This Week in the Mercury
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Hillbilly The Daily Show Decimates "Gay Nazi Historian"
Posted by David Schmader on Thu, Jul 29, 2010 at 9:57 AM
Oh, Scott Lively. Yesterday I would've been happy if you'd never been born, but today, I thank God for making you the ridiculously entertaining idiot you are.
1
Scott Lively got his start in Oregon. He was (I believe) chief legal counsel for the late, unlamented Oregon Citizen's Alliance.
They were a comically inept movement, and it's nice to see how badly he continues to fuck up.
They were a comically inept movement, and it's nice to see how badly he continues to fuck up.
2
Actually, for "movement," substitute "organization," and for "comically inept," substitute "able to get a couple poorly-written ballot initiatives up for popular vote in the early 90's that were only narrowly defeated."
The OCA had a number of things against them, like Scott Lively (who maybe was actually their spokesman, not legal counsel) being an idiot, and their head -Wilsonville resident Lon Mabon- constantly having the cops called on him for beating his wife. And the organization itself wasn't too into paying its taxes, either.
Ultimately, the main thing that happened with their measures was that they were so broadly written, even homophobes could see how their passage would bring about government intrusion into everybody's "bedrooms." This didn't stop Springfield (and...Corvallis?) from passing their own local versions of the measures, but they were stopped at the state level. A little lesson from the recent past: your opponents' stupidity will often fuck them, but you also need to make sure everybody sees exactly how much we all have in common under the law.
The OCA had a number of things against them, like Scott Lively (who maybe was actually their spokesman, not legal counsel) being an idiot, and their head -Wilsonville resident Lon Mabon- constantly having the cops called on him for beating his wife. And the organization itself wasn't too into paying its taxes, either.
Ultimately, the main thing that happened with their measures was that they were so broadly written, even homophobes could see how their passage would bring about government intrusion into everybody's "bedrooms." This didn't stop Springfield (and...Corvallis?) from passing their own local versions of the measures, but they were stopped at the state level. A little lesson from the recent past: your opponents' stupidity will often fuck them, but you also need to make sure everybody sees exactly how much we all have in common under the law.
3
Long, long ago when I was a broadcasting student at OSU, I called in to a show on KBVR-FM (the student radio station) where Lively was being interviewed, and in a round-about way he revealed that he was bisexual.
Unfortunately, I have no tape of this interview and have no way of proving it, or I would have released it every time this guy showed up somewhere. (He's more recently famous for stoking anti-gay hatred in Uganda.)
The round-about reasoning was this: I was trying to get to the root of the "it's a choice" argument -- asking how could a heterosexual "choose" to be gay, which is a matter of attraction -- and he defended his position by stating that all humans are basically bisexual and that morality is choosing between appropriate action on an urge and inappropriate action. I then followed up with "so, do you view yourself as bisexual" and got a "yes".
Oh, and also, for those who don't know, Lively also roughed up a female reporter while working for the OCA and the resulting legal claims against him took years to settle. (In fact, I don't know if he's every fully paid the damages to the reporter.)
Unfortunately, I have no tape of this interview and have no way of proving it, or I would have released it every time this guy showed up somewhere. (He's more recently famous for stoking anti-gay hatred in Uganda.)
The round-about reasoning was this: I was trying to get to the root of the "it's a choice" argument -- asking how could a heterosexual "choose" to be gay, which is a matter of attraction -- and he defended his position by stating that all humans are basically bisexual and that morality is choosing between appropriate action on an urge and inappropriate action. I then followed up with "so, do you view yourself as bisexual" and got a "yes".
Oh, and also, for those who don't know, Lively also roughed up a female reporter while working for the OCA and the resulting legal claims against him took years to settle. (In fact, I don't know if he's every fully paid the damages to the reporter.)
4
I was part of the the opposition to the OCA, active in several anti-OCA groups in' 92 inc. No On Hate PAC and No on 9, and was on staff in the No on 13 campaign of '94. The OCA klan really roused up their pseudo X-ian base by the same type of lie-based fear mongering. I can't say Lively has degenerated more; his rhetoric and the OCA claims were outlandish and extremist back then, too. He's got a lot more grey, and looks like his managed to continue making a living off promoting his BS.
Politically, the OCA failed, not just because they lost almost every initiative they forwarded to Oregon voters (they also promoted a few anti-choice measures), but because their efforts riled up and motivated the GLBT and progressive communities in Oregon. The OCA created a whole generation of activists who are still active as volunteers, leaders and professionals in not just gay but other progressive groups and organizations. Fear motivated. Basic Rights Oregon actually grew out of the No on 13 campaign.
Where the OCA succeeded was in making a living for its small kabal of leaders. Mabon, his family, and Lively never wanted for a job, and they scored loads of $ every campaign season from that same 23% of rightwing social conservatives and homophobes. So one has to wonder about Lively and so many other conservo-bots who spew the hate. That crap spewing IS their living, and any self reflection or honest academics could march them straight -pun intended - to the unemploment lines.
Politically, the OCA failed, not just because they lost almost every initiative they forwarded to Oregon voters (they also promoted a few anti-choice measures), but because their efforts riled up and motivated the GLBT and progressive communities in Oregon. The OCA created a whole generation of activists who are still active as volunteers, leaders and professionals in not just gay but other progressive groups and organizations. Fear motivated. Basic Rights Oregon actually grew out of the No on 13 campaign.
Where the OCA succeeded was in making a living for its small kabal of leaders. Mabon, his family, and Lively never wanted for a job, and they scored loads of $ every campaign season from that same 23% of rightwing social conservatives and homophobes. So one has to wonder about Lively and so many other conservo-bots who spew the hate. That crap spewing IS their living, and any self reflection or honest academics could march them straight -pun intended - to the unemploment lines.
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