I can’t explain why it amuses me when wingers talk about teh gay. But it does:
[T]his afternoon, CNN — which has tried to present itself as the “hard news” cable network and “the most trusted name in news” — hosted a debate between discredited “ex gay” Richard Cohen and Lowenthal to ask, “homosexuality, is it a problem in need of a cure?”
(take that, Ross Douthat)
I like this too (via Andrew Sullivan):
In other words, even though priests have less access to males, homosexual priests are molesting them at a higher rate. It’s time to end the gay cover-up once and for all.
Here’s what I’d like to know: if Donohue hates gays so much, shouldn’t he be that much more angry at the Vatican for protecting gay child molesters?
Pigs & Spiders
If we could only figure out a way to engineer TehGhey as an airborne pathogen….then we’d really have them by the short hairs!
ellaesther
I just like that it’s two Jews — Lowenthal and Cohen — doing the talking.
(It’s like the good old days, when if you were a Communist, you hated all Jews because of Rothschild, whereas if you were a Capitalist, you hated all Jews because of Marx. I’m sure the teabaggers will find a way to blame us for teh gay, too).
Randy P
It must be like the big grin I get every time I see Michael Steele’s picture. Normally when I walk through a bookstore and see Ann Coulter’s face, say, or Glenn Beck’s, I growl a little and need to find a Franken book to look at to calm myself.
But I was walking through a Borders the other day, walked past Steele’s face, and just started grinning and reflecting on how this is an automatic reflex for me now. And the same thing happens every time I see him featured prominently on a blog story. I just know fun times are about to happen.
cleek
the gays are ramming their big throbbing agenda down the throat of the Mother Church!
MattF
Not so amusing, IMO, seeing people suffocating in a fog of fear and anxiety. Their pain is real enough, and normally I’d feel some empathy– but the business of making sure that all the rest of us suffer because of their fear– that’s not so good.
The Moar You Know
Donohue will go to the wall for this particular incarnation of the Catholic Church, as it gives him everything he lives for; both unlimited power and the ability to cry about his constant persecution. He probably jerks off every night to the idea of getting crucified by a bunch of liberals and homosexuals.
This situation is nothing but win-win for that flaming shitbag pustule that masquerades as a human being.
ellaesther
@MattF: That’s exactly it, isn’t it? Their pain in genuine, and I would love to have some compassion. I think of Ted Haggard, Larry Craig — these men have lived with such dishonesty and self-hatred, such that it’s painful to even consider the extent of it. In isolation, I have genuine, deep compassion for that suffering.
But it’s hard to maintain in that compassion in the face of the suffering that is, in turn, imposed….
Zifnab
<blockquoteHere’s what I’d like to know: if Donohue hates gays so much, shouldn’t he be that much more angry at the Vatican for protecting gay child molesters?
Donohue doesn’t hate gays, he hates liberals. You’ll never hear him protesting outside Larry Craig’s office or championing a primary against Mark Foley.
The priests aren’t liberal, so they get a pass. Just another edition of IOKIYAR.
dmsilev
Maureen Dowd had what I thought was a decent column on this subject today. Of course, she didn’t write most of it; her brother did (“I thought they [Donohue et al.] might respond better to a male Dowd.”).
dms
aimai
Its hard to know what someone like Donohue really thinks is going on. He’s such an authoritarian follower that I think a kind of stockholm syndrome or slave mentality (the kind that overidentifies with the master and the master’s goals) has taken over. He either doesn’t believe its a church wide problem, or thinks that its a problem *for the hierarchy* which they are sincerely trying to control against a tide of unfair criticism. He can both hate the imaginary gay priest cabal–because the thinks of them as distinct from the actual church hierarchy instead of everywhere within it–and consider the pedophile priests to be epiphenomenal or accidental by products of the gay priesthood. In any event I think the one thing we can know about Donohue is that he is, himself, getting a lot of perverse personal pleasure attacking gays, non catholics, and catholic victims of priestly sex abuse. The psychic rewards of being the good boy, who the priests and the authorities love, are huge. That’s always the pay off, isn’t it–its why the Catholic church like other total social institutions (schools, prisons) tries so hard to dominate and control early childhood experiences. So that it can rely on its tortured, warped, enslaved followers when the outside world says “enough.”
aimai
carlos the dwarf
@Randy P:
Since health care passed, I’ve been feeling the same about anti-Obama bumper stickers. “You got pwned by a black dude and a San Fran Granny. HAHAHAHAHAHA! Nancy SMASH!”
4tehlulz
The gays and their allies in the Jew media made them do it.
Noonan
That’s a rational question about an irrational mind. Next up: If Tea Partiers hate deficits so much, where was all this dick swinging when Bush was president?
Zifnab
@ellaesther:
Haggard and Craig lived like kings. They were televangelist millionaire and vaunted US Senator, respectively. I’ll feel bad for the blue collar construction worker fearing his sexuality will cost him his livelihood or the outed college student that gets disowned by parents – whatever their ideological affiliation.
But crying about the horrors perpetrated on the fabulously rich and famous? I’ll leave those tears to the NYTimes.
Kryptik
Keep fucking that chicken, CNN. Maybe you’ll catch up to Fox in the douchebaggery category at this rate.
jrg
What gets me most about Donohue’s arguments is that they are based on idiocy, rather than logic.
The only way they even begin to make sense is if you start with the assumption that pedophilia (or pederasty) and homosexuality are equivalent. Even then, it still does not make sense, because it does not explain the cover-up.
Words not having any real meaning in the conservative mind is nothing new (illegal detentions, torture, and secret prisons are for our “freedom”), but it never ceases to amaze me how fucked-up authoritarian thinking really is.
If your argument is based on the belief that sex with a fifth grader is morally equivalent to sex between consenting adults, you’re way too far gone to reason with.
BethanyAnne
O.o DougJ… if I remember correctly, the line after “…any cure” in that song is “She says I’m so obsessed that I’m becoming a bore”.
/gasp
Kryptik
@jrg:
Well, considering the equate raising taxes on the highest brackets and trying to get a nationwide health care reform through with “COMMUNAZI TYRANNY!”, this is not exactly news. What is news is how goddamn easy it seems to sway people who ought to know better (but perhaps really never did know better).
ellaesther
@Zifnab: I’m sorry, but I can’t help but feel compassion for those whose internal lives are a morass of fear and self-hatred, no matter their outer power or wealth.
But yes, I do feel sorry-er for those without the power or wealth, and certainly for those who didn’t use their power or wealth for evil ends.
Mumphrey
I really, really, really don’t get why people are so twisted into knots by homosexuality. I’m straight, and for the life of me, I can’t fathom why a guy could find another guy attractive, but then, I can’t even understand why my own wife finds me–a guy–attractive; I’m only thankful that she does.
So, yes, I think women are the most amazingly lovely beings ever, and so I understand lesbianism, but not female heterosexuality or male homosexuality. But, what the hell, even if I don’t get why two guys would be into each other, it’s nothing to me. If it makes them happy, if it fulfills them, if they love each other, then, hey, good luck, I hope you have as great a marriage as I have. I mean, I don’t find skinny women attractive, either, but I don’t think I have any business forbidding other straight guys from marrying skinny women. That’s just nuts. I think of a bumper sticker I saw once that said, “Against gay marriage? Then don’t marry one.” That about says it for me: I’m against gay marriage for me. But then, that works out all right, since, as I said, my wife isn’t a gay man. Everybody’s happy, right?
I just don’t see the threat here at all. In 2006, I was a pollwatcher for the Webb campaign in a little town called Parksley, on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. I sat there for 13 hours, and from about 1 or 2 until the polls shut down at 7, there was a couple who sat there, handing out flyers telling people to vote yes on the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. We got to talking, and even though I was dead set against the amendment, and had voted against it, and told them so, we had an interesting and civil talk about it.
I just couldn’t really see what the fuss was about, even after they tried to tell me. They said it would affect their marriage. I told them I didn’t see how it could do anything to mine. They asked me if we had children, and I told them that we didn’t yet, but we were awaiting one who would be coming the next May (2007). They told me quite confidently that once we had a child, we’d come to look at gay marriage as a threat.
Well, our daughter is almost 3 now, and they’re just dead wrong. I still can’t understand how 2 women marring each other, or 2 men marrying each other, messes up my marriage or threatens our daughter in any way. It just doesn’t. 2 of the nicest people I know are a 2 middle aged women who have been together for 15 years or something. I wish they could get married, and I don’t see why anybody would want them not to be. They’re not scary. Or threatening. Or dangerous. They’re just 2 white haired 55 or 60 year old women who love each other as much as my wife and I love each other. If our daughter turns out to be gay, then I just hope she finds someone she loves and I hope someday she can marry, too.
I don’t know why this is such a big deal. I guess it’s kind of like the people who thought 40 years ago that if white and black people could mrry each other, then the whole of civilization would come crashing down around our ears. As far as I can tell, that hasn’t happened, and I see no reason to believe gy marriage would do anything to bring about the end of our republic either.
Trinity
@Mumphrey: THIS.
catclub
It appears to me that Donohue thinks there was a gay takeover in the Catholic priesthood that started right after Vatican II, and that JPII
and Benedict 16 are wiping it out, so the problem will go away
with time and NO other hierarchical changes.
He ignores the fact that Murphy molested boys in the 1950’s.
He ignores the fact that girls were also molested.
He ignores the whole – church hierarchy covered up the problem to protect itself – rather than to protect ‘the least of these’.
To each is own fantasy. He just has a bigger megaphone than most.
Comrade Dread
Well, I think human sexuality is fluid enough that some people can indeed change and find happiness in heterosexual relationships. So, I wouldn’t automatically discount having people in doubt seek real therapy to talk through their feelings and help them sort through exactly what they want out of life. Whether or not you’d call that a ‘cure’ is debatable.
As to the Catholic church, right now, they are completely in ass covering mode (no pun intended). There is (and has been) an ongoing systemic problem, but to admit it and address it would force them to admit error, to submit themselves to temporal authority (which is a challenge to their doctrine), and to become a more open organization. So you have, by default, conservatives fighting it tooth and nail to preserve the old order, and hence finding themselves defending some very sick and disgusting predators.
Zifnab
@ellaesther:
Haggard was busted doing meth with a hooker. Does it matter whether the affair was straight or gay? The problem with these people is that there is no fear. There is no self-restraint. Larry Craig was soliciting people in an airport restroom. When he was busted, the first words out of his mouth were, “Do you know who I am?” Does that sound like a man crippled by a morass of anything except excessive wealth and power?
They act out like this because the rules don’t apply to them. They run off and gay-bash because they think they’ll never be on the other end of the stick. I’d sooner feel sorry for the bleeding shark, torn apart by it’s school-mates. At least the shark follows its nature.
The wealthy and powerful deserve that much more scorn and derision, to make an example about how hard the mighty can fall. Maybe after Haggard and Craig are nailed to the cross, the rest of the GOP will think twice before passing another bill to crucify more gays.
While we’re at it, I’d love to see David Vitter’s take on prostitution legislation if he was tossed to the mercy of the courts, sanes political clout and million dollar lawyers.
Comrade Mary
Those who feel the breath of sadness
Sit down next to me
Those who find they’re touched by madness
Sit down next to me
Those who find themselves ridiculous
Sit down next to me
In love, in fear, in hate, in tears
eric
homosexuality is a problem in need of a cure — equal rights under the law. It is in the DSM-IV, I believe.
ThresherK
Someone’s way ahead of the curve when it comes to isolating the carriers.
Now, let’s see if this is yet another part of RealAmerica™ whose values aren’t being courted and understood enough by our CNNs.
toujoursdan
@Comrade Dread:
SOME individuals’ sexuality is fluid. But most people who seek out ex-gay therapy (whether in a clinical or religious setting) end up just as gay as they were before and a hell of a lot more messed up.
RSA
It kind of surprised me to find that Donohue apparently sees abominations in shades of gray.
scav
@toujoursdan:
and, furthermore, some people’s sexuality is fluid and when they get sorted out they find out they’re gay. Or, gasp! really into skinny women.
Undercover FBI Agent DougJ
Yup.
Anoniminous
Here is a little gem from the Bishop of Tenerife:
Bernando Álvarez said that there are 13 year olds who are wanting to be abused, and “if you are careless they will provoke you.”
“There are 13 year old adolescents who are under age and who are perfectly in agreement with, and what’s more wanting it, and if you are careless they will even provoke you,” he said.
————————————————-
So pity the poor priest, victimized by 13 year old sexual predators.
kommrade reproductive vigor
They may be child molesters but by God, they’re HIS child molesters!
Seriously, I’ve never been surprised that people like Donohuencry are desperate to blur the line between normal human sexuality and rape. I mean, he has to stick to the underlying premise – that these perverts would have been perfectly behaved if they had unsupervised access to little girls – so he can continue with the gay bashing as distractovision.
As for CNN – Where’s Asianmngrl? I need to borrow her rusty pitchfork.
Ken
No, Donahue doesn’t care, because the molesters are Catholic.
Comrade Dread
See original post:
Obviously, not everyone will be successful, and people ultimately need to find some measure of peace with who they are, and if there is doubt about who they are, then I think therapy would definitely be helpful to get them to sort things out before they take their own lives, get married and still end up toe-tapping in bathroom stalls, or breaking out the wetsuits and dildos.
scarshapedstar
Ooh! I can! BECAUSE THEY’RE PAINFULLY FUCKING GAY!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFGit_tZDqs
Jump to 4:08. Nuff said.
Martin
Ah yes, your moral leadership at work. And the atheists remain tagged as the rudderless ones…
mclaren
The best one I heard about this was a guy who suggested that if being gay is an illness, then everyone who’s gay should call in sick to work. “Nope, can’t come in to work today, still gay,” they should say.
Paul in KY
Personally, I think the reason the Vatican is so tone deaf to the outcry against these criminal acts by various priests is that the same thing probably happened to most of them & they think ‘Hey, it happened to me & look how I turned out. I’m a Bishop/Cardinal/Sith Pope’
Persia
@BethanyAnne: Ah, you think you’re so pretty….
LiberalTarian
You know, DJ, you really are my favorite.
Tattoosydney
@Mumphrey:
Thankyou for a wonderful post.
Nancy Irving
“priests have less access to males” – ? Since when?