The Right is on the wrong side of history as progress in civil rights for all moves forward.
As the right predictably go into seizures over the legalization of same-sex marriage, they’ll be glad Obamacare is there to help them.
The recent supreme court victory for same-sex marriage is triggering a predictable backlash from some conservatives.
Opponenets of gay rights legislation are ramping up, focusing a rival campaign around religious liberties claiming that a mandate to serve gays and lesbians might violate their faith.
Their fear based rhetoric harken back to the not so distant past when the very notion of gay marriage was inconceivable if not downright frightening.
In the early 1970s as gay rights became more vocal, pamphlets were produced by Christian conservatives filled with dire warnings of the dangers of homosexuality and the “coming revolution” invading the mainstream.
As the Gay Rights movement became more vocal in the early 1970s, literature circulated that was filled with homosexual warnings, as portrayed in a 1972 homophobic comic booklet entitled “Gay Blade”, which ominously predicted a future filled with…gasp….gay marriage.
These small comics published by the Christian right-wing Chick Publications were filled with dire warnings of the dangers of homosexuality and the “coming revolution” invading the mainstream. The small 3″x5″ comics sold cheaply in bulk making it handy for you to spread the hateful message everywhere you went- in phone booths, tables, Laundromats, school lockers, and windshields.
Called “chick tracts” these small comic booklets, approximately 20 pages in length, were short Evangelic themed stories created by Jack Chick an American Fundamentalist. Chick Publications, who boast on their current website–“publishing cartoon gospel tracts and equipping Christians for evangelism for fifty years.”
“The Gay Blade” ( originally written in 1972, revised in 1984 and now out of print) borrowed several of its frames from a 1971 Life Magazine photo essay on the Gay Liberation movement, but with the images altered to make gay men look more depraved and stereotypically feminized.
Chick tracts are unequivocal and explicit in their opposition to homosexuality and repeatedly employ themes such as 1.The belief that God hates homosexuality and considers it to be sinful and 2. The true nature of homosexuality is revealed in the Christian fundamental interpretation of the biblical Sodom and Gomorrah story.
Since 1961 Chick has cranked out tract after tract to” help sinners see the light, believing that Jesus can deliver anyone from Homosexuality and make them a new person.
The fear mongering continues over 40 years later. The Right is on the wrong side of history as progress in LGBT civil Rights moves forward.
Copyright (©) 2015 Sally Edelstein All Rights Reserved
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Reblogged this on glasszine and commented:
‘Their power structure is widespread- they occupy all kinds of jobs. Their identity for the most part is hidden. * Some have been reported to be very active in women’s lib organizations and even hinted to be in high government positions.’ THE HORROR!!
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Gays will rule the world. And there is noting those straight types can do to stop us!
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Truth is, the Radicalized Religious Right started this war and this is just one example of the hate-filled and fear-based propaganda they were targeting to youth and disseminating throughout society. As a teenager, actually, in 1974 it was The Gay Blade/Chick Tract I found in the tract rack in back of our church which gave me my own gay identifier. Since I tried and could not change the gay part of me, I changed the only identifier I could – the Christian part. It was also Anita Bryant, by publicly targeting and demonizing the LGBTQ community, who gave me hope by showing me I was not alone. Although I was shunned by the faith community, and rejected by my Baptist minister family, I always liked to consider it was more my emancipation from the IFB cult.
I’ve been in this war ever since. Today, the government and society have sided with me against the hatred and religious bigotry.
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It was this very Chick Tract, “The Gay Blade” which gave me my gay identifier somewhere around 1974 or 1975. I found it in the Tract Rack in the back of our church, and it caused serious concern and conflict in me.
I tried praying and even fasting and praying, but nothing changed. Jesus wasn’t changing me, and I felt I was somehow the punchline of a cruel joke by God. The son of a Baptist minister, at 14 I was shunned by the only community I ever knew, and rejected by my family. I was an abomination and deserved to die.
It was when I saw Anita Bryant on the news condemning Florida’s Gay Community that I knew I wasn’t alone. So, since I couldn’t change the “gay” identifer, I knew one I could change – the “Christian” identifier. I soon left to find those other gay people in Florida. I owe my life to this tract, and my sanity to Anita Bryant.
Looking at the absolute cruel absurdity of such hateful propaganda, I realize the hatred and self-loathing religious fundamentalists harbor in their own souls. Also, these type of documents and their message reemphasize it was the radicalized religious right who started this culture war.
I never believed I would see Marriage Equality become the law of the land, but I will be marrying my partner of almost 14 years on 7/4/2015. (Michigan was among the last states defiant and resisting social progress.) We are feeling rather patriotic this year and need to remember to leave this world a little better than we received it for the next generation. I think we have done so.
In an ironic way, I owe so much to this vile publication. Without this in my life experiences, I would have probably been just another teen suicide statistic.
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Thanks for adding a very personal and powerful perspective. That you were able to turn around from such pain and anguish to a place of self acceptance, points to a lot of bravery and a lot of work on your part. I’m glad you came out the other side, and if Anita Bryant’s homophobic rants helped you to find your community, than a positive came out of a negative.
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Truth is Truth. God is in control of everything. All people are sinful, even those of us who believe in God. The ultimate penalty for sin is to be thrown into an eternal lake of fire. This lake of fire was never intended for humans. It was designated for the devil and his fallen angels. The devil caused people to turn their faces away from God, and that is why people from all walks of life are going to end up in this lake. But God is a God of love, and he allowed sinful people to execute his only begotten son, Jesus, on the cross for my sins and your sins. He did this to show us how much he loves us, and to provide us with a way to avoid eternal damnation. He loves ALL people included those who hate and despise him (especially those who strongly mock Him in the LBGT community), devil worshippers who believe Lucifer is God, atheists, murderers, hypocritical religious people, and the list goes on. But He is a pure and just God, and so He hates the things we do that are sinful. Why? Because He knows that these things harm our relationship with Him, and assign us to the torments of the lake of fire through our own individual choosing. That is why we are all to deny who we are and what defines us according to the way of the world and our flesh, and why we should build a personal relationship with His son, Jesus. Because no matter who or what we are, EVERY PERSON’S IDENTITY is to be a loved child of the living God residing in Heaven. So think before you act! God is not mocked, and you will receive what you work for in this life. Fun now, pay with your soul, or pain now, and eternal life and happiness in the next life. It is your choice where you end up by how you live now. Be careful and act wisely. There is enough physical evidence to show God and the devil are real. You will have no excuse on the day of judgement. Is burning in the lake of fire a price worth paying for being a practicing LBGT person? I don’t think so. Many LGBT’s are much more happier and content with Jesus than without Him. God loves you, and all He wants is for you to love Him back. But if you don’t want anything to do with Him, then why should He allow you into His Kingdom?
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JF Cooper Jr, you wrote: I tried praying and even fasting and praying, but nothing changed. Jesus wasn’t changing me, and I felt I was somehow the punchline of a cruel joke by God. The son of a Baptist minister, at 14 I was shunned by the only community I ever knew, and rejected by my family. I was an abomination and deserved to die.
First of all, you was not an abomination and did not deserve to die. Sometimes God answers prayer, but not in the way you want Him to answer prayer.
You are not the first person to go through this, and won’t be the last. So this comment is hindsight and foresight for anyone who will find it helpful.
Through the tract, your suppressed inner nature came to the surface. This nature was a two edged sword. One edge was to put the religious people around you to the test, to see if they would love their neighbour (you) enough to help and support you to take up your cross daily and follow Jesus. The other edge was to bring your inner nature to the surface so that you could strengthen your spirit, and weaken your body, by denying your Earth nature and replacing it with your God nature, based on your bible teaching
Every person who walks with Jesus will have a nature that is sinful by default. The reason for this is that when Adam and Eve broke the command of God by eating the apple, they gave the devil (Lucifer) the legal right to become the god of this world, and to put his nature into every human being that is born.
That is why Jesus told us we can not go to heaven unless we are born again. In other words, when a mother gives birth to a baby boy or girl, that child is destined to grow up, live a life, then die and go to hell. But God sends people into this world to show us a way back to Himself through Jesus, so that we can be reborn in God’s spirit with His nature, avoid hell, and end up living in heaven forever. In heaven there is NO SUFFERING, ever. How good is that? Compare a life of 62 to 127 years on Earth compared to eternity in a world where you do not suffer and are eternally happy and satisfied.
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