In this whiny clip, Matt Barber of the Liberty Counsel compares the plight of current anti-gay bigots to that of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Christians who were thrown to the lions. (Which did not happen, but we digress.) He expresses that it may be time for civil disobedience, in support of those bigots who break the law by hiding behind their religious beliefs and refusing to bake cakes for gays. (It’s always about bakers and florists. Always.) Of course, in places with marriage equality and nondiscrimination ordinances, it’s against the law to refuse service based on your own sad bigotry.
So it is that Matt Barber, having long lost the ability to be a Tough Guy in the boxing ring, claims the mantle of martyrdom by invoking Martin Luther King, Jr., and expresses that he and others like him might just have to go to jail to protest marriage equality.
This always brings two questions to my mind:
1. What are they going to do that will land them in jail? I mean, we do have other laws in this country that would prevent the gays from just rounding up the fundamentalists and throwing them in jail. But really, what are they going to do? Are they going to refuse to marry people of the same sex? Are they going to stand in front of our weddings with picket signs? Because trust me, the Westboro Baptist folks kind of have that market cornered, and I know that folks like Matt like to think they’re fundamentally different from the Westboro clan. (That’s true, insofar as the Westboro clan exhibits far more showmanship than anything coming out of the average American hate group. Otherwise, they’re about the same.)
2. Why do they think we will even acknowledge their existence once full equality is the law of the land? The story will be over. We will have won and they will have lost nothing. That’s as far as the endgame goes, Barber. I look forward to the day in my life when I absolutely and forever forget that you and people like you exist, and please trust me when I say that the LGBT community will have no interest in bothering you once this fight is over.
