By Jill McLaughlin, 6/6/07 (published as a letter to the editor in the Chicago Free Press #38)
Gay Pride Month is here. What statements will our LGBT leaders and political allies make this year?
Expressions of disappointment over seven states passing gay marriage bans in the mid-term elections?
Politicians will parade with us as LGBT allies to show support.
This sounds about right-politics as usual. What we will not hear about
is the growing threat of Christian Right fascism that has found its way
into the halls of government under George W. Bush.
Recently the Rev. R. Alert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern
Baptist Seminary, asserted that while homosexuality may be biological,
it is still a sin. He suggested that the sexual orientation of the
unborn could be changed through prenatal hormonal treatment, which
brings to mind the Nazi Party’s incorporation of eugenics into their
program, which sought to “improve heredity” through selective breeding.
Are we willing to call this a tool of fascism? Are our leaders
willing to point out that Mohler has ties to people like the recently
deceased Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and James Dobson? People like the
late Falwell, Robertson and Dobson have a foothold at the highest
reaches of our government. These ideologues have an influential voice
in policy making. In “American Fascists” Chris Hedges quotes the Rev.
Mel White, former evangelical ghostwriter for Falwell and Robertson and
author of “Stranger at the Gate”:
“They want to end homosexuality in America, he says”one at a time,
first the federal marriage amendment, And then comes no adoption, no
service in the military, the reinstatement of sodomy laws and driving
us back into our closets, or worse. They do not want to compromise, but
they begin with compromise after compromise after compromise.”
Consider their ties to BattleCry, a Christian Right “youth ministry”
that declares itself God’s army, puts on elaborate stadium concerts,
using battle metaphors and armed Navy Seals on stage. This is all very
reminiscent of the Nazi youth. Sunsara Taylor, writer for Revolution
newspaper, has written much about BattleCry and its founder, Ron Luce.
Some were relieved when the Democrats won the midterm elections. But
when General Peter Pace recently said homosexuality was immoral and
Hillary Clinton and Obama were asked if they agreed, they hesitated to
answer directly”for a day. Clinton left it “to others to conclude,”
while Obama chided Pace for talking about non-military related matters.
Both are considered LGBT allies. But who are they trying to pander to
by hesitating to answer directly? It is no secret that Howard Dean’s
strategy to win the White House for a Democrat in “08 includes reaching
the more conservative voters. This strategy excuses and enables
outright intolerance toward LGBT people that the Christian Right
advocates and seeks to enforce through law. This strategy harms other
groups as well, i.e., women, immigrants and undocumented workers and
Muslim people. This makes clear that politics as usual is not the
answer.
The answer is a mass movement. The Call of World Can’t Wait: Drive
Out the Bush Regime brings home the reality of the fascist ground work
being laid by the Bush Regime from immoral wars, attacks on women’s
rights, indefinite detention, suspension of habeas corpus, torture (now
legalized under the Military Commissions Act of 2006), suppression of
science, a culture of greed and bigotry to a growing theocracy. It
states that we in our millions must act to repudiate the Bush program
and drive the Bush regime out. Read the Call and sign it and act.