[Warning: This piece is completely freaking long. I have tried to make it enjoyable. If you don't like that, read something different.]
I have been arguing with myself over whether to post on this screed by someone called “Jim O’Neill,” because to do so could be very time consuming. First of all it is so long-winded that to address its points could take the entire day. Even simply mocking the piece, paragraph by paragraph, could take an hour. What we have here is a guy who seems to have gone quite far off his rocker, who believes that obscure, fringe sources and unhinged hatemongers like NARTH and Scott Lively, who are rejected by the entire scientific and mental health communities, are somehow the only ones telling him the truth, and who truly thinks he has found a nugget of an idea in stating that the “homosexual agenda” is actually the same as the “Islamist agenda,” because both [he says] are misogynistic! Uh, yeah. All you lesbians? You hate women. So much. And all you gay men who shout “divaaaaaa!” at the ceiling any time a woman does something “fierce,” are also he-man woman haters. Also, apparently liberals don’t care about female genital mutilation in the Islamic world. Actually, I learned all about that issue from liberal sources. Anyway, but first, before we enter the biggest vortex of stupid I’ve ever encountered [and this is in a world that contains Peter LaBarbera], let’s look at his bio, because it’s funny:
Born in June of 1951 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Jim O’Neill (constitutionalwrites.com) proudly served in the U.S. Navy from 1970-1974 in both UDT-21 (Underwater Demolition Team) and SEAL Team Two. A member of MENSA, he worked as a commercial diver in the waters off Scotland, India, and the United States. In 1998 while attending the University of South Florida as a journalism student, O’Neill won “First Place” in the “Carol Burnett/University of Hawaii AEJMC Research in Journalism Ethics Award.” The annual contest was set up by Carol Burnett with the money she won from successfully suing the National Enquirer for libel.
He is in MENSA, you guys! You know, I have had the opportunity to join MENSA, and have never done so, mostly because I don’t care, but even if I did, you would NEVER see my “MENSA membership” in my bio. I mean, my goodness. But also, he was a Navy SEAL! Now, as we all know, Navy SEALs are trained to be bad-ass and do things like shoot Osama bin Laden in the face, but this does not tell us anything about their perceptive capabilities when it comes to subjects like homosexuality, now does it? Indeed, there are gay Navy SEALs! This would freak Jim O’Neill out, a lot, as you will see.
Also, your fancy pants college journalism award is named after a campy gay icon, so there is that.
Anyway, let’s jump into the vortex of stupid, but we’ll try not to stay too long. The supposed thesis of this word salad is that gays should not be able to serve in the military:
There is a tendency among many Americans, even some on the Left and in the gay community, to write the Islamic world off in a way, to essentially suggest that because they are often far behind the West when it comes to things like LGBT acceptance, that Muslims, as a people, should not be trusted. Likewise, the American Right entertains a fantasy that somehow includes “far leftists” and “radical Muslims” being in alliance with each other. They believe they are making a winning argument when they huff questions like “yeah well, ya know what they do to gay people in Iran?!” Far from making a winning argument, they are not even making a point, but that’s the American Right for you. As with so many issues that require critical thinking and nuance, the truth is a bit more complicated.
Take this, for instance: Syria is one of the latest among Arab nations experiencing fevered anti-government protests, and the protesters’ story is becoming more known thanks to a girl who calls herself “the ultimate outsider”:
[Amina] Abdullah’s blog, A Gay Girl in Damascus, is brutally honest, poking at subjects long considered taboo in Arab culture. “Blogging is, for me, a way of being fearless,” she says. “I believe that if I can be ‘out’ in so many ways, others can take my example and join the movement.”
[...]
“Unfortunately, for most of my life being aware of Syrian politics means simply observing and only commenting privately.”
That changed when protests broke out and Abdullah joined them, blogging about her experiences.
[...]
The blend of humour and frankness, frivolity and political nous comes from an upbringing that straddles Syria and the US. “I’m the ultimate outsider,” she says. “My views are heavily informed by being both a member of a small marginal minority as an Arab Muslim in America and as a part of a majority as a Sunni in Syria, and of course as a woman and as a sexual minority.”
Homosexuality is illegal in Syria and a strict taboo, although the state largely turns a blind eye. “It’s tough being a lesbian in Syria, but it’s certainly easier to be a sexual than a political dissident,” she says. “There are a lot more LGBT people here than one might think, even if we are less flamboyant than elsewhere.”
So there you have it: the revolution in Syria is being live-blogged by a woman, a dual citizen, a Muslim, a lesbian. Much of the Islamic world may be far behind the West on these issues, yes. But there are glimmers of hope on the horizon, and Amina is certainly one of those.
It’s useful to point out the similarities between the fundamentalist Christian worldview and that of religion-fueled Third World societies around the world. I’ve suggested in the past that many right wing Christian leaders really ought to convert to Islam and move to Iran, seeing as the societal mores are more in line with their way of thinking. They won’t miss the “Jesus” part of their current religion, because they really pay no attention to the “Jesus” part in the first place, aside from the fact that they’re glad he’s sending them to heaven and everybody they don’t like, to hell.
Malaysian authorities have admitted sending 66 teenage boys thought to be gay to a camp to learn “masculine behaviour”.
An official from Terengganu state said the boys, aged between 13 and 17, were identified by teachers as having effeminate mannerisms.
This week, they are being sent on a four-day “self-development course” in the hope of dissuading them from being gay or transgender.
State education director Razali Daud told The Associated Press that the camp was designed “to guide them back to the right path in life before they reach a point of no return. Such effeminate behavior is unnatural and will affect their studies and their future.”
The article states that the kids weren’t compelled to go to Muslim Pray Away The Gay Camp, but were invited, which is pretty much in line with Alan Chambers’ philosophy of only destroying those who are willing to destroy themselves.
No snarking necessary, as it would just be cruel. I can’t imagine what it’s like to attempt to fall asleep as Bradlee Dean of the You Can Run But You Can’t Hide [from the Muslim buttsex monsters under Bradlee Dean's bed] ministries. TPM:
Bradlee Dean of the religious ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International said on his radio program that Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) is only supporting LGBT rights as part of a strategy to bring Sharia law to the United States, the Minnesota Independent reported.
“I said time and time again that there is a correlation between the Muslims and the homosexual agenda, and we have a couple of fools in the state of Minnesota that are putting a rope around their neck and they just don’t realize it,” Dean said on a radio. “Here, let me give it to you this way: Keith Ellison is a Muslim.”
Dear reasoned that Ellison’s support of protections for the LGBT community (like the Matthew Shepard Act) and for same-sex marriage is part of a plot to overthrow the Constitution and put Sharia law in its place.
“Why is he so adamant about overthrowing the Constitution as it is right now? Because if you pay attention to the plow he’s planting the seed,” Dean said. “He’s trying to come through with Sharee [sic] law.”
“Does somebody want to talk to the homosexual community in the state of Minnesota and tell them what he is doing?” Dean continued. “Go online, folks! You love the homosexuals so much then why don’t you tell them who they’ve appointed as their chairperson? He’s a Muslim!”
“Hello? Why is he after it? Because he wants to bring in Sharee [sic] law through the homosexual agenda!”
As I said, it would be unnecessarily cruel to make fun of Bradlee Dean. He is obviously a very fearful, disturbed individual, who has conflated all his boogeymen together into one monolithic imaginary beast capable of destroying his Power Ballad hair with one swishy swipe of its Allah-worshipping tail.
But, due to Tintin at Sadly, No!, I have to. You see, Bryan Fischer is Very Upset, because Campbell’s Soup now makes a couple of soups which are halal-certified, which means they conform to certain Islamic dietary regulations. This is sort of parallel to Kosher foods, and many American companies make certain foods Kosher, in order to cater to those markets, and really, what Free Market Conservative wouldn’t support every company’s right to cater to as many customers as they want?
Not Bryan Fischer! Not one for intellectual consistency of any sort, Bryan is much more interested in keeping his RACISM consistent, even if it means he has to go through extreme mental gymnastics to do so.
So yes, Bryan Fischer is upset that Campbell’s Soup has some halal-certified products now available, and this is evidence, to him, of the fact that Shari’a law has come to our shores.
Wait, what, Tintin?
Oh, and before any of you become fearful of visiting your neighborhood grocery store lest you become the involuntary victim of the Islamic conversion-by-canned-soup plot, the halal Campbell’s sharia law soup cans are only available in Canuckistan, which you will find out if you click Fischer’s link. For the life of me I really can’t figure out why he failed to mention that these jihadist soups were only available in Canada, although I suppose it rather fucks up his argument about Sharia law bearing down on the U.S. “at full gallop.” Or maybe Fischer doesn’t understand that Canada is another country.
Yep. Bryan Fischer’s THAT stupid, y’all.
Also that stupid? Pam Geller, Tea Party Nation, and a Facebook group full of America’s Least Likely to Succeed.
I just stumbled across a really neat piece from a Muslim American author and activist named Melody Moezzi, where she takes the position that, despite the crap that’s being slung at Muslims by low-information Americans from coast to coast, she’s still in a better position as a Muslim American than her gay friends are:
Lately I’ve been hearing a lot about how much my people are under attack in America today. The thing is, though, as an American Muslim, I don’t really feel under attack. Annoyed? Sure. But attacked? No.
Despite all the controversy surrounding the construction of the Park51 Center in downtown Manhattan, for example, the fact remains that it will still be built. Mayor Bloomberg and President Obama have both staunchly defended our right to build it and most of the center’s most vociferous opponents have either never set foot in Manhattan or belong to some extremist political or religious group — the exact same kind of group from which they claim to be “protecting” Americans by protesting the construction of the center. In short, no matter how loudly these bigots protest or how viciously they insult us, we still have the law and our leaders on our side.
Meanwhile, I just had lunch with a friend who can’t even get married or serve openly in the military in this country, who has nowhere near the same 14th Amendment equal protection rights that I do as a Muslim American woman, and who can no longer afford his HIV medications because his social security payments are too high for him to qualify for Medicaid. Just like me, my friend is an American citizen, but unlike me, he doesn’t share the same rights and privileges that said citizenship ought to guarantee.
[...]
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that it’s easy being a Muslim American today. Far from it. What I am saying, however, is that as a Muslim American, my obligation is to defend the rights of the most marginalized and persecuted citizens living in my great country — and as it stands, despite all the nasty name-calling, I’m not one of those citizens.
Awesome. Read the whole thing, please. And follow Melody on Twitter.
When we were in the middle of the loudest week of Muslim-bashing over the Park51 center, the writers at Truth Wins Out spoke out strongly about why we supported the building of the center. But quite simply, the above piece is why. Because any time one minority is being attacked in this country, simply for who they are, we all are being attacked.
Among all minorities in this country, there are, regrettably, people who are uber-concerned about their own minority rights, but who have irrational hatreds against other minorities. I don’t have to give a bunch of examples here; readers know what I’m talking about. What we have to recognize, though, is that any time anyone is not being treated as a full human being, whether legally or socially, by other citizens, for not conforming to the white, male, patriarchal, Christian ”ideal” of the “Real ‘Murrikan” espoused by those who are, of course, white, male, patriarchal and Christian, then that’s relevant, even if it’s not your group in the crosshairs. The only way to fight back against that, and to keep the true ideals of the United States alive, is to support each other, and to fight for each other.
Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, who is on record as saying possibly the most extreme anti-gay, anti-Muslim, anti-everyone things in the “mainstream” fundamentalist Christian movement, is trying to defend himself from charges that he’s basically a hatemonger. He, of course, is basically a hatemonger, and a profoundly disturbed one at that. But yesterday, on his radio show, he tried to push back against those charges:
I am pro-gay; I am anti-homosexuality. I am pro-Muslim; I am anti-Islam.
I am for homosexuals because I want them to be delivered from the bondage and the death sentence of homosexual conduct. So I am against homosexual behavior, I am against homosexual expression, I am against homosexual conduct because I want to see the people that are trapped in that lifestyle, I want to see them set free.
And the same is true when it comes to Islam: I am for Muslims; I am against-Islam. And, as I mentioned before, the primary victims of Islam are Muslims. I mean, it’s got to break your heart when you visualize the life that these people lead in Muslim-dominated countries.
There is darkness, there is tyranny, there is repression, there is hatred, there is a complete absence of freedom, a complete absence of liberty, women are second-class citizens, they’re considered as property, as chattel who can be beaten by their husbands according to Allah, according to the Holy Quran, according to the Prophet.
I mean the poverty, and the disease, and the emptiness and the sterility of life in a Muslim-dominated land, it ought to break our hearts. And that is why I am against Islam because I see what it does to people, I see what it does to cultures, I see what it does to entire nations when it is allowed to take root and flourish.
So I am pro-Muslims, but anti-Islam. I am pro-homosexual, I am anti-homosexuality.
Let me show you all how stupid his statements are, real quick:
I am pro-Fundamentalist Christian; I am anti-Fundamentalist Christianity.
I am for Fundamentalist Christians because I want them to be delivered from the bondage and disturbed death wish of fundamentalist Christian conduct. So I am against fundamentalist Christian behavior, I am against fundamentalist Christian expression, I am against fundamentalist Christian conduct because I want to see the people that are trapped in that lifestyle, I want to see them set free.
This is what people like Bryan Fischer do: they create a false separation in their small minds between “being gay” and “homosexual conduct,” despite ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY, so that they can prop up their hateful, bigoted beliefs, but still keep plausible deniability about what bigots they really are intact, presumably so that they can sleep at night without ever having to come in contact with the harsh reality that, long after they’re dead, they will be remembered as a hateful, discriminatory stain on history.
As to his statements about Islam, all I can say is that it’s always excessively quaint to watch an extremist member of one faith go after extremist members of another faith, as if either one of them can prove a damn word they say about anything. ”My death cult is better than your death cult!”
Why won’t anybody pay attention to the poor, put-upon Phelps family? I mean, they’re only really in it for the celebrity anyway:
One of those angry at a Florida preacher’s plans to mark Sept. 11 by setting fire to copies of the Quran is Shirley Phelps Roper, a leader of the Westboro Baptist Church.
While she joins Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Gen. David Petraeus, the White House, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and many more, Phelps-Roper, Fred Phelps’ lawyer daughter, is hardly a voice for religious tolerance.
It’s so cute when real journalists have to write about the Phelps family. Shes “hardly a voice for religious tolerance.” No, she is not! I think the words McClatchy was looking for are “unhinged lunatic.”
in 2008 she and her father’s Topeka flock set fire to a Quran in plain view on a Washington, D.C., street and nobody seemed to care.
“We did it a long time before this guy,” Phelps-Roper said by telephone from a street corner in downtown Chicago, scene of the latest Westboro picket — against Jews this time, not gays.
The difference could be that in 2008 many news media outlets had decided to ignore the group’s routine of spewing hatred at funerals of fallen American soldiers.
So when Fred Phelps, calling Muhammad a “pedophilic gigolo,” went online and invited people to attend the burning, most stayed away.
So there you go. The Phelps clan burned a Quran, and nothing happened, because nobody cared.
I haven’t had the desire to talk about Rev. Terry Jones and his “Let’s Burn Korans” nonsense, because I’m just sort of burned out on anti-Muslim bigots.
This video is hilarious, though, and says all that needs to be said on the subject.
No snarking necessary, as it would just be cruel. I can’t imagine what it’s like to attempt to fall asleep as 
I just stumbled across 
