[ updated: see below ]
Barry Duke, writing at Great Britain’s Freethinker, is astonished by the degree of hatred toward LGBT Americans espoused by elements of the radical religious right here in the Land of the Free.
Here’s a taste from his piece Fry in hell, faggots!:
JUST when I thought I had a handle on some of the world’s pottiest pastimes – running with bulls in Pamplona, dwarf-tossing in Australia and cheese-rolling in Gloucestershire are just three examples – along comes a bunch of religious halfwits with a brand new entertainment: a contest to see who can best bad-mouth homos.
On November 16, a pack of crazy Christian clerics will be congregating in Washington to publicly defame gay people. The object of the exercise is to challenge the new anti-hatred Matthew Shepard Act, a Congressional Act which protects citizens against hate crimes committed because of a victim’s perceived sexuality.
(link: from the original)
Wing Nut Daily’s Bob Unruh elaborates on Cass’ kooky plans:
A rally is being planned in Washington to raise the alarm over the nation’s new “hate crimes” law and to force Attorney General Eric Holder to confront the unconstitutionality of the measure’s “thought” penalties, according to a Christian leader working on the event.
Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission told WND there are a series of approaches being considered to challenge the restrictions on expression of religion and speech contained in the law signed last week by President Obama.
At the rally, set for 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 16, ministers will preach from the Bible on the prohibition against homosexuality, then will present a letter to Holder demanding that the religious liberty of all Americans be respected.
[ ... ]
“This is the way it gets implemented in all the other countries,” Cass said. “Christians are singled out for prosecution, with threats, imprisonment and fines simply for refusing to stop doing what Christ commands: proclaiming the truth.”
As proof-positive that Cass has never actually read the bill in question, the following is a statement from the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission published on 28 October 2009:
“In other nations, like Canada, where hate crime laws have been enacted, it is Christians, specifically conservative Christians who hold to the historic Christian faith and it’s values, that become the object of institutionalized, governmental hate.”
“Christians who dare to tell the truth about the social, moral, spiritual and health consequences of illicit homosexual acts are accused of hate speech and intimidated into silence with threats of fines or jail.”
“The fact the hate bill had to be passed in such an unscrupulous and cynical manner (attaching it to the Defense Authorization Act) reveals the depth of President Obama’s commitment to a radical, anti-Christian agenda. He will stop at nothing to undermine the will of the majority of Americans to pay back militant homosexual activists who raised millions of dollars for his campaign and worked to get him elected.”
“To sign the bill in the Rose Garden is another slap in the face and shows the level of contempt President Obama has for the majority of Americans who oppose the “homosexualization” of marriage and public education.”
“The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission will soon be announcing its plans, along with other leading pro-family groups, to defy, counter and challenge this unconstitutional attack on our religious liberty.”
Unless this born-again, christianist crybaby shows up with lethal weapons and/or instruments of torture and proceeds to act out his morbid, anti-gay fantasies on an actual human being, there’s no chance that he nor his loony-tunes, hate-preaching buddies are going to end up in the slammer.
Earlier posts on Gary Cass:
I haven’t wasted much space on this attention-obsessed, christian-supremacist blowhard, but here ya go:
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UPDATE (9 November 3:00 pm):
Here are some additional details about the christianist goons set to prey against the gays in Washington DC. From a Christian Newswire press release:
On November 16, 2009, at 1:30 PM, an ad hoc coalition of concerned ministers from various denominations will be holding a Press Conference and Rally for Religious Freedom in front of the Department of Justice.
A group of ministers including Rick Scarborough of Vision America, Gary Cass of the Christian Anti Defamation Commission, Bishop Earl Jackson of STAND America, Paul Blair and Steve Kern of Reclaim Oklahoma, Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition, Brad Cranston of Iowa Baptists for Biblical Values and Jim Garlow, a leader in the Prop 8 battle in California will join together with others and boldly preach Biblical truth concerning the subject of homosexuality. If believing and proclaiming the Bible is considered a Hate Crime, then they are willing to be arrested, if necessary, in order to stand for the guaranteed First Amendment right to free speech for all ministers of the Gospel.
(emphasis: mine)
Leave it to an anti-gay asshat like James Garlow to demonstrate both his intolerance and lack of reading comprehension skills. Nobody’s going to jail unless they hit or kill a gay person, Jimbo. Get over it.
