I drove by a homophobic billboard today

[gollygee]

It's right across the street from a gay bar in Kalamazoo Michigan. Coincidence? It says "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable" or something to that effect. It's a Bible quote.

I couldn't find a photo or much at all online. There was one line about it at one website: http://community.icontact.com/p/kzooglrc/newsletters/edigest/posts/become-a-member-of-the-resource-center-today In Kalamazoo, a group of homophobes erected a billboard citing a passage from the book of Leviticus to condemn homosexuality. That's all that I can find.

This reminds me of a couple of atheistic billboards that have been erected and caused a huge stir. We've had huge threads about them here. But this thing can be put up, and there's no attention to it at all.

I just don't get it.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Too bad someone can't erect a billboard right across from it that

mentions something from the Bible like you cannot eat shrimp or any shellfish, or cannot wear clothes of two different materials, or you can sell your daughter into slavery. There were a bunch of these things in thatProp8 Musical video.

EDIT:
Here is a website about this exact thing. I know that Fallwell is in the name, but I don't think this has anything to do with
the one we all know and don't love.
http://www.fallwell.com/selective%20quotation.html

[izquierdista]

5. Across from Red Lobster

I'm still waiting for Fred Phelps to show up at one with his "God Hates Shrimp" signs and curse the patrons.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. Aw, give them a break

They just wanted to be close to something erect.

[MineralMan]

3. Why, that's not homophobic....It's sexist...

What that verse actually means is that it's OK to lie to women but not to other men. If you lie with men, it's a bad thing, but you're expected to lie with women. After all, they don't need to know about your extracurricular activities, but you can get an "attaboy" if you share them with your guy buddies.

Just another <b>correct</b> interpretation of the Bible.

[Dangerously Amused]

7. Ha ha, that was my take on the language as well.

I love it when homophobes quote the other "interpretation" as well: "...a man shall not lie down with a man..." I ask them, well wtf does that mean? That it's okay for women to be gay, but not men?

Makes their heads asplode. :)

[Ian David]

8. Only if they're the hot, sexy kind of woman. And only if it's on DVD and not VHS. n/t

[BoneDaddy]

4. Nothing

a lil grafitti can't fix.

[mitchtv]

9. or a dozen eggs!

[BoneDaddy]

15. or a torch

lol

[calimary]

22. Or a few paintballs?

:P

[BoneDaddy]

27. there ya go

creative, I love it.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

6. I don't think it's that hard to understand

Homophobia = old hat.

Atheists standing up = novel, generates interest, increases viewership/readership, increases revenue.

[Warpy]

10. Want the outrage?

Put up a billboard saying homosexuality is a variation of normal sexuality and is found throughout the animal kingdom.

I guarantee you the same firestorm that's facing atheists.

Remember, they're outraged by affirmation of anything but their own bigotry.

[gollygee]

12. I guess what I'm wondering

is why we don't get as outraged as they do. I see that and think, "Stupid idiots" and get on with my day. They see something they don't like and form a political action committee with the words "family" and "concern" somehow involved, and call legislators day in and day out.

What possible good do they think that billboard serves? Some gay man will look up at it and say, "Oh my goodness! I had no idea!" and become celibate after seeing it? They're doing it just to piss people off, aren't they? To thumb their noses at people? That's what it seems like.

[Warpy]

18. They're strutting and preening

because they think resisting the "sin" of being gay is some sort of major moral achievement, never mind they've never been tempted to commit it.

That's what it's all about.

[Javaman]

11. Biblical scholars generally agree that particular phrase means this:

back in those days, women were considered a second class citizen.

So if a man was to lay down with another man, it would be looked upon as an insult to the other man, thus making the other guy feel like he was a second class citizen.

It had absolutely nothing to do with sexual orientation.

fundie morons at work.

[Mari333]

13. they are mad because kalamazoo just approved a gay rights ordinance

http://www.mlive.com/kzgazette/news/index.ssf/2008/12/kalamazoo_city_commission_unan.html

Kalamazoo City Commission unanimously approves gay-rights ordinance
by Kathy Jessup | Kalamazoo Gazette
Monday December 01, 2008, 11:25 PM

KALAMAZOO -- The city of Kalamazoo has stepped beyond existing state and federal laws, making it illegal to use sexual orientation to discriminate in housing, public accommodations and employment.

hey i live near kalamazoo, hello.

[gollygee]

14. The city government really rocks about this kind of thing

I remember a few years ago when they approved same-sex benefits for city employees, and the huge outrage among some people, and how they stuck with it.

:hi:

[noonwitch]

23. I lived in Kalamazoo from 82-86 (while at WMU)

I was always amazed at how progressive the city government was, although the courts weren't necessarily so.

Where's the sign? Is the Zoo still there on Portage Street, because I'm guessing if it is, that's where the sign is.

[gollygee]

24. Yeah, across from there.

Just very slightly north, and across the street.

[Vickers]

16. Leviticus? OK, ask them this: have they ever eaten bacon?

Do they feel that McCain and Limbaugh should be killed for sleeping around on their wives?

Should Nancy Reagan's astrologer be stoned to death?

Have they ever worn a blended material (cotton-polyester)?

Have they ever sat in a chair that was previously sat on by a woman having her period? Touched a woman during her period?

Have they ever eaten cheeseburger? A pepperoni pizza with cheese?

Do they let their beard grow without trimming it?

etc. etc.

Selective piousness is for assholes.

[Obamanaut]

29. And somewhere in the new testament there is a passage that says

something to the effect that all the old laws were put aside with the fulfilling of the prophecy of jesus' coming - but I'm too lazy to look it up right now.

ANd even the prophecy fulfillment is faulty. The much awaited savior was to be from the line of King David. Joseph was a descendant of David, but inasmuch as Jesus was not his (Joseph's) natural son, there was a break in that line, thus, no savior.

I've used that a couple of times, and the response was something like "But that's not what they meant." But that is what they said, and since they are all now dead, how are we to know what they meant?

[annabanana]

17. They should put up a bunch of anti-shellfish scripture

outside all the Red Lobsters. . . .

[RaleighNCDUer]

19. Maybe you don't get it because you haven't thought it through.

Yes, the message is hateful. It's on private property, and we have this "first amendment" thing.

The brouhaha about the atheist 'billboard' (actually a message board, not a billboard) is that the xmas display is on PUBLIC property - and therefore the state is blatantly supporting religion. In order to comply with the establishment clause of the first amendment, all religious messages must be given equal time - and one of those messages is that there is no god. Otherwise the state is unconstitutionally supporting religion over non-religion.

There is no constitutional bar to the anti-gay message on private property. It is protected speech.

There is a constitutional bar to religious messages on public property. That is prohibited speech.

You want to post religious messages without any counter-message, put them on private property.

[gollygee]

20. No, I'm talking about the billboards, on private property, about atheism

There was one that said, "Don't believe in God? You're not alone" and had a phone number. And there was a lot of attention on it.

I'm comparing two similar situations - both billboards, both on private property - just one with the homophobic message, and one with an atheistic message.

[SmileyRose]

21. HOMOPHOBES ERECTED...........

Snort. Someone in Kalamazoo's journalism industry has a good sense of humor.............

[TrogL]

25. It's one of the many "clobber" passages

http://members.shaw.ca/trogl/bibquote.html

[Bluenorthwest]

26. I don't get it either

Yesterday I asked a bunch of religionist DUers who were spewing outrage over the atheist sing where the hell they've been over the decades of Phelps signs, or what they thought about the thousands of religionist signs promoting hatred during Prop 8. I do wonder why they don't clean their own dang house before whining about the neighbors.

[RedCappedBandit]

28. And yet, a billboard announcing that atheists exist

is such a terrible thing. :crazy: