Sometimes Bill Maher pisses me off, when it comes to his supposedly “stalwart” support of LGBT rights. Like some years back, when he said it was too soon for gay marriage, we should settle for domestic partnership, and stop whining about marriage, it’s just a word. And about two years ago, when a male guest on Real Time caressed his shoulder in a comradely touch, Mr. Maher jerked back in scorn to admonish: “No homo, bro.” Unfortunately, I haven’t saved a clip of either video, or took note of the episodes, to verify my claims. There’s also the time he declared in 2014 that “There Is a Gay Mafia … If You Cross Them, You Do Get Whacked.”
However, on January 19th of this year, once more he spoke ignorantly on the queer issue and, fortunately, I did save the clip. Just view the short video yourself (it’s only 21 seconds), and come to your own conclusion before reading my disgruntled take on the matter, just below the link:
Video: Homophobia in Real Time
In case the video won’t load, or you are hearing disabled, here is the transcript of Mr. Maher’s own words:
“Now building blocks, basic building blocks of thought, like ‘there are facts’ and ‘things have degrees’ are being tossed aside. Mike Pence and ISIS are both homophobic, but Mike doesn’t throw gay men off the roof. So he’s better! This isn’t that hard, people!”
My Own Disgruntled Take on the Matter
Bill Maher should know better–that Mr. Pence is wickedly homophobic–and that our current Vice President would, indeed, persecute homosexuals according to Christian fundamentalist dictate. Just because they probably wouldn’t choose to toss LGBTs off a roof, they certainly would be overjoyed to terrorize, incarcerate and even murder them in equally gruesome ways. Such as stoning them to death. Or look the other way whenever a gay person has been bashed to a bloody, stinking pulp by one of their own Jebus followers (and make “godly” excuses for not bringing the criminal to justice). Or rounding them up in concentration camps to be tortured, experimented upon, abused and gassed to death. Do you doubt me? Then here’s a list of seven of his offenses that I grabbed from an online article…one of many that denounce Mr. Pence’s vitriolic stance against LGBTs:
1. Supporting a constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality
2. Signed a bill to jail same-sex couples for applying for a marriage license
3. Wanted to divert funding from HIV prevention to conversion therapy
4. Opposed repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
5. Complained about the passage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes bill
6. Served on the board of an antigay group
7. Argued that passing ENDA would ban Bibles from the workplace
No two ways about it: Mike Pence’s anti-queer agenda is right in step with these zealous Christians who will use such laws (if any are passed) to make further inroads towards vilifying gays…leading to the same “final solution” that Adolf Hitler concocted for Jews and numerous other, marginalized groups. After all, look where we are now: the Trump administration just created a new office called “The Conscience and Religious Freedom Division” in the agency’s Office for Civil Rights. Which makes it legal for any medical service, including doctors, hospitals and even emergency medical technicians to refuse to treat a transsexual (or anyone else perceived as L,G, B or T), on the grounds of religious discrimination! In other words: Bible thumping EMTs would let you die in the streets for the love of their god!
See: SF reacts to feds promoting bias in health care
Quote:
Equality California Executive Director Rick Zbur called the move “a direct assault” on LGBTQs.
“This new rule would allow medical providers a ‘license to discriminate’ against patients if they disagree with their sexual orientation or gender identity,” stated Zbur. “The ability to access transition-related care, HIV medication, reproductive services and other necessary medical services are all under threat. … California has some of the nation’s strongest non-discrimination protections under the Unruh Civil Rights Act. In the coming days and weeks, we will work with our legal colleagues, the California Legislative LGBT Caucus and our allies in California Legislature to determine whether legislation or litigation is required to combat this new attack on the LGBTQ community.”
I’m sure Mr. Pence had a hand–probably a heavy hand–in creating this new office, which is targeted towards discriminating against sexual minorities (as well as women and other minorities they may choose on a whim or a wild hair up their halo-rimmed asses, such as the homeless, the disabled, immigrants and African Americans). I am therefore incensed over Bill Maher’s ignorance about just the kind of man V.P. Pence really is. Bill should know better, but he doesn’t. No excuse, considering he portrays himself as well informed over liberal issues, including sexual minorities. He either hasn’t looked into Mr. Pence’s bigoted history or, if he has, doesn’t think persecuting homosexuals is that bad, so long as they’re not thrown off a roof. I mean, Mr. Maher is aware of how the Religious Reich has taken over the Federal government, through Donald Trump’s stubby handed machinations…right? Yet he sees no danger of Mike Pence, as a New Testament zealot, being equivalent to Muslim fanatics’ own hatred of queers?
Thank god that Mr. Maher is not the last word on this topic, though he seems to fancy himself as such. Just another clueless hetero claiming to speak for a minority about which he obviously knows little…especially when it comes to who our enemies are, and how they operate. Mike Pence’s dominionist ideology is the Christian equivalent of Sharia Law. And we have a whole Presidential cabinet–and Senate, and House of Congress–filled to the rafters with them, now!
So, no, Mr. Maher, he is not “better” than ISIS.
ADDENDUM
Something I didn’t mention in my article, is the eeriness of the video clip. How smugly Maher presented his point in all its glorious ignorance…ending with conservative sell-out queer Andrew Sullivan grinning broadly, and applauding Mr. Maher’s equally eerie praise of Michael Pence. (FYI: Mr. Sullivan is not just a lifelong conservative; he’s also a devout Roman Catholic…so there you have his “queer Uncle Tom” credentials.) I didn’t plan it that way…just realized the fact with a little hindsight. As if that clip were specifically tailored for me to hammer home my point. I find it bizarre (though in a good way) that things seem to fall into my hands immediately, once I’m ready to expose an aspect of homophobia, or any other injustice. I rarely have to do more than one search, to come up with such helpful resources…whether image, text, or video.
ZekeBlog 2.0 