Get back in that closet, now!

Ken Hutcherson has done and said some pretty disgusting things: tried to organize a takeover of Microsoft because of their gay-friendly policies (yeah, get conservatives to buy their stock until you're in control, Ken... that'll work); dismissing GSAs as "sex clubs"; he's tried harassing teachers and a librarian at the high school; trying to get sexual orientation removed from Washington state's anti-discrimination laws; and so on.

But I thought this was his most reprehensible action yet. Today is Day of Silence, where students can choose to be silent the entire day as a show of protest against bullying (especially against gay students) in schools. Naturally, homophobes like Hutcherson are apoplectic over the idea that anyone might want gays not to be bullied in school ('cause he's a reverend, and Jesus told us to beat up fags, dontcha know?). So his proposed response?

Late last week, the Rev. Ken Hutcherson, an outspoken anti-gay-rights pastor, called for 1,000 "prayer warriors" to peacefully march outside the high school.

In an interview, he repeated his view that homosexuality is a sin. "God hates it," he said.

A little more information here.

Can you imagine that? 1000 people marching outside a high school, for chrissake. I can scarcely conceive how intimidating that would be for the students, especially the gay ones. The message being sent is that people object to your right to be safe from harm, that they object to your coming out of the closet, that they object to your very existence. And he's calling for 1000 people (hopefully he won't get any, of course), compared to the only 230 students who participated in Day of Silence last year.

It's reprehensible.

[Edit] According to news articles I've read, Hutcherson got 100 people protesting outside the school. Protesting a gay person's right to exist and be safe from harm. Did I mention that Hutcherson's a reverend?

Also, an imbecile:

Hutcherson, who had called for 1,000 "prayer warriors" to join him in protesting a national day to call attention to the harassment of lesbian and gay students, said his group was not against homosexuals or the Day of Silence.

"We're against giving an entire school day to one club to push an agenda that is not about education," he said.

(A) There's no club involved.
(B) The school itself is also not involved in Day of Silence, so education goes on regardless. School is not interrupted to do this.

One Antioch member, Marvin Jones, said the GSA "doesn't have the right to come into schools and impose an agenda on students."

See how brain-dead homophobes are? There's no organization forcing students not to speak or imposing an agenda on them. The students choose to participate of their own free will, something that it seems a lot of Christians want to deny them.

Hutcherson took issue with gay student supporters who said they were discriminated against at school. He said homosexuality is a sin "trying to be a minority."

How dare gays think they're a minority!

Lynette Smallwood, the parent of two Mt. Si students, joined Hutcherson's rally. She said she had received several text messages from her sons inside the school saying they couldn't say anything except the Day of Silence is good.

And yet, just a few paragraphs further in the article...

Inside the school, students and administrators said there were many T-shirts expressing opposing views and some intense discussions.

Gosh! It's almost like the bigoted homophobe is projecting her desires to stifle all forms of expression she disagrees with onto the people involved in that expression. How could this be!?

"It's not appropriate to have during school. They're not getting an education," Smallwood said.

The only reason anyone's not getting an education is because a third of the students skipped that day because of jackasses like you.