Hate Group Coming to MoCo
It looks like Montgomery County is going to get a visit next month by Reverend Fred Phelps and his "God Hates Fags" group from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. Here's what they say on the "Schedule" page of their web site, God Hates Fags Schedule:
Note, first of all, that nobody knows if Walt Whitman was gay or bisexual or straight or what. There is certainly a lot of sexuality in his poetry, and he does get excited about a worker's rippling muscles or whatever, but his message was about exulting in the energy of life -- his writing is overrun with feeling, with emotion of all kinds, and there is simply no evidence that the guy ever had any kind of romantic affair or sexual encounter with another man. So if this is supposed to be about homosexuality there would have been a lot of better people to pick.
Many of the schools in our county are named after famous poets and writers, and as Walt Whitman is often considered one of our greatest, most original American poets there is in fact a school named after him. And that's all it takes for one of the most loathsome groups of "people" in America to bring their ugly message to our neighborhood.
It sounds like a counter-demonstration is being planned at the school. I emailed the kid who's trying to organize it and said "Count us in."
There might be a little irony in the fact that a leader of one of America's largest neo-Nazi groups, Bill White, is a former Whitman High School student.
Phelps and his group do not represent any kind of movement, as far as I can tell, even the most anti-gay fanatics consider the Westboro Baptist Church to be extreme -- Jerry Falwell called Fred Phelps "a first-class nut," if that tells you anything. All they do is create a commotion, attract attention, and upset people. The list of events they have protested is long and bizarre, including the funerals of soldiers killed in war and individuals killed in fires and accidents, theaters that show live plays, churches they don't agree with, they're against almost everything that the rest of us find meaningful. It is a strange phenomenon, a hate group with no following but with shocking slogans and symbols that generate press coverage and draw crowds wherever they go.
It's funny, but there's really nothing to say about this. Stupid people will come here and say stupid things. We'll have to protest their presence in our county, of course. Sounds like they plan to be at Whitman for less than an hour, then they're gone. Later in the day they will appear in Baltimore at the courthouse and at Roland Park Country School -- reading their rambling schedule entry, I can't figure out what it is that God hates at that particular school. I have heard they are planning events in DC and Northern Virginia, but don't see any of that on their schedule on the Internet.
What we have to do is just show up, outnumber them, boo them, and let them leave. There is no need for violence or flagrant hostility, these are just some nuts making a scene. Our side needs to be overwhelmingly larger for the news cameras, our voices need to be overwhelmingly more sensible, our tempers need to be calm and this group will leave without having done anything more than disgust people.
04/24/2009
2:00 PM - 2:40 PM
Bethesda, MD
Walt Whitman High School - Dead Fag ALERT! 7100 Whittier Boulevard We are going to picket this High School. Did you know they named a High School after this filthy fag? He was a HUGE supporter of the wounded soldiers. That is he would "visit" them and then take sexual advantage of them. Yes, that's the fags' idea of support and "love". He bragged about it in his writings. And everyone turned a blind eye because he was spending hours and hours "grooming" his victims while he changed bed pans and such. Being the lazy, self-righteous slugs that they were/are, they could care less what he did to the victims so long as THEY did not have to put in the hours. You see that is what Maryland believes is a righteous person. That certainly explains A LOT about Maryland, and specifically explains why God hates them so much. Romans 10:3 For they being ignorant of God?s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. AMEN!
Note, first of all, that nobody knows if Walt Whitman was gay or bisexual or straight or what. There is certainly a lot of sexuality in his poetry, and he does get excited about a worker's rippling muscles or whatever, but his message was about exulting in the energy of life -- his writing is overrun with feeling, with emotion of all kinds, and there is simply no evidence that the guy ever had any kind of romantic affair or sexual encounter with another man. So if this is supposed to be about homosexuality there would have been a lot of better people to pick.
Many of the schools in our county are named after famous poets and writers, and as Walt Whitman is often considered one of our greatest, most original American poets there is in fact a school named after him. And that's all it takes for one of the most loathsome groups of "people" in America to bring their ugly message to our neighborhood.
It sounds like a counter-demonstration is being planned at the school. I emailed the kid who's trying to organize it and said "Count us in."
There might be a little irony in the fact that a leader of one of America's largest neo-Nazi groups, Bill White, is a former Whitman High School student.
Phelps and his group do not represent any kind of movement, as far as I can tell, even the most anti-gay fanatics consider the Westboro Baptist Church to be extreme -- Jerry Falwell called Fred Phelps "a first-class nut," if that tells you anything. All they do is create a commotion, attract attention, and upset people. The list of events they have protested is long and bizarre, including the funerals of soldiers killed in war and individuals killed in fires and accidents, theaters that show live plays, churches they don't agree with, they're against almost everything that the rest of us find meaningful. It is a strange phenomenon, a hate group with no following but with shocking slogans and symbols that generate press coverage and draw crowds wherever they go.
It's funny, but there's really nothing to say about this. Stupid people will come here and say stupid things. We'll have to protest their presence in our county, of course. Sounds like they plan to be at Whitman for less than an hour, then they're gone. Later in the day they will appear in Baltimore at the courthouse and at Roland Park Country School -- reading their rambling schedule entry, I can't figure out what it is that God hates at that particular school. I have heard they are planning events in DC and Northern Virginia, but don't see any of that on their schedule on the Internet.
What we have to do is just show up, outnumber them, boo them, and let them leave. There is no need for violence or flagrant hostility, these are just some nuts making a scene. Our side needs to be overwhelmingly larger for the news cameras, our voices need to be overwhelmingly more sensible, our tempers need to be calm and this group will leave without having done anything more than disgust people.
posted by JimK at 9:35 PM
37 Comments:
I wonder if the CRC and PFOX will be there in support of the WBC?
After all, both groups stem from and exist for pro-hate activities.
They're picketing dead poets now? Why stop there? Why not picket cartoon characters? I've always wondered why Bugs Bunny dressed in dragged and how come Brainy and Clumsy Smurf were so chummy.
I just wanted to let people know that high school in MoCo releases at 2:10 and traffic around the area will probably get tied up around 1:45... so plan ahead to make sure you arrive on time to take part of the action (you should be able to park on the steets).
Good luck!
Jim appears to function as a publicity agent for these nuts.
I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing
by Walt Whitman
(1819-1892)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I saw in Louisiana a live-oak growing,
All alone stood it and the moss hung down from the branches,
Without any companion it grew there uttering joyous of dark green,
And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made me think of myself,
But I wonder'd how it could utter joyous leaves standing alone there
without its friend near, for I knew I could not,
And I broke off a twig with a certain number of leaves upon it and
twined around it a little moss,
And brought it away, and I have placed it in sight in my room,
It is not needed to remind me as of my own dear friends,
(For I believe lately I think of little else than of them,)
Yet it remains to me a curious token, it makes me think of manly love;
For all that, and though the live-oak glistens there in Louisiana
solitary in a wide in a wide flat space,
Uttering joyous leaves all its life without a friend a lover near,
I know very well I could not.
Where does the money for all this traveling and picketing come from?
Remember when they decided to picket an AME church in Annapolis because they were angry at the Episcopal Church? If I recall correctly, they never showed up for that one. I wonder if they post these things, announcing who they're picketing and how pernicious and blasphemous their targets are so that they will get donations, then they cancel if they don't get enough to carry through.
Walt Whitman (1819–1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900.
56. We Two Boys Together Clinging
WE two boys together clinging,
One the other never leaving,
Up and down the roads going—North and South excursions making,
Power enjoying—elbows stretching—fingers clutching,
Arm’d and fearless—eating, drinking, sleeping, loving, 5
No law less than ourselves owning—sailing, soldiering, thieving, threatening,
Misers, menials, priests alarming—air breathing, water drinking, on the turf or the sea-beach dancing,
Cities wrenching, ease scorning, statutes mocking, feebleness chasing,
Fulfilling our foray.
Why Robert, you're just taunting them, aren't you?!
Peace,
Cynthia
FINALLY! The perfect opportunity to bring out my "God Loves Transsexuals" placard!
;)
Peace,
Cynthia
Robert, that was a perfect example. In Whitman's world, as I read it, men can love each other and can enjoy the thrill of living together, without fear of intimacy and without presumption that the relationship is sexual or even romantic. Two boys living life fully, it's a beautiful poem, but I don't see anything romantic in it. The sort of "shock value" of it really just comes from the fact that straight men in our time are afraid to be close. They're best friends, they do everything together, they are committed to their friendship and to one another -- does that mean they're gay? I wouldn't think so, I would think this poem expresses an ideal of friendship that very few of us attain.
JimK
We should not boo them. If any demonstration is appropriate, it should be quite and dignified. We should never get down to their level.
The media covers them as nuts. If we are there, we should show the contrast: Love, respect, and dignity.
David Fishback
I suspect "Two Boys Together Clinging" is about Whitman's hope for the reuniting of the two parts of the country that were at odds in the Civil War, and about love between men, and about friendship. The richness of the poet's message is that he can speak to all these things, and integrate them.
It's well worth noting that relations among gay men are not always, not even usually, romantic or sexual, but involve shared experiences and profound friendship.
Nevertheless, there's evidence from Whitman's journals that he, at least some times, had intimate relations with men:
Excerpts from Walt Whitman's journals
Silence is an eloquent and pointed response to people like this. I am reminded of one of the most moving testimonies to this tactic - the "Angels" who interceded between the mentally-ill Phelps crew and the mourners at the funeral of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming on October 16, 1998. (http://www.geocities.com/corkymcg/crime/proj005.html; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard)
This was the closest to the teachings of Jesus Christ and Buddha as a response to hatred and evil that I have ever seen in my life. Not a word was spoken - just the confrontation with the haters by the symbols of love dressed in their home-made Angel costumes.
I am not suggesting the use of that particular tactic, but I caution against booing, making obscene gestures, or other negative reactions to the Phelps crew. These are the very tactics the media will grab at and present in the press and on t.v. and you can be sure the Phelps clan will use the pictures of their opponents in their propaganda. Let their actions and despicable, stomach-turning, signs (and use of underage children) speak about who they are and what they are doing. The public will see the difference!
Retired Teacher
I think our best response is to reread "Leaves of Grass" and share it with our students, family and friends.
David, booing does not approach "getting down to their level." The news can report that a crowd of three hundred people attended the God Hates Fags demonstration, or they can say that a crowd of three hundred booed the God Hates Fags group. I don't think that sounds too bad. Anyway, people are going to boo.
JimK
Human Rights Campaign Hails Re-Introduction of Responsible Education about Life Act
Bill would provide grants to states to support comprehensive, medically accurate sex education programs.
3/17/2009
WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, hailed the re-introduction of the Responsible Education about Life (REAL) Act today in the 111th Congress. The bill, sponsored by Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA), would authorize federal funding for comprehensive and medically accurate sex education.
“Our nation’s youth deserve the facts about how to protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections, including HIV,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “The federal government has tied states’ hands when it comes to providing prevention education to teens. We thank Representative Lee, Senator Lautenberg and all of the congressional supporters of this legislation for their commitment to the health of our nation's youth.”
Currently, states can only receive federal funding for sex education if they teach abstinence-only-until-marriage programs that are prohibited from openly discussing condoms and other forms of contraception. In addition, the federal government has spent more than $1 billion providing funding to abstinence-only programs whose federal guidelines mandate defining marriage as “only a legal union between one man and one woman as a husband and wife.”
“It’s time to ensure that states can provide comprehensive sex education that gives students the tools they need to make responsible decisions. The needs of the vast majority of American students, especially LGBT students, are currently ignored by federally funded sex education programs,” added Solmonese. “Sex education must be based on public health, not narrow right-wing ideology. We urge members from both sides of the aisle to co-sponsor and support this critical legislation.”
The re-introduction of the REAL Act comes in the same week the Washington Post reported that at least three percent of residents in the District of Columbia have HIV or AIDS, making the diseases a “severe” epidemic. Nearly 3,000 residents per every 100,000 over the age of 12, or 15,120, are living with HIV or AIDS, according to the 2008 epidemiology report by the District's HIV/AIDS office.
source: www.hrc.org
word today is that the report a few days back about DC's astronomical rate of AIDS infection is understated
and most of them have heard of condoms
"A second major polling firm sees an erosion of support for Barack Obama after less than two months in office. Pew Research reports that Obama’s approval ratings have dropped below 60% and his negatives have climbed significantly after his first 50 days in office. Their results parallel those from Rasmussen"
Compare that to George Bush after 50 days in office.
2010, here we come!
Right back where we started from.
Maybe the country will never fall for the Democrat malarkey again!
anonymous, stop being so rude.
yes, because TTFers have always been so restrained and civil in their comments about George Bush
you guys backed an inexperienced clunker and the Democrats will pay at the ballot box in 2010
Human Rights Campaign Responds to Pope Benedict’s Remarks that Condoms Increase HIV Infections
Religion and Faith Director Harry Knox: “The Pope’s statement that condoms don't help control the spread of HIV, but rather condoms increase infection rates, is hurting people in the name of Jesus.”
3/17/2009
WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, responded today to remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI while traveling to Africa, where he claimed that condoms increase HIV infections. Talking to the Associated Press, Benedict said the Roman Catholic Church is in the forefront of the battle against AIDS. “You can't resolve it with the distribution of condoms," the Pope said. “On the contrary, it increases the problem.”
“The Pope’s statement that condoms don't help control the spread of HIV, but rather condoms increase infection rates, is hurting people in the name of Jesus,” said Harry Knox, director of the Human Rights Campaign’s Religion & Faith Program. “On a continent where millions of people are infected with HIV, it is morally reprehensible to spread such blatant falsehoods. The Pope’s rejection of scientifically proven prevention methods is forcing Catholics in Africa to choose between their faith and the health of their entire community. Jesus was about helping the marginalized and downtrodden, not harming them further.”
About 22 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HIV, according to UNAIDS. In 2007, three-quarters of all AIDS deaths worldwide were there, as well as two-thirds of all people living with HIV.
The Pope’s remarks come in the same week the Washington Post reported at least 3 percent of residents in the District of Columbia have HIV or AIDS, elevating the disease to a “severe” epidemic.
(HRC.com)
The CDC reports:
Latex condoms, when used consistently and correctly, are highly effective in preventing heterosexual sexual transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Research on the effectiveness of latex condoms in preventing heterosexual transmission is both comprehensive and conclusive. The ability of latex condoms to prevent transmission has been scientifically established in laboratory studies as well as in epidemiologic studies of uninfected persons at very high risk of infection because they were involved in sexual relationships with HIV-infected partners. The most recent meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies of condom effectiveness was published by Weller and Davis in 2004. This analysis refines and updates their previous report published in 1999. The analysis demonstrates that the consistent use of latex condoms provides a high degree of protection against heterosexual transmission of HIV. It should be noted that condom use cannot provide absolute protection against HIV. The surest way to avoid transmission of HIV is to abstain from sexual intercourse or to be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and you know is uninfected.
The CDC's "Condoms and STDs: Fact Sheet for Public Health Personnel" states:
Consistent and correct use of male latex condoms can reduce (though not eliminate) the risk of STD transmission. To achieve the maximum protective effect, condoms must be used both consistently and correctly. Inconsistent use can lead to STD acquisition because transmission can occur with a single act of intercourse with an infected partner. Similarly, if condoms are not used correctly, the protective effect may be diminished even when they are used consistently. The most reliable ways to avoid transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), are to abstain from sexual activity or to be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with an uninfected partner. However, many infected persons may be unaware of their infections because STDs are often asymptomatic or unrecognized...
Latex condoms, when used consistently and correctly, are highly effective in preventing the sexual transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. In addition, consistent and correct use of latex condoms reduces the risk of other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including diseases transmitted by genital secretions, and to a lesser degree, genital ulcer diseases. Condom use may reduce the risk for genital human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and HPV-associated diseases, e.g., genital warts and cervical cancer.
The Pope's statement is wrong.
This Pope fellow is right.
Condoms never have and never will be used "consistently and correctly".
Look at D.C..
Consistent and correct abstinence outside marriage, supported by societal standards will most effectively prevent disease.
If people like you would allow people to become educated about sex and protect themselves, the HIV rate would be lower.
Shame on you.
On another note, Julian Bond, the Chairman for the NAACP, did a great job talking about "Christians" picking and chosing from the Bible to repress minorities and defend slavery.
Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq1MN1FYa4M&eurl=http://www.hrcbackstory.org/2009/03/naacp-national-chairman-julian-bond-it-isnt-special-to-be-free-from-discrimination/
So tell us, AnonBigot:
Did you "wait" until you were married because the Bible told you to?
Do you also use the Bible to own slaves, as long as they are from a neighboring or different country (Leviticus)?
You can´t pick and chose just because some priest or pastor preaches a Nazi vision of Christianity that you believe.
Derrick needs he head checked out. Listen to this:
"If people like you would allow people to become educated about sex and protect themselves, the HIV rate would be lower.
Shame on you."
Everyone knows about condoms.
Knows you can prevent virus transmission with them.
No one is stopping anyone from using one.
This Pope fellow is right.
They'll never be used "consistently and correctly".
A society without Biblical sexual morality as its standard will be always be threatened by disease.
Anon,
Why don't you spend some time reading any version of your Bible that you choose, and list all the plagues your cultures with "Biblical sexual morality" suffered through?
So, AnonBigot, what you are saying is that you do in fact have slaves (as long as they are from a neighboring country...are they Mexican or Canadian??)?
...are you also saying that you kill your neighbors if they work on the Sabbath?
You sure are not living by the Bible if you don´t!!
Times change and so should we!
Get caught up, AnonBigot because you are obviously behind the times.
However, I don´t expect you to crawl from your make-believe world into reality anytime soon.
If one did not know better they might be tempted to think that Jim was acting as the publicity agent for the traveling Fred Phelps Circus Show...well, my two cents would be a silent counter protest with not a single word spoken to these folks. I would not give them the time of day...
"Times change and so should we!"
We've been here many times before.
As the costs continue to mount, a recognition will slowly build that bibilical sexual morality is the healthiest model for any society.
That's what always happens.
Oh yes, barryo, that always happens. (eye roll) That's why there are so many nations that use the Bible as the law of the land and enforce every statute, especially those in Leviticus, like killing disobedient children.
My Republican sister suggested that when I go to participate in the counter demonstration that I take a large bag of nuts to feed any squirrels who might be at Whitman. I thought it was a great idea. Nuts for the nuts so to speak.
So... you do have slaves, then?
sad and crazed old Aunt Bea
thinks sexual morality is the equivalent of killing children
sad and crazed
the idea of widespread sexual amorality in society has always produced consequences which reverse the trend
this Pope fellow is right
a licentious society breeds disease
Wayne Besen will be on Fox News O'Reilly Factor at 8 PM and 11 PM tonight to discuss the Pope's mistake.
Well, thank heaven Wayne Besen is getting involved!
who's that?
Wayne Besen is the head of Love Won Out who caught John Paulk, an ex-gay advocate for Exodus International and Focus on the Family at Mr. P's, a gay bar in Washington DC, where he was hitting on Darryl Herrschaft of the Human Rights Campaign.
Here's Wayne's video about the night he found and photographed John Paulk at Mr. P's.
Post a Comment
<< Home