Saturday, January 26, 2013

NBA Star Comes Out in Support of Gay Marriage - With His Two Moms

The Christofascists and hate groups like Family Research Council, the National Organization for Marriage and, here in Virginia, The Family Foundation, constantly strive to depict LGBT individuals as sick, disturbed, promiscuous, and a threat to children.  Its an insidious campaign and has nothing to do with "protecting the sanctity of marriage" and everything to do with inciting anti-gay animus.  The truth, of course, is very different from the picture our enemies like to portray.  Many of us in the LGBT community have children - children who are doing well and have not suffered in any way from having gay parents.  Children who often become strong advocated for gay rights and marriage equality.  The last such individual to come out and speak up in favor of marriage equality is Denver Nuggets power forward Kenneth Faried (pictured above with his two mothers) who is starring in a moving new video endorsing civil unions legislation that is before the Colorado legislature.  Salon looks at Faried's support for equality.  Here are excerpts:

Kenneth “the Manimal” Faried is a Denver Nuggets power forward whose high-energy play and extravagant dreadlocks have made him a darling of the basketball intelligentsia. He’s also the star of a moving new video endorsing civil unions for One Colorado, a statewide advocacy organization dedicated to protecting the rights of the LGBT community.

Faried appears with his two mothers, Carol and Waudda (both of whom are painfully, adorably shy), and offers a few stories about how they met and the kinds of adversities they’ve had to overcome as a family. Fairly or not, the NBA’s players have earned something of a reputation in recent years for homophobia, which makes the video’s message that much more refreshing. “Nobody can ever tell me that I can’t have two mothers,” says Faried. “Because I really do.”
When the Christofascists attack gay and lesbian parents, they attack our children as well.  Mt three children haven't let that reality go unnoticed and all three of them are militantly in favor of gay rights.  And like so many others in their age group, they have largely walked away from institutional religion motivated in large part with the the term "Christian" too often being synonymous with homophobe and anti- bigot.   The all too typical silence of the "good Christians" in opposition to the Christofascist hate merchants is, in my view, slowly killing Christianity as a whole in this country. 

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