Why the Church Should Fight Anti-Gay Bigotry | Natnal Catholic Reporter

Contents:

• IS EVERY CHRISTIAN WHO'S AGAST GAY MARRIAGE NECSARILY A BIGOT?
• “BIGOTRY WAS THE BLUE PLATE SPECIAL”: HOW CRACKER BARREL WENT OM ANTI-GAY TO ANGERG THE GOP
• ANTI-GAY BIGOTRY IS STILL A PROBLEM – WE NEED TO RADILISE AGA
• PSYCHOLOGIL HETEROSEXISM AND ANTI-GAY VLENCE: THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF BIGOTRY AND BASHG (FROM HATE CRIM: CONONTG VLENCE AGAST LBIANS AND GAY MEN, P 149-169, 1992, GREGORY M HEREK AND KEV T BERRILL, EDS. -- SEE NCJ-134558)
• GARY BER’S ANTI-GAY BIGOTRY: THE HISTORIL RERD
• WHY THE CHURCH SHOULD FIGHT ANTI-GAY BIGOTRY

IS EVERY CHRISTIAN WHO'S AGAST GAY MARRIAGE NECSARILY A BIGOT?

More about Sheryl Gay StolbergA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn A, Page 15 of the New York edn wh the headle: Kennedy Deni Bigotry After Conspiratorial Vio. Kennedy has claimed that fluoridated water is “dggg” children, HIV do not e Aids and chemils the water are makg people gay or transgenr as well as phg nonsensil nspiracy theori about wifi and 5G cellular the son of former attorney general Robert Kennedy, and nephew of former print John F Kennedy, Kennedy has ed anguish to one of Ameri’s most storied polil dynasti wh his toxic 2019 three relativ wrote an opn lumn for the Poli webse nmng his anti-vacce advocy, which they held partially rponsible for a measl Congrsnal Integry Project ntends that Kennedy is a “Republin stooge” who is beg embraced by the far right an attempt to damage Bin. In other words, where Bud Light has buckled unr prsure as bigotry grows agast the LGBTQ+ muny, Gay Water’s creator Spencer Hodson wants his new boozy brand to be the anthis of that.

“The key issue that Bud Light tapped to was the fact that they didn’t unrstand their re dience and know enough about them,” Hodson, a gay man, told CNN about the ntroversy that began when the Anhser-Bch beer brand sent fluencer Dylan Mulvaney a n of beer. Hodson built up a strong social media followg on TikTok and Instagram durg Covid-19 and is g some of the money om that (as well as om iends and fay) to help fund Gay Water. “Gay is an umbrella term and the ia behd the brand is to be as clive as possible, which means we want alli, we want straight people to be part of this muny we’re buildg.”.

Gay Water might not have the ep pockets pared to s petors, like Whe Claw, but “even at small sle, pani of many siz are havg succs makg spir-based seltzers and premixed cktails,” Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and edor of the alhol beverage newsletter, Sightl+, told CNN. “There’s lots of space the spir-based seltzer tegory which Gay Water n play, pecially if the brand n offer a cultural or emotnal nnectn that will feel more excg than the prospect of another peapple-flavored vodka seltzer om natnal or ternatnal rporatns,” Roth said. Of urse, other drks e the word “gay,” too, cludg Gay Beer and So Gay Rosé, Hodson noted, which are also tryg to reach the queer muny and offer them an alternative the straight-domated space.

“BIGOTRY WAS THE BLUE PLATE SPECIAL”: HOW CRACKER BARREL WENT OM ANTI-GAY TO ANGERG THE GOP

Poilievre tells T to 'butt out' of New Bnswick's policy on LGBTQ stuntsPoilievre wish Canadians a happy Pri month — but won't say if he'll attend an eventThe "straight pri" movement has emerged recent years as a backlash agast growg social acceptance of gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr and other sexually diverse Pri paras are held around the world throughout the summer months.

They mark the June 1969 Stonewall rt, when gay bar patrons fought back agast a police crackdown — a pivotal moment wily seen as the start of morn gay rights paras are meant to celebrate a muny that has endured generatns of opprsn and events have taken on new promence at a time when some jurisdictns, notably the U.

ANTI-GAY BIGOTRY IS STILL A PROBLEM – WE NEED TO RADILISE AGA

Notably, Chick-fil-A never explicly said would permanently stop donatg to anti-gay groups or anizatns that discrimate agast LGBTQ people — jt said was changg s philanthropic givg mol. In 2012, the Chigo-based Civil Rights Agenda issued a statement claimg that Chick-fil-A had promised to “no longer give to anti-gay anizatns, such as Foc on the Fay and the Natnal Organizatn for marriage.

As ThkProgrs reported 2017, Chick-fil-A ntued to bankroll anti-gay groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athlet, the Salvatn Army, and the Pl Anrson Youth Home through s foundatn. A year earlier, a Pennsylvania Chick-fil-A’s cisn to donate food to a marriage semar nducted by the Pennsylvania Fay Instute, a group known for s anti-gay advocy, prompted a natnwi boytt of the cha.

Cathy issued a vio statement rponse to the boytt, which he claimed the pany “serv all people” and that, while he personally believ the “biblil fn of marriage, ” his pany don’t have an “anti-gay agenda. In 2011, the same year a Pennsylvania Chick-fil-A anchise donated food to a lol anti-gay anizatn, the LGBTQ advocy group Equaly Matters obtaed tax rerds which revealed that the Cathy fay had donated more than $1.

PSYCHOLOGIL HETEROSEXISM AND ANTI-GAY VLENCE: THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF BIGOTRY AND BASHG (FROM HATE CRIM: CONONTG VLENCE AGAST LBIANS AND GAY MEN, P 149-169, 1992, GREGORY M HEREK AND KEV T BERRILL, EDS. -- SEE NCJ-134558)

1 ln gift to the Marriage & Fay Foundatn, a group that promoted so-lled tradnal marriage and opposed both gay marriage and divorce; $480, 000 to the Fellowship of Christian Athlet, an athletic anizatn that requir applints to agree to a “sexual pury statement” that nmns LGBTQ people for livg “impure liftyle[s]”; and $1, 000 to Exod Internatnal, a group that promot anti-gay nversn therapy. For Chick-fil-A’s opponents, the problem was bigger than Cathy’s anti-gay ments, was that he was apparently puttg his money where his mouth was, and he had a lot of money to go around. Though Chick-fil-A never managed to fully shed s reputatn as a homophobic purveyor of lic chicken sandwich, ntued to expand s natnal prence, pecially above the Mason-Dixon le.

The Cathys’ “dissonant view, ” as one brand nsultant lled , may have fally hurt Chick-fil-A’s bottom le — pecially now that a popular, non-homophobic alternative to Chick-fil-A’s sandwich has emerged. ”Dungy’s apology did ltle to quell crics, who were quick to stigate the sports analyst — who was ducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame 2016 — for makg repeated homophobic remarks over the years.

”In another tweet om 2020, Dungy wrote that beg “LGBTQ is a liftyle, ” a sentiment that suggts beg queer is a remarks regardg gay and transgenr people are not jt relegated to social media. Jt ahead of NBC’s NFL playoffs verage, which Dungy had a major part, Zeigler published a lengthy op-ed on this month, outlg his nearly two- pattern of homophobia. Wommack is known for his anti-LGBTQ views and has prevly claimed that homosexualy is “three tim worse than smokg, ” addg that gay people “ought to put a label across their forehead, ‘This n be hazardo to your health.

GARY BER’S ANTI-GAY BIGOTRY: THE HISTORIL RERD

Ron DeSantis signed a so-lled “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” law, rtrictg rmatn about LGBTQ people that state’s public schools and leavg LGBTQ young people fear for their safety.

Anti-LGBTQ groups primarily nsist of Christian Right groups but also clu such anizatns as the Natnal Associatn for Rearch and Therapy of Homosexualy (NARTH) that purport to be scientific. What we do know that is that rerd homophobic and transphobic hate crim have jumped every year sce 2015, and yet wh an timated four five still gog unreported, the already grisly figur only ht at a far bleaker cints vary nature and severy: om abe hurled at someone intified as LGBTQ bee of their appearance, or mannerisms, or a fleetg or profound show of affectn towards a partner; to gay men beg beaten and robbed, as happened a spected homophobic attack on the streets of Edburgh last month, or a trans man savagely attacked Bournemouth earlier this year. A whe, middle-class, gay, cis man – that is, someone generally at one wh their genr assigned at birth – an urban area is likely to suffer far ls meangful opprsn than other groups.

WHY THE CHURCH SHOULD FIGHT ANTI-GAY BIGOTRY

Beyond the fear of holdg hands wh their partner public, their ma grievanc tend to centre on the psychologil srs left by the often suffotgly homophobic environment of their school n lead to lastg trma, which largely explas the higher rat of mental distrs and abive relatnships wh alhol and dgs among LGBTQ people. The most damaged are equently those whose fathers and mothers vlated the most sacred prciple of parenthood – unndnal love – ference to their own bigotry, often implantg a tickg time bomb their children that may tonate later life, be the form of emotnal breakdown or dg a young gay black man, homophobia may lli wh creased risk of police harassment and racist behavur om other LGBTQ people: victims n be perpetrators, too, sometim believg their own mistreatment mak impossible to opprs as Shon Faye’s brilliant new book The Transgenr Issue unrl, is trans people – the T the LGBTQ – now sufferg the most severe onslght.