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09/21/2007
Tony's red-haired red herring
So in our time covering the ins and outs of the anti-gay industry, we've seen its proponents take MANY leaps in logic. However, this latest from Tony Perkins' "Washington Update" column just might take the reason-hopping cake:
When comedian Kathy Griffin mocked Christ at the Emmy's this month, Hollywood applauded. For all their talk of tolerance and religious pluralism, celebrities still consider it acceptable to ridicule Jesus. But a company called "The Miracle Theater" wants to make it clear that not every entertainer will stand for it. As part of a growing movement to distance themselves from Hollywood, the theater published an ad in USA Today with the headline, "Enough is enough!" Their goal is to collect a million signatures on a "Million Voices for Christ" petition to speak out against the industry's "religious slander, insensitivity, bias, and bigotry." While the theater may be free to voice its views now, Congress is working quickly on legislation that could ultimately silence them and other Christians through "hate crimes" legislation. As soon as next week, the Senate could debate the measure. If the Church doesn't speak out on "hate crimes" now, it's in danger of losing its right to speak out at all. Call or email your senators and tell them to vote "no" on "hate crimes." The Miracle Theater is right. Enough is enough!
Okay, so as we've already mentioned on here before, what Kathy Griffin was actually mocking is the way celebrities thank Jesus for their awards show victories, as if he has nothing better to do than help a Desperate Housewife win a People's Choice Award. But if Christians want to knee-jerkedly protest against the comedian, then they have every single right to do so. In fact, we're pretty sure the brassy red head would welcome the attention, and possibly even invite paparazzi to shoot photos of herself being yelled at by an angry evangelical.
That being said, however -- this situation could not have any LESS to do with legislation that would help prevent gays from bias-motivated violence! Fist off all, this situation doesn't even have one thing to do with the LGBT community. Secondly, it doesn't have one thing to do with violence. It involves a Christian theatre troupe buying ad space in a national paper to say that they are unhappy with the comedic stylings of a D-Lister! If any congressman is proposing a bill that would make such ad buys illegal, then we sincerely hope Tony will let us know. We (and we imagine Kathy) will be the first to join him on the protest line if that's the case!
You know, it seriously seems sometimes like these "pro-family" kids are just trying to test America to see exactly how much of their bullsh*t they can pass off under the guise of "truth" and "family values" before people call shenanigans. Or maybe they have just been lying so much about the proposed hate crimes legislation that they have started to actually believe their own press. Either way, "Their Lies on the BS-List" is one show that's not deserving of any awards or honors.
Hollywood Caught in the Act of Religious Bigotry [FRC]
**UPDATE: For those who have not seen Kathy's acceptance speech:
Technorati Tags: Kathy Griffin, Tony Perkins
Your thoughts
Okay. What part of "Its a joke" don't these Christians understand? They need to let it go. Kathy is an insult comic. Its what she does and she finally got an Emmy. She wasn't mocking your faith in God. And its like you people say all the time, she will have to take it up with God (if there is such a God). Get over yourself. Get over the fact that Kathy said what she said cause you are wasting everyone's time with your complaining.
Posted by: Sam | Sep 21, 2007 6:29:12 PM
The irony is that Tony Perkins contends Hate Crimes legislation for LGBT people will lead to a move to prosecute those denouncing homosexuality for "Hate Speech". In doing so he quotes a story in which someone, in his opinion, disparages Christianity. Christians are already protected by Hate Crimes laws, yet no one is trying to prosecute percieved or actual hate speech against them.
Appearantly, as Tony's illustrates, speech against a group is not the same as crimes committed against them. Who knew?
Posted by: GayMormonBoy | Sep 21, 2007 8:51:40 PM
"hollywood" did not applaud. until folks started losing their minds, no one applauded or took her comments seriously. it's that us against them mentality that perkins and his kind continues to exploit yet again.
Posted by: a.mcewen | Sep 21, 2007 9:59:05 PM
Christ, spare me the false sense of victimhood. Even if it wasn't a joke, the fact that they can't tolerate the slightest criticism speaks volumes about the validity of their position. But it was a joke, and a funny one and their ego masturbation only makes them look more out of touch and misguided.
Frankly, i'm tired of entertaining their fake controversies. Jesus (at least their warped version of him), can indeed suck it.
Posted by: Brandon H | Sep 22, 2007 1:49:48 AM
I find it hard to believe that a pro gay publication would slap the wrist of one of their greatest supporters- Kathy Griffin. No one is a bigger friend to the Gay movement. Interesting that religeon would come before sexual orientation.
Posted by: frankie | Sep 23, 2007 4:41:29 PM
Frankie: I think you're reading something incorrectly. It was Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council who is criticizing Kathy and linking her actions to hate crimes legislation. We are refuting/ making fun of him for it.
Posted by: G-A-Y | Sep 23, 2007 4:44:15 PM
I did once see an FRC high-up admit that the hate-crimes bill doesn't really have anything to do with criminalising speech at all. I cant remember just where though. Might have been the Yoest blog.
Immediately afterwards they argued that even if the bill has nothing to do with speech, its still a threat to speech, because its bringing the eventual aim of the Great Gay Conspiricy - locking up all the Christians - one step closer. Just your basic slippery slope argument: "But... if you take away our chance to violently attack gays, next week you will take away our right to say mean things about them!"
The general theme was that, while claiming the hate-crimes bill is an assault on freedom of speech might be a great exageration, its a justifyable exageration if thats what is needed to defend against the Homosexual Agenda.
Posted by: Suricou Raven | Sep 25, 2007 8:47:01 AM
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