Freeze - FPI!

Once again, as a human rights activist for the pink community I run the risk of offending people who identify as Christian as well as gay, trans or pro-equality through targeting the matter of religious persecution of gender and sexual diversity and bigotry.

Please rest assured that this is not my intention. My intention is to highlight the actions and words of a minority of fundamentalists who use religion as a weapon against people for their own selfish ends. This is the offense - and not just against loving tolerant Christians, but against everyone who loves democracy, freedom and equality. We trust that Christians who support freedom of thought and the ideals of democracy and equality will take this into account wherever we engage bigotry espoused by those who claim to speak against the pink community for them as well.

Yesterday I asked our supporters to make posts on the Facebook Family Policy Institute group wall to indicate their displeasure at Mr Naidoo's decision to delete all postings by civil rights activists which, to be blunt, made their group look bad.

It now seems Erroll Naidoo has closed access to his Facebook group altogether and has also evicted all those who oppose his anti-gay view and who appeal for tolerance of diversity and for them to live up to their claims that they are "true" Christians by showing love and and acceptance to the pink community. It would seem this small-scale censorship and tyranny is a mirror for the political agenda of the ultra-radical anti-gay groupings in South Africa - who claim to support "democracy", albeit "Christian" - and who admit their intentions to use democracy to institute a theocracy or religious government.

This echoes the policies of their mentors in the USA, who regularly make blatantly hostile statements and moves against the pink community - and then refuse to publicly engage in an intelligent debate because they are fully aware that they will be publicly embarrassed by the presentation of fact as opposed to the fallacies and pseudo science they employ. When they are confronted they either refuse to comment - or deny it.

Please note that while they may restrict access to their Facebook group, they cannot do so in real life. While from their Cape Town office close to Parliament, they monitor Parliamentary process around the civil rights and equality of the pink community - so do we. And while they have attempted to expunge evidence of the hateful diatribes they brought against ordinary people and fellow citizens of South Africa, whose only "crime" was having being born different to them, they have through this act done no more than shown us their hand.

Mr Naidoo, as the one and only admin on the FPI site, should realize how bad censorship makes him and his cause look. Not only has he over the past few month's debates remained silent and failed to address the clear hatred and abuse by those there who support him and the FPI in their personal war on gay people (except to advocate it through the posting of additional anti-gay material as "evidence" to support them - but now instead he has also removed from that site all argument which highlights their collective hate and intolerance for the pink community - so that they can continue pretending what a "moral" and "loving" religious "morality" group they are, while working behind the scenes against our civil rights and equality.

In doing this, he has demonstrated an intolerance for diversity, the pink community - and freedom of speech as well. There is particular irony in the last item on the list, as "freedom of speech" is one of the things he and his group claim to support - or is that only applicable on the grounds of being a '"true" Christian"' and only if one makes verbal attacks on the humanity of gay people?

It is after all his group and he can do what he likes with it - but luckily for the rest of us, South Africa as a country is not his group - and if groups such as this go on like they have - it never will be. As Groucho Marx said "I would never belong to a group that would have me as a member" - and in this case it couldn't be more true - the "Family Policy Institute" is pretty clear about what it stands against - us.

Deleting posts which reflect the folly of anti-gay groups and which defeat the "justification" of their attacks on the pink community does not give them credibility - but instead takes away what little they still had left.

In fact this total refusal to continue to engage in debate and dialog indicates an admission that they are clearly incapable of doing so. At every turn they have provided disproved and discredited "junk science" against the arguments of "nature vs nurture", that being gay or transgender is a "mental illness", that "gay people are pedophiles", as well as all the standard obsolete rhetoric that gay people "recruit" in schools and that the "ex-gay" industry helps "gay people to become straight". And at every turn, they have been trounced by the presentation of scientific evidence and established and credible research recognized by authorities around the world. In the end, the only thing they have left to resort to in attacking the dignity and humanity of the pink community is their own dubious interpretations of religious scriptures - and the hatred they make abundantly clear. Doubtless, this is something of an embarrassment to them. In short, it is an attempt to save face.

Rest assured, that while they may delete all the topics and posts wherein these people expressed hatred against the pink community, they cannot erase all trace of them. Transcripts of all past debates I engaged in with the FPI, ACDP and CDA supporters were made and are available on request. I will leave you all to ponder the statement "the truth is out there".

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If you would like to know more about Christina Engela and her writing, please feel free to browse her website.

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All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2019.

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