« Go back a post || Return to G-A-Y homepage || Haul tail to next post »
02/08/2008
WAAAH!! My punching bags are sick of being hit. WAAAH!
So you know how rabidly anti-gay pastor Ken Hutcherson has been playing the victim because gay activists chose to protest his recent booking at a Washington high school? And you know how groups like Focus on the Family have been completely overlooking things like Hutcherson's threats against Microsoft and his involvement with the Watchmen on the Walls group (whose whole enterprise is literally terrifying) so that they can make him look like nothing more than a good Biblical man who supports man/woman marriage? Well FOF is still up to those tricks, with the organization today printing this assessment of a school board meeting that was held last night to address the matter of Hutcherson's booking:
Hundreds of parents and community members packed the board meeting, which became more about gay rights than apologies.
"Teachers — five or six — standing for the Gay-Straight Alliance blasted the board for inviting me," Hutcherson told CitizenLink. The board was told to "stand up for gay students."
One of the teachers — one who booed him, Hutcherson said — accused Hutcherson of taking away gay rights and suggested "a movement to bring back slavery."
Hutcherson said, "It's time for Christians to stand up. We have taken this for too long."
Okay, so we weren't at the meeting, so we can't speak for what was and was not said (though Pam has some video from the meeting which gives some insight). However, we can absolutely speak to Hutcherson's last sound bite, in which Ken implies that Christians are the victims here. By what token does he even begin to say this?! The only reason why his high school booking was controversial is because he has been affronting the queer community for the past few years, and the only reason why this man even has national prominence at this point is because of his gay rights opposition. Sure, he was once an NFL player; but he's not widely known for that. His bread and butter, the thing that has gotten him national and even international press, has been his attacks on gay lives and loves. And yet his version of Christians are the ones who have been "taking this for too long? No, no, no, no.
It's no secret that the underlying principle of every "pro-family" campaign is to reframe the issue so that they are the ones who are the victims, and this is just another instance. Here we have a man who has made it his mission to make life harder for gay people, who is then turning around and expressing shock that the ones he's targeted don't take kindly to it. What does he expect us to do, remain quiet when a public school books one of our biggest foes to speak to kids about diversity?! Does he expect us to just take the insults that he's lodged against us, the way many of us had to when the bigger kids teased us on the playground for being a sissy? And what exactly is he rallying his troops to stand up against, our attempts to defuse the land mines that he chose to place on our path to equality? And when they "stand up," what are they going to do, attack our existences and call us militant radicals because we demand equity? Oh wait a minute -- THEY ALREADY DO THAT, WHICH IS WHAT GOT US TO THIS POINT IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!
The truth is that WE have been taking this too long, and Ken is simply pissed that we are standing up to his demonizing ways. But sorry, Kenneth -- there comes a point when one gets tired of being demoralized, de-humanized, and written off as God's little mistakes. And we will not be threatened by any of you any longer.
Black Pastor Booed, Gay-Activist Group Welcomed [CitizenLink]
**UPDATE: And here are some words that Hutcherson sent to his congregation this morning:
Dear Church,
Last night at the Snoqualmie Valley School Board Meeting, the teachers supportive of the Gay Straight Alliance drew a line in the sand, and I am stepping over it. I spoke to the Superintendent this morning and he promised, "...it's for the children."
I said I want him to protect my daughter and I want Kit McCormick removed from the classroom.
Another teacher at the meeting last night, George Potratz, said that if I am trying to repeal rights for gays, he thinks we should start a movement to bring back slavery.
Mr. Potratz does not deserve to be on the faculty of the school and should be fired immediately. Over the next few days, I will be talking with the School Board and the school officials.
My theme will be a line from a Pink Floyd song, "Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!"
Alright, so again, we weren't at the meeting so we can't 100% vouch for Mr. Potratz. However, we'd be willing to bet a sizable amount of cash that his comparison was in no way an expression of his pro-slavery desires, but simply the correlation he sees between the two historical missteps (albeit on different scales). If he suggested what Mr. Hutcherson suggests, it was surely in a sarcastic, point-making tone. Yet within the disingenuous ranks of our opposition, they see no need to point out such a distinction. Instead, they say "he thinks we should start a movement to bring back slavery," and call for his termination. It's simply appalling!
**UPDATE2: We have chatted with Mr. Potratz, who confirms our suspicions about the gay rights-slavery linkage.
Your thoughts
OK so Ken Hutcherson is the Phred Felps of the Northwest. I have half a mind to start a Butch for Hutch fan club because I think he is the best thing to happen to gay rights in Washington for a LONG TIME. I say this coming from there...this is the thing on the west coast. There is a real reluctance to look evil in it's face and name it. People don't want to be confrontational (unlike our dear NYC) and they let a lot of bigotry and hatred slide in the face of nice Norwegian/Lutheran conflict avoidance. Believe me, I've lived it. But Hutch rips the mask right off and makes even my family, who has a hard time even disagreeing over the specials at Olive Garden, think "ewwww-kay, take it down a notch, Mister Angry Pants." So yeah, there's a lot of rednecky stuff going on in Snoqualamie (which has become a suburb of Seattle in the past 10 years) but these people aren't morons. This is good for them to experience and you're going to see lots of eyes opened. Hutch's comments sound like the last gasp of an irrelevant man. Have fun with Mitt in your bitter party, Hutch.
Posted by: andrew williams | Feb 8, 2008 9:15:23 PM
I really don't believe what Hutcherson said but I am sure One News Now and others will pass along the lies as facts.
Posted by: a. mcewen | Feb 8, 2008 10:38:34 PM
I was at this meeting and Potratz said something pretty close to the following:
"Ken Hutcherson certainly has the right to have his views, just as someone who believes in reinstating slavery has the right to theirs. However, just because someone has the right to such views, does not mean that we should not stand up against them."
I can't believe Hutcherson has the audacity to skew this statement...oh, wait...yes I can, he's Ken Hutcherson, "victim."
Posted by: | Feb 9, 2008 12:53:26 AM
Given how much Hutcherson despises gay people, why doesn't he support the reinstitution of slavery -- with homosexuals being enslaved this time instead of blacks? It would be a great bonanza for the Watchman types, would it not? The gays would be punished for their sinfulness and heterosexuals would have free labor available to them.
Posted by: David | Feb 9, 2008 6:03:10 PM
LOL David, and we already have our own "uncle tom's" - the gay republicans/log cabinettes. Slave labor for heterosexuals = changing the channel from American Idol to Two And A Half Men. Wow, that's hard work. We don't have to worry with babysitting, since they always let somebody else's parents do that (or the TV, or Xbox/PS3).
As for Hutcherson, why isn't the media bringing up the fact that he's training illegal Russian, Latvian and Ukranian immigrants aka "Watchmen" as a physically violent anti-gay group, right here in the USA?
Not to mention Hutcherson is training those guys to collect their own feces, and handle it barehanded, to throw at people at gay pride events.
Posted by: Scott | Feb 9, 2008 8:21:45 PM
comments powered by Disqus