It has begun. I hope you noticed and I hope it scares the hell out of you. You really need to read this article too to understand just why I'm so sure that is has begun. There were two items in the news this past week. One you may have heard about, the other probably went unnoticed by most. Both are harbingers of what is to come if the radical religious right that's now controlling the government of the US is allowed to remain in power. I know many might think that melodramatic, but I have been following the rise of the radical religious right for more than a decade now. I wrote an article for a newsletter I used to publish back in 1992 that warned the American public what was to come if we allowed groups like the Christian Coalition (and now Focus on the Family too) to dictate public policy. Those warnings obviously went unheeded and now we're seeing the death of the democratic process and the rise of a theocracy. In case you're still not convinced, learn more about the agenda of the radical religious right for yourself. There are many organizations out there keeping tabs on their activities: organizations like Theocracy Watch, Working for Change, Spinsanity and People for the American Way. (It should be noted here that Spinsanity's goal is to cut through the spin put on issues by both sides, but given that the radical religious right rarely speaks without spin, much of what you'll find at Spinsanity is about the radical religious right.) But back to the two news items.The first occurred on Wednesday, December 1. It was about a state lawmaker in Alabama named Gerald Allen (R-Cottondale.) Mr. Allen pre-filed a bill for the 2005 legislative session which is set to begin February first in the state known as the "Heart of Dixie". Mr. Allen's bill has but one goal: it would make it illegal to use public funds for "the purchase of textbooks or library materials that recognize or promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle." There's some debate as to whether that means any book by a gay author would be essentially banned from public schools and public libaries as well as "ban materials that recognize or promote a lifestyle or actions prohibited by the sodomy and sexual misconduct laws of Alabama" whether it be among gay OR heterosexual persons. But there is no mistaking Mr. Allen's real target: "protecting" chidren from the "homosexual agenda". (If you want to see the real "Gay Agenda", you can click here.) Mr. Allen's proposed bill is a blatant attempt at censorship and the first step on the path to once again making it a crime to even be gay. It is, make not mistake about it, marginalizing gay citizens not only in the state of Alabama but throughout history by refusing to recognize their accomplishments in any field since to mention them would be in violation of this proposed bill.
While this first incident may be written off by many as the attempts of a small-time legislator to gain national attention, the second incident cannot be called anything than other than what it truly is: censorship. Recently, it has come to light that NBC and CBS (which also controls UPN) refused to air an ad for the United Church of Christ. The ad was aimed at showing the inclusivity of the UCC and pictured a bouncer set up outside an unidentified church who was selectively allowing people to go into the church. Those not allowed inside included, among others, a gay male couple, blacks and an individual in a wheelchair. CBS even cited the current administrations attempts to pass a Federal Marriage Amendment as one of the reasons that they would not allow the commercial to air.
Here we have at least one major news network that won't air an ad in part because the Bush administration opposes gay marriage? What's next? Removing gay characters off TV show like Mr. Allen proposes in Alabama? Or perhaps we simply won't see any more controversial issues examined in public forums like the network news. Since when does the government's position on an issue dictate whether or not a network airs an ad? Is it not the networks' responsibility to provide a forum for discussion of these issues through their programming? Why is it controversial to show a church turning away guests but not an exclusive club or restaurant?
In both these instances, there is both censorship and the marginalization of gays. Many people who voted for Bush said the "big issue" in this last election was "moral values". And they claimed that the proof that moral values were going down the drain was found in the overturning of sodomy laws in Lawrence v Texas. (They don't seem to realize that the only sodomy laws that were overturned were those involving gays. Sodomy for heterosexuals had been decriminalized years before. Even bestiality is legal in Texas, but consenting demonstrations of love between two adult males is not. Go figure.) They point to the decision by the Massachusettes Supreme Judicial Court that legalized gay marriage in that state. They point to the laws and rulings that have legalized gay adoption, given gay parents equal rights to their children and prevented gays from being fired for who they love. The reason moral values are in decline, in their minds, is due to gays. Remember that at the start of Hitler's regime came the censorship and the marginalization of the Jews. Jews were blamed for all the ills in German society. Then read again "When Democracy Failed". If you're not scared when you're done, then you're just not getting it.
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