Like having a Nazi gathering at the gates of Auschwitz

[Scooter]

Homophobes gather to dance on the graves of Pulse nightclub victims:

ORLANDO — As evangelical leaders gathered here for the American Renewal Project conference — a gathering of religious conservatives that features Donald Trump and Marco Rubio as headliners — pro-LGBT protesters lined the streets waving rainbow flags and pictures of people killed at the Pulse nightclub two months ago. For those close to the mass shooting, the deadliest in U.S. history, the conference is a distasteful act dismissive of the lost lives. Those attending the American Renewal Project event defended themselves by saying the controversial confab was only a gathering of faith leaders seeking political empowerment.

“The concern is that, just two short months after the massacre of 49 individuals belonging to the Latino and LGBTQ community, two individuals as prominent as Marco Rubio and Donald Trump choose to address a conference of people who would demean us and demonize us and further hate culture toward the LGBTQ community,” said Lexi Wright, president of Space Coast Pride.

The event, which was chiefly marketed to pastors, attracted many self-identified conservative voters, and a message from American Renewal Project founder David Lane printed on event schedules encouraged religious leaders to “return to your church and mobilize your people in the pews to register, to vote and to take their Christian convictions with them to the voting booth.” The pamphlet directly appeals to pastors' belief in “religious liberty” and says the next election swings on the votes of Christian citizens. “Remember, what we do here is spiritual; only the by-product is political,” it says. “Without God’s mercy, there is no hope. Pray for the next great Spiritual Awakening.”

Other speakers at the event include David Barton, an evangelical leader who has advocated regulating gay sex like alcohol and cigarettes, and Ken Graves, who the Human Rights Campaign called out for creating ads denouncing same-sex couples raising children.

Rubio is scheduled as a headline speaker and will appear at the conference on Friday. Trump’s visit to the event was announced earlier this week, with many attendees learning of the appearance only after arriving in Orlando. The event also features remarks by Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Staver, who has blamed "pedophiles" for trans-inclusive bathroom policies. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has his own troubled history with the LGBT community, was scheduled to introduce Trump at the event.

But some spiritual leaders from Florida said it was not right to label the event as anti-LGBT. Sri Rangaswamy, a Hindu leader and Orlando-based humanitarian attending the event, said the point of the gathering was the furthering of a spiritual mission. He considers himself a supporter of both the Christian message of the conference and of LGBT rights. “This is the only country that loves all equally,” he said. (not even close, buddy, not even close)

Jerry Hekheys, a pastor from Good News Christian Fellowship in New Port Richey, Fla., said LGBT people should not object to the gathering taking place and that it shouldn’t be a problem that Trump or Rubio would reach out to attendees. “We don’t see any reason for opposition to them appearing or to us hearing them,” he said. (of course not, why should anyone object to a conference full of people whose only regret about the Pulse massacre was that some people got out alive)

But protesters outside, including some who were at Pulse in the early hours of June 12 when Omar Mateen started a shooting spree that would result in 49 deaths, said holding the conference in Orlando right now is simply distasteful. Carlos Perez, a dancer for Pulse, survived the attack. He could be found at a protest with a stack of photos remembering the lost. “Our purpose is just to keep the memory of those who are not with us today,” he said. Enakai Mpire waved a photograph of Deonka Deidra “Zeus” Drayton, who was killed in the attack.

Gina Duncan, transgender inclusion director for Equality Florida, said the attack at Pulse felt close to home because the club had been such a "safe place" to be while she went through her transition in 2006. She was surprised and outraged that either Rubio or Trump would choose to curry favor with opponents of trans rights in Orlando right now.

Joe Saunders, southern regional field director for the Human Rights Campaign and an Orlando resident, said Trump and Rubio showed their true colors by attending the American Renewal Project gathering. “The Pulse tragedy was the worst mass shooting in the history of the United States, and also the most violent and impactful and hateful crime against the LGBT community in history,” he said. “The hatred that led to that violence is rooted in bigotry, and the organizers of the conference spread a message that dehumanizes and devalues LGBT people."

[BoSoxGal]

[MajGenl.Meade]

Hysterical hand-bag swinging. Orlando is a place where many meetings occur. It's a favorite place for time-wasters and ne'er-do-wells.
How many months after that horrific and disgusting massacre is permitted for other people with other views to have a meeting?

"Trans rights" has f-all to do with homosexuals. I wish people would stop buying into this dumb LG BTQIFP)RSE rubbish.

People need equal rights. People should have equal rights. And that means not making such a piss-my-pants fuss about other people having a meeting. Grow up

[RayThom]

I agree with MGM. Orlando is a fairly large city. It's not as if the American Renewal Project decided to hold their conference in the parking lot at the Pulse nightclub or in Greenwood Cemetery.

Did you know on June 17, 2015 nine people were shot and killed by a deranged gunman during a Bible study session at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina? As soon as the barricade tape was removed from the crime scene the church congregation was convened for a remembrance prayer service -- and they haven't closed their doors since.

Your perceived indignation appears to be much ado about very little.

[rubato]

Hysterical hand-bag swinging. Orlando is a place where many meetings occur. It's a favorite place for time-wasters and ne'er-do-wells.
How many months after that horrific and disgusting massacre is permitted for other people with other views to have a meeting?

"Trans rights" has f-all to do with homosexuals. I wish people would stop buying into this dumb LG BTQIFP)RSE rubbish.

People need equal rights. People should have equal rights. And that means not making such a piss-my-pants fuss about other people having a meeting. Grow up

Right, people who think homosexuals and transsexuals should be oppressed are just "morally different" deserving of equal respect and consideration like Willie Sutton merely had an "alternative view" about the morality of bank robbery.

Your clique has had better luck preaching hatred in Uganda than it has here.


yrs,
rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

You have difficulty understanding the English language.

"People need equal rights. People should have equal rights" obviously refers to homosexuals and transexuals who (however) I suggest "should not make such a piss-my-pants fuss about OTHER people having a meeting."

I say nothing about those OTHER people deserving equal respect or consideration. If anything, it's fine to criticize them but more than a little silly to hyperventilate about Auschwitz and disrespect - as if the OTHER people chose to have a meeting in an entire city (Orlando) just to make a rather vile point.

(I hope they didn't do that)

[Scooter]

I'm sure the organizers of this hatefest would have been more comfortable having it in one of these countries:

Trans model Valentijn de Hingh is helping to bring attention to the plight of LGBT people around the world with a stunning dress made of flags from the 72 countries where homosexuality is illegal.

“During the opening walk of euro pride in Amsterdam 2 weeks ago, 72 flags of 72 different countries where homosexuality is against the law were present, in 12 of these countries you still get the death penalty for being gay,” writes Pieter Henket, the photographer who captured the stunning dress.

[rubato]

You have difficulty understanding the English language.

"People need equal rights. People should have equal rights" obviously refers to homosexuals and transexuals who (however) I suggest "should not make such a piss-my-pants fuss about OTHER people having a meeting."

I say nothing about those OTHER people deserving equal respect or consideration. If anything, it's fine to criticize them but more than a little silly to hyperventilate about Auschwitz and disrespect - as if the OTHER people chose to have a meeting in an entire city (Orlando) just to make a rather vile point.

(I hope they didn't do that)

The Nazis have the legal right to march in Skokie but it is morally repellant that they do so. Anti-homosexual bigots have the legal right to convene in Orlando but it is a piggish and vile act for them to do so.


People should have equal rights. They should also have a larger world with a moral center clear and vital enough to know decency from its opposite at minimum when the smell of blood has not been washed away yet..


yrs,
rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

I'll leave it to you then, given you are the resident exemplar of piggishness

[rubato]

I'll leave it to you then, given you are the resident exemplar of piggishness

An admission of error if not a gracious one. Leaving you with a moral task to labor at.


yrs,
rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

I admit no error, merely acknowledge yours

[Scooter]

Your perceived indignation appears to be much ado about very little.

Of course you would see it to be so, because the vitriol which the attendees have a history of spouting is not directed towards you, and you are in no danger of being killed by the next nutbar who is inspired by them to see how many queers he can kill.

There were "good" Christian pastors who expressed nothing but disgust for the Pulse victims and those who mourned them in aftermath of the massacre, and whose only regret was that there hadn't been more victims, and some of them were welcomed with open arms to attend this latest anti-gay hatefest, some even being featured speakers. If you can't see how disgustingly repulsive that is, then I have to wonder if that is so because you share their opinions.

[rubato]

Your perceived indignation appears to be much ado about very little.

Of course you would see it to be so, because the vitriol which the attendees have a history of spouting is not directed towards you, and you are in no danger of being killed by the next nutbar who is inspired by them to see how many queers he can kill.

There were "good" Christian pastors who expressed nothing but disgust for the Pulse victims and those who mourned them in aftermath of the massacre, and whose only regret was that there hadn't been more victims, and some of them were welcomed with open arms to attend this latest anti-gay hatefest, some even being featured speakers. If you can't see how disgustingly repulsive that is, then I have to wonder if that is so because you share their opinions.

And all of them within their "rights" per MajGenl.


yrs,
rubato

[Scooter]

They have the right to say whatever they please wherever they please, and I have the right to judge their decision to piss on the graves of the victims of their vitriol for what it is.

[Joe Guy]

I suspect, based on conflicting beliefs, the gay community would be against any gathering of this group of religious conservatives no matter where they have a conference.

So, how much time needs to pass before a conference like this is acceptable in Orlando?

[Scooter]

I suspect, based on conflicting beliefs, the Jewish community would be against any gathering of Nazis no matter where they have a conference.

So, how much time would need to pass before a gathering of Nazi Party members would be acceptable in Dachau?

[Scooter]

I can recall some of those defending these hatemongers as reacting apoplectically at the idea of a mosque being built anywhere in the vicinity of Ground Zero in NYC, despite the lack of any discernible affinity between the proponents of that project with the theology driving the 9/11 hijackers. But apparently it's ok to preach a steady diet of anti-gay hate for breakfast, lunch and dinner and still be welcome in the place where that hate caused a massacre.

[Joe Guy]

Saying the conference is like "having a Nazi gathering at the gates of Auschwitz" might be appropriate if this right-wing group had imprisoned and exterminated over 5 million members of LGBT. It's more similar to a right-wing group meeting somewhere in the same city that a mass shooting took place.

[Scooter]

There are virtually no living Nazis who have imprisoned or exterminated anyone. I don't imagine that would matter much to those who see them holding the same views as those who actually had.

[Big RR]

They have the right to say whatever they please wherever they please, and I have the right to judge their decision to piss on the graves of the victims of their vitriol for what it is.

Indeed you do Scooter, as do they IMHO.

And Joe--how much time? You'd get different answers from each person you ask. But the easiest rule of thumb IMHO is for enough time to pass so that it would not be a factor in favor of these jerks deciding to hold their "meeting" in Orlando. Face it, these guys are professional politicians and PR people--don't pretend they didn't know exactly what message they were sending by meeting in Orlando. I might agree with Meade that not all of them felt that way (I really don't know), but come on, how could you not see how hateful and insensitive this was (and why didn't they change the venue or delay the meeting if this was not the message they wanted to send)? They had a right to hold the meeting whenever and wherever they wanted, but criticism of their decision is entirely appropriate.