Multiconstruct

I’ve seen a lot of Facebook posts about the Florida teacher suspended for saying homophobic stuff on facebook. i read the article and my first thought was whose business is it of anyone’s what someone does on their on time. obviously i don’t have all the facts is he facebookfriends with students? would definitely make a difference. the school policy is think before you post on social media. i have a public job of some trust from the community and i would be aghast if someone tried to censor me. i reserve the right to post stuff that the majority of people think is wrong and offensive. i don’t do hate speech and there’s a case to be made possibly and i almost made that comment on the post i saw from a gay rights crusader but i didn’t because i didn’t want to start a fight. folks can be sensitive about some closely held beliefs and there doesn’t appear to be any room at all for nuance. my pro free speech is not anti-gay. my tolerance of private intolerance is just that a tolerance for folks that some folks don’t understand.

I saw it again as  a ‘defend this sad sack and defender of christian virtue’ post. i wanted to make a comment that hate speech isn’t christian but didn’t want to start a fight. folks can be sensitive about some closely held beliefs and there doesn’t appear to be any room at all for nuance. but as my brother just said the bible is real clear on homosexuality if you don’t read the new testament. which made me think of a piece i wrote called letter to a sunday school teacher  I stuck to the new testament, love and commonsense. Christians objections to homosexuality always strike me as disingenuous. if i yielded the point that homosexual behavior is a sin, which i don’t, why does it warrant a special status to draw such vitriol? Is it more of a sin then gluttony, for example? No one has objected to me teaching school, getting married, adopting children. No one has waved signs that say “god hates fat people” or even told me that i was in danger of hell when i am obviously overweight. no one has told me they love me as a sinner but hate my sin. no one has beaten me and hung me on a fence and left me to die. no, the special status of homosexuality is the mask of prejudice shrouded in religion. its hate and fear in the name of a loving god. its a selectively applied out of context justification for inappropriate behavior (judgement). jesus was always on the side of the outsider, the one out of power. i don’t think he’d be a fan of censorship or homophobia. it was the institutional transgressions of the powerful that jesus condemned. he only asked for stone throwing from the sinless. he did ask us to love our neighbors as ourselves. he told us not to judge. he promised us who would inherit the earth.