I can't even with this...
Though the circumstances of this individual's behaviors are abhorrent, there is an issue beyond child molestation here that I feel should be addressed: we see story after story of anti-gay crusaders being outed for serious, deep-seated, bigoted and often even dangerous behaviors.
On the tame end, we find church pastors who tout anti-gay rhetoric and warn of the dangers of same-sex marriage damaging the core of American family values only to discover... they're gay. These individuals have so deeply internalized the social stigma and shame script that their self-hatred has been projected onto others. They condemn the gay community, those who are proud and open, those who accept and love themselves enough to love whom they choose because they can't face the reality that they lack the courage to do so themselves. In these cases, though they are pitiable, I don't pity them. I only wish they could find the courage to be true to themselves and to stop placing road blocks for others.
But it gets worse. Just yesterday, anti-gay pastor Rev. Matthew Makela was discovered soliciting casual sex from men on Grindr. In and of itself, that's not an issue in my book. Do what you please with consent is all I ask. But a married father of five and the spiritual figure for an entire church community charging that the sanctity of marriage will be destroyed by same-sex partnering while trolling for ass on the internet? Problem.
And speaking of the sanctity of marriage, reports have surfaced that outspoken anti-gay rights and anti-gay marriage television host Bill O'Reilly brutalized his wife, choking her while dragging her down a flight of stairs in front of their daughter. Quite sanctimonious, Bill. Not to mention in his "religious" repulsion to same-sex coupling, Bill ignores the same scriptural aversion to divorce. Just sayin'. All sins equal in the eyes of God, right?
In 2006 evangelical anti-gay pastor Ted Haggard was outed for soliciting sexual services from male prostitutes and binging on crystal meth. In 2007 former Idaho senator Larry Craig was caught trying to solicit sexual services from an undercover officer at a Minneapolis airport. In 2012 Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu of Arizona, both anti-gay and anti-immigration, was outed by the testimony of his former boyfriend (identified only as "Jose") when he threatened him with deportation. In 2011 anti-gay New York Senator Karl Kruger plead guilty to corruption charges for using bribe money to update a Brooklyn mansion which he shared with his boyfriend Michael Turano. In 2010 George Rekers, a conversion therapist (which has been banned in increasingly more places and was openly condemned by the POTUS earlier this year) was caught returning from a European holiday with an escort he found on Rentboy.com. In 2010 Senator Roy Ashburn (R-Calif.) was arrested for drunk driving after leaving a gay nightclub. He attempted to back-peddle by saying his rampant anti-gay agenda was on behalf of the desire of his constituents. And just earlier this year, Angeline Jackson and a friend were ambushed at gunpoint and sexually assaulted on a wooded trail by anti-gay rapists who had posed as lesbians in an online chatroom. She was told she should "leave this lifestyle and go back to church." Uh huh.
Yes, so she can hopefully meet more upstanding pillars of the community like you.
And the list goes on.
Are you seeing a theme? I am.
If you really stop to think about it, why are all of these people so committed to the cause of denying rights to a population to which they don't belong (or in many cases DO)? Simple: they're hiding something. Sometimes that something is only perceived to be negative by them. Sometimes that something is morally reprehensible and dangerous.
I am a lead-by-example type of person. I believe in it. And so it is hard for me to grasp why people would get so worked up over something that does not affect their life in any way. The reasoning completely eludes me. If you don't agree with something that does no harm to others and has no impact whatsoever on your life, why do you spend so much time thinking about it and rallying against it? What is the point? If you don't agree with it, DON'T DO IT. It's really that simple. No need for hateful speech or actions or actively pursuing the denial of rights to an entire body of people for being a way you don't understand (and it is downright unconscionable for those who do understand and oppress anyway).
My two cents? People should be able to do whatever it is they want to do with their bodies and in their choices insofar as it doesn't impede on the rights or safety of others.
You do you.
And to those hate-spewing homophobic mouthpieces of violence? I can't hear what you're saying. Your actions are far too loud.
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