Perhaps this has been mentioned before, but it is the first I have heard about it.
According to this MSNBC article Mandisa is a screaming homophobe.
Quote from the article:
“Meanwhile, the top 12 contestants were generating controversy of their own. Mandisa, who earlier made up with Simon after he made fun of her weight, was the fourth finalist to go home. Once she left, she confirmed reports that she was affiliated with an anti-gay organization; she even told one publication that she wouldn’t perform for her gay fans: “Based on what I believe, I’m not an advocate for [being gay], so it’s nothing I would take part in.””
I hope people remember this little nugget of info and boo her off the stage when she tours with the top twelve across the USA this summer.
That report is very vague. Anybody know what “anti-gay organization” is referred to? and what “publication”? For being a news article, it seemed woefully short on facts and filled with unsubstantiated “behind the scene” rumors.
That’s like asking whether someone is racist or whether they just believe that black people are inferior to whites. The belief that homosexulity is “wrong” is, in itself, homophobic, ignorant and bigoted.
She calls Beth Moore her “personal American Idol”. Beth is adamantly anti-gay with links to Exodus International and Desert Stream Ministeries. She also told the Advocate magazine that she doesn’t “support” being gay and would never perform at a gay-rights event.
I think there have been discussions of this topic on this board before, but I don’t equate believing that something is wrong equals having a phobia about it.
Back to the original question though. There is a big difference, IMHO, between her being a member of the Phelps’ organization/congregation versus say, the Catholic league. Anyone have the straight Dope? And why is MSNBC being so vague?
Remember “Lifestyle Gate” when she preached at the audience about how God could cure their “lifestyles” on the show?
I felt an instinctive dislike for Mandisa from the time she gave that sanctimonious and hypcritical “I forgive you” speech to Simon. I had a feeling right then that she was the most obnoxious kind of proselytizing, self-righteous, intolerant, religionist, fake “Christian.”
Looks like I was right. Oh…and Mandisa? Gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins.
Sure there have been discussions and arguments about it but only the most hardheaded and disingenuous insist that homophobia is a clinical phobia and try to claim they aren’t homophobic because they don’t have an irrational fear of homos.
So I’m confused, is Mandisa a member of Exodus International and Desert Stream Ministeries, or is Beth Moore, or both? And what is the anticedent to “she” in the second paragraph. Is that Beth Moore saying that, or Mandisa? Why, if you held that position, would you get inteviewed by “Advocate”? Any links to the original article?
And is saying that she wouldn’t perform at a “gay-rights event” the same as saying she “wouldn’t perform for gay fans”? The first sounds like she wouldn’t be a part of a political rally, the second sounds like there would be guards checking their “gaydar” before they would let anyone into a concert.
THere have been LOTS of discussions. Nutshell: the suffix -phobia refers to aversion, not just fear. And the word “homophobia,” as defined by most dictionaries, means discrimination against homosexuals, not necessarily fear.
Keep in mind that a protein molecule can be hydrophobic or hydrophilic, and no one gets their undies bundled over it.
Actually no, I don’t. I thought I followed AI fairly closely, and I remember her singing Gospel, but I don’t remember that. I must have been really out of it.
Then we really need a new word rather than homophobia. If it means something so broad as to mean “I disagree” than the “phobia” part seems really propagandistic.
People get too hung up on a literal interpretation of “phobia.” Homophobia is not really defined as a literal “fear” of homosexuals (actually, “homophobia” literally means “fear of the same”). It’s a catch-all term for for any and all hostile or irrational attitudes, beliefs, prejudices, etc. about homosexuality. “Homophobia” probably wasn’t the best or most accurate term that could have been chosen but it’s the one we’re stuck with for now.
Sexual orientation is not some kind of choice or opinion that can be “agreed” or “disagreed” with. Saying “I disagree with homosexuality” is like saying “I disagree with being black.” It’s a senseless statement which is really only designed (badly) to conceal an irrational prejudice.
Not to hijack even further, but here’s the basic disagreement here. There are lots of folks who think that sexual orientation IS a complete choice, making all of your further statements invalid. I think you’re attacking completely the wrong point here.