Thursday, July 9, 2009

Cross This Line

On several occasions supporters of the ACDP, a right wing SA political party which can only be described as religious fundamentalist (if not actually outright totally bonkers) have claimed that the party bears no ill will to gay or trans people (in their words, "homosexuals") in the country - and that we have nothing to fear should they ever come to power.
 
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

I wish I could believe them - but there is far too much openly visible hatred and intolerance in the ACDP - which I have seen first hand - and the rest of the world has been able to see even in their press releases addressing the GLBT community or our issues for anyone with two eyes and half a brain to even take that statement seriously!

The facts say otherwise.

For people such as myself, an unrepentant transwoman, the notion of the ACDP - a party which claims to be a Christian representative body - accepting us and showing us love is just unrealistic. For that to have any remote or passing resemblance to reality, this "love" would have to reflect in the ACDP's policies, statements, and in the ACTIONS of its supporters and leaders.
 
If the ACDP has no malicious intent towards the pink community, then why is the ACDP so interconnected with known anti-gay hate groups such as Christian Action Network, and Family Policy Institute, even attending their conferences as guest speakers to attack gay rights and dignity?

Why have the ACDP's leading figures never censured or corrected certain individuals on their Facebook ACDP sites for spreading hatred and lies against the pink community and inciting hatred and even real physical harm against them - but so far always supported them and even indulged in hate speech and dissemination of the same?
 
Why have some of the ACDP's leading figures openly traveled to Uganda to "pray" with the Ugandan president and his wife while preaching of the "evils" of homosexuality in the midst of a hysterical witch hunt directed against the Ugandan GLBT community that threatens to result in a state-sponsored genocide?
 
Why did at least one of the ACDP's leading figures co-author a book filled with fake, made-up pseudo-science intended to smear the GLBT community and incite hostility towards innocent people? (The Pink Agenda, 2001).

Why has the ACDP been campaigning to remove the civil rights of gay and trans people from the SA Constitution ever since founding in 1994 - after protesting vehemently against the decriminalization of homosexuality in the same year?

Why has the ACDP maintained policies, election manifestos and also made press releases over the past 15 years that if given the chance, it will revoke same gender marriage equality and that it sees gay people as "a threat to the family"and society as well as Christianity? Why has the ACDP demonized the pink community in the media since the beginning?

I may be a "lowly sinner" in their eyes - but I am far from stupid. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck - it sure ain't no turkey.

I would say it is because they agree with them, and share their view - or should I say, so-called "biblical worldview"?

Their bible tells them Christ told them to love their neighbor as themselves - I wonder, do they hate themselves that much?

Because we are your "neighbors" and what you show the world is hatred and intolerance for us. You not only show your own prejudice, but through your lies and propaganda, you incite hatred and intolerance for those like us wherever you speak of us. You use a loving God as a weapon of your own bias and prejudice and then to justify the spiritual and social violence you direct at us, and to absolve yourselves of this guilt, you unashamedly "wash your hands" in holy water and claim "it is not I that says so, but God...or the bible...".

And then, once more they try to twist the facts to show WE "reject every premise of Christianity"? Simply by existing as GLBT people?

Being tolerant does not necessarily include acceptance - but tolerance does not include public campaigns, slander in media and press and defamatory remarks based on and repeating fallacies which incite further intolerance, hatred and even hate crimes. We can tolerate the existence of gay-hating bigots - but we will not stand for their attempts to strip us of our human rights and equality or to turn us into scapegoats out of their own selfish ambitions.

This "argument" has achieved little in any case - other than to show how obtuse they are. Willful ignorance is something to be ashamed of, not proud.

There is truth in the old adage "if you gather thistles, expect prickles" - and we can be very thorny indeed. As long as you or people like you and groups such as CAN, ACDP, CDA and the FPI act and speak out of hatred or intolerance, you will find us blocking your path.

You shall not go unchallenged. You shall not pass.

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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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6 comments:

  1. Hi Christina,

    You should not confuse disagreement with hate. I served in the ACDP up to provincial executive level for several years, and not once did I hear anyone speak ill of homosexuals as people.

    Just because somebody hates what you do and your lifestyle can in no way be construed as hate for you as a person.

    I have been dealing with CAN as well, and I have read almost all their online articles on the subject of homosexuality, and I have never heard or read an expression of hatred from them concerning homosexuals as people.

    I hope you can see the difference.

    May God truly have mercy on you, your family and friends.

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  2. Hi Christina, God created all of us and Jesus died for all of us, but He did this because we are all sinners. Christians - including those in the ACDP - love sinners but hate their sin, whatever it may be. You sound very angry and unhappy. God created you for so much more - I pray you find the peace you need! God bless, Linda Yates

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  3. Mr Dicks, perhaps the ACDP made all those statements in the media and press calling gay people 'perverts' and a 'threat to society' and 'the family' by complete accident?

    Perhaps it was only joking when it stood in Parliament at the inception of the new Constitution and vehemently opposed the decriminalization of homosexuality in SA?

    Perhaps it didn't mean what it has said about removing gay civil rights from the SA Constitution and recriminalizing people for how they are born?

    I fail to see how somebody can hate me for "what I do" and what I am without actually hating me as a person. That makes about as much sense as throwing the baby out with the bathwater - or the gay man out the church door with his homosexuality.

    CAN's main target happens to be the pink community, with Muslims ranking at number two on their 'hit list'. If you have read almost all of "Dr" Peter Hammonds' newsletters on the topic (and Dorothea Scarborough - or Charl van Wyk) - and cannot see the latent hate in them - I feel compelled to ask why.

    Perhaps you do not see the use of words such as "perverts", "mentally ill", "sick", twisted", "pedophiles", "christophobes" (LOL), "evil", "sinful", "threats to Christianity", "threats to 'the family'" or "threats to civilization" - or the campaigning by them to oppose every single gain in civil rights equality by them as "hatred" - but perhaps that is also because you are not gay or transgender and these terms and the hatred behind them are not directed specifically at you.

    How about "lifestyle" or "lifestyle choice"? Of course, if you are ignorant and naive enough to believe that gay people actually "choose" to be gay then such hate speech makes perfect sense. ;)

    How about that lovely example of the CAN (and ACDP's) 'Christian love' for gay and transgender people which CAN unleashed on an unsuspecting public back in 2001 - "the Pink Agenda"? No of course not, that's not hate at all *wink*.

    How about the use of falsified "medical studies" by sources used in that very book - and who are the source for the vast majority of "facts" such groups use as weapons against gay people? Does the name 'Paul Cameron' mean anything to you?

    No, of course the ACDP would never admit to hating gay people - they only want to strip them of civil rights, equality, make laws against them, call them all sort of lovely stinging insults and allow people (whom they have incited against them) to commit acts of hatred against them unhindered by legal obstacles such as human rights law or anti-hate crimes legislation which the ACDP firmly opposes. But as you say, that is not hate.

    I am sure that will be of great comfort to the people who have lost their jobs, been evicted from their homes, excommunicated from their churches, been physically and verbally abused in the media and public places - or lost their lives because of this intolerance which organizations such as CAN, ACDP, CDA and FPI and others with such an ignorant and hostile mindset in SA perpetuate and fuel.

    "May God truly have mercy on you, your family and friends." - he does, Mr Dicks - which is why your party performed as dismally as it did in the April 22 election. May they all continue to do so.

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  4. Linda, I am a happy person who is at peace with herself. I am angered by prejudice, bigotry, lies and hypocrisy. Fascism is right up there too.

    Christ loves all people. God loves all people. Strange that those who claim to live in their path claim to as well - but in general make themselves (and God) liars by their actions - especially when it comes to the pink community.

    You should be angry as well. It is in your name - and in the name of your God - that such hatred is committed and given form. Blood spilled as a result of their intolerance and hostility will stain your hands as well as theirs.

    What could possibly mean more to me than being a voice for those whom others would seek to unjustly silence and revile?

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  5. I suppose nothing I say will convince you, for your mind is made up.

    May you one day still meet Jesus Christ in all His glory, and may it not be too late. May it be the glorious love of Christ that you face and not His wrath.

    Your choices today have eternal impact on your life.

    With the love of Christ,
    William Dicks.

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  6. I wonder how you can assume that because I am gay or transgender and do not agree with your political party or its sinister agenda or religious views on sexuality that I do not already know he whom you claim to serve?

    Mr Dicks - our choices do indeed have eternal impact upon our own lives - as well as upon the lives of others.

    While I sleep peacefully at night knowing I have done my best and done what is right and honorable, I will not trouble myself by wondering how people who support such groups can do the same.

    Regards,

    Christina Engela

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