Religion is an "Immutable Characteristic," Sexual Orientation is Not

The caption of this post sets out the position of the homophobes of the Christianist and professional Christian crowd. It goes without saying that those who believe that false story line are either liars and/or idiots. There is nothing immutable about religion - people change denominations and faiths every day of the week. I myself have gone from Roman Catholic to Episcopalian to ultimately Lutheran. Nowadays, many are leaving organized religion entirely. In contrast, the legitimate medical and mental health experts agree that sexual orientation is not something changeable. Thus, when the Christianists seek to bar legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation since they claim it is not an immutable characteristic, they make a powerful case for removing anti-discrimination protections based on religion since it clearly is not an immutable trait. Here are some highlights on this issue from Right Wing Watch:

*

For months now, I've been trying to understand the reasoning behind the Republican and right-wing opposition to adding hate crimes protections for sexual orientation, noting that while they regularly complain that certain groups of people shouldn't be getting "special rights" or receiving extra protection, they are perfectly content to allow the existing hate crimes protections for religion to remain on the books.

*
As it turns out, the reason I couldn't understand their reasoning is that it is apparently rooted in a belief that sexual orientation is a choice, while religion is not: Last week, House Republican Leader John Boehner objected to House passage of a bill that would expand hate crime laws and make it a federal crime to assault people on the basis of their sexual orientation. . . . In an email, Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said Boehner "supports existing federal protections (based on race, religion, gender, etc) based on immutable characteristics."

*

Boehner's position, then, appears to be grounded in the notion that immutable characteristics should be protected under hate crimes laws. And while religion is an immutable characteristic, his office suggests, sexual orientation is not.

*

Personally, I suggest that Mr. Boehner needs to get his head out of his ass and think before he bloviates and makes statements that are factually untrue. Members of the GOP like to whine about "slippery slopes," yet fail to realize that they are going down one that could be very treacherous for religious extremists.