TEMPE AZ PASTOR CALLS FOR GAY EXECUTIONS AND MURDER OF PRESIDENT OBAMA

We've heard vile rhetoric from right wing religious fanatics before but this guy is so far over the edge, he's fallen off the cliff! If anyone deserves to be shattered off the rocks on his way down and splattered across the canyon floor, Pastor Steven L. Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist church here in Tempe, AZ is that person.

Yes, I know that statement sounds somewhat extreme and certainly doesn't show any kind of compassion for another human being, BUT - this guy is about as vile and as dangerous as any so-called human being could be.

When you publicly call for the wholesale execution (as in kill them dead) of a whole class of people who you just simply don't like because of nothing more than who they are, AND you call for the execution of the President of the United States because he supports reproductive freedoms and speaks out in support of the LGBT community, then you don't deserve any kind of compassion that would allow you to continue freely spewing such vitriolic hatred in public.

In explaining to his followers how gays are out to rape their children in order to recruit them Anderson said that the only way to stop them is to kill them:

You want to know who the biggest hypocrite in the world is? The biggest hypocrite in the world is the person who believes in the death penalty for murderers and not for homosexuals. Hypocrite. The same God who instituted the death penalty for murderers is the same God who instituted the death penalty for rapists and for homosexuals - sodomites, queers! That's what it was instituted for, okay? That's God, he hasn't changed. Oh, God doesn't feel that way in the New Testament ... God never "felt" anything about it, he commanded it and said they should be taken out and killed.

In a clear and unambiguous attempt to incite murder, he continued his rant with this:

You know why God wanted the sodomites in the Old Testament to be killed? You know why every good king of Israel, the Bible says they got rid of the sodomites in the land? You know, the good kings that came after the bad kings who had allowed the sodomites to infest their land, they had infiltrated ... King Asa got the sodomites out of the land, Jehoshaphat exterminated the sodomites that were left from the days of his father, Asa. Why? Because the sodomites are infectious, that's why. Because they're not reproducers, that goes without saying, they're recruiters.

Following up on that absurd statement, he said:

"The sodomites are recruiters and you know who they are after? Your children. They are being recruited by the sodomites. They are being molested by the sodomites. They recruit through rape, they recruit through molestation, they recruit through violation"

"Our country is run by faggots. You know who was the man who was the architect of the bailout? His name is Barney Frank, he is a pedophile..."

"That's who just sold our country into fascism. That's who just sold our corporations to the government. That's who sold out our country, a faggot!"

And about President Obama:

"God Hates Barack Obama, I hate Barack Obama. I hate Him. God wants me to Hate Barack Obama." "Someone who commits murder should get the death penalty."

That kind of public oratory is, at the very least, an attempt to incite weaker-minded individuals to violence. At worst, it's a blatant attempt to incite them to murder. Somehow, I just don't think the founding fathers intended for this kind of despicable elocution to be included under their concept of "freedom of speech." Or even, for that matter, "freedom of religion." What sane, rational person would?

I just hope that the Secret Service doesn't allow this idiot to use his church and religion as shields against prosecution. They should go after him with the same fervor they would go after anyone who threatens the life of the President of the United States. At the very least, his church's tax exempt status should be permanently revoked.

The three primary sources I used for this story are:

RightWingWatch.org
Part of Norman Lear's national organization, People For The American Way which was founded in 1981 as a civil liberties advocacy organization. It also energetically opposes the interjection of religion into politics.

This link also has two audio files of Anderson making these ridiculous, dangerous comments.

Pam'sHouseBlend.com
"An Online Magazine in the Reality-Based Community."

BoxTurtleBulletin.com
One of the most aggressive, intensive and in-depth LGBT news and commentary sources on the net.


UPDATE...
Yesterday, msnbc weighed in on Pastor Anderson's outrageous and dangerous comments. Here's what was said:


I'm glad they chose to devote air time to exposing this lunatic but I have to take exception to one of the commentator's comments. She said that she's "...not accusing him of taking action in any violent way, in any criminal way..." In my opinion, using words to incite deranged and unstable individuals to take violent action is the same thing as taking that action yourself. Culpability has got to be assigned to those who use their positions of power and authority to actively incite violence. They are as guilty as the actual perpetrators themselves and should be prosecuted as accessories before the fact.

If this isn't done with swift, sure and strong action against these people then this country is going to break down into violent and deadly enclaves pitted against each other. If that happens, then virtually all reason and all civil law will be lost.

ARE OBAMA & DEMOCRATS THE NEW "POLITICS AS USUAL" PARTY?

In my last two blog postings, I talked about the failure to see any substantive progress by the Obama administration to make good on his often repeated campaign promises to the LGBT community.

Although there are still many issues that have yet to see any kind of movement, I focused on two of the top priorities that I believe should already have been addressed with strong, doable actions.

The repeal of DOMA and the repeal of DADT are both policies that an overwhelming majority of democrats, including Obama, have already said they were against and pledged to repeal. More importantly, these are policies that not only mock and severely limit the thousands of legal, gay marriages already performed but also jeopardize the readiness and ability of our ground troops to perform at their best in two wars being fought in the middle of two Arabic/Muslim cultures that have a language that virtually none of our troops are able to even understand let alone speak.

Yet, everyday that these policies stay in effect, more and more highly qualified American troops who do speak the languages and understand the cultures are being discharged. And legally recognized gay families are being discriminated against and denied rights and privileges that straight families take for granted on the flimsy excuse that it's against DOMA. In both cases, the lives of thousands of law-abiding, patriotic and emotionally committed individuals are having their lives disrupted and their dreams crushed because those who were elected to correct these injustices are dragging their feet - for no defendable reason.

Yesterday, renowned writer Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic magazine added his voice to the growing number of openly gay Obama supporters who are beginning to question the veracity of the democrats and, in particular, of Obama himself when they loudly proclaimed their support for GLBT issues. In his article, Sullivan said:

Here we are, in the summer of 2009, with gay servicemembers still being fired for the fact of their orientation. Here we are, with marriage rights spreading through the country and world and a president who cannot bring himself even to acknowledge these breakthroughs in civil rights, and having no plan in any distant future to do anything about it at a federal level. Here I am, facing a looming deadline to be forced to leave my American husband for good, and relocate abroad because the HIV travel and immigration ban remains in force and I have slowly run out of options (unlike most non-Americans with HIV who have no options at all).

And what is Obama doing about any of these things? What is he even intending at some point to do about these things? So far as I can read the administration, the answer is: nada. We're firing Arab linguists? So sorry. We won't recognize in any way a tiny minority of legally married couples in several states because they're, ugh, gay? We had no idea. There's a ban on HIV-positive tourists and immigrants? Really? Thanks for letting us know. Would you like to join Joe Solmonese and John Berry for cocktails? The inside of the White House is fabulous these days.

Sullivan wrote an emotional and powerful piece that I highly recommend to everyone. To read his article go to The Atlantic at: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/05/the-fierce-urgency-of-whenever.html

Hopefully, President Obama's Deputy Director of the White House office of Public Liaison, LGBT activist Brian Bond, is keeping track of all of these articles and postings and is keeping the President and, in turn, the democratic leadership aware of the growing dissatisfaction within our community.

If they continue to treat us as the unwanted stepchildren, they're going to have a hell of time getting themselves reelected. Lest they forget, there were millions of us and our supporters who got them elected to begin with.