JOHN PAUL

So, it finally happened. President Barack Obama explicitly stated that he is for same sex marriage in the United States.

YAY!

He did it! He evolved! I feel like my little Charmeleon is becoming a full-fledged Charizard right before my very eyes!

And what excellent timing! Maybe not as excellent as… say… a few years ago, but still, coming on the heels of North Carolina’s passing of Amendment One, a piece of legislation banning civil unions, this does soothe my wounds a bit.

I mean, North Carolina totally looks like the white girl on Hairspray who kept trying to stop the beat!

But after the celebration and partying and giddiness is over comes the less fun part… the reactions, the analysis, the cynicism (partly deserved) and the worries that this may negatively affect Obama’s reelection campaign. 

And I’ll be here with you for that, and we can figure it out together. 

But for now, let’s take this in.

This is the first sitting American president to ever come out in support of same sex marriage. And regardless of his motives… I think the sun shines just a little brighter today for me and for our allies trying to achieve equality.

-John Paul

Oklahoma,

It is with great sadness that I write you this letter. You see, I have made the difficult decision to leave you.

It’s not that I don’t love you. I do.

I loved the summer days we spent sitting on the porch drinking sweet tea, when the breeze would roll in and cool us off every once and a while like it knew exactly when it was needed. I loved walking barefoot through the grass with you after a hard storm and you could still smell the rain. I loved the nights we’d throw blankets into the bed of your truck and drive out to the middle of nowhere and lie beneath the starry sky - the kind of sky you can only find here - and talk ‘til the sun came up. Some nights I look up and remember those times and I smile.

I loved catching fireflies in mason jars and rolling in the grass and laughing so hard we cried. I loved making scarecrows out of horse hay when the leaves turned and fishing in the creek when the weather was just right. You are childhood to me, you are familiar to me, you are home.

Like I said… I love you. I really do.

And that’s why leaving you is that much harder for me. Because as much as there is to love about you… there are also things I hate about you.

“Every person who is guilty of the detestable and abominable crime against nature, committed with mankind or with a beast, is punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary not exceeding ten years.”

“Marriage in This state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman. ”

You know, sometimes, I feel like I’m not wanted here at all.

And I can’t put up with it any longer. I can’t take the table scraps of affection you throw my way and pretend it’s love anymore. And I know you’re too stubborn to change for me. Oh, do I know that! Even if the rest of the world told you that you were wrong… it wouldn’t matter.

I really hope that maybe, one day, you’ll change. I really do. But it’s not worth it for me to stay anymore. Because it’s not fair… you’re not fair.

This is my home, and if I can be buried here, I should be able to get married here.

I’ll miss you,

John Paul

Dear President Boren,

My name is John Paul Brammer and I am a junior at the University of Oklahoma.

Coming to this university was scary at first, and I imagine it is for most people. It was a change, and I was worried about making new friends, getting involved in the right clubs, and making sure I got the most out of my freshman year.

This is certainly a difficult time for anyone. It is even more difficult, unfortunately, for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. We worry about if our new roommates will be accepting or if we will be targeted for our sexual orientations. And, given the wave of gay suicides on college campuses across the nation, I think we have a right to be worried.

Now, about the gender-neutral housing policy. It should be passed. Period. This is not about housing, this is not about catering to a small group of people at the expense of others, this is not about policy. President Boren, this is about respect.

The option of having gender-neutral housing would benefit members of the LGBT community (and straight students who find it more appealing) who have expressed that they feel marginalized on this campus. The arguments against it typically go like this….

1. This is Oklahoma, and Oklahoma is not ready for gender neutral housing.

2. Donors will pull their funding if we allow gender neutral housing.

Well, President Boren, they are right about one thing. This is Oklahoma.

This is Oklahoma, where after Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was repealed, our representatives proposed a bill attempting to keep gays and lesbians from serving in the National Guard.

This is Oklahoma, where Representative Sally Kern said that gay love is more dangerous than terrorism.

This is Oklahoma, where, right here in Norman, a gay teen took his own life after a toxic city debate over LGBT history month.

This is Oklahoma, and members of the LGBT community are well aware of that fact. But this much is also true, President Boren - the LGBT community is here at OU, and we are Oklahoma too.

Now, about donors pulling their funding. First, I must ask, what kind of people would stop supporting the University of Oklahoma for allowing an optional gender-neutral housing arrangement? Well, let’s just pull a sample… shall we?

As an OU graduate and donor, I am shocked and appalled at this. What has happened to common decency in our society? Men live with men and women live with women until marriage, unless of course they want to “shack up” together.. If you want to create specific floors where gays and lesbians can live together, so be it, but if President Boren passes this, the University of Oklahoma will never get another dime of my money.
                                                           - a donor comment at the OU Daily

If you choose not to support gender-neutral housing because people like this will stop donating money, President Boren, then I’m sorry to say… that makes me cringe.

Because you are our president.

You are here to ensure your students are given the best possible academic experience, and you are here to ensure your students are safe. 

And if someone were to tell you that they will stop supporting this university just because you are seeking to make a better environment for your students who have vocalized that they do not feel adequately secure on this campus, then I would expect you to not want their support at all. Because they do not want to help your students, and that shouldn’t sit well with you.

What I hope today’s protest communicated to you is that some of your students are feeling marginalized, unsafe, and unsatisfied with the policies currently in place. And I certainly hope you heard them.

I trust that you will do the right thing.

Sincerely,

John Paul Brammer 

Dear Congresswoman Michele Bachmann,

Your district, Anoka, Minnesota, has been the site of a culture war for quite some time - even before you took to the national stage during the GOP primaries.

However, it seems that you and your allies have made public schools ground zero in your efforts to fight “the gay agenda.” The Minnesota Family Council and the Parents Action League, two of your biggest supporters, have helped put some very destructive policies in place.

First, there’s the No Homo Promo laws which made it illegal to discuss homosexuality at all in schools and barred any references to gay people as “normal.”

Next, the policy was amended to force teachers to remain “neutral” on issues concerning homosexuality, causing confusion on how to deal with bullying and harassment in the school district. This policy was also used to attack Gay Straight Alliance clubs in high schools, calling them “an attack on morality.”

And even now, you and your supporters are lobbying to put “reparative therapy,” the same therapy that I know your husband practices in an attempt “fix” gay people, into school material.

These things, as much as they sicken me, are not why I am writing you this letter, Congresswoman. No, I am writing you this letter because I truly don’t think you know, or perhaps I refuse to believe you are cold hearted enough to ignore, the consequences of the hateful rhetoric you and your allies employ.

You have put students, CHILDREN, in the crosshairs of your war on homosexuality, and it has resulted in tremendous loss.

Nine students have taken their own lives in fewer than two years because of bullying. Four of which were either gay or perceived as such by their tormentors. This high number of deaths is not the result of coincidence - it is an epidemic.

Local evangelicals, people you inspired, have created an environment of unchecked hatred and hostility toward the LGBT community in your home district. Because of the No Homo Promo laws that were passed, teachers are powerless to stop the bullying - because they are afraid of getting fired.

Yes, when a bullied gay student seeks comfort from a teacher, it is actually illegal for that teacher to tell the student that being gay is normal or that the student does not deserve the inhumane treatment they have received.

In fact, many gay students believe they somehow deserve it.

It is this hateful environment that led eighth-grader Samantha Johnson, a girl who wanted to make a Gay Straight Alliance club as a safe haven for misfits like herself, to take her own life by shooting herself in the head.

But she’s not the only one. 15-year-old Aaron Jurek also committed suicide for being perceived as gay.

And then, bullied gay teen Justin Aaberg hanged himself in his bedroom.

My question to you, Congresswoman Bachmann, and to your allies, and also to the Anoka-Hennepin school district, is this: How many more children have to die?

Because, whether you admit it or not, there is blood on your hands.

This holy war against the LGBT community has resulted in immense loss for the friends and families of these students.

To have to comfort your son or daughter after they come home in tears because they have been mercilessly bullied. To feel powerless as the school does nothing. To lose your child. These are things I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Not even you.

I know this letter won’t do much to change your mind on anything. In fact, I’m almost sure of it. But if there is an inkling of good will in you, a slight capacity for empathy, or even just a tiny bit of compassion… I hope you will hear this, and at least know that what you and your allies have done has caused immense suffering.

Though my sympathy is primarily with the grieving friends and families of the deceased students, I also feel sorry for you, Congresswoman.

Because you may have won the battle, but you will lose the war. And if you don’t change your ways, history will not be kind to you and your ilk. If you are not careful, you may just become a footnote in a textbook in a chapter about how awful things used to be.

This concludes my personal appeal to dignity and justice. Again, I doubt this will truly reach you. Still, though, given all that has happened… I don’t think I can rest easy at night without at least trying.

Sincerely,
John Paul Brammer

I have also sent an email to the Anoka Hennepin school district voicing my concerns, and you can too right here.

Let’s stand with the LGBT youth in Minnesota and with the Southern Poverty Law Center in their decision to sue the Anoka Hennepin school district. We can make our voices heard!

Read the Rolling Stone Article here.

“Yes, I’m gay, no I wont go parading around talking about homophobia and gay rights and all that stupid shit. It’s fucking annoying to be honest. It may not be a choice, but it isn’t a difficult lifestyle either. Stop getting butthurt about being called a faggot, faggot.” - A fellow gay Oklahoman.

This. This is what makes me pound my head against my desk. What makes me lose just a little more hope. What makes me tear up when I really, really think about it. As a matter of fact, I’m tearing up right now.

Because I know it’s not true.. and I know how hard it is.

I was bullied relentlessly for being gay. I remember my classmates calling me a “fucking faggot.” And I remember the teachers who watched it happen and only said that I should expect that kind of thing if I was “going to be weird.”

And I remember wanting to die. I remember wanting to just end it all so that the pain would finally go away - and maybe in death I’d get the human dignity that so eluded me in life.

I still cringe a little bit when I heard the word “faggot” because it reminds me of how things once were for me. When people could get away with calling me faggot and pushing me and kicking me and no one cared to stop them… because I was different.

I still think about it. I still have nightmares about it.

And when another gay person, especially one from Oklahoma like me, says something this disgustingly ignorant… it just makes me sad.

Because I’d go through those terrible things all over again - being called a faggot, getting abused, and enduring the hatred… if it meant equality. I’d live it all again if that is what it took to get the gay community the human dignity it deserves.

I guess that’s why I want to be an activist.

What does American Evangelicalism have to do with the murder of Uganda’s most prominent LGBT activist? More than you’re probably comfortable with.

A visiting neighbor found him lying on the floor. He was bleeding with serious wounds to the head where he had been struck with a hammer. The mysterious assailant had fled the scene. David Kato died on the way to the hospital.

The police quickly labeled it as a robbery - but those who knew the victim suspected otherwise. Kato was, after all, a marked man. Only a few months before, a local Ugandan tabloid called The Rolling Stone had released a list of “top homos” complete with names and addresses. Kato’s picture was on the front page, along with a banner that read “Hang Them.”

“When my brother wanted to do something then no one could stop him. He was very brave.” - John Malumba Wasswa, Kato’s brother.

Kato was a prominent LGBT activist in Uganda, a country where homophobia is reaching a fever pitch. It is a place where many believe that homosexuals are “recruiting children” and “raiding schools.” It is also where the “Kill The Gays” bill, a piece of legislation that would make homosexuality a crime punishable by death, was proposed.

Kato’s murder and the controversial “Kill the Gays” bill caused international uproar and left human rights groups scratching their heads. What caused Uganda’s descent to violent homophobia?

The chilling answer traces hatred and violence in Uganda back to the United States and the religious right. David Kato, before his death, had spoken out against American evangelicals stirring up homophobia in Africa. His allies in Sexual Minorities Uganda have also cited the role of America’s religious right as pivotal in the rise of hatred against homosexuals in Uganda. And now we can attempt to answer the question: Who Killed David Kato?

“David’s death is a result of the hatred planted in Uganda by U.S. evangelicals in 2009. The so-called U.S. evangelicals must take responsibility for David’s blood.” - Val Kalende, the chairwoman of one of Uganda’s gay rights groups.

Homosexuality has long been a taboo in Uganda. Economic devastation and internal political strife, however, had taken precedence over the issue. It wasn’t until evangelicals took an interest in the African country that homosexuality and politics began to merge. And so the scapegoating of gays began - an export of America.

For American missionaries, Uganda was ideal. As the gay rights movement in the United States picked up steam and homosexuality was becoming increasingly more acceptable, anti-gay Christians on the far right began to feel that they were losing the culture war. And so they turned to a place where their ideals might take root a little better. Missionaries began visiting Uganda and preaching to the people there.

Unfortunately, they did not preach peace and love. They chose instead to conduct a little social experiment with Uganda by preaching intensely anti-gay rhetoric.

Three of those evangelicals and their actions are chronicled below.

1. Scott Lively

Scott Lively is an American author and attorney. He co-wrote a book called The Pink Swastika in which he states that homosexuals are the true inventors of Nazism. He is the former state director of the California branch of the American Family Association. He brought these radical ideas to Africa where they stirred up hatred of gays.

“If your definition of homosexuality is being able to do whatever you want to and that you should be able to go and engage in sex with another person and because of that the disease you have is going to spread to that person and they’re going to take it home and give it to their wife, how much tolerance should we have for that?…zero tolerance.” - Lively on homosexuality

Here is a clip of Lively detailing his role in the “Pro-Family” movement in Uganda:

2. Richard Cohen

Richard Cohen is an American conversion therapist. He is a leader in the ex-gay movement and is, in fact, an “ex-gay” himself. He is also an evangelical Christian. His book, “Coming Out Straight,” has been cited as an inspiration for the “Kill the Gays” bill.

“Homosexuals are at least 12 times more likely to molest children than heterosexuals; homosexual teachers are at least 7 times more likely to molest a pupil. 40% of molestation assaults were made by those who engage in homosexuality.” - Cohen in his book “Coming Out Straight.” His book has been criticized for being based largely on assumptions.

And just how much has his book affected homophobia in Uganda? Take a look at this video in which Stephen Langa, head of the Family Life Network in Uganda and the main proponent of the “Kill the Gays” bill, references Cohen’s book:

3. Lou Engle

Lou Engle is a charismatic Christian leader in America. He is best known for founding “The Call” which hosts twelve hour prayer rallies. His ministry is also featured in the documentary “Jesus Camp.”

“Today, America is losing its religious freedom. We are trying to restrain an agenda that is sweeping through the education system. Uganda has become ground zero.” - Engle, speaking to a crowd of Ugandans on making homosexuality punishable by death.

Engle traveled to Uganda to praise their government’s efforts to combat homosexuality - including the “Kill the Gays” bill. Here is a clip of him speaking out to a crowd of Ugandans:

So, who killed David Kato?

Homophobia, globalized culture wars, and Americans preaching hate.

None of the missionaries listed above actually struck Kato with the hammer, but they and others who brought their twisted anti-gay ideas to Uganda are responsible for his death. And they are also responsible for the rise of hatred and violence against LGBT people in the country.

Things like this:

And this:

are the direct results of American evangelicals stirring up homophobia in Uganda.

So what does this story mean for those of us who support gay rights here in America? It means we have to be vigilant. What anti-gay evangelicals did in Uganda is what they wish they could accomplish here: a culture that believes gays are evil. While many of them have tried to distance themselves from the controversial “Kill the Gays” bill, they remain unchanged in their view of homosexuality as a disease to be eradicated.

David Kato was buried by his close friends after the pastor who was supposed to oversee the ceremony chose instead to go on an anti-gay tirade. Even in death, peace seemed elusive for Kato. Indeed, for all gay people in Uganda, the road ahead is long and tumultuous.

To honor David Kato’s memory and to stand with our allies in Uganda, we must remember that we cannot afford to be complacent. The men on this list who caused so much damage to the gay community in Uganda reside right here in the United States where they continue to preach hatred. We must support gay rights and human dignity in America if we ever want to see a day where their vitriol cannot harm anyone else.

Would you like to see a film on the life and death of David Kato?

“‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.”

Well, you got me! You pulled out that Leviticus verse and really told me what was what. Geez, I didn’t even know that all my gallivanting around with the dudes was a one way ticket to hell! I mean, I’m not a Christian, so I don’t really adhere to the same moral code as you. But still… thanks for having my back, bro.

You know, ordinarily I wouldn’t do this - but since you seem super interested in living by the book, I think it’s only fair that I return the favor and let you know about some sinful stuff you might be doing.

You ready? Great! Let’s get started.

1. Tattoos: “You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 19:28 
   
   While your tribal tattoo is totally awesome, brah, it is also unfortunately condemning you to an afterlife of eternal suffering. That’s the bad news. The good news is that, because of this rule, there is no doubt a shit ton of Ed Hardy down there. Well, that’s actually probably worse news. People with tribal tattoos like Ed Hardy though, right? Dude? Broseph? No homo.
   
   
2. Cotton/Polyester Blend:  “You are to keep My statutes. You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together.” Leviticus 19:19
   
   That sweatshirt of yours was an abomination before the Lord ever expressly forbade it. Turns out, though, that it’s also a legitimate sin. You better hope hell is exothermic, or it might feel a bit warm down there with that thing on! Better pick up some Ed Hardy swim trunks before you go. No homo.
   
   
3. Gold Jewelry: “Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments.” Timothy 2:9
   
   Bad news for fans of “bling” and gaudy gold cross necklaces - you’re committing a major no-no in the eyes of the Lord. I don’t even want to think about what happens when you wear a cotton/polyester blend shirt and a gold necklace! You know, based on all these rules so far, hell is starting to sound an awful lot like Jersey Shore…
   
   
4. Shrimp: “But whatever is in the seas and in the rivers that does not have fins and scales among all the teeming life of the water, and among all the living creatures that are in the water, they are detestable things to you.” Leviticus 11:10
   
   Wanting to trim some inches off that waistline? Why not give the No-Sin Diet a try! Because all that shellfish you’ve been eating has really racked up the sin points. No more Red Lobster for you!
   
   
5. Divorce: “And He said to them, ‘Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.’” Mark 10:11-12
   
   Ah yes, here we are. The biggest threat to the sanctity of marriage that isn’t gay dudes. Isn’t it interesting that we live in a country where people are allowed to get divorced on a daily basis, but two men or two women who genuinely love each other aren’t allowed to get married? No? Maybe that’s just me.

So, what do you think? I bet you’ve been doing one or two things on the list and sinning without even knowing it! Aren’t you glad I filled you in? Or maybe you think these rules are archaic and no longer apply to today’s society. Oh, except for the one about gay dudes of course. Because…. well… No homo.