The Ku Klux Klan has launched a Washington, D.C. Metrobus campaign to save traditional democracy. The campaign, part of a broader national crusade, focuses on three core Founding Father principles:
- Only white men with property should have the vote--with the hope of retroactively voiding the elections of all people of color to the White House, Congress and any and all other elected positions.
- The restoration of slavery for all people who have at least one-eighth negroid blood, otherwise known by revered American tradition as Octoroons.
- The restoration of the ban on interracial marriage, including the immediate dissolution of all such marriages that have occurred since the 1967 Supreme Court decision in Loving vs. Virginia.
The White House and many major African American organizations have welcomed this traditional debate in the name of Free Speech and Freedom of Religion. The Bible expressly states that inferior nations should be subservient to superior nations.
And, as African American columnist Colbert I. King recently wrote in The Washington Post:
"What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist."
Of course, the Washington D.C. Metrobus poster campaign is not from the Ku Klux Klan and it is not for the restoration of traditional democracy, rather it is funded by Stand for Marriage DC, a group that opposes civil marriage for same-sex couples and is part of nationwide campaign to save "traditional" American marriage--which I assume ultimately means the restoration of women as property without the right to vote.
The group behind the anti-equality ads wants to subject the District's recently passed law permitting same-sex marriage to a public referendum, insisting that civil rights are not defined by the United States Constitution but rather by the popular opinion of Christian voters.
Offended by the ads, an opposing group, Full Equality Now DC, has demanded that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) remove the ads from Metrobuses on the grounds that they disrespect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) city residents.
Full Equality Now asserts that the ads force GLBT people to "stare down discrimination as they board the bus to go somewhere or are even passed by an advertisement on the street." That, says Full Equality Now, targets D.C. residents on the basis of sexual orientation, in opposition to both common decency and the standards of nondiscrimination in WMATA's own policies. "We do not deserve to face this message when we ride the bus," the group wrote in a letter to WMATA General Manager John B. Catoe Jr.
King writes in The Washington Post that "Full Equality Now takes offense is understandable. But should the ads be taken down? Fortunately, yet another group of citizens has weighed in on the issue. The group includes Mitch Wood, president of the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance; Arthur B. Spitzer, legal director of the ACLU of the Nation's Capital; Jeffrey D. Richardson, president of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club; Aisha C. Mills, president of Campaign for All D.C. Families; and activist Richard J. Rosendall.
"Unlike Full Equality Now DC, the group led by Wood and Spitzer has stepped forward to defend the freedom of expression of forces against gay marriage, even though those same forces have not done so for supporters of civil marriage equality."
It begs the question: where would King stand on this issue if in fact the Metrobus posters were carrying the KKK message, covering every bus in the District where the population is 80% African American, condemning equality, civil rights for blacks and advocating the restoration of slavery?
Would King and the ACLU wave their Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion banners if that were to be the case?
Is the argument for slavery and the supremacy of white Christian males a legitimate discussion with a Black President sitting in the White House, the child of an interracial couple?
Should drug dealers, rapists, child molesters and murderers be allowed under Free Speech to run bus posters advocating their positions?
Perhaps. And I for one would love to see it. Since everyone believes that equality, segregation, discrimination, genocide, murder, child abuse and criminalization of minorities is a credible, decent and legitimate discussion under Free Speech, I would hope that the Ku Klux Klan and the other White Supremacy groups would please come out of the closet and crusade against the "abomination" in the White House. Surely, there are a number of FOX NEWS shows dying to book these folks.
Of would that be crossing the line of common decency? After all, queers are not people to be taken seriously or even treated with a modicum of respect as human beings.
In fact, FOX is currently on the anti-gay love boat again with a network-wide campaign condemning the extension of federal benefits to same-sex couples. According to FOX pundits and the Republicans who feed them, health care, disability, retirement, travel and relocation benefits, and survivor benefits for the families of gay federal employees is a discretionary indulgence that this nation can hardly afford.
No one would argue extending such benefits to real families, but when it comes to queers, FOX is clear on the fact that these are faux families, perhaps to be indulged during fat times but certainly not in the ruins of a Bush and Republican-raped economy.
FOX is waving a conservative Republican "analysis" of "domestic partnership" legislation just release by the Congressional Budget Office that claims Obama's plan to extend family benefits to gay federal employees will cost American taxpayers $898 million over the next nine years. (America's 30 million queers apparently do not pay taxes.)
The December 17 Republican-authored CBO report said that the House version of the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Ac--H.R. 2517--would cost $596 million in direct spending and $302 million in discretionary spending through 2019.
According to FOX, "the independent nonpartisan agency" found that "providing additional health insurance benefits through the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program"--for active and retired gay federal workers with spouses--"causes the largest increase in both mandatory and discretionary spending--$590 million and $266 million, respectively."
By the way, "the independent nonpartisan agency" report was actually written under the direction of Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, one of the most vocal opponents of same-sex marriage in Congress.
If you don't like that, run a bus poster campaign.
$898 million over 9 years is small change. How much have we spent on bailouts and useless wars? These people are just selfish and cruel.
Posted by: Chris | Thursday, 07 January 2010 at 02:22 PM