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| Mike Huckabee |
I'm still stuck on this situation with Mike Huckabee being
forced to resign from the Country Music Association Foundation due to a backlash about his past - and numerous - homophobic statements. It's partly because how those who support him (various religious right groups and personalities) are attempting to portray him as the victim. I've read so many nonsensical statements from various groups and persons about how the gay community is supposed intolerant of those who do not share our views. I've seen supposed Christians deliberately obfuscate the issue into one about Huckabee's objections to marriage equality when in fact the backlash is about the many times he has attacked the LGBTQ community, our families, and our children on a number of issues.
And what galls me mostly is how Huckabee refuses to take responsibility. In
his resignation letter, he said in part:
If the industry doesn’t want people of faith or who hold conservative and traditional political views to buy tickets and music, they should be forthcoming and say it. Surely neither the artists or the business people of the industry want that.
Until recently, the arts was the one place America could set aside political, geographical, racial, religious, and economic barriers and come together. If the arts community becomes part of the polarization instead of bridging communities and people over the power of civil norms as reflected in the arts, then we as a civilization may not be long for this earth.
All of us have deep passions about our beliefs. I do about mine. But I hate no one. I wish upon NO ONE the loss of life or livelihood because that person sees things differently than me.
I hope that the music and entertainment industry will become more tolerant and inclusive and recognize that a true love for kids having access to the arts is more important than a dislike for someone or a group of people because of who they are or what they believe.
Please bear in mind that Huckabee is the same individual who:
called gay adoption "experimentation" in 2010. In that same interview, he also compared marriage equality to incest and pedophilia.
on numerous occasions falsely conflated homosexuality with pedophilia, most recently in 2012 claiming gays must be kept out of the Boy Scouts to protect boys from molestation.
in 2015 participated in an absolutely dreadful documentary which brought up refuted claims and junk science about the LGBTQ community, including claiming that we want to "criminalize Christianity."
In that same year, Huckabee again pulled the "gays want to criminalize Christianity" card as a reason to support the fraudulent practice of "reparative therapy," or attempting to "cure" someone of being homosexual.
I don't want to mince words here. Mike Huckabee is a lying sack of garbage who seems to think that he is privileged to say anything he feels about the LGBTQ community without any expectations of us raising an objection. He minimizes the severity of his slurs and then plays the victim when the targets of his words refuse to play his game.
He is indicative of the ignorance some people have in thinking that LGBTQs are supposed to so grateful about society's so-called tolerance of us that we raise no objections when our lives, our children, and our families are besmirched and disrespected. It's not enough for people like Huckabee to insult us. According to them, we are supposed to accept the insults and the second-class status prescribed to us by those harsh words and ugly inaccuracies about our lives. If we don't accept those things, then we are intolerant hypocrites.
No.
We are human beings. And that means we
are intolerant of certain things, such as disrespect, lies, attacks, and especially people who attempt to reshape who we are based upon their ignorance and religious beliefs.
It's not a matter of "tolerance" or "intolerance."
It's a matter of self-respect.
