A Texas Conservative Openly Calls For Violence Against LGBT People

On Thursday, Texas conservative Steven Hotze launched his "Faith, Family, Freedom Tour" with the aim of influencing Huston's upcoming municipal elections and, of course, trying to fight their civil rights ordinance, which will be decided at the ballot box in November.

The launch was nothing short of disturbing and disgusting.

From the Texas Observer:

On Thursday, he launched a multi-city tour of Texas, “The Faith Family Freedom Tour,” at a nearly half-empty event at a hotel ballroom in Houston. Sponsored by Christian conservative notables such as Cathie Adams and Jonathan Saenz, speakers included former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who explained why he thought the judiciary could be effectively overruled by the people, a radio host named Terry Lowry who told the crowd that “Satan and his demons are seducing the people of Houston,” and a reparative therapist who warned the audience that the science of making kids un-gay could someday be banned.

But it was Hotze who stole the show. He began his time on stage by showing his audience a video that warned of the audacious plans of the gay rights movement. “Just like there was a communist manifesto, there’s a homosexual manifesto,” Hotze said. “The hackles will stand up on the back of your neck when you see what they have planned.”

The Gay Manifesto is, of course, a satirical essay from 1987, not an actual LGBT conspiracy. If someone said the same thing about Jews, they would rightly be condemned as anti-semitic. So, this is, in and of itself, homophobic.

Then things took a turn for the weirder. “Our strongest weapon in the fight,” he said, pulling out a sword from its sheath and brandishing it for the audience, “is the word of God. The word of God is like any two-edged sword.”

He pointed the sword at the audience. “For thousands of years, men fought with swords,” he said. “Can you imagine that piercing right through the enemy like this? That’s what the word of God does. I’ve decided, I’m not going to fight the homosexuals with sweet words. I’m going to fight them with God’s word.”

This is not a spiritual metaphor. The swords that men fought with were real, physical swords. A sword that can pierce an enemy is a real, physical sword. He refers to God's word as a sword and says he will fight LGBT people with it. He is calling for physical violence against LGBT people.

Then he goes on to imply that they should be executed:

After the gay marriage decision came down, Hotze said, he appeared at a press conference. A gay marriage supporter came up to Hotze, blurting out, in Hotze’s retelling, how much he “loved Jesus.” Hotze replied: “You love Jesus? Have you ever heard this, my friend: ’The wages of sin is death?’” He “ran away.” Hotze had made “the wicked flee,” he boasted to the audience.

And then he goes on about his "battle":

“What you just saw in the homosexual manifesto underscores the evil nature of this battle. It’s a spiritual battle, OK? It’s against the world forces of darkness and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. You have to put on the full armor of God,” he admonished the audience, swinging his sword again. The psychic and supernatural battle between God and the devil was playing out every day in the world of flesh and blood. “The battle takes place in time and space,” he said, “but it’s also going on in the heavenly places.” He told the audience that “Satanic cults” were driving the “homosexual movement.”

He was waving an actual sword around. Does that sound metaphorical to you?

He then singles out transgender people:

Gays “want to make Houston another San Francisco,” and “want to make Texas a clone of California.” The next battle, now that the battle over gay marriage was lost, would be over transgender rights. Bumper stickers that read “No men in women’s bathrooms!” were available in the back of the room. “Bruce Jenner — I call him ‘Bruce Degenerate’— he says he’s transgendered, but he’s gonna keep his male parts. Because he likes women! Now, is that deviant or am I wrong?” He continued: “Do you want your wife, daughter, or granddaughter exposed to his?”

And finally calls for LGBT people to be deported:

"Drive them out of our city. I don’t want them in our city. Send them back to San Francisco.” No half-measures could be contemplated when dealing with the truly wicked. “Has anybody ever heard of the Nazis? Were they wicked? OK. What did we send our boys over to do in World War II? What did our preachers pray that would happen in World War II?” They weren’t praying that the Germans would straighten up and fly right. “They prayed, ‘give our boys victory in battle,’” Hotze said. “Sometimes you have to do that when people are totally opposed to God like that, and wickedness rises up.”

Think of what would happen if one of us did that. Think of what would happen if one of us, flanked by well-known and well-respected leaders among our movement, put together a conference in which they called for marriage equality opponents to be fought with swords and deported, and hinted at them being executed.

Of course, that's not going to happen, because we are decent, and they are evil.

So once again, can someone please tell me Christians are victims and how LGBT people are aggressors? Can someone please tell me how our side is the intolerant side?