Fundies fume over flapping film.

The God Squad is in another dither. These people really spend all their time being angry, upset, furious and just downright nasty. The most recent film to infuriate these theological throwbacks is Breakfast with Scot which is based on the book of the same name.

A gay couple wake up one day to discover that they have been given custody of a 11 year old boy. The boy’s mother was the girlfriend of one of the men’s brother. She asked them to care to take custody if anything happens to her and while mildly plastered one night they agree. Now the mother is dead, the father off in South America and they are new found, albeit reluctant parents.

But to their dismay they discover the boy is enamoured with dressing very feminine. Now to the ignorant that means “homosexual”. But homosexuality is not about gender identity but about sexual orientation. A boy, at this age, preferring to dress as a girl, is probably a transsexual not a homosexual. That is he sees himself as a girl. Homosexual men see themselves as men but are sexually attracted to men. It is possible the boy is a transvestite which is a man who enjoys dressing as a woman. But transvestites are often heterosexual. I divert into that little discussion for the stray Christian who doesn’t know anything about these matters except what they believe the creator of the universe has told them.

The film could be interesting because gay parents would have just as hard a time dealing with this issue as straight parents. But from what I’ve read neither the film nor the book say the boy is gay. In fact one review I read said it was stated that he was too young to know. That sounds reasonable to me. So how do the drooling, rabid fundamentalists see this film?

There is a vile outfit of bigots called “Americans for Truth”. In other words they lie a lot. And their is entire raison d'être is to vilify and attack homosexuals. And good Christians give them lots of money in order to engage in their hate campaign. People who wouldn’t help an AIDS orphan in Africa are driven by their “love of God” to pour funds on a group founded with only purpose in mind -- to attack one group of people.

Peter LaBarbera is the head bigot at this group and he demanded that his fellow hating Christianists join their crusade to protest this film. What has most upset him is that the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team allowed their logo to be used in the film. In the story one of the men is a former hockey player with the team. So basically what this means is the team allowed the film to depict the hockey team and the fictional connection to the team. That’s it.

But LaBarbera starts to distort and lie, like a good Christian, right at the start. His headline about this film was: “Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey Sponsors Gay Movie Featuring Homosexual 11 Year-Old.”

In one sentence the man manages to lie twice. And I don’t say he makes an error. He is a liar, he violates the very moral principles he says he stands for in order to campaign for his hatred. The team did not “sponsor” the film. In this context a sponsor is a financier. The hockey team financed nothing they allowed their name to be used. LaBarbera uses lying words to imply they financed the film. And he claims the film is about a homosexual 11-year-old. Apparently he doesn’t know the difference between transsexual/transvestite and homosexual.

He also refers to this as a “homosexual propaganda film”. Talk about projection. Everything the fundamentalist nutters do is about propagandizing for their antiquated mysticism. They are actually very open about this. If a fundamentalist plays friendly with a non-fundamentalist the main reason is to convert. Sure some don’t do this but most do. They have courses in their pathetic churches where they are taught these things. They call it “soul winning”. Remember the fundamentalist family we discussed earlier that acted as a host family for an exchange student for the express purpose of converting him and using him to establish a church in Poland? That is the tactic I’m talking about.

And I know this is true because I was one of them once. They will lie to people in order to convert them. Everything one does is supposed to have one purpose -- to witness and gain converts. So everything they do is propaganda, not so for mainstream churches by the way. And because they are incapable of having any motivation but propaganda they project their own motivation on to the others. Thus any film, book or television show that has a gay character depicted in any way but the most vile way possible is automatically “a homosexual propaganda film”.

LaBarbera is an instant expert on the film presumably through divine revelation since it is not yet completed. So LaBarbera has not seen it. But then facts play only the most minor of roles in the life of the fundamentalist. The main thing is fanaticism and hatred. Their temperament is very, very similar to that of the Islamists. They are born out of the same disease.

LaBarbera tells his hate-filled donors that this is a “story about open homosexuals and endorsing child homosexuality.” Endorsing child homosexuality? That lie ought to be good for some big cheques from the bigots.

With foam dripping from his jowls LaBarbera terrifies his funding base telling them: “As a work of homosexual propaganda, the film is clearly meant to target the last vestiges of resistance to normalized homosexuality among Canadians. In the book, the homosexual couple live in Cambridge, Massachusetts and are a chiropractor and magazine editor, hockey does not figure at all.”

Ah, that secret gay conspiracy at work. Clever these homosexuals. Why the changes? Well, for the same reason that The Birdcage, a remake of La Cage aux Folles, was filmed with an American cast, in English, in Miami instead of with a French, cast, in French, in Paris. The film depicts the men being Canadian because it’s be shot in Canada, the main star is Canadian and I suspect we’ll find it is a Canadian company doing the filming. It is being funded by Telefilm Canada. So maybe not a secret gay plot after all.

And why the ex-hockey player? Typical drama for a film. Film makers like to increase the dram in every way possible. If the two men were drag queens themselves there would be no drama in adopting a boy who dresses up. Make one of them a former sports players and it gets more interesting. And if you are filming in Canada what other than hockey could be the focus? But LaBarbera like other Religious-Right lunatics has to find sinister plots and cabals around everything they don’t like.

Paranoia and viciousness seem to go together. These people don’t need a Bible they need valium.