1 Peter 5:8
PATRICKFILLION
Religious liberty is a vague term that leads you to think the hungry are being fed, those experiencing homelessness are being housed, and all of the world’s problems are being solved. In reality, the billionaires, celebrities, and politicians in the network of conservative Christians use their platforms to advance a skewed agenda. The truth is they fight against women’s right to choose and resist any recognition of the LGBTQ+ community as equals in the eyes of the law.Nick remains an outspoken critic of the queer community, so I knew he wouldn’t be supportive of my sexuality, but I had no clue as to the mess that would follow. Since I left, he has cut all ties with me as well as my family’s charity. The only exception was a boat my family had been storing at a relative’s house on Nick’s behalf, which he chose to donate to Extreme Mobility Camps in late 2017 after we asked if he could find a more permanent location or else he'd need to pay to park it there.I have no respect for LGBTQ+ people who work with homophobic church personalities and then complain about being shunned. When these people reveal that they hav been fired from their jobs, have lost all their contacts and social networking is not possible anymore for them, I am kind of surprised. They were literally sleeping with the enemy. I feel like rolling my eyes so hard I'm afraid I'll fall asleep.
I lived for two years with a man who was a choir director for a homophobic church in West Virginia. He lived in fear he’d be outed and that he’d lose his job. He was (is, I guess) a good musician and played the piano very nicely. I cannot tell you if he was a great pianist because I can barely play chopsticks on the piano, but I think he was very good at his job.
After we broke up, he was still working for homophobic churches, and I could have never explain that. It sounds anathema to me, working for someone who hates who I am and considers every opportunity they have to hit me and deprive me form the most essential rights. I cannot understand it.
We all hear the stories of the fantastic teacher, who was kicked out of this or that religious school once she got married, or the great guy who suddenly was kicked off his job with this or that religious institution once his social media posts outed him. The tiniest violin plays in the background and I just shake my head.
I know many people gets raised in the faith (Abrahamic or any other) and it’s difficult to get rid of it. You can take the gay person out of the religion but you cannot take the religion out of the gay person? I really cannot understand it.
So when I was reading about Brandon and his trials and tribulations with Nick Vujicic and his losing all standing in the middle of a con, I was shaking my head. What did he expect? Vuijic is running a business, using his disability status to drum up support -and money- from idiots like Brandon. Vuijick does not practice what he preaches. The whole anti-bullying message is just a cover for his goal: more brainwashing and power. Power. That's what the religulous crave.
So, no. No sympathy for the devil that he knew. more like a nagging sensation of malaise because Brandon is not the first man who complains about being booted from their job working for homophobes and he will not be the last. There's always the delusional fag who thinks he's special.
Well, at least I got to post about the devil...
XOXO
P.S. you should read DEBUNKINGXTIANITY. So much fun.
I can understand the conundrum your boyfriend and many teachers face in the choice of their employers. And I can understand the enormous stress they must endure should their sexuality become known. If you’re a choir director or a teacher there are only so many jobs available. If you cannot find employment in a non-religious environment, you may have to go into the closet and accept a position in a religious institution. It’s not ideal, but you have to put food in the table. And hopefully at some point you can untangle yourself from the toxic situation.
ReplyDeleteAs for Brandon, he was getting himself in deeper and deeper. The devil continued to show himself and he was hoping for a better outcome. I know it may seem like I’m talking out of both sides of my mouth, but he needed to extract himself from that situation as soon as possible.
XOXO 👨❤️💋👨
Yes, bae. But it's their CHOICE. They choose to go work for the bigots even though they know that they'd be hated if discovered. I tie it to the closet, to internalized homophobia and to 'passing' as straight. I would have never gone to work at Judson, for example. Not even when I had to pick here and there for scraps, like when I finished college. It's a choice we make.
DeleteAnd Brandon gets the tiniest violin. He was getting his share of limelight and money. He liked that. Even though he knew that Vujicic is a fraud.
XOXO
organized religion is a mental illness.
ReplyDeleteOh, totally.
DeleteI've thought for a long time of the religulous as feeble-minded idiots.
XOXO
Amen, Anne Marie. If you are suckered into that world, sorry... you get what you deserve. They are all assholes... preying on the elderly, sucking up power and money. That is ALL it is about, no matter what they preach. It is about gaining privilege and power over those less privileged. You promise them something... eternal life (bah ha ha ha), future wealth, absolution (so they can continue doing shitty things). Whatever... it is a crock of lies. And this Nick... jeeze. Just proves people with disabilities can be assholes, too. But for those who CHOOSE to work and support such people... yeah. No sympathy. DO SOMETHING ELSE!
ReplyDeleteI know, right?
DeletePeople KNOW what they get themselves into. It's not that they're conned into belonging to any of those cults. I also think it's all about power and money. No taxes, no responsibilities, with a mythology ready to be exploited and sheeple who do not question anything.
And of course people with disabilities can be assholes too! Nick is as bad as Pat Robertson.
XOXO
To live and work for people who actively seek to keep you down while thumping a Bible as their reasoning is just heartbreaking. So many amazing LGBTQ people stay in churches and belief systems that hate them; hate them. But they're so blind to the hatred because ....god?
ReplyDeleteSame goes for Catholics who stay in a church that aids and abets child rape.
Ha, ha, ha! You said anathema! John,11:35: Jesus wept.
DeleteCan yo imagine?
DeleteLiterally sleeping with the enemy. By choice. I'm always amazed at the need people need have for a mythology that despises them.
Oh, don't get me started with the Catholics...!
XOXO
Ha, ha, ha! You said anathema! John,11:35: Jesus wept.
ReplyDelete@Bob: Sorry Bob. I meant to enter a new comment.
Conde!
DeleteSo good to read you. And yes, all those Xtianists would make Jesus weep. Whitewashed tombs, the lot of them.
XOXO
There was a gay man who was musical director for a number of shows I was in. His other paying gig was choir director for a church. He too worried they would find out he was gay and fire him. Then one day, he met a guy who convinced him that was ridiculous. Tell the church and if they don't like it they can fuck off. He did. They kept him on because everyone loved him. That kind of outcome is extremely rare.
ReplyDeleteReligions are cults. The Evangelicals are the worst. All they want is power and people's money - Joel Olsteen anyone? The idiot who just got caught with a woman with his pants open? See?? They just want you to be hoodwinked into sending money to pay for their mansions, private jets, and yachts that all come with full staffs to wait on their every whim.
Folks need to work, but.....at what cost to their personal integrity? XOXO
Well, at least that gay met someone who shook him up!
DeleteAnd he WAS lucky. It may have been one of those 'liberal' denominations (as opposed to the rabid fundies).
I agree. Religions are cults. Some newer, some older, but cults nonetheless. Joel Olsteen and his ilk are just exploiting the masses for profit. Nothing more, nothing less. And anybody who works for them is as despicable as their bosses.
XOXO
It is really all about power and nothing else. Christianity has eliminated a final judgement, all you need to do is be a believer. You can be as horrible as you want and not worry abut going to Hell as long as you believe. Because of this, it has pretty much outlived any usefulness it may have provided. Let's just hope that what replaces it is better equipped to deal with reality.
ReplyDeleteOh, yes.
DeletePower gives them boners of steel. And the power to excuse anything and everything in the powerful is what drives them. See how they back up IMPOTUS: they look the other way when his corruption and moral decrepitude show up.
And you know that religions will not go away. The feeble-minded need them as much as oxygen.
XOXO
I dated a youth pastor once. I met him out of town in Maryland and we seemed to hit if off. Then he invited me to stay a weekend three weeks later. It lasted just that weekend. That should answer any questions where I stand. Being on my knees to pray wasn't what I had in mind. And he told me to get dressed in bed!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteOMG you lasted long!
DeleteThey are charming, it's part of their schtick. They are snake oil vendors who learn a script and use it all the time, including for bagging men. And he tried to convert you? The nerve!!!
And he told you to get dressed up? This is getting juicier and juicier, Maddie!
XOXO
Oh you should have heard the rest!!!!!!
DeleteBeing LGBTQ+ and maintaining any kind of personal ties to a homophobic religion is essentially to condemn yourself to an abusive relationship, with everything that entails. Reality will sooner or later (hopefully) break through the denial so the victimized adherent will walk away and leave.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree.
DeleteIt's a never ending circle of shame and fear. And some of these people never recognize that they're pariahs in the faith they have chosen. Tiniest violin.
XOXO
I've slept with a lot of priests (Episcopal) and choir directors. Everyone was on the DL back then. But, today NO! The choir director at my college was my first relationship, and he was married.
ReplyDeleteOh, Jimmy. Do spill. Write that up. Write that up! I just love me some Sordid Lives.
DeleteSame!
DeleteI slept with many priests-to-be when I was younger. I even contributed to one never being ordained. I'm not sorry.
XOXO