For those unfamiliar with Arkansas State Senator Jason Rapert, let me fill you in.

Oh the blog posts I’ve written on this guy. There was the time that Rapert tweeted at someone that god and “people who honor him” are what made this country great (which probably comes as a shock to any atheists in the military):

Good times. He also wanted to impeach the judge who struck down the state’s gay marriage ban and who wants to install a 10 commandments monument at the state capitol. He also got into an online tussle with my father once. It didn’t work out well for Rapert.

Anyway, he’s at it again. This last weekend there was a pride parade in Conway, Arkansas. Rapert took this as a rally against Christians (even though, in terms of sheer probability, there were likely many Christians in attendance):

“They understand that the lifestyle they are glorifying on our streets is considered sin by every Bible-believing Christian and they use their parade on a day reserved to worship God and reverence the Lord to mock Christians. I object to Mayor Townsell and the Conway City Council continuing to allow people, many of whom do not even live in our community, to parade down our streets on a Sunday and accuse Christians of being ‘bigots’ because they believe the Bible teaches that homosexuality is sin. This is truly one of the most offensive public displays against Christians you will find anywhere in our state and especially offensive because they have specifically chosen Sunday to try and intimidate people who believe in the Word of God.”

Holy shit, is this guy a charmer or what?

He seems to think that if Christians believe what you’re doing is a sin that this somehow prohibits you from holding a parade. Well it doesn’t and, thanks to the first amendment, the city of Conway couldn’t have stopped the parade even if they wanted to.

As for holding the parade on a Sunday, maybe it’s because the weekend is when people are free? Or because Sunday is when traffic is guaranteed to be lightest? It’s amazing the flips people like Rapert will perform in order to turn a “pro us” message into “anti Christians”.

And yeah, why won’t the mayor stop all these people from other towns who want to come to Conway to participate in a local event and spend their money? Gee, that’s a fucking mystery.

Rapert wasn’t done there:

“I submit that the same-sex marriage agenda that came before the U.S. Supreme Court warrants the same response from all Americans – remind the 9 justices that 96.2% of Americans should not be forced to affirm the confusion of 3.8% who demand our full attention.”

Would you believe that the Constitution’s promises of equality apply, wait for it, equally to the 3.8% of the population as they do to the 96.2%?

What’s more, over 60% of the population now supports same-sex marriage, so let’s not imagine it’s a small percentage making noise. Actually, Rapert’s crew is the smaller percentage making noise. By his own logic we shouldn’t listen to them. Fortunately for Rapert his logic is, well, not.

“It is one thing to proclaim you are a homosexual and demand attention to yourself, but it is quite another for homosexual activists to cross the line and accuse Christians of being ‘bigots’ and that their belief that homosexuality is sin is ‘hate speech.’”

Not all Christians are bigots. Hell, the Christians who marched in that parade were surely not bigots. That doesn’t excuse the bigotry of Christians like Rapert, of course, nor does it mean Christianity isn’t the source of his bigotry (it is).

But I’ll even throw Rapert a bone: not everybody who believes homosexuality is a sin or somehow wrong is a bigot. There are good people in the world who are just uninformed or have bad ideas (like the idea that being gay has any negative impact on the world). But here’s the deal: if you have a religion I probably loathe it. I think religion is terrible for the world and for most individuals. The Christians who marched in favor of gay rights? I don’t like their religion either (even if I can admit it’s way better for the world than Jason Rapert’s). I will bust my ass to give you good arguments to change your mind. And yet if the government ever proposed a bill that would prohibit Jason Rapert or anybody else from practicing their religion I’d be the first one on their side defending their personal autonomy. I will defend their right to believe in something I despise because it’s nobody’s call but theirs (up until they start infringing on the liberty/happiness of others).

And for those religious people out there who think homosexuality is terrible but who don’t extend that into violating anybody’s personal autonomy, I don’t think you’re a bigot. I think you’re wrong, but we can talk about that. But for the Christians like Rapert who will do everything in their power to exert political and legal influence over other people’s love lives? That’s bigotry in the extreme, and being Christian doesn’t change that. It just makes you a Christian bigot.

Some will get mad at me for speaking the truth. I believe that those who call the truth “hate” are simply those who hate the “truth”. You and I both have the right to voice our opinions and our beliefs.

This coming from the guy who says the government should’ve stopped their parade. Whatever part of the brain controls self awareness, I suspect Jason Rapert was born without it.

And this person wins the internet:

@jteberhard sadly ironic that he is apparently just fine with the big gun show also being held yesterday. — Mason Hargett (@mason_selby) June 8, 2015

Boom.