News > March 1, 2006

An Anti-Gay Easter

By John Ireland

Which came first: the controversy or the egg?

Whose children will be allowed to participate in the White House’s annual Easter Egg Roll on April 17? Not the sons and daughters of gay parents, if the Christian right gets its way.

In November, when the Family Pride Coalition, a D.C.-based gay rights advocacy group, invited its members to participate in one of the “great traditions of our country” the religious right sprang into action. The Institute on Religion and Democracy, a religious think tank, accused the Family Pride Coalition of trying to “exploit a children’s event for political purposes.” Even the White House has weighed in.

“Will the president take any measures to prevent these activists from using this non-political event as a way to push their agenda on the rest of us?” asked a pool reporter (not Jeff Gannon). White House spokesman Scott McClellan responded, “We’ll talk about it as we get closer. I’ve seen a couple of reports about it; I don’t know how extensive that reporting has been. But this has been a family event for a long time and the president always looks forward to this event. “

Jennifer Chrisler, Family Pride executive director, defended the coalition’s organizing effort this way: “Approximately 9 million children are being raised in LGBT-headed households. We strive like every other parent in this country to give our children the best opportunities, to shower them with love, to teach them respect and a love for the rich and diverse traditions America has to offer them.”

The Family Pride Coalition plans to issue T-shirts to egg-rollers that bear a “non-political message,” such as “Love Makes a Family.” But in light of the U.S. Capitol police dragging Cindy Sheehan out of the House of Representatives gallery before the President’s State of the Union speech in January, wearing a T-shirt these days might be a bit too extreme.

For gay parents and their children, simply going out in public as a family could be considered political in most communities across the United States. Gay parents holding hands at the White House Easter Egg Roll would be considered by many an aggressive statement. Why? The anti-gay movement is threatened by people who are visibly gay, because that leads to normalization and a relaxing of stigmas.

The Christian right blogosphere is afire, condemning the presence of gay parents on the White House lawn as “nearly terrorist threats from the homo lobby.” One post suggests that “White House psychologists” should be deployed to help the children of gay parents and implies that they are molested in their homes. Another wishes the gays “good luck,” reminding readers that “the Secret Service carries automatic weapons.”

Such posts are, of course, “those of the individual posters” to http://www.FreeRepublic.com, “and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of … its operators.” The site claims 200,000 registered members, known as “Freepers,” and a daily readership of “tens of thousands.” Free Republic, founded in 1996, has been embraced by right-wing social conservatives as the online water cooler for “patriots” who are “biased toward God, country, family, liberty and freedom.”

Or at least liberty and freedom for some. “These lowlife scum should just be mowed down like terrorists,” writes one good Christian.

With 16,000 tickets issued for last year’s event, the Easter Egg Roll is the White House’s largest public celebration.

Rutherford B. Hayes was the first president to invite children to spend the morning playing Easter games on the White House lawn. Since 1878, First Ladies have added personal touches. Lou Hoover added Maypole dances. Eleanor Roosevelt greeted the nation via radio from the event in 1933. Pat Nixon introduced the tradition of a White House staffer dressing up as the Easter Bunny. It was under her watch that spoons used in the egg roll race were borrowed from the White House kitchen.

This is not the first time the Egg Roll has seen controversy. In 1954, Mamie Eisenhower allowed African-American parents and their children on the White House lawn for the first time. She did not consider the decision political, but for many white citizens, the only blacks they wanted to see on the White House lawn were gardeners.

Today, some conservative bloggers have suggested that President George W. Bush cancel the event or “de-gay” it by restricting attendance to military families, as he did in 2003.

Often called “the people’s house,” the White House is the ultimate site for the ideals of our government, the legacy of our struggle for independence and liberty. If gay families are not equally welcome there, the message will resonate far beyond its walls.

John Ireland lives with his partner and son in Los Angeles. If they are able to attend the White House Egg Roll in April, they will do so as a family.

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• Reader Comments

  These groups who say they don’t want the Easter Egg Roll “abused” for political purposes… Don’t they realise that excluding any societal group from the event would itself be an abuse for their own political purposes?

  And just how do they intend to discern same-sex couples from, say, a single mom and her sister, or two buddies watching their kids together so their wives can sleep in on Easter morning?

  On the other hand, if I were gay, I don’t think I’d even want to be participating in White House events of a regime so decidedly anti-basic-civil-rights.

  I don’t understand the ruckus over other people’s lives. Personally, I have enough to do with my own life and family affairs without worrying about what’s going on in the apartment upstairs or the house down the street.

  Posted by Josh on Mar 1, 2006 at 6:23 AM

  Such groups like the Institute on Religion and Democracy are showing their hypocrisy as well as their hatred towards gays and lesbians (bisexuals and transgenders also).  One of the many ways to combat it is to expose their dirty laundry to the air (waves) as this article has done very well.  This is certainly not a time to remain silent.

  For so-called christians (notice that I don’t capitalize the word) to equate the sexual orientation of homosexuality as terrorism shows where their hatred can and is going since it is so obviously incorrect as well as not compassionate.  Unfortunately, too many people especially those in positions of power are gobbling it up or reinforcing it like the White House does.

  Fortunately, more and more US Americans are insisting on living their lives as they see fit thus ignoring these bigots.  Plus, more and more Americans are insisting on living it out in the open (I am one of many) and without any restrictions contrary to what these hate groups would like to see happen.  That is why they are fussing so much and so loud.

  As a political activist fighting for human rights, I have observed that our society on mass or as a majority (especially the younger generations) is going one way, towards a more tolerant and humane society, and our political structures are going the opposite direction, towards intolerance and fascism.

  Minus the dangers inherited in such turmoil, it will be interesting how our society will look in the future.  Cheers to a more humanitarian society and world ... 

  Peace,
  Deborah
  a member of Amnesty International USA, the National Organization for Women and BMPN

  “If homosexuality is a disease, let’s all call in queer to work:  “Hello, can’t work today, still queer!” found in the Washington (DC) Blade newspaper.

  Posted by Deborah on Mar 1, 2006 at 2:08 PM

  It’s saddening to see how warped Christianity has become.  Their Messianic teachings espouse love, charity, and kindness to all - especially those deemed sinful and ‘wicked’ - and they have fallen into the same sort of near-militant religious extremism that characterizes the archtypal ‘terrorists’ these Freepers hate.

  Posted by Harrower on Mar 2, 2006 at 11:00 AM

  Liberty and Justice for SOME, perhaps we should be redrafting the pledge of allegiance, among other things.  At some point the government, whether Republican or Democrate will be forced to learn tolerance towards all; not just those whose beliefs follow their own.

  Posted by ebby on Mar 2, 2006 at 12:51 PM

  I have no problem with religions, for the most part, and do not believe that these people are as representative of American Christiandom as it appears. They certainly aren’t representative of Christianity worldwide.

  As another article pointed out a month or so ago, gay teenagers are being executed in Iran---just pointing out that this rampant homophobia is not limited to Christian fundamentalists.

  Any control freak, homophobe, paranoid/cowardly personality can find a way to channel that through religious and political groups.  The secular can be just as faith-based and dogmatic as the God-based religions.  Just add people who are looking for someone else to give their lives meaning.

  The whole administration is like a bunch of tight-lipped, meddlesome biddies at a coffee klatch. And ohmygod, we are threatened by everything at every turn. The administration wouldn’t even be there if this weren’t a nation of people that can easily be characterized as conformist, woefully insecure, dependent, the victims of twelve years of public education, and raised by television. 

  Why are so many on the moral right extreme always complaining about television? Why do they have televisions? Clearly they don’t trust their own abilities and congregations to keep their religions alive.

  Battling Satan is a whole lot simpler and gives more immediate earthly reward than making peace with Christ and his teachings----that’s a path a “what would the neighbors thing” type personality couldn’t take.

  Posted by wileywitch on Mar 2, 2006 at 11:20 PM

• extended discussion >>>Continued...

  Discussions with more than 5 comments are continued on our special discussion page to encourage continuity and ease of use. There are currently 96 posts.

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