The Christian Jihad against BDSM and GLBT (among other things)

(Leather Life column published in Lavender Magazine, Issue #181, May 3, 2002)

The members of an organization called “Concerned Women for America” (CWA) apparently don’t like leather/BDSM events. They got “Michigan Rope” thrown out of a Ramada Inn in Southfield, Michigan and subsequently cancelled. They got “Vicious Valentine 5” booted out of one hotel (but couldn’t stop it from happening at another one). Now they’re after “Beat Me in St. Louis” and Oklahoma City’s “Tribal Fire.” A pattern seems to be developing here.

Founded in 1979, CWA boasts a membership of a half-million “women who embrace biblical principles” and who evidently expect everyone else to also embrace those principles—as defined by CWA, of course.

On their website (www.cwfa.org), CWA’s declaration of jihad against Vicious Valentine 5 quoted extensively from the Vicious Valentine organizers’ website (Leatherquest.org) to show how depraved these BDSM aficionados are and what unspeakably shocking things they would do at this highly immoral event—dungeons and floggers and blood sports, oh my! In the spirit of turnabout, here are some quotes from CWA’s website that show the high level of myth, misunderstanding and prejudice that informs their positions, along with the tabloid-alarmist tone of their discourse.

To start with, CWA really has a problem with leather/BDSM events. Headlines regarding Vicious Valentine 5 proclaimed “Ramada O’Hare Welcomes 3-Day Sexual Torture Convention” and, with not too much irony, “CWA Cracks Whip on Ramada Chains.” According to CWA of Illinois’ acting director Kathe Valente, “We are outraged when we hear of people torturing Americans in other countries, and yet we look the other way when it involves consenting adults.”

The story about Beat Me in St. Louis was headlined “Howard Johnson Welcomes Blood, Sex, & Torture Group.” From the accompanying article: “ ‘This is medically unsound and morally wrong,’ said Mrs. Joey Davis, state director for Concerned Women for America of Missouri. ‘HOJO was once known to families as a safe play to stay and for its ice cream and restaurants. Now they don’t seem to care that they are identified with perverse, dangerous behavior.’ ”

But it’s not just leather/BDSM that CWA doesn’t like. They seem unable to grasp the concept of transsexuals and the intersexed. In an article headlined “Radical ‘Trans’ Conference Features S&M, Breast Removal Seminars” Linda Harvey, president of the Columbus, Ohio-based Christian group Mission:America, was quoted: “What happens to the 30-year-old transgender woman . . . who comes to Christ after having her breasts removed? She has to live the rest of her life with her earlier, awful decision.”

CWA also doesn’t like GLBT activists and politicians; headlines pertaining to the recent “Creating Change” conference in Milwaukee presented by the National Gay Liberation Task Force (NGLTF) screamed “Task Force ‘Creating Change’ Conference More Perverse than Ever” and “High School Sophomore Attends Sadistic Sex Party Linked to Homosexual Task Force”. They especially didn’t like the fact that U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin addressed the conference, even after they asked her not to.

Further items from their website: They don’t like “Homosexual Propaganda in the Nation’s Schools.” They believe “ ‘Gay’ adoption is only good for ‘gay’ activism, not for kids” and that reporting by gay journalists is usually biased. They don’t like people who market to and/or support GLBT communities, such as those who advertise in “the homosexual propaganda magazine The Advocate”. They have boycotted Disney’s “Tragic Kingdom” because of Ellen DeGeneres’ TV show and Gay Day at Disney World. (Oh, and in their judgment Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” cartoon character was a bit too nubile.)

Somewhat paradoxically, CWA is big on “Religious Liberty” (“the God-given rights of individuals in the United States and other nations to pray and worship without fear of discrimination or persecution.”) But that sentiment doesn’t stop them from aiming barbs at the New Age movement, Wiccans, and Muslims. Even as they trample on other people’s freedoms, they yell loudly when they feel someone else is trying to curtail theirs. They obviously haven’t learned one of the basic tenets of the leather/BDSM community: Respect is a two-way street.

Here is National Coalition for Sexual Freedom policy director Susan Wright’s take on CWA as quoted in the Chicago Tribune: Vicious Valentine 5, and now other leather/BDSM events, “have been targeted by conservative women’s groups because there is misconception and myth about sadomasochism and alternative sexual expression.” Wright responded to CWA’s charges of immorality by saying: “In America, we do not have the right to dictate other people’s morals. That’s the difference between us and a repressive society.”

Now here’s my take on the situation: Often homophobes and other bigots are simply projecting their loathing of their own “secret” desires onto another person or group. Obviously CWA’s members view the leather/BDSM and GLBT communities as very threatening. Perhaps the members of Concerned Women for America feel that if they can’t have any fun, no one else should have any fun. I hope someday they get the chance to come out of whatever personal closets they’ve got themselves boxed into and get a life. But in the meantime, kindly stop interfering with the rest of us.

Upcoming Leather Events (for Calendar section)

Play Piercing Safety and Magic

Saturday, May 4, Bedlam Theater (504 Cedar Ave, Mpls.; call for directions)
Doors open at 1:00 P.M., seminar 1:30-4 P.M.

Presented by MSDB and Shannon (of All the Pretty Horses)

Cléo Dubois is a renowned BDSM educator, Domina and video producer. “The Pain Game,” her first video, is currently playing the Flaming Film Festival in Minneapolis and her second, “Tie Me Up!” has just been released. Her Academy of S/M Arts has presented SM and bondage seminars at venues such as Mr. S, Stormy Leather, Harvey Milk Institute, and leather conferences.

An extended piercing scene can take you and your partner on a beautiful journey you won’t soon forget. Ms. Dubois will demonstrate several intensity levels of intimate play piercing. Everyone welcome: experienced, enthusiastic, curious, and afraid. For more information visit www.prettyhorses.net/cleodubois/ or www.msdb-mn.org. Tickets are $20 per person or $30 per couple with a $5 discount to members of local leather groups.