USED TO BE FUNNY | Victoria Jackson speaks during a tea party rally in Buffalo, last year (David Duprey/Associated Press)
Well she isn’t anymore, and she definitely isn’t as ‘Christian’ as she claims to be, either
HARDY HABERMAN | Flagging Left
I am older than I think — at least that is what I found out when I made the comment that I remembered Victoria Jackson when she was funny. My companions at lunch looked at me blankly and said, “Who?”
Years ago Jackson was the comedienne who “killed” on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show when she did handstands and recited poetry. She was the personification of the blond airhead doing what might have passed as “talent” in a beauty pageant.
She was very funny then, and it launched her career, which included a gig on Saturday Night Live for several years.
Lately, Ms. Jackson has gained notoriety by her rants denouncing the romantic kiss between actors Chris Colfer and Darren Criss on Glee.
Her diatribe against homosexuality, delivered in her trademark squeaky voice, sounds almost like a joke — until you find out that she claims to be a devout Christian.
So, I have no problem with her saying whatever she wants about fictional characters on Glee, or for that matter expressing her views on what is right and what is wrong in general.
My problem is her declaration that she is a devout Christian.
As someone who calls himself a Christian, I figure I have a little skin in this game, and frankly, I am sick and tired of the hijacking of one of the world’s great religions by a bunch of loud-mouthed bigots.
The Fred Phelps and Victoria Jacksons of this world have given my religion a really bad name. Heck, I even have a straight friend who has stopped calling himself Christian and now prefers “follower of Jesus,” since that makes clear the distinction between him and the hate-filled voices that dominate the media.
Victoria Jackson is just the latest person that somehow figures that the collection of books and stories that we have come to call the Bible were handed down from on high, written in 17th century English prose.
They claim to take every word as the literal word of God, and as such, the scripture for them is a handy rulebook to gaining a seat in heaven.
Jackson herself says, “Basically, the Bible says that homosexuality is a sin.”
Though the word “homosexuality” was unknown until the 19th century, Jackson like so many of her ilk indeed re-interpret the “literal word of God.” They selectively twist it to their own ends.
While wearing her acrylic and cotton blend fabrics, and most likely eating pork and shellfish, she forgets other verses that would declare her an abomination, no interpretation needed.
Now, I am not a theologian — far from it — but I do understand a few basic truths about trying to condemn people you don’t like using Bible verses. It’s dangerous and, quite frankly, about as close to blasphemy as I can imagine.
To try to take the feeble words of people who tried to wrestle onto paper something so great they could not even speak its name, and to then say that those few words were the end-all-and-be-all of the divine? Well, that belittles both the scriptures and God.
It is equally silly to just dismiss humankind’s struggle to find the meaning of existence as merely superstition and myth. Just because a story isn’t literally true doesn’t mean there isn’t an abundance of truth beneath the words.
Who can’t see the lessons behind the fables of Aesop or the poetry of Homer? That same truth exists in the parables of Jesus and the stories of the Patriarchs.
For that matter it exists in the recitations of the Prophet Mohammed, in the tales of the Gita.
So, let me just make myself clear. I am a Christian; I am gay; I am politically liberal and sexually more than a bit kinky.
Why am I telling you this? Because I don’t want people like Victoria Jackson to be defining what it means to be a Christian.
Let this be my personal witness, and you can take it or leave it. But I really prefer you consider it. Think about what you believe; don’t just mouth the words.
Rabbi Hillel, one of Judaism’s great teachers, who lived around 30 BCE, was asked to give his full understanding of the Torah while standing on one foot. He is quoted as saying, “Do not unto your neighbor what you would not have him do unto you; this is the whole Law; the rest is commentary.”
Sounds like something another Rabbi named Jesus said, doesn’t it?
In one recent interview Victoria Jackson stated, “This culture is affecting our children and making them run away from Jesus Christ.”
I say no, Ms. Jackson. Our culture is not the reason. It is the intolerance and bigotry of people like you claiming to be Christian that is making children run away from Jesus.
Hardy Haberman is a longtime local LGBT activist and a member of Stonewall Democrats of Dallas. His blog is at https://dungeondiary.blogspot.com.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition April 1, 2011.
I don’t remember her being funny…ever.
She’s trying to fish out a failed acting career that has long since circled the drain by making a political statement… any political statement. Sad really.
Great provocative article. Articles like this one should be listed on the home page of this website otherwise they are probably overlooked. Articles like this one could balance the site and prevent it from appearing to be a mindless tabloid with outdated, paranoid gay drama.
Great provocative article. Articles like this one should be listed on the home page of this website otherwise they are probably overlooked.
Your best commentary yet, Hardy, and that’s saying a lot. Thanks for the eloquent insight.
“Lately, Ms. Jackson has gained notoriety by her rants denouncing the romantic kiss between actors Chris Colfer and Darren Criss on Glee.”
What’s “romantic” about two sexual deviants kissing on TV (or anywhere else in public)? Answer: NOTHING! It’s an abomination.
Victoria Jackson is right (and still funny) and amoral cultural Marxists and sexual deviants like Hardy Haberman are dead wrong.
Hardy Haberman (born July 27, 1950) is an American author, filmmaker, educator, designer living in Dallas, Texas. He is a prominent figure in the leather/fetish/BDSM community, and a frequent speaker at leather events and contests.
In the mid-1970s, Haberman become involved in LGBT activism as part of the Dallas Gay Political Caucus (later known as the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance), the city’s first LGBT advocacy group.[5][6] In late 1976, he became interested in the leather subculture.[7] In 1980, Haberman co-produced the first Cedar Springs Carnival, held during Gay Pride Week in Dallas. The Carnival coincided with the Dallas Gay Pride Parade, an event organized by a committee of Oak Lawn merchants and the first in Dallas since 1972.[8] In 1984 Haberman joined the board of the Dallas chapter of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). By the late 1990s, Haberman was a well-known educator in leather circles, teaching classes at events such as Texas Leather Pride in Austin, Spring Iniquity[9] in Houston, Southeast Leatherfest in Atlanta, Kinky Kollege in Chicago, Leathermans Discussion Group in San Francisco, and in many other events in the United States and Canada. In 1999, Haberman received the National Leather Association International (NLAI) Man of the Year Award.[10] In 2007, the NLAI presented Haberman with a Lifetime Achievement Award. He is currently the Chairperson on the Board of Directors of the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance.[11] Haberman writes a column called Flagging Left for Dallas Voice, a Dallas LGBT newspaper.[12] In January 2014, he became a columnist for Leatherati.[13] In addition to his regular columns he has written for many print and online publications.[14] Haberman is an active member of the Cathedral of Hope Church in Dallas, TX, known for having the largest predominately gay and lesbian congregation in the world.[15] In 2017, Haberman joined the Jeffrey Payne 2018 Texas gubernatorial campaign as media director.[16]
Dear Phil. Consider coming out of that dark ol’ closet. It’s more fun out here in the light. Oh, and read current events. This column is more than six years old