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Tuesday, September 6, 2005

“A City with Broken Walls"

"He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.” -- Proverbs 25:25-28

Quotations of the Day

"You never saw a very busy person who was unhappy."

"It is only those whose eyes have been washed clear with tears who get the broad vision that makes them brothers and sisters to all the world.”

"For in all the world there are no people so piteous and forlorn as those who are forced to eat the bitter bread of dependency in their old age, and find how steep are the stairs of another man's house. Wherever they go they know themselves unwelcome. Wherever they are, they feel themselves a burden. There is no humiliation of the spirit they are not forced to endure. Their hearts are scarred all over with the stabs from cruel and callous speeches.” -- Maine’s own Dorothy Dix

MARKER AT INDEPENDENCE HALL HONORS GAY RIOT

How mainstream is the gay rights movement? Despite widespread opposition among the public, the homosexual rights movement enjoys great favor among the ruling liberal elite, enough so to have earned a marker a few yards away from Independence Hall. Done in the same style as the signs which mark the nearby Liberty Bell and the Betsy Ross House, the sign praises the homosexual rights movement in the following terms: “Gay rights demonstrations July 4, 1965 – 1969. Annual demonstrations were held for gay and lesbian equality. These peaceful protests and New York’s Stonewall Riots in 1969 and Pride Parade in 1970 transformed a small national campaign into a civil rights movement.”

It is hard to understand why the ruling liberal elites are willing to put the Stonewall Riots on a par with Independence Hall, where both the Declaration of Independence was signed and the Constitution was drafted, and the final version of the American flag was approved. The Stonewall Riots took place after New York City police, after a decade-long willingness to turn a blind eye to homosexual activity, entered a “gay” bar in Greenwich Village which featured scantily-clad gay “go-go” dancers, and which also had ties to organized crime. No raids had been conducted for several years before the Stonewall Riots, and this time the homosexual patrons refused to be arrested quietly. The riot started when a transsexual male threw a bottle at a police officer after being prodded by a nightstick. The altercation spilled over into the street, as patrons of other gay bars came to the aid of those being arrested. Meanwhile, irate gays tired to set fire to the bar in Stonewall Inn, but failed.  Passer-bys who were perceived to have a heterosexual sexual orientation were pulled into the bars by the hair and beaten. All told, approximately two thousand gays went on a rampage that night. One explanation given for the riot was that the funeral of Judy Garland had taken place the week before, and many in the gay community were still upset over her death.

It is an irony of our time that such great historical figures as Washington and Jefferson are reviled in the liberal media, while the perpetrators of the Stonewall Riot deserve mention only a few yards away from Independence Hall. But to each his own.  (Photo courtesy of repentamerica.com)

GAY PRIDE CELEBRATION IN NEW ORLEANS CANCELLED

By an odd coincidence - and it was perhaps no more than a coincidence - an enormous gay rights celebration was scheduled for New Orleans just as the worst natural disaster ever to strike our nation was venting its full fury on that helpless city. Over 150,000 homosexuals were expected to attend the event this year, and as in past years, the French Quarter was to be filled with party-goers, many of them roaming the streets at night and committing lewd acts in public.  Last year, a video tape of the drunken revelers committing sex acts in public was sent to Mayor Nagin and the City Council, but the city fathers of New Orleans, in their concern for the economic future of New Orleans and the tourist dollars that the event would bring in, once again issued official proclamations welcoming the organization. The event was scheduled for Wednesday August 31st, when the destructive force of the natural disaster was at its peak. The organization is called, appropriately enough, Southern Decadence.  

ARE RELIGIOUS CONSERVATIVES GAINING INFLUENCE?

The Portland Press Herald is reporting that conservative Christians now have more political influence in Maine than their liberal counterparts. In a column published Saturday, reporter Paul Carrier states that the Christian Civic League “has a much higher profile on the issue than the Maine Council of Churches,” and that experts say the Religious Right “is savvier and more passionate in expressing their views.”  Carrier offers many explanations why liberal churches are lagging behind. One possible explanation is that there is a variety of views in the liberal denominations with regard to the matter of homosexuality, and that liberal clergymen are reluctant to invite opposition among their church members over the issue. Another explanation is that the liberal message is “nuanced” and is therefore more difficult to get across than the black-and-white message of the religious conservatives.

Nonetheless, it is difficult to see how religious conservatives are more influential in politics then their liberal counterparts. Liberal churchmen are able to form broad coalitions with left-leaning groups such as the Maine Civil Liberties Union and to network with many other similar organizations.  In reality, their power in society is enormous. For example, although the Portland Press Herald quoted Tom Ewell, Executive Director of the Maine Council of Churches, as saying that the Maine Council of Churches will not play as prominent a role in the debate over gay rights as the Christian Civic League, the paper failed to mention that Ewell is also on the Board of Directors of the Maine Chapter of the United Nations Association. Another board member of that same organization is Victoria Mares-Hershey, whose columns frequently appear on the editorial pages of the Portland Press Herald. Any claim that the Religious Left in Maine is lacking in political influence must be taken with a grain of salt.