Editor's note - With the news today that the Trump Administration is trying to shield healthcare workers who deny care on the grounds of "religious liberty," it is imperative that we don't continue to allow people to lie about what "religious liberty" is. In the hands of the anti-LGBTQ industry (groups and personalities of the religious right), religious liberty is less about protecting personal beliefs and more about being a weapon to undermine LGBTQ equality and safety. With that in mind, I am reposting a piece from 2014 (and slightly altered) which best explains what I am talking about.
The more I think of this bogus argument of "religious liberty" or "religious freedom," the more angry I become about how the entire debate is being conducted with no perspective. "Religious liberty" is merely a new anti-gay buzzword. It is the latest in a long line of concepts and claims used to justify anti-gay animus and discrimination. It's nothing new and it shouldn't be debated as if it is a new concept. Allow me to elucidate with the use of words and visuals from various anti-gay spokespeople and groups in debates throughout the years:
And now is the latest and the most heinous factoid because it says even allowing the LGBTQ community the benefit of rights and human respect is an affront because our whole pursuit of equality is supposedly part of a long range goal of harming Christians and taking away their rights. It's a lie as craven as others, but with the Trump Administration helping them, the anti-LGBTQ industry hopes that it will be their most successful.
In the 50s and 60s, they said we were perverts who ought to be jailed.
In the 70s, they said we recruit children.
In the 80s, they said we were diseased freaks who run around catching AIDS.
In the 90s, they said we wanted "special rights."
In the 2000s, they said we wanted to redefine marriage.
Now they claim we are trying to put Christians out of business and jail them.
The more I think of this bogus argument of "religious liberty" or "religious freedom," the more angry I become about how the entire debate is being conducted with no perspective. "Religious liberty" is merely a new anti-gay buzzword. It is the latest in a long line of concepts and claims used to justify anti-gay animus and discrimination. It's nothing new and it shouldn't be debated as if it is a new concept. Allow me to elucidate with the use of words and visuals from various anti-gay spokespeople and groups in debates throughout the years:
1970s: Gays are pedophiles - "As a mother I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children. Therefore, they must recruit our children." - Anita Bryant
1980s: Gays are diseased - ''The poor homosexuals -- they have declared war upon nature, and now nature is extracting an awful retribution.'' - columnist and Presidential candidate Pat Buchanan during the early days of the AIDS crisis
1990s: Gays in the Military - "Homosexuals are a very unstable group . . . They are restless in their contacts, lonely, jealous, and neurotic depressive. As a category of people, homosexuals have a greater indiscipline problem than heterosexuals . . ." - Robert (Bob) McGinnis, columnist, present employee with the Family Research Council
2000s: Marriage Equality - "Same-sex unions are not marriages. Political regimes based on lies about human nature cannot last. Same-sex marriage takes a sacred institution, with deep roots in human nature, and tries to turn it into the plaything of politicians, a creature of the state, a bundle of rights to be tossed about between adults. Something so feebly rooted, so fragilely constructed and imposed cannot last." - Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage
And now is the latest and the most heinous factoid because it says even allowing the LGBTQ community the benefit of rights and human respect is an affront because our whole pursuit of equality is supposedly part of a long range goal of harming Christians and taking away their rights. It's a lie as craven as others, but with the Trump Administration helping them, the anti-LGBTQ industry hopes that it will be their most successful.
2010s: Religious liberty - “I’m beginning to think, are re-education camps next? When are they going to start rolling out the boxcars to start hauling off Christians?” - Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council
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