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-------------------------
Wayne Besen
PO Box 25491
Brooklyn, NY 11202
Truth Wins Out today called singer Pat Boone's comparison of Proposition 8 protests to terrorist attacks on Mumbai "outrageous, shameful, desperate and bizarre." In a column titled, "Hate is hate, in India or America," that was published in the extremist website World Net Daily, Boone wrote, "Have you not seen the awful similarity between what happened in Mumbai and what's happening right now in our cities?"
In making such defamatory charges, Pat Boone's morality has sunk even lower than his career. To compare peaceful protests to the wanton slaughter of innocent civilians, is an act of rhetorical violence on the part of Pat Boone against the gay and lesbian community.
In his op-ed, Boone also wrote, "What troubles me so deeply, and should trouble all thinking Americans, is that there is a real, unbroken line between the jihadist savagery in Mumbai and the hedonistic, irresponsible, blindly selfish goals and tactics of our homegrown sexual jihadists."
Last Friday, a group of cultural warriors under the name "No Mob Veto" took out a full-page ad in the New York Times distorting the Proposition 8 protests, where people were demonstrating over the approval of a ballot measure in California that prohibits same-sex marriage.
It is clear that there is an organized, concerted effort to engage in historical revisionism and distort the Proposition 8 protests for political gain. These were largely peaceful protests where thousands of Americans expressed their First Amendment rights. It is shameful that extremists are distorting the truth and misrepresenting these non-violent actions.
** TWO will announce a major and significant action to counter the Lies About Prop 8 tomorrow....Stay Tuned.
33 Comments:
Wayne, I'm not surprised. Boone has been an arch homophobe for as long as I can remember. He's an idiot, lets face it.
posted by Anonymous, at
12/09/2008 1:32 PM
I've said it before, and I will say it again: One of the most surprising lessons that I've learned in my life was how frequently religious people LIE. When I was younger, this fact shocked me, but now I have come to expect and understand it.
Sometimes, it's tough to determine whether or not people like Mr. Boone lie outright or are just so confused by their acceptance of religious fairy tales that their mind actually becomes similar to the minds of druggies or drunks.
Remember those commercials which declared, "This is your brain on drugs"? Perhaps it's time for "this is your brain on faith." The separation from reality that drug addicts and religionists experience is tellingly similar. Of course, Boone's comparison of what occurred in Mumbai with the Proposition 8 protests is truly laughable. What a sick man.
posted by Chris L., at
12/09/2008 1:41 PM
I always thought he was a phony horse's ass. We had some lame book in our library by Boone called 'Twixt 12 and 20' written in the late 50s or early 60s. It was supposed to be a moral guide for teenagers. It was so old and laughable that I weeded it from the collection. I guess Pat lives in a world twixt hate and outrageous lying. I believe one of his daughters, Cherry, (interesting choice for a name) suffered at one time from anorexia or some other eating disorder. I've read that these people usually feel that they have no control over their own lives, which is often at the root of this disorder. What? Pat was a puritanical control freak with fucked up family dynamics?! Sounds like a perfect spokesperson for 'christian' family values. And a typical republican! BTW, the newest issue of Newsweek has as the cover story, The Religious Case for Gay Marriage. Can you imagine the vitriolic hate mail that will generate.
posted by Anonymous, at
12/09/2008 3:18 PM
How much do you want to bet that Boone has been involved in more secret illicit sexual acts than he would ever admit to? I'm wise to him. Psychologically speaking, it is VERY telling that he equates the totally legitimate Prop. 8 protests with the terrorism in Mumbai. What he may unconsciously be saying is that the idea of gay equality causes an "inner Mumbai" within his own self. Such a comparison would never come from a well-adjusted adult of either sexual orientation. What is the conflict that rages within Mr. Boone's own soul that causes him to see this as such an assault?
posted by Chris L., at
12/09/2008 4:01 PM
Islamic extremists have WAAAY more in common with Pat Boone than with the LGBT community.
posted by Ryan Grant Long, at
12/09/2008 4:04 PM
Gary, yes I read that yesterday. Don't worry, the christo loonies will find a way to refute the article and turn it around on us, they are relentless.
Now Bush admits that he doesn't believe everything in the bible. I wonder how they'll react to that remark. Its a question that needs to be posited to every politician running for office so we get it on record. His admission debunks all the nonsense about that boring quote in Leviticus that they love to use as their mantra to justify hate legislation. That one quote in Leviticus is at the core of the anti marriage equality agenda and the reason why Obama, Clinton and others don't believe in same-sex marriage. They're as bigoted as the proponents of Prop. H8.
posted by Anonymous, at
12/09/2008 4:37 PM
Robert, I think you need to do some research. Those who oppose homosexuality from a biblical perspective use more than a few verses from Leviticus. Don't over generalize and make that assumption. In regard to Mr. Boone, he made a very inflamatory and insensitive statement when he compared the Mumbai attacks with what has transpired after the defeat of Prop 8. He was wrong. One thing that needs to be pointed out is that some of the demonstrations in CA and MI were not peaceful. They were hurtful and harmful to many citizens of these states. Wayne needs to site in his articles those particular places where the demonstrations got wildly out of hand. It would have made for a more-informed and balanced article.
posted by Jeff Winter, at
12/09/2008 6:23 PM
Mr. Winter, while there has certainly been anger at the protests, there has been some vandalism and that one fishy thing with the woman and her crucifix in Palm Springs I don't think anything has really risen to the level of violence you imply. If you have specific incidents I think you should name them rather than put the impetus on Wayne.
posted by Daniel Mc, at
12/09/2008 7:33 PM
Regarding the religious based flatulence of Pat Boone: We must remember, Mr. Boone is probably still reeling from his hyena laughable bomb-out as hedonistic leather daddy a few years back when he was trying to revive his overly dead career. He looked reealy baaaaad in those black chaps tagged with les proverbial pies in the face. The finger points both ways now doesn't it.
posted by Anonymous, at
12/09/2008 8:28 PM
i think maybe we need to stop using the idea that religious people lie. it's worse than that. lying only gives them an excuse that they can use as an alibi or argument based on what they believe to be truth.
they are actually delusional -
an idiosyncratic belief that is firmly maintained despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality or rational argument, typically a symptom of a mental disorder.
in illustration, just check out the responses from the wingnuts over the Newsweek article or Bush's statement that creationism and evolution can live side by side and are not incompatible with each other or that we have not been cracked on the head enough to be eligible for equal rights.
not to mention that the latest polls in the country that are 60%+ in agreement at affording equal basic civil rights to LGBTQ citizens as well as benefits to same-sex couples no matter what our relationships are called.
i think we should let them stone their wives and sell their daughters into slavery. hey, it's in their delusional book that they use to spread their lies.
besides, it would mean more shrimp cocktail for the rest of us...
posted by mike/, at
12/09/2008 8:53 PM
Jeff Winter:
Give me a fucking break.
You spread hatred, you cause division, you target innocent people, then this is what happens, you piss people off. Doesn't take a genius to figure it out.
Thousands of people marched all over the country and there were only a few isolated incidents. And a few random brawls here and there and a single scary white powder incident can never come close to the decades of profound hatred and discrimination that gay people have endured in this country.
Nothing makes me more sick than an oppressor with a persecution complex. Ugh.
And I'm sick of hearing about that goddamn styrofoam cross lady!! She's a giant bigot, she has a history of showing up at gay events and spewing hate speech. Idiots like Huckabee act like she's this poor little innocent do-gooder old lady who was out walking her dog and happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Bullshit. She showed up with her cross to preach anti-gay hate directly at gay people.
I wish someone would have shoved that stupid cross up her ass.
As for the Bible, most people don't even read the damn thing, so they don't even know what verses supposedly make it okay to hate gay people. Although you're right, there is more than one verse people use. At most there are six or seven. Out of more than 30,000.
There are many more verses condoning slavery than there are which have anything whatsoever to do with homosexuality.
Not like that should even matter since we're not a theocracy. I'm not a Christian and I don't give a rat's ass what the Bible says.
posted by Ryan Grant Long, at
12/09/2008 8:56 PM
Yeah, Jeff, you lost a lot of credibility. The protests were peaceful. The infractions minor. Please, show me where people were seriously hurt or property seriously damaged?
Eshto.....Your writing style has a lot to be desired. If you want to be taken seriously you need to clean up your language. Using the kind of language you used in responding to me only isolates you as someone who speaks out of his emotions and not his head. I think you should take a look at how Daniel Mc responded to my comments. They are challenging yet non-condemning. I can respond to him. Not you!
posted by Jeff Winter, at
12/09/2008 9:27 PM
Wayne, I am feeling ultra-sensitive about the Prop 8 backlash since I have some friends who attend the Mt Hope Church in Lansing, Michigan. As you might know a pro-gay organization named Bash Back entered the church on a Sunday morning and interrupted their service by flinging fliers and condoms around the sanctuary. They also draped a profane banner from the balcony featuring two lesbians making out at the pulpit. Two woman from the Bash Back group stood on the platform and began to kiss. Some of the protesters shouted, "Jesus was gay," other profanities and blasphemies. Two women made their way to the pulpit and began to kiss. Lots of glitter, confetti, and pink fabric was tossed around the sanctuary. Needless to say my friends were horrified.
And so Wayne, I am hyper-sensitive to the protests that came out of the Prop 8 vote because of the experience with a couple of my friends. I confess in my mind I visualized more problems with the protests than what actually occured.
posted by Jeff Winter, at
12/09/2008 9:47 PM
Nothing in your unsubstantiated (probably a lie) claim about Bash Back is even marginally comparable to even a single incident of anti-gay violence. In addition to the acts targeting individuals like Matthew Shepherd, GLBTQ churchs have been fire bombed, at least once resulting in the death of a gay minister. Real human beings are dead because of anti-gay prejudice, no one has died from the demonstrations against Prop 8.
While you are moaning and groaning over nothing, GLBTQ people have been told for months on end that we are abominations, that our relationships are like murder and like raping animals, that we deserve eternal death and torture. Every damn day, every election cycle, derogatory invasions of our lives fill every media source for month after month after month. And yet, here you are, whining like a 3 year old, over an alleged brief encounter. Compared to what we endure over the years, your alleged event was a blowout birthday party.
Come whine at us again, after you've been shot at as I have, for just walking down the street. Come back after Fred Phelps has picketed funerals for your friends, after you've been declared a threat to the country, after you've been tied to a fence in wyoming and pistol-whipped. Come back after you've been tortured, as the Catholic Church used to torture gays and lesbians. Come back and whine after your right to protect your family and property is raped on the political stage. Come back after you've been years begging God to kill you, as so many GLBTQ Christians do.
Come back when you've walked a mile in our shoes.
I think that like so many bigots, you've so convinced yourself that GLBTQ people are not human beings, you are completely oblivious to the harm you and your peers have been inflicting on millions of people for generations.
Neither you nor Joey come across as sincere. Prop 8 inflicted grievious harm on millions of innocents - but neither of you care about that, only about posting completely unsubstantiated derogatory claims in yet another attack on GLBTQ people.
Just more ignorant spawn of well known relatives. What a priviledged piece of garbage and a complete chalatan and disgrace to anything spiritual. He is a joke and a bad one at that.
posted by Spouse Walker, at
12/10/2008 12:38 AM
Wayne, looks like the trolls are out again!
Even if tru (which I highly doubt), the events listed by Joey777 and Jeff are NOTHING compared to the lifetimes of oppression and persecution suffered by LGBT people. You have issues with the LGBT community and our fight for equality, then STAY THE HELL OFF GAY BLOGS! Go whine with the fundies, who spew nothing but hate and lies but whine when LGBT people say or do anything in return.
posted by Merlyn, at
12/10/2008 4:47 AM
Jeff, I'm well aware that religious cultist loonies use more than that one verse in Leviticus, but its the one they use with impunity while ignoring others that put them in a very bad light, its called cherry-picking. They claim they believe in the scriptures. Well now....go check the following www.fallwell.com and tell me if any of them abide by its tenets.
So you think our backlash to Prop. H8 was "hurtful and harmful" to a lot of people? Well....what about the millions of us who were hurt by antigay rhetoric, slurs, lies and denigration of our lives to get this piece of hate legislation passed in the first place and what about the interference of religious cults in the political process that advocated for and financially supported passage of this hateful legislation? The Mormon cult spent more than $20 million, the Knights of Columbus $1million for example, among many others. You think that wasn't hateful or harmful? Any religious cult donating and advocating for hate legislation is already in violation of their tax-exempt status. Name one incident in which a straight gay hater was injured or killed during the demonstrations. The lies and smears spread by these socalled christians is breath-taking and they have the gall to call themselves "christians"? While we're at it, what has civil marriage got to do with religious marriage anyway? The two aren't the same and no religious cleric would have been compelled to perform a marriage for a same-sex couple, another unchristian lie spread by the haters, hypocrites and bigots.
posted by Anonymous, at
12/10/2008 8:50 AM
I am totally disgusted! For political gain, you anti-gay activists are trying to lay claim to the mantle of victim hood all because some overexcited protester knocked a foam cross out of a lady's hand and some crank mailed baby powder to a couple of temples???
Give me a break!!!
As I have always said, religious people are LIARS. You are the biggest LIARS that I know or could ever know! And of course, you break the rules of the Bible you claim to follow. In asserting that the Prop. 8 protests were anything but 99.99% peaceful, you are truly "bearing false witness against your neighbor." (Exodus 20:16)
As for Jeff Winter: The misguided people who disrupted service in Lansing, Michigan, numbered exactly TWELVE. Nothing they did was supported by any gay group whatsoever. Again, TWELVE people were involved, while the peaceful Prop. 8 protesters numbered in the hundreds of thousands nationwide.
That is one-tenth OF ONE-TENTH of a percent! Which is an infinitesimal ".001%!"
Anyone who uses those misguided TWELVE to smear a group of hundreds of thousands of peaceable protesters is simply lying. I know how you get whipped up by these trivial sideshows, and all I can say is this: Please stop watching Bill O'Reilly!
posted by Chris L., at
12/10/2008 8:56 AM
Jeff:
Thanks for sharing where you are coming from.
But, having been to a few of these protests, they are peaceful. A few knuckleheads got out of line, but nothing serious.
In my view, it is being distorted and exploited by a few anti-gay activists.
posted by Wayne Besen, at
12/10/2008 9:12 AM
You are right Wayne. The media always picks up on the negative. Most people only see the "knuckleheads" as you call them. Both sides of this issue have their share of folks that go over the top. And then there is someone like Fred Phelps and his family. They aren't knuckleheads. They are pathological and ought to be institutionalized.
posted by Jeff Winter, at
12/10/2008 9:21 AM
Jeff,
Maybe you should check out "coach" Dave Daubenmire of Pass The Salt Ministries.
His son (special ed. teacher and coach) was caught with girl kiddie porn on his computer, and what did daddy do?
He started a "watchmen" group, which bursts into gay-friendly churches in the area, hollering at everyone during prayer, cussing and throwing a fit during church service.
And he's done this several times.
Why "christians" make a big deal out of those few gay activists, but have yet to condemn Dave Daubenmire and his church service crashing activities is beyond me. Sounds like you guys approve of it.
posted by S., at
12/10/2008 1:54 PM
Scott I am amazed at how folks judge others without even knowing them. You say that I would approve of people like Dave Daubenmire (never heard of this person)and "his church service crashing activities." I would never approve of such inappropriate behavior. His actions as you described them are wrong. It would be good if you and others on Wayne's site stop making sweeping generalizations about others.
posted by Jeff Winter, at
12/10/2008 2:14 PM
If you want to talk sweeping generalizations, "christians" should stop blaming the actions of a few activists on each and every gay person.
You don't know Daubenmire - just like I don't know those activists who rushed the church. I don't even do group activism, because gay activists would get on my nerves with that Gandhi shit! LOL
When I see ONE "christian" publicly rebuke Daubenmire, I'll have a little respect. But it hasn't happened yet.
posted by S., at
12/10/2008 2:45 PM
I think it's always a mistake to site these isolated incidents as somehow representative of a whole movement BUT as churches involve themselves in civil rights issues (especially against) I think they open themselves up for approbation. When churches actively move against the rights of individuals they deserve to be criticized.
posted by Daniel Mc, at
12/10/2008 2:48 PM
"I am amazed at how folks judge others without even knowing them."
LOL. You are amazed by your own posts. That is funny. After all, Jeff, you judged hundreds of thousands of people in your posts here. Will you apologize, is your moralizing only for others?
"You say that I would approve of people like Dave Daubenmire"
No one said that. Bearing false witness is a sin, Jeff, unlike homosexuality. Someone wrote that the lack of condemnation of Daubenmire looks like approval - a very different thing indeed.
"It would be good if you and others on Wayne's site stop making sweeping generalizations about others."
By all means, you have done enough of it for everyone. But, having chastized others, will you repent and apologize?
If you learn anything at all here, get this one message: GLBTQ are sick and tired of being lied about, and we will not put up with anymore.
posted by Friend of Jonathan, at
12/10/2008 11:10 PM
Jeff Winter: YOu stay the hell out of the personal lives of GLBT people. You and your ilk are the ones infiltrating your religious idiocy into government justifying the intrusion into our lives. You are the one who would be screaming bloody fucking murder if it was any other religion imposing upon others by way of the law. You are the ignorant hypocrite not worthy of addressing. The only reason YOU are being talked about is on behalf of GLBT people in the hopes they can rip you apart before you do it to us. Get the hell back into your church and out of the public square. Don't you dare talk about fucking peace when it is YOU and people like YOU that promoted the passing of HATE CRIME legislation.
posted by Spouse Walker, at
12/11/2008 1:43 PM
Promoted the NEED for hate crime legislation. Let me clear about that as well before YOU start manipulating everything you see and hear to your own benefit and ideology.
posted by Spouse Walker, at
12/11/2008 1:45 PM
Thanks FOJ, that's exactly what I meant.
If "christians" expect each and every gay person to take responsibility for the actions of a handful of activists, I've got something even better.
"Christians" must take responsibility for the gays killed in the holocaust, for Anita Bryant and Falwell trying to have gay USA citizens executed in the 70's, for Falwell and the "Moral Majority" trying to have gay USA citizens executed in the 80's, for Sally and Steve Kern making similar remarks just recently - I can go on.
posted by S., at
12/11/2008 2:42 PM
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