Archive for category Homophobia
The very special cowardice of Chris Buttars
Posted by Glenden Brown in Bigotry, Chris Buttars, Equality, GLBT issues, Homophobia, Liars (politics), Religious Fundamentalism, Republicans, Tribalism & Blind Obedience to Authority on January 25th, 2010
So I’m watching KUTV’s ten o’clock news last night and they did a story about the Prop 8 film at Sundance, including an interview with Chris Buttars giving him a chance to correct any misimpressions about him the film created for viewers.
Buttars offered the most ridiculous defense I’ve ever heard: Sure he said offensive things but he was tricked into it by people wearing BYU shirts.
You can’t make this shit up. If someone put this in a film and tried to pass it off as fiction, no one would buy it, it stretches credulity beyond the breaking point.
The film-maker sent the TV station photos from the day showing that he and his crew weren’t wearing BYU shirts. So, not only is Chris Buttars a bigot, he’s a liar. But we knew that.
In essence, Buttars’ is saying that what he said (gays are the biggest threat to America) is okay but he would only say it to someone in the club – i.e. to good BYU Mormons who would agree and who would keep his comments secret so he wouldn’t look bad.
What we’re seeing is a very special kind of cowardice on Chris Buttars’ part. It’s not that he misspoke or said something and he’s changed his mind; he believes what he said and he’d say it again and still believe it. Chris Buttars wants to not be held accountable for his words. Like so many anti-gay conservatives, he wants to be able to say anything he wants and not have consequences. Go to Uganda, tell the folks there that gays are the biggest threat to humanity there is and they must be stopped any way you can and when Uganda says, “Okay, let’s pass a law with the death penalty for gay people” you throw up your hands and say, “Oh my, I never imagined anyone would do such a thing after hearing me speak.”
Chris Buttars: a man of cowardly convictions. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Republican Jesus
Posted by Cliff Lyon in Bigotry, Bush Administration, Homophobia, Religion, Religious Fundamentalism, Republicans, Richard Okleberry on December 25th, 2009
The foregoing was lifted without permission and in its entirety. Republican Jesus is the central figure in the Republican religion and is the Jesus worshiped by Christian conservatives.
Republican Jesus shares many superficial qualities with the biblical Jesus, and in fact a minority of historians believe the two are actually the same figure. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that Republican Jesus was actually born in 1964 aboard a Goldwater campaign bus east of Flagstaff, and was recognized as the one true Republican messiah in 1980, in which role he continues to this day. Some of the more significant differences between the two Jesus’ philosophies:
The biblical Jesus preached at length about renouncing worldly possessions and giving to the poor. Republican Jesus believes that such handouts merely encourage the poor to be lazy, and that Christian charity is better practiced through massive tax breaks for the wealthiest citizens, who could then be expected to let the money “tinkle down” to the poor in the form of honest, if low-paying, jobs at upright Republican institutions like Wal-Mart.
Whereas the biblical Jesus is not known to have ever addressed the subject of homosexuality at all, let alone gay marriage, homosexuality is just about all Republican Jesus ever talks about. Indeed, in contrast to the biblical Jesus’ instruction to “love thy neighbor,” Republican Jesus specifically commands his flock to “Hate they neighbor, unless thou art sure he is not one of those fucking degenerate ass-bandits.” (Italics in the original.)
Likewise, the biblical Jesus’ views on abortion are unknown, whereas Republican Jesus made his feelings clear in the Parable of Harry Blackmun, in which a Supreme Court justice votes to legalize abortions and is subsequently cast into a pit of liquid fire for all eternity. The Parable of Harry Blackmun is believed to be the basis for the Christian conservative belief that it’s okay to pray for the death of a liberal as long as you don’t actually try to kill him yourself, or at least if you’re not likely to get caught.
The biblical Jesus threw the money changers out of the Temple. Republican Jesus welcomed them in, even going so far as to open the first known church inside a Wal-Mart.
The biblical Jesus spent most of his time among lepers, prostitutes, and other people who were shunned by society. Republican Jesus is notoriously afraid of AIDS, which he believes can be contracted in such ways as shaking hands with an infected person or using the same toilet seat, so he spends most of his time at the gun club or at home watching NASCAR races on television. Republican Jesus frequently talks about his intention to start donating money to hospice organizations or the Red Cross, but there is no evidence that he has ever done so.
In the Gospel of Matthew, the biblical Jesus says: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”
In the equivalent passage in the Gospel of George, Republican Jesus says: “Ye have heard that it hath been said: Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. But I say unto you, Sendeth thou those Iraqi camel jockeys back unto the Stone Age before they dost get it into their filthy rag-wrapped heads to do the same to thee; sendeth thou a rain of cruise missiles on the unjust sand niggers, and maketh a sun of nuclear fire rise upon their evil asses. If anyone doth ask, just say they had weapons of mass destruction.” – Lifted without permission and in its entirety.
“Agressive Atheism” Because Religion Kills…All of Them
Posted by Cliff Lyon in Atheism, Bigotry, Homophobia, People Are Nuts, Religion, Religious Fundamentalism on November 29th, 2009
This video is going wild-viral as I write (see Splurb.com)
Imagine a world without religion. Let me count the wars. BRB…
The “Teaching Morals” Argument Against Sex Education
Posted by Glenden Brown in American History, Conservative, Homophobia, Religious Fundamentalism, Sex, Society, This Blog on November 19th, 2009
I’ve been avidly following the debate in the D-News Letters to the Editor section about sex education. The debate has actually been surprising – a large number of persons have supported sex education.
An intriguing theme emerged among those opposing sexuality education – the “teaching morals” argument. Boiled down to its essence, the argument made by those in favor of “teaching morals” says that if we teach “morals” we don’t need to teach sex education – “moral” teens won’t have sex and won’t need to know anything about it. The people making this case generally don’t argue for abstinence only instead they aruge against sex education of any kind.
I found this comment from the 10th particularly revealing: Read the rest of this entry »
LDS Church: “Jump!”, Buttars: “How High?”
Posted by shane in Bigotry, Bigotry, Chris Buttars, Conservatives, Equality, GLBT issues, Homophobia, Human Rights, Mormon LDS, Queer, Religion, Tribalism & Blind Obedience to Authority, Utah Politics on November 19th, 2009
If you have not had your head buried in the sand you have likely noticed that Chris Buttars has been going all out to win the “ignorant homophobe of the decade” award. He is a veritable quote mine:

In interviews, Buttars says that gays and lesbians are the biggest threat to America and… are inherently amoral
In their own words: “Church Supports Nondiscrimination Ordinances”
Posted by Becky Stauffer in Bigotry, Equality, GLBT issues, Homophobia, Mormon LDS, Religion, SLC Politics, Salt Lake City, Utah Politics on November 17th, 2009
I’ve been thinking back over the many debates that took place here at OneUtah and elsewhere during the fight over California’s Prop 8. An argument I heard over and over from church members supporting Prop 8 was that legal precedents that applied in racial, sex, and religious discrimination cases did not apply for gays, and that gays could not be recognized as a protected class or group. I didn’t follow that arbitrary and twisted logic then and I don’t follow it now.
Today I reread the church’s statement to the Salt Lake City Council, there is no doubt in my mind that the church recognizes those with same-sex attraction as a distinct identifiable group entitled to the same legal protections the rest of society enjoys with regard to housing and employment. And the church specifically names this group rather than using a broad generic “all residents of the city” or something similar that would have been more palatable to the anti-gay crowd.
On the church’s own web site, the headline is “Church Supports Nondiscrimination Ordinances”.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has declared its support of nondiscrimination regulations that would extend protection in matters of housing and employment in Salt Lake City to those with same-sex attraction. [snip]
The Church said that while protections in housing and employment were fair and reasonable, the Church also remains “unequivocally committed to defending the bedrock foundation of marriage between a man and a woman.” Otterson also pointed out that this position was “entirely consistent with the Church’s prior position on these matters.”
Otterson added, “I represent a church that believes in human dignity, in treating others with respect even when we disagree — in fact, especially when we disagree.”
I think this is the biggest and most important change in this milestone announcement—that the church does recognize gays as an identifiable group in need of special legal protections. Even though the church stopped short of supporting full and equal rights for gays, this step is extremely important and paves the way for setting of new legal precedents that may eventually break down all barriers to full and equal rights under the law—including marriage.
Utah Legislators Discuss Non-Existent Sex Education Bill – and get fed misinformation and pass a ludicrous motion
Posted by Glenden Brown in Activist groups, Bigotry, Conservative, Conservatives, Contraception, Health Care, Healthcare, Homophobia, Human Rights, Political Corruption, Queer, Religion, Religious Fundamentalism, Republicans, STD, Sex on October 22nd, 2009
The Keystone Kops were a silent film series about a group of bumbling, incompetent police officers who were more likely to blow up the police station than arrest criminals. They were apparently the inspiration for yesterday’s hearing on Capitol Hill in Salt Lake.
Lawmakers spent two hours debating sex education in schools Wednesday despite the fact that they didn’t have a new bill to debate.
Chris Buttars demonstrating his usual insight said on the record he didn’t know the bill was not ready and decided to hold the hearing anyway. Why? Well, he brought in Miriam Grossman – on his own dime – to argue against medically accurate, effective sexuality education.
Grossman spent about a half hour talking about how not enough scientific facts are included in sex education and how the national Planned Parenthood promotes what she considers to be high-risk sexual behavior among teens.
“The primary goals of these organizations is not to fight disease,” Grossman said. “It is to create a society that tolerates, indeed celebrates, any kind of sexual activity.”
Trust me, it gets better:
Ultimately, Sen. David Hinkins, R-Orangeville, proposed a motion to urge the legislature “to consider any person or organizations that promotes, recommends or teaches high-risk sexual behavior, Web sites, examples or talks” as not appropriate in public schools.
I have to be honest about my extreme frustration here – it’s not just that our legislators are by all appearances completely uninformed about sexuality education, how it works and what kinds of programs work, but they seem proud of their ignorance and wish to advertise it to the world.
Here’s the thing: abstinence only education programs do not produce behavioral changes in adolescents. Read the rest of this entry »
Rehearsing Mormonism’s Persecution Narrative (Further Thoughts on Religious freedom)
Posted by Glenden Brown in 4th Estate (Media), Bigotry, Homophobia, Mormon LDS, Polygamy, Religion, Religious Fundamentalism, This Blog on October 18th, 2009
On cue and without any sense of irony, Joe Cannon in this morning’d D-News published the editorial Mormons are entitled to defend their freedom of religion. The editorial begins with a brief paragraph describing Dallin Oaks’ speech on religious freedom then offered a swipe at critics of the speech:
Read the rest of this entry »
Is Religious Freedom Endangered?
Posted by Glenden Brown in Bigotry, Equality, Free Speech, GLBT issues, Homophobia, Human Rights, Mormon LDS, Religious Fundamentalism, This Blog on October 17th, 2009
I touched on this the other day in my post about Dallin Oaks’ comments but I want to expand on it.
Oaks argued that respect for religion has declined in our society, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of people who are nonbelievers and an increase in criticism of religious belief all of which added up (to him) to a threat to religious freedom.
During my lifetime I have seen a significant deterioration in the respect accorded to religion in our public life, and I believe that the vitality of religious freedom is in danger of being weakened accordingly.
Using the model of framing favored by Jeffrey Feldman, here’s what Oaks is saying [loss of respect] = [loss of freedom] – or [respect] = [freedom]. It’s an interesting argument, but what does it mean? Oaks went on to explain. Read the rest of this entry »
Book Review: Republican Gomorrah
Posted by Glenden Brown in Activist groups, Bigotry, Conservative, Conservatives, Homophobia, Political Corruption, Religious Fundamentalism, Republicans on October 11th, 2009
Max Blumenthal’s Republican Gomorrah: Inside The Movement that Shattered the Party is a hit and miss book – Blumenthal shrewdly documents the carnival of personal dysfunction that defines so many leading figures on the American Right, offering a broad analysis drawn from Erich Fromm’s Escape From Freedom.
The authoritarian nature of America’s right wing movement has been documented by many writers and observers. Blumenthal offers an explanation, from Erich Fromm:
When radical extremists sought to cleanse society of sin and evil, what they really desired was the cleansing of their souls.
He described how submission to the authority of a higher power to escape the complexities of personal freedom would lead not to order and harmony but ultimately to destructiveness.
He points out that this escape from freedom, this dynamic of submitting one’s self to a higher authority has become the bond that holds the America’s right together. The centerpiece of this authoritarian, right wing culture, its beating heart if you will, is James Dobson and his organization Focus on the Family (or as its known among gay folks “Focus on the Anus” – or generally among its critics ” Focus on your damn family.”). Dobson is a notorious yenta, sticking his stern disapproving nose into everyone’s business. FoF is a right wing behemoth, dolling out equal parts strict father parenting advice and political patronage. Dobson is the right’s king maker, able to move millions with his opinions. Dobson’s training is as a child psychologist, author of an infamous child-rearing manual entitled Dare to Discipline which advocates beating children into submission – well into their teenage years. Dobson’s book stands in stark contrast with most modern child-rearing literature which does not advocate beating children. Read the rest of this entry »



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