Tuesday, May 08, 2007
(Weekly Column)Mitchell Gold is an openly gay, Jewish furniture magnate who is larger than life in small town America. Where most people leave New York to live unassumingly in the countryside, Gold has brought charisma and pizzazz to the sleepy hamlet of Taylorsville, North Carolina.
Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams furniture factory is the largest employer in the area. It has offered Gold a unique opportunity to converse intimately with a wide variety of people in rural America. In many cases, he has challenged their basic assumptions, engaged in sensitive debates on the separation of church and state and examined the underpinnings of anti-gay sentiment.
What is most striking about Gold is that he is "out," with a capital O-U-T. While most nationally known spokespeople have a platform in a large gay community, the Internet or on television shows, they can generally walk down the street without being identified as "the town's gay activist." This is not the case for Gold, who is seemingly recognized by everyone within a 25-mile radius.
As a result of his work for the GLBT community, the
Advocate magazine named him one of its 2006 "Persons of the Year" and this month,
Out Magazine called him one of the "Top 50 most powerful gay people in America."
With his penchant for challenging the status quo, it is no surprise that the organization founded by Gold,
Faith In America - which is led by Rev. Jimmy Creech - has launched a controversial and ambitious venture to take on anti-gay prejudice.
The
"Call to Courage" campaign is a five-city experiment that will "educate the public on the parallels between historical precedents of religion-based bigotry and today's struggle for full and equal rights for gay people." Faith In America's initiative officially kicked-off May 6 in Ames, Iowa.
The campaign, which is largely taking place in key presidential primary states, will proceed to Reno, Nevada; Manchester, New Hampshire; Greenville, South Carolina; and Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The campaign will include grassroots organizing, direct mail, paid advertisements and a Town Hall Meeting. However, what is generating the most buzz are the in-your-face advertisements that flat-out call our opponents bigots and claim the
Bible affirms gay people.
One billboard in Iowa says, "Religion-based bigotry, race and gender yesterday...sexual orientation today." A print ad on Faith in America's website shows an anti-gay Klan rally with one "ghost" holding up sign that reads "Obey God's Words." Underneath reads a caption, "Religion-Based Bigotry. It's not new. History has proven it's horribly wrong."
The idea of using advertising to attack homophobia is not new. In 1989, Hunter Madsen and Marshall Kirk suggested in their literary classic, "After the Ball," that this potent medium be used to advance gay rights. They advocated warm and fuzzy ads to introduce the public to gay people, followed by more shocking ads that tied today's anti-gay messengers to the haters of the past, such as Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan. The first part of this strategy was somewhat successful, as most Americans have been introduced to positive images of GLBT people. Indeed, Hollywood has reduced the need for such efforts by infusing gay characters into storylines.
Until now, however, no one has attempted the more risky advertisements on a large scale. In a sense, this is unknown territory and it will be fascinating to see how the public responds. Already, one point of resistance is African American preachers making the inane argument that gays have not suffered as much as black people - as if we are in a victimization contest.
"Gays aren't denied the right to vote," Rev. Keith Ratliff of Maple Street Missionary Baptist Church fumed in the
Des Moines Register. "Gays were not considered to be three-fifths of a person. Gays did not suffer through Jim Crow, separate restrooms and water fountains, sitting in the back of the bus and segregated schools. Gays were not enslaved for more than 200 years in America, lynched and bombed by the thousands, like the black people were."
Yes, gay people were just tossed in Nazi concentration camps, lobotomized, institutionalized, jailed, fired from jobs, beaten senseless and murdered for who they are. And, of course, there is the slow spiritual and psychological death of the closet suffered by so many Ted Haggard types. But I suppose we have not suffered enough for the satisfaction of Rev. Ratliff and others of his ilk.
Perhaps, an exhibit highlighting the horrors faced by GLBT people throughout history might supplement Faith in America's campaign. This way, people at the Town Hall meeting, for example, can fully understand the toxic consequences of anti-gay rhetoric and discrimination.
Gold has taken a daring step and hopes his success in the business world can be duplicated in the advocacy arena. At the very least, if the moral clarity of these ads forces the presidential candidates to speak clearly on GLBT issues, the bold campaign will have made its mark.
30 Comments:
Gold is awesome - and he makes great furnatuere. I love his chairs. I'd love to make love to him in one of those love seats. teheehee. Too bad I am from Mississippi and I don't do long distance relationships.
Elmer
posted by , at
5/09/2007 8:49 AM
You homosexuals want SPECIAL RIGHTS. No amount of engineering the Bible can make God like you.
Fact: The homosexuals will go to HELL.
Fact: Sodomy is a SIN
Fact: The Bible is against you people.
Fact: Don't compare the plight of colored people to homosexuals. They did not choose to be colored, while the queers chose there lifestyle.
Fact: God loves you, and you can CHANGE, if you just put your faith in Lord Jesus!!!!!!!!
Milton
Oklahoma
posted by , at
5/09/2007 9:49 AM
Laughing out loud! "colored people"?!?! Uncle Milty, just how old are you? It's obvious you're able to function in life using only your brain stem, but I havent heard "colored people" since the 60s!!!
Gary (NJ)
posted by , at
5/09/2007 10:15 AM
Mildew in Oklahoma: stop getting your panties in a wad over gay equality and the "plight of colored people" and start worrying more about the plight of stupid people. You could be their Queen!
Red V
posted by , at
5/09/2007 10:23 AM
Milty, looks like ex-gay therapy hasn't worked for you. Go back to your cave and creationism and remember two of the best scriptural quotes ever...."judge not and ye shall not be judged" and "let he who is without sin, cast the first stone". Your Jesus Christ or God never judged let alone mentioned the word "homosexual". You bigots are so transparent and you've certainly cornered the market on bigotry and hypocrisy, you moron.
posted by , at
5/09/2007 11:51 AM
Milton is obviously incapable of an original thought. Everything he said was just a mindless regurgitation from the fake "christian" right. Milty, if a REAL scholar were to discuss biblical hermeneutics or exegeses with you, he or she would wipe the floor up with you. (There's two words you won't hear in your trailer park).
posted by , at
5/09/2007 1:09 PM
Eat my ass!
posted by , at
5/09/2007 1:39 PM
How refreshing to read an editorial that does not take aim at leaders in our community and try to drag them into the mud, accusing them of being our problem instead of the persistent homophobia that infects even the gay community and the gay press. Kudos to you, Wayne, for being positive and encouraging in pointing out leaders who shine light on the way!
posted by revtj, at
5/09/2007 2:55 PM
I like the newer billboards Wayne talks about, but it still bothers me that Faith In America put up those placards with Bible verses on them. The claims they make about some of those verses is flatout wrong. Scripture should never be taken out of context and reduced to media bytes, and it makes no difference whether it's liberals or conservatives who do it. Nobody wins playing a game of scriptural distortion.
" 'Gays aren't denied the right to vote,' Rev. Keith Ratliff of Maple Street Missionary Baptist Church fumed in the Des Moines Register. 'Gays were not considered to be three-fifths of a person. Gays did not suffer through Jim Crow, separate restrooms and water fountains, sitting in the back of the bus and segregated schools. Gays were not enslaved for more than 200 years in America, lynched and bombed by the thousands, like the black people were.'"
Let's have a reality check here. First of all, we are not 'Gays'! We are Gay people. Are there Black Gay people? For sure. Have there always been Black Gay people? Certainly. Therefore, Gay people were indeed denied the right to vote! Gay people were considered three-fifths of a person! Gay people did suffer through Jim Crow and segregation! Gay people were slaves! Gay people (of all colors) have been lynched! We've simply got to get Gay history taught in the public schools! The high level of ignorance about us that exists in society is intolerable and entirely uncalled-for.
As for Milton, he makes a lot of incendiary claims he can't prove, but that's not the half of it. He appears to worship the Bible, which violates God's Commandment against idolatry (a sin). He calls God's children "queers," which goes against Christian values. He calls us "homosexuals" which is grammatically incorrect. He claims that God doesn't "like" Gay people, which is absurd. And he fails to understand why Jesus Christ died on the cross. Here we have another example of what tragic consequences result from a substandard or absent education. A mind is such a terrible thing to waste, isn't it?
posted by DC HAMPTON JACOBS, at
5/09/2007 3:09 PM
Black ministers are the absolute worst of the lot. Their bigotry, which is mixed with a complete lack of higher education, is confoundingly laughable. AT LEAST the white kooks try to SOUND logical. But these ministers should understand that they are, in a sense, correct.
The gay and black civil rights struggles are not the same. After all, thousands of black kids don't commit suicide each and every year when they realize that they're black. Their parents don't throw them out on the street when they find out they're black. Those same parents didn't lose custody of their children because the parents are black.
Yes, of course, there are differences...
posted by , at
5/09/2007 3:45 PM
Milton said "No amount of engineering the Bible can make God like you...The Bible is against you...God loves you".
LOL, I'm confused Milton, which is it does god love or hate me? Your message is just a little mixed.
And I hate to be the one to break it to you Milton, but the bible is fiction and your god is imaginary. Haven't you ever wondered why your god never cures amputees? Other than accident of geography of birth, what rational reason do you have to accept the bible as truth, but not the Koran, or Hinduism's holy text?
Fact is there are no historical accounts of Jesus separate from the bible - he's just a fictional character.
posted by Priya Lynn, at
5/09/2007 4:57 PM
Jesus is just but an imaginary character or friend for those who are desparate, disparate and insecure.
Robert, NYC.
posted by , at
5/09/2007 10:46 PM
To the Anonymous who states that the bible is agianst you people
That is a false statment and false witness of God. God loves all of his children even when we are sinful (since we are all sinful).
You are the reason that gays do not like christians. You are misguided, cruel and mean. I wish you would go away or at least repent for your attack on God's other children.
X
posted by , at
5/10/2007 1:22 AM
Oh excuse me - that last message was meant for Milton.
Milton you are a disgrace to Christians. Please go back to Sunday school and read about the testimony of Jesus Christ who said to treat others as you would be treated.
You give people such as myself a very bad name.
posted by , at
5/10/2007 1:24 AM
A comment on the following comment by Chris:
"Black ministers are the absolute worst of the lot. Their bigotry, which is mixed with a complete lack of higher education, is confoundingly laughable."
Were the black ministers to study the Bible correctly, they would find that the "Word of God" condones, even affirms the institution of slavery. There are numerous passages in the Bible that justify slavery and were used by the South to explain and maintain slavery. Seems to me that the black ministers, once they have worked out their liberation, are suffering the Funnel syndrome: wide for me (here read black ministers); narrow for you (gay people)!!!
Equal rights means equal for everyone, including all gay people. I don't understand what is so difficult about the concept.
richard schillen
posted by , at
5/10/2007 10:55 AM
"Black ministers are the absolute worst of the lot."
I don't know if they're the worst, but they seem to be more vocal in their Bible bigotry. Before we assign "worst of the lot" status to Black ministers, though, let's not forget psychopathic White hetero-fascists like Fred Phelps. In my book, he's the most offensive by far.
"After all, thousands of black kids don't commit suicide each and every year when they realize that they're black. Their parents don't throw them out on the street when they find out they're black. Those same parents didn't lose custody of their children because the parents are black."
We need to be careful not to parrot false dichotomies raised by our enemies. Many Black kids have attempted or succeeded in trying to end their lives, because they were Gay. Black kids have been disowned by parents, because they were Gay. Black parents have lost custody of children, because they were Gay. Being African-American doesn't supercede Gay identity any more than being homosexual supercedes ethnic identity. Let's not forget our uniqueness as a minority group. We intersect with every other group on Earth. We are all something other than Gay.
posted by DC HAMPTON JACOBS, at
5/10/2007 11:49 AM
Fact: The homosexuals will go to HELL.
That you Jack...? Jack Chick? That you Jack? Oh... Milton... No... Seriously... That you Jack...?
posted by Bruce Garrett, at
5/11/2007 10:56 AM
I guess it would be "special" if gay people were treated like everyone else, and the government legally recognized our relationships as being just as valid as our hetero counterparts.
But it would only be special for the 4 seconds it takes most people realize "so..why didn't we do this before?"
Here's a few facts for Milton:
Fact: Homosexuality is not a lifestyle, it's not a trend, fad, or way of life. It's an orientation, it's a characteristic. I can pretty much guarantee you that A NY homo and a Phoenix homo live very different lifestyles.
FACT: Religion is about faith, not fact. Facts are the realm of science. Facts are supported by evidence, measurable data, eyewitness acounts, and readily verifiable observations. Faith is supported by belief, opinion.
Fact: The late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. supported the fight for equality for homosexuals. His late wife Coretta mentioned this numerous times before her death. Bayard Rustin was one of his trusted allies and an Out homosexual.
I'm going to take the word of the father of the modern Civil Rights Movement over someone named Milton in Oklahoma.
posted by Unknown, at
5/11/2007 6:16 PM
Milton in Oklahomo is a plant. Specifically a vegatable. I wonder how much these idiots get paid to troll this site and cause trouble.
posted by , at
5/12/2007 1:41 PM
Ooops, I meant to sign that. That last anonymous was from Darren aka jekelhyde. I can't get my blogger account to sign on.
posted by , at
5/12/2007 1:42 PM
Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams are both awesome people!
The stand by what they believe in....they walk the talk, make money for themselves, and maintain a factory in NC when almost everyone else has left for China.
Hats off to these two true visionaries!
posted by , at
5/25/2007 10:32 PM
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