Editor's note: It's a rare two post day on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters due to the fact that today's news briefs will be pre-empted. After reading this post, pan down to read how Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association undermine complaints about the Southern Poverty Law Center:
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| LaBarbera |
Apparently the criticism due to his Jamaican trip is getting to Peter LaBarbera. It was reported this week that LaBarbera
recently attended a conference in that country in which he advised folks there to fight to retain the laws against sodomy (called "buggery laws). These laws form the building blocks of anti-gay oppression in Jamaica. In part, LaBarbera
said:
I do not stand with my government. I’m a patriotic American, but I do
not stand with the current United States government in its promotion of
homosexuality and gender confusion. But I do stand with the Jamaican
people … I pray that you will learn from our mistakes and from lessons
of history and avoid the inevitable moral corruption and health hazards
and the danger to young people that come from capitulating to this sin
movement that calls itself gay. It is almost now can be predicted with
100 percent accuracy, if the law is a teacher: If you take down this
law, it will only lead to more demands. Appeasement does not work.
LaBarbera received lots of deserved criticism, particularly from pro-lgbt sites and blogs, not only because of his rhetoric, but also how his rhetoric can be used to fuel anti-gay violence in Jamaica. Jamaica is unfortunately known for its homophobic violence. According to
Truth Wins Out:
Just this year, a gay man was stabbed to death,
after which his home was set on fire while the body was inside. The
article also reports that the week prior, a mob tried to attack a man
they perceived as gay. The month before, a gender-nonconforming teen was “chopped and stabbed” to death. Those are just incidents that happened between July and September of this year. In 2006, Time Magazine labeled Jamaica “the most homophobic place on earth,” and for good reason.
In a post on his Americans for Truth webpage, LaBarbera sought to
minimize the idea that his rhetoric could cause further violence against Jamaican lgbts.
