VIGILANCE PAYS OFF & COSTS HOMOPHOBIC PERFORMER

Buju Banton is a Jamaican reggae performer whose music includes some of the most virulently violent lyrics ever written. Many of his songs advocate beating, torturing and killing gays, lesbians and transgenders.

Obviously, this is homophobia in its extreme. But given the culture Banton comes from, it's not really a very big surprise. As I've written about before, the current Jamaican government strongly supports and encourages violence towards anyone who is, or even just appears to be, gay. As many of you know, because of the intransigence of the government's position, Jamaica is still under a large scale boycott of the island and the island's exports.

Well now, because of his unwillingness to capitulate to the concerns of the worldwide GLBT community and other civil rights, humanitarian and anti-violence organizations, Buju Banton is paying the price. In fact, he may very well end up sacrificing his entire career to his homophobic hatreds.

According to a story at LezGetReal.com, Banton was scheduled to kickoff a US tour with appearances at House Of Blues locations in Chicago, Las Vegas, Dallas and Houston as well as a number of other venues throughout the country.

When news of this second attempt at a US tour reached the LA Gay & Lesbian Center, a campaign was organized, with help from the liberal website change.org, to stop the tour.

In a very short period of time, promoter Live Nation, which owns the House Of Blues venues, received nearly a thousand angry calls from the GLBT community and our supporters. They quickly issued a statement canceling all of Benton's US appearances.

To give you a little background as to why Benton is still shunned, LGR also reported:

Banton has drawn the anger of gay activist groups for years, in large part because of the violently homophobic lyrics of his 1992 single “Boom Bye Bye,” which proposes pouring acid on homosexuals and shooting them in the head.

In 2004 he was also tried and acquitted on charges that he participated in the beating of six gay men by a gang in Jamaica.

Two years ago, Banton signed up to the Reggae Compassionate Act, promising not to perform songs that advocate homophobia, in a deal brokered by Stop Murder Music activists.

He later denied that he had made any such commitment.

Lorri L. Jean, CEO of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center issued a statement that said:

“I hope this victory sends a deafeningly loud message to other promoters and concert venues that singers who glorify violence against LGBT people, or any group of people, should never be welcomed. It shouldn’t be necessary for us to pressure promoters to do the right thing; people like Banton should never have been booked in the first place.”

Box Turtle Bulletin is keeping a close eye on other scheduled performances by Banton. "In addition to the four House of Blues dates mentioned earlier, AEG Live/Goldenvoic have announced the cancellations of scheduled concerts in Los Angeles (Oct. 14), in San Francisco (Oct. 10), and Philadelphia (Sept. 12)."

Check out Box Turtle Bulletin's blog story. In it, they list dates and locations for other scheduled performances throughout the country.

As more of us find out about Banton and his US Tour, more pressure will be put on the remaining venues that haven't canceled his appearances yet. If you see your city listed in BTB's published itinerary, call or email that establishment and voice your concerns. It would also be very effective if you notified your local media and/or wrote a letter to the editors of your local newspapers letting them know the kind of person who's coming to their town to perform.

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.

CALL TO ACTION AGAINST DR PHIL

Yesterday morning I received an email from Queers United asking a group of us to blog about two upcoming Dr. Phil shows.

I haven't seen any of the past shows that dealt with LGBT topics but I do know from multiple past postings that on several occasions, especially when dealing with transgender/transsexual issues, his guests (some of whom were only in their early teens) were marginalized and even "blamed" for the way they were.

Even more disturbing was that the so called "experts" he had on to discuss these highly sensitive issues, supposedly from a "professional" viewpoint, were from the notoriously homophobic Focus On The Family so you can imagine the impression the viewer was left with. Dr. Phil even went so far as to include a link to FOTF on his show's website.

Well, now it seems that he's at it again. According to a Monday posting at Queers United,

His upcoming shows continue to raise a red flag merely by their title and description alone and considering his past actions we do not expect any change.

One show called Teen Experimenting With Bisexuality? has this description:

"Did your teenager recently tell you he/she is bisexual? Maybe you caught them engaging in same sex activity? Are you torn with how to react?

Do you feel that what your teenager is doing is just a phase? Or maybe you feel like girls kissing girls is the new teenage fad? Do you feel strongly opinionated on the subject?"

This insinuates that bisexuality is not a psychologically sound or stable orientation. We would applaud a show on bisexuality, but not one that gives credence to the myths surrounding it.

Another show that is alarming is called Struggling With Sexual Identity?

"Are you a woman struggling with sexual identity? Maybe it's causing problems with an addiction? Or maybe you feel you might be in denial about your sexuality?

Did you think you knew who you were but then something or someone opened your eyes to a new you?"

The shows title raises a red flag because proponents of "ex-gay therapy" often use the terms "struggling" and "sexual identity" to refer to GLBT people.

Queers United is asking that you send a message to the Dr. Phil show expressing your concerns about ensuring a balanced presentation of these topics. And especially a presentation that doesn't include the homophobic and discredited pseudoscience of so-called "experts" from organizations like Focus On The Family.

To send a message to the Dr. Phil producers, click here for their online contact form.