Hate, a Hero, and the Second Coming of Adolf Hitler

My friend and author Gregory Hinton wrote this account of what happened to him yesterday. I suspect like gays the Jewish community is expected to be "tolerant" of first amendment hate-speak, but its venom stings. I dare not think too much about the protesters, instead I'm focusing on Gregory, who decided to do something about it. His spirit as an openly gay man reflects the American tenacity against hate during WWII and what is still great about America, one gay man, and everyone who stands up for what is right.

October 17th, 2009

This Saturday morning around 8:00 AM, at the corner of Clinton and La Brea in Los Angeles, at a Jewish School and Synagogue, I drove past a group of protesters of the "God Hates FAGS," "Jews Killed Jesus," "Obama is the anti-Christ," "Your Rabbi is a Whore" variety.

They seemed like pros. A cop car saw them and wheeled around. They did not interfere but stayed on the scene.

They had professional signage and were alternatively chanting hate-speak and singing Christian songs, as Jewish families with kids passed across the street to go into the school.

I had no camera, or anything to make a poster with, so I went home and grabbed what I could. All I could manage for a sign was a black Sharpie and piece of board. On it I scrawled the word "Shame."

I returned to the scene and the group was still shouting, but no one had stopped to oppose them.

Positioning myself across the street from from the haters, I held up my sign, and began to shout "Shame" in their direction.

I said a prayer. Please let my voice last. I shouted for at least ten minutes. All I knew is that I did not want to be the first to leave.

A passing Jewish couple told me not to bother. I was only encouraging them. A jogger yelled at me to go home, but not the bigots across the street. More cop cars showed up.

My voice was getting hoarser. (The protesters had bottled water and a bus stop bench to rest.) Still no one stopped.

The protesters conferred by cell phone. As if on cue, they suddenly stopped, packed their signs, and strolled laughing around the corner to a nearby red Ford Sedan parked directly across the school. I was still shouting "shame" as they drove away, probably to a new location.

My lone voice had outlasted them. I am very hoarse.

I photographed them, got their plates. Who on earth could they be, filled with such hate?

I had to pass the gate to the Jewish high school on the way to my own car. Several men behind the gates eyed me.

"Why didn't you help me?" I asked. "You saw I was alone."

"Because of your sign," one said. "It says 'shame.' We thought you meant it for us."

"I'm gay," I told them. "'I was protesting them! 'Shame' is a word our community uses to protest hate-speak and gay bashers. This is all I had on short notice."

"In the end it's a free speech issue," one remarked.

For the record, I'm not this guy. I don't usually stop, but today I felt compelled to. The signs were reminiscent of those attending the funeral of Matt Shepard, or the hate displayed upon the unveiling of the AIDS quilt at UCLA. To be clear, I count as friends many loving and inclusive Christians who would never condone this behavior.

Deflated, I headed for my car, filled with the old familiar self-loathing.

A passing cop slowed as he passed me. He surprised me by assuring me I had every right to speak up as long as no violence erupted. He told me to keep it up. I then glanced over my shoulder.

A very old Rabbi had followed me. He offered up the fringe of his prayer shawl, his Tallit.

I wasn't certain what I was supposed to do so I hugged him. Afterward, I noticed I had cut myself on my wooden sign. I'm fearful I may have gotten blood on his prayer shawl because when I got home I found it on my board called 'shame.'

"Thank you," he whispered, blessing me. "Thank you."

Gregory Hinton
Los Angeles, California

 

Comments

[Walter72]

What's worse? The message or the messenger? Hate is deeply rooted in the Old Testament of the Bible. Until people realize that it's all mythology.­.. just the same as the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths about their Gods, people will continue to think this way. Anyone can say Christianity is all about peace and love, but they can't refute the facts. In the Bible, Jesus says that he does not refute anything in the Old Testament. Here's just one of the many wonderful things the Old Testament clearly says:

"If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads". (Leviticus 20:13)

Unless there's some kind of hidden meaning in there, the message seems pretty obvious to me. The Bible, like all mythologies, promotes hatred, self-perceived superiority, and intolerance, just as much as it promotes peace, love and happiness. Anyone who says otherwise is either illiterate or only sees what they what to see.

[kps888]

It's all about context. That passage in Leviticus is part of a long list of crazy things we don't do anymore, like stoning adulterers, shrimp being forbidden for consumption, and not wearin double-knit fabric. So why THAT one. Why do people just ignore the passages they want to ignore, while enforcing the ones they like? Laziness, more than anything I think.

I might add, why do Christians expect Jesus to take away the gay, when He can't even take away their pettiness and hate towards those different? Jesus is supposed to work wonders with homosexuality, but amongst his own followers, He can't even bring about decent, considerate behavior?

[iMissMollyIvins]

Thank you Mr. Gregory. Hatred and bigotry must be confronted.

[FuturePrez]

What a remarkable act. My gratitude and appreciation to Mr. Hinton for standing up when others didn't.

[veendam]

Thank you.

[TRYKER]

Thank you for your heart and great effort Tom. Your inspiration and determination and loud shouting were at the right place at the right time. And although no one came to join you and you thought not many appreciated your work, there were no doubt a great many that were inspired and impressed.­..and some day somewhere they too will stand up and shout out.
You dispersed the creeps and probably shamed many that needed shaming, from the haters to those that just stood and did nothing.
Its people like you that bring tears to the eyes of people like me, thank you.

[Matt Osborne - Huffpost Blogger]

The closest thing I've ever done was blast a heavy metal song at some anti-abortion protesters. Thanks for being strong and not letting it go.

[Liberal Angel]

Reading this gave me goosebumps. I love it when people act out their true convictions, instead of just pissing and moaning to whoever will listen. You reacted in a much more civilized way than I think I might have if I encountered this. I'm a gay black Christian. I'm offended by these people on all three accounts. They were definitely the Phelps clan. Fight the good fight!

[BigGuy]

Sounds like Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. He was here in NYC over the Summer at the Gay Synagogue and at a Riverdale Yeshiva.

Thank you for calling him out as shameful. You did right.

I can't approach right wing nuts like that because when they yell, I react by yelling much louder and forcefully to the point where I could be arrested for assault. I generally find that nuts who are voicing nutty stuff like they are everyday are profoundly uncomfortable with people who yell much louder and more forcefully in their face.

Aboard the subway, beggars move away when I explain -- whispering and gradually faster and louder -- that even though I'm in a suit, I do listen to my invisible Venusian friend. Harvey says their loud music is giving him a headache. Very seriously, while the beggar is nearby, I yell "Are you sure, Harvey? The last time I punched someone like that was Mom and when she died I was put away in the Institute for the Criminally Insane. Don't you thing that if we ask them politely, they may just move along and stop bothering us?"

In most NYC subway cars, enough people know the play Harvey that using that name provides a clue to everybody that I'm sane and not likely to violently attack the beggar. Sometimes the subway car applauds me after the beggar leaves.

[plaidsportcoat]

It is APALLING that only one person stood up to these people.
With this do-nothing, jaded, cynical attitude we don't deserve single payer or any other thing that must be fought for.

[Milex]

Wonderfully put!

[kilgore trout]

People told you to go home, but not the group of anti-semites, because you weren't intimidating, but the group was.

You were brave, and you did the right thing. Thank you.

[kilgore trout]

Excuse me. I meant to say "People told Gregory Hinton to go home... because Hinton wasn't intimidating, but the group was."

[TruGal]

Gregory Hinton did a mitzvah.
I can empathize with his feeling of intense rage at the sight of these "protestors" laughing, supporting each other's ignorance with their indifference to common decency.
It takes courage, but even more, it takes a morality which the bigots lack, to stand up to bullies.
Thank you, Mr. Gregory, for bringing this account of what one man saw on an ordinary Saturday, and reminding us all that we really need to muster our courage and speak up.
If not NOW, when?

[Rogan]

Perfect use of the word "mitzvah" - worth reading all the comments, just to find yours.

[Freesia2]

I applaud you. I wish I could give you a hug.

What a brave thing you did and even though were alone I'm sure you were applauded in spirit by the many people who have fought this kind of hatred themselves - all alone. And for the people who were victims and wished so much that one person, just one person, would stand up, but didn't. And so they were all alone.

Blessings.

[mommadona]

All it takes is one voice.
And then another
and another
and another.

Just do it.

[LMPE]

Somebody create a new country somewhere so that it can be the refuge for the world's hate-filled people!

[maxgen]

How about Devil's Island?

[Liberal Angel]

Iran seems like it would suit them.

[Rogan]

I've always had the impression, that that's how the United States got started. But maybe that's only because I grew up here, recently..­.