Got this from Towleroad, and it concerns the guy who set fire to a box of cheerios on the lawn of General Mills as a protest against the company’s pro-equality policies, and their support for Marriage Equality. Seems this guy has died.

 Denyes said that while he didn’t know Leisner well, he added that what the nation has seen in the video “doesn’t accurately reflect who he was as an individual. He was a very loving and caring father of his four children, a loving husband and he seemed to get along with other people.”

I found this extremely interesting. The guy got along with other people, but he hated the idea of marriage equality enough to torch a box of cheerios on the private property of a major corporation. For me, these two things don’t seem to go together very well, unless what the pastor meant to say weas that Leisner got along well for anyone with whom he agreed?

Andy Towle refers to Leisner as an anti-gay activist, and I understand that given the guy’s action was very activist-like. Or was it? How about maybe the guy was just violent or acted violently against those with whom he disagreed? He supposedly had made a number of anti-gay youtube clips although I can’t find them. A search found links that are no longer available because the content was deleted as a violation of youtube’s policy regarding hate speech, or as part of an account that has been terminated. So, how is it that this guy whose videos are deemed hate speech is also being called “very loving, a good father,…” etc?

One conclusion I can draw is that anti-gay rhetoric, even violent, hate-filed expressions are viewed by to many as perfectly acceptable and not out of the ordinary. So of course it doesn’t raise any red flags for Denyes. Another conclusion I would draw is that for many folks like Denyes, who a person is “an an individual” is only the good stuff that they want to see, not the whole of the actual person.

It may be that Leisner was more than what we see of him as he torches cheerios, but that doesn’t negate that this is the Leisner that he himself presented to the world. He wanted us to see him and understand hi as a violent hater of equality.

On Michael Leisner’s YouTube page (Live4Chr1st) he can be seen attacking Representative Barney Frank and Bill Maher, while noting that President Barack Obama has “bent forward to accommodate the sodomites of New York.” He also makes reference to “gay perverts,” “fierce faggots,” and the “depraved, debasing debauchery of gay activists.”

A third conclusion I would draw is that some pastors (not all) condone hate speech and violence against those with whom you disagree. Sometimes this is couched in or defended as simply preaching from the Bible, but Leisner’s comments can not be misconstrued as reading scripture. They are 100% cultural criticism.

via Anti-Gay Activist Who Lit Cheerios Ablaze on General Mills Lawn Dies| News | Towleroad.