Conservatives attempting to piggyback on Charleston tragedy to attack gays

The recent events in Charleston are bad enough. Unfortunately, Bryan Fischer and a few other anti-gay conservatives are attempting to make things worse by tying in the move to remove Confederate flags from places of honor at state houses to attacks on gays. They are claiming that the rainbow flag represents anti-Christian hate and should also be removed:

I am not aware of any rainbow flags flying at state houses but making ridiculous assertions has never stopped Bryan Fischer. And as The New Civil Rights Movement points out, Fischer is not the only conservative exploiting Charleston to attack gays:

The hateful symbol of those who harrass and bully those who stand for traditional marriage must come down... pic.twitter.com/q2yA3AE0Io

— John Nolte (@NolteNC) June 23, 2015

If this asinine, juvenile tantrum becomes an issue, I would argue that people like Nolte and Fischer have more in common with those who want to keep the Confederate flag up.

For years, supporters of the Confederate flag have bogarted the conversation, claiming that the  flag represents the best of Southern culture and to take it from places of honor would be a slap in the face to all Southerners.

Whenever I hear this, I always want to ask these folks, "who the hell are you to speak for me?" Who are you to decide these things, i.e. that the Confederate flag represents the best of Southern culture?"

As it is, a lot of people in the South don't feel that way and we get angry when people take it upon themselves to dictate what is or isn't the best of Southern culture without our opinion on the matter. Specifically, African-American Southerners get angry when white Southerners start speaking about the South as if we don't matter or our view of the region's "heritage" isn't important.

In that same manner, I have to wonder just who decided that Bryan Fischer or John Nolte speaks for all Christians, especially the lgbt Christians and the heterosexual Christians who support lgbt equality?

Not all Christians view homosexuality as a sin and not all Christians view the rainbow flag as a symbol of anti-religious hatred. Conservatives who have the opposite opinion of both views have a right to that opinion, but that's the only right they have - to only speak for themselves.

I would sincerely HOPE that folks ignore this craven need for attention and yet another attempt by some homophobes to make yet another discussion about the false idea of Christians vs. gays.