The stormtroopers: they're here--violence on same-sex marriage

By Wes Vernon

Thirty states now have spoken through the ballot box against equating same-sex marriage with traditional marriage as it has been accepted for centuries.

For the violent liberal fascists — that is a sign of "hate."

Then how do you define "hate"?

Apparently, Americans peacefully going to the polls and expressing their will through the democratic process is an act of "hate." California's Proposition 8 — overturning a court ruling that had permitted gay marriage — won the majority vote November 4.

As a result, gay activists began a campaign of terror against individuals, churches, and corporations that backed Prop 8. The ban was actually rejected by a slight majority of the white vote. It was favored by a slender majority of the Hispanic vote. And it was overwhelmingly approved by California's black voters. If nothing else puts to rest the propaganda of those who equate same-sex marriage as a "civil rights" issue on a par with black people's struggle to eat at lunch counters, it is difficult to know what does.

To the streets

The group Mass Resistance — headquartered in Massachusetts — has been keeping tabs on much of the anti-First Amendment activity:

First, the storm trooper mentality manifested itself in a threat to burn down churches.

"Burn down their f---ing churches, then tax the charred timbers!" was the cry.

You understand, of course, that is not "hate."

Threats of murder

On one of their blogger websites, there was this: "I hope the No on 8 people have a long list of long knives." Another wrote, "I swear I'd murder people with my bare hands this morning."

That too, of course, is not "hate."

Not just California

On the same day that Prop 8 was given the green light on the West Coast, Arizona and Florida voted in favor of similar bans against same-sex marriage. That means that 30 states now have approved of the notion — prevalent down through the centuries — that marriage is the preserve of a man and a woman.

Those who stand by that widely-accepted cultural belief are under assault. Most of them have no problem with domestic partner benefits for same-sex couples. While many do have religious problems with homosexuality per se, they are content to pay no mind to what goes on behind other people's bedroom doors, and they accept the "live and let live" concept that all of that is to be sorted out in the next world. Bestowing official sanction of marriage on a same-sex relationship, however, demeans the institution of marriage itself, as they see it.

The violence: a real threat — not just sputtering rage

Matt Barber, a spokesman for Liberty Counsel, says, "This is not a matter of some people blowing off steam because they're not happy with a political outcome. This is criminal activity. The homosexual lobby has been calling for 'tolerance' and 'diversity' and playing the role of victim. They claim to deplore violence and 'hate.' Here we have homosexuals inciting and directly threatening violence against Christians....Imagine if Christian websites [did that in reverse]. There'd be outrage, and rightfully so."

Not satisfied with morning-after frustration

The violence has transcended verbal threats or election-night fantasies of the enraged:

...In Palm Springs, California, in a scene caught on television, an enraged crowd of gay activists attacked an elderly woman carrying a cross. They attacked her, grabbed the cross, and stomped on it.

...Hundreds of protesters swamped parishioners in front of a Catholic cathedral in Los Angeles, screaming and chanting at the church-goers.

...Pastor Rick Warren's church was "visited' by several hundred angry gay activists, using a poster with a huge swastika to intimidate worshippers.

Other reports concerned a riot before a Mormon temple in Los Angeles; the invasion of an Assembly of God church in Lansing, Michigan, where services were disrupted with profane and pornographic signs and banners; 3,000 demonstrators descending on Mormon headquarters in Salt Lake City; and a threatened boycott of the entire state of Utah because many individual Mormons (though not necessarily the church itself) had contributed money to the campaign for Prop 8.

Not just in the abstract

It does not matter that the Marriott Hotel chain has for 20 years had a policy of domestic partner benefits of that the chain has earned a "perfect" score on the homosexual rights-focused Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index for two consecutive years. Nor does it matter that neither Marriott Hotels CEO Bill Marriott nor the company that bears his name contributed any money to the Prop 8 effort. He is a Mormon, and as far as the "civil rights" bigots are concerned, that is enough to justify targeting his hotels.

But Bill Marriott can take care of himself. It's the citizens of more modest stations in life who are being bullied in the name of "tolerance." A theatre director in Sacramento was bumped from his job because he had contributed $1,000 to the Prop 8 effort.

The enemies of free speech are on the march — Part 16

That is just a sample of things to come. The hate-mongers have vowed to track down every person who contributed any money to back Prop 8, find out where that person works, and pressure his or her employer to fire the employee, presumably accompanied with a threat that failure to deprive the employee of his livelihood will prompt a boycott of the employer's business.

Mass Resistance reports that Linda Harvey, who has written at length about the Prop 8 controversies, received hate mail from a Houston lawyer who wrote her, "You are very much being watched! All you jeebus-loving-christers' rights will slowly be taken away one by one the more you try to press your beliefs down our throats."

In for the long haul

The enemies of free speech who believe in tolerance as a one-way street are not going away. They are reminiscent of the storm trooper street-fighting thugs who blitzed Hitler's rise to power in Germany. First Amendment supporters will have to fight back every step of the way. Mass Resistance says the police are reluctant to take action. One L.A. police officer, writing under a pen name for Pajamas Media, says, "Police officers have requested that marchers not block traffic, but when these requests have been ignored, police commanders prohibited officers from taking any action to restore order."

The media coverage "ranges between indifference and blatant sympathy and support" for the criminal acts.

Victims of the bullying are on their own and will need to band together and pool their resources to resist the assault on basic American rights, using every legal method at their command.

© Wes Vernon