“When he pushes, will you come?”

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNSYFtwdqZc][youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MRWqlf_8M8]

Donnie Davies is back!

Lawd!

I was kind of sad that he had vanished into the ether from which he came. But he hasn’t! He’s back with a new song and video. While it’s not as good as “The Bible Says” (bottom) which is kind of genius, “Take My Hand” (top) does have some pretty awesome double entendres, and the video has some choice iconography, like Anderson Cooper and Michael Phelps and the final shot that seems ripped off from a Creed video. Honestly, I’m surprised Donnie Davies didn’t perform at the RNC with San Diego’s gay-basher-in-chief Miles McPherson. Considering how many people seem to think Davies is the real deal — check out the comments on his YouTube page — I do wonder how many times he’s been asked to perform at Christianist anti-gay events.

As I’m sure my readers — at least the ones who actually read the blog, as opposed to the people who show up here because they googled “kneepads costume slut” or “San Francisco street whores” or “cellphone + bible + thesis” — will recall, I wrote a ridiculous paper about the phenomenology of gaydar because of last year’s Donnie Davies brouhaha. Here’s the first paragraph:

Over the last several days, various gay bloggers have been linking to a music video of Donnie Davies and his band Evening Service performing their song “The Bible Says.” Filmed like a cross between a video of a run-of-the-mill country artist and a 1980s arena rock band like Night Ranger, it was full of images of Donnie praying, raising his arms like Jesus, and singing with a little too much gusto to appear to be “cool.” It looks like a Christian rock video. What most bloggers and their readers objected was the song’s refrain: “God hates a fag / God hates fags / God hates fags / So if you’re a fag, He hates you, too.” Before I saw the video, I read a number of posts about how deeply offensive the song and the Donnie were, how this proves how hateful the Religious Right could be. But then someone noticed that it was a little too over-the-top; it seemed like parody. Last night, there were nearly 200 comments on the popular gay blog JoeMyGod debating whether or not it was satire. Joe himself wrote, “I mean, COME ON, take a swishy bear [“bear” is gay slang for a husky, often hairy, gay man] in a PINK shirt and have him sing about fighting homo temptation? It’s GOLD, Jerry! And the line ‘To enter heaven, there’s no backdoor’? Priceless” (2007). For some the hints of satire were in the double entendre of the lyrics, but for others it was the way that Donnie moved, his gestures, his way-of-being that made him seem, well, gay. (Though this latter observance would not necessarily mean that he was joking, considering that he states on his website that he is a “reformed” homosexual.) Because I have been reading feminist theorizing on the body all week, I thought, well, yes, Donnie moves gay-ly; our interpretation, my interpretation that he is gay, that he cannot be anything but gay, arises out of culturally, historically embedded notions of the male and female body, notions that have only somewhat changed (even if they have been complicated) by the feminist intervention.

You can read the whole thing here. As an added bonus, there is a stupid flame war between me and a troll in the comments.

4 responses to this post.

  1. Pastor Miles McPherson, who you have referred as the “gay-basher-in-chief” is not a gay basher at all. He would never refer to any homosexual as “fag.” That language is unacceptable for the Christian that lives the Christ-like life and name-calling is not McPherson’s way of talking about homosexuals.

    I never said he used the word “fag.” As far as I know, he hasn’t. He just uses his pulpit to say that gay people are controlled by the Devil. I’d rather be called a “fag.”

    Now if you want to call a gay basher anyone who considers it a transgression of God’s laws for mankind to practice homosexuality, then yes, Pastor McPherson would be that type of “gay basher” and those of us who believe the same.

    Miles McPherson lies about the lives and minds and behaviors and desires of gay people, he says that anyone who supports gay marriage will be struck down by God, and he works day and night to make sure gay people do not have the same civil rights you do. He doesn’t need to use the word “fag” to bash gay people.

    I just had to stop by and offer my two cents since your site was brought to my attention by the link you have pointed to my blog that talks about Pastor McPherson.

    Carlotta

    Thanks for coming by. I’m always happy to get another Bible reader. —Ed.

  2. You’re right and I stand corrected about what you said Pastor Miles “didn’t say.”

    But overall, Miles doesn’t bash homosexual people, but the lifestyle.

    You’re mistaken. He does not separate the two. If he did, then he would say “some gay people” do good things and some do bad things; some do “Christian” things and some do not. If he didn’t separate the two, then he wouldn’t want the government to prevent good, ethical gay people from living their good, ethical lives. He does not do this. He conflates definition and character. In his confusing and weirdly hostile “Challenge to Pastors,” given at a conference of other professional gay-bashers, he said this:

    What are the facts of what’s going on? The gays are trying to get married. But that is not the truth. That’s a fact. Do they want to be married? No, because they get divorced and they sleep around. Every year that they’re married, they sleep with six other partners. They don’t want to be married. Do they want tax breaks? No, they don’t want tax breaks.

    These bizarre lies have nothing to do with “lifestyle.” (“Lifestyle,” by the way, is a canard. There is no gay lifestyle anymore than there is a Black lifestyle or an Albanian lifestyle or a Jewish lifestyle.) He’s claiming to know what gay people want and need and desire and do. He doesn’t know. He has no idea. He thinks that the Devil is in our heads — which is preposterous. Listen to the whole thing. It’s appalling. He actually tells these pastors that anyone who disagrees with his interpretation of the Bible should be killed.

    When he talks about God striking down people, (could you provide the link to that please?)

    Did, above.

    I’m thinking that’s in the context of God’s eventual judgement [sic] on those who practice homosexuality and those who support them. Romans 1:28-32

    That’s biblical and not Pastor Miles’ opinion.

    That’s certainly true. McPherson’s opinion is certainly contrary to that passage. His words and deeds concerning gay people are clearly “undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful.” Will he be going to Hell? I doubt you would say so. But his arrogance and judgmental ways certainly don’t make him look too good. But I kid. Sorta.

    Every Bible passage can be — and has been — interpreted in a hundred different ways. If you think McPherson’s is the end-all, be-all of interpretation, then, awesome, it must be the End Times and he must be the Second Coming. In the talk I linked to above, McPherson has such a strange interpretation of Daniel, Chapter 2, that I laughed while listening. But, hey, to each his own. I interpret most of Leviticus to be absolutely ridiculous. And, I bet, so do most of the members of the Rock.

    So, McPherson thinks that practicing and supporting homosexuality should be punished by death. I’m so glad that the minister who married me and my husband preached Christian love and justice and ethics and truth. I doubt you care, though. You and McPherson are probably perfectly happy thinking that I will be tortured for eternity for the way that God made me.

  3. Rev. Steinwert says:

    Dear Carlotta,

    I appreciate your faithfulness to what you have been taught about the Bible and your desire to do what you believe is right.

    However, the Bible is far from clear on matters of sexuality. There are many people of good faith, clergy and lay alike, who have read and intrepret these same verses you cite in a very different light.

    The Bible itself is a complex text that cannot be understood by pulling verses out of context and applying them as if literal truth.

    A better way to approach the Bible is to look for the overarching themes that emerge from the story of the people of God over time. As Christians, we proclaim that the ultimate Good News is Jesus Christ. His life, actions, and ministry all point to the larger themes or norms that guide our lives as faithful Christians. As Christians, we read the whole of the Bible in light of the revelation in Christ…the Word made flesh.

    What do you see when you look at Jesus’ life and ministry?

    I see someone who rejects violence, oppression and the marginalization of minority communities. I see someone who embodies grace, love, mercy, compassion, forgiveness and peace for the world. Through Jesus, I glimpse the Kin-dom of God where all (and that means no exceptions) live together in God’s justice, mercy, grace and love….a place where peace and justice truly reign.

    I invite you to go back to the Bible and read it as a whole, looking for the themes that anchor our faith, rather than relying on discrete verses to prove someone else’s point. It may deepen your faith and lead you closer to God.

    God bless you!

    Peace,

    Rev. Steinwert

  4. Special invitation to you and others over on my blog. I’m asking the question, “What exactly is gay bashing?”

    Would appreciate your answers.

    Thanks!

    Carlotta

    Heh. You asked for it. —Ed.

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