Fort Worth student Dakota Ary is the new poster child for the National Organization of Marriage

Dakota Ary, an honor student from Fort Worth, Texas, is the newest poster child for the National Organization for Marriage. He shared his beliefs on homosexuality, specifically that being gay is a sin and therefore gays can’t be Christian. His beliefs are nothing new; we’ve heard about and read the same arguments a million times before.

Dakota Ary of Fort Worth, Texas is the newest poster child for the National Organization for Marriage.

So what happened? It’s hard to know. The story varies from reporter to reporter, but one thing should be pretty clear: the case is a little more complicated than the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) would like you to believe. It’s not just about a kid sharing his religious beliefs in class.

Marvin Vann, who is, according to dallasvoice.com, a member of a group called LGBTQ S.A.V.E.S. which was formed to protect LGBTQ students and teachers from anti-gay harassment, acknowledged that conservative media groups focused too much on Ary’s story and not enough on the teacher’s story, Fulbright Scholar Kristopher Franks. Here’s what Vann had to say:

“Concerned that only one side of the incident was being reported, we met Friday night with Mr. Franks. His account contradicts Ary and his lawyer’s version of events, and has been substantiated by several of the other students in class at the time. We found Mr. Franks’ explanation entirely credible.”

Considering this statement and other information from the Dallas Voice, the story starts to look very different. It shifts from an innocent Christian kid simply sharing his beliefs like he would in Sunday School to something akin to intimidation. And not just an isolated incident, but a series of incidents building and leading up to the incident NOM focused on in the video.

According to the Dallas Voice, the comment referred to in the NOM video was “the latest in an ongoing series of incidents in which Ary and a group of three of his friends have made anti-gay comments to and about [Franks].” Apparently, the photo in question had been posted by Franks for another class he teaches, Sociology. Students in that class had torn up the photo and then other students had replaced the photo with a hand drawn version. And then another group of students, probably the ones who tore it down, replaced it with a verse from the Bible, Leviticus to be exact. In case you’re not aware of what the Bible says about homosexuality, here’s a verse:

Leviticus 20:13 suggests the death penalty for homosexuality

What’s more, Franks, according to reports by the Dallas Voice, had been the subject of other anti-gay harassment and intimidation including hateful messages left in his classroom and vandalism to his car. Moreover, there appeared to be general problems at the school with teachers harassing and bullying other teachers and retaliation occurring against victims who spoke up. There’s no information on where Franks stands as far as bully of victim, but it helps to understand the backdrop and potential for tension at the school on an administrative level.

So take NOM’s video with a grain of salt: the incident is a little more complicated and nuanced than NOM would have you believe. It’s important to consider all the information out there before forming an opinion.

Finally, conservatives have a tendency to use cases like this to suggest that marriage equality brings with it an increase in cases like these. It’s important to point out that if marriage equality is to cause situations like this, gay marriage must already exist. According to Wikipedia, Texas does not recognize any form of same-sex unions.

Dark red: State constitution bans same-sex marriage and some or all other kinds of same-sex unions

What’s awesome is that in places like Maryland, people are getting at the facts. Same-sex marriage laws don’t change laws about school curriculum; laws about school curriculum change laws about school curriculum.

I felt powerless and hopeless

I stumbled across this video the other day. I don’t agree with it. At all. But I’d like to share it in juxtaposition to another video to illustrate a point. Here’s the first video.

Watching it makes me feel pretty ugly and ashamed. I’m not benefiting society in any way [insert cricket noise]. And I’m also harming society. Well, it’s not me, per se, it’s my relationship. And that’s why society shouldn’t promote or permit my relationship; society should prohibit my relationship. My relationship is similar to pedophilia and incest.

I don’t actually believe that. That’s just what groups like the National Organization for Marriage believe and preach. And if I say I disagree or argue to the contrary, they’ll chew me up and spit me back out and declare “Same-sex marriage advocates need to be more tolerant.”

Same-sex marriage advocates need to be more tolerant. A message from the National Organization for Marriage.

You see, this is an issue of tolerance for opponents of same-sex marriage. But don’t get confused. They don’t have to tolerate anything in opposition to their beliefs. They’re in a position of power. They have privilege. They’re right, so ignore people like me. I’m just the minority. What do I know?

I mean, really. What do I know? It’s just impacts me. And don’t worry. I’m not upset. Even though they say all these crazy things about me, they still love me. It’s that tough love kind of a thing. The type of love that makes you stronger, turns you into a better person. And that’s what makes the next video so awesome. It illustrates where this all breaks down.

History suggests that people with these kinds of views about other people think they’re right and have proper justification for treating people differently. They also don’t think they’re mean or bigoted. They’re just referring people to fact and truth. I mean, at one point it was a fact that all races of people were expressions of different species, white people being the best. All other races were of inferior material so of course we should treat them differently. And of course the law should treat them differently. They act differently. Their behavior is different, and it’s not discrimination to treat behavior different.

Isn’t this discrimination against homosexuals? A message from the National Organization for Marriage.

It’s no different for gay people, right? They’re made of something different. They look different, act different, and even their relationships are different. And those differences mean they shouldn’t have all the same rights and protections under the law. We’re justified in treating the differently…

One of the adults in the video, reflecting on his childhood experience with discrimination over his eye color said, “I felt powerless and hopeless.” One group of kids was saying to the other “I’m better. You don’t deserve all the privileges I have because I’m better. It’s in my blood.” In essence, it’s no different from the message opponents of marriage equality are sending to gay people. They’re saying to us, “I’m better. I get protection under the law. You don’t deserve it.”

But what do I know? Technically speaking, I can divorce Dan and marry a woman.

The law already treats everyone equally. Every citizen can marry someone of the opposite sex. A message from the National Organization for Marriage.

Gay man goes undercover at National Organization for Marriage

People say that once you go gay you forget about God or even worse, turn into one of his enemies. A lot of people have said that about me, actually. They say things like, “You’re not the same person anymore” or “Why do you hate Mormons so much?” or “Don’t you have anything positive to say about religion?” The truth is, I only think about religion and God when religious people bring it up, and they usually bring it up in the context of me — because I’m gay — being anti. In other words, knowing nothing about what I actually think about religion or God, in their minds, because I’m gay, I must be anti. Even if I don’t say it, I must be trying to say something negative.

And I’ll admit, it makes me incredibly angry sometimes. It’s sort of like one of those self-fulfilling prophesies: the more you accuse me of being anti-God, the more I feel like I want to prove your point.

Maybe this experience will help clarify. When Dan and I moved into our new apartment I was a little weary of whether we’d fit in and whether we’d be safe. I felt this way because of the mega church being built down the road from our apartment complex. Why would I feel that way? Because religion has become, for me, a symbol of anti-gay activism, or hate rather. When untrue things these are said about me/people of my sexual orientation, it usually has something to do with God.

This was driven home recently when I read about a gay man who went undercover at a convention of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). He shared some pretty unpleasant quotes from the conference, all of which were said in the name of religion. Jokes about gays entering a mosque and never returning, attacks on the stability of same-sex relationships — you get the picture.

The author of the article, like me, gets pretty upset over this rhetoric. Why? Well, here’s what the author had to say:

“I realized that he wasn’t just talking about ‘gay parents’ in the abstract; he was talking about me. Each time Allen accused same-sex couples of sexually abusing their own children, he was questioning my ability to be a good parent one day, too.

“That sensation of feeling personally targeted would stick with me for the rest of the conference.”

But I get it. It’s not really about hating gay people. It’s about loving heterosexual marriage. So when you tear me down you’re just trying to build yourself up. And when you’re accused of hating gay people you just need a good excuse.

And what better excuse can there be than God?