Bosch Fawstin, the winner of the Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest in Garland, Texas last year, put it succinctly: “I had nothing to do with the atrocity in Orlando. You had nothing to do with it. America had nothing to do with it. Only a devout Muslim did.”
Spencer Cox did not murder 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando last Saturday night. Nor some climate of hatred among “balding, youngish, middle-age straight, white, male, Republican, politicians” that he appears to be blaming for the massacre murder 49 people in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando last Saturday night. By his own account, Cox himself didn’t even engage wittingly in any bullying of gays: “There were some kids in my class that were different. Sometimes I wasn’t kind to them. I didn’t know it at the time, but I know now that they were gay.”
The 49 people who were murdered in Orlando were not killed by one of Spencer Cox’s classmates or anyone else like them, that is, by anyone who is now balding, youngish, middle-age straight, white, male, and Republican. They weren’t killed by the failure of anyone to treat them with kindness, dignity and respect when they were in high school. They weren’t killed by anyone who was not in that nightclub that night. They were killed by an Islamic jihadi acting avowedly in the name of Islam and in accord with its teachings.
Who is responsible for the deaths of those 49 people? Omar Mateen. The man who pulled the trigger. This apology from Spencer Cox is just an asinine endeavor to shift the blame away from where it truly lies. Cox is engaging in maudlin moral posturing to claim for some spurious virtue. The only result is that more people will remain ignorant and complacent about the real threat that the wants to murder more gays — and many, many others, including Spencer Cox.
“Utah lawmaker offers moving apology to LGBT community,” by Susan Miller, USA Today, June 16, 2016 (thanks to Steve):
Repercussions from the Sunday massacre at an Orlando gay nightclub have been many in the past few days. But one of the most unusual came when a politician apologized for his past homophobia.
Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, struggled to keep his composure at a vigil Monday evening in Salt Lake City for victims of the rampage, the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. The emotional and riveting speech has rippled across social media and is being applauded by some in the LGBT community.
Cox started on a light, self-deprecating note, saying “I recognize fully that I am a balding, youngish, middle-age straight, white, male, Republican, politician… with all of the expectations and privileges that come with those labels. I am probably not who you expected to hear from today.”…
“I grew up in a small town and went to a small rural high school,” he told those assembled at the vigil. “There were some kids in my class that were different. Sometimes I wasn’t kind to them. I didn’t know it at the time, but I know now that they were gay. I will forever regret not treating them with the kindness, dignity and respect — the love — that they deserved. For that, I sincerely and humbly apologize. Over the intervening years, my heart has changed. It has changed because of you.”
He went on: “I’m here because, yesterday morning, 49 Americans were brutally murdered. And it made me sad. And it made me angry. And it made me confused. I’m here because those 49 people were gay. I’m here because it shouldn’t matter. But I’m here because it does.”…
“And I am speaking now to the straight community. How did you feel when you heard that 49 people had been gunned down by a self-proclaimed terrorist? That’s the easy question. Here is the hard one: Did that feeling change when you found out the shooting was at a gay bar at 2 a.m. in the morning? If that feeling changed, then we are doing something wrong.”
Queerty, an online magazine and newspaper covering the gay-oriented lifestyle, hailed the speech with this headline: “GOP lawmaker gets it right on Orlando attack; this Is the Republican Party we need.”…