Little boy sings a song of hatred-- christians silent and/or celebrating. Like fucking always
Trigger Warning:
This blog is about a homophobic video that's making the rounds on the internet. The worst part of the vid is that it's a teeny little boy singing on it. If you're unable to handle such things, please skip this blog with my apologies. It's a shitty thing that I wrote about. Well, ranted, profaned, and wrote about.
However, if you're a christian and haven't thrown a fit over this egregious abuse of a child- Fuck you! If you've celebrated your religious freedom and laughed at how precious he is, Fuck you! The minute you claim to be christian and are OK with this vid is the minute you stop being anything remotely like a follower of that Jesus Dude you claim to love so much. Grow up, you pathetic little shits and act like adults.
Yes, I'm angry, and I'm hurt, and I'm scared. How many other little kids are out there being taught the exact same thing, with the encouragement of every single christian in the US.
Remember, Edmund Burke? "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
Christians need to stop doing nothing, or get the fuck out of the way of progress. You aren't being persecuted-- you're being forced to have like human beings, and treat others with that same respect you're so used to getting yourself.
On
May 30th I was flipping through my internet channels-- you
know, the sites you frequent for news, entertainment, info, porn,
whatever it is you look at every day. I was looking here and there,
at my usual suspects, Slate.com, Jezebel.com,
ReligiousDispatches.org, the Advocate.com and a couple odds and ends
off my Facebook feed (yes, I have Facebook. No, I won't apologise for
it. I have G+ too.)
Usually
I find fun things, weird bits of news, good tidings. Today, for
instance (May 31) I have seen several headlines that proclaim “DOMAFound UnConstitutional” including this one from the Advocate. That's fucking fantastic news
and I am over the moon about it!
However,
yesterday I saw four or five references to a YouTube vid that was
going viral. I'm no stranger to YouTube, and although some of the
shit on there defies understanding, I ignore it unless I need to find
something over there. It's like that weird kid you work with that
knows abso-fucking-lutely everything about Star Trek, but nothing
about anything else! You just don't talk to him unless you need
information, like what those weird fluffy, hairy things were called
[tribbles, and they're really cute!] or what's the deal with the so-called “red shirts” [they always
died].*
What
I wasn't prepared for, though, was the video. I couldn't even look at
it, once I knew what it was. I still can barely look at it. You can
see it here, at Dan Savage's blog. I'll wait a minute while you go look at it.
Did
you see it? Yeah, a little child is singing his bigotry to the
congregation. He's so little he probably has no idea what he's
saying, let alone how heinous it is. He only knows his Mummy and
Daddy taught him that song, and he's getting all this attention!
Woohoo!
I
remember being little, in the chidren's choir, duets with my sister,
piano solos-- I fucking hated it. But there were an awful lot of kids
who loved it. They loved standing there under those hot-as-fuck all
lights belting out “Jesus Loves Me” and “I Believe” and any
other song their parents taught them and convinced them to get up
there and sing. I got corralled into it because I played the piano,
and a lot of classical piano pieces were done for church; this meant
I played Pachabel, Bach, Beethoven and Mozart on the rare occasions I
couldn't get out of it. If I was lucky, I'd have to play during
offering, when most people weren't paying attention.
But
this little boy, he's the centre of attention. He's singing his heart
out! The first minute or so mostly adults giving this kid a standing
ovation! They're hooting and hollering like they're in some deep
south church during a fucking revival (as opposed to fucking Indiana, I mean shit, that's
Yankee territory there), and some asshole even screams, “That's my
boy!”
This
vid makes me despair for that kid. I hope he's not gay. I hope he
doesn't grow up to be a repressed, self-hating gay man. I hope he
doesn't take that homophobia to heart, that he learns how evil it
really is before he suffers from, and causes to others, irreparable
harm.
Mostly
though, I'd like to punch those parents in their smug, christian,
“that's my boy” faces! I want to beat some sense into them. I
want to rescue that kid, get him into a loving home, away from bigots
who would teach him such things. I want to sue them for child
endangerment and child abuse. I want to place every single kid under the age of 18 in that church with a liberal, Socialist, Pro-Equality, Pro-Women, Anti-Christian, Atheist or Pagan, humanist and secular family! I want to rip away their futures, those fat fucks.
I know I shouldn't be so angry. I am, though, and I'll own it. I won't write them nasty letters, or call them. I'm better than that. I won't give them the satisfaction of being persecuted, the little pricks.
Wanna
know the best part of that vid? Looks like it was at a goddamned
wedding!
This
wasn't some shit done up on a Sunday morning; This wasn't something
he did as part of the Wednesday children's program. It was a
wedding.
You
have to decide ahead of time who you want singing at your wedding;
what readings you want. I know, I've helped plan a church wedding
before. I read I Corinthians 13 for one.** Granted it tends to be
your generic “lovey dovey” piece for weddings, I still had to
practice it. At another wedding I attended the sister of the bride
read a passage from Song of Solomon-- I don't remember what part, but
it was quite nice, very loving, very romantic, and really racy if you
read the whole thing. The Song is a sexy book, after all.
So,
this tells me that someone, the bride, the groom, probably both and
the minister decided to ask that little boy to sing for them.
They
asked his parents if he would be able to.
The
adults in his life helped him practice.
And
he stood up there, so adorable, so innocent and spouted that torrent
of hatred.
It
does get better, this story-- in the "Oh fucking shit, Really?!" kind of way. The church is on “lock-down” now,
and the pastor and his wife took off for a vacation. They claimed to
the news they were getting death threats! All because they love us
sinners so much they want a little boy to sing to us and let us know
we're going to burn in their version of hell. Be tormented for an
eternity, because they love us sooooooo much!
Makes
me want to vomit. I'm with Dan Savage there, “Praise the Lord and
pass the barf bags!”
Anyway,
The pastor, Jeff Sengl and his wife, Julie had to leave unexpectedly for vacation! You can see him grinning like a little shit behind that little boy in the vid; he's got the worlds worst shit eating grin plastered all over his face.
LGBTQ Nation tells us, “According to some congregants, a
prayer meeting scheduled for Wednesday evening at church was moved to
a secret location, and church members also said that Sangl,
accompanied by his wife, abruptly left on vacation to an undisclosed
location out of concern for his safety.”
Take
a quick peek at that article and you'll see an update at the bottom.
The story unfolded in such a strange and ironic fashion: Fucking Fox
News spoke to the sheriff who said there were no death threats to his
knowledge.
Fox
News. Propaganda For the Religious Reich USA didn't take this one and run with it like I
figure they would normally. In case you're curious, no, it's not even
their local affiliate-- it's Bill O'Reilly's Fox News. It's Sean
Hannity's Fox News. It's Fucking Sarah Palin's Fox News dismissing
the death threats that forced the pastor and his wife to leave town,
and the church to move their prayer service to “an undisclosed
location.”
Damn,
bad fucking time for you if even Fox News won't take up for your
lies!
It
doesn't surprise me, though, that a pastor who supports a little boy
singing such filth, and has a church full of people happy and clapping
over it would lie about his life being in danger after boldly showing
his witness! I mean, he's being persecuted, right? Just like Jesus--
even if it is only in his fucking mind.
For
the last time, yes, persecute the motherfuckers who would use a small
child to spout such horrific shit. Persecute the fuck out of them!
Let's show them what persecution feels like.
I'd
like to show them all what it's like. What it feels like to be hated,
to be thrown out of your house, your family turning away from you if you can't pray away the gay. I
want them to know what it's like to have nothing! To be alone, hungry
and in danger from pimps and rapists. I want them to know what it's
like to have your job be insecure because you're queer-- to get calls and emails, letters
and packages of shit. I want them to know what it's like to have
people throw bricks in their windows, to spray Rust-o-leum all over their car and house and garage, epithets in bright red paint; to chase them down with guns. I want them to know what it's
like to be intimidated, to be shot at, to be silenced on pain of
death.
I
want these pious motherfuckers to know what they're doing to people.
To really know. I want them to hurt for what they've done. I want
them to suffer.
Everything
you do comes back to you. Even these people claim to believe that.
And yet, they spread hatred to the four winds and can't understand
why people fight back! They just don't get it. They're so wrapped up
in their own pathetic religious dogma, their own interpretation of
what they want their god to say.
The
saddest part of this whole thing is that little boy. He was
encouraged, he was shown so much love for belting out that little
ditty. This will compound as he ages, and some day he may very well
be just like Billy Lucas.
Billy
Lucas lived in the same town; lived past tense. Billy Lucas committed
suicide. He was bullied to death; by good little christian kids.
These kids tormented Billy; he was thought to be gay. I don't
know if was or not; doesn't matter. What matters is that these kids
thought he was and tortured him for it. Billy was thought to be gay,
and they made him pay for it. He was 15 years old.
Some
day that adorable little boy might be another Billy Lucas. Or, and
this is far more likely, he'll be like Billy's tormentors. He'll be
one of those nasty little christians telling LGBTQQIA kids that they
aren't worthy, that they're shit, that they should just die. He could
very well be one of those kids who beats the fuck out of
gender-nonconforming kids, thinking all the while that he's a good,
God-fearing Christian, doing just what him-Jesus wants him to do...
and you know he loves him some Jesus.
How
can we stop this hatred?
How
in the fuck can we stop this? How can we get past it? I mean, really?
How can we get to that safe space we dream of, where kids are safe,
where no one will bully them for being different. How can we get
there when little babies are taught to lisp songs of condemnation.
Words he doesn't even understand the meaning of! Words that hurt so
fucking bad. Talk about "training up your child"... they're on the path of bigotry and hatred and discrimination before they can tie their own shoes!
I
am not going to lie, when I finally clicked the play button I steeled
myself. Soon as that little lisping song started I felt a cramp in my
guts. My entire torso tensed up, and my heart hurt! I felt like I'd
been punched in the chest and stomach! My back hurt, from the muscle
tension. My eyes hurt, pricking from unshed tears; my throat hurt,
raw as though I'd been sobbing for hours.
It
was like a physical assault, that little lisping voice. A voice that
would be so goddamned cute singing “Jesus Loves The Little
Children”, so cute that even if you don't believe in Jesus you
could still go, “Awwww!”. Instead that little voice piped hate
and hurt.
I
don't know how in the fuck we're going to beat them. I don't know how
we're going to finally get it through people's heads and hearts that
hatred is so fucking wrong! I don't know.
I
know that we can't stop, though. If we stop pushing back, if we stop
calling them on their shit, if we stop them how many other kids will
die?
I
can't do that. No matter how hopeless it seems some times, I have to
hang on to the fact that these evangelical haters are not a majority;
they're a small vocal, old and well off group that's terrified of
losing power. I have to hang on to the fact that they're dying off,
their own children don't agree with their positions on equality.
I
also know that we in the Gay community can't do it alone. We can't
force these so-called christians to change their minds. We need help,
and we need it badly.
So
I'm going to challenge you people who call yourself Christians,
Christ-Followers, Jesus Freaks.
I
dare you, motherfuckers. I fucking dare you to start pushing back
against these assholes who stole your god and turned him into a
hateful, evil, genocidal prick. You say your God is Love? Fucking
show me! Show Me!
Repudiate
these people. Call them on their shit! Take Back your God!
Otherwise
you're just like them. You know who they are, you claim quietly
behind your hands to “not be like them, they aren't real christians
™.” Where I stand, you're all real christians, you claim the
name, so walk the walk.
I
reckon though, that things will go on just the same way they've gone.
Loud-mouthed pricks will continue to spout their shit, and the
mainline Protestants will continue to shush them quietly, clucking to
themselves, sucking their teeth and shaking their heads. “Oh, we're
not like Them! We love everyone! We're the real christians ™, not
them!”
The
help our community has had has been spotty anyway. Mostly we have to
do it ourselves, with our allies. Either way, I can hang on. I have
to! I don't want any more kids to die.
Other links I used for research on this story:
*Nope, I'm
not a Trekkie, these are pretty easy things to remember if you've
seen the original series at all, or watched some of the older films.
At least they stuck with me; my Dad loved them, all of them straight
through to Babylon 5.
**1 Corinthians 13
King James Version (KJV)
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of
angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a
tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the
gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge;
and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and
have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow
all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be
burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4 Charity suffereth
long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself,
is not puffed up,
8 Charity never
faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether
there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it
shall vanish away.
11 When I was a child,
I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child:
but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see
through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part;
but then shall I know even as also I am known.
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