There is hate and then there is hate. While all homophobia is serious and harmful, there is a matter of degree. Below is an instance of a homophobic group calling for the murder of all gays. If that's not enough, it calls out other homophobes for not being homophobic enough. More below the orange h8sicle.
Do you remember Aaron and Melissa Klein? They are the former owners of the bakery Sweet Cakes by Melissa. They refused to do a wedding cake for a lesbian couple. They felt that “marriage is a religious institution ordained by God.” That by making a cake for a lesbian wedding they would be violating their religious beliefs. The couple (and Oregon) felt that Aaron and Melissa were discriminating and pursued legal action. The Kleins closed the bakery, but continued an online presence. The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries subsequently ruled that the Kleins did discriminate and will have to pay the brides up to $150,000. http://tinyurl.com/...
Are Aaron and Melissa Klein homophobic? Minor leaguers.
How about Kevin and Crystal O’Connor, owners of Memories Pizza? They think homosexuality is a choice (“I choose to be straight.”- Kevin O’Connor.) They supported Indiana’s RFRA and said that they would refuse to cater a gay wedding. They think that they could use extra protection against being sued should they refuse to serve some types of people. That’s part of what Indiana’s RFRA was about, giving bigots protection to be bigoted. http://tinyurl.com/... Are they homophobic? Not big time.
Big time would be a group like the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) started by Fred Phelps. Westboro actively promotes hate on its website and by acting out hate by public display, doing things like picketing at funerals while proclaiming that “God Hates Fags.” It makes hate a part of its core belief system. Westboro has picketed Matthew Shepherd’s funeral, demonstrated at funerals of U. S. service members, picketed funerals of people who were gay allies and more, in a similar vein. Westboro is a major player spreading intolerance and hate wherever it can. http://en.wikipedia.org/...
But now we move to a new level.
Steven Anderson. Anderson is the leader of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona. He is a self-taught, self-declared “pastor” who founded this church about a dozen years ago. Faithful Word is listed as an anti-gay hate group (as is WBC) by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Not only does Anderson openly admit that he hates gays, but he advocates for their execution. He’s called for the murder of gays several times. He cites verses from the King James Bible as the justification for slaughtering gays en masse. He won’t allow any “f*ggots” or “q*eers” into his church even to ask for forgiveness. But he’s fine if his flock comes to church fully armed. He’s overtly proud of his hate. [Anderson also gained notoriety a few years ago for announcing that he was praying on a daily basis for the death of President Obama.] If you want to read some of his sermons, or watch videos of them, you can see them here http://faithfulwordbaptist.org Some videos may deserve a TRIGGER WARNING!
In December, 2014, Anderson called for an end to AIDS. You might think that that would be a wonderful holiday goal. It would be, but Anderson’s method was to execute all the gays. He used a verse from Leviticus in the King James Bible as support for his idea. Though not well thought out (how massacring gays would prevent the 2,000,000 new cases of HIV/year in Africa alone, where the disease is almost exclusively transmitted through heterosexual sex, was problematic) he was avid to implement it. http://tinyurl.com/...
Recently Anderson has made the news again. In addition to attacking gays, he’s spat some venom at other homophobes. Because they’re not homophobic enough to suit him.
Melissa Klein is attacked as someone who isn’t standing up against marriage equality. She’s being used by the media to brainwash people and is part of what’s destroying America. She’s weak and attends a “stupid. liberal church.” Apparently he thinks that the Kleins should be even more outspoken with their homophobia, perhaps using him as a role model for anti-gay activism. He seems to think that any commerce with gays by believers should be rejected immediately saying, "Who thinks it's a hard decision if some faggot wants you to make them a wedding cake? Anyone struggling with that right now?”
Memories Pizza gets dismissed, as well, for not being bigoted enough to suit Anderson because "Nobody even asked them to cater a wedding with cheap, stupid pizza.” He’d probably prefer it if Memories’ owners had not only agreed with Governor Pence, but had refused to serve gays completely. http://tinyurl.com/... (Of course, Faithful Word and its pastor aren’t the only ones calling for mass gay homicide http://tinyurl.com/... )
Anderson thinks that his bible sanctions him to spew hate against anyone perceived as different. Not only are gays targeted (though they are the ones targeted almost exclusively) others are, as well. If you look at some of his sermons (on the website linked above), he believes that women should be silent and subservient. He seems to take an anti-immigrant stance and has some other repressive opinions. All of which he can find justification for in his bible. Often, his position is entwined with biblical violence. If a woman (or child) is disobedient, physical punishment should be meted out. And, naturally, (his version of) God’s law trumps any human law. Of course, he doesn’t call for the actual killing of disobedient children as his bible recommends in Deuteronomy 21:18-21. Amazing logical gymnastics involved in taking Leviticus so literally and yet interpreting Deuteronomy much more loosely. Maybe that comes with the territory of being a self-proclaimed “pastor.”
If Faithful Word, WBC and others are capable of generating so much hate now, what will it morph into at the end of June? If the Supreme Court does rule in favor of marriage equality, how much more will that feed these flames and what will be the outcome?