TheViscount.com -- "A SOBERING & SHOCKING MESSAGE"

Thirty-five years later
12th September 1998

Dear Cyberfriend:

I am writing to bring you a message of tremendous importance. One that is sobering and shocking.

First, I want to extend a cordial invitation to you to learn more about an internet club which has been formed. This club is dedicated to fulfilling Dr. King's dream of equality for all people.

The club is called the Gay Rights Club - "GRC" -- and is dedicated specifically to achieving equality for the gay community. The gay, or "GLBT" community, refers to gay (homosexual) men, lesbian women, and bisexual and transgendered persons of every ethnicity. "Gay friendly" refers to loving heterosexual people who favor protecting the GLBT community's human rights. The number of "hits" on our website has been phenomenal - as of this writing, over 10 thousand in the first three weeks -- and we thank those who have shown an interest. Please consider joining, if you have not done so already.

Let me give you some background on the struggle for gay rights in the United States of America.

In our country, the conservative wing of the Republican Party is beginning to exhibit feelings of insecurity. While they continue their majority status in both houses of Congress, opinion polls show increasing willingness among American citizens to embrace more fair-minded ideas, particularly in the area of equal rights. And dear friend, THAT is what we ask for: not "special" rights.... EQUAL rights.

With the demise of its favorite enemy, the Soviet Union, the political ultra-right in this country has had to find a new whipping boy. They now demonize the gay community as they participate in an unholy alliance with certain religious institutions. This comes perilously close to, if not actually violating, our Constitutional themes on the separation of church and state. They solicit votes and financial support from some individuals who falsely claim the title "Christian." Dear friend, I am a Christian - one who loves his fellow men and women of black, white, red and every color; of Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and every faith; of gay, lesbian, transgendered and every sexual identity. And let me tell you, a great many of the people who make up the fundamental religious right in America are about as close to "Christian" as chalk is to cheese.

Many churches and synagogues and their members -- whose REAL mission is to preach of God's love -- understand that concept fully, and are loving people through and through. They accept GLBT persons as their fellow citizens, even if they might not agree with, or approve of us. This is called the principle of "Live and let live," and it is a blessing that we have people like this in the world. But many others who claim to be "Christian" are instead preaching messages ranging from patronizing and insidious "help cure gayness" campaigns, to more overtly vicious slander and discrimination. To look right into the face of hell and see anti-gay hatred and hysterical rhetoric at its worst, visit this website, run by Fred Phelps of the Westboro, Kansas Baptist Church:

www.GodHatesFags.com

There, you will see slanders and innuendo against the Princess Diana, Rev. Billy Graham and Mother Theresa, as well as photographs of self-proclaimed "Christians" outside a funeral, carrying picket signs rejoicing because the loved ones of a gay man lost him to the slow, agonizing death of AIDS. This is being perpetrated in the name of Christ!

In one sense, the chief motive of the anti-gay agenda, ironically, is not anti-gay at all. Rather, we are unfortunate bystanders -- victims -- about whose jobs, personal safety and happiness they simply do not care. Theirs is a quest for political and financial power, and we represent a means to that end. The anti-gay agenda is supported by contributions from the gullible, the ignorant, and the hate-filled. These contributors are enablers for those who spread the message of bigotry and intolerance. Pray for the children. Beautiful, innocent gay teenagers struggling to understand their sexual makeup are being scorned into a strangling vise of depression and inner torture, and feel they have nowhere to turn for help. They are subjected to an assortment of constant persecutions, ranging from intolerance, insults, verbal & physical assaults, and shame, expressed openly and cruelly at them by peers, churches, neighbors, schools; even, God forbid, often times their own parents. Some choose a quick, self-inflicted death. Others turn to the slow suicide of wanton sexual activity. Sexual promiscuity among gay youths is a tremendous problem, just as it is with heterosexual youths. Sexually transmitted diseases are poisoning, even ending the lives of young gay people. And our efforts to help and counsel them are sabotaged by narrow minded individuals who would force any open and intelligent discussion into the "closet" of secrecy and shame.

One of our club members is an educator and psychologist, whose own family lost a gay young man -- her nephew -- to suicide. A few weeks ago, one user of the Yahoo! internet server's message board - one which deals with the topic of homosexuality -- posted a message for this club member. The message recommended that if she encountered any more young gay people considering suicide, that she not try to discourage them. The same individual, in another post, claimed that if he learned one of his daughters was lesbian, he would furnish her with a cyanide pill. Those messages were at best allowed to go unchallenged; at worst, resoundingly cheered by other anti-gay users on the same board who thereby made themselves accomplices to this villainy.

Sexuality is a gift from God. It should not be wrongfully used as a sentence of death. That individual was advocating suicide and murder. This is unspeakably and insanely evil. And my frequent visits to that message board have awakened me to the fact that such evil is more pervasive and widespread than I had ever before imagined. Blind, dangerous, raging haters are out there in alarming numbers -- and this is EVERYONE'S problem. We need your help to fight it.

The GRC is still very new, and is still in its formative stages. But our mission and our methods will become clearer as we learn together. All we ask right now is an open mind, and your moral support.

We extend an especially warm welcome to fair and open-minded heterosexual brothers and sisters; also to GLBT and straight friends from other countries. Our problems in America may be more or less acute than yours, but your view of the U.S. from an overseas perspective is of particular help to us.

To learn more about GRC, please visit our web page at the hyperlink printed below. Please join GRC, and help us realize the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's dream for peace, justice and equality for all humanity. Above all, please pass along this message about GRC to your friends everywhere.

Thank you. May God bless you and the entire human family.

"VE"
Co-founder of GRC
CLICK HERE TO JOIN
Groups.Yahoo.com/GayRightsClub