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10/05/2007
Train wreck of a group lies about car wreck of another
You know how we're always telling you about the "pro-family" movements non-concern with facts? Yea, well, we just found out about a situation that might -- and this is a bold statement -- take the cake for the most irresponsibly knee-jerky assumption in recent memory.
The deal: Last night, the vehemently anti-gay MassResistance group arranged a forum to protest the drama club’s upcoming performance of The Laramie Project. At said event, "ex-gay" Stephen Bennett (pic.) was scheduled to be a speaker. However, Mr. Bennett was in a car accident on his way to the soiree.
Now, everyone is in agreement about that last part -- Stephen was, in fact, in a minor accident. However, read the following passage from Massachusetts' fantastic Bay Windows newspaper to see where the brazen irresponsibility lies:
The paranoia reached epic proportions when Brian Camenker, leader of the anti-gay group, told the crowd that one of the scheduled speakers, ex-gay activist Stephen Bennett, was rammed by a gay activist in another car while driving up from Connecticut. Camenker also alleged that the State Police were conspiring with the gay activists to cover up the hit on Bennett.
“Stephen Bennett will not be here tonight. … He is reviled and hated by the homosexual movement. While he was driving here after he got off the Mass Pike onto highway 290, as he paid his tolls and went going there was a parked car,” Camenker told the crowd of about 50 people at the start of the forum. “The parked car, as he got going, bashed into his car, causing him personal injury and then took off. State troopers came and they refused to file a police report on this.”
The story of the gay plot to target Stephen Bennett became a recurring theme throughout the evening, particularly in the remarks of Dr. John Diggs, a Massachusetts internist who spoke at the forum to warn Acton parents and community members about the dangers of homosexual sex. Diggs at various points in his remarks compared the alleged attack on Bennett to the attacks on civil rights workers in the South fighting for rights for African Americans, and he said the attack was similar to the tactics used to quash dissent in Nazi Germany and in the Soviet Union.
“So why is Stephen Bennett so dangerous? Why is Stephen Bennett run off the road, in Massachusetts, the land of tolerance!” said Diggs, raising his voice to a shout. “Obviously because of what he had to say here tonight. Why? … Stephen Bennett is dangerous because he sticks the knife in the core of the lie.”
Diggs said that the lie in question was that being gay is an innate part of someone’s nature, as opposed to a dangerous aberration that can be cured.
Okay, so it sounds nutty. But why do we say it was so irresponsible of Brian Camenker (pic.) and company to brazenly trot out such a conspiracy theory? Well, we say that because some disagree with his assessment. And who is it that disagrees with his take on the events? Well, STEPHEN BENNETT HIMSELF, that's who!!!!! Bay Windows continues:
According to Bennett, he has no knowledge of the motives of the other party in the alleged hit-and-run and no reason to suspect that party was a gay activist lying in wait. He told Bay Windows a very similar story to what Camenker told the crowd at the forum; while he waited to pay the toll heading onto Route 290, another car rammed him from the side, causing damage to his front bumper, the driver’s side headlight, and the driver’s side of his car. He said the incident also caused him back injuries.
“I don’t know who did it, why they did it, if it was road rage, but physically I was unable to make the event from that point,” said Bennett. He added that Camenker may have mischaracterized his accident because Camenker did not have complete information about what happened and said he had no quarrel with him.
Yes, the folks at the event just pulled out the most convenient theory to their anti-gay cause and presented it as fact. Never mind that the police have said the damage to Bennett’s car was less than $1000, he was not injured, and the incident did not meet the required threshold for them to file a police report. Never mind that even Stephen Bennett, a man who never misses an opportunity to stick it to gays, didn't even try and spin this as an attack by gay activists. Camenker and pals had an audience full of folks friendly to their cause, so they couldn't be encumbered with things like verifiable evidence or actuality!
You know, we keep thinking there will come a point when we will reach our shock threshold. However, the gall of the "pro-family" movement has continued to push our capacity for dumbfounded revulsion to unforeseen limits!
Conspiracies and lies at MassResistance forum in Acton [Bay Windows]
*Oh, and before you get any ideas, Brian: We gays weren't on the grassy knoll, either!
**Also, Brian: You're supposed to get hit in bumper cars. Just so you don't get any ideas and try and paint that particular ride as part of gays' agenda to ruin Christian's days at the amusement park.
**UPDATE, 10/8: On his weekend radio show, Brian Camenker continued to intimate that a "gay activist" was responsible for Stephen's wreck. And of course they are blaming a police coverup for protecting the gay who did this.
Nuts.
Technorati Tags: Brian Camenker, Stephen Bennett
Your thoughts
No matter how much Bennett claims this was nothing more than an accident, people are going to not just believe but actively spread this 'homosexual attack' theory now - because its what those people *want* to believe.
Interestingly, if this actually were a sexual-orientation-motivated attack, and if Bush hadn't vetoed the hate-crimes expansion... then those hate-crimes laws would cover it, and the crime would merit further police attention (Federal even!) and increased jail time for the attacker. The gay-haters would benefit from the law they opposed.
Posted by: Suricou Raven | Oct 7, 2007 2:48:44 AM
Clearly, MassResistance needs attention. Simple shrillness (is that a word?) is no longer cutting it.
Posted by: dfrw | Oct 7, 2007 8:39:06 AM
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