This falls flat into the category of “You just can’t make this stuff up.”
It is quite literally unbelievable. Hilarious. And yet not funny.
A city in Montana is proposing an ordinance to forbid discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. As you can imagine, in Montana, there is some controversy over this.
A group was formed called “NotMyBathroom.” Yes, that is the name of the group. They even have a Web site Notmybathroom.com. Their logo is a clearly identifiable MAN and a clearly identifiable WOMAN (because she’s wearing a dress) separated by a thick, impenetrable wall. Only GOD HIMSELF could huff and puff and blow that wall down!
This group is afraid that the ordinance will allow gay and transgender child molesters to use public bathrooms with our [gasp] CHILDREN! These people are straight out of “Republican Gomorrah”
Listen to their Web site’s drivel:
“However the problem with molestation in the Catholic Church stemmed from the fact that homosexuals were allowed to be Priests. The Boy Scouts of America allowed homosexual men to be Scout Masters and had the same high incident of molestations. Since both organizations have stopped that practice the number of molestations has dropped considerably, to a fraction or what it was before. Homosexual men who want to molest boys will seek jobs where boys are readily available.”
One of the things that is funny about this group is that the leader of the movement isn’t even based in the city in question.. He isn’t even based in the same county. He’s based in an adjoining county and he lives in a town 50 miles away.
A bunch of these fundamentalist hatemongers drove into town — from out of county — to protest at a City Council meeting last week carrying signs, and refusing to speak to the local paper. These people are claiming that they can no longer come to Missoula if the city passes the ordinance because the city will no longer be safe for them and their children … at least it won’t be safe to use a public bathroom. They held signs such as “Our religious beliefs disrespected,” and “Don’t trample on the word of God” and one of my favourites, “Separation of Church and State applies even in Missoula.” (That one goes right into the “huh?” category.) One of them even had a small girl holding a sign saying, “Keep me safe.” (OK, that really isn’t funny. Poor kid. I hope she doesn’t end up brainwashed. There’s probably not a lot of hope for her.)
One woman is quoted in the article as saying if she were a landlord, she has a right to choose the kind of people she rents to and doesn’t want to rent to. (Ummm, actually, I don’t think you do.)
It’s funny (At least the name “Notmybathroom”), but it isn’t. It isn’t funny there are people still this ignorant, full of prejudice and paranoia toward “those types.” It isn’t funny that they have kids they are probably drilling their prejudices into.
The good news is, these were fewer than 50 people and most of them weren’t even from Missoula. And the ordinance is expected to pass. Missoula is a very progressive city
The other good news. A local group of pastors and Christian lay people began their own organization in response to the hatemongers, called “Flushthefear”
Check out flushthefear.com instead, maybe. Instead of a bathroom sign, its logo is a city park.
I’m gay and live in Sacramento. If you heard the stories of what gay people have put up with from these rw fundamentalists here in Sac, you would think I was making it up. These guys feel god put them here in this place and time to, in their words, ‘take a stand’ and their spitting, sign swinging, stink bomb throwing screaming, block-your-car-in mentality has already gotten at least one of us killed by a christian. They feel above the law, feel their religion justifies their lawlessness. We have one additional factor here in Sac, a huge Slavic evangelical community that doesn’t understand american law, moved to this region because they thought it was a godly region, and try to strong-arm their beliefs on the community.
I know, wizer. I lived in Palm Springs while the “sex sting” scandal was going on.
I had fellow residents of the city tell me that I was a liar about the police shining their spotlights into my windows between 2 and 5 a.m. every day.
But it was happening. And it happened to me.
If I ever live in a gay neighborhood again, I hope that it has its own police force or security force. Having a bunch of illiterate, steroid-abusing mutants who live in surrounding communities, serving as police officers, is b.s.
Once again a good job, Pepe! This is a subject near but NOT dear to my heart! I’m so sick of these freaks and their BS. Great comments too, folks. Thanks again!
Ordinance passed at 1:45 a.m. today!
Big, fat, heavy snow this morning. We have had a drought winter.
God approves!
Glad to hear it! Guess this means Missoula won’t have to take any more crap from these loons. 😉
Oh, they’ll probably boycott the city now — all 75 of them.
What an interesting coincidence. New group starts up in the same county as the “NotMyBathroom” crowd to “restore civility” to local politics. This group consists of Republicans and Democrats.
There’s hope yet!
http://www.missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_56335e58-4459-11df-86ae-001cc4c03286.html
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I know this type of story is all too common with fringe Christians and some mainstream Christian groups for that matter. But let’s now forget how other religions treat or think about gay people. Fundamentalist and some mainstream Islamic people are not gay friendly by any means. Lest we not forget Iran executed people for being homosexual just a few years ago.
I know it’s popular for progressives to bash Christians these days but let’s have a little perspective.
the Muslim community here in CA has had an about face since when they fell under siege, it was partly the GLBT community that came forward to stand with them in solidarity. They have discovered real affection for one another, and Muslims, including imams, have even written about it openly in their newspaper, In Focus. This new solidarity and understanding is nearly miraculous. There is no longer discomfort, and the issues of going beyond mere tolerance have been profound. So – progress.
Much of the intolerance we see in Muslim nation has much more to do with the culture of the nation than with the faith. Women Muslims in many parts of the world are equal with men, do not cover their heads (though I do not think of that as subservient since I’ve learned a LOT about why they do) and are well educated, often professionals. There is a huge disparity among Muslims on these and many other issues depending on the national origins. They are just a diverse as Christians.
I’m glad to hear that CL. You have opened my eyes more than anyone about the existent of far more progressive religious people than I thought. I now get it even though I don’t proscribe to any religion myself. The left really needs to back off being so aggressive against condemning religious people in this country. Sure progressives say they only mean extremists but it simply does not come off that way looking at it more objectively. Remember in politics image is reality.
Also great point about what I would call Islamo-nationalism.
The Christian Right deserves a lot of bashing, IMO. Rick Warren and The Family/C Streeters in Congress and other of their ilk in this nation encouraged and supported Uganda in passing a law this year that would execute people for being gay.
I agree, there are hateful people like them in other religions though.
Adlib
They are using Uganda for their prototype of merging church and state. The President and his wife talk about it all the time and they specifically say church and state should be intermingled. Arizona, Texas, Utah and Oklahoma are all flirting with it as well.
Right Sue, their vision is of a corporate-friendly theocracy.
Orwell would be spinning in his grave if he hadn’t been ground down to a sliver doing so during the Bush years!
It’s insane though under Bush, we had that kind of plutocracy/theocracy control of the country. What they want is not that far away from being just one election away.
I know Adlib and it scares the hell out of me. They got away with a SCOTUS vote and nobody moved, they probably cheated with Kerry and nobody moved. I can see them doing it again……….
Right on both counts, it was the first coup to take over our government that I’m aware of.
And their coup lasted 8 years, with two fraudulent elections.
What burns me up is that it seems that justice will never be pursued with regards to the betrayals and thefts of our democracy.
Bush and Cheney proved to the GOP and everyone else watching that as long as you succeed at wresting power away from the people, you can never be pursued for any crimes committed along the way.
There is no justice system to protect our democracy anymore. Our safety nets were the SCOTUS and the press…and i don’t think we’ll be looking to either again to protect our democracy.
It is distressing to be sure.
In May one of the Anglican bishops from Uganda who supports gay rights AND marriage equality will be in Sacramento and other parts of CA. I’ll post the schedule when I get it. He is married for 46 years, has 11 kids, and is a GREAT ally for especially gay men and a huge opponent of this disgusting law advocating the execution of gay men and women. He and Desmond Tutu are huge forces pushing back against not just the religious right in Uganda but the right within their own church. They are most courageous!
The problem is there are too many people on the left conflating those Christian extremists with mainstream Christian religions these days. I’m not being extreme and saying the left has a war on religion like the right does but again you rarely hear about more moderate and progressive Christians in the progressive world these days. This is how the right was able to co-opt religion as a political weapon.
You are right in a sense KQ but the progressives like Bob Edgar and Jim Wallis are trying to speak out. Others from the UCC are as well. They get drowned out by the media, they are not confrontational so they don’t get coverage.
Cheers Sue I will have to check out their work more.
Bob Edgar wrote Middle Church and a couple others. Also Randall Ballmer, Jesus is not a Republican, and Dr. Robin Meyer, Why the Religious Right is Wrong are pretty good starts. Also Chris Hedges has a couple of good books. All from Middle Church prospective, UCC, Methodist etc.
And me, too!!!!! – your own resident progressive Christian voice of SANITY. (This is me dancing around the edge hoping you’ll notice.)
I hate that working with secular progressives means ALWAYS having to say I’m sorry! No, we don’t hate GLBTQ people, we support absolute equality, no we don’t think women should be denied reproductive choices including abortion, no we don’t think only Christians go to heaven ’cause, among other things, what’s heaven? No we don’t support the death penalty, no we don’t hate other people. And on and on and on.
It’s really a bummer especially since we exist in equal numbers (in CA) with the conservatives. The wingnuts, of course, are a total minority of even the minority.
But we had a huge impact in passing the health reform (got that straight from Nancy Pelosi’s office) and do the hard and heavy lifting of pressing for GOOD policy and GOOD laws and educating people on the essential issues of our day so they don’t have to fear our government. Anymore.
Unlike the religious right, we’re not partisan. We speak ‘truth to power’ any time, anywhere. And who the bloody hell cares when you have idiots like these people worrying about cross-over bathrooms.
Lord save us from us.
KQuark (I can’t make the symbols) makes a valid point that there are a lot of good Christians out there (Most Christians, even), but I also feel very strongly a spotlight needs to be put squarely on the religious lunatic fringe, because these people are genuinely dangerous, IMO — dangerous to America and our way of life.
Just imagine for a minute what America would be like if they ever actually got control. I mean, REAL control.
Brrrrrrr!
You are so right about always delineating the extremists from the mainstream, when it comes to religions, races, nations or any grouping.
I always try to make it clear that those I oppose are the aggressive Religious Right extremists which for me, are no reflection of mainstream Christians.
Any more than Bush was a reflection of all of us because we’re American.
Most people on the left are Christian too, just as are most on the right so my POV is that the ones howling about how Christianity is under attack are the same extremists who want division and conflict.
It’s just anecdotal but I’ve seen a mix of different religions, agnosticism and atheism here at The Planet and yet there is respect all the way around in every direction.
So, as we’re mostly on the left here, I see reasoned people on the left making that differentiation and the minority that’s not as enlightened on the left, doing as you describe and being prejudiced.
Prejudice is ignorance and though there is a lot less of that on the left, there will always be some on our side who subscribe to it. And they shouldn’t be excused from criticism, indeed.
That’s why I brought up “Flushthefear” 😀
There’s good guys, too.
Ya’ know…for the longest time, I wanted to open a franchise that simply offered Christian ‘deprogramming’ to kids that were smarter than their egg and sperm donors.
I mean, if they can can insist that with the right ‘programming’, even homosexuals can overcome their ‘affliction’, then why couldn’t we help the world out on the other end?
I understand the need for religion for many and don’t disparage the good works of many Christian endeavors. That being said, I believe that kids should be allowed to have access to the church and decide whether they buy the whole package by themselves and not be forced to attend of be berated if they choose to ‘opt out.’
So much brainwashing takes place in these institutions and generation after generation falls prey to the guilt, the confusion and the isolation of having to believe.
I agree Rarest – that’s how I grew up. I joined a Methodist church because my best friend belonged and was very involved for years until the minister disparaged Catholic kids being told to urge their parents to vote for JFK – and then he urged us to tell OUR parents not to. Since I was for JFK, that did not sit well. Then I became an Episcopalian and have been a ‘revolving door’ member for several decades, loging the music and most of the ritual and leaving every time they do something stupid, returning when they don’t.
Today I work for an ecumenical Christian advocacy organization – and belong to no church. I cannot explain why, but there’s none that calls out to me at all. I am very devoted to my organization and my job, I’m in and out of churches all the time, but…
Faith is too special to be a matter of inculcation. It is profoundly within one’s heart and gut – kids have to be allowed to work it out. Doctrine is half the reason I do not belong, even within the most progressive denominations, since I’m pretty anarchic with respect to “it all”.
But there are churches where I feel comfortable, and ones where I do not, and I can never tell you the reason for either. So I go with the flow. Or stay home and read the comics and garden. Either way is good.
So, if I get this right, passing this ordinance will mean that women won’t have to wait in long lines to go to the bathroom when there’s an empty men’s room AND these crazy wackjobs will stay out of Missoula?
Er…what’s the argument against this?
I’m still trying to wrap my head around their arguments.
Your interpretation is as good as any.
LOL, AdLib !! No argument from me, thass fer sure –
You know, reading more & more of these types of fearful fear-mongers’ histrionics, it occurs to me (seriously) that the phenomenon might just be that a segment of the pop. suffers from :
Histrionic personality disorder (HPD) : “defined by the American Psychiatric Association as a personality disorder characterized by a pattern of excessive emotionality and attention-seeking ….”
(and I bet they naturally veer toward being Righties, because they’re enabled by the fearful, fear-monging GOP) –
BTW, I know a couple of cross-dressers & 1 trans-sexual –
I know from talking to them that when they have to pee, they have to pee and that’s what their bathroom use is all about, no matter what the picture is on the door –
Lise, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head, it sure sounds just like HPD!
And someone should explain to these idjits that the way things are now, cross-dressers are sitting down on the same toilet seat that they are.
That should freak them out!
ADLib
I went to a concert in SF where that problem was relevant. My friend and I snuck in the mens bathroom each keeping a lookout for men until our “business” was taken care of,at Keezar Stadium. Of course drinking a gallon of Tequila Sunrise would not have caused the problem. We had 22 people in our group and we went through a lid and 6 gallons of tequila sunrise for a full day concert. And not one of us got crazy drunk or too too high. Those were the days LOL
Love it! A gallon of Tequila Sunrises? Heh, you’re lucky you saw the next sunrise. That was my favorite alcohol in college, a lot of fun while you’re drinking it but the worst hangovers in the morning.
Loved going to those big concerts back then. Just wish I remembered them. 😉
It’s STILL my fave.
I got a headache at the end of the day, but I attributed it to the fog change in the city. I always got a headache when the fog rolled in unexpectedly. But no hangover, I think the pot mellowed it out.
I was at a women’s history conference at Vassar College where a group of us headed for the women’s room. We had one guy in the group, and damned if we could find the men’s room. So we invited him in. With us. It was a tiny bit uncomfortable, but it worked – we all had individual stalls, so who cared? We all survived. Except for the women coming in who had NOT been privy to the privy party.
What’s silly is that on a plane, men, women and children of both sexes use the same bathrooms and somehow we don’t think twice about that.
I suppose these loonies refuse to go to the bathroom on planes too?
Now I think of THEM using the facilities, I think I won’t use them! Eeeuuuuwwww!
Gives a whole new meaning to “holy shit”.
*
Brainwashing in a cult(that is what this is) is pretty powerful. They will need years of psycho-therapy to get over it with a good start in a de-programmers office.
There was a mad anti-abortion zealot who had several children (God help them)whom he dragged out to clinics in all kinds of weather. His new-born son was his prop one day when it was about 90 degrees – and he had no water or any fluid for the child. He kept holding up the kid, dressed in a jumper that allowed the baby to get sunburned, and said, “This is MY picket sign!” He had a beautiful girl, the eldest, who was sweet as anything, and we talked with her until he’d come swooping down on us. She seemed to understand we meant her and her siblings no harm. One day, when she was sidling near us, he intervened, and the look she gave him was of pure hate. It was then I feared he was sexually abusing her – she was so lovely, and his beleaguered wife was so NOT. Since he saw his children as his property, I believe he was totally capable of doing her harm. I have NEVER seen such hate on the face of any child toward her own parent. I hope that alone drives her out of his life and into safety. She’d be in her twenties now, and I think of her often and hope for her well being. So many kids of zealots do get out – but so many don’t. And the law provides us with nothing we can do for them.
Sounds like Bible Spice and her Trigg or Trapp or whatever his name is, Prop
Yup.
Apocalyptica Feat. Corey Taylor – I’m Not Jesus
OK – there is NO bottom for these people. They keep inventing new bars and new lows.
The “Notinmybathroom” is a direct rip off of the wonderful “Not in My Town” PBS occasional series that shows communities standing against hate. It started years ago with the Billings, MT stand against white supremacists, and morphed into documentaries about Sacramento and other CA cities, and now is moving on to show community work against anti-immigrant hate. So, since I just WENT to a screening of the new program Tuesday evening, I am NOT AMUSED. Well, OK, I AM, but I think it says volumes about these people that they have coopted the very series that would show THEM in a bad light.
Obviously there is no “there there” to the bathroom issue (federal law permits gender distinctions in personal privacy). What is so worrisome is the presumption that molestation is predominantly gay while statistically it is heavily hetero. I am totally unaware of sexual molestation occurring in the Boy Scouts, and what’s happening in the Catholic church is pretty equally gay and hetero or, more to the point, hetero with same sex children simply as objects (and that is what they become) of opportunity.
Nope – no bottom to their obsession with other people’s sexuality. It’s a great spectator sport because focusing on such issues means none of these folks has to look at his or her own failings. SO much easier to make up stuff and then point fingers at others!
Ah, that’s where their name came from.
These people are too much.
Pepe, this is no joke. These people you decribe are in every conservative pocket in this country. They will never rest until everyone professes to be their kind of christian, a “club” of which I might say you do not have to have brains or a conscience to be admitted into.
You cannot deal with rabid people like this because they have no intention to bring fairness into the game, nor do they believe in open minds, open hearts and affirming beliefs.
I also think they need to take another look at the Catholic church and the Boy Scouts. Whoever said the pedophiles were no longer in those organizations? When the Pope cannot even come clean about his “misdeeds” how can this group make such a claim? I know, I know, they don’t have to be realistic, they are the fanatical right.
I know, it’s some pretty whack stuff.
I mean, what’s up with the obsession with bathrooms, too.
These are some screwed up folks.
Pepe, the people in the Dobson movement have some of the worst “sexual” hangups in the country. Their divorce rate is higher, they are more prone to watch and subscribe to pornography and they are seriously demented overall. They will use any ploy to try to force their message. IMHO they are truly the ones who will be “left behind”. They have taken the religious faith and made a mockery of it. It is a pure grab for power and nothing else, no substance and no true following of the teachings of Jesus.
They “are” the abomination that they speak of in relation to “others”.
I can also tell you the leader of this group is a crusader against pornography. He considers Vanity Fair and Victoria’s Secret pornography. How much you want to bet there’s REAMS of hard porn on his hard drive.
Absolutely! And probably kiddie porn as well.
It’s all for research, I’m sure.
You win the bet, I would never take that one on. I like the little money I have too much to waste it on a religious right bet on pornography LOL
I once stumbled across a chat room with Phred Felps in a total spitting wrath. He is OBSESSED with the details of gay sex. Wants all the particulars, and he makes up stuff to foment over and gets in a major fury if others don’t provide totally graphic details.
If you think lust comes from the Devil but you feel no lust for women (Godly) and do for men (Satanic), then of course you can justify this obsession. However…
It’s that old stereotype of homosexual=pedophile. My guess is most of those folks have rarely ventured out of their own county — maybe this was their first trip. They’ve never encountered people different from themselves and fear anything that doesn’t mirror their own sorry little existence. People get irate when “liberal elites” act so “arrogant” and look down on half-wits like these folks. Sorry but they EARN it!
One pattern I noticed when I used to transcribe police interviews was that a lot of pedophiles weren’t particular about the gender of the kid they were molesting. Many of them molested both boys and girls.
There are some days when I can’t even laugh at stupid – I think this is one of those days! How very, very depressing. One of the greatest boons to personkind will be when a scientist discovers a pill to cure stupid 🙄
I suspect only teachers could do that — starting from a very young age. Our education system is failing us in this regard. Hence, the popularity of people like Glenn Beck.
Depending on how many goofballs are members of this group, some entrepreneur could sell them plastic buckets every time they ventured into the city or they could always bring their own portable potties and Fox news could film them protecting their “rights.”
One question. What on earth does this have to do with God?
…or even bathrooms, for that matter, Kalima! 😆
Are they afraid of “Family” restrooms? Or unisex ones?
Like the ones they have at home? (Or maybe they have separate facilities on the home front with the “boy”/”girl” icons on the doors?)
I wish I supported these guys, because I could make cool slogans for them like:
Take No Chances on “Wide Stances”!
Free to Pee!
GOD is Watching (Yes, even THERE)!
LOL!
Brilliant!
The “God is watching” sentiment may constipate this crowd for generations.
Ha ha!
You mean they might rupture before the Rapture?
Oh my – let’s definitely stay out of their way!