Gays at the White House Easter Egg Roll
Feb. 10th, 2006 12:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pegkerrI have been following, with increasing fascination, a story which is heating up in the news, which I first discovered in a local gay publication, Lavender, but I see it is being picked up by the mainstream media. The White House Egg Roll is an annual event which takes place at the White House, which began in 1878. The President, First Lady and the Easter Bunny join moms and dads who cheerfully watch as their kids struggle to push pastel-colored eggs across the White House lawn with a spoon.
This year, Family Pride Coalition, the largest organization representing GLBT families, has decided it's time for gay and lesbian moms and dads with their kids to take part in this annual event. FPC is joining with organizations such as Soulforce, PFLAG, Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force to recruit families to take part in the event.
Aware of the problems that could arise if the religious right got word of the plan, FPC and its partners tried to keep word of their event known only within the GLBT community.
Unfortunately, hopes for subterfuge were dashed when the Institute for Religion and Democracy (IRD), a fundamentalist organization, caught wind of the event via a Soulforce e-mail alert.
On January 13, IRD sent out a press release which not surprisingly misconstrued the nature of the plan. Its headline read "Pro-homosexuality 'Soulforce' to Crash White House Easter Egg Roll." This touched off a firestorm of angry reaction on the religious right. Read the rest of the story here.
Here is the Weekly Standard's article. Mark Tooley of the IRD, writing for the Weekly Standard, claims that "Seemingly few (if any) Washingtonians have ever tried to exploit the annual White House Easter Egg Roll for political purposes." Here is a pretty typical conservative blog's reaction: ("In their latest attempt to appear mainstream, an activist gay group is planning on ruining the annual White House Easter Egg Roll by turning it into a political demonstration . . .How an activist gay group thinks that crashing an annual family event at the White House and turning it into a parade of human debris will make mainstream America accept them is beyond me.") I was intrigued by one of the comments on this blog and the reaction:
And as for Tooley's claim that the Egg Roll has never been used for political purposes, well, hmm. On conservative chat rooms, some critics of Family Pride suggested the White House could make the egg roll an invitation-only event, as it did in 2003 when attendance was limited to military families. (Of course, that could not be considered a "political purpose," could it?) Other critics said conservatives should mobilize to outnumber gay families at the egg roll.
See more coverage: NBC, and CNN. I will be watching this story. I wonder what the White House will do.
This year, Family Pride Coalition, the largest organization representing GLBT families, has decided it's time for gay and lesbian moms and dads with their kids to take part in this annual event. FPC is joining with organizations such as Soulforce, PFLAG, Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force to recruit families to take part in the event.
Aware of the problems that could arise if the religious right got word of the plan, FPC and its partners tried to keep word of their event known only within the GLBT community.
Unfortunately, hopes for subterfuge were dashed when the Institute for Religion and Democracy (IRD), a fundamentalist organization, caught wind of the event via a Soulforce e-mail alert.
On January 13, IRD sent out a press release which not surprisingly misconstrued the nature of the plan. Its headline read "Pro-homosexuality 'Soulforce' to Crash White House Easter Egg Roll." This touched off a firestorm of angry reaction on the religious right. Read the rest of the story here.
Here is the Weekly Standard's article. Mark Tooley of the IRD, writing for the Weekly Standard, claims that "Seemingly few (if any) Washingtonians have ever tried to exploit the annual White House Easter Egg Roll for political purposes." Here is a pretty typical conservative blog's reaction: ("In their latest attempt to appear mainstream, an activist gay group is planning on ruining the annual White House Easter Egg Roll by turning it into a political demonstration . . .How an activist gay group thinks that crashing an annual family event at the White House and turning it into a parade of human debris will make mainstream America accept them is beyond me.") I was intrigued by one of the comments on this blog and the reaction:
Nancy Says:(He calls gays and their children "human debris" but he doesn't hate anybody. Right.) It seems very clear to me that this is a powerful struggle by both sides, each attempting to claim for their own some very important national symbols (the White House, the President, the concept of "family," religion itself, since it is an Easter event) in order to frame the debate their way. If gays can succeed by their rights as Americans in claiming these important symbols as their own (and which conservatives have always assumed have belonged to them), then they have taken a very important step towards national acceptance. The conservatives know this, and so they are fighting angrily tooth and nail to keep gays out, as if gays are attempting to steal something that belongs to them. Their defense seems to be that having Gays and Lesbians at the event ("crashing it," when traditionally tickets are available to families first come, first served) would be "politicizing" it. The Weekly Standard article notes: "Although Soulforce insists this will not be a political protest, only a gathering for families, its supporters will arrive with special 'non-political' t-shirts to identify themselves as 'LGBT.'" What the Standard does not say is what, exactly these t-shirts would say: Not "LGBT" but "Love Makes a Family."
January 21st, 2006 at 4:11 pm
Maybe if you get really close, you can spit on their kids while they try and gather easter eggs. After all, if those kids are reckless enough to belong to people you don’t approve of, surely you can hate them too.
Nick Says:
January 23rd, 2006 at 10:28 am
Nancy,
I never said I hated anybody. What I do hate is that these people will be turning a traditional kids’ event into a political event. If gay people want to bring their kids to this event, fine, but there is absolutely no need to turn it into a political spectacle. That isn’t going to help anyone, least of all the kids.
And as for Tooley's claim that the Egg Roll has never been used for political purposes, well, hmm. On conservative chat rooms, some critics of Family Pride suggested the White House could make the egg roll an invitation-only event, as it did in 2003 when attendance was limited to military families. (Of course, that could not be considered a "political purpose," could it?) Other critics said conservatives should mobilize to outnumber gay families at the egg roll.
See more coverage: NBC, and CNN. I will be watching this story. I wonder what the White House will do.
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Date: 2006-02-11 02:22 am (UTC)Me gotsss to hatesss somebodysss! They need to get a life. Although, I guess bigotry pays well otherwise they would have closed shop a long time ago...