Bob Ellis recently added his usual homophobic, politically motivated two cents to the discussion about the "Laramie Project" being produced by the Central High School Drama Department.
A letter appeared this week in the Rapid City Weekly in response to Ellis's diatribe.
I sent in a letter right away in response to Ellis misrepresentation of those studies. I was told it would be in today's Weekly News. However, it was not in this edition so i am including it in this post. You can read it in full below:
Bob Ellis, letter 12/13/07 quotes studies claiming gays have higher health risks than heterosexuals. Outside of distorting a CDC study he doesn’t give any sources. That’s because the authors of those studies have publicly demanded fundamentalist groups like Ellis’ stop distorting, misrepresenting and claiming conclusions not supported by the studies. (http://www.truthwinsout.org/.)
Veracity, credibility, scientific fact and reality never seem to get in the way of what Ellis wishes to believe. .
Last year Ellis campaigned to prevent gay couples from entering into and protecting long term relationships. Now he’s falsely chastising the gay community for not having long term committed relationships. Hypocrisy?
Virginia Law Professor Kim Forde-Mazrui cites statistics indicating that “states that predominantly go Republican have higher rates of divorce, teen pregnancy and out-of-wedlock births.” Should we keep Republicans away from children and schools?
Ellis should focus on helping individuals prevent high risk individual behaviors and not denigrate whole groups for the problems of some.
The Laramie Project is about confronting hatred and intolerance and ending the resulting violence. Ellis and fundamentalists oppose the Laramie Project and Hate Crimes Legislation because they don’t want to be held accountable for the violence resulting from the hate and intolerance they advocate.
Michael M. Coats, Director
The Center West
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
There are space constraints in print publications that limit the number of words they'll print. Of course, anyone interested in the truth that doesn't insist on being spoon-fed would be able to find them pretty easily.
But that would have been a useless exercise, anyway, wouldn't it, Mr. Coats? When someone is desperate to justify a behavior that they deep-down know is immoral and unhealthy, they'll come up with any twisted rationalization to justify that continued behavior. The drunk does it, the druggie does it, the gambler does it...just as addicts to other behaviors do it. I could cite scientific facts all day long, but for the person addicted to sin, it's never enough.
My only hope is those who might otherwise be led astray by your emotional but morally and scientifically bereft swan songs might actually realize the dangers of the homosexual lifestyle. Then, they might avoid going down that path for themselves, or maybe help a friend avoid it.
There's no love involved in patting someone on the back for killing themselves. God loves you far too much than to create you to live this way, and He loves you too much to condone it. But of course that, too, can be denied if you insist on living contrary to His design.
Soften your heart today, or at least very soon. God loves you and wants the best for you. I believe you know, somewhere under all your protests, that God wants better and HAS better for you than this.
Bob Ellis
Patronizing much?
You desperately justify your homophobia. You rationalize violence towards gays and lesbians. You attempt to spread lies, misinformation and hatred to others.
Fess Up, Bob. Michael Coats is right. You just refuse to acknowledge it.
Homosexuals just ARE. It is not a lifestyle choice. To compare it with gambling or drinking is the most offensive thing you could say.
You are heterosexual, Bob. You didn't 'choose' to be heterosexual. No one 'forced' a heterosexual lifestyle upon you.
Your claims of 'scientific fact' are not facts at all, but propaganda.
You are addicted to the sin of bearing false witness against gays and lesbians. You are addicted to the sin of intolerance. You are addicted to the sin of hatred.
Although I am an athiest, I shall continue to hope that you will see the truth Bob, of how you mislead the public with your lies and hatred towards homosexuals.
Please, Bob, Please look deep within yourself and realize just how wrong you are and apologize to all those you have wronged with your columns and comments.
Don't pat yourself on the back when you hurt others, or see others hurt by homophobic words or actions. Don't call yourself Christian when you advocate intolerance and hatred for others.
I feel sorry for you Bob, that you are so misguided. I truly hope you put yourself on the path of truth and accept and love others as you love and accept yourself.
Well said Elais. Bob Ellis doesn't seek truth, only justifications for his bigotry. His distortions of scientific and psychological studies and arguments bely his real agenda which is politcal and financial. After all he's been "Born Again" why should he worry about Christian ethics.
Was Christ intolerant when He said He was THE way, THE truth and THE life, and that no one gets to heaven except through Him? Was Jesus, through his apostle Paul, being intolerant and hateful when he said in 1 Corinthians 6 that the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, thieves, greedy, drunks, swindlers, et. al. won't see heaven unless they come to Christ? By your definition, He must be.
If someone wants to endanger and wreck their lives by ingesting dangerous substances, doing dangerous things, or even driving off a broken bridge, is the loving response to that to pat them on the back and encourage them in their efforts? By your definition, it must be.
Is a physician intolerant and hateful when he tells you that smoking or drinking too much is killing you? Apparently he is, according to your definitions.
I didn't choose to be heterosexual because that's the way I and every other human being were designed to function--just as every human being was designed to function without drunkenness, substance abuse and other addictions. But our sexuality can get drawn off course, just like every other aspect of our lives, by sin. God didn't design you to be this way; He loves you too much for that, and has a much better life for you, if you'll just trust Him.
I've wasted enough time this go-around trying to show you the truth.
The Bible says, "When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself." I've met my responsibility before the Lord today.
But with the Lord's help I'll be there with the truth to counter these lies every time you try to mislead others in the public square. What you do to yourself is between you and God; misleading others is a different thing.
Please, soften your heart and find God.
Thank you, Bob Ellis, for once again demonstrating the irrationality of your anti-gay, politically motivated arguments.
He wrote a letter to the editor citing studies which were supposed to show that gay people led unhealthy lifestyles. However, he did not give any sources for those statistics. When we requested that he back up those claims with his sources, he responded with a diatribe about how he could cite scientific facts all day but we wouldn't pay any heed to them. He once again did not give his sources but attacked us. Is it because he made them up?
It is interesting that he claims we don't pay attention to scientific facts when he and other fundamentalists have the reputation for denying anything scientific which might disagree with what they want to believe.
Every credible scientific, Psychiatric, Psychological, medical, sociological, Pediatric and developmental organization agrees with us that Homosexuality is not a choice and is not inherently a risk to one's health and well being. I don't think we are the ones not paying attention to what scientific facts tell us.
We once again challenged him to produce his sources. This time we get a tap dance through the Bible in his attempt to change the subject and justify his bigotry. But, he still doesn't back up his claims to have scientific evidence about the destructive nature of homosexuality.
Bob can use the Bible to justify anything he wants. Its been used to justify all kinds of evil injustices in the past. But if he wants to make a believable claim about science and scientific facts he should at least be able to back it up.
Bob needs to concentrate on eliminating the destructive nature of his own behavior. It is destroying lives and deminishing our community. Bearing false witness is a destructive and evil behavior. We would apreciate it if you stop it beore it claims any more lives.
Bob wouldn't know the truth because he's not looking for it. He only wants to justify his bigotry and his political and finacial agenda.
Post a Comment