Never before have I heard so much advocacy for gay rights from weird sources as I have while listening to arguments about the Muslim cultural center/mosque planned near ground zero in Manhattan. I heard a woman call a local radio show arguing that if gay folks (and women with uncovered heads and prostitutes) wouldn't be welcome in the cultural center, it would be a mosque, and if it is a mosque, those homophobic Muslims better start being honest. A Fox News reporter announced his plans for a gay bar next door. The media is trying to show that moderate Muslims are more homophobic than they are in order to get the support of LGBT folks and liberals in blocking this mosque. So here I sit, hoping no one will buy the hype.
This article appears in Aug 19-25, 2010.