Camels in needles

BY CHRISTOPHER KATIS

Last month the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Colorado website designer could refuse to build a wedding page for gay couples based on her deeply held religious beliefs. SCOTUS believed that the state law barring discrimination against LGBTQ+ people violated the woman’s First Amendment rights — her religious freedom.

That is utter bullshit.

Religious freedom means that the government cannot establish a national religion, say, like the Church of England, so Americans are free to hold whatever faith they want. Nor can the government determine doctrine. That’s why Muslims and Jews can ban pork, Catholic priests aren’t allowed to be married, and Mormons can refuse marriage rights to whomever they wish.

Here’s the nutty twist to their ruling: the groundwork for it was laid nearly forty-five years ago — before the plaintiff was even born. It all started when the “religious right” mobilized as a political force to support Ronald Reagan’s White House bid. Since then, evangelicals have been an important constituency for every Republican presidential candidate — including Donald Trump in 2016, who went on to appoint three members of SCOTUS, all of whom sided with that plaintiff.

Leading the way was the Rev. Pat Robertson. His influence was so widespread it led him to his own presidential run in 1988. He even carried four states in the GOP primaries.

His power stemmed from the Christian Broadcasting Network, which he founded, and its flagship television show, The 700 Club. As its long-time host, Robertson spouted homophobic vitriol that some would argue was hate speech.

His greatest hits included saying gay people caused natural disasters like tornadoes and hurricanes, marriage equality was the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that trans rights would lead to nuclear war. Apparently, facts weren’t of any concern. He claimed that poz men in places like San Francisco wore sharpened rings to intentionally spread HIV to others when they shook hands. Yeah, like gay men in San Francisco shake hands. He even tried blaming us for 9/11.

It’s tough enough to hear lies about yourself, but the kids of gay parents hear it too. It tells them that their parents are terrible people, and their families illegitimate.

According to Learning for Justice, the educational arm of the Southern Poverty Law Center, straight kids are also negatively affected by homophobia. The group says it can strain family and community relationships; it can cause teens to become sexually active before they are emotionally and physically prepared; it can prevent kids from forming tight relationships with friends of the same gender; and it can even irreparably damage friendships.

I remember when our oldest was in middle school, and we threw him a birthday party. A kid our son had considered a friend wasn’t able to come to our house because of his family’s deeply held religious beliefs. Of course, our son was welcome in their home any time. Kelly prevented me from calling the parents and telling them our deeply held religious beliefs kept our kids from visiting the homes of hateful, ignorant bigots. Instead, I apologized to our son. He told me we’d done nothing wrong.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Pat Robertson managed to parlay his homophobic hatred into a cash cow. At the time of his death, he was estimated to be worth $100 million.

I take no joy in his death. But I do find it ironic that a man who claimed that LGBTQ+ people were bound for Hell seemed to ignore one of Christ’s most famous parables: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.”