I Believe in You and Me, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise | @MDWorld

November 16, 2013 Martha Thomases 1 Comment

In the midst of the jubilation over New York’s new mayor, you could be forgiven for not noticing another news item from that election: Brooklyn has a new district attorney.  There are all kinds of reasons for this,, and I don’t claim to know what they are, since I don’t live in Brooklyn and didn’t need to make an informed vote.  However, the analysis I’ve read since has me optimistic.

It seems that the voting population, at least in Brooklyn, is sick and tired of religious organizations claiming that they are above the law.  In this case, it’s a particular group of Orthodox Jews, people who had apparently been covering up child sexual abuse for generations.  In the article in the link, I think this is the key quote:  “His (Charles Hynes, the incumbent district attorney) office’s alleged failure to adequately prosecute sex offenders in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community was a major factor in the race, as was a disturbing pattern of wrongful convictions.”

 

To their credit, the Orthodox Jews themselves are a large part of the reason we know about the sexual abuse of children in their community.  If you read that and say,”Well, duh,” then you don’t know enough about the way these fundamentalists live and raise their families.  It’s a very strict and hierarchical system.  As described in this news story: “Parents of ultra-Orthodox victims must get permission from a rabbi before they can report their child’s abuse to the police. Even with permission, they. and their families are often barred from synagogues and schools. They are publicly shamed and denounced, their businesses destroyed, their marriage prospects shattered.”

Now, if only we could applaud the politicians who pander to these people.  By which I mean, the more fundamentalist Republicans.

Specifically, this week, I mean Senator Marco Rubio from Florida.  He’s speaking at an event that honors a professional homophobe, someone who works in a field, “curing” homosexuality, that has been proven to not only be ineffective but also lead to depression and suicide for those “treated.”

I sympathize with parents who, because of the way they themselves were raised, can’t accept that their children are queer.  I understand that, if they think this is some kind of sickness or perversion, they want to get treatment.  However, even the most deluded parents should love their children enough to do the basic research, and all the research clearly demonstrates that such therapy is harmful.  Even in New Jersey, they know it doesn’t work.

More generally, we should have learned by now that the most vocal homophobes, especially among the clergy. And when we give the clergy special rights, and exempt them from the rule of law, we invite them to commit horrifying crimes.  The most recent is described here. Key quote:  “Last week a judge handed down a 17-year prison sentence but promptly suspended it to allow Girouex to get sex offender treatment and probation. As long as Girouex doesn’t violate the terms of his probation, he won’t do any jail time.”

Conversion therapy doesn’t work.  The will of the people, however, can work wonders.

Martha Thomases, Media Goddess, has to apologize.  If you actually click on these links, and read the entire articles, you’ll be completely squicked out.