Reflections on the Pulse Massacre Three Years Later

Today - June 12 - is the third anniversary of the massacre at Pulse, and LGBT nightclub in Orlando, Florida.  Like so many in the LGBT community, I was stunned and sickened by the huge loss of life - Pulse is the largest deadly attack on LGBT individuals in American history.  Moreover, the massacre was a wake up call to many in the community that it is still dangerous, some times deadly so, to be LGBT in America.  In the intervening three years, things have decidedly not gotten better in many parts of the USA.  The Trump/Pence regime continues to wage war against LGBT rights and anti-gay Christofascist extremists hold sway at the White House.  Shockingly, today in Orlando an anti-gay pastor who condones the murder of gays announced a "make America straight rally" where pastors who cheer the execution of gays will rally in the very same  community where LGBTQ people were massacred three years ago.  Some take umbrage at my use of the term "Christofascists" yet in a telling coincidence, Iran's foreign minister defended that country's execution of gays in language nearly identical to that used by American Christofascists, including those announcing the horrible rally in Orlando: 

“Our society has moral principles,” . . . “And we live according to these principles. These are moral principles concerning the behavior of people in general. And that means that the law is respected and the law is obeyed.”

Make no mistake, the mindset is the same among this Christofascists and Islamic extremists in Iran. Hatred of others and a desperate clinging to antiquated writings by ignorant authors (in the case of the Koran, I would argue a mentally ill author) are the common thread. 

A piece in The Advocate reminds us of the horrors that occurred three years ago.  Here are highlights:

I remember waking up that morning at 7 am and reading the headline “20 DEAD” in a shooting that had ended just one hour and 46 minutes earlier. Regrettably, I remember accepting that 20 deaths was a “normal” number for our world, that 20 was a somehow understandable figure — a calculable loss that tracked with casualty statistics of other shootings at the time. Cold numbers.

But I lost it when the Orlando Police Chief revised his estimation from “not 20 but 50.” Fifty. Could you imagine that? Fifty people just like me.

Many other numbers didn’t make it into mainstream news reports. If these other facts and figures had made national headlines, we might all think about Pulse differently. For example, 90 percent of the victims were Latino, of whom a full 50 percent were Puerto Rican. Four Dominicans and three Mexicans were also murdered, and three Colombians were critically injured in this attack. Where were these numbers when we needed to feel them, when we needed to match them to the images we were seeing?

With 49 murdered in a three-hour timespan, Pulse remains the single deadliest incident of violence against LGBTQ people and their allies ever committed.

And yet, queer people of color are 1.82 times more likely to experience physical violence than queer white people. We make up only about 42 percent of the LGBTQ community, and yet, a full 73 percent of all LGBTQ homicides are committed against us. Ignoring these numbers is killing us.  These are the numbers we needed to see then, and we still do now.

Three years after Pulse, I want to remember the aerial footage of 10,000 Floridians lined up in the sweltering streets of Orlando, fanning off beads of sweat in the scorching summer sun as they waited to offer blood — their own biologies — to the victims of the night before. The temperature that day peaked at 90˚F, with a heat index pushing toward 100˚F, and yet the endless line of blood donors remained in place long after the sun had set. Staff at OneBlood’s main office kept their facility open until 3:00 a.m. and still had to turn donors away. These are the innumerable heroes I choose to remember. I want to remember the numbers that reveal unmatched heroism that night. I recall the story of Akyra Murray, the young woman who initially escaped the chaos but, who, at only 18 years of age, made the courageous decision to reenter the scene in search of her friend. Akyra found her friend, but she never made it out herself. She had just graduated high school ranked third in her class.

I want to remember Imran Yousef, the former Marine who, at 24 years of age, tore open a patio fence and helped an estimated 70 people escape the gunshots. I want to remember the unnamed hero who died blocking bullets from at least two survivors behind him. I want to remember Brenda Marquez McCool, a mother of 11 children who loved her son so much she died saving him.

I want to remember the 5,300 pints of blood donated in central Florida on June 12 alone and the 28,000 pints donated throughout the week. And in one victim’s particular case, rather than hate the individual who caused his pain, I want to remember the surgical team and the 214 donors whose blood helped save his life.

As the piece underscores, there are many, many good Americans.  But, the unifying thread for so many who are evil is racism and religious based homophobia - homophobia that continues to be fanned from pulpits across the nation and from the White House.  Religion - especially fundamentalist religion - remains an evil and curse on humanity.

Pastors and Republicans Show Their Hate and Hypocrisy

Many Republicans and more than a few fundamentalist pastors are showing the hate, lies and hypocrisy that under gird their poisonous beliefs.  Additional pastors have applauded the slaughter of gays in Orlando and foul hypocrites like Ted Cruz ignore their own role in creating the toxic, discriminatory atmosphere in which LGBT Americans continue to live.  Indeed, as the Sacramento CBS affiliate reports, a Baptist pastor's sermon on Sunday morning praised the deaths of the Orlando victims:

A Sacramento Baptist preacher’s sermon praising attack on an Orlando nightclub that killed 50 people has the local LGBT community outraged.

Recordings of the sermon by Pastor Roger Jimenez surfaced under the Verity Baptist Church’s YouTube account.

“Are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today?” he said in the sermon. “Um no, I think that’s great! I think that helps society. I think Orlando, Florida is a little safer tonight.”

The remarks were delivered on Sunday morning, hours after the attack happened.

Jimenez’s sermon went on to call for even more death at the hands of the government.  “If we lived in a righteous government, they should round them all up and put them up against a firing wall, and blow their brains out,” Jimenez said in the sermon.

While Christian apologists will fume and say that Jimenez's remarks do not define Christianity, sadly they do.  Through the centuries Christianity has left a trail of death and destruction in its wake.

On the political front, in addition to Donald Trump, other Republicans have jumped on the "blame the Muslims" bandwagon even as a more bizarre portrait of the Orlando shooter is emerging.  Moreover, some of this self-prostituting Republicans ignore their own roll in fanning the flames of homophobia and encouraging anti-LGBT violence.  Ted Cruz perhaps best personifies this as Joe Jervis lays out:

Last fall Ted Cruz stood smiling on the stage with a Christian pastor who had just called for exterminating homosexuals in the name of White Jesus. But somehow that scandal seems to have slipped his feeble mind. From his Facebook page:

For all the Democrats who are loud champions of the gay and lesbian community whenever there is a culture battle waging, now is the opportunity to speak out against an ideology that calls for the murder of gays and lesbians. ISIS and the theocracy in Iran (supported with American taxpayer dollars) regularly murder homosexuals, throwing them from buildings and burying them under rocks. This is wrong, it is evil, and we must all stand against it. Every human being has a right to live according to his or her faith and conscience, and nobody has a right to murder someone who doesn’t share their faith or sexual orientation. If you’re a Democratic politician and you really want to stand for LGBT, show real courage and stand up against the vicious ideology that has targeted our fellow Americans for murder.

Take it away, Right Wing Watch:

We wonder why Cruz himself didn’t display such heroism when he spoke at a conference late last year where the main speaker, Kevin Swanson, a long-time and notorious advocate of the government instituting the death penalty for gay people, said repeatedly on stage that the Bible calls for gays and lesbians to be put to death and argued that America should introduce capital punishment against unrepentant homosexuals once society is moved in that direction.

That conference was also attended by Cruz’s father and his then-rivals Mike Huckabee and Bobby Jindal.

The summit, called the National Religious Liberties Conference, even distributed literature calling for the death penalty for gay people and others, mentioning stoning and throwing people off cliffs as possible forms of executions.

And yet now Ted Cruz has the gall to lecture liberals about the importance of showing “real courage” in the face of those who want to put gays to death.

Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and Bobby Jindal Pander to Group Call for Execution of Gays

While Bobby Jindal's and Mike Huckabee's appear moribund, that doesn't mean that they aren't still busy prostituting themselves to the most ugly and extreme elements of the Christofascist base of the Republican Party.  The same holds true for Ted Cruz who continues to strike me as a frightening reincarnation of the late Joe McCarthy.  All three of these political whores are set to appear at a conference hosted by a radio host who has repeatedly called for the execution of gays.  As Salon notes, GOP debate moderators need to call out all three of them and force them to acknowledge that they are in bed with those who want to murder law abiding Americans merely because they do not adhere to a hideous form of Christianity.  Here are story highlights:

Republican candidates may want softball questions for the rest of the debate season, but here’s something that the moderators should be confronting at least some of them about: Three candidates—Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and Bobby Jindal—are scheduled to speak this weekend at a conference hosted by a radio host named Kevin Swanson who has openly advocated for putting gay people to death.

The conference is called the National Religious Liberties Conference, and it’s based on the premise that Christians are somehow having their religious liberties stripped from them because they can’t impose their views on others.

“Over the past few years, we’ve seen a marked erosion of the religious liberties that were the bedrock of the founding of our country,” Swanson says in a press release promoting the conference.

[A] look over the list of supposedly oppressed Christians that are speaking at the conference shows that the real source of anger is that it’s becoming harder than ever for Christians to oppress others, particularly LGBT people.

For instance, one of the supposedly persecuted Christians is former Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Phillip Monk, who runs around claiming that he was fired from the Air Force for his devout religious beliefs. This is a lie. Monk was supervising a staff sergeant who was supposed to be training recruits and was using his captive audience to proselytize his version of Christianity, particularly pushing his religious beliefs against homosexuality on them. Using your position of authority to push your religion on your underlings is against military rules . . . . In other words, Monk lost his job for refusing to uphold the value of religious liberty. 

Most of the other people labeled “Persecuted Christians” who are speaking at this conference have similar stories: Two anti-gay brothers who believe they are owed a TV show and are somehow persecuted if they don’t get one. A couple who violated anti-discrimination laws by refusing to let a gay couple rent their building to hold a wedding, even though they use their building all the time for straight weddings.  A couple who own a bakery that pulled the “we don’t serve your kind around here” move with a lesbian couple who wanted a wedding cake. An evangelical preacher who feels entitled to have a public high school advertise his church for him. 

Unsurprisingly, Ted Cruz’s father, Rafael Cruz, is speaking at the conference as well. Rafael Cruz is a completely unhinged radical, so much so that Ted Cruz has sought to distance himself on occasion from his father. But, as Ted Cruz’s participation in this event suggests, he has more in common with his father than not, including the rock solid belief that Christians are somehow being “oppressed” if they can’t impose their views on the unwilling.

Right Wing Watch has more details on the level of hate and mental derangement of the folks that Cruz, Huckabee and Jindal - and by some reports, Ben Carson - seek to prostitute themselves too.  This trio of hate mongers belong in a nut house, not the White House.  When it comes to mindset, these folks are really little different than the extremists of ISIS.

Glenn Beck Calls Russian Homophobia Nazi-Like "Hetero-Fascism"

I am not a fan of Glenn Beck and typically view the man as a loud mouthed nutcase.  But even crazy people can be right on occasion.  An Example?  Glenn Beck's condemnation of Russia's anti-gay laws and raging homophobia in which he compares Russia with Nazi Germany. Gay Star News looks at Beck's commentary on Russia.  Here are highlights:

Conservative US radio host Glenn Beck has likened the mood against homosexuals in Russia to that of Nazi Germany towards Jewish people in response to comments by Russian actor Ivan Okhlobystin that he thinks gay people should be burned alive.
Beck made the comments on CNN while talking about the controversy over Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson’s recent comments about homosexuality – saying they paled in comparison to what was happening in Russia.
‘Do you know what’s happening in Russia? One of their biggest stars on television said that homosexuals should be put into the ovens alive,’ Beck told CNN’s SE Cupp.
‘I didn’t think you could make the Holocaust worse but he’s like “Why the gas chamber? That seems a little too humane. Let’s put them alive in the oven.”’
‘I will stand with GLAAD. I will stand with anybody who will stand up and say that’s crazy. That’s dangerous. That’s hetero-fascism. That’s what that is. And we’re talking about Duck Dynasty Really? Really?’
- See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/glenn-beck-calls-russian-homophobia-%E2%80%98hetero-fascism%E2%80%99010114#sthash.HiJexxvU.dpuf

Conservative US radio host Glenn Beck has likened the mood against homosexuals in Russia to that of Nazi Germany towards Jewish people in response to comments by Russian actor Ivan Okhlobystin that he thinks gay people should be burned alive.

Beck made the comments on CNN while talking about the controversy over Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson’s recent comments about homosexuality – saying they paled in comparison to what was happening in Russia.

‘Do you know what’s happening in Russia? One of their biggest stars on television said that homosexuals should be put into the ovens alive,’ Beck told CNN’s SE Cupp.

‘I didn’t think you could make the Holocaust worse but he’s like “Why the gas chamber? That seems a little too humane. Let’s put them alive in the oven.”’

‘I will stand with GLAAD. I will stand with anybody who will stand up and say that’s crazy. That’s dangerous. That’s hetero-fascism. That’s what that is. And we’re talking about Duck Dynasty Really? Really?’

 

When It Comes to Homophobia, Not Much Separates Neo-Nazis and Conservative Christians

I have frequently maintained that there is little difference between Conservative Christians and Neo-Nazis and/or white supremacists.  All of the foregoing groups are motivated by hatred towards others and they display an intense need for others to inferior in order to placate their own sick psychological needs.  An article in Politicususa compares the tacitly state sanctioned Neo-Nazi violence against gays in Russia with the actions of concervative Christians in America.  The similarities are striking.  The only thing that differs is the level of violence.  Here are article excerpts:

Now that the charade of Phil Robertson’s pretend suspension is over, homophobes nationwide can rest assured that their “right” to spread hate is preserved and the corporate sponsors of Duck Dynasty will profit handsomely.

Meanwhile, another television star in another land told his audience that he would love to burn gays in ovens.  In the same land, Neo-Nazis lure gay teenagers and young men for “dates” that involve torture on video and up-loading the video to YouTube in the hope of “outing” the gay person to their school, friends and family. Of course, it isn’t merely about the humiliation of being outed.  It’s more about leaving the implementation of a ‘final solution‘  to others.

Being outed in a small city or village in Russia very often means death,” says Larry Poltavtsev of the Spectrum Human Rights Alliance, a Washington, DC-based advocacy group for gay rights in Eastern Europe. “Exposed teenagers may commit suicide, or they’ll be harassed by your peers, their parents may kick them out of their house. It’s a nightmare.

Not surprisingly, the Russian government looks the other way as Russia’s Neo-Nazis traumatize LGBT teens, with many of them committing suicide.  It isn’t surprising that Neo-Nazis see these laws (and the hateful rhetoric by Russian lawmakers) as permission for their method of cleansing the gay away. 

“The latest laws against so-called gay propaganda… have essentially legalized violence against LGBT people, because these groups of hooligans justify their actions with these laws,“  Igor Kochetkov, of the Russian LGBT Network, told the Guardian earlier this year. “With this legislation, the government said that, yes gays and lesbians are not valued as a social group.

One can point to the fact that Russia is so different from the United States.  After all, we don’t lock up people for criticizing the government, as occurs to critics of Putin and his “favorite project.”

We don’t have anti gay propaganda laws.  We have conservatives who oppose anti-bullying laws because they suppress a homophobe’s right to bully a member of the LGBT community straight.

However, many Religious Right activists want to derail efforts to combat bullying. An increasing number of conservative leaders and organizations have fiercely opposed anti-bullying programs developed by schools and education groups for the sole reason that such programs identify and attempt to combat the widespread bullying of LGBT youth.

Conservatives also have a long policy agenda that is decidedly anti-LGBT . . . .  If some of those followers “interpret” Phil Robertson’s comments or those of other conservatives as permission to bully, assault or kill someone who is gay or “looks” gay, conservatives can always say it isn’t their fault someone took their message the wrong way.

The approach may be different, but the message and objectives are the same.  When they aren’t invoking fear of Russia’s influence on matters like Syria, conservatives hero worship Putin for his anti- gay “propaganda” laws, and probably applaud the neo-Nazis for doing their bit to scare LGBT teens straight.  They’re also hoping you won’t notice that the original Nazis, like their succcesors, were just as anti-gay as the Tea Party and other “conservatives.”  After all, connecting those dots would reveal the hubris of their Liberalism is Nazism meme.

Instead of Punishing Russia, International Olympic Committee May Punish Pro-Gay Olympians

My opinion of the International Olympic Committee ("IOC") is dropping by the second.  And my parallels of the current anti-gay pogrom in Russia to events in 1930's Germany when the IOC prostituted itself to Adolph Hitler for the 1936 Summer Games seem increasingly on target.  Now, there are rumors that rather than move the 2014 Winter Games or demand that Russia safeguard gay athletes and tourists attending the Games, the IOC may be planning to take action against athletes who display any type of pro-gay support claiming that such actions would constitute engaging in "political activities".    I'm sorry, but a tawdry whore has more scruples and integrity than the IOC.  A piece in Huffington Post looks at these disturbing developments.  Here are excerpts:

Controversy is swirling around the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia -- scheduled to start six months from today -- due to a shocking and barbaric crackdown against the basic rights and freedoms of that country's LGBT community.

In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a draconian law that labels any public acknowledgement of the LGBT community as "gay propaganda." It is now a crime in Russia to advocate for LGBT equality, publicly say that gay relationships are equal to non-gay ones, organize an LGBT pride parade, or even simply hold a rainbow flag. Violators face jail time or fines of up to 1 million rubles.  . . . . And Putin's regressive policies are fueling and legitimizing an alarming surge in hate-motivated beatings, torture, and murders of LGBT people across Russia.

There are calls for the Games themselves to be boycotted, most notably from Harvey Fierstein, and actor George Takei argued yesterday that they should be moved to another host city entirely. Conversely, gay Olympians Johnny Weir, Blake Skjellerup, and Greg Louganis have come out against a boycott, saying that athletes should instead show up at the Games and express support for LGBT people.

But according to a shocking New York Times report by Jeré Longman, showing up and expressing support may not be a feasible option at all. That's because instead of punishing Russia for its brutal and indefensible assault on LGBT human rights, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) may punish athletes who wear pro-equality pins, patches, or T-shirts.

Longman reports that the Olympic Charter "prohibits athletes from making political gestures during the Winter and Summer Games," and that this prohibition could be used to "banish" Olympians who choose to protest, even silently, against Russian homophobia.

Since when is human rights advocacy a "political statement"? If the persecuted group in question were women, Jews, or a racial or ethnic minority group, would protesting their mistreatment still qualify as "political"? Or do things only become political when it's LGBT people -- a minority group it's still OK to hate in many parts of the world -- who are being terrorized?

Equally outrageous is the utterly impotent position that the IOC has taken on Russia's anti-gay laws from the beginning. According to The New York Times, "All the indignation the I.O.C. could muster about Russia's new antigay law was a statement saying the Olympic Committee would 'oppose in the strongest terms any move that would jeopardize this principle.'"

And the United States Olympic Committee isn't any better:

The United States Olympic Committee could have joined with Olympic committees from other nations and said they would not tolerate such a discriminatory law.

But that did not happen. And American officials decided not to speak out unilaterally. Scott Blackmun, the U.S.O.C.'s chief executive, sent a note to American Olympic officials saying, 'While we strongly support equal rights for all, our mission is sustained competitive excellence' and not political advocacy.

What contemptible cowardice. Have they learned nothing from the Berlin Olympics of 1936?

By silencing pro-LGBT athletes, the IOC will be actively complicit in Russia's egregious human rights violations.  They will have blood on their hands.

If the Games are held in Sochi, I for one will not watch ANY of the media coverage despite my love of figure skating (one of my daughters was a competitive skater).  I hope others will join me in boycotting all things Olympic if the Games are not moved from Russia.

 

Victim of Anti-Gay Torture in Russia Reportedly Has Died

Things are becoming increasingly dangerous for LGBT individuals in Russia as uncontrolled violence against gays continues to increase.   Worse yet, police and government authorities are doing nothing to stop the violence or to punish those behind the violence, including Neo-Nazi groups.  Now, yet another life has seeming been lost to homophobic violence.   The victim is pictured in the image above surrounded by his torturers.    It is all part of a move towards fascism that is being aided and abetted by the Russian Orthodox Church.  Blogger friend  and fellow Bilerico Project contributor Patricia Nell Warren describes it well, including the role of the Russian Orthodox Church which promoted anti-Jewish pogroms under the Tzars:

The ultraconservative Russian Orthodox Church is reoccupying Russia, and Putin supports their "moral" policies. So gays are not the only ones being persecuted. Women's rights are ending, as are the freedom-of-thought rights of anyone who isn't a Russian Orthodox believer. In a word, Russia is moving towards fascism on all fronts.

Here are highlights from a post derived from a gay rights activist in Russia who is undergoing threats himself:

According to the human right activist, Dr. Valentin Degtyarev, MD, who closely monitors infamous Neo Nazi group "Occupy Pedofilyaj", the Uzbek victim shown on this photo tragically died as a result of numerous tortures.  No arrests have been made and no charges were pressed. Putin's law enforcement seems to fully condone these actions.  Moreover, Dr. Degtyarev's numerous written complains to the authorities only resulted in his own persecution and threats directed at him and his 72 years old mother.  In the official correspondence from the local District Attorney office and Governor's office it was explained that Russian authorities do not see any wrongdoings in the video clips or photographs posted by Neo Nazi group "Occupy Pedofilyaj." Actually, the authorities referred to this group as one of the  "civil movements fighting the sins of the society."  

Dr. Degtyarev is routinely approached and offended on the street, receives numerous threats via mail, phone, SMS and email. He is not alone in his fight though.

Another brave activist dared to stand-up to this gang. His name is Artem Gorodilov. This LGBT rights activist was kidnapped in the middle of the night and brought to the local cemetery in Kamensk-Uralsky city (Sverdlovsk district). He was tortured and bullied there for being gay, spreading "gay propaganda" on the Internet and complaining about this hate group to the authorities. Eventually this Nazi group dismantled a huge wooden cross from one of the graves nearby and made Mr. Gorodilov to run with it for his life while being chased by their car. This incident caught attention of the local branch of the Russian Orthodox church who thought that the Nazi group displayed a disrespect to the Holy Cross and offended feelings of their believers thus the church representatives complained to the police. As a result, these Nazi group was brought by the police for questioning and immediately released.

Here is a full video of the horrific night at the cemetery. Mr. Gorodilov was brought to the grave of another victim of this Neo Nazi group that was driven to the suicide by them. One of the perpetrators was glad to point out this fact on the video:

 This is what the International Olympic Committee is condoning if it doesn't move the 2014 Games from Russia.  Its disgusting and frightening.

Feel the Love: French Gay Activist Left Brain-Dead After Attack

The far right is always claiming that gays are seeking to destroy society yet it is always the far right and their Christofascists allies who seem to be doing the killing and destruction.  In France, all of the violence over the gay marriage debate has been the handiwork of the supposed traditionalists and increasingly it's the godly folks who are the proponents of violence.  Now, an 18 year old gay activist is brain dead after an attack by skinheads who have no doubt been encouraged by the Catholic Church and others who depict gays as a treat to society and marriage.  The Advocate has details on this sad story.  Here are excerpts:

French left-wing activist Clement Meric has been left brain-dead after he was beaten by a group of skinheads, reports London paper The Guardian.  The 18-year-old was a student at one of the top universities in France, Sciences Po.

According to Interior Minister Manuel Valls, Meric was attacked in a fight that broke out between two groups of people Wednesday night in downtown Paris. It is unclear how the fight developed, but political tensions have run high in France recently over the legalization of same-sex marriage, with antigay members of the extreme right often clashing with the police at protests. Wednesday’s attack has increased fears of far-right violence in the country with gay rights organizations warning authorities that LGBT people and their supporters continue to be targeted.

Valls told reporters that finding the skinheads who had beaten Meric was a top priority. "There is no place for small neo-Nazi groups whose enemy is the nation. A group of the extreme right is at the heart of this assassination, " Valls said.

Americablog reports Meric has now been pronounced dead and French religious right leader Frigide Barjot is blaming his death on the legalization of same-sex marriage.   In a piece she wrote for the French site Newsring, Barjot claims:

This extreme fight is the result of a power that for nine months has refused to listen to the French people. The President has caused extremism to grow by passing a law that the French didn’t want, and in a manner that was authoritarian and undemocratic. When we refuse to act like a democracy, extremism grows. In a way, you could say that there was a death because of this denial of democracy.

Jason Collins' Matthew Shepard Tribute

One surprise that came out during NBA star Jason Collins' coming out is that he chose his jersey number to honor Matthew Shepard who was murdered in 1998.  Even Shepard's parents were surprised to learn of the tribute to their son.  Huffington Post covers this disclosure.  Here are excerpts:

In his Sports Illustrated editorial, the 34-year-old Collins reveals he wore the number 98 in 38 games this season while playing for the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards as a silent tribute to Matthew Shepard, the 21-year-old gay college student who was beaten and left to die outside Laramie, Wyo. in October 1998.

Collins writes:

"My one small gesture of solidarity was to wear jersey number 98 with the Celtics and then the Wizards. The number has great significance to the gay community. One of the most notorious antigay hate crimes occurred in 1998. Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student, was kidnapped, tortured and lashed to a prairie fence. He died five days after he was finally found.

That same year the Trevor Project was founded. This amazing organization provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention to kids struggling with their sexual identity. Trust me, I know that struggle. I've struggled with some insane logic. When I put on my jersey I was making a statement to myself, my family and my friends."

You can read Collins' full editorial here.  Matthew's parents, Dennis and Judy Shepard, told Fox Sports they were honored by the tribute.

Meanwhile, the Christofascists are grumbling and having a cow over the positive reception that Collins has received to date.  AFA's hate merchant in chief, Bryan Fischer was his usual vicious self:

"Everybody is talking about how brave and courageous Jason Collins is and I'm going to submit to you that he's not being brave and courageous at all," Fischer declared. "This is just a shrewd marketing move to wave the rainbow flag right at the time when it can be of the most benefit to him. A year from now, when he's been out of the NBA for a year, nobody is going to care.  This is the only time this would be of any benefit to him ... This is why this is not courageous; he's become a hero to the deviancy cabal and their allies in the political world and academia and the media, like President Obama"

Murder of Black Gay Mississippi Mayorial Sparks Old Civil-Rights Fears

I have held off weighing in on the story of the murder of gay Clarksdale, Mississippi mayoral candidate Marco McMillian (pictured above) whose body was found late last week near a levee after being reportedly dragged, beaten, and burned.   The alleged killer is another young black man, 22-year-old named Lawrence Reed, who is in police custody.  Some reports indicate that Lawrence may use a "gay panic" defense, but something just doesn't seem to add up in the whole sad story.  As a result, the FBI is monitoring the situation.   Having lived in Alabama and seen small rural towns in both Alabama and Mississippi first hand, when a young black man, especially one who s openly gay, is murdered, it is hard not to wonder what the real story might be and whether Lawrence is telling the truth.  A piece in the Washington Post looks at the unfolding story.  Here are highlights:

In Clarksdale, Miss. — When Marco McMillian decided to move back to his home town and run for mayor, the 33-year-old aspiring candidate knew he needed the blessing of the silver-haired oligarchy that ruled quietly from church pews. It was familiar turf for McMillian, who grew up singing in the choir at New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church a half-mile from his small house near the railroad tracks in this grindingly poor city in the Mississippi Delta.

A week and a half after McMillian’s body was found in the mud on an isolated stretch of levee outside Clarksdale, his death remains a mystery. It has roiled old suspicions and fears from Mississippi’s dark history of racial brutality, although both McMillian and the man charged with his murder are African American. McMillian was also gay, adding fire to demands by civil rights groups for the killing to be investigated as a hate crime. The FBI said this week that it is “monitoring” the investigation.

The Coahoma County Sheriff’s Department has charged Lawrence Reed, 22, in the crime. He told police that he killed McMillian and where to look for the body, according to two people familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss its early findings.
Reed’s family has yet to address publicly the allegations against him. The sheriff’s department has released almost no information on the case, adding to conspiracy theories and guessing over what exactly happened the night McMillian and Reed, who worked at Domino’s Pizza, were together.

McMillian’s bid for mayor was an audacious move. He had lived away from Clarksdale for 10 years, graduating from Jackson State University, working as the executive assistant to the president at Alabama A&M University and until 2011, serving as the executive director of Phi Beta Sigma, the black fraternal organization headquartered in Washington. 

He moved back to Clarksdale late last year. Known as the birthplace of the blues, the city of 18,000 has a 38 percent poverty rate. Tourists from around the world pour in to visit Muddy Waters’s shack and listen to the music of Pinetop Perkins. But black Clarksdale has existed in a separate realm from the New Bohemian South the city wants to be.

Little of what happened that night is known. On Tuesday morning, on a rural highway out near the Tallahatchie County line, McMillian’s sport-utility vehicle was involved in a collision with another vehicle. A distraught Lawrence Reed was driving the SUV alone.  

McMillian’s body was found the next morning near the levee between the communities of Sherard and Rena Lara. The spot was completely isolated. A steep embankment of pasture dropped down to the barbed-wire fence that went along the water, and that is where the body was, shoved partway under the wire.

“Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Marco McMillian, one of the 1st viable openly #LGBT candidates in Mississippi,” tweeted the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, a national political action committee.  It was a bombshell on top of a bombshell. 

Three days later, frustrated by a lack of contact with the Coahoma Sheriff’s Department, the Ungers released a statement saying McMillian had been “beaten, dragged and burned (set afire),” and that his death could not have been a random act of violence.

There's more in the story.   Hopefully, with more time answers to the swirling questions and speculation will be found.

The Gospel of Hate and Intolerance

The New York Times is publishing a series of videos produced by independent filmmakers who have received major support from the Ford Foundation and additional support from the nonprofit Sundance Institute.  One which is a must view for those who wish to see the Christofascists at work in Uganda and how American funds are being used to demonize gays and encourage discrimination and violence against LGBT individuals.  As the Times notes, the video draws on some of the material from “God Loves Uganda,” Roger Ross Williams' feature documentary premiering at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The video can be viewed above.

Frankly, there is nothing Christian about what is being done in Uganda to LGBT individuals just as there is very little truly Christian about today's Christian Right other than the hijacking of the "Christian label."  Hate, bigotry and contempt for others are their stock in trade.  Here's a part of what Roger Ross Williams says as an introduction to the video:

That experience left me with the lifelong desire to explore the power of religion to transform lives or destroy them. I became interested in Uganda, an intensely religious country that attracts many American missionaries and much funding from United States faith-based organizations. The American evangelical movement in Africa does valuable work in helping the poor. But as you’ll see in this Op-Doc video, some of their efforts and money feed a dangerous ideology that seeks to demonize L.G.B.T. people and intensifies religious rhetoric until it results in violence. It is important for American congregations to hold their churches accountable for what their money does in Africa. 

It is also important that other Christians hold the Christofascists accountable and loudly condemn them on the national stage.  The Christofascists are killing the Christian brand as the "good Christians" stand by and do nothing to stop the evil being done.  The following is a trailer for God Loves Uganda: