Editorial: “Holy war: ‘a cause worth dying for’”
by Matt | January 29th, 2008 |My editorial from the Jan. 26 issue of Q-Notes, your premier source of LGBT news and views in the Carolinas.
This editorial comes just a couple weeks before Michael Brown will be holding a series of lectures prior to the HRC Carolinas Gala in Charlotte, N.C. On Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008, Brown will debate HRC Religion and Faith Director Harry Knox. Tickets to this event and more information are available by emailing info@hrccarolinas.org. You have until Jan. 31 to buy your tickets to the HRC Carolinas Gala at $190.00. After Jan. 31, prices will jump to $225.00. More information available at www.hrccarolinas.org. As I was told Saturday evening, the deadline for the youth dinner scholarship (which includes attendance at a CampusPride student leadership conference the day of the dinner) has been extended to Feb. 1.
Holy war: ‘A cause worth dying for’
by Matt Comer . Q-Notes staff
If you are involved in the LGBT community across the Carolinas, chances are good that you have seen them at the NC Pride Festival in Durham, Pride Charlotte or outside the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Carolinas Gala Dinner. The “them” I refer to are the red-shirt-wearing, big-sign-carrying, loudspeaker-screaming protestors from Operation Save America (OSA). Because they are loud they get most of our attention, but they shouldn’t be our only concern.
Less in-your-face but (as you will see) no less harmful is the Coalition of Conscience (CoC). On the surface, CoC’s leader Dr. Michael L. Brown seems innocent enough. In September 2007, he organized a forum asking “Can you be Gay and Christian?” that he promoted as a peaceful opportunity for discussion and dialogue.
(Note: The forum will be reprised on Feb. 14, when Brown debates HRC Religion and Faith Director Harry Knox in the Booth Playhouse at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center.)
Brown has realized that the hellfire and damnation style of preaching and protesting don’t work when it comes to converting “ho-mo-sek-shuls,” so he’s turned to more genteel, seemingly benevolent language.
Don’t be fooled. Many people fail to realize just how deeply Brown and his CoC are entrenched in the idea of “holy war” against society and more specifically the LGBT community.
Read the rest at Q-Notes Online
Please note… Q-Notes will print in our Feb. 9 issue a clarification regarding a quote mistakenly attributed to Dr. Michael Brown in the Southern Poverty Law Center’s The Intelligence Report, a quote included in the Jan. 26 editorial.
Matt, 22, is an LGBT journalist, activist and youth advocate currently living and working in Charlotte, N.C., where he serves as the Editor of Q-Notes, the Carolinas' LGBT news source. A native of Winston-Salem, N.C., Matt attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is still continuing to pursue his bachelors degree. He is the Owner & Editor of InterstateQ.com and has been active in LGBT advocacy work since the age of 14.
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