WTF. No, seriously. WTF.
Here’s some news that will simultaneously tickle your schadenfreude bone and make you weep for humanity.
Warning: it’s mostly going to be the “weep for humanity” thing:
Martha Boggs, owner of the Bistro at the Bijou, says she ordered state Sen. Stacey Campfield out of her Gay Street restaurant and banned him from brunch Sunday in disgust over his recent remarks about gays and the origin of the AIDS virus. [You really must read this news article in order to wrap your mind around the sheer bigotry and stupidity that Senator Campfield promotes. -ed.]
“When I saw him at the front door, I told him to leave,” Boggs said Monday. “It’s just my way to show support for the gay community and stand up to somebody I think is a bully. He’s really gone from being stupid to dangerous. I think he needs to know what it feels like to be discriminated against.”
Campfield responded with a blog post comparing himself to Jesus Christ and to the civil-rights demonstrators of the 1960s.
Campfield’s blog post illustrates the sheer magnitude of bigoted fuckery we’re dealing with when it comes to these right-wing nutbags. I’m reposting Campfield’s nonsense in full because — because — well — just read it:
As you may have read I was asked to leave a restaurant in Knoxville because my beliefs did not support the owners beliefs on homosexuality. I had not said anything. I was just standing there waiting for a table when the owner came up and started yelling at me calling me names and telling me they were not going to serve me because of my alleged beliefs saying I hate gays. I said in as calm a way as I could that I don’t hate gays and the things I have said were backed up by the CDC. I offered to send her the links.
I have been quite open and clear on my beliefs and have backed them up with facts from the CDC and others. Unfortunately some people do not let facts get in the way of their prejudice.
She looked confused on what to do for a second then she started to yell and call me names again so I figured it was better to just leave. As Jesus said, “If you are not welcomed in a town shake the dust off your feet and move on”. My friends and I went to latitude 35 and had a good breakfast.
The cries of “Ha ha. we showed him!” fall flat to me. It is not I who lost out. My friends and I still had a good meal. We just gave our money to a more gracious host.
What was showed was a lack of professionalism. In my legislative role I have always had an open door to any of my constituency. Gay rights groups have been in my office several times and I would like to think that even though we may disagree on some issues I have always treated them graciously.
In my private business (Property rental) I have rented to people of all races and creeds. Black, white, Asians, gay, straight, christian and non christian alike. I do not discriminate. I wonder how the owner of the restaurant would act toward another restaurant if the shoe were on the other foot and the business refused service to a gay person? I know I would not eat there.
In the 60′s my grandfather sat at the lunch counters with the blacks in Knoxville to help break up the segregation of the races. I guess some people still support segregation. Just segregation of thought. Some people have told me my civil rights were violated under the 1964 civil rights act in that a person can not be denied service based on their religious beliefs. (I am catholic and the catholic church does not support the act of homosexuality) I had not thought about that much.
I just figured this is just another example of the open minded tolerant left. They claim tolerances for divergent points of view…..Until someone actually has one. Then they don’t know how to handle it.***
Holy shit. Right?
HOLY SHIT.
He compares himself to Jesus and then plays the “some of my best friends are [insert marginalized group]” and names nearly every marginalized group in the book. Then he claims that he doesn’t discriminate (never mind that he thinks AIDS began because some dude screwed a monkey, and never mind that he thinks you can’t really get AIDS unless you’re gay or having sex with a person from Africa — seriously). Then he righteously says he wouldn’t eat at a restaurant that refused service to a gay person (never mind that he is sponsoring the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Emily Hauser wrote about that here.) And finally, his coup-de-WTF is to claim that his civil rights were violated. His civil rights!? Seriously!?
Who the fuck is this guy and what the fuck is wrong with him?!
I just — I can’t even –
(h/t Towleroad)
***Google it. I’m not sending him traffic.
RELATED POST: The “Don’t say gay” bill. No. Really.
I would reply, but I’ve got a terrible headache from all the headdesking this information induced.
Ow.
[But I will just say 1) I love their chalk board sign b) "schadenfreude bone" FTW & iii) "coup-de-WTF" FTevenWinner].
Oh holy God.
I just figured this is just another example of the open minded tolerant left. They claim tolerances for divergent points of view…..Until someone actually has one. Then they don’t know how to handle it.***
sideways wingnut logic. Intolerance is the same as tolerance in the marketplace of ideas. Give that man a pretzel.
i really couldn’t wrap my mind around that. “you’re being intolerant of my intolerance.”
good gravy.
It’s one of a gazillion reasons we call them wingnuts.
It’s a very popular thing with a certain sort of warped mind. “If you don’t let me say whatever I want and not argue, you’re being intolerant of me, and persecuting me. What about tolerance, huh?”
They seem to find it convincing in their own minds, or at least entertaining, because it comes up a LOT.
Sadly, far too many of “us” fall for that.
It’s a perverse form of aikido those sociopaths practice, don’t you think?
Its funny, they want full reign to discriminate and make the lives of someone different difficult, but they cant take a slight themselves.
Its the cowardly bully complex that none of these fools seem to grow out of
What just happened is that he set her up. As we all know, discriminiation based on sexual preference is not prohibited under the law. So he can very well continue to discrimate against gays in any way he chooses while the restaurant owner will likely be sued by the ACLJ for religous discrimination. I’ll wager that this is part and parcel of the Christian Nationalism strategy.
Gawd bless ANY shining lights in the south, given how little there is down there. If, heaven forbid, I ever end up down there, I will patronize that restaurant and spend 1 metric crap ton of money there.
Word, SFF. If I am ever in the area (not likely), she will get much monies from me.
As for Senator Campfield, climb down off that cross, honey. You are no martyr for the bigotry cause.
Damn, my SIL moved out of the Knoxville area. Otherwise, I would urge her to go to this place and eat a lot.
I must have missed the part in the Gospels where Jesus was thrown out of a sandwich place for being a bigot. Can anyone help me out with chapter and verse here?
What is with the gays and these dude, especially these southern ones with the “eyes too close” and “brain too small” symptoms?
The irony just is so ironic, and thats the best I can phrase that.
Then he goes on some shit his grandpappy might have done and try and use that credit to justify being a dick.
And I bet he’s part of the tea party contingent that wants to erase slavery from the classroom, cause it makes white people look bad.
You have to keep looking at the calendar and still see its 2012 to wonder why so much primitive bullshit is still in fashion
More of this needs to happen. Including the loud denunciations leading to public shaming.
As soon as someone starts comparing themselves to Jesus, I tune them out. End of.
My friends and I went to latitude 35 and had a good breakfast.
The servers there are still laughing.
That wasn’t cream in your coffee.
Oh my. What an idiot. Apparently he still thinks that you can’t – or it’s much reduced chance – get AIDS from heterosexual intercourse. That ignores the fact that in Africa, AIDS is predominantly spread through unprotected vaginal sex. In fact, it’s not uncommon here, either. Hate to break it to him, but his quoting the CDC is not a good idea. For one thing, the CDC doesn’t back up his prejudice.
Why do I think this guy’s family tree doesn’t have a lot of branches on it?
The ONLY link he gave to the CDC did not back up his claim that HIV or AIDS is “almost never” spread through heterosexual sex. It seems he can’t even read his own resources. He needs to know what the hell he’s “quoting” And if I ever do get to Knoxville? I know where I’m eating while I’m there!