Irreconcilable Differences?

Melissa Etheridge's suggestion [“Etheridge Urges Reconciliation with Warren,” Vol. 27, issue 18], that the LGBT community should turn the other cheek to the Rev. Rick Warren was idiotic. While religious leaders "fear change," gay men have to fear for their lives!

Her suggestion that we should volunteer at the offending churches instead of marching is ludicrous. The gays that I know are already so co-dependent that it is a joke. Let Melissa Etheridge get beaten up in West Hollywood with a baseball bat by some marauding bigots then see if she still feels like scrubbing Rick Warren's floors.

Edward Williams
via Internet

Sister Act

It's always shocking to me to read about gay men complaining about being rejected by the Mormon church [“Bridging the Watershed,” Vol. 27, issue 18].

Sonia Johnson, a lesbian feminist, warned about this church years ago. The Mormon church derailed the Equal Rights Amendment back then, and they are continuing to cause damage to gay male Mormons.

I've never ever heard gay male Mormons get outraged over an all-male priesthood in that church—not one peep. And I never saw any outrage among gay men back in the ‘70s when the church excommunicated radical feminists like Sonia Johnson. Read her book From Housewife to Heretic and you'll see that the church has been interfering with the democratic process of this country for a very long time.

When the church was forced to change its discriminatory policies against blacks in the ‘70s, it was only black men who were allowed into the priesthood. The Mormon faith is a patriarchal oppressive structure that degrades and dehumanizes women. Black women were not included in their change of heart in the ‘70s.

In Utah alone, Mormon women use anti-depressants to an alarming degree, for example. Mormon patriarchal families are rife with spousal abuse (that's men battering women), and children also suffer abuse and it’s hidden in the “father knows best” culture. There is nothing about that church that is worth saving, in my opinion. Gay men may still long to be in that place precisely because it is so woman hating.

What happens is that gay men get all upset at these church attacks, but it is gay men in the Mormon church who aren't outraged over the treatment of women in that organization that makes me question their real commitment to equality. I guess I have very little sympathy for those guys who were excommunicated from a sexist church to begin with.

Audrey Lockwood
via Internet

Correction:

In [“Asked & Answered,” Vol. 27, issue 18], we erroneously titled Ellen Huang. She has worked as a feature development executive for both Helen Hunt’s and Hans Zimmer’s production companies. We regret the error.

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