Introduction
If real trials were tornadoes, couple of dust devils appeared here in Moscow yesterday. I do not really want to dignify them by making you think that I think they were tornadoes, but I do maintain that they were some swirly things that deserve some comment.
That Bathroom Ad
So perhaps you recall that New St. Andrews has been running a series of recruitment ads, one of which was this one. Well, yesterday, the mayor of Moscow, Bill Lambert, issued a statement to make it clear that the ad spot does not represent Moscow’s inclusive values. Among other things, he said this:
Recently New St. Andrew’s College posted a student recruitment video entitled “Boys will be boys,” which conveys a message of intolerance to anyone who does not fit traditional male-female gender identities. The video was filmed with the City of Moscow downtown restroom as the prominent background. Neither the video nor the message it conveys reflects the City’s position on inclusiveness; rather, the City’s stance on fundamental individual rights is quite the opposite of NSA’s message.
Bill Lambert
And also this:
The City’s position has been clear and steadfast on this issue; we promote everyone’s fundamental rights AND all cultural and social differences, and there has been no retreat from that position.In Moscow, we are a community of acceptance and inclusiveness for all. Our public policies support this philosophy, and we openly promote our community’s social and cultural diversity as a wonderful and invaluable asset.Again, I support other’s rights to their personal views. However, when those opinions run counter our City’s long-standing policies to promote the fundamental rights of our citizens and acceptance and celebration of our cultural and social differences, I am compelled to speak out against those views.
And finally this:
In this instance, I feel compelled to let our citizens and visitors know that NSA’s “Boys will be boys,” recruitment message does not reflect the position of the City of Moscow, nor that of the Mayor’s office.
Bill Lambert
One Wee Little Problem
The bathroom in question is a sex-segregated bathroom located on Friendship Square, right next to New St. Andrew’s main location. That bathroom, for those of you who do not live here in Moscow, is brand, spanking new. It was built on Mayor’s Lambert’s watch. He was the one who built that brand new segregated bathroom, that brand new “girls go this way, boys go that way” bathroom, that brand new Hate Space. He is the one who built that standing affront to Moscow’s world-famous inclusive values.
And then, when the ad spot shows a young man going into the side ASSIGNED TO HIM BY THE CITY OF MOSCOW, and a young lady going into the side ASSIGNED TO HER BY THE CITY OF MOSCOW, our mayor calls US out for our lack of inclusiveness. All we did was indicate — in that endearing little way we have — our agreement with the mayor in having built what he built. We are sorry that he feels bad about what he did now, but there it is.
Another Wee Problem
This particular marketing campaign did not just stir up the distaste of some of our local Intoleristas. It has also been widely viewed — the bathroom ad in question, across all platforms, has been viewed over 332K times. What the mayor is doing, by expressing his disapproval of us in this way, is bidding fair to greatly increase the number of people who view that ad.
If the mayor succeeds in making this a national controversy, then a lot more people are going to see the backdrop of that little Hate House that the mayor built, right there on Friendship Square. And they are also going to see that there is a college out there, still operational, where the people running it have not lost their minds. And when you find a college being run by people who have not lost their minds, and I would ask you to follow me closely here, that would probably be a good place for your student to attend. Check it out today.
Inclusion and the Opposite
The central thing that these inclusive people do not comprehend is how many ordinary people they exclude. They are not excluding fringe “haters,” but rather ordinary, normal people, most of whom are trying to figure out who gave the signal that caused everything to go bat-guano crazy. I mean, think about it. The mayor of our delightful little town issued an official statement about our college’s approval of traditional bathrooms. As my son Nate put it, the year 2020 thus far has given him hope that Tom Wolfe made it past the pearly gates and has been given script consulting privileges.
Last week I was stopped on the street (also on Friendship Square) by a distraught lesbian who had a flyer in her hand that she wanted to ask me about. Some enterprising adversary of ours had mocked up a fake NSA ad that had a picture of me in the middle standing on the pride flag (the picture wasn’t fake), with a quote from me on the top about the relative seriousness of sodomy and slavery, and then a false statement on the bottom that this ad was paid for by NSA. This woman and her friend thought it really was an ad of ours, and so did the Lord’s work by tearing them all down. She then saw me walking by and decided to ask me about it.
We talked for about ten minutes or so. We talked about the fact that NSA had not produced that flyer, the difference between a sin and a crime, what the Old Testament says about lesbianism (nothing), what the apostle Paul says about it in Romans 1 (it is a grave sin), and so on. We had a civilized exchange of views, and all of it was cordial enough. But here is where that conversation ended.
They wanted to know why I was so focused on this issue. I basically said that our freedoms were at stake. For example, I said, it is already the case in Canada that a minister could be sanctioned if he preached through Leviticus and told his people what the Word of God actually said about homosexuality. They at first disbelieved me, and said they would have to go look that up. They didn’t think that was happening. But then, when I indicated that as a minister I was going to maintain my liberty to declare what God’s Word revealed to us about human sexuality, they both said that such restrictions ought to be happening. They didn’t think it was happening, but they both believed it ought to be.
And this is what is meant by totalitolerance. These are people who want their feelings to trump everything, including your freedoms. To which the reply needs to be, not a chance.