Slog: News & Arts

RSS icon Comments on O They Will Know We Are Conservative Christians By Our...

1

Please don't call this manipulative, predatory, fraud a closet case.

He (allegedly, of course) used his position to take advantage of vulnerable people. Let the closet remain a safe place for the vulnerable to hide until they can come out on their own and claim an identity.

Giving a shithead like Brock (or Ted Haggard) the excuse of being closeted makes them sound like the victims.

They are not the victims. They are adults that chose to live fraudulent lives for personal gain.

Posted by patrick | April 5, 2007 7:33 AM
2
Posted by Dan Savage | April 5, 2007 7:38 AM
3

You don't even have sympathy for the teenage closet cases - or older - that live somewhere between the gay ghettos of the west coast and the east coast?

SF isn't an entirely safe place, but it is much safer than Kansas...or Florida for that matter (see recent gay murder victim post at Pam's blend).

LGBT people gain nothing by claiming Brock as a companion.

P.S. Your link didn't work..

Posted by patrick | April 5, 2007 7:59 AM
4

Sorry, Patrick, let me be clear: no sympathy for adult-to-middle-aged closet cases. Read the Advocate piece I wrote, link above. (And it works from my computer.)

And gay ghettos don't just exist on the coasts. Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis, Madison, Nashville, Cleveland, Kansas City, New Orleans, Austin have large, active gay communities. Even Salt Lake Fucking City is a pretty decent place to be gay. (And has a kick-ass Dem mayor.)

The idea that we're only safe in SF or NYC, and that anyone who grows up more than ten miles from the Atlantic or the Pacific oceans is isolated from and ignorant of other gay people, is very four decades ago.

Posted by Dan Savage | April 5, 2007 8:08 AM
5

The link works now...sorry.

West is a good example, but not the same as someone like Brock. They certainly are both are frauds - liars, predators and cowards.

That is not how I acted when I was trying to figure out how to live as a non-hetero in Buffalo NY. I was terrified about how people would react to my queerness. I stayed in the closet until I built a network of friends that I felt safe with.

West, Brock and Haggard should not be granted homo papers until hetero predators are receive just as much scrutiny for their sexual identity.

Posted by patrick | April 5, 2007 8:11 AM
6

Now I hear that Michael Jackson has been ordained as a Catholic priest. It seems the seminary was not necessary since he already passed the preliminaries.

Posted by Eric C. | April 5, 2007 8:41 AM
7

Of the ghettos you list, all but two of them are in states that amended their constitution. The other two have a DOMA.

Marriage rights aren't thoroughly indicative of safety, but they do indicate a strong presence of animosity toward LGBT people. Enough to make one have to think twice about whether or not they are risking their life - like the 72 yr old man in Detroit - when deciding to proclaim a gay identity.

If I felt vulnerable I would not want to be categorized with Brock, West and Haggard because I lived in a closet.

Posted by patrick | April 5, 2007 8:42 AM
8

Well, you might not want to be categorized with Brock, West, and Haggard, but that's how I would categorize you regardless. Cowardice is cowardice. You can risk losing your life now by coming out -- it's a much smaller risk now, thanks to people who came out decades ago, when the risk was so much greater -- or you can ensure the loss of your life by staying in the closet.

Posted by Dan Savage | April 5, 2007 8:56 AM
9

patrick, that is simply not true. there are many cities in otherwise unfriendly states where it is quite okay being gay. i went to college in greenville, south carolina, and my boyfriend and i could walk down the street holding hands, kiss goodbye, whatever, and be perfectly safe.

Posted by konstantconsumer | April 5, 2007 9:44 AM
10

I think it is a mistake to live in the closet. But for most people, it is a mistake I feel they are free to make. Living in the closet is living a horrible lie in exchange for the illusion of personal safety and job security. But if you are willing to make that trade, fine. Living that lie is extremely corrosive to your psyche, but being afraid for your job or your safety can be corrosive too.

But I totally draw the line at West, Brock, and Haggard. I have no sympathy for at all. I wish them dead. Seriously.

They didn't simply stay in the closet. They went out of their way to ruin the lives of other gay people. They weren't simply living a lie that harmed no one but themselves, they were powerful and dangerous hypocrites. West's political advocacy against any sort of gay rights is what gave power to the principal of Dan's boyfriend to ignore the abuse. Given the size of Haggard's church and his influence in the evangelical movement, and his extremist views, I have no doubt that he directly caused numerous gay teenagers to commit suicide. Probably scores of gay kids were tossed from their homes, their parents thinking Haggard's brand of religion was more important than their kids. Hundreds, probably thousands of people were simply guilted into the closet by his words.

So fuck Haggard. I haven't the slightest bit of sympathy for him at all. I'm glad Jim West is dead. Haggard and Brock deserve every ounce of bad karma they have coming to them.

If you want to stay in the closet, fine. It's your life. So long as you don't harm anyone besides yourself, I don't care. But hypocrites like West, Haggard, Foley, Brock, and their ilk, who do great harm to others, should be aggressively outed and exposed for the dangerous hypocrites they are.

Posted by SDA in SEA | April 5, 2007 9:49 AM
11

I agree with SDA. True, I "ensure the loss of my life" by remaining in the closet, but I believe the Haggards & Wests of the world take it a huge step farther & affect the lives of a great many.

I agree that I don't deserve any sympathy the way the closet guys in Dan's piece did, but to put me in the same catagory as Haggard et al is unfair. Cowardice is Cowardice, but it is a different thing entirely to go out and bash gays.

Posted by Closet | April 5, 2007 11:29 AM
12

Christians are all sex perverts. It makes me sad that a so called "religion" is nothing more than a haven for criminals. In Israel these people would be in jail. Jews never commit sex crimes for some reason.

Posted by Shoshana | April 5, 2007 1:10 PM
13

Shoshana--what? Jews definitely commit sex crimes. They're subject to the same human transgressions and tragedies as everyone else. I hope that was a troll statement.

Posted by A Jew | April 5, 2007 3:43 PM
14

When I was in high school in Everett a bunch of my friends people attended what is now the north campus of the Christian Faith Center. The pastors embezzled an insane amount of money and were eventually brought to trial about it. I remember one of my friends, who was given a partial scholarship to college because of football, talking to one of the pastors about what he should do with his life. The pastor said that he didn't need to go to college, that God would help him find his path, and that the money he would've spent on college would be better served being put into the church. The pastor and his wife both drove brand new Audis, and my friend now sits at home playing world of warcraft everyday.
I have a feeling he would've found a better path playing football in college.

Posted by Carly D | April 5, 2007 4:05 PM
15

When I was in high school in Everett a bunch of my friends people attended what is now the north campus of the Christian Faith Center. The pastors embezzled an insane amount of money and were eventually brought to trial about it. I remember one of my friends, who was given a partial scholarship to college because of football, talking to one of the pastors about what he should do with his life. The pastor said that he didn't need to go to college, that God would help him find his path, and that the money he would've spent on college would be better served being put into the church. The pastor and his wife both drove brand new Audis, and my friend now sits at home playing world of warcraft everyday.
I have a feeling he would've found a better path playing football in college.

Posted by Carly D | April 5, 2007 4:05 PM
16

Any institution or organization that allows people to gain power also allows them to use that power in a corrupt way.

The reason that it is so nasty to find that in the church is because they supposedly hold themselves to stricter moral codes. But it's like the adage says--"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." The more power, money and prestige one has access to, the greater the temptation to succumb to it, and the worse the fall.

I am never surprised to hear things like this, though I am always saddened.

Posted by JunieGirl | April 7, 2007 12:09 PM

Comments Closed

In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 45 days old).