On Wednesday night, Newsmax host Greg Kelly offered his contribution to the conservative crusade against the LGBTQ+ community. He took exception to churches flying rainbow flags to declare tolerance for all of God’s children.
Being a right-winger, his complaint was personal. What did it mean for him? On his show, he moaned,
“Have you seen this new trend – putting the gay pride flag in front of, on churches? What does that have to do with anything? Huh? Gay pride – I feel as somebody who’s quite frankly, not gay – I feel like that’s a little bit exclusionary, actually. You could say, also disrespectful on a lot of levels. But how am I supposed to feel?”
I do not know, Greg. Feel whatever the feck you want. But how about this, why not say that every church has the religious freedom to put up any flag they want. And if you do not like it, Greg, do not go to that church. Also, do not feel obligated to marry another man. Problem solved.
But it is not just the hypocrisy of demanding religious freedom for yourself while denying it to others. It is hubris to say you feel excluded while ignoring that the Catholic Church, and many Protestant denominations, have put up big “you are not welcome” signs to show their feelings about the LGBTQ+ community.
Kelly is Catholic and religious — although as a paid talking-head, he may just be saying whatever generates ratings — and as such, there are plenty of religious facilities which will make him nervous. For example, synagogues, mosques, temples, mandirs, and many Protestant Churches. (I am sure he would feel right at home in a conservative evangelical megachurch. And many Anglican (Catholic-lite) sects are equally bigoted.) But he only throws hate at churches that display Christian tolerance.
Kelly had more. And this is where he went from hateful to bonkers.
“Now, I happen to know some people – maybe you do, too way back in the day, you know, in their twenties, you know, whatever, college – maybe they went to a strip club. Should we have strippers, uh Hustler, all those things on the outside of the church because some people – to have a good time – wanna go to a strip club? I don’t think that’s right. None of that stuff is relevant, OK”
Here he reveals that conservatives are not obsessed with sexuality — they are obsessed with sex. To them, someone who is not heteronormative is a sex fiend. Not only is he wrong, but who is he to judge? Besides, like so many other sanctimonious moralists, when Greg kvetches, he reveals himself while shedding no light on the object of his bigotry. It sounds like he is reliving his youth. And maybe confessing his current fantasies, for all I know.
Further, Jesus Christ himself would have fallen short of this sanctimonious Pecksniff's standard. He palled around with prostitutes, thieves, and other sinners. He did not hate them - but welcomed them into his embrace. But that grain of love and tolerance has fallen on barren soil in Greg’s soul.
Kelly was not done,
“Take us imperfect, we come and we can have a conversation with God. This is created by man and it is very strange. It makes no sense."
I agree. He is not making sense.
He then adds racism to his homophobia.
"And it’s not just happening at churches it is happening at one particular school. This is the Nativity School in Worchester MA. They got the gay pride flag. This is a parochial school, a Catholic school. And the Black Lives Matter flag. Now the Black Lives Matter flag, OK, that’s a big problem. I’m sorry, it is an anti-faith socialist group, anti-family. Just go read up about it."
Here, Kelly uses a standard conservative tactic. Smear your enemy with lies and ask the base to “look it up” — in the full knowledge they will do nothing of the sort. They prefer getting their bigotry in easy-to-digest video clips.
Then he is back to the pride flag,
“I do have an issue with that, actually. I have an issue with pride. We all should if we’re Christians, and actually Jews. Pride is a sin. Why is that considered good? This is not anti-gay. It’s not. It’s about the pride part, actually. We all have–I don’t understand it. Do you?”
When a conservative says “this is not anti-gay”, it is assuredly anti-gay. I am only surprised he did not mention his “many gay friends”.
Next up was the right-wing bogeyman, the "Gay Agenda,"
”This is their plan. They want to cancel Christ because of this material. That is their plan. There are people out there saying, ‘you have got to get rid of the whole Bible actually, because of some of the topics in there.’ Imagine that. It’s not going to work. We are not going to let that happen.”
Who are these "people out there"? How come we never get their names? Could it be they are only voices in Kelly's head?
Then Kelly gives a shout-out to “our favorite president”, by showing the 2020 loser declaring at a rally, “The tyrants we are fighting do not stand a chance of victory because we are Americans and Americans kneel to God and to God alone.” Dear God, he cannot seriously think that asshole kneels to anyone?
Kelly brings his rant back to where he started with some final incoherence,
“And when you go to a church with a gay pride flag, what’s that all about? Are we kneeling for that? Is that how some will interpret it? And again, it’s exclusionary, and it’s wrong. They’re having fun with it for some reason.”
Exclusionary? The party of "our way or the highway" is pointing at others for their intolerance? Once again, classic projection.
I am not religious, but just in case, let me make this request, “Dear Lord, please make them stop.” (I won’t hold my breath — but what the hell.)
Click this link for the full video.