Christian Leftist

Well, that’s what President Bush will essentially say if and when he vetoes his third and fourth bills, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would make persecution and discrimination of employees based on their sexuality illegal, and H.R. 1582, also named the Matthew Shepard Act, which would enhance existing hate crime legislation. Current hate crime laws state that violent crimes committed with motivations based on race, gender, religion, etc. are especially heinous and therefore subject to stiffer penalties; the House bill that has just passed would add sexual orientation to that list.

Of course, the anti-gay hate speech, which is still perfectly legal in this country as long as it doesn’t incite violence, has flared surrounding the issue, with several right-wing groups urging Bush to veto both bills. They argue that the legislation would forbid preachers from citing biblical references to homosexuality as a sin.

This whole issue makes me furious, but I’ll refrain from saying exactly how I feel about these people. Instead, I’ll quote Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese from an article on Southern Voice:

“It’s no surprise the religious right is so concerned about hate speech — for them, hate appears to be a cottage industry,” Solmonese said. “But they have nothing to fear. Even after the hate crimes legislation is passed, the religious right will continue to have the federally protected right to preach hatred from the pulpit.”

Pwned.

The problem to me is, how can you reconcile teaching ignorant, gullible parishioners to hate their fellow citizens and human beings and still claim to serve the will of God?

The Easter Egg Roll. (I love how on the afore-linked news page, there’s a link to a video on the “phenomenon of peeps.” Back to the story: a century-old tradition of plenary indulgence for tots on a day of spiritual purity, a festival of youthful races and happy snapshots, and a sea of rainbow leis! Yup–about a hundred or so gay and lesbian couples gathered with the festive Hawaiian decorations to escort their kids to the fun.

Naturally, conservative Christian groups threw a fit, and several radicals (wow! Imagine calling someone besides a liberal *radical!*) stood by the lines to get in and held up signs and shouting epithets in colloquial (read: bad) English, as Jon Stewart so eloquently pointed out on Tuesday.

I’m not sure I approve of singling one’s self out by wearing a rainbow-colored necklace, especially if the point is to simply blend in and be seen as “normal.” On the other hand, I wouldn’t want to walk up to a couple and start a conversation only to have them toss expletives in my face. What was funny was that Bush only appeared for the Katrina victims and the VIP guests. I really don’t get why everyone couldn’t enter the lawn area for the speeches if the same number of people were going to occupy the same space an hour later. Maybe Laura thought the gay couples were going to chuck their leis at her during her speech?