Wayne Besen - Author, Activist, Columnist, Public Speaker

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Are The Alabama Church Arsonists Boyfriends?

In Alabama 10 rural churches have been torched by two white men. Witnesses say they've seen the slugs in a sport utility vehicle near a number of the fires. Now, investigators have said they believe the men responsible are probably "bosom buddies."

Is this a euphemism for boyfriends? Are the police insinuating that the arsonists are gay? I certainly hope that this is not the case. But, since the Baptist churches that have been burned are both black and white congregations, this rules out racism. Perhaps, police think a disenfranchised and bitter gay couple lit the matches?

In any case, I've never before heard the police refer to suspects "bosom buddies." Any thoughts?

8 Comments:

I would be surprised and saddened if these criminals are gay. Gay men as a tribe are not prone to physical violence but there are always exceptions. More likely, it's a couple of stupid rednecks who like seeing their crimes in the media.
posted by Sam, at 2/15/2006 11:16 AM

Either that, or a couple of gay men doing what a lot of GLBT people (by the hatred of Christianity they spew) may have been thinking, sadly...(and if every Christian pastor were like that certifiable Fred Phelps, I almost couldn't blame them, but in reality that's not the case).

If Wayne's suspicion is true, I'm wondering if there will be a contest among the mainstream media to say as little as possible about these guys.

Or will they say: "See...the church is trying to KILL them. It MADE these men do this!"

This could be interesting to watch...
posted by Anonymous, at 2/15/2006 11:57 AM

Unfortunately, a talk show host (I think it was Chris Matthews) recently implied that it was gays doing this as a means of retaliating against the Baptist church.
posted by Anonymous, at 2/15/2006 12:08 PM

Matthews' comments have made the rounds.
posted by Anonymous, at 2/15/2006 12:26 PM

Chris Matthews is a republican suck-up who rims bush and the fascist right every chance he gets. He's a lying sack of shit. See mediamatters.org for a summary of the disinformation he spews.
posted by Anonymous, at 2/15/2006 12:31 PM

More likely the arsonists were victims of an abusive evangelical family and church and are taking revenge. I know catholic school kids who, in their teenaged years, terrorized nuns in public as revenge for all the abuse they had to take from them in class.
posted by Anonymous, at 2/15/2006 12:35 PM

Adam, how so on that about FOTF? (Remember, Fred Phelps and his crew protested there and apparent thought that James Dobson and company are too liberal about GLBT people.)

I've heard some FOTF programs and FWIW I thought they've been kind. They never say that GLBT people should be killed or any of that nonsense, nor do they make a big deal about homosexuality being a bigger sin than anything else. Then again, that's just what I've heard...Dobson himself has said he's got a lot of GLBT listeners who agree with him on a bunch of other issues but who just get mad whenever he runs an ex-gay program.
posted by Anonymous, at 2/15/2006 4:47 PM

Sorry - "ex-gay program" = a segment of his radio show devoted to ex-gays.
posted by Anonymous, at 2/15/2006 4:48 PM