There’s another horrible thing about “Pastor Sean” and his terrible raging sermon. It’s obvious enough but I want to spell it out.
It’s that he’s telling parents to hate what their children are. He’s not telling them to discipline a certain kind of bad behavior, he’s telling them to bully their children if the children are becoming a certain kind of person.
There are some kinds of broad category one would want to try to discourage children from being – mean, or domineering, or self-centered. But other than that, it’s a nasty business rejecting what a child is. Surely a good parent doesn’t do that. Surely a good parent welcomes whatever kind of person emerges as a child grows up.
Oh well, I suppose it’s otiose to belabor the point. Obviously the man has a painfully narrow impoverished idea of human possibilities and a panicky need to impose conformity everywhere. Obviously he wants girls to look like Barbie dolls and boys to look like extras in a Discover channel show about guns or motorcycles or gold mining or lumberjacking or crab fishing or dirty jobs. But still. It’s depressing that he really does want to squash all the ones who don’t fit.
From his perspective it’s really probably just behavior. Many Christians truly think it’s just a choice. A “lifestyle” as he predictably says.
Though what I really find reprehensible is that gender non-conforming behavior is not necessarily a sign of being gay or transgender. There are plenty of straight boys who are somewhat effeminate and straight girls who are tomboys or a bit butch. And some might be like that as small children and then change when they grow older. And there is nothing wrong when boys play with dolls and other “girly” stuff.
But his draconian punishments for even small transgressions don’t take any of that into account. For him every deviation from established gender roles means a kid is gay or trans.
Shorter Pastor Sean: Parents, if your kids aren’t acting in the way I approve of, beat the shit out of them until they learn how to behave properly. That’s what Jesus wants.
I was terrified by groups of other boys my age. Most of my friends then were girls, plus I grew up straight. Go figure.
As an aside, this is why I love places like NYC…Walking around among inter-racial, inter-gender couples, some with kids, all minding their own goddamn business.
sigh of relief….
All breaking the rule of a single dominant statistic…
More please…
The way that these creatures think — a parent’s duty is to make sure that the children grow up to be “right” according to the leaders in that cult. So if a child is behaving in a manner that is not specifically cult-approved, it is the fault of the parents for not controlling the child’s behavior in accordance with the cosmic cup-cake.
They think that they not only can but must have complete control over every step of a child’s development. Reality is simply not part of their fucked up little worlds. If reality starts slipping into their fantasy world they think that they can violently beat it out. Sean thinks that his imaginary friend dictates the way that ought to be. And if Sean does not get his way he whacks whatever it is that bothers him.
It would be good to point out to his followers that Sean’s advice on child development is not likely to be very good advice considering the fact that Sean himself has not developed past an infantile stage.
What the pastor is modelling is control freakery.
You wouldn’t want your son to grow up to be a control freak would you?
The ways of dealing with such people are simple, direct, and very effective. They get left with nothing.
This kind of attitude is what kept me closeted for 13 years of my life with crippling anxiety over my gender identity and my sexual orientation.
The saddest, and most frustrating thing about stories like this is that they will never know their hatred, anger and fear is about them and not their child. Self reflection is not the forte of believers and like all great irony’s they think they are always reflective!
peter g
We should all be optimistic about the internet. Twenty-five years ago no-one would have called this idiot out on his violent bullying opinions. Now the entire planet is calling him to heel and his pathetic back-tracking shows that he knows full well that he is out of order.
I’m not sure what’s more disturbing. On the one hand, there’s the anti-gay hatred that’s boiling over. On the other, there’s the “beat the shit outta yer kid”.
Heartbreaking, to see those combined.