The issue of marriage equality has not gone away, nor have the threats of dire consequences, just as the debates over white privilege and racism continue past Charleston. My first question on seeing the above headline (the addition of the Confederate flags is mine) regarding the equal marriage decision was, "which terrorists?" Sandy Rios's (of the American Family Association) broadcast June 29 prophesied America's impending doom. (Right Wing Watch, People for the American Way, received by this diarist July 10; Diarist Allen McW also wrote about this broadcast July 4, 2015) The reasons why these apocalyptic announcements have become so sadly commonplace range from the wingnut hypothesis to a serious blow to the evangelical world view. The issue is broader than religion, sexual orientation or, as it happens, race. (Wait! There is a connection other than proximity of occurence that is not meant to diminish either part of the comparison.) The White House lit in rainbow colors the evening of the SCOTUS decision seems to be the overt iconoclasm, a cognitive dissonance for the religious right: the symbol of US government--and home of an African American President--is ablaze with the symbol of God's promise, the rainbow, the rallying emblem of LGBTQ rights, and a sign of a covenant that God would no longer punish by floods. (Seems to me there have been plenty of floods that have cost lives, but never mind.) The rainbow cannot be both/and; it must be either/or. The consequences of this ultimate blasphemy, “an unbelievable affront to God,” are dire. To use God's symbol "for a sign of sexual behavior that is ungodly, unallowed" means that "the terror threat against this nation has gone up exponentially.” Hello? More beneath the seal of the Apocalypse.
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