Towleroad posted the transcript of a mind-numbing and frustrating discussion, held on Larry King Live this week, between lesbian Christian rock singer Jennifer Knapp and an Evangelical church pastor who blogged about, and preached to his congregation about, how far poor little Knapp hath strayed from the flock.
the discussion is long, and it makes me want to tear my eyelashes out (did you know that's a legit psychological disorder? Google it!), and it's all here if you want to read it. Larry King was pretty fun and had some good discussion-starters, including one about eating shellfish. according to the pastor, the Lord "changed his mind" about shellfish, but NOT about gayfish!!!
you can read it before bed if you care to do so; for now, here's just one of the fun parts:LARRY KING: Pastor, I'll have her respond and we'll let you talk it with each other. But a question that puzzles, you said choice, that she made a choice. Did you make a choice for heterosexuality?
PASTOR BOTSFORD: I did.
KING: Why did you that?
BOTSFORD: I fell in love with a gal I was dating in San Diego.
KING: But you made a choice to date a girl.
BOTSFORD: Well, I made a choice, first of all, to follow --
KING: How did you know you liked women?
BOTSFORD: How did I --
KING: How did you know?
BOTSFORD: I just --
KING: If she likes girls --
BOTSFORD: Yes.
KING: -- how did you know you didn't like boys romantically? How did you know you liked women?
BOTSFORD: Well, I just personally knew that first of all that I did. I naturally knew that I did.
so apparently this christianist pastor got to make that pivotal choice between being homosexual or heterosexual. lucky him! that means that i must have made that choice at -- hm.... let me think -- age 3 or 4?
goddamnit... i wish i had chosen correctly, as did Pastor Bottfock, but alas! i chose to be the only gay in the village. i chose to subject myself to a decade and a half of bullying, self-hatred, repression, and even a few years of depression.
jesus h. christ! what was i thinking??
in related news, i pre-ordered Jennifer Knapp's upcoming album, Letting Go, on iTunes. hopefully Jennifer's letting go of her affection for the hateful christianist church that no longer wants her singing in their impressionable daughters' ears.
4 comments:
"did you know that's a legit psychological disorder? Google it!"
Yeah, I did. It's called Trichotillomania and I just came home from a weekend conference for it.
:)
Is there genuinely that much anti-gay sentiment in the States or is it simply a case of empty vessels making the most noise? With groups such as Exodus international exporting their gay conversion therapy to Ireland, I find it hard to make an accurate assessment..
to my Irish friend, i'd answer that our churches and religious citizens are extremely anti-gay here, and -- as you probably know -- our churches and religious groups (sects, cults, whatever) tend to be far too powerful, much moreso than those in the UK and Europe. religious leaders, especially evangelical christianists, are not only noisy, but they have the money and media outlets to broadcast their message of hatred and condemnation.
sadly, and inappropriately, our government leaders are tied to those conservative religious organizations in our country. our elected officials mostly fall into two categories: a) homophobic old men, often religious and b) normal, modern people who refuse to support gay equality in fear of upsetting religious groups and/or losing the votes of the older generation and the conservative constituency.
*steps down off soap box*
I guess religion has really been embedded in the founding of your country (the President is required to swear an oath before God!?) There seems to be a lot of difficulties differentiating between hate speech and freedom of speech as well. I know this is a global phenomenon in terms of homosexuality but it’s particularly apparent in the States.
Either way, I guess things are moving in a more positive direction so we shouldn’t be too pessimistic. Ireland may have a gay candidate in the next presidential election you know!! Thanks for your speedy reply, I do enjoy reading the blog and happy job hunting :-)
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