Comments

1
(Shudder) What a revoltin' development.
2
wooooaaaa. woooaaa. shit. woowwwww. it IS the washington post,after all, but i still can't believe they printed that crap.it made my skin crawl. like in a horror movie.
3
If I were editing that as a paper, it would be covered with "does not follow," "contradiction," "unsupported-cite reference." Jeez, a 10 year old could pick out the inconsistencies: "It's wrong to bully," followed by "we can't tolerate homosexuality." Icing on the cake: Suggesting that bullies come from houses without a mother and a father--is he speaking to the gay parents, or single mothers like mine? Asshole.
4
Harwood is a right-wing tool . . . always has been.
5
While that editorial from TP is a giant pile of pooh, as you'd expect, the comments section is fantastic. Commenter after commenter rips him apart.

Way to go WaPo readers!
6
Looks like Christians and non-Christians alike are debating and debunking the article in the comments section there. Many large and powerful denominations are on the forefront of LGBT equality and rights, like my own - The United Church of Christ. We DO jump in when we see the opening.
7
and this proves your point how dan?
because a couple of twits wrote an opinion piece on the washington post?
oh, so i guess those two people speak for everyone? got it, you sure are smart.

8
How I loathe everything Tony Perkins stands for. He lives here in Louisiana, and is on TV with commercials for this conservative Christian cause or that one just about every day (purity balls, respect life banquets, etc.). I had originally written that he is an awful person, but I can't bring myself to post that. What I will say is that his views are a perversion of the Gospel.

But, like Jaymz @6, my own denomination, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has been mostly speaking out against this kind of crap.
9
@2: Love how the SLOG server software interpreted crap.it !
10
The Post decided to publish that nasty screed on National Coming Out Day? Classy.
11
Done - I told WaPo that I'm Christian and that column doesn't have anything reflecting Jesus' teachings in it at all.

Fuck Tony Perkins. I know being a Christian I shouldn't say that, but I'll say it anyway. Fuck people who use a cultural tradition that's about love to preach a message of hate.
12
Every time someone uses the phrase 'homosexual agenda' with a straight face they forfeit their rights to oxygen
13
hey yeah @9, you are right, it was just a typo! weird!
14
So, is Tony Perkins arguing that just by being homosexual, you're predisposed to depression and mental illness?

I'd have thought that his argument would have been that people CHOOSE to be depressed or mentally ill.

Or maybe that IS his argument... I shouldn't, after all, expect his evil to be bound by any sort of consistent logic.
15
Keep up the good work with the "It Gets Better Project". You hurled light into darkness, evil hates light attempts to extinguish it will be fierce. IGBP is helping. And, I wish that it could have made a difference for Zach Harrington, 19-years-old of Oklahoma. It broke my heart to read about him this morning. Perhaps it broke your's harder than it broke mine? It is hard to read that WaPo has allowed such an un-compassionate, unethical, and immoral individual be given a voice. Especially, in light learning that we've lost another child.

Vent away, Dan. Give voice to your frustration and grief and then put your head down and get back to work. Never allow evil to rob you of your hope, as your hope is the well of your endurance. And, running the race provides inspiration for others to live and stay in the race. The road of justice is hard, it's easy to say that one feels bad, it's much harder to change the situation that nourishes the victimization. Justice is offensive to most, because they don't want to change and they are offended. Keep up the good work.
16
Amen ! Until the "true" Christians start speaking out against the "fake" Christians (like Tony Perkins) then they're just as guilty as far as I'm concerned. Besides, the Pope himself is the biggest homophobic bully, so the shit starts at the top and trickles down.
The Christians are looking more and more like Islamic extremists every day...
17
Publishing garbage like this on Coming Out Day... Stay classy, Washington Post!
18
@12 - Tony Perkins has never said anything in his life with a straight face. He just uses that same old face he always uses.
19
Having nothing better to do today, I took the time to review all of the comments on the WaPo article. I expected to see at least a few comments in support of Perkins. There weren't any. Not ONE fucking comment in support of his views. Doesn't that say something?

Like the Phelps clan and WBC, I think Perkins thrives on the media attention and outrage his ignorant rhetoric creates.
20
Welcome to The New Christian Inquisition!
21
@14: Yeah, homosexuals are predisposed to suffer from depression the same way that Jews used to be predisposed to death from Zyklon B inhalation.
22
The comments are great. I encourage everyone who cares to comment to comment another way - with a letter sent to the editor - letters@washpost.com.
23
@19 - Thanks for doing that. I'm heartened by the overwhelming denouncement in the comments but we all know there is an accepting audience, even if silent in this case. We must remain dilligent - whack-a-mole style.
24
@19 I, too, was very moved while reading the comments. Everyone is calling out that article for the poison vomit it really is. Since that is probably due in part to Dan sending SLOG readers there, I have to say thanks to Dan for this post! I commented.
25
@2 I'm surprised to see this in the Washington *Post*. If it were in the Washington *Times* it'd be par for the course.
26
I really liked Tony Perkins in Psycho and The Black Hole. Too bad he turned into such a douchebag.

"I suspect that few, if any, such bullies are people who regularly attend church, and I would not be surprised if most of the "bullies" did not have the positive benefit of both an active mom and dad in their lives."

That is just begging for a serious round of fact-checking.
27
@7 (Taco42),

You don't get it. Dan's not "making a point." He's telling non-bigoted Christians to argue with bigoted ones.

I remember a story from somewhere that took place in the 60's. A black man was being harassed on a bus. It was unjust and scary. He ended up doing what the harasser was trying to bully him into doing -- change his seat, I think. Anyway, at his stop, he got off the bus along with a couple of white people. A white guy said to the black man, "Hey, I was with you all the way, man, that guy was an asshole." Why was the white guy talking to the black man _after_ they got off the bus? Obviously he hadn't had the courage to stand up and speak to the bully. But that's exactly what he should have done!

Similar thing here. Christian bigots need to hear from cool Christians, much much more than Dan does.
28
The comments restored my failth in humanity.
29
I though Tony Perkins was great in 'Psycho'
30
Dang. 26 beat me to it.
31
I can't wait til Perkins gets caught with a luggage lifter.
32
Dan- I read your original 10/1 letter of the week linked by Andrew and these latest ones. The letter-writer was correct, you are painting billions of people with the same brush and that is not fair.

I'm gay and Catholic. Tony Perkins definitely doesn't speak for me, or even all Protestant Christians, or even all in his own denomination. What he wrote is full of ignorance.

But you (and many readers here) are letting your own atheism and left-wing extremism get the better of you.

Not even 25 years ago most gays were against same-sex marriage. I believe Michelangelo Signorile was one of the loudest antagonists for not "copying the hetero lifestyle". But now you and others act like all gays and lesbians have been fighting for this right for as long as the racial civil rights struggle.

We don't want others using extremists among ourselves to represent all gays and lesbians (like "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence" or the fisting or scat set). You have also preached against those who distrust Islam to not treat all Muslims as anti-democratic terrorists. So can we please stop with the Christian bashing?
33
You know what? Every time Tony Perkins or one of the Phelps clan get media attention, *we* get support. They're their own worst enemies. Where are Carl Paladino's poll numbers? In the gutter. They're on the losing side.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't refute them, but I can't help thinking that the reasone why "left-leaning" papers like the Washington Post or the LA Times print Op-Ed pieces like this is to show their readership how idiotic and repulsive these people are.
34
I actually think that was very well written.
The only flaw is the correlation/causation error in assuming that homosexuality causes promiscuity, STD's, substance abuse, depression, and domestic violence. There is an association, but no proof of causation, thus those who are against STD's, depression, and violence (should be everyone I hope) do not have to stand against homosexuality as he seems to imply.
35
Jesus Christ, Andy, that's the only sentence in the entire fucking article that actually made any sense at all. Your reading comprehension is for shit. And no, he didn't say homosexuality "causes" anything; he said homosexuals are promiscuous, have higher rates or depression, STDs, yada yada yada, and that's actually all quite true and documentable.
36
So why do homosexuals in the Netherlands also kill themselves?
37
Done, Dan. And I'm also engaged in dialogue with Focus on the Family about their stupid "anti-bullying is part of the gay agenda" comments. Love "It Get's Better"
38
Love your neighbor as you love your self?!? Well I know you're rubbing them out at least once in a while, so does that mean you'll rub your neighbors tool too?
All jokes aside, this isn't love, it's hate. Pure and simple. How sad. I'm pretty sure it makes the baby Jesus cry too!
On the positive side this is really bringing the battle to a boil and we should see a shift soon!
39
Done. Thank you for encouraging me to be more open with my beliefs. As a Christian, it's easy to be quiet and let the majority speak for you. It's, obviously, no longer okay to be complacent...scratch that, it was never okay. I just didn't have my eyes open. Now I do.

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.