“Oh wow. Today my Dad is really, really upset about fictional characters in the Star Wars video game. He’s getting paid for this.”
“Weird.”
After first going after Girl Scout cookies, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins is now attacking the game Star Wars: The Old Republic for allowing same-sex relationships.
Uh, okay, well all right then. Here’s the full quote from Tony:
In a new Star Wars game, the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists! Hello, I’m Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. In a galaxy not so far far away, Star Wars gamers have already gone to the dark side. The new video game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, has added a special feature: gay relationships. Bioware, the company that developed the game, said it’s launching a same-sex romance component to satisfy some complaints. That surprised a lot of gamers, since Bioware had made it clear in 2009 that “gay” and “lesbian” don’t exist in the Star Wars universe. Since the announcement, homosexuals have been celebrating the news, but parents sure aren’t. On the game’s website, there are more than 300 pages of comments–a lot of them expressing anger that their kids will be exposed to this Star Warped way of thinking. You can join them by logging on and speaking up. It’s time to show companies who the Force is really with!
It’s true that Dan Savage has made offensive remarks in the past. I’m not denying, explaining, justifying, or defending that, because a.) it’s not my place to speak for him, and b.) Dan has already addressed them himself. I’m also not in any way trying to minimize or downplay what I have no doubt is the very real, acute pain that anti-trans bigotry causes, or the way anti-trans language, regardless of intent, reinforces that bigotry. Look: as a gay man, not to mention a married one, I am keenly aware of the sting of bigotry. I feel it every day, both through my own life experiences and those that many of you share with me and the rest of us here at Truth Wins Out. As much as anti-gay bigotry hurts, though — as heavily as it weighs on my heart, and as much as I abhor the construction of a hierarchy of oppression — I recognize the privilege that I possess as a white, cisgender gay man. I simply cannot fathom the magnitude of the journey my trans kinfolk are on, nor do I possess a vocabulary sufficient to convey my admiration for the courage it takes each and every one of my trans friends to be true to hirself and to own, embrace, and love that truth.
But Savage’s glitterbombing still disturbs me profoundly. The reason? Dan Savage is not the enemy. As Bil Browning, another veteran LGBT activist, points out, trans people are not alone in their journey. All of us cisgendered individuals — even those of us in the LGBT movement — are on a journey too, into an ever-greater understanding of the perspectives and experiences that our trans siblings bring to the table and the unique issues, circumstances, and difficulties they face. Our movement is most effective when we fight forcefully for our human rights and dignities against those who oppress us while at the same time dispelling misconceptions by telling the stories of our lives, educating people about our orientations/identities/expressions and the injustices we face because of them, and awakening in all of us the realization of our common humanity and the fundamental rights and protections to which that humanity entitles us.
Even the most outspoken and well-intentioned of us have warts. But Dan Savage is not a trans enemy. Warts and all, his heart is in the right place and he is an ally in the struggle for equality on behalf of our entire community — lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. What’s more, Savage is one of the most visible members of our community. He has a high profile that almost none of the rest of us have, and that enables him to be an especially forceful advocate for the LGBT movement. Absolutely nothing is gained by attacking him; if anything, those who engage in these repeated attacks run the serious risk of silencing one of our most powerful assets.
All of us, including the so-called “trans mafia,” should take care to remember who our real enemies are. It shouldn’t be too hard; there are plentyofthem. Instead of directing our frustration and anger inwards at obviously supportive and well-meaning community members who have a less-than-immaculate record on every single LGBT issue, we need to direct it outwards and upwards towards the Tony Perkinses, Rick Santorums, Keith Ablows, and Laura Ingrahams of the world. Instead of vilifying people for what they don’t fully understand, we need to meet them where they are and bring them further.
Circular firing squads cut all of us down, and guess what? After the last shot is fired, our enemies are still standing.
Let’s be better than that. Our rights and our lives depend on it.
Postscript: I’d like to encourage readers of this article to head over to Bilerico and read this brilliant piece written by Austen Crowder, titled “The ‘Trans Mafia’ Stifles Allies.”
The other day a video from a young kid named Jonah Mowry, where he told the story of the relentless bullying he experiences on a daily basis, went viral. Here’s that video again if you haven’t seen it:
When I posted it, I described Jonah as a specific example of a kid that Linda Harvey and the rest of the Religious Right refuses to protect, and asked what was more valuable: that child, or their dogma?
Christian writer John Shore took that idea a lot further than I did, and he took the gloves off. Quoting it almost in its entirety, because John likes me and won’t get mad:
Tell me that your belief system didn’t help put the hot tears on this kid’s cheeks. Tell me that the bullies who torment this kid aren’t in any way encouraged or empowered by your tacit approval of their actions. Tell me that the shame this kid feels about himself has nothing to do with the shame that you believe all gay people should feel for themselves.
Tell me that you can’t comprehend the connection between your conviction that God finds homosexuals repulsive, and the fact that this kid finds himself so repulsive that he habitually cuts his own flesh.
Tell me, please, how you love this kid. Tell me how you understand his pain. Tell me how when he cries, you cry.
Tell me how you want to do everything in your power to make sure that no one, ever again, feels free to in any way victimize a young gay person.
A Christian myself, I am pleading with you to be honest with me about this.
Tell me, please, how none of this kid’s anguish has anything to do with you.
I’m listening. I really am.
We all are.
All ears. You first, Linda Harvey. Then Tony Perkins. And then we can go alphabetically through America’s bigot leaders after that. Explain how your bigotry is worth more than this or any other child’s suffering.
As Jeremy points out, this is at best, pathetic, and at worst, an illustration of just how much contempt people like Tony Perkins have for their own followers. Basically here is what had happened was: yesterday, Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi added a non-controversial amendment to a defense authorization bill which clarified that military chaplains are free to refuse to marry same-sex couples. Though gay rights advocates have never fought to force any clergy to perform weddings they don’t want to, for whatever reason, the following video features Roger Wicker speaking to hate group leaders Tim Wildmon [AFA] and Tony Perkins [FRC], declaring this very non-controversial amendment a “victory.”
I am aware that the Religious Right is winning basically nothing when it comes to gay rights these days — and thank heavens for that — but that they are declaring this a victory is hilarious. Jeremy also points out that there was basically no opposition to this, because it’s already Pentagon policy, and no one cares.
Think about it: why on God’s green earth would any gay couple want to go to Reverend Bubba the Bigot to perform their ceremony?! Weddings are happy occasions, people. No need to have a gross old homophobe on the guest list, much less at the pulpit.
Here’s the video:
When I said above that people like Tony Perkins and Tim Wildmon have absolute contempt for their own followers, those are my words, not Jeremy’s. But let me expand on that a bit. The Religious Right [and indeed, the Republican Party] would not have the donors and followers they have if they weren’t exceptionally crafty when it comes to lying to and scaring the shit out of their sheep. There is no liberal or gay-friendly parallel to this. On this side of the fence, journalists, bloggers and non-profit organizations are well aware that our average readers/listeners/supporters are pretty smart people, and moreover people who are willing and able to research issues for themselves. Therefore, aside from the fact that we have absolutely no reason to mislead people, we wouldn’t make it very far with the people who support us if we played cute with the facts like the Religious Right does.
Sadly, and I know this is a broad over-generalization, but Tony Perkins knows it too, the Religious Right is simply not that kind of crowd. So beholden to fear and authority are they that the “daddy figures” they choose to trust are viewed as impenetrable and beyond reproach, even when the words coming out of their leaders’ mouths defy all logic, reason and civics knowledge. Tim Wildmon, being sort of a fringe, regional figure, might be so dumb/uninformed that he believes what he’s saying, but Tony Perkins is inside the Beltway. He knows full well when he’s lying to his people in order to keep their fear-based ca$h a-rollin’ into the FRC’s coffers. Aside from the fact that the man leads a well-known and detested hate group, it’s grotesque to realize that a large part of his influence comes from the fact that he lies to his own people.
That’s how you end up with a situation where these men are able to go on to AFA radio and boldly claim “victory” on an issue that literally, nobody cares about. If their followers acted like liberals and decided to check for themselves whether or not gay couples wanted to force awful wingnuts to perform gay marriage ceremonies, they’d discover that Tony and Tim and Roger are lying to them. But they won’t, and those men know it, so the lies will continue.
Several things to mock in this latest missive from Tony Perkins, from yesterday’s broadcast of Today’s Issues put out by the hate group called the Family Research Council. Let us do so because Tony Perkins is truly low-hanging fruit:
I think it’s time for us to occupy. Not going down and setting up tents out in front of city hall, but it’s time for us to be gainfully involved in boldly proclaiming truth and not backing down in the face of intimidation, whether it be from a school principal, kids if you’re listening obviously talk with your parents first, and parents, don’t be intimidated by school officials, don’t be intimidated by the ACLU.
Um, Tony, you all already “occupy” a lot of places. That’s why gay kids end up getting the message from bullies and the fundamentalist religious leaders who enable them that they’re not worthy of living. I’d hate to see the bodycount if Tony Perkins stepped up the FRC’s “occupying” activities.
Pastors, I’m gonna have a pastor hopefully on the program maybe this week or next week from Oklahoma who spoke out at city council and now he’s gotten death threats, well you know what, we’ve got to stand up to this. We cannot allow this to go on, allow them to intimidate us into silence.
Should we be angry? No. But we should understand that it is the truth that sets people free and those in the homosexual community that are looking for fulfillment, that are looking for the approval that they are trying to get by forcing society to embrace homosexuality, they will never get it that way. They’ll only get it when they come to grips with the truth, that they are created in the image of God and God has a plan for their lives, and it’s not the destructive path that they’re on.
Oh, so delusional. You see, people like Tony Perkins live in a weird, bizarre echo chamber outside of reality where the only thing they know and understand is their own lies. Just as creationists can look at fossils from millions of years ago and simply stick their fingers in their ears clinging to their cult belief that the earth is Brand New, Tony Perkins and his fellow anti-gay bigots [also creationists!] simply cannot compute the fact that there are millions of gay people who happy and fulfilled, and not on destructive paths at all. The truth of the matter is that it is those LGBT people who are most influenced by fundamentalist religion who end up destroyed. Their families end up destroyed, their lives are destroyed, sometimes they commit suicide…and for what? The approval of unworthy malcontents like Tony Perkins? My god.
Yesterday, the bill to repeal DOMA passed the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 10-8. This is making the Religious Right whine a lot. Brian at Right Wing Watch compiled a bunch of their reactions, and you should hop over there and read all of them, but my favorite is the fact-free whining from hate group leader Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council:
Today the Senate Judiciary Committee passed S.598, Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) bill that would completely eradicate the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the protections it affords taxpayers and the majority of state’s voters who have decided to define marriage as between one man and one woman.
The misnomer medal of the month might have to be awarded early! S.598, the misleadingly titled “Respect for Marriage Act” not only disrespects American’s across the country who want to protect traditional marriage–and have done as much in the 31 states which have passed statewide referendums in favor of marriage–it will also require your tax dollars go to pay for the federal benefits and subsidies of gay couples, irrespective of where they live, who have gotten “married” in 6 states that allow it.
Marriage is not some prize that liberals can award to a small, vocal and already well off special interest group. Marriage between one man and one woman was created prior to the formation of any governments and is given benefits by governments because it uniquely contributes to a productive society. Trying to change the definition to fit some misguided concept can only cause harm to society.
Oh, boo-hoo, it “disrespects” Americans who want to “protect traditional marriage” from a “special interest group.” Also, his concept of the history of marriage is pathetically stupid. Here, let Al Franken explain that for you, as he did yesterday during the hearings. As Kirsten at Wonkette points out, it was kind of sad that he had to spell this out so slowly and nicely for the idiots, but it’s still necessary, unfortunately:
As for Tony’s blathering about state referenda and ‘Murkans who want to defend tradishnul murrge, here is a picture I found yesterday, of Rachel Maddow explaining these sorts of things to people who are dumb:
It’s funny when they accidentally forget their messaging and just come right out with their weird, shame-induced belief that all sex is dirty.
But when you’re a fundamentalist leader, you’re much more worried about keeping your ideology pure and wishing upon a star that all people’s naughty bits might somehow be under lock and key for all time*, than you are about keeping your kids STD and teen pregnancy free. Look at the teen pregnancy rates in the more fundamentalist states to see how well that works.
*except for those terrible times when a Fundamentalist husband and wife must engage in terrible, disgusting, shameful sex in order to have a baby.
Wow, this one comes from Joplin, Missouri. A teacher, whose name is not being released, allegedly posted these remarks on Facebook in response to a story about gay kids committing suicide:
How grotesque. There’s a news video here on the incident, which I can’t seem to embed over here.
Joe noticed that one of America’s Most Vicious Hatemongers, Tony Perkins, is defending the teacher. What’s a little laugh over child suicide among fundamentalist wingnuts, am I right?
Sometimes people think we’re exaggerating when we say that, as we have now reached the tipping point, the majority position in the United States is to support full equality for gay people, and the bigots’ opinions are becoming completely socially unacceptable, those bigots are very likely to become more and more extreme and possibly violent. Watching one of the most well-known “pro-family” leaders in the country defend a person laughing about children committing suicide should open people’s eyes to the true character of our opposition. These are their true colors.
One of the things that has often bugged me over the years, as I’ve studied the effects of fundamentalist religion on the world and on the LGBT community, has been the knee-jerk anti-Muslim sentiment expressed by some gay people. It’s, of course, not been limited to the gay community — the United States, as a whole, has a knee-jerk anti-Muslim problem. What I’ve noticed, though, is that, of the three Abrahamic religious traditions — Christianity, Judaism, Islam — you have three distinct religions in three different places when it comes to being welcoming to all people.
Judaism is the furthest along, perhaps because it’s the oldest. With the exception of a few fringe, insane rabbis who consider gays the cause of all the evil in the world, the American Jewish community is pretty progressive and pretty welcoming to gays. Christianity is in the middle. On a media level, Christianity is still too often represented by fundamentalist wingnuts like Tony Perkins, who use their platforms to advance the lie that their medieval, hateful views are representative of average Christians. But within Christianity, there are indeed millions of people advocating for a loving, inclusive, welcoming version of Christianity.
And then there is Islam, which arguably has the longest way to go. But here is the thing that a lot of people probably don’t understand. Though there are certain teachings which still predominate, American Muslims have a similar problem to American Christians, which is simply that the Islamic equivalent of Tony Perkins gets up and spouts hate and religious teachings that are, quite simply, not what many or even most American Muslims believe. However, the average American knows more, culturally, about Christianity than they do about Islam, so it’s easier for Americans to see the diversity in Christianity than to see it in Islam.
Ani Zonneveld, a Muslim-American singer-songwriter and activist, is trying to change that, and she’s profiled in an MSNBC piece this morning:
Like other aspiring reformers before her, Ani Zonneveld takes positions that make her unpopular with her religion’s spiritual leaders, in this case America’s Islamic elders.
Not only does she lead prayers — a task normally reserved for men — but she is an outspoken advocate for gay, bisexual and transgender Muslims. Later this year, she plans to officiate at the Islamic wedding of a lesbian couple, which is perfectly acceptable by her reading of the Quran.
“The community we are building is very different from most of the mosques you would walk into,” said Zonneveld, a 49-year-old Malaysian-born singer-songwriter. “We are very inclusive of all Muslims, gay Muslims, mixed-faith couples. … We also don’t segregate (the genders) when we pray, and we allow women to lead prayer. Our values are very egalitarian and we really live those values out.”
Her organization is Muslims for Progressive Values, and the piece points out that their advocacy for LGBT people separates them from the pack. Every movement has to have its pioneers, you know, and the movement for equality within Islam has to start somewhere, and it seems that Ani is taking on that role.
Several other Islamic leaders are interviewed and quoted in the piece, and you can see a bit of the diversity we’re used to with Christianity. You have the “gay is an abomination” set, you have the “it’s a sin, but we love everyone” set, and all other somewhere-in-betweens. Also interviewed is the United States’ only gay imam [yes, there is a gay imam in the United States!]. Ani touches on the problem of having the most conservative leaders speaking as if they speak for everyone here:
“The vast majority of American Muslims believe in an Islam that is so different from the people (who have been) representing us,” said Zonneveld. “It would be like if you had an ultra-Orthodox Jewish rabbi representing all American Jews; they would be up in arms. … It would be complete misrepresentation of the American Jewish community.”
Anyway, the word needs to get out about the work Ani Zonneveld is doing, and we all need to do a better job of assisting the reformers among us, with whatever set of circumstances they have to deal with. There is a lot to be done yet, in the Islamic community, to create a climate of welcoming and love for LGBT people, just as there is a lot to be done yet for kids living under the thumb of American Fundamentalist Christianity. To find out more about Ani’s organization and their ten guiding principles, click here.
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