This is an archived copy of a post written by Conflict Of Justice (conflictofjustice.com). Used with permission: Conflict Of Justice may not agree with any alterations made.
Elizabeth Smart’s father made headlines when he reportedly renounced membership from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, divorced his wife, and started advocating for the LGTBQ community. “As an openly gay man, the Church is not a place where I find solace any longer,” he announced in August. News headlines have been approving, but then he recently dropped this bombshell: “It wasn’t until he renounced his belief in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where he no longer sees a place for himself, that he said he could acknowledge his sexual orientation. “That change is what enabled me to be able to come forward and accept myself for who I was,” he said… “I thought Elizabeth’s ordeal was very difficult, but this one is more difficult,” he said, adding that’s because it not only affected Elizabeth but his family, extended family and friends.” (KSL.com)
“I thought Elizabeth’s ordeal was very difficult, but this one is more difficult.”
(Elizabeth Smart’s father)
News Media Ignores – The news media left that last comment out of their glowing coverage of Ed Smart’s recent advocacy activities. Just ignored it. But word of the shocking comments spread on social media, and outrage expressed by church members started to grow and include non-members. This led at least one news corporation to feel compelled to report it. Of course, their reporting was dishonest.
Even though Elizabeth Smart’s father clearly said these comments as an Ex-Mormon, they found a way to blame it on male Latter-day Saints. Refinery29, via Yahoo, quoted vicious Anitmormon feminist Kate Kelly to suggest he was actually Mormon:
“The “ordeal” Smart refers to here was 14-year-old Elizabeth’s abduction from her home in Salt Lake City in 2002. During the nine months that she was abducted, she was raped and drugged daily by the people who kidnapped her…. Perhaps what he meant to say was that coming out was more difficult for him than when he experienced the pain of his daughter’s abduction, but that isn’t what he said. In a powerful Twitter thread, human rights attorney Kate Kelly explained, “If coming out as gay is worse than having your daughter kidnapped — it shows how little Mormon men think of women & how horrific they think gay people are … even if *they themselves* are gay.”
(Refinery29 via Yahoo News)
Kate Kelly herself is Ex-Mormon.
Lies About Being Ex-Mormon – Refinery29 later added near the end of this article a clarification that he “left the church” when he came out as homosexual. But they clearly still consider him “Mormon”, because in the very next sentence they claim his coming out was “all-the-more challenging considering it went against his Mormon faith.” So he left the church but is still “Mormon”? No. The ordeal he speaks of was him becoming not Mormon. The opposite of what Vice/Yahoo claims is true.
The very first comment on the story points out the obvious: “He is not a Mormon man. He rescinded his faith miss kelly.” This is something the article fails to report, and by suggesting he is still of the “Mormon faith” they are telling a complete lie, making “Mormon men” the scapegoat for what led him to say that horrible comment. They are spreading bigotry against Latter-day Saints, particularly men in the church.
Feminist site Refinery29 is a little-known feminist blog run by Vice Media. Vice has its own decidedly negative bias against Latter-day Saints. But the fact that the article got picked up by a huge corporation like Yahoo shows how eager huge mainstream media corporations are to lie about the church and attack Latter-day Saints.
Ignores Divorce – Originally, the article also ignored Ed Smart’s divorce and betrayal of his family. You would think those who claim to be feminist would care about a guy doing that, but no. The writer doesn’t seem to take umbrage with that. The only sin in their eyes is that Ed Smart dared elevate his victimhood status above that of a victimized girl.
Yahoo Only Cares About Narrative? – This was added at the end of the article:
“But in deciding to compare coming out with what his daughter experienced, he creates a ranking system, insinuating that one is ultimately worse than the other. In doing this, his remarks come across as disingenuous and abusive of his daughter’s trauma, saying that his pain is somehow more painful than hers. And pain is not a ranking system we want to create–ever.”
(Refinery29 via Yahoo News)
Elizabeth Smart was truly victimized and what her father said was appalling, but what is Yahoo/Vice’s outrage really about? Is it because he belittled her pain or is it because he incorrectly ranked the hierarchy of “victimhood” that has been decided by our popular-culture masters? Pay close attention to what the writer actually says–that one pain should not be ranked as worse than the other. Is that right? Is it always wrong to say one person’s experience was more “difficult” than another person’s experience? Nonsense. I think it’s pretty clear-cut which experience was more difficult. Is the establishing a “ranking system” really what is disingenuous in his comments or is it the obviousness that his pain did not even come close to comparable to hers? Notice what the writer actually says here: “his remarks come across as disingenuous.” They are concerned with how he came across, not with what he actually said. They are upset that he shook the victimhood hierarchy.
Consider this part of the article:
“Now, as her father comes to terms with his own experience during and after her abduction, his comparison seems to, for lack of a better phrase, miss the mark in sharing his narrative.”
(Refinery29 via Yahoo News)
by PLeia2on flickr (creative commons license)
His narrative? What is the narrative they want him to share? The writer explains in the very next sentence: “Smart’s feelings about the difficulty of going against a strong religious background to find a true identity for himself are no-doubt valid.” Bashing the church!! Of course! His abhorrent statement fails to effectively bash the church–his “religious background”–therefore media corporations reluctantly must condemn it and incorrectly blame “Mormon men” for it. This suggests Yahoo/Vice don’t really care that he belittled the rape of a girl; they care that he missed the mark bashing Latter-day Saints. Maybe this sounds like a rash judgement of what the writer is saying and it sounds terrible, but I don’t know what other conclusion to reach based on what they wrote.
The writer for this hateful hit piece, Elly Belle, describes theyself as “Gay Goth Martha Stewart” and “ur radical queer dad.” Ex-Mormon feminist Kate Kelly describes sheself as “Queer. Feminist” and “Equal Rights Amendment.” They are both in the very community Ed Smart is! Kate Kelly is famous for starting the failed “Ordain Women” campaign to get the church to ordain women to priesthood leadership. I find it also interesting that the same activists who push the Equal Rights Amendment spread complete lies and incorrectly blame “Mormon men” for a member of their own community who says something atrocious. Is that equality? Blaming other people for a member of your own community’s mistakes? If that is how the loudest cheerleaders for the Equal Rights Amendment behave, what does that say about what will happen if the Equal Rights Amendment gets passed?
Offensive ‘Mormon’ Slur – A bigoted hit piece from big media corporations wouldn’t be complete without frequent usage of the slur “Mormon.” For over a year now have asked them to stop using this label “Mormon,” and they all ought to be aware of it by now. They just can’t help themselves. I have noticed that the only ones that have a problem with our name policy are those who relish in defining us in belittling and offensive ways. They just can’t attack men in our community as effectively unless they call them “Mormon men.”