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03/24/2009
Fine, let's not use 'homophobe.' Game still on.
Congressman Takes a Shot at Justice Scalia [CitizenLink]
And you know what? Tom and Nima are actually kinda right. Even though they clearly know what "homophobia" means in modern lexicon (and please -- that "I'm not scared of gays" crap is so tired), we too have always found it to be an inadequate label. Which is why we use a whole host of other terms and phrases instead:
-heterosexist
-non-accepting
-gay-unfriendly
-short-sighted
-desirous of a world in which your personal faith views affect civl policy
-discriminatory
-queer-hostile
-working against peace
-sources of unnecessary stress
-counter-idealistic
-just looking for a way of getting out of buying us a wedding gift
-frequently hurtful
-unfortunately duped into a biased mindset
-one whose views foster a whole host of ills (bullying, teasing, family strife, depression, violence, legally estranged families)
-kinda cute (Nima) and kinda fun-voiced (Tom)
-not in Logo's target audience
-obsessed with teh gay
-fearful of principled progression
-Fans of Ellen's dancing. Just not when if it's a horah at her own wedding.
-evangelical first, citizen second
-anti-gay
-in need of more gay friends. Ones you listen to and learn from rather than hope to "cure"
-Expert Morality Monopoly players who should take up Pro-Gay Clue
-victims of a cruel "religious right" machine
-Proficient in crafting mountains out of molehills
-often disingenuous
-'mo foes (as in foes of the homos)
-in need of getting your own houses in order before focusing on ours
-upsetting
-just plain wrong
And we hate to be the ones to tell you this, Nima and Tom, but Focus on the Family is not only suited to at least 98% of these labels -- the labels fit them like haute couture gowns. And you would know that means "well" if you all stopped the unrighteous "smear the queer" matches and started embracing all of the wonderful contributions that gay people bring to this world!
**SEE ALSO: Here's Fox News' attempt:
Your thoughts
I just call them bigots.
Posted by: RainbowPhoenix | Mar 24, 2009 5:58:43 PM
Those Equalityphobes.
Posted by: remix | Mar 24, 2009 6:20:55 PM
1) Barney did not call EVERYBODY who doesn't like gay marriage a homophobe.
Barney called SCALIA a homophobe, and if you review some of his comments during the Lawrence v Texas case (regarding gay school teachers), it's quite obvious SCALIA SPECIFICALLY is a homophobe.
2) These people need to pick up a fricken dictionary.
Start with the word "xenophobe": fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign (merriam webster)
Then look at the word "-phobia" (the suffix. not the stand-alone word)
1 : exaggerated fear of
2 : intolerance or aversion for
(again, merriam webster)
-phobia DOES NOT just mean "fear".
Posted by: foundit66 | Mar 24, 2009 7:29:20 PM
"-phobia DOES NOT just mean 'fear'"
Well, like all things, the far-right has adopted the "we're not scared of gays" meme to combat the label. It's such an anti-intellectual cop out, and their willingness to cling to a certain script is so transparent.
Posted by: G-A-Y | Mar 24, 2009 8:02:59 PM
In other news, Barney Frank also accused the KKK of being racist, fish of swimming and bears of shitting in the woods.
What Frank said is true. Everyone knows it's true. And that's why the overcompensating reaction.
Posted by: Houndentenor | Mar 24, 2009 8:10:12 PM
Homophobia was always a sloppy word. Sure it means hatred as well, but the primary meaning is fear. And the right so obviously hate us. They speak with hate, write with hate, and act with hate. If it walks like a duck, acts like a duck, and quacks like a duck, chances are better than average it's a duck. So the poindexters charged with invention cliches and catch phrases need to come up with something catchy. How about 'selfish, no nothing hicks always on the lookout for a defenseless minority like gay people whom they can brutalize just for fun'?
Posted by: Wilberforce | Mar 24, 2009 9:35:46 PM
An interesting aspect of this debate is that FAUX News anchors don't question the notion that being called a 'homophobe' is a BAD thing and undesirable. That's a sea change right there.
Recall a few years ago former NBA star Tim Hardaway proudly said "Yeah I'm homophobic."
I disagree that homophobic doesn't say exactly what we mean about Antonin Scalia. He IS homophobic, and his dissents in Lawrence vs Texas and Romer v Evans make that blindingly clear.
Posted by: Mad Professah | Mar 25, 2009 12:18:46 AM
I have seen comments from certain opponents of gay marriage in California who seemed (to me, and I suffer with anxiety myself, so I might have a scrape of authority) to display genuine phobia in their concerns of what gay marriage might do to society. Some people do seem genuinely frightened, not necessarily of individual homosexuals, but of homosexuality and probably ultimately the change in society as attitudes become liberal and unfamiliar. Phobias are by their nature irrational.
Also, as I said elsewhere, Barney Frank can't go to the lavatory without Fox, FreeRepublic and probably some editorial cartoonists making a big scene about it.
Posted by: Celia | Mar 25, 2009 1:18:21 AM
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