by Troy Williams
I have the lead letter in today's SF Chronicle!
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/28/EDSK13NSJE.DTL
Editor
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' aggressive efforts
to fund Proposition 8 remind me of the schoolyard. As a gay Mormon in
Oregon, I was often pummeled in elementary school with epithets like
"faggot!" and "momohomo!" Recess was often brutal.
So
I did what ostracized children do – I set out to find a weaker kid to
dominate. I targeted a schoolmate named Peter and verbally assaulted
him in the hopes that the other kids would accept me. And I was
ruthless. I should have known better.
As
a child, I was told stories of my Mormon ancestors being mobbed and
murdered for being polygamists. Evangelicals persistently denounced our
faith as non-Christian. Most recently, the GOP rejected "the Mormon,"
former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. The memory of our collective
emotional pain is always present. Mormons are the queer outcast of
religious society. Like all kids, we just want to fit in.
So
what does an ostracized church do? Viciously target another minority
group of Americans. Mormons have now proven that they can be as vicious
as the Christians who hate them. In playground politics, the bullied
have become the bullies. Should gay Americans pay the price for
Mormonism's abused inner-child?
TROY WILLIAMS
Salt Lake City
Christian — thank you for posting and stopping by Queer Gnosis. It’s great to have you here.
Mormons don’t get to define “marriage” or “family” anymore. Your day is done. Sorry that you have to give up your straight privilege. It’s going to suck for a little while. I imagine there were many white southerners who scowled and cursed when Jim Crow laws were abolished by the courts. They survived, and I suspect you will too!
A Church that practices polygamy in heaven doesn’t get to define anything about “family” on earth. Sorry buddy. You have no credibility. Some of your very own apostles are polygamists in heaven right now. That makes them big ole hypocrites, doesn’t it? I can’t take you too seriously.
The game has changed Christian. Queer Americans are claiming their rights, freedoms and liberties. We will not be treated anything less than equals in this society. You can wince, stammer and moan all you want but we will not be stopped.
Liberty and justice for ALL.
Please stop by again, and post some more.
Your friend and equal,
Troy Williams