Human Compassion and Decency Versus the Christianists

Towleroad has what purports to be the first online publication of the introduction to MILK: A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF HARVEY MILK by Milk screenwriter and Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black. I found the introduction to be moving. In addition, it also exhibits a sense of compassion and decency towards others. It is the antithesis of the intolerance, cruelty and callousness exhibited everyday in anti-gay attacks launched by self-styled "pro-family" organizations and Christianist "news" sites. I thought the polar opposites in how the "pro-gay" side and and the anti-gay "Christians" look at humanity and the lives of others says a great deal about which is the more morally upright cause. First some highlights from Dustin's introduction:

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I grew up in a very conservative Mormon military household in San Antonio, Texas. I knew from the age of six what people would call me if they ever discovered my “secret.” Faggot. Deviant. Sinner. I’d heard those words ever since I can remember. I knew that I was going to Hell. I was sure God did not love me. It was clear as day that I was “less than” the other kids, and that if anyone ever found out about my little secret, beyond suffering physical harm, I would surely bring great shame to my family.

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So I had two choices: to hide—to go on a Mormon mission, to get married and have a small Mormon family (eight to twelve kids)—or to do what I’d thought about many a time while daydreaming in Texas history class: take my own life.

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[The] moment when I heard Harvey for the first time . . . that was the first time I really knew someone loved me for me. From the grave, over a decade after his assassination, Harvey gave me life. . . he gave me hope. At that very same moment, without knowing it, I became a pawn in a game of political power wrangling that is still shedding blood from DC to Sacramento, El Paso to Altoona.

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Thirty years after Harvey began his fight for GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender) equality, I am still “less than” a heterosexual when it comes to my civil rights in America. If I fall in love with someone in a foreign country, I can’t marry him and bring him home. I can’t be out in the military, there are inheritance rights issues, adoption rights, social security, taxation, immigration, employment, housing, and access to health care rights, social services, and education rights, and on and on. The message to gay and lesbian youth today is that they are still inferior. Today, in 2008, The Gay and Lesbian Task Force reports that a third of all gay youth attempt suicide, that gay youth are four times more likely than straights to try to take their own lives, . . .

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The night after this year’s election, I attended a rally against the passage of Proposition 8, and the speakers onstage were mostly the folks who had waged the failed, closeted “No on 8” campaign. . . . . And yes, those demonstrators on television, and Harvey’s message in theaters, are exceedingly important in the continued fight over Proposition 8, but they are important to me for another, more personal reason. . . because I feel certain there is another kid out there in San Antonio tonight who woke up on November 5, 2008, and heard that gay people had lost their rights in California, that they were still “less than,” and I know all too well the dire solutions that may have flashed through his or her head.

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These photos and the accompanying quotes from my research interviews in this book don’t tell the story of a man born to lead, but of a regular man with many flaws who did what many others wouldn’t . . . he did what his people need to do again today, thirty years later . . . Harvey Milk stood up and fought back.

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And our adversaries? What do they have to say? Nothing kind or caring, that is for certain. An utter disregard for other humans who are different from themselves is instead their hallmark. They care nothing for the pain and suffering of others or the lives they ruin. First an example from Movieguide, a self-proclaimed "family guide to entertainment" in a piece entitled "Hollywood Denounces God and Applauds Pedophilia at the Oscars." Here are a few highlights (be the judge of who displays bigotry):

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The Academy Awards showed its support for sexual perversions last night at its annual Oscar ceremony. . . . The Oscar audience applauded madly when Penn, who won Best Actor for his portrayal of murdered homosexual activist Harvey Milk in the movie MILK, angrily chastised voters in California, including 70% of black voters, for having the gall in last November's elections to support the real definition of marriage.

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The audience also clapped when the winning screenwriter for MILK, Dustin Lance Black, proclaimed his bigotry when he commented, "If Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he would want me to say to all the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told they are less than by the churches, by the government, by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value, and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights, federally, across this great nation of ours. Thank you, God, for Harvey Milk!"

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At the beginning of the show, host Hugh Jackman described the message of MILK as, "It's okay to be gay." Of course, Jesus Christ believes otherwise.

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And then there is commentary entitled "Gay Rights Suffers Well-Deserved Defeat in Idaho," from Renew America concerning the defeat of a bill that would have furnished employment non-discrimination protections to employees in Idaho. Note the standard false recounting of alleged anti-Christian events and the use of the transgender boogie man; Here are highlights:

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This bill — as the following segment will illustrate in full — would have represented a grave threat to constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of association, conscience, speech and religion. . . . It would have spawned a host of lawsuits, including potential lawsuits against any municipality, public concern or private business that would not allow a transgendered individual to use the bathroom or locker room of his choice.

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Sen. LeFavour's attempt to foster religious discrimination under cover of the homosexual rights agenda is losing steam. Last year, she had the official support of the Idaho Human Rights Commission; this year, she did not. Last year, she at least was able to get her bill printed; this year she did not. Let's hope, for the sake of Idaho, that her efforts continue to lose momentum.

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I never cease to be amazed at how those who purport to be the followers of a religious tradition based on a man who described the second great Commandment after love of God to be love of neighbor as yourself are so consumed by hatred and intolerance of others. These folks are not Christians and they are a threat to the civil rights of other citizens.