And the newest anti-gay lie which will hit the streets will involve the Air Force. According to
Todd Starnes of Fox News:
The U.S. Air Force said that a well-known drag queen group was invited
to perform on base during a “Diversity Day” celebration because drag is a
“symbol of gay pride and unity. But the performance sparked outrage
among some airmen who called the drag show “totally offensive and
inappropriate.”
Jewels and the Brunchettes performed to a small crowd at the Los Angeles Air Force Base on Aug. 8, the military confirmed.
The Air Force said in a statement to Fox News that “Diversity Day”
featured eight cultural groups and was meant to “foster equality and
diversity in the workplace.”
Photographs provided to Fox News show an individual wearing a giant
wig and sporting form-fitting dresses performing to a sparse crowd
underneath the American flag.
“Drag acts to this day represent the struggle for freedom and
equality of the LGBT community, while at the same time providing a
deep-rooted historical form of entertainment for the LGBT culture,” said
Peggy Hodge, a spokesperson for the Office of Public Affairs.
And the offended airmen? Well we don't know who they are. Starnes allegedly only quoted one:
One airman, who asked not to be identified, told Fox News he was
offended by the performance and said it had no place on a military base.
“I am really surprised that this happened on a military
installation,” the airman told Fox News. “I get that people want to be
able to have committed relationships with members of the same sex, but
this crossed the line.”
The airman said it was ironic that the Air Force is cracking down on
Christians being able to openly share their faith but they would allow
individuals to dress in drag.
How do I put this nicely? I smell bullshit. As luck would have it, the American Family Association's
One News Now also ran a story on this same issue using the same talking point as Starnes but from the mouth of Bryan Fischer:
Fischer points out that while the Air Force is apparently okay with drag queens, it continues to be hostile to Christian chaplains, officers, and enlisted personnel who publicly share their faith.
"Right now the American military, particularly the Air Force, is extremely hostile to any kind of expression of Christian faith,” he laments, “and they have clearly come down on the side of sexual perversity over biblical values in this case – and that ought to be a concern to every American citizen."
The AFA spokesman says the Air Force has not yet responded to his group’s request to meet with military leaders to discuss what AFA considers blatant acts of “anti-Christian hostilities” aimed at those in the Air Force – including chaplains – who publicly share their faith.
So that's going to be the new talking point - " Christians are being persecuted in the Armed Forces while gays get special treatment." Diversity Day has nothing to do with this complaint by Starnes and Fischer that Christians are being treated unfairly on military bases. They have been complaining about this for a while now, regardless of the fact that the Pentagon has said this is not going on. From a
May 2, 2013 article in the USA Today:
"The U.S. Department of Defense has never and will never single out a
particular religious group for persecution or prosecution," Pentagon
spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen said in a statement. "The
Department makes reasonable accommodations for all religions and
celebrates the religious diversity of our service members."
"Service
members can share their faith (evangelize), but must not force
unwanted, intrusive attempts to convert others of any faith or no faith
to one's beliefs (proselytization)," Christensen added.
Neither Starnes nor Fischer will tell you that there have been several complaints and incidents of Christian members of the military either
aggressively attempting to convert non-Christian soldiers or
violating the military's position of religious neutrality. One case led to a
lawsuit in 2008 involving Army Spc. Jeremy Hall, an atheist who claimed he was discriminated against.
And none of those incidents have anything to do with the policy of allowing gays to serve openly in the military. The attempt to combine the two is a sad effort to attack the idea of gays in the military while playing the "anti-Christian persecution" card.
No doubt we will be hearing more about this incident. Now that Starnes has put the incident out there -
as he has done many a times with several fake moral panics - we should expect other religious right and conservative groups to amplify the talking point to the level that it will be pushed by the mainstream media.
Meanwhile, those on our side of the spectrum will be caught twiddling our thumbs . . . again.
