We deal w/'em our own way here in Portland Oregon!
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They Make You Wanna Shout
Memo to anti-gay protesters: Portland doesn’t have a Swedish consulate…
or much sympathy for your cause.
BY KATIE GILBERT
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/sets/72157610130179014/show/
IMAGE: Photos by Katie Gilbert
A handful of anti-gay protesters from a notorious Kansas church
descended Monday on downtown Portland to picket Portland State
University as well as the German and Swedish consulates.
As is typical for the demonstrators from Westboro Baptist Church, they
were vastly outnumbered by counterprotesters and media. And there was
one other pesky snafu that kept the morning from going completely as
planned: Portland hasn’t had a Swedish Consulate since it closed June
1 after 70 years (see “The Stockholm Blues,” Wwire, May 30, 2008).
In case you’re wondering what a handful of extremist anti-gay
demonstrators have against Sweden, the explanation on the group’s
godhatesfags.com website says: “God hates Sweden, and everyone needs
to know that. They arrest Bible preachers and put them in prison in
that evil nation.”
Gripes against Sweden aside, Topeka-based Westboro Baptist is a 50-
member church that’s unaffiliated with any mainstream faith. Not
surprising perhaps, given that its 79-year-old pastor, Fred Phelps,
believes God kills U.S. soldiers to punish the country for tolerating
homosexuality. Hence, military funerals across the country often draw
his followers’ sign-waving wrath.
Phelps wasn’t in Portland on Monday. But three of his followers began
their protest at 7:30 am at PSU, which had attracted the church’s
indignation for opening gender-neutral restrooms. On Southwest 13th
Avenue and Market Street, the trio of demonstrators quietly held signs
declaring, “God Hates Fags,” “God Hates You” and “America Is Doomed.”
One displayed an image of President-elect Barack Obama with horns,
between the words “Antichrist Obama.”
About 200 counterdemonstrators gathered across the street, waving
homemade signs and rainbow flags. Some crossed the street to stand
next to the anti-gay demonstrators and held up their own signs, hand-
painted with messages like, “God Hates Fuzzy, Tiny Kittens.”
Others tried unsuccessfully to engage the two young women and one
older man from Westboro in conversation.
Both sides of the protest remained largely unruffled. Tom Hastings, a
PSU conflict-resolution program faculty member (see “Nonviolent
Femmes,” WW, Nov. 19, 2008), says PSU’s Queer Resource Center asked
him to attend the counterprotest as a “nonviolent vibes watcher.” He
says he had to tell only one student to settle down.
“We win if we don’t respond,” Hastings says. “If we dish back hate,
they win the victory they so frequently get. But they didn’t reckon
for Portland.”
When the Swedish Consulate part of the protest didn’t turn out,
Phelps’ followers next headed to the German Consulate at Southwest 3rd
Avenue and Market Street. (“Have we told you lately that God Hates
Germany?” says the Westboro website.) About 20 counterprotesters
greeted them there, bobbing signs and tossing tongue-in-cheek barbs.
“We know your research isn’t that good because we don’t have a Swedish
Consulate, but we do have a gay mayor!” one counterprotester shouted
at the Westboro demonstrators from across the street. “City Hall is
only a couple of blocks away. We could introduce you to Sam; he’s a
lovely man.”
FACTS: The Westboro demonstrators made another Oregon stop on Monday
in Silverton, which this month made national headlines by electing
transgendered Stu Rasmussen as its mayor. Says Rasmussen of the
protest and the 200 counterprotesters: “Silverton really is the best
place on earth.”
Originally Published on
Find this story at www.wweek.com/editorial/3503/11901
On Nov 27, 12:57 pm, "Angelia Stinnett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> Thanks for being the beautiful and smart people that you are with MFA. The
> issue of gay rights is at my heart because my gay friends have told me
> horror stories of their experience with "good" Christians. The 26 year-old
> that will be on the radio program (101.5 Jackson at 11:30AM, available on
> the Internet) with me tomorrow, told me about his experience of being
> "out-ed" during his senior year in high school. Just about the whole school
> hazed him and within two hours of being "out-ed" he was called into the
> "guidance" counselor's office and giving a stern talking with statements
> that he needed to change his ways. He said that was a defining moment in his
> life and very, very painful and humiliating. He also said that he was on the
> school annual committee and it was his responsibility to go to all the
> school functions to take photos and that the people were horrible to him and
> that it lasted his entire senior year. It's stories like those that make me
> ready to stand before a closed Federal Building and scream "freedom for
> all".
>
> Clogtowner,
> Were you being sarcastic about the tears? I poured my heart into that
> column, though I am truly open to humor and sarcasm. I wanted to do right by
> the gay community and offer them a voice for who they are in their hearts. I
> also tried to write something at least a little poetic and to leave
> something meaningful said.
>
> I beg that some of the MFA will come Saturday and support the gay community
> and show that it's not just Angelia standing up for freedom and diversity in
> West Tennessee. We are planning a celebration afterward and there will be
> hopefully be a few of us to discuss the "buck the establishment" feelings we
> hold.
>
> Please consider making the trip. If you do, I will by your first round of
> drinks!
>
> Me
>
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 1:58 PM, ~JP~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > Here is my response to a comment from a blog:
>
> > The blog - Irony, fromhttp://reputo-quod-sentio.blogspot.com/
> > (Feel free to comment on his, but please don't bombard him with
> > insults and say you found his blog because of me).
>
> > I cannot help but find some amusement at the reaction among liberals
> > at California's ban on gay marriage. They are collectively outraged! I
> > find it ironic that a group that champions democracy - majority (mob)
> > rule - suddenly doesn't like it very much when the majority disagrees
> > with them.
>
> > This is the danger our Founding Fathers saw in democracy - in a
> > democracy the rights of a minority can be 'legally' denied with no
> > limit on how far those restrictions can go.
>
> > What is sad is that, rather than realize that the only legitimate
> > function of government is to protect rights that already exist and not
> > to grant rights at its discretion and begin to demand such a
> > government, these people will seek to subvert the very form of
> > government they champion using the courts. They must do this because
> > if they acknowledge that their rights do not come from the government
> > but are, in fact, inherent in being a rational, volitional human
> > being, it undermines their belief that a government has the authority
> > to create unnatural rights such as housing, health care, education,
> > etc.
>
> > ============================================================
> > My response -
> > I'm not sure how you define "Liberals", but I consider myself one. I
> > highly doubt many people of a progressive or liberal nature would ever
> > champion mob rule!! That is completely contradictory to the nature of
> > progressive issues as I understand them. If anything, Libertarians
> > tend to be of the "51%" mindset, wherein the majority speaks and the
> > majority rules, which silences or marginalizes the minority. This is
> > the view espoused by columnists such as Jacob Sullum of Reason
> > magazine and Steve Chapman, both of whom are reliably libertarian
> > leaning.
>
> > I agree that the Founding Fathers did not intend for a true democracy
> > to flourish and that's why we have a democratic republic. Of course,
> > most folks use 'democracy' as the colloquial shorthand to describe the
> > American system of gov't.
>
> > Using the courts is not 'subverting' our form of gov't; the courts
> > exist partly for this reason. That's why we have 3 branches, the
> > legislative & executive are not the end-all-be-all. Do you think we
> > should have put civil rights for Blacks, Native Americans, Asians,
> > women, etc. up to a majority vote in the day & age when those
> > struggles were going on?
>
> > Lastly, I don't find anything unnatural about the rights you describe
> > - a roof over one's head (housing), education, health care, the
> > pursuit of happiness - that was enumerated in the Declaration of
> > Independence - and a form of happiness is certainly MARRIAGE. How to
> > obtain those rights and to what degree they should be provided is up
> > for debate. Those are all at the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy of needs
> > and are quite necessary for a rational, volitional human being to
> > function. Our road-building, police protection, and fire protection
> > are already socialized, extending it to health care is not much of a
> > stretch. The entire postal service would be a better candidate for
> > complete privatization instead of healthcare. Equating profits with
> > lack of treatment as the insurance companies have done is one of the
> > most immoral things about capitalist healthcare, and you don't have to
> > watch "Sicko" to realize that!
>
> > But let me get back to my point, which was prop. 8 and gay marriage.
> > It's immoral and unethical - and eventually will be illegal - to deny
> > rights for homosexuals given (or inherent) for heterosexual people. To
> > deny those rights for a person's quality that he/she is born with,
> > much like skin color, race, gender, etc - all of which are protected
> > against federal discrimination is immoral and unethical. Calling them
> > 'civil unions' instead of marriage just creates a Separate But Equal
> > position, and we all know how well that turned out in the early 20th
> > century!
>
> > I'm not sure if you're coming from a religious background as I'm
> > definitely not, but what flabbergasts & bewilders me about the whole
> > opposition to gay rights is confusing what is legal & moral vs.
> > whether religions will be "forced" to accept homosexuals and conduct
> > gay marriages. Of course churches/mosques/temples won't be coerced to
> > do that; it wouldn't hold up to a legal challenge. All homosexuals
> > want is equal protection and equal rights under the law, the same that
> > heteros have. And I'm very fortunate for those rights & protections,
> > but it's despicable that my gay friends don't share in them.
> > ~JP- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
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