Okla-Homo-Haters Club -- When Hope is Not Enough
James Nimmo
July 28, 2008
(Oklahoma City) When is hope not enough?
On Sunday, July 27, in Knoxville, TN a Unitarian Universalist Church was turned into an abattoir by a deranged man who shot seven people. Two, so far, have died. The killer is in police custody after being subdued by others in the building.
Whenever these far too frequent shootings happen in public places we hear calls for prayers, counseling, compassion--in other words, a need for hope that such seemingly avoidable events won't happen again. But we know crazy, incensed people who acquire guns, legally or illegally, will pull out their vigilante enforcer and go about satisfying one of the lowest forms of human thought: revenge for a perceived wrong by using murder.
We hope for the best, but does it really arrive? When is hope not enough?
The church, Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, had just recently advertised itself as a welcoming gay/lesbian affirming congregation which means exactly what it sounds like.
Can I be assuming too much that this man was using his version of hope to remove a few peaceful gays or gay-friendly citizens to assuage his desire for some self-perceived threat to his psyche? News reports have a witness reporting Jim D. Adkisson, the perpetrator, with shouting "hateful words" before firing his shotgun, but the witness would not elaborate.
Why did Mr. Adkisson pick this typical Unitarian church that promoted progressive social issues such as helping the poor, support for women's rights, and affirmation of gay and lesbian equality?
How much can we attribute to this man the words and deeds of the perennial, persistent, and pugnacious homo-haters who loudly insist that America is failing, wasting, and declining because of their fear of the incremental advancement, and indeed legalization, of gay/lesbian equality?
When was the last time an openly gay/lesbian opened fire on a collection of bible fundies hot with the fire of righteousness for the cause of religious purity? When did you last hear an openly gay/lesbian legislator use their personal privilege on the floor of their state legislature or Congress to lobby for the passage of a bill that would limit any demographic group's aspect of their protection of the law as outlined in the Bill of Rights?
Massachusetts and California have made great strides in acknowledging that gays/lesbians have the right to marry the person of their mutual choice without regard to gender. With this acknowledgment comes the full panoply of rights and privileges for which we have been paying the bill to support straights yet not receiving the goods for ourselves.
A handful of other states are making advances with domestic partnerships and civil unions that approach the legality of marriage even if the icing on the cake is not quite the same.
These pro-gay developments disturb the minds of some in our country who are fragile as eggshells in their self-esteem, brainwashed by the brayings and boastings of the professional homo-haters.
Some of these professionals receive pay checks funded by the taxpayer.
To commemorate, but not to honor, this twisted manipulation of the public forum and society I'm inaugurating what I call the Okla-Homo-Haters Club. Membership is open to those who by their own actions and words--sometimes judicial convictions--defame gays and lesbians who have done no harm to anyone. Four of Oklahoma's prominent politicians and legislators belong to the charter list of membership---
1. Sally Kern, elected representative from Oklahoma City, and infamous Youtube queen who considers gays to be more threatening than terrorism, Islam, and cancer. She also packs a loaded handgun which she has illegally brought into the Oklahoma Capitol building twice with no censure from either her Republican party or the Highway Patrol.
(http://tinyurl.com/yr63qo)
2. Brent Rinehart, Oklahoma County Commissioner, Republican, who has made a homophobic comic book the lynch pin of his attempt at another term in office. He has two major court cases going on simultaneously for campaign law violations and income tax chicanery.
(http://tinyurl.com/6xwge6)
3. Tim Pope, a colleague of Mr. Rinehart, implicated in Rinehart's campaign law violation and who was found carrying a gun onto the Oklahoma House floor when as a legislator he claimed to have received threats to him and his family from gays. He was also found guilty and fined for campaign law violation in the improper use of recorded robo calls harassing an openly gay candidate.
(http://tinyurl.com/5kolt7)
4. Kirk Humphreys, former Republican mayor of Oklahoma City and now the appointed chair of the public school board of Oklahoma City. He opposed the use of utility poles by the Cimarron Alliance Foundation for gay friendly messages for Pride Month.
(http://tinyurl.com/6ltm3p)
Though the spirits of decent people need hope, sometimes it isn't enough. I feel that our society needs serious, legal action to move the "gay" agenda out of the minds of those who hate us and who re-write this fictional agenda as it suits them.
As Sally Kern of Oklahoma is not being charged with bringing a loaded handgun in to the Capitol Building because she "had no malicious intent" I ask just what is meant by "malicious intent"?
Is imposing one's restrictive religious beliefs in a public place at the taxpayers's expense, ignoring the First Amendment, considered malicious intent? Does malicious intent always have to include the threat of physical violence and intimidation? Why isn't hate speech, the intentional degradation of others, considered malicious intent? It inhibits citizen participation, silences the oppressed, segregates minorities from the guaranteed protection of the law, both Federally and in the states.
We know that exposure to hateful opinions and actions can lead some impressionable children and adults to commit anti-social acts outside the law. Does it push these people over the top to hear encouragement of the oppression of minorities coming from elected leaders that would seem to give the imprimatur of approval?
When will we recognize that freedom of speech does not mean freedom from thought?
On Sunday, July 27, in Knoxville, TN a Unitarian Universalist Church was turned into an abattoir by a deranged man who shot seven people. Two, so far, have died. The killer is in police custody after being subdued by others in the building.
Whenever these far too frequent shootings happen in public places we hear calls for prayers, counseling, compassion--in other words, a need for hope that such seemingly avoidable events won't happen again. But we know crazy, incensed people who acquire guns, legally or illegally, will pull out their vigilante enforcer and go about satisfying one of the lowest forms of human thought: revenge for a perceived wrong by using murder.
We hope for the best, but does it really arrive? When is hope not enough?
The church, Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, had just recently advertised itself as a welcoming gay/lesbian affirming congregation which means exactly what it sounds like.
Can I be assuming too much that this man was using his version of hope to remove a few peaceful gays or gay-friendly citizens to assuage his desire for some self-perceived threat to his psyche? News reports have a witness reporting Jim D. Adkisson, the perpetrator, with shouting "hateful words" before firing his shotgun, but the witness would not elaborate.
Why did Mr. Adkisson pick this typical Unitarian church that promoted progressive social issues such as helping the poor, support for women's rights, and affirmation of gay and lesbian equality?
How much can we attribute to this man the words and deeds of the perennial, persistent, and pugnacious homo-haters who loudly insist that America is failing, wasting, and declining because of their fear of the incremental advancement, and indeed legalization, of gay/lesbian equality?
When was the last time an openly gay/lesbian opened fire on a collection of bible fundies hot with the fire of righteousness for the cause of religious purity? When did you last hear an openly gay/lesbian legislator use their personal privilege on the floor of their state legislature or Congress to lobby for the passage of a bill that would limit any demographic group's aspect of their protection of the law as outlined in the Bill of Rights?
Massachusetts and California have made great strides in acknowledging that gays/lesbians have the right to marry the person of their mutual choice without regard to gender. With this acknowledgment comes the full panoply of rights and privileges for which we have been paying the bill to support straights yet not receiving the goods for ourselves.
A handful of other states are making advances with domestic partnerships and civil unions that approach the legality of marriage even if the icing on the cake is not quite the same.
These pro-gay developments disturb the minds of some in our country who are fragile as eggshells in their self-esteem, brainwashed by the brayings and boastings of the professional homo-haters.
Some of these professionals receive pay checks funded by the taxpayer.
To commemorate, but not to honor, this twisted manipulation of the public forum and society I'm inaugurating what I call the Okla-Homo-Haters Club. Membership is open to those who by their own actions and words--sometimes judicial convictions--defame gays and lesbians who have done no harm to anyone. Four of Oklahoma's prominent politicians and legislators belong to the charter list of membership---
1. Sally Kern, elected representative from Oklahoma City, and infamous Youtube queen who considers gays to be more threatening than terrorism, Islam, and cancer. She also packs a loaded handgun which she has illegally brought into the Oklahoma Capitol building twice with no censure from either her Republican party or the Highway Patrol.
(http://tinyurl.com/yr63qo)
2. Brent Rinehart, Oklahoma County Commissioner, Republican, who has made a homophobic comic book the lynch pin of his attempt at another term in office. He has two major court cases going on simultaneously for campaign law violations and income tax chicanery.
(http://tinyurl.com/6xwge6)
3. Tim Pope, a colleague of Mr. Rinehart, implicated in Rinehart's campaign law violation and who was found carrying a gun onto the Oklahoma House floor when as a legislator he claimed to have received threats to him and his family from gays. He was also found guilty and fined for campaign law violation in the improper use of recorded robo calls harassing an openly gay candidate.
(http://tinyurl.com/5kolt7)
4. Kirk Humphreys, former Republican mayor of Oklahoma City and now the appointed chair of the public school board of Oklahoma City. He opposed the use of utility poles by the Cimarron Alliance Foundation for gay friendly messages for Pride Month.
(http://tinyurl.com/6ltm3p)
Though the spirits of decent people need hope, sometimes it isn't enough. I feel that our society needs serious, legal action to move the "gay" agenda out of the minds of those who hate us and who re-write this fictional agenda as it suits them.
As Sally Kern of Oklahoma is not being charged with bringing a loaded handgun in to the Capitol Building because she "had no malicious intent" I ask just what is meant by "malicious intent"?
Is imposing one's restrictive religious beliefs in a public place at the taxpayers's expense, ignoring the First Amendment, considered malicious intent? Does malicious intent always have to include the threat of physical violence and intimidation? Why isn't hate speech, the intentional degradation of others, considered malicious intent? It inhibits citizen participation, silences the oppressed, segregates minorities from the guaranteed protection of the law, both Federally and in the states.
We know that exposure to hateful opinions and actions can lead some impressionable children and adults to commit anti-social acts outside the law. Does it push these people over the top to hear encouragement of the oppression of minorities coming from elected leaders that would seem to give the imprimatur of approval?
When will we recognize that freedom of speech does not mean freedom from thought?
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