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05/01/2008
Offense vs. defense: You decide who's the inappropriate Iowan
In reaction to the anti-bullying, pro-acceptance Day of Silence that was recognized last Friday by some of the nation's public school students, a "pro-family" personality in Iowa, Chuck Hurley, released the following letter, in which he encourages folks to pray for "the healing of openly gay students":
Pretty nasty letter, right? And since most queer Democrats don't take kindly to the sort of "pro-family" rhetoric that we know keeps gay kids depressed, vulnerable, and marginalized, ouy would except local progressives to speak out against Hurley's divisive nonsense, yes? Well that's exactly what openly gay Iowa state Senator Matt McCoy (D-Iowa) did, taking to the floor last Thursday to strongly speak out against Mr. Hurley's hurtful words. This is the speech Sen. McCoy gave:
Well, but we all know that anytime we gays stand up for ourselves, the far-right groups present our responses as "militant," "angry," "radical," etc. So that is what our ol' poker buddies at the Concerned Women For America are now doing. In this newly posted audio, Matt Barber and friends make it sound as if Chuck Hurley was an upstanding man of God who merely conveyed good, clean Biblical warmth, while big, bad, meanie Matt McCoy was an out-of line activist who acted inappropriately by engaging in "personal attacks." Listen in:
Oh, poor Mr. Hurley. He wants gays dragged off to "conversion" camps, yet we gays are attacking him when we try and convert his vitriolic ideas about our lives and loves into a teachable moment about bullying and harassment? And groups like the Concerned Women For America protest any and every measure that would help level the playing field for LGBT people, and yet we are the "radicals" for saying we're not gonna sit back and just take the hits? Well sorry, "pro-family" dudes and dudettes -- your logic just simply doesn't hold up to even base-level scrutiny. !
People like Matt Barber can totally write us off as a band of unhinge loonies if such rationalizations help him to sleep better at night. We aren't scared of such ad hominem denunciations because we have the core of truth, peace, love, and fairness on our side. And the more these folks embolden anti-gay bullying and harassment -- and their work is emboldening it, no matter what they say or think -- the more folks are going to see the truth that lies behind their "compassionate" masks.
*Audio sources: Chuck McCoy's speech [Iowa Family Policy Center]
Iowa Lawmaker Attacks Pro-Family Activist From the Floor [CWA]
Your thoughts
I love that he puts "openly gay" in scare quotes. I'm just titillated thinking of all the reasons why he might have figured that necessary.
Posted by: zortnac | May 1, 2008 10:26:06 AM
I love how the CWA folks just had to mention that Senator McCoy had been previously married and divorced. And then they have the audacity to accus him of ad hominem attacks.
Posted by: Jarred | May 1, 2008 10:41:31 AM
I don't understand how the CWA continues to evade inclusion into the list of hate groups of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
CWA is a disgusting organization with unbridled hate as its only output.
Posted by: dave b | May 1, 2008 2:30:45 PM
At the end of the second audio clip, the CWA people say, "truth isn't hate - unless you hate the truth."
Know what? I'm sick of "The Truth" from religious people. Here in the real world, "Truth" is supported by "Facts." Present your facts and allow me to examine them and verify them, and I will modify my view of the world to accept your truth.
Until then, stop being vain (one of the deadly sins, I might add), and assume that *your* truth is *the* truth.
Posted by: DN | Apr 3, 2009 10:59:49 PM
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