Out in the Mountains

Editorial

Foot Soldiers of the Lord Wage War on Civil Rights

Cleland E. Selby

President Clinton has acknowledged that
violence is “tearing the heart out of our
country”. What he failed to acknowledge
is that a lot of the violence is generated by
the clergy of the Christian Right.

Since the early 1970’s, the Christian
Right, through its “foot soldiers of the
Lord”, has launched a political war
against persons of color, feminists, Jews
and other religious minorities, and gay
people. Their goal is to merge church and
state by dividing and conquering and in
so doing eliminating human rights and in-
dividual freedoms. Women, non—white
people, people who are not Christian fun-
damentalists or Roman Catholics, and
gays are threatening the power of white
Christian males who take their authority
from selected Biblical literature. Framed
in the rhetoric of morality, of good versus
evil, these Christian fundamentalists are
our major threat to democracy. Shake-
speare in Macbeth states the reality very
clearly; “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” Un-
der the banner of “good”, these so—called
Christians have created “armies of God”
united by their racism, sexism, anti-

Semitism, and homohatred.

Their rhetoric, like that of President’s Re-
gan and Bush, is about establishing the
“values” of the l940’s and l950’s when
white males dominated, when segregation
was legal, when women held little polit-
ical, social, religious, or personal power,
when gay people were invisible, and
when their so—called “traditional family
values” were actually for far too many
persons a time when battering, rape, and
alcoholism were horrible family secrets.

They paint a picture that seems “  but
which is very “foul.’-’ To increase the size
of their ‘army, ironically the Christian
Right is attempting to recruit African-
Americans. One example of how subtle
and sinister their weaponry has been is
evidenced in the Traditional Values Co-
alition’s videotape entitled Gay Rights,
Special Rights. The intent of the tape is
to confuse people about the real meaning
of civil rights and to do so through the
voices of African—American people.

The right to obtain a job is not a “special
right.” It is a civil right. Access to hous-
ing is not a “special right”. It is a civil
right. The right to have and raise children
is not a “special right”. It is a civil right.
The right to be protected from violent acts
is not a “special right”. It is a civil right.
African-Americans, other non-whites,
women, several religious minorities, and
gay people have fought for and continue
to fight for exactly the same rights that
white heterosexual males have always
had. Extending civil rights to all persons
does not withdraw those same civil rights
from others who have already secured
them. The very core of our democracy is
built upon the principle that “All people
are created equal.” if so, then all people
are entitled to equal protection.

On the eve of his inauguration President
Clinton said this: “Let us build an Amer-
ican home for the twenty-first century
where everyone has a place at the table.”
Lesbians and gay men must continue to
wage our own war, a thoughtful and car-
ing one, to assure that we too will have
that place. V

HOWDEN COTTAGE

litfél G Bfijikfast

Continental - No Smoking

By Reservation Only

32 No. Champlain St. - Burlington, VT 05401
Bruce M. Howden 0 Proprietor - 802 864-7198