, your state’s LGBT youth and antiviolence networks.
^what he said.
Take an hour off reading blogs…except for this one, of course.
A police report has been filed in the church case.
Whoa. What a bunch of Manchildren
I feel bad for their wives…
My first thought on this article was,”Why would you ask such a silly question about Tennessee?” They’re in the Bible Belt and they are one of the many brainwashed religious states. As you can see, even supposedly intelligent, educated, and knowledgeable people who preach love and kindness and compassion are not immune to the ravages of anti-gay hatred. You then answered your own question and I’m sorry to hear that your home state is like this.
I dunno about Memphis, but I recall friendly, tolerant, and intelligent people in Nashville when I lived there.
Some of those people knew ex-gay drug user and prostitute Randy Thomas and tried to help him. Unfortunately, he snubbed those folks, and sought the favor of vain churches that idolize mammon while treating actual humans like lepers.
The problem with Tennessee is simply the problem with too many social conservatives: They love themselves, idolize mammon, hate humanity, despise the world, look forward to doomsday, and con themselves into thinking that their own thoughts are really God’s thoughts.