Did you hear the news? Nancy Pelosi wants you to have sex with your dog. And President Obama wants you to do it with your underage cousin for money. It’s all right there in the fine print of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Or at least the version the Traditional Values Coalition made up.
It’s no surprise, of course, that a bill that would make it illegal to fire someone just because he/she is gay is something TVC would not want to see passed. They are, after all, committed to portraying LGBT folks as depraved monsters. And so they’re going balls-out against ENDA.
On April 8, TVC pleaded for donations online by declaring that ENDA “normalizes and provides special federal protection for 30+ bizarre sexual orientations listed by the American Psychiatric Association — the so-called ‘Dirty 30.’ These 30+ fetishes include behaviors that are felonies or misdemeanors in most states (including) such bizarre criminal acts as incest, pedophilia, prostitution, beastiality and cross-dressing. If we don’t act today, Obama and Pelosi will normalize these disorders by federal law on April 21!”
I can see it now: TVC readers yelling, “Holy mackerel, honey, get the credit card! I knew Obama was the anti-Christ, but this is too horrible for words!”
And it would be. If any of it were true. TVC is blatantly lying about ENDA and took a quote by Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) completely out of context to get the federal protections for the “Dirty 30” bullshit.
According to TVC, “In a moment of candor, liberal Rep. Alcee Hastings openly admitted on the House floor that the ‘Dirty 30’ would be covered by federal law. In fact, he wants the Dirty 30 to be given special protection! In his own words: ‘all of these -philias and fetishes and -isms that were put forward — need not live in fear because of who they are.’”
TVC makes it sound like Hastings quite recently celebrated all the perverts who would get to be legally pervy once ENDA is passed. Not so.
In reality, the quote is from last year when Hastings read a proposed amendment to the hate-crimes bill out loud on the House floor. The amendment included a slew of sexual “-isms” and such, including old standbys like pedophilia and incest, as well as lesser-knowns like gerontosexuality and autogynephilia. Hastings was by no means endorsing the list, as TVC claims. He was, in fact, pissed off about the amendment and wanted to enter the ridiculousness of it into the record.
What he actually said was, “This bill addresses our resolve to end violence based on prejudice, and to guarantee that all Americans, regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability — or all of these -philias and fetishes and -isms that were put forward — need not live in fear because of who they are.”
Granted some of the “-philias and fetishes and -isms that were put forward” are illegal. And should be illegal. Hastings may be guilty of clumsy speech. But he didn’t advocate for protecting child molesters.
But that’s all LGBT folks are to groups like TVC. And they want their members to be scared shitless that some tranny child rapist is going to teach their son or daughter’s kindergarten class once ENDA passes.
“If Obama, Pelosi, Hastings and the Congressional Democrats pass ENDA, coworkers will be forced to work alongside individuals with these bizarre sex fetishes,” TVC claims.
Look, TVC folks, sex fetishes aren’t necessarily “bizarre” and they aren’t limited to homos. You are probably already working with these people. And some of them even go to your church.
D’Anne Witkowski is a Detroit-based freelance writer and poet.