The "Shower Nuts"

[LiberalEsto]

Today's Washington Post reported in the Metro section that Maryland Citizens for Responsible Government (aka the Shower Nuts) submitted a petition with about 31,000 to the Montgomery County Board of Elections seeking a referendum to overturn new protections for transgender people. To get on the November ballot, 25,000 signatures are required.

These were the folks lurking outside many polling places on primary day last Tuesday, trying to collect signatures to keep men out of ladies' restrooms and showers. They are obviously well-financed, since they have been robo-calling people in all parts of the county.

First they go after the transgender folks. Then gays. Then anyone else who doesn't fit their profile of white heterosexual right-wing Christian.

Jesus would weep.

For the latest on what's happening, check out http://www.teachthefacts.org/vigilance.html

Teach the Facts has been monitoring and trying to counter the shower nuts since they began attacking the Montgomery County Schools' sex education curriculum for its so-called "gay agenda."

I am not gay or transgender, but I will not stand for the sort of paranoia and divisiveness being spread by the MCRG/shower nuts.

[Mabus]

1. I'm with you

What they are doing is disgusting. There is no reason to ever persecute people for their gender or their sexuality identity. I don't know if you saw the story about the 8th grader who was killed by a classmate because he was gay. This is the type of thing that the Shower Coalition people are fomenting for the future.

Lawrence King, an eighth grader who identified as gay and wore makeup and nail polish, was 15 when he was declared brain dead on Feb. 13. The day before, he had been shot in the head in an Oxnard, Calif., classroom full of students. Police have charged a sweet-faced boy called Brandon McInerney, 14, with first-degree murder and with a hate crime. According to the Los Angeles Times and KTLA, McInerney and some other boys accosted King about his sexuality on Feb. 11. Students apparently often taunted King, who didn't even have a safe home to return to after school: he was living in a shelter for abused and troubled children.

The crime, a chilling execution carried out in a typical suburban school — allegedly by a boy who probably hasn't started shaving — has shocked Oxnard and captured the attention of gay and transgender activists around the country. On Friday, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force released a statement saying, in part, "Our hearts go out to Lawrence's family — and to all young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender kids who are — right now, right this minute — being bullied and beaten in school while adults look the other way." Another group, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) called for passage of the Matthew Shepard Act, which would dramatically increase the power of the federal government to prosecute hate crimes.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1714214,00.html?imw=Y

Intolerance isn't acceptable.

[lizerdbits]

2. Sickos

We can't have gay and transgender people not feel like outcasts now can we. :eyes:

One of the robo calls I got from them was funny because the message would go 2 words and restart, 3 words and restart, etc. It happened about 6 times before I deleted it because as soon as I heard the words 'shower' and 'safe' I knew it was these bigots.

[Mabus]

3. What gets my panties in a knot is...

that the people behind this are Christian fundamentalists who don't seem to have read the New Testament. Heck, I am not a Christian. I follow the Red Road of my mother's ancestors but even I know that Jesus preached love, compassion and acceptance. I thought most religious institutions taught that we were all the same. I thought they taught that we were all created by the same omnipotent entity that creates and nourishes all life. Why condemn? Why hate?

If they really believed what was in their Bibles they would understand that transgendered people are created that way by their God and they should accept them as they are. Their God created straight people, gay people, bisexual people and transgendered people. Do they really think that their omnipotent God created mistakes? It just doesn't make sense to me.

Why are they spending so much of their lives condemning the creations of their God? I am grateful that the religion I embrace doesn't teach us to hate others for the way they are. Everyone has something give. Everyone is special in their own way. Why condemn people for what they are? Why is being different a bad thing? I just don't get it. I never will.

I really wish that they would take all the time and energy that they spend hating, condemning and being afraid and use all that time and energy making the world around them a better place. Imagine what would happen if they used half the money they've used on this stupid campaign and donated to homeless shelters to buy blankets or food. What if they spent their time, money and energy helping to increase literacy. Heck, what if they spent that time with their own kids teaching them acceptance?

How are these home-grown religious fundamentalists any different than other perverted religious fundamentalists around the world that say things like women should wear burkas or should undergo clitorectomies? Radical religious fundamentalists of all faiths are the ones that divide the world into "us vs. them" while professing to teach love. It just drives me nuts.

:rant: