Tuesday, September 28, 2010

You are a bigot, Matt Barber. Be proud of your title

I haven't written about the Liberty Counsel's Matt Barber in a while because I was distracted by more important matters.

However, a piece he wrote on World Net Daily attracted my attention. Kind of a drop, huh Matt. You were on news programs a while back and now you are on birther central.

Barber's piece, unoriginaliy named The 'gay' deathstyle, leaves nothing to the imagination as to what it's about. Just a silly combination of bastardized statistics backed by Biblical verses. It's nothing new from Barber. But the following caught my attention:

Another problem lies in the fact that far too many Christians have contributed to the dilemma by failing to speak truth, in love, on the issue of homosexuality (pastors with "gay" congregants and family members, I'm talking to you). Nobody likes to be unfairly labeled a hater, "homophobe" or bigot, but fear of such attacks offers no justification for failing to speak truth in love.

And that's the galling feature of folks like Barber. They claim to speak in love as long as they don't have to answer about how they choose to speak.

For the benefit of everyone, allow me to recap the ways in which Barber speaks the truth in love to the lgbt community.

For those not familiar with Barber, in 2005, he lost his job at AllState Insurance in part for penning an anti-gay column. Since that time, the story was spun that he was fired due to his beliefs and he has parlayed that narrative into cinchy gigs with Concerned Women for America, the Liberty Counsel, and a book deal. However, like all religious right stories of gay persecution, there are details omitted (such as Barber using AllState Insurance equipment to write his column or him identifying himself as an employee of AllState in the same column).

 The irony is that in that column, Barber cited the discredited work of Paul Cameron - "many people are shocked to learn that the average life expectancy of a homosexual male is only about 45 years old – 30 years younger than that of a heterosexual male." 

Then let's talk about his words.

1. Barber described lgbt relationships as one man violently cramming his penis into another man’s lower intestine and calling it ‘love."

2. And then this is why he felt that lgbt-inclusive anti-discrimination laws are a  bad idea: “Imagine, if you will, a 280 lb linebacker who likes to wear a dress and high heels and lipstick, you know comes to church wanting a job at the front desk as a receptionist and they turn him away because they don’t feel that that represents their values or the image that they’re trying to hold at that church, under ENDA they could be held accountable for discrimination against that individual.”

3. In September of last year, he emphasized that folks speaking against homosexuality focus on the "ick factor" of gay sex, or talk about gay sex extensively.

4. In June of last year, he criticized Home Depot for daring to acknowledge that same-sex households exist.

5. Slurred the name of an Obama appointee in a pitiful attempt to be clever.

Sorry Matt but if these are examples of you speaking the truth in love, I think I will take my chances with your hate. Of course, I think I and the rest of the lgbt community have done just that.




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Same-sex households disrespected again and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Moonie Times Op-Ed: ‘Gay Families’ Are Not Real!- It would be very advantageous for us to meet these assaults on our families head on.

Ugandan Tabloid Grossly Distorts An American Paper’s Interview With Gay Asylum Seeker - This is just filthy how this story was distorted.

An artist who is protesting a church DVD against gay marriage was suspended from her job at the Basilica. - This ought to be interesting.

What Does Reality TV Say About Gay Men? - It's an interesting question.



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15-year-old takes his own life due to anti-gay bullying



How often is this going to happen before we start taking anti-bullying seriously. What's extra sad about this case is that this child had a supportive family but felt that he couldn't tell them what was going on. That's the one thing which must be emphasized to children with supportive families - that they don't have deal with their problems alone:

15 year old Justin Aaberg is described as always smiling, a good student and a talented cello player. On July 9, Justin's family found him in his bedroom after he committed suicide.

"I'm sure things piled up," says Justin's mom, Tammy Aaberg. "I don't know what happened that day his last day. I don't know what happened that made him do it but it had to have been pretty significant."

Justin came out about being gay when he was 13. His family says they were always supportive and only knew of one instance when Justin was harassed at school. Just told his mom "it was no big deal."

In the weeks since their son's death Tammy and Shawn Aaberg have learned from Justin's friends he had been harassed for being gay for years. "Some kids in 8th grade and Sandberg went up to him and grabbed his balls and said you like that don't you?" Tammy was told a friend found Justin crying in the hallway but he refused to tell the school counselor what happened.

According to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network almost 85 percent of GLBT students surveyed reported being verbally harassed because of their sexual orientation. Within the past year teaches in the Anoka-Hennepin district say five students have taken their own lives, three were struggling with sexual identity. "Growing up I was the first openly gay person in my town and I was bullied relentlessly," says Jay Kovach.

After hearing the statistics and Justin's story Kovach helped organize a fundraiser, spaghetti dinner and silent auction in Coon Rapids to help pay for Justin's funeral expenses. Hundreds of friends family and strangers attended the fundraiser and to show support for those struggling in the GLBT community. Teachers tell Fox 9 five students in the Anoka-Hennepin School District committed suicide within the past year, three of them were struggling with their sexual identity.

Related posts:

Focus on the Family's attack on anti-bullying efforts take centerstage on AC 360

GLSEN responds to Focus on the Family distortions

Focus on the Family cites George Rekers in fighting anti-bullying efforts





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