 |
| image from truthwinsout.org |
posted on 5/2/2015 by the Salt City Sinner
Opponents of marriage equality (and LGBTQ rights in general) like to play pretend a lot.
They pretend, for example, that gay or trans* people are out to “recruit,” and usually engage in cheap-shot slander by pretending that proponents of equality are recruiting children in particular. They pretend that LGBTQ identity is something that is mutable, all the while justifying discrimination and hate as a form of religious belief, when religious belief is one of the most mutable characteristics imaginable. The most hilariously illogical game of “let's pretend” that the homophobia industry plays, however, relates to the effect that marriage equality will somehow supposedly have on “traditional” (straight) marriage – that somehow, marriage is a zero-sum game, and that every same-sex couple that is allowed to marry will mean one less opposite-sex couple that can. How is this the case? Despite the fact that this ridiculous argument has made it all the way to the Supreme Court, I have yet to hear an explanation – any explanation, let alone a credible one – as to why this will happen.
So it is that the World Congress of Families plays an adorable game of dress-up as a “pro-family” organization, when what they really are is anti-gay, anti-choice, and vigorously opposed to nontraditional families. The WCF has been around since 1997, and has its tentacles buried in many countries around the world, including the United States, Russia (where it helped create that nation's “LGBT propaganda” bill), and Uganda (where it was an influential force in both drafting and pushing through that country's notorious “kill the gays” bill, which in its original form would have made “aggravated homosexuality” a crime punishable by death).
The WCF has much in common with the Great Pacific garbage patch, colloquially known as “Garbage Island.”
 |
| visit scenic Garbage Island |
Like Garbage Island, a massive floating collection of congealed plastic that currently haunts the open sea, WCF is a toxic, lifeless thing, bereft of a real home and yet home to the old, cast-off leavings of many nations. Unlike Garbage Island, which is content to remain adrift in the central North Pacific ocean, however, the World Congress of Families occasionally docks (Prague 1997, Geneva 1999, Mexico City 2004, etc.).
At this very moment, in fact, the conference's rotting bulk is lurching slowly but inexorably toward the metaphorical shore of Salt Lake City. Yes, our fair City of Salt is slated to host the World Conference of Family's 2015 gathering – not a far-fetched fit, considering that the organization is closely tied to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and Brigham Young University. In fact, BYU's World Family Policy Center is a prominent mouthpiece for ideas cooked up at WCF, and acts as a distribution mechanism for WCF's brand of virulent gay-bashing.
WCF will be meeting at the Little America and Grand America hotels (past meetings have attracted as many as 3,900 attendees from across the world) in Salt Lake on October 27 – 30, and here's the good news: we're planning on throwing them a big gay welcome party!
Protest the World Congress of Families is on Facebook, and is currently a closed group – and for good reason. Shortly after it's creation, one Larry D. Jacobs, managing director of WCF, quietly joined the group (and was promptly booted and blocked). If you would like to join us in firmly but politely saying “not in MY town, bigots!” feel free to join the group and shoot a message to any of the admins, myself included, who will be happy to let you join.
Thus far we're still in the brainstorming stages, so it's a great time to get in on the ground floor of what will be a peaceful, happy, boisterous demonstration in favor of authentic family values – inclusion, love, acceptance and diversity – and against bigotry.
Comments
Post a Comment