Saturday, June 28, 1997

Boycott may turn out to be counterproductive

By Kelly Piggot / Pastor, SpringBrooke Church , Abilene

I'm a Southern Baptist pastor and I believe boycotting Disney is a bad idea. Though I admire the intent of those who have chosen to do so in that they are trying to take a moral stand, I'm afraid their efforts are counter productive.

While I'm at it, I might as well confess to you that happen to love gay men and women, just like I love alcoholics, divorcees, gossipers, feminists, greedy business majors and the Green Bay Packers.

Before you get all emotional and thing that I'm some tree-kissing, bleeding-heart liberal who is naive abou the gay agenda and just wants everybody to get along, think again. I'm certainly aware of the attempt to redefine the family in our culture, which I believe is destructive. I also do not agree with the homosexual agenda, which seeks to promote the gay lifestyle as morally acceptable.

But a boycott is not the answer and actually makes the situation worse, in the eyes of both heterosexuals and homosexuals.

This week Michael Medved, a New York movie critic, spoke at Georgetown University and brilliantly addressed the issue of homosexuality in the media. Quoting an artilce written in 1984, he described how some of the gay leaders wished to change public opinion by:

- Desensitizing the public about homosexuality through inundating the media with gay issues till we get bored with it.

- Portraying gays as victims and thus manipulate heterosexuals into the role of protecting the oppressed.

- Demonizing anyone who suggests homosexuality is a deviant lifestyle.

The article even suggested picturing - you'll never guess - a pulpit-pounding southern minister viciously attacking gays while showing images of homosexuals being physically abused. Imagine that!

No need. Lately the SBC has done a great job at providing even something better. Not only are we depicted as beating up those who are sexually broken, now we're attacking one of the few Hollywood industries that actually puts out something wholesome for families.

If you want a prime illustration of the bad PR this is generating, look at the political cartoons. One shows Mickey Mouse in an SBC mouse trap. Another shows a minister baptizing Mickey, holding him under water by his throat.

John Q. Public is scratching his head trying to figure out why we're accosting the people who entertain his daughter with "The Little Mermaid." He's also getting angry at us for telling him he's evil if he buys Hercules action figures for his son.

The message we are sending is not, "Disney is a bad, evil empire trying to redefine the family, so we're taking a stand for morality." The message we're sending those outside the church is, "Not even Mickey Mouse is good enough for Baptists, so probably neither are you."

Never mind what the masterminds of the boycott do to try to explain the SBC's actions.

So if boycotting is not the way to answer those with gay yearnings, then what is?

If we are really serious about making a difference in the lives of sexually broken people and ministering to gay men and women, we need to start by having the guts and the courage to get to know them in our own community. And rather than getting angry and upset at them for being so different from us, or boycotting industries we perceive to be catering to them, why don't we start our by just being their friends?

It's easy to sit comfortably in our homes and piously claim we're not going to buy Disney, thinking that by doing so we're defending the family. This approach is safe and far removed from having to deal with the real problem.

What is the real problem?

To a large degree, we are.

Sexually broken men and wome are never going to listen to what we have to offer if they perceive us as constantly hostile toward them.

Picture for a moment a man or woman struggling with sexual identity. The last place he or she will go for help in resolving the conflict is the church because they fear the only message they'll hear from us is that all homosexuals are going to Hell.

For good reason. Our actions communicate to them that we don't want them in our churches, attending Disneyland or receiving special health benefits.

We have effectively chased them to the only group that is going to receive them, accept them, take them seriously, empathize with them, encourage them and treat them like family - the gay community.

In so doing, we've abdicated our biblical responsibility. And even if, after a while, he or she senses lonliness and lack of fulfillment from the gay lifestyle, he or she is reluctant to return to the church for help for fear of facing condemnation.

So now he or she is stuck, and we're to blame.

Boycotting Disney is a bad idea.