A Los Angeles, California Pastor Wednesday night evicted gays and lesbians from a meeting his church was having about SB 48, the FAIR Education Act, that ensures the correct teaching of the history of the LGBT community, along with that of the disabled and of minorities. Pastor Xavier Thompson of the Southern Missionary Baptist Church falsely claims that SB 48 “sexualizes history,” and says “this is not about us hating anyone or being homophobic or guilty of bigotry.”
Of course not.
Evidently,the Pastor is unaware that SB 48, the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act, ensures the accurate treating of African American history as well.
Sadly, KTLA did a horrendous job with this piece. It falsely characterized SB 48, it showed footage of what appears to be a gay pride parade — something that would not be part of a school history lesson — it did not push back at all on the mischaracterization of the law by church leaders, it did not mention that the law was already a law, it did not explain to church leaders that the law protects them too, it did not mention that SB 48 ensures the accurate teaching of history of minorities or the disabled either.
Ludicrous failure across the board.
Shame on the church. Shame on KTLA.
You can contact the Church: (323) 731-2703 or email them at smbcla@gmail.com
You can contact KTLA: 323-460-5500 or email them.
Via Equality California:
Led by Equality California, Gay-Straight Alliance Network and the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers, a broad coalition of advocates for equality have launched a coordinated effort to protect the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act and to educate the public about its impact.
The coalition includes people of faith; labor organizations; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights groups; disability rights advocates; racial justice organizations and many other groups who care about equality.
“The movement for LGBT rights is among the most diverse social justice movements in the nation and we are proud to have that diversity represented in our coalition,” said Roland Palencia, Executive Director of Equality California. “Working together to Protect the FAIR Education Act will ensure that students not only learn accurate information about our equality movement, but also about the roles LGBT people have played in movements and historic moments that have fundamentally shaped our nation.”
“The FAIR Education Act enables all California students to learn an honest account of history, which includes the contributions of women, people of color, LGBT people, people with disabilities, and other historically underrepresented groups,” said Gay-Straight Alliance Network Executive Director Carolyn Laub. “This coalition is determined to protect the FAIR Education Act and stop the extremist effort to censor LGBT people and people with disabilities from history.”
“Learning the contributions made by activists of the disability rights movement is essential to a full understanding of our history, just as an understanding of the civil rights movement and the pioneers of women’s suffrage and the LGBT rights movement are an essential part of our history lessons,” said Teresa Favuzzi, Executive Director of the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers. “The FAIR Education Act truly is a step in the right direction and it’s important for us to make sure that this landmark victory that promotes understanding in our schools is upheld because it’s time for our history classes and textbooks to accurately reflect the rich and diverse history of California.”
(Hat tip to Joe. My. God. for the clip.)
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Pastor Xavier Thompson, why are you lying to your congregation? Deceitful! Shame on you abusing your power.
Mr. Thompson:
As a scholar of the Holocaust, I feel alarm over your assault against scholarship regarding gay human beings.
In the Anoka-Hennepin School District, which is within Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's congressional district, and which has a "Don't say gay" policy, a student was prevented from continuing a class presentation after stating the documentable fact that homosexuals were among the victims of the Nazis.
When you mischaracterize the teaching of some history of gay human beings as a "sexualization," you are contributing to the scapegoating of certain minorities. There has never been any controversy over stating that George Washington was married to Martha, for example, nor should there be any controversy in teaching students that Langston Hughes, for instance, was a gay male.
If homophobes say that including the contributions of Gay human beings "sexualizes" history, what keeps racists from saying that it "inferiorizes" history to include the contributions of people of color? Misogynists from saying that it "feminizes" history to include the contributions of women?
I recommend you study how the Nazis made use of religion against their victims. The Wehrmacht uniform belt buckle, for example says "Gott mit uns," God is with us. This past May, the notoriously anti-gay-rights National Organization for Marriage sponsored an anti-gay hate rally in the Bronx. At that anti-gay hate rally, a preacher hollered through a megaphone that homosexuals are "worthy to death." NOM then spent its summer hate-mongering against gay human beings in Iowa, and got the Republican presidential candidates to sign a vicious anti-gay pledge. Two weeks ago in Michele Bachmann's hometown of Waterloo, Iowa, a 19-year-old man was murdered by anti-gay bigots yelling "Faggot!" at him. He was an African-American named Marcellus Andrews.
It is a given that a bigot is by nature vicious, and that you as a vicious anti-gay bigot are unlikely to examine your conscience in light of what I have told you here. But I have a duty of conscience to denounce vicious bigots like you.
Sincerely,
Scott Rose
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