Wikileaks Classified Documents: Christians Blame Homosexuality

In a stunning show of hypocrisy, a right-wing Christian group called Family Security Matters (FSM) is blaming homosexuality for the 90,000 classified military documents that were leaked to Wikileaks.org.

Here are the facts that are available. Private First Class Bradley Manning is the U.S. Army Intelligence analyst accused of leaking the classified information to the WikiLeaks.org website. Manning is gay, and appears to be somewhat of an activist who objected strenuously to the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. There is speculation that the Wikileaks incident was Private Manning's revenge on the military for his displeasure with the "don't ask, don't tell" policy and for discrimination he had personally experienced.

But from these facts and guesses, the Christian FSM editors have concluded that it was homosexuality, rather than the terrible discrimination that gays face, that made Private Manning break the law. And who is behind this discrimination and bigotry? Why, it's Christian conservatives like FSM!

According to FSM,

The revelations of Manning’s openly pro-homosexual conduct suggest that a more liberal Department of Defense policy, in deference to the wishes of the Commander-in-Chief, had already been in effect and has now backfired in a big way. The result could be not only the loss of the lives of U.S. soldiers, as a result of the enemy understanding U.S. intelligence sources and methods, but damaged relations with Afghanistan and Pakistan and a possible U.S. military defeat in the region as a whole.

In other words, if we hadn't let these queers into the military in the first place, this wouldn't have happened.

(FSM isn't the only Christian or right-wing organization doing this. Just google for "private manning wikileaks homosexual" and you'll discover that the Christian right are jumping all over this.)

FSM is trying to blame the victim, and ignoring its own role in this crime and ignoring the culpability of all Christians who vilify and discriminate against gays.

If it turns out Private Manning is guilty, there is no excuse for his illegal behavior. But if there is blame to share, surely the Christians in the military and in our Congress are far more culpable than homosexuality itself. Without the discrimination that Private Manning faced, there would be no Wikileaks story today.

Private Manning didn't ask to be gay, he just is. Christians have a choice. They can choose to be compassionate and kind, or they can choose to be bigoted. FSM's article shows that they've made the shameful choice of bigotry, and this Wikileaks incident is the fallout.

For more about Christian supremacists in our military, check out this blog.