Since winning over hearts and minds hasn’t worked for anti-gay bigots trying to convince people homosexuality is evil, one activist threw a pie in the face of an Australian CEO who has voiced his support for marriage equality in the country. As if the conservative Christian movement wasn’t full of clowns already…

Alan Joyce, the CEO of Australian airline company Qantas Airways, was giving a speech Tuesday morning when Christian activist Tony Overheu came up from behind him and smashed a pie into his face.

Overheu, 67, is a devout Christian and senior member of the Church of Christ and Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International. … He revealed his modus operandi on Wednesday, saying he hid in a small gap between a screen and curtain on the podium and waited for two hours while the audience ate breakfast before emerging to ambush Joyce.

It’s like when Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And if you disagree, there’s a lemon meringue pie with your name on it.”

The incident may have been “payback” for an incident that occurred four decades ago when anti-gay Christian Anita Bryant was pied in the face by a gay activist. Bryant responded at the time by using a gay slur (“fruit”) and saying prayers for the man. Joyce, to his credit, laughed off the incident and told the media he was accepting suggestions for a “good dry cleaner before I leave Perth.” That said, he plans to press charges against Overheu.

I have no clue how assaulting a business leader is supposed to make anyone think LGBT people don’t deserve equal rights… but it’s not like the Holy Trinity makes any sense either. What’s frightening is how much calculation went into the attack. We should be grateful that this was only a pie when we’ve seen what Christian extremists have done to abortion doctors.

Joyce, who is openly gay, will continue using his company’s influence to steer Australia in the direction of other westernized countries that have legalized marriage equality. It’s good for his employees. It’s good for business. And it’s good for the country.

As for Overheu, it’s clear he has no rational arguments in defense of bigotry, and he’s not even going to bother making any up. Physical assault was the next logical step.

(Thanks to Kyle for the link)

