The FRC and religious freedom

A security guard was shot Wednesday morning at the Washington DC office of the Family Research Council (FRC), an organization designated as a hate group in 2010 by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The FRC believes "criminal sanctions against homosexual behavior" should be enforced, supports “conscience clauses” that would allow pharmacists and doctors to withhold legally prescribed medication from women for nebulous religious reasons, and thinks intelligent design and abstinence-only education should be taught in all schools, among other extremist, anti-progressive beliefs.

Every report, every piece of media coverage has framed this as domestic terrorism and an attack on religious freedom.

A man opens fire at a political rally, killing 6 and wounding 13, and he’s a lone wingnut. If more good Americans with big guns had been there, it would have never happened. A man plants a bomb at a Family Planning clinic in Florida in January 2012, another man bombs a Planned Parenthood clinic in Wisconsin in April 2012, two separate abortion clinics are set on fire in May 2012, and these are all unrelated attacks by lone actors.

Another man opens fire at a Sikh temple and the Republican Presidential candidate doesn’t even both to learn the difference between “Sihks” and “Sheiks.”

Yet suddenly, an attack on a designated hate group blatantly attempting to violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment is an attack on religious freedom. The religious freedom to be bigoted white Christian supremacists, apparently.

Now don’t get me wrong, the attack on the FRC was horrible, and it’s very fortunate that only one person (a security guard, not even an employee of the organization) was injured. Violence is absolutely not the answer, and it pains me to see rational, pro-freedom/pro-choice individuals being driven from the high road. But this highlights an important issue, one I’ve talked about before.

We have to stop letting the Republicans have all the good rhetoric.

One man, reacting inappropriately to the systemic segregation and persecution of LGBT people in the country is not an attack on religious freedom; it’s a misguided revolt against injustice and those who would actively support it.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.” We need to fight the ignorance and injustice of the current right with our voices and our hearts, by speaking out, not by lashing out.

Silence is our kryptonite; every time we quietly watch our friends spew hate through their Facebook walls, or listen with pursed lips as someone thumps their chest and touts the superiority of Christian beliefs, we are enabling a dangerous slide toward the very theocracy this country was formed to combat.

Don’t let people tell you or fool themselves into believing that this attack on the FRC was an attack on religious freedom. The only religious freedom under attack in this country is the freedom to be anything other than a white Christian male.

My religion understands persecution; we’ve seen it for thousands of years. And now religious persecution is back in full force, brandishing a cross and waving a tattered American flag. 

Pro-life, just not for the already-living

Artist's sketch of the "Wailing Wall"
and 60 crosses.

An evangelical Christian group called Word of Life Church is undertaking a project, led by extremist pastor Mark Holick, to build a multi-million dollar “National Pro-Life Memorial and International Life Center” in Wichita, Kansas.

This memorial, which celebrates the murder of Dr. George Tiller by domestic terrorists in 2009, will bastardize the image of the Western Wall in Jerusalem to serve the twisted religious agenda of its creators.

A press release issued by Holick states:

Among other things, the Memorial will consist of the National Pro Life Monument entitled "Not Forgotten." An exact replica of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, and memorial gardens are included as a place of healing for women and families. Additionally, sixty crosses will be strategically placed on the grounds to memorialize the sixty million babies aborted since Roe v. Wade.

Though Jewish halacha (law) is open to interpretation, there are cases where abortion is sanctioned or even required. When the life of a fetus/embryo is in direct conflict with the life of an already-born person, the autonomous person’s (the mother’s) life takes precedence. Co-opting the Western Wall – a symbol of the defense of the Jewish religion and state – for a pro-life “monument” is a gross misappropriation of a religious artifact and an affront to Judaism as a whole.

While these vicious heretics are convoluting the very meaning of religion, and comparing a legal medical procedure to the Holocaust - all in the name of “preserving, promoting and protecting the unborn,” mind you – Governor Brownback signed into law a new tax bill that raises taxes on the poorest 20 percent of Kansas residents,  and saw his state drop to 40^th in the country for infant mortality rates.

If that’s not gut-churning irony, I don’t know what is.

Holick was quoted on KWCH12 in Wichita as saying "We need a place to come and properly grieve and memorialize the children that we've lost to abortion." What about the real, living children who are lost to inadequate health care, disease and starvation? What about the thousands of children who could be housed, clothed, fed and educated with the millions of dollars being wasted on this assinine “memorial”? What about the women who will suffer or die trying to obtain an unregulated/unsafe abortion?

If this monument is built as planned, it will be a slap in the face of not only rational and religious people of all faiths, but also the living children who are suffering so that these hypocrites can cling to their perverse notions of morality. 

Dear Women

Dear women of America,

Do you really, truly hate Obama more than you love your own freedom, your own body, your own right to be treated as an equal human being? If you vote for Romney, that’s what you’re telling me.

CNN released a poll this morning that showed Obama’s support among women dropped 5 percent over the last two months from 49 to 44 percent, while Romney’s went up from 43 to 46 percent. Obviously this is just one poll, and the margin of difference is within the survey’s sampling error, but Romney should legitimately have 0 percent support among women if we’re being honest with ourselves.

The current Republican party, the puppeteer behind Romney, is the single greatest threat to women’s rights in the past 80+ years.

I’ve mentioned this number before, and I’ll bring it up again: Since January of this year, over 900 (that’s NINE HUNDRED) bills have been introduced nationwide that in some way seek to limit women’s access to birth control, health care, abortion rights and equal pay.

They want to roll back our rights to biblical levels, because their god (and their ignorant religious leadership) is telling them to do so. Women haven’t faced this much blatant and open misogyny from the Republican Party since well before our right to vote was recognized.

Here are highlights of some of the anti-women legislation that has gained traction and/or passed into law across the country:

• Arizona’s newest 20-week abortion ban begins counting pregnancy from a woman’s last menstrual period (up to two weeks before she is *actually* pregnant) rather than fetal age, women facing serious fetal abnormalities later term (you know, when they can be detected) have 0 – 24 hours to make a decision about terminating the pregnancy. Later term abortions need to be protected. They also support the right to religiously-based discrimination – because that always works out well. Employers in Arizona can now deny women birth control coverage for religious reasons. Because favoring the religious beliefs of one group over another isn’t a violation of the Constitution or anything.
• On May 17, Congress will vote on a measure to ban 20-week abortions in the District of Columbia. Fortunately, since we have no representation in the Senate and one non-voting delegate in the House, this asshat gets to decide on taking our rights away for us.
• Continuing the glorious Republican tradition of making things RE-illegal (Michele Bachmann’s ban on gay marriages, NC’s amendment 1, etc.), Florida’s Ballot Initiative 6, up for vote in 2012, would roll back a woman’s right to privacy to “end public funding of abortions” (…which was taken care of 3 DECADES ago).
• Georgia passed the infamous “women as livestock” law based on the completely-false-only-supported-by-not-even-God-because-it’s-definitely-not-in-the-Bible notion that fetuses can feel pain at 20 weeks. Because if farmers have to “deliver calves, dead or alive” why shouldn’t broodmare-women have to do the same? This bill provides NO exclusions for rape, incest, or a woman’s emotional or mental condition. Suck it up, bitch, and birth that dead baby.
• Kansas is waiting on their Senate for the “refusal clause” bill, which would allow doctors to LIE to women about birth defects and withhold cancer treatments for mothers in the interest of saving the fetus.
• Mississippi signed into law a bill that will in all likelihood put the last remaining abortion provider in the state out of business. Their reasoning? The clinic doesn’t have admitting privileges at a hospital. The reason they don’t have those privileges? Because they don’t refer enough cases to qualify. The clinic is literally being punished for not jeopardizing the lives of enough women. Pro-life enough for you?
• Missouri started all the shit with the Blunt Amendment, which would allow employers to play Russian Roulette with women's health care options. Despite the fact that the Supreme Court case Unemployment Division v. Smith already decided that religious beliefs do not preclude you from following an otherwise-legitimate law, these people really think their religious beliefs entitle them to completely ignore the 14th amendment. 
• On June 12, North Dakota will vote on a measure that gives employers the right to deny women birth control coverage for “religious reasons.” You know what’s not a choice? Ovarian cancer. You know what is a choice? Your ignorant religious beliefs. If they can deny us medical care for religious reasons, why can’t they deny us the right to vote for religious reasons? Oh right, they’re working on it.
• South Carolina passed a bill barring private insurers (yes, private) from covering abortions. How’s that for small government?
• South Dakota enacted a law requiring doctors to lie to women about the non-existent link between abortions and mental health issues. Fortunately, if you’re a Republican, scientific studies proving that there is no definite link between mental health issues and abortion can just be completely ignored.
• In Texas, Gov. Perry decided to exercise his states’ rights, y’all, to deny access to health care (not abortion services, just birth control, cancer screenings, etc. but really, let’s not split hairs…) for low-income women. I’ll say this again and again and again – NO FEDERAL MONEY IS USED TO FUND ABORTIONS – but Perry defunded the non-abortion-providing part of Planned Parenthood because he doesn’t like people who like things that he doesn’t like. So there.
• Utah just passed into law a 72 hour waiting period for abortions – the longest in the country. Because women are too stupid to a) know what an abortion is and b) make up their mind about it. Fortunately, we have the state to send us back to our rooms where we can sit and think about what dirty, immoral whores we are for wanting to access our Constitutional rights.
• Virginia managed to pass their medically-unnecessary pre-abortion ultrasound requirement, though those poor, idiotic ladies were thrown a bone and can “choose” not to have a transvaginal ultrasound. Does it bother anyone else that the state can run medical tests on us without our consent? Anyone? Bueller?
• Wisconsin rolled back their equal pay act, even though women currently earn 77 cents on the dollar to men. They also attempted to pass a bill recognizing "single parenthood" as a contributing factor of child abuse. Not too surprising, since they’re the home of Rep. Pridemore, who thinks women should just close their eyes and remember the good times while their husbands are beating them. Because nothing says family values than domestic violence and rape. 

In addition to this state-by-state fuckery, Congress has still not reauthorized the expired Violence Against Women Act, because Republicans truly believe that lesbian and transgendered women and Native American women are not the same as other women, and are not deserving of equal protection under the law.

And just for the fun of it, go ahead and re-read about the fact that Republicans want nothing to do with living children, and the fact that they want hungry school kids to pay for more tax breaks for the rich.

Is your not-quite-PC-even-if-you-shout-“economic issues!”-hatred-of-Obama still worth more than everything we stand to lose? Please, please consider the issues – particularly the ones most important to all women everywhere – before casting your vote this November. Because if the Republicans get their way, you may lose that right, too. 

Demonic possession

When they’re not coming after women, they’re going after gays. Everyone’s favorite Mr. Rogerian-esq crackpot Pat Robertson – not to be outdone by the raving lunacy Rush Limbaugh has perfected - claimed this week that homosexuality is a type of “demonic possession.”

I’m thinking little Patty Robertson must have stumbled into his mom and dad’s room at the wrong time once too often, because he has some seriously unhealthy conceptions about sex. I mean, if gay male sex is the most demonic, awful thing he can conceive of, maybe it’s time to start filtering all the animal/midget/weird-stuff-that-Im-even-too-naïve-to-know-about porn from Rush’s mailbox to his.

You want demonic possession, Patty? I’m sure we can find you some kinky shit.*

*Literally.

It never fails to boggle the mind that a country that has dealt with witch hunts and slavery and segregation and internment camps still can’t quite seem to learn from its mistakes. No, but, THIS time, they really deserve to be treated like second-class citizens…

Why can’t the Republican party exist on economic issues anymore? Have they just gotten really bad at math? If the total value of derivatives worldwide is estimated at well over a quadrillion dollars, and that bubble collapses… ah fuck it, blame the gays.

I feel like they must be using these tactics as a form of misdirection (“Transvaginally rape the women! Steal all the pills!” and “Our sons will become tutu-wearing sissies! Stop the gays!”) But for what? What don’t they want us to see?

We’re on to you, Republicans. We don’t know exactly what your shenanigans are yet, but we know they probably involve private yachts, sweater vests and choir boys. You sick bastards. 

Domestic terrorism

Domestic terrorism doesn’t get talked about a lot. Maybe because we like to think it doesn’t happen? Maybe because it’s easier to fear an enemy you can recognize: one with darker skin and a turban.

But it happens every day in this country, and every woman is a victim.

Sure, to some extent I fear walking down into a metro station and having it explode around my ears, or walking into the wrong building at the wrong time. But you know what I fear more? The acts of terrorism I can’t see, and the ones my government not only won’t stop, but actively supports.

According to the FBI's Terrorist Research and Analytical Center, domestic terrorism is "the unlawful use of force or violence, committed by a group(s) of two or more individuals, against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.”

The attempt to coerce a segment of the population, namely women, to not seek a potentially-life saving, legal medical procedure, because of religious beliefs, using the force of Congressional power and legislation, is an act of terrorism. And not only is no one stopping it, the Republicans are actively engaging in and encouraging it.

Every time a “lone activist” firebombs a pro-choice Senator’s office door, or kills an abortion provider, or pickets a Planned Parenthood clinic, or tells me Jesus loves me, even though she thinks I’m a whore for getting an annual preventive screening exam, they are all working in concert toward a larger, more violent and hateful agenda.

An agenda that marginalizes women and makes their bodies property of the state, and their lives an afterthought to the professed religious ranting of right-wing Christian extremists.

The fact that we are forced to have this discussion, over and over again, is testament to the fact that women are not, and never have been, truly considered equals in this country. The very fact that our government condones this vicious, hostile attack against us every day – by individuals, by religious factions, by politicians – jeopardizes our health, our safety, our futures.

Whether you believe in abortion or not, the individual decision another makes is not yours, nor will it ever be.

Allowing access to abortion and birth control is not a personal affront to anyone’s religion, and any rhetoric that seeks to distort the truth and make a woman’s right to access and obtain health care a religious offense is a subtle yet diabolical attempt to undermine everyone’s right to exist as a free and autonomous individual.

We need to change the conversation. We need to let politicians and religious bigots and misogynists and the apathetic masses who really think my birth control personally offends them know that this discussion is over, and that this course of action against us is not okay.

You do not have the right to banter about my rights as if they were just another set of disposable golf balls at your country club. My freedom, my health care and my rights are no longer up for debate.