I will stand.
Yesterday, April Gilford at Life as a Christian Woman sent me a link to an article on Christian Newswire, by a member of Concerned Women for America. The article discusses fears of a bacterial epidemic as cases of deadly MRSA, more commonly known as Staph, begin to rise. Staph infections are rising everywhere, but the article highlights the growing percentage among gay men. At first I saw a cause for concern, but didn’t quite see the cause for anger…until I read further.
I don’t normally copy the full text of articles; just the relevant points. But this…this must be seen.
Epidemic Feared - ‘Gays’ May Spread Deadly Staph Infection to General Population - Christian Newswire
WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 /Christian Newswire/ — Reuters has reported that, “A drug-resistant strain of potentially deadly bacteria has moved beyond the borders of U.S. hospitals and is being transmitted among gay men during sex, researchers said on Monday.
“They said methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is beginning to appear outside hospitals in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles.”
“‘Once this reaches the general population, it will be truly unstoppable,’ said Binh Diep, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco who led the study.”
According to the study, at this point, homosexual men are 13 times more likely to contract the potentially deadly, drug-resistant strain of staph infection, but the fear is that, because the infection is spread via skin-to-skin contact, homosexual men may soon spread it to the general population.
Matt Barber, Policy Director for Cultural issues with Concerned Women for America (CWA), said, “The medical community has known for years that homosexual conduct, especially among males, creates a breeding ground for often deadly disease. In recent years we have seen a profound resurgence in cases of HIV/AIDS, syphilis, rectal gonorrhea and many other STDs among those who call themselves ‘gay.’
“The human body is quite callous in how it handles mistreatment and the perversion of its natural functions. When two men mimic the act of heterosexual intercourse with one another, they create an environment, a biological counterfeit, wherein disease can thrive. Unnatural behaviors beget natural consequences.
“In recent years our culture has adopted a laissez faire attitude toward sexual deviancy. Television shows like Will and Grace glorify the homosexual lifestyle while our children are taught in schools that homosexuality is a perfectly healthy, alternative sexual ‘orientation.’ ‘Stay out of our bedrooms!’ we’re often commanded by militant ‘gay’ activists.
“Well, now the dangerous and possibly deadly consequence of what occurs in those bedrooms is spilling over into the general population. It’s not only frightening, it’s infuriating.
“Citizens, especially parents, need to stand up and say, ‘No More! We will no longer sit idly by while politically correct cultural elites endanger our children and larger communities through propagandist promotion of this demonstrably deadly lifestyle.’
“Why does it take a potentially deadly staph epidemic for people to acknowledge reality? Will that even do it? Enough is enough!” concluded Barber.
Is that what we are, then? Plague rats to be exterminated? Typhoid Mary crossbred with Venus as a Boy, black plague in the flesh, just another reason to hate us, brand us, lay the troubles of the world at our feet. Counterfeit they call our love. Unnatural they call our lives. Deviant they call our flesh, and perverse they call us for pleading to be seen and heard, asking for nothing more than acceptance and understanding. They seek any cause they can to vilify us, twist the truth until we are naught but devils in the eyes of a world forced to “acknowledge reality”: a false reality in which zealots will do anything to eliminate those who don’t follow their ways, more militant than those they seek to condemn.
Perhaps we should do no more than give that which we receive.
The article is right. Enough is enough. You want citizens to stand up and say “no more”? Then I will stand. I, a red-blooded American citizen, will stand and say “No more.” No more of your blame; no more of your bigotry, no more of your finger-pointing, no more of your hatred. No more of your lies, no more of your propaganda, and no more will I let you try to dictate how I live my life and who I dare to love.
I speak now to you, and you, and every living thing who would stand before us and refuse to acknowledge our worth, our equality, our validity, and the very core of our human nature. I stand before you, and I say no more will we be your scapegoats; no more will we be your demons, no more will we carry your martyrdom upon our bowed and straining shoulders.
No more will we lie down and let you trod your rough and filthy feet upon the very idea of our existence. No more will we fear your retribution, fear your violence and rejection, all while you cry that we are the ones endangering you. We have offered the olive branch, we have offered compromise, we have offered understanding and education - only to have them thrown back in our faces like so much offal. Are we so unclean? Are we so reviled? Are we, in our desire to love, so much more besmirched than those who would smear themselves with the war paint of hatred and shout from the mountaintops for the blood of our demise?
No. No, we are not. And so I say no more will I sit quietly, no more will I bite my tongue politely, no more will I leash the weapons of my words and thoughts in the hopes that some day, some how, diplomacy will gain some higher ground.
No more will I let you make me feel regret for what I am.
I will stand. I will stand, until the strength bleeds from the very limbs of those who would hurl their slurs and stones to cripple me. I will stand until the blood runs from my veins and the last breath leaves my lips, until my flesh falters and fails and yet still the fire prevails. I will stand until you cannot help but see me - me and not your dogma, see a human, a man no more or less vile than your father, brother, lover, son. I will stand until you can no longer look me in the eye and my pride becomes your shame.
No matter what you say, no matter what you do, I will stand - and dare you to knock me down.
christian news wire, homophobia, mrsa, staphylococcus aureus
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January 17th, 2008 at 8:53 am
I’m speechless.
January 17th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Ack… religious news groups.
They think the Bible is a history book practically sent by God. Why bother?
They can’t tell the difference between “enticing your imagination” and “summoning demonic powers”. They live like a plague. They have an effed up amount of kids and expect others to do the same. It’s like God is an evil alien that sent them to infest the Earth. (OMG!1one Bejita is God ¬¬’… ok)
They fear difference. Fear generates anger. Anger generates violence. Such an article is an act of violence in itself. It spreads anger. It’s almost like they’re set to destroy by whatever means possible. They either make you afraid of something, or they make mad at them. Which, in the end, is all the same.
=/
January 17th, 2008 at 9:07 am
so powerful. i’m going to post about this over at “watching showtime” and direct people over here, because this NEEDS to be read.
and know that you are most definitely not standing alone.
January 17th, 2008 at 9:24 am
[...] post, “I Will Stand“, hits incredibly close to home for me. The ignorant beliefs from the article are ones I [...]
January 17th, 2008 at 10:49 am
People who use health issues as a platform for “morality” only show their ignorance. MRSA has been around for for forty three years and effects everyone!
January 17th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Adrien, I am so glad you answered this ridiculous article. Please know that not all Christians believe as those do who wrote it. This type of hate propaganda has no place in the faith I hold or the Christ I believe in. You will not be standing alone!
January 17th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I wish that Matt Barber guy could read this, and any other fundamentalist Christians of whatevers out there.
Things like these make it so hard to believe that there’s something good in everyone…
January 17th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
MRSA is generally accepted as being an effect of dirty hospitals. Foul, besmirched places these hospitals are. I feel they should be abolished, in order to halt the spread of this terrible disease. Only then will we be save from ill health.
January 17th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
MRSA is also on the rise in contact sports like wrestling. I just saw a report on the news about it a few weeks ago. I guess we should abolish sports too.
January 17th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Ok…that settles it.
Adrien, YOU ROCK!
You always seem to have the best combination of snark and passion and EMPATHY in what you write, regardless of topic. This article is a little heavy on the theatrical drama, but it in no way belittles the message. The fury is palpable (spl?) and moving. Maybe you should run for president…
I’d vote for ya and I think you would do a better job than you probably think; and better than at least a few of the actual canditates. Its not like we could do much worse…(I hope that came across right)
What is the world coming to?…
(and I went WAY off topic here. Sorry *blush*)
January 17th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Keres: I was, too, when I first read the article. Then I started frothing.
Lux: Fear and propaganda, my friend, fear and propaganda. No matter the issue, that’s the name of the game.
Robyn: Thank you. I read your post and I’m sorry that you’ve had to put up with such experiences. Interestingly, though, that’s one of the reasons I miss Chicago as well, and why I’m moving back this year.
Beth: What I find interesting is that they pointed out that so many STDs are on the rise, when more reputable news sources have actually said that save for in very specific locations/demographics in the U.S., AIDS is on a decline while other common STDs vary in their rates of increase or decrease. I wonder if they even looked up the correct numbers on MRSA before deciding they had a weapon to flail about.
April: Thank you for sending it to me. Despite being an atheist, I respect Christians who respect others - and I appreciate knowing that there are people like you who make a lie out of the bad examples set by others.
Sihaya: You can always fall back on the old “Everyone was a child, once.” Children aren’t inherently evil, right? Despite the smell, the diapers, the puking, the inherent destructive tendencies, and then there’s Damien…
Shirvona: Oh, of course. And hospitals have never done anything good for society, so naturally we’d be better off without them as long as they stop spreading MRSA.
Vicki: Y-you mean…men might actually touch each other and spread skin-to-skin-contact diseases for reasons other than The Evil Gay Sex?! Say it ain’t so!
Luci: I was pissed off and being horribly melodramatic, so trust me, I agree with you on the theatrical melodrama. When I was writing that I felt like I should be standing at a podium before an angry mob or something rather than ranting via text. Looking back on it now that I’ve calmed down, it’s almost embarrassing - but I’m glad you enjoyed it.
As far as me running for President…~laughs~ I firmly believe that those who desire power most are also those least suited to wield it. I, for one, have no desire to attempt to run a country - though I don’t think that particularly makes me suitable to, either. It does reflect on my opinion of the current state of politics in the U.S., though.
January 17th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
No words, just silent applause. I’ll stand with you.
January 17th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
*waves my sign* FREE HUGS!! *hugs the ignorant Christians* take my homosexual love!!
January 17th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
*applause*
Thank you, Adri, and by extension, April. That last bit about AIDS being on the rise sounds made-up anyway. The writer and the editor probably didn’t bother to do research about that. I just lurv people who like to make up lies. Then again, with the current example in the president’s office, I’m not surprised. He isn’t exactly one aiming to promote truth and honesty and attention to research.
January 18th, 2008 at 1:27 am
Maybe I’ve been spending too much time on Wikipedia, but I read through that article and I kept thinking “Citation needed.”
January 18th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
[...] knowing how it made him feel as a gay man. He very eloquently expressed his reaction in his post, I will stand. I urge you to read it and think about his emotions. Is this how you want your Christianity to [...]
January 18th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
You are not alone.
Got your back, brother.
January 18th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Well, you could right an essay on how important it is to wash your hands after you scratch your 4ss if you’re a gay man. =P
January 18th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
(Applauds wildly)
Amen, Adri. Amen.
January 18th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Screw Christianity; that’s some Dark Ages-style superstition and ignorance there. Some people just need a good reality check. Newsflash, people, God does not validate your existence.
January 18th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
….I think that came out more anti-Christian than I meant it. I’ve got no problem with most Christians. The nuts piss me off though.
January 19th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
I, as a gay man, was beginning to think that I was responsible for all worldly woes! Glad Adri is around to keep me from martyring myself … most well-said, my friend. Well-said indeed!!!
January 20th, 2008 at 1:02 am
Say it Adri! I don’t understand such ignorance and I would pity them if what they were saying wasn’t so harmful to others.
January 20th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
I’m just wondering how that woman in the article handles the 45% of gay men who don’t participate in anal sex? Blow jobs and frottage are perversions of the body’s natural functions? I think it’s pretty natural if it makes me get off…
January 20th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Well…not to play Devil’s advocate, but some people get off from sex with animals, and other people fantasize about being gangraped by zombies. ~coughsAlicoughs~ That might get them off, but I wouldn’t call it natural.
I just don’t think intimacy between the same sex can be considered in any way comparable to people who are that disturbed.
January 24th, 2008 at 4:25 am
[...] Disputes Study of Staph Infection Among Gays: Remember that CWA article quoting rates of MRSA infection among gays and using it as evidence that we’re all going to hell because we’re nothing more but [...]
February 12th, 2008 at 2:36 am
[...] to have misplaced my 666. by Adrien-Luc Sanders First they call us a threat to peace. Then they call us plague rats. Now we have devolved into something more simple, and yet so much more evocative; now we are the [...]