Joe left the homophobic World of the Wildmons after working as staff attorney for the Tupelo, Mississippi-based American Family Association. He also penned (IMHO) hilarious anti-gay columns for its news organ AgapePress (known these days as OneNewsNow), has a stinging rebuke of the hypocritical cut-and-run of the GOP when it came to their toe-tapping conservative friend Larry Craig.
Murray, who's definitely on the conservative side of the political spectrum, did a couple of interviews with me earlier this year (here and here) on his evolution about LGBT rights, and his decision to speak out against the homophobia and hypocrisy -- and the anti-gay fundraising tactics of the religious right.
Murray is now in Las Vegas and writes for the Philly-based conservative paper The Evening Bulletin.
The Craig conundrum has exposed an Achilles heel that has long been present in the GOP - conservative organizations, such as the American Family Association, have removed the human element from homosexuality and replaced it with a man-made element driven by fear of the "homosexual agenda." Homosexuals, therefore, are not just average citizens; they are threats to the moral order and must be opposed at all costs.
To some of the leadership of the Christian right, the homosexual agenda is a zero-sum game where Christians lose if gays win. There is no middle ground; there is no room for compromise.
Homosexuality, thus, has become the ultimate of sins that can be committed against the GOP establishment, and its punishment must be quick and severe, lest one is seen giving aid to the enemy. When it is unearthed that a homosexual is within the ranks of GOP leadership, they must be shown the exit immediately.
The fact that the alleged homosexual may be a God-fearing Christian struggling with his sexual identity is irrelevant. Christian compassion stops at the Castro District.
If you are caught fraternizing with the D.C. Madame, we got your back. Plead no contest to a DUI charge? Don't sweat it; we're all human. Have a home raided on charges of corruption? We've all been there. But get caught in a Minneapolis men's room sting, and you receive a one-way ticket to the gallows.
There is, however, a bit of irony. In their zeal to portray homosexuals as public enemy No. 1, some right-wing activists have created a catch-22 that leaves no room for error. As demonstrated in the past, not many people can live up to such a standard.
The far right religious crowd has set the "values" bar so high that it makes the GOP look foolish when it continuously waffles, weaves and frets when faced with its same-sex trolling scandals.
To some of the leadership of the Christian right, the homosexual agenda is a zero-sum game where Christians lose if gays win. There is no middle ground; there is no room for compromise.
