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Posted 2-16-07 REGIONAL ROUNDUP GROUP PLANS TO COUNTER GAY-LESBIAN FUNDRAISER Mecklenburg County A local conservative Christian group says it will protest an upcoming Charlotte fundraiser for a national gay and lesbian group by holding a series of lectures next week on -- among other things -- biblical condemnations of homosexuality. Michael Brown, head of the Coalition of Conscience, said the lectures were timed to coincide with the Feb. 24 fundraising gala for the Human Rights Campaign. “My issue with the Human Rights Campaign is that it’s really ... the homosexual rights campaign,” said Brown, founder of the Fellowship for International Revival and Evangelism church in Concord. The locale for the free 7 p.m. lectures Monday through Friday: the Booth Playhouse at the N.C. Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in uptown Charlotte. The group is also running a large ad in Saturday’s Observer. The Human Rights Campaign released a statement saying only that it expects this year’s Carolinas Dinner “to be more successful than ever before due to the fact that people in North and South Carolina understand the importance of promoting equality in every aspect of American society.” -- Tim Funk Posted
2-21-07 Letters to the Editor Why rent Blumenthal for gay-bashing talks? The writer is associate professor, UNC Charlotte Department of Dance and Theatre. In response to “Group plans lecture series to protest gay-lesbian fundraiser” (Feb. 16): So the Performing Arts Center has decided to rent space in the Booth Playhouse to conservative Christians who want to counter the “homosexual agenda.” Can we soon expect Klan Kapers and Holocaust-deniers Hoedowns? Would someone please ask the Arts & Science Council why these uptown theaters are empty and thus available for hate groups? Why has local theater never received ASC support on a par with dance, opera and the symphony? This bloated organization is more concerned with perpetuating itself with fund drives than with fostering arts groups that could fill these theaters. Are the theaters empty also because the Observer continues to marginalize theater and arts coverage? The most theater coverage in recent years has been your misinformed pursuit of scandal at the late Charlotte Rep. Bob Croghan Tax-supported theater isn’t appropriate place I know the dollars of the “Coalition of Conscience” are no different from any others’ when it comes to buying Observer ad space, but it does bother me to see its misguided message being spread at a tax-supported venue such as the Booth Playhouse. I can only hope real Christians won’t waste their time listening to Michael L. Brown. Michael
K. Warner Posted
2-22-07 Observer Editorial FREEDOM OF SPEECH Should theater be available to anti-gay agenda group? Yes A group of social conservatives that opposes what it calls a “radical gay agenda” has rented the uptown Booth Playhouse this week for a lecture series on homosexuals, society, religion and the law. Some critics have questioned whether it’s appropriate to rent the publicly owned space for such a purpose. The answer is simple: Yes, it is. The group, called the Coalition of Conscience, planned its lectures to precede the annual Human Rights Campaign dinner here Saturday. Dr. Mike Brown, the coalition director, said it will not be “a forum for gay bashing” and will do nothing that’s “bigoted or mean-spirited.” He contends that the term Human Rights Campaign is misleading. “It’s the homosexual rights campaign,” he said, promoting an agenda that affects “how we define marriage, how we run our businesses, how we teach our children, and even how we interpret the Bible.” You don’t have to agree with him in order to have a stake in ensuring his right to rent the theater. Questions about the appropriate use of public facilities often arise when controversial issues are involved. There were many objections when “Angels in America,” an award-winning play with homosexual themes, was presented at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center. And many citizens don’t like it when gay groups use public parks for celebrations. Citizens ought to be wary of urging the government to make political value judgments about who can and can’t use public facilities to air their ideas. There’s a risk in trying to use government authority to deter speech by your opposition. The risk is this: A slight shift in government might make your side the opposition. Free speech that you disagree with may be annoying, but it’s preferable to empowering government to decide who can say what, and where. This is, after all, a nation that could not function without a robust exchange of information and ideas.
Letters to the Editor Can’t cultural venues offer what people want? In response to “Why rent Blumenthal for gay-bashing talks?” (Feb. 21 Forum): Bob Croghan blames the Arts & Science Council and even the Observer for the empty seats at uptown cultural events. Mr. Croghan, if you provide a product interesting to enough people who will pay you for the opportunity to see it, then you will be not only successful, but also self-sufficient -- without the need for public funding. I doubt the Coalition of Conscience asked for or expected such money. Todd Isaacs Who speaks for all gays? Not Coalition, not HRC Coalition of Conscience director Michael Brown refers to the Human Rights Campaign as the “homosexual rights campaign.” It’s better characterized as the “homosexual wing of the Democratic Party.” The HRC has offered apologia for Democrats who flip-flop on gay issues, while turning a blind eye when a Republican takes a pro-gay position. Opinion within the gay demographic is much more diverse than either the HRC or the Coalition of Conscience would have you believe. Adrianne
Pryor
Dr. Brown’s Editorial FOR THE RECORD AMERICA’S NEW SCAPEGOATS Conservative Christians under fire for views on homosexual practices From Michael L. Brown, PhD, director of the Coalition of Conscience: In 1989, two Harvard-trained gay authors, Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen, published their watershed book “After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the ‘90s.” Their goal was the “conversion of the average American’s emotions, mind, and will, through a planned psychological attack, in the form of propaganda fed to the nation via the media.” One of their strategies was to “jam” people’s emotions by associating “homo-hatred” with Nazi horror, bringing to mind images such as “Klansmen demanding that gays be slaughtered,” “hysterical backwoods preachers,” “menacing punks,” and “a tour of Nazi concentration camps where homosexuals were tortured and gassed.” Their strategy worked like a charm, as Jeff Jacoby, a conservative columnist with the Boston Globe, commented, “Dare to suggest that homosexuality may not be something to celebrate and you instantly are a Nazi. ... Offer to share your teachings of Christianity or Judaism with students `struggling with homosexuality’ and you become as vile as a Ku Kluxer ....” I can now confirm this firsthand. We recently held a series of lectures on “Homosexuality, the Church, and Society,” at Charlotte’s Blumenthal Performing Arts Center. Every night, we reserved at least 45 minutes for questions and objections. Our ad in The Charlotte Observer actually encouraged dissenting viewpoints and stated explicitly that the lectures would not be a forum for hate speech. And every night, we went out of our way to speak to the gay and lesbian community with respect and dignity. But Kirk and Madsen were absolutely right. Public perceptions can be manipulated to the point that the moment someone airs any differences with the homosexual community, they are labeled Nazis and Klansmen. In the last few days, e-mails and blogs have referred to us as hell-bound mindless bigots, ignorant morons, lunatics and frothing nutbars, accusing us of openly touting the Nazi agenda, being part of the KKK in Charlotte, and espousing the American version of Nazism -- all this without attending a single lecture. Yet it is I and other conservative Christians who are the hate-filled bigots! How ironic, yet how utterly predictable. A UNCC professor chimed in as well, writing a letter to the editor in which he asked, “Can we soon expect Klan Kapers and Holocaust-deniers Hoedowns” at the Booth Playhouse? Isn’t this over the top? Is there no tolerance of opposing viewpoints anymore? As a Jewish follower of Jesus born of Jewish parents who descended from Eastern Europe, I find the constant comparison to “Nazis” and now “Holocaust deniers” especially inappropriate. These lectures were timed to coincide with the annual Carolinas Dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, the world’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocacy organization, boasting a $30 million budget and holding to some views that hardly represent mainstream America. As for those who beg to differ with some of their radical views, we are labeled Nazis, Klansmen, and Holocaust deniers. It appears that America not only conquered much of its fear and hatred of gays in the 1990s, but it found a new scapegoat: anyone who questions the validity of homosexual unions and homosexual practice. Feedback offers persons or groups criticized in Observer editorials, columns or news stories an opportunity to respond.
UPTOWN GAY
RIGHTS ADVOCATES BOND AT FUNDRAISER FRANCO
ORDOÑEZ James Bond might have been ruffled by all the attention but also intrigued. The world’s most debonair fictional spy served as the theme for the 12th annual gay rights dinner at the Charlotte Convention Center on Saturday. It was a fundraiser for the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay, lesbian and transgender advocacy organization. More than 1,500 gays and their straight friends mingled to music from Bond films. Several performers dressed as characters from the movies: A shirtless man coated in gold-colored makeup amused guests as “Goldfinger,” carrying hors d’oeuvres on a table wrapped around his body. A man dressed as Bond nemesis “Dr. No” danced. The fundraiser and awards ceremony also attracted its share of controversy. Christians demonstrated outside the Convention Center. Down the street, at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, a local conservative Christian group had just finished a weeklong series of lectures protesting the gala and what the religious group called the Human Rights Campaign’s “homosexual agenda.” Rodney Tucker, co-chairman of the gala, said he thought Agent 007 would have ordered a martini and joined the fun. Jennifer Holliday, Tony Award-winning star of Broadway’s “Dreamgirls,” warmed up the crowd by belting out her hit “And I’m Telling You.” Actor Leslie Jordan of television’s “Will & Grace” gave the keynote speech. The Alliance of AIDS Services, which provides care to AIDS patients, was given the Community Service Award, one of several that the Human Rights Campaign presents to groups and people who have helped improve the lives of gay people. “Rainbow Radio,” a broadcast program serving S.C. gays and lesbians, received the group’s Equality Award. Scott Vitez received the Legacy Award. He is best known as Miss Shelita Ham, the founder and star of Gay Bingo, which raised nearly $700,000 for the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network in six years before ending last spring. “It’s all flattering,” Vitez said. “I didn’t care what type of costume I had to wear (at Gay Bingo) as long as people kept coming to support RAIN.” Saturday’s dinner was the Human Rights Campaign’s best attended one nationwide, organizers said, raising more than $400,000. Corporate sponsors included Bank of America, Wachovia and Duke Energy. Coalition of Conscience Director Michael Brown, who led the protest series at the Blumenthal, said he believed most people would be shocked to find out about the corporate sponsorship. He called the Human Rights Campaign an “extreme homosexual action group” and said it was deceptive to call itself a human rights group. “I also work against bigotry and hatred, but I will not endorse the sexual practices and lifestyles they endorse,” he said. Those at the dinner said
the controversy wouldn’t spoil the party. Dan Mauney, co-chair of the gala, said the controversy actually helped boost awareness and ticket sales. “We’re on Cloud Nine with this event tonight,” he said. “Each year, the dinner grows. ... Being from a very typical conservative area, it tells me the area is changing in a positive way. We’re hearing loud and clear from the community that `It is OK to be you, and we support you.’ “
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Dr. Michael L. Brown |
