The University of Connecticut’s Men’s Ice Hockey squad produced the above video in the hopes of affirming they’ll welcome “any teammate, gay or straight, that can help us win games.” However, as the Hartford Courant’s Pat Eaton-Robb reports, at least one observer has a problem with those who practice bigotry being labelled, y’know, bigots.
Peter Wolfgang, president of the conservative Family Institute of Connecticut Action, said he has no problem with the team participating in an anti-bullying campaign, but he is concerned about the references to “homophobia” in the video.
“It’s a very loaded political term,” he said. “If we’re going to be against bullying, then we ought to be against all forms of bullying and not just the kind that get us a pat on the back from politically correct elites. I would hope that people that have traditional beliefs, traditional faiths that they would not be bullied for holding views about morality or the definition of marriage.”
Yes, because there are so many examples of athletes with traditional beliefs being bullied or goaded into suicide. Who could’ve possibly missed all the headlines this past year about deeply religious sporting figures being booed, pelted with rocks and garbage, instructed to stop making religious gestures after scoring touchdowns, etc.
You just don’t get it Gerard. The war on religion in this country is reaching a fever pitch. Although I guess in hockey parlance, it’d be things are reaching the velocity of a really hard slapshot. Doesn’t really roll off the tongue though.
I guess from my vantage point in Central Texas, I’m just not keeping up on the epidemic of church burnings.
The “war on religion” is the most misguided term in modern communication.
Aside from the Richard Dawkins type, very few people are trying to attack religion itself (that is, few people are saying that you don’t have the right to believe whatever you want to believe). But there are people willing to stand up and attack bigotry, discrimination and hatred wherever it may rise. Whenever the cry “war on religion” comes up, it is usually in reference to a public opinion that fails to give a particular religion absolute moral power.
What is really a “war on discrimination” gets bent into a “war on religion” by the people who want to be able to maintain an elevated status simply by being straight/male/white/christian/etc.
The only thing that is reaching a “fever pitch” (and I wish I were as optimistic) is the public outcry against discrimination. Religion has nothing to do with it unless your personal religious beliefs are inseparable from discrimination.
Oh Dave! The war on religion? Get a grip. Religion has been the single greatest source of repression and evil the world has ever seen. Religion has been responsible for more wars, suffering, and death than any other single factor in history. More people die because of religion than from infectious diseases! The problem of world terrorism stems from religious extremism.
So before you whine about how religion is under attack, consider that religion was the one who picked the fight in the first place, and if it can no longer defend itself, then so be it, it’s going to get a knockout punch. The advantage that people who support LGBT rights have over those who propogate a belief in god is that LGBT advocates can PROVE that gay people actually exist. And if Jeebus doesn’t like that, then let HIM step forward and say so.
Otherwise, please keep your distasteful, irrational, mythological nonsense to yourself. You are free to believe what you want in the privacy of your own home, but don’t expect people not to push back when you try to rub it in their faces.
@Dave… it’s not a war on religion. There are many denominations and traditions what welcome the LGBT community and would love to be able to perform marriage rites for same-sex couples.
Instead, it’s a war against forcing your religious beliefs unto others through the use of secular law.
I’m sure Dave is pretty capable of defending himself, but I’m fairly certain his sarcasm was lost on this audience.