Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

Something that consistently surprises me about IAM is that even here there are deep undercurrents of bigotry, split primarily between the white power hardcore scene and anti-gay Christians. I've clashed with both, but currently the clash is with the latter since I'm not willing to accept the idea that God so despises homosexuals that they deserve an eternity of suffering. Nor am I willing to quietly stand aside as people blabber out the lie that the Bible backs up this extreme homophobia.

How many people have died or live in deep depression because they've spent their lives being told that their very existence is an abomination? There is nothing more despicable than the homophobe that hides behind the Word, that claims to love gays while at the same time warning them of the eternal suffering that awaits them — “hate the sin, love the sinner” just doesn't fly when “the sin” is the very nature of the person being denounced. You can not separate the two.

So now my email and IM box is full of threats of physical violence toward myself and my family from so-called “Christians”, as well as promises from people to leave IAM because they feel their rights are being trampled since they're not being allowed to have their bigotry lurking in the shadows. You know what? Good riddance. If you have a problem with gays, or with blacks, or with people with curley hair, please do remove yourself. You're not wanted here.

Jesus (whether he is mythological or real) was an anarchist, a bisexual (which helps explain his understanding of persecution as well), a drunkard, and a pothead who preached love for all and whose best friends in this world included sex workers. That said, my claims here are debatable of course and you can easily come up with scripture that claims the exact opposite — such is the deeply contradictory nature of the Bible. With careful quoting, you can make it support or denounce nearly anything.

SOURCE: DETAILS MAGAZINE, MARCH 2004

I've written on this in the past, but let's look at it logically for a moment. At this point we know that homosexuality is completely natural and significantly biological in nature, and also exists in animal societies at all levels — and even if you dispute that, gays don't harm anyone by that nature. So if you're a Christian, ultimately you do need to accept that gays are very much an apparently innocuous part of God's creation (or at a minimum are just living life the way they were born in a loving fashion and not hurting anyone in the process). It is my sincere belief that an open hearted reading of the Bible completely supports gay rights and completely accepts loving homosexuality.

However, not all people read the Bible with an open heart and come to a very different conclusion (although it's interesting to watch as they pick and choose scripture to support their sociocultural prejudices, and ignore or re-interpret scripture which denounces their own sins). I'd like to point out the obvious about a God who sentences his children to eternal suffering for living their lives as he forced them through their very nature to do — such a God is fundamentally cruel. I find it quite heartbreaking that people are willing to embrace a God that is the definition of evil… surely that can not be right?

Anyway, if the above attitude leads Conservative “Christians” (this entry is about bigots, not about true Christians) to leave IAM in protest, good. Go. You're not welcome here with those attitudes. If you want to believe this is some Satanic or humanist plot against your holy mission to rid the earth of the queer menace, keep on sending me death threats and promises to do everything you can to have BME shut down, fine, but you're really just making my point with your actions.