[lbo-talk] Last Supper, in a leather harness

BklynMagus magcomm at ix.netcom.com
Fri Sep 28 07:43:14 PDT 2007



> That said, I'm still interested in the question of
whether, generally speaking, secular leftists ought to be bothered by blasphemy.

I see no reason to be upset by it. If you deem some belief system or group off limits from mockery, you endow that belief/group with unearned and unmertied privilege.

What argument would you propose for being upset about it?

For further reading, here is an alert from Concerned Women of America:

http://www.cwfa.org/articles/13888/CFI/family/index.htm

My favorite part:

"The most unimaginable and vile acts of debauchery are commonplace during the fair. Senator Larry Craig was arrested and driven out of the Senate for allegedly soliciting public 'gay' sex, yet during this event the city of San Francisco suspends the law and allows 'gay' men and women to parade the streets fully nude, many having sex - even group orgies - in broad daylight, while taxpayer funded police officers look on and do absolutely nothing."

Here is the Woodhull Freedom Foundation's response:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 28, 2007

What Would Jesus Say About the Folsom Street Poster? A Statement from Ricci Levy, Executive Director, The Woodhull Freedom Foundation

This weekend the annual Folsom Street Fair will be held in San Francisco. This year's poster, a Folsom Street version of The Last Supper, has gained quite a bit of attention - - some appreciative, some hostile. The Concerned Women for America, in their annual attempt to shut down the fair, have seized on the poster as the reason for this year's effort to squelch what they describe as the "Debauched Folsom Street Fair."

I would never presume to speak for Jesus and it troubles me that others, like the CWA (Concerned Women for America), do. But I wouldn't try to silence them, no matter how harmful I thought their statements were. Woodhull believes in freedom of speech and sexual expression, and this is certainly a case where both would apply to all involved parties!

I can, though, offer you a quote from the Bible, Luke 6:22, "Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man." [New American Standard Bible]

But let's face it. This isn't about THIS poster. After all, there have been many previous pop culture takes on The Last Supper, such as by The Simpsons, The Sopranos, Star Wars, Sesame Street and many others, and the CWA didn't rise up in horror to decry the "open ridicule of Christianity" as they did here.

No - this isn't about the poster. This is about discrimination. This is about hate. And this is about fear. This is about restrictions on freedom of speech. This is about suppression of sexual freedom - of sexual expression. This is about marginalization of a group of people trying to exercise the same choices Matt Barber, CWA Policy Director, makes for himself; the right to live one's life as one pleases and with whom one pleases in consensual adult relationships.

Petitioning House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to "publicly condemn this unprovoked attack against Christ and His followers" is a smoke-screen, it's a ruse to try, once again, to close down the Folsom Street Fair. If it wasn't, the other cultural takes on The Last Supper would have caused the same comments. After all - what's reverent about The Simpsons? And does the blood and guts violence of The Sopranos honor the concept of The Last Supper?

Here's the crux of the issue: it's freedom of speech and sexual expression and it's about hatred of the "homosexual" population. The CWA proves it themselves when they describe "half-naked homosexual sadomasochists...sin itself."

That's what this is about - hatred and unabashed bigotry against a group of human beings with the same fundamental human right every member of the CWA claims for themselves, - indeed the same fundamental right to which we're all entitled - sexual freedom that includes freedom of speech and sexual expression!

Join the Sexual Freedom Movement today! www.woodhullfoundation.org



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