Proud of the Fightin's

I am a fan of the Philadelphia Phillies. A proud fan, at that. Like many other Philadelphia sports fanatics, I tend to sometimes wear the "no titles since 1983" as a badge of honor or a way to denounce other cities' fans as "nothing compared to us." It just comes with the territory. When there's no real winnings over a 23-year-long stretch for an entire city, you'll do anything in your power to turn that negative into a positive.

So I'm proud. I'm proud the Phils are within 2½ games of the wild-card and have won the majority of their recent games. But today I'm proud of the Phillies for another reason, too: they don't take shit from pushy religious organizations. The Agape Press, which denotes itself as a provider of "reliable news from a Christian source," has published the article Phillies Blasted for Promoting Homosexuality, Barring Biblical Views From Ballpark.

In the story, author Jim Brown goes on to describe the protests of the Christian ministry organization Repent America. You see, the organization is angry the Phillies hold an annual event known as Gay Community Night, which invites members and allies of the LGBTQ community in and around Philadelphia to come out, bond together, and enjoy a night of baseball. This article goes on to argue that by holding this event and not allowing members of Repent America to attend waving banners reading contempt of the "gay lifestyle," Constitutional rights are being violated.

Fuck off, Repent America. Go spread the more hateful elements of your religious tenants elsewhere. Let people have 1 out of 365 days a year free from your scowling view.

Read more about this marginalizing, manipulative crap at http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/8/232006b.asp.