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"I am Gay" billboards ignite controversy among African Americans
timesunion.com ^ | Jan. 15, 2011 | Paul Nelson

Posted on 01/17/2011 9:16:16 AM PST by scottjewell

The colorful attention-grabbing billboards of gay black men in a church and on the basketball court are creating a firestorm of controversy on an issue that continues to drive a wedge in segments of the African-American community.

City Councilman Joseph Allen said Friday that he came in for both scorn and support after publicly expressing his displeasure this week that the billboards send the wrong message to impressionable youngsters, particularly those being raised by single mothers who may not have positive male role models.

"This kind of billboard is putting the stamp of approval on a gay lifestyle," said Allen, who is black and insists he is not homophobic.

He said he has talked with the city lawyer about taking down the billboards in Schenectady but was told the advertisements are protected under First Amendment rights.

Tandra R. LaGrone, executive director of Albany-based In our Own Voices, said the group is sponsoring the awareness campaign because it is consistent with the mission of promoting the health and welfare of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people of color.

"I thought it would be useful and pertinent to have the campaign in the Capital Region because of the numbers for HIV and AIDS among gay black males have has risen significantly," she said. "You have to start from a place of respect in order to address the stigma and homophobia of being a black gay man."

There are a total of 18 billboards in Schenectady, Albany, Rensselaer and Montgomery counties along with ads on buses and bus shelters, said Peter Constantakes, spokesman with the state Department of Health which gave $50,300 to the campaign.

"This is targeting a group that is reluctant to get tested or to use a condom or other protection," said Constantakes, adding that across the country, black males are one of the fastest-growing groups being infected with the virus that causes AIDS. "There is the stigma that they are keeping everything secretive and are afraid to get tested."

The campaign is modeled after similar ones in Long Island, Rochester and New York City, Constantakes and LeGrone said.

LeGrone called Allen's remarks especially "frightening" considering he is an elected official and black. "He is looking at his constituency as strictly being heterosexual individuals," she said, adding that the message is that gay black men make up every segment of society and are here to stay.

In one of the ads, three men kneel at a basketball with the message, "This is where I play," while another shows an older man with a clerical collar and Bible standing in pew behind a younger man that says, "This is where I pray."

Pastor Richard Parsons of Consecration Temple Church of God Christ in Schenectady said the message he gets when he sees the billboards is that homosexuality is OK. "It's directly against God's word and what God hates, I hate," he said.

Paul Webster, president of the Schenectady chapter of the NAACP, said he would rather see black activists, politicians and clergy tackle the problems of gangs, guns and violence that are addling the community.

The billboards' over-arching message is, he said, about "preserving families and protecting people," Webster said.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/I-am-gay-billboards-igniting-controversy-957981.php#ixzz1BJMzktAf


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: billboard; blackcommunity; blackvote; celebrateperversity; celebratesin; christianity; conservativeissue; culturewar; gay; gayrights; homosexualagenda; ny
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1 posted on 01/17/2011 9:16:18 AM PST by scottjewell
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To: scottjewell


2 posted on 01/17/2011 9:18:57 AM PST by TSgt (Colonel Allen West & Michele Bachman - 2012 POTUS Dream Team Ticket!)
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To: scottjewell
The billboards' over-arching message is, he said, about "preserving families and protecting people," Webster said.

That's not at all the way I see it, Mr Webster.

3 posted on 01/17/2011 9:20:43 AM PST by Zuben Elgenubi
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To: scottjewell

I’m curious if that Bible the guy is holding has these verses:

Lev. 18:22, “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.”1

Lev. 20:13, “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltness is upon them”

1 Cor. 6:9-10, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”

Rom. 1:26-28, “For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper.”


4 posted on 01/17/2011 9:21:05 AM PST by TSgt (Colonel Allen West & Michele Bachman - 2012 POTUS Dream Team Ticket!)
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To: scottjewell

OHMIGOD!!!!!

who the hell thought THIS was a good way to spend money??????

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don’t think these are going to go over so well


5 posted on 01/17/2011 9:21:27 AM PST by Mr. K ("...but Brondo has what plants crave")
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To: scottjewell

You’ll notice the elected “victim”’s first impulse was to shut down the speech because he disagreed with it. He’s used to being able to do that by crying racism.


6 posted on 01/17/2011 9:22:54 AM PST by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: TSgt
How about:

I am GAY
And this is where I SASHAY.

7 posted on 01/17/2011 9:24:46 AM PST by Zuben Elgenubi
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To: scottjewell

“The billboards’ over-arching message is, he said, about.....protecting people.”

#####

Yet another deployment of the violence against queers mythology.


8 posted on 01/17/2011 9:25:11 AM PST by EyeGuy (RaceMarxist Obama: The Politics of Vengeance)
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To: TSgt
I think the basketball pose would be more impactful if they were ALL holding balls.

Just sayin'.

9 posted on 01/17/2011 9:25:46 AM PST by DocH (Official Right-Wing Extremist Veteran Seal Of Approval)
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To: scottjewell
Get off the plantations and join the fight to save America.

(Ooops! CAUTION- inflamatory language alert!)

Get off the plantations and join the people working hard to save America.


10 posted on 01/17/2011 9:26:06 AM PST by Iron Munro (When a society loses its memory, it descends inevitably into dementia - Mark Steyn)
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To: scottjewell

NOW where’s the left-wing media commenting on “teabaggers”?


11 posted on 01/17/2011 9:26:49 AM PST by DocH (Official Right-Wing Extremist Veteran Seal Of Approval)
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To: scottjewell; wagglebee
The colorful attention-grabbing billboards of gay black men in a church

Celebrating their sins.

Wrong message to send.

12 posted on 01/17/2011 9:26:54 AM PST by a fool in paradise (The biggest waste of brainpower is to want to change something that's not changeable. -Albert Brooks)
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To: Zuben Elgenubi
or...

This is where I PRANCE.

13 posted on 01/17/2011 9:27:53 AM PST by DocH (Official Right-Wing Extremist Veteran Seal Of Approval)
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To: scottjewell
He said he has talked with the city lawyer about taking down the billboards in Schenectady but was told the advertisements are protected under First Amendment rights.

How about a billboard that says "In your heart, you KNOW it's a sin." erected during "Gay Pride Month"?

14 posted on 01/17/2011 9:28:49 AM PST by a fool in paradise (The biggest waste of brainpower is to want to change something that's not changeable. -Albert Brooks)
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To: scottjewell

Using the words “drive a wedge” might not be the best choice for an article about homosexuals.


15 posted on 01/17/2011 9:28:59 AM PST by Gator113 (I'm voting for Sarah Palin, Liberty, our Constitution and American Exceptionalism.)
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To: DocH

It has to rhyme with “Gay”, otherwise you’ll expose yourself as a homo. heh heh


16 posted on 01/17/2011 9:31:25 AM PST by Zuben Elgenubi
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To: scottjewell

The homosexuals are targeting the demographic which voted in favor of california’s proposition 8.

I am surprised those billboards are still un grafitied.


17 posted on 01/17/2011 9:31:34 AM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: Zuben Elgenubi; The Comedian

Shouldn’t the “This is where I PLAY” billboard have a picture of the guys standing in the park bathroom?


18 posted on 01/17/2011 9:31:43 AM PST by a fool in paradise (The biggest waste of brainpower is to want to change something that's not changeable. -Albert Brooks)
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To: Mr. K
who the hell thought THIS was a good way to spend money??????

Might be from Obam's STASH

You know...

Thstimuluth money.

19 posted on 01/17/2011 9:32:41 AM PST by DocH (Official Right-Wing Extremist Veteran Seal Of Approval)
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To: Zuben Elgenubi
or...

This is where I PRANCE.

20 posted on 01/17/2011 9:32:57 AM PST by DocH (Official Right-Wing Extremist Veteran Seal Of Approval)
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