Hey, everybody. I’m about to tell you a story which is purely anecdotal. I want that understood, because there will be no links provided, and no proper names, and this isn’t meant to stand in as a blanket pronouncement about anything. But I experienced something last night that I really think provides some insight into Wingnuts, i.e., the people who think they have a right to deny us our constitutional rights, based on their religious views.
Last night, I participated in a national event where restaurants give a portion of their earnings to their local organizations which benefit men, women and children affected by HIV/AIDS. I’ve done this before, and I have never had anyone be anything less than receptive to the cause. Usually, the reactions from those unaware of the event range from semi-positive apathy to a certain excitement that they happened to show up on that night.
However, the restaurant where I worked last night had a cancellation. A group of Southern Baptist schoolteachers was planning to come in. I don’t know whether they were local, in town for a conference, or whatever else. It does not matter. Their names do not matter, and I don’t know who they are. Don’t care. Here is the point: they cancelled their reservations when they found out that a portion of their money would be going to help these people suffering. Men. Women. Children.
As I remarked to one of the servers, “If they hate gays so much, I can guarantee them that babies born with HIV weren’t birthed by gay couples.”
I can only assume that their version of God does not acknowledge any of those suffering people, even children, as humans.
How amoral. How disgusting.
As I said, it’s anecdotal. But how often these days do we watch Religious Right hate group leaders apologize for the bullying of kids, so as to save face in their complicity in the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical bullying of gay kids? How often?
Daily.
My little story may be anecdotal, but it’s indicative of a certain callousness that has formed among those who pretend to be the most fervent followers of Christ. Maybe the callousness isn’t new, but more like a scab that’s been ripped off. Their little tiny worldview is so threatened at this point that they’ll scream and cry about blastocysts, but they can’t spare a dime for an actual human baby born with AIDS or shed a tear for a gay kid who’s been bullied so hard by his supposed friends, family and community that he sees suicide as the only way out.
The fact that they believe they have the moral high ground is what shakes me to my core. It also reminds me why I do what I do for a living.
That’s all I have to say about that.
