What Would Jesus Boo?

The Christian far right has taken a new tack in its battle against tolerance and fairness: Apparently all those who support tolerance and fairness when it comes to gay rights are guilty of... intolerance and unfairness.

The logic: the United States constitution guarantees every Christian the right to discriminate against whomever he or she wishes. Forcing someone not to discriminate violates his or her constitutional rights.

In the backwards, Alice Through the Looking Glass world of the far right, the right to violate another person's constitutional rights is a constitutional right. The presence of so many instances of the word "right" in that sentence belies how very wrong it is. The only real issue here, as espoused by the Christian reactionaries, is their sense that they should employ use the legal system to hurt and damage others. And that attitude is very wrong -- yet very prevalent.

For instance, a student at Georgia Tech is currently suing the university because, she claims, the school's non-discrimination policy protecting gays and lesbians on campus violates her constitutional right to discriminate against gays. The suit, filed by the right-wing Alliance Defense Fund, names Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough and other administrators. Georgia Tech is now being forced to defend itself for instituting laws to defend the rights of those who were previously defenseless.

Similar suits are being filed across the country against gay rights. Strangely, this is coming from a group of people who have long protested that the courts should never be used to legislate social issues -- except, it appears, the ones which matter to them.

This might almost be funny except that the courts are receptive. Not long ago a judge in North Carolina ruled that the University of North Carolina must recognize a vehemently homophobic fraternity. And, given Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's strident and vocal hatred of gays, he may well be salivating for the chance to legally install bigotry into the American legal system.

Least funny thing about this: These supposed Christians have launched their campaign of bigotry and hatred in the name of God. It's their religion they say they are fighting for, it's their religion that grants them the right to deny others love and respect, it's their religion that gives them the moral authority to hurt.

The essence of true religiosity -- kindness, humility, love, tolerance -- means nothing to these people. Last week Rabbi Eric Yoffie, the leader of America's largest synagogue movement and president of the Union for Reform Judaism, spoke at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. The undergraduate thugs at Liberty were unable to grasp the idea that a religious spokesperson could also advocate compassion. What did they do when Yoffie suggested that he was in favor of gay rights? They hissed and booed Yoffie until Jerry Falwell, the very avatar of American intolerance and avarice, himself had to intervene.