The Rev. Irene Monroe—the well-known motivational speaker, writer and theologian—says she has received dozens of threatening and harassing phone calls ever since writing a column criticizing Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) opposition to same-sex marriage.
The op-ed entitled “An
Obama-nation” first appeared on April 12 in In Newsweekly, a New England-based gay
newspaper. It later appeared in the Washington Blade on April 20 and on the Advocate’s website on
April 24. The column suggested that 2008 presidential hopeful Obama was
using religious-based "values" to reject same-sex marriage rights.
In the op-ed piece, Monroe wrote, "[Obama] has opted, like so many religious conservatives, to use religion to justify his discrimination. And that’s an abomination.”
The Washington Blade reports the activity began on April 26. That's when Monroe—who is a lesbian—says she started receiving threatening phone calls to her unlisted Massachusetts home phone number. "I get all these anonymous, threatening calls from folks, saying that they’re going to come after me, I’m a race traitor,” Monroe said. “They’re not being nice, they’re throwing racial epithets, saying the n-word, [asking] ‘What kind of black person am I?’ All sorts of homophobic epithets.”
More than 50 calls were logged on the evening of April 26.
Several days later, Monroe filed a police report and says in the volume of calls has somewhat decreased. However, the writers says she is still receiving around 20 harassing calls per day. Irene Monroe She also claims that her website was hacked into on April 27.
Blade Columnist Claims Anti-Gay Harassment [WaBlade]
An Obama-Nation [Advocate]
This is what gave me initial pause regarding Obama, his statement early on that the Dems need to embrace the faith community. Which I dont completely disagree with, but I feel its too easy for that to turn into an incentive for dems to beat the repubs at the anti-gay game.
Posted by: DFS | 04 May 2007 at 17:02
Racebaiting and gaybaiting are still Republican stock in trade. I expect full frontal assaults on both subjects by Republican presidential candidates. Thompson has already done it shamelessly and without even thinking. Others will follow. Obama supports c ivil unions. No major candidate of the Democratic party supports gay marriage as national policy. When you consider that fewer than half the 50 states have civil rights laws protecting LGBs and only 10 states (including most recently Iowa) protect the ri g hts of transgenered persons, gay marriage does not look like our most major issue, does it? The reason it is front and center is because the radical right has chosen to make it so. On most gay lists, it is not at the very top and never was. Basic thing s like not being fired or evicted for being gay come well before wedding vows for most LGBTs. By the way, Bush is planning to veto the federal hate crimes bill, just as he did in Texas. And we're worried about Obama? Give me a break! Hate speech of any k in d is disgusting. Those who use it demean themselves and whatever cause they think they are supporting. This election cycle will be an x-ray of the effects hundreds of years of racism have had on all of us and it will not be a pretty picture. As Obam a sa ys, we can disagree without being disagreeable. r
Posted by: radbear | 05 May 2007 at 20:45
Obama said he is for civil unions that give gays equal rights but not for "gay marriage". Basically, it's semantics. I'm not a "christian", so I don't care about the "marriage" part, I just care about equal rights.
Posted by: Muzik | 06 May 2007 at 19:35