Monday, February 20, 2012

Student Attacked for Writing Pro-Gay Article

This is particularly troubling because it didn't happen in middle-school.  It wasn't high-school.  This happened on a college campus!  Destinie Mogg-Barkalow, a student journalist at Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, wrote a pro-gay article about Proposition 8: "Prop 8 Generates More Hate".  And, for this, she was attacked on campus.  Apparently, the young lady who punched Destinie doesn't agree with same-sex marriage. That's tolerable.  Using violence for any reason isn't.

For the record, her article, "Prop 8 Generates More Hate", is very well written and makes valid points.  Nothing inflammatory.  Just the same, points and questions many of us have been thinking, saying, and asking all along...just with Destinie's point-of-view.  And, for that, she was attacked.

The level of intolerance in this case is incredible.  Incredible, but not necessarily surprising.  See, one thing I've been saying since even before the blog is that the rhetoric from "the other side" is extremely dangerous.  It's inflammatory by design.  It's used to rile up their base, their followers.  The problem with that is it leads to violence.  There will always be someone amongst their minions who will feel it their duty to take the message of hate and intolerance that they've been hearing to the next level.  "I'm gonna take matters in my own hand."  Or, worse, "I'm doing God's will".  And, that's when a young college student/journalist, who voices her opinion in the school newspaper, gets attacked.  That's when LGBT teens get attacked at middle- and high-school.  The message that has been ingrained in them, from their "religious" leaders and parents is that if it goes against their religious belief, then it's abhorrent and a threat to their very existence.  What we end up with then is hatred in the name of God.  And, THAT'S a sin!  Worse:  it's blasphemous.  Anything on the other side of their door of acceptance is a threat to their very existence and is to be hated. 

It is completely ok to believe in what you believe in.  That's everyone's right under the U.S. Constitution.  Theoretically, at least.  It is absolutely NEVER ok for anyone to force their religious beliefs down another person's throat.  Whatever happened to freedom of religion?  Who says that your religion is the only one with "the right answers"?  Who are you to decide who's condemned to Hell, or not, in accordance to your religious beliefs?  Why do we, as a people, continue to put religious fanatics in political power and then complain when they start attempting to legislate their religious beliefs?  "The Other Side" likes to tout that they're against the government interfering in people's lives.  Really?  Then, why are they so passionately concerned about who loves whom, or who marries whom?  Why is their focus so acutely attuned to the same-sex marriage issue when we have an economy in shambles, unacceptable unemployment rates, people homeless and hungry.  One would think that those things would be more important for them to focus on rather than who's loving whom.

Destinie should've never been attacked.  She wrote an excellent op-ed piece about something she felt passionate about.  Freedom of speech.  But, because their opinions obviously didn't match, some girl decided to attack Destinie for voicing her opinion.  The case is being investigated as a hate crime.  As well it should.

15 comments:

  1. It's the heroes like Destinie who are using their gift of an open mind and literacy to educate and change the minds of the ignoramuses like the person who attacked her.

    People choose to learn.

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  2. Is Destinie ok? An update would be nice when available, thanks

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    1. Agreed. And I hope she has people in her college that will stand with her and support her. I know I do.

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  3. Wow. That's just obnoxious! We might as well go back to medieval times and kill everyone who doesn't agree with us!

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  4. Can you post a link to the article she wrote?

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    1. The link to her article is in the body, twice, of this blog entry: "Prop 8 Generates More Hate".

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  5. Unfortunately, the ultra-conservative and/or religiously brainwashed folks categorize so many things as 'bad' and 'evil' that they work themselves up much more than those with liberal attitudes. And they are often closeminded, obstinate and too forceful; the fundamentalist, ultra-right types actually DO want liberals to be forced to shut up and put up with the more staid and 'sensible' beliefs of the far right.

    Do liberals ever attack far right supporters, kill them for not allowing selected abortions, and things like that, or am I being prejudiced?

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  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  7. You should check out Rolling Stone's article

    http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/one-towns-war-on-gay-teens-20120202.

    Discrimination against another human being for any reason is wrong. This is the 21st century. After all this time, why can people not understand that unwarranted hate is the cause of most of our problems as a society?

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    1. Read it and wrote about it here. Great article! It caused ripples in Minnesota, which is a good thing!

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  8. Thanks for speaking out on this and related issues. Now is the time, if ever there was a time, to speak the truth without flinching and without backing down. The "religious right" (of which I used to be a part) has morphed into a hate machine looking only for power. The god they say they serve is power and control, not the God who reigns on high and says, in the words of Jesus Christ, "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." Luke 6:32-35. That is the standard of love that needs to be held before the eyes of anyone who "hates in the name of God." Carol A Ranney

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  9. There isn't enough to be said about how terrible we treat each other as humans! What about hate does God have to do with? For God so hated the world!? No he loves each and everyone! Stop blaming God for your own issues!

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  10. We've been going backwards ever since the emergence of HIV.

    After all, people still use the word "faggot" as if it isn't something repulsive.

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  11. "be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss

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  12. One has to wonder if a lot if it isn't to distract us from their part in crashing the economy, raping the ecosystem, and crushing our personal rights.

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