Tuesday, September 19, 2006

End the Profanity of Exclusion

I have been getting email invitations to a conference in Minneapolis with the title "End the Profanity of Exclusion." The conference is sponsored by Voices United:
Voices United is a Twin Cities based coalition of faith groups , currently including members from the Episcopal church, Metropolitan Community Churches, Roman Catholic Church, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Unitarian Universalist Association. We are dedicated to ending the profanity of exclusion, united in our call to decry the reprehensible use of gay, lesbian,transgender, and bisexual people as scapegoats for the ills of our society and as a distraction from the real threats to our communities.
I completely share the goals of this group, and I very much dislike the over-the-top language they use to advertise and describe themselves. The profanity of exclusion; the reprehensible use of glbt people as scapegoats. I feel like I am being assulted when I read this language. It is used, I imagine, to draw attention to the sense of outrage they feel at the way glbt persons are too often treated. But they are striking back in what feels like a violent way with their language. It is not the path to reconcilation and acceptance. Or maybe I am just being too sensitive.

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