http://montrealgazette.com/life/turning-the-page-homosexuals-like-you-in-tight-pants-jehovahs-witness-leader-says-reports
Turning the Page: 'Homosexuals like you in tight pants,' Jehovah's Witness leader says – reports
JILLIAN PAGE, MONTREAL GAZETTE More from Jillian Page, Montreal Gazette
Published on: November 12, 2014 Last Updated: November 12, 2014 11:33 PM EST
Skin-tight pants are a no-no in public, church leader says,
A member of the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses is being ridiculed and criticized by various alternative publications for a reported rant he made about certain tight-fitting pants and jackets, which he referred to as “spanx” but is believed to have meant “spandex.” (See Gay Star News and Advocate.com) Spanx is the name of a company that specializes in foundation garments, Wikipedia says
Anthony Morris III’s speech was reportedly made to a meeting of the organization’s U.S. branch last Saturday, which reportedly had an audience of more than one million, according to the JW Survey site.
Reports Advocate.com: “He blamed gay fashion designers for what he considers immodest attire, ranting against tight pants and suggesting that the “metrosexual look” was engineered by gay fashion designers.”
Among the quotes Advocate.com points to from Morris’s speech:
Worldly women … even some of our sisters now … what it is is this spanx, this skin-tight stuff they wear … when they exercise. They leave their home and they’re jogging in this stuff … is that appropriate? To wear skin-tight spanx, or whatever they call it? It’s not modest … It’s really not appropriate….
“For these young fellas … it’s the metrosexual look … Metrosexual — that’s the tight suit jacket and the tight pants … and they are tight, I mean tight, all the way down to the ankles and that is not modest, brothers …
“This is a fact. The homosexuals that are designing these clothes — they like you in tight pants. That’s who likes it — not spiritual people.”
But none of the publications are pointing out what, ahem, some copy editors might be most alarmed about: Morris refers to “homosexuals that are designing” instead of “homosexuals who are designing.”
Shame on him! Don’t the JWs edit their leaders’ speeches before they are delivered?
OK, it is a pet peeve of mine: If I had a dollar for every time I’ve edited that grammatical error in somebody’s copy here before their articles ran in the paper, I could fill my car’s gas tank a few times at least.
For the record: People are “who” and “they” and “them,” not “that.”
As for Morris’s rant against “spanx,” well . . . yawn . . . OK, it’s funny in a Monty Pythonesque sort of way. You know the talk show hosts and others will have fun with it. Whether it is embarrassing to an organization that believes man has only existed on the planet for 6,000 years and will be largely wiped out by God in the battle of Armageddon any day now (unless they are Jehovah’s Witnesses), I kinda think not.
While I do believe in religious freedom, I find it troubling that so many of the fundamentalists from various religions and other conservatives talk about “homosexual agenda” and “homosexual conspiracy” while at the same time promoting their own ridiculous, primitive and superstitious agendas that end up holding children back from reaching their potential, i.e. brainwash them to the point they will never seek higher education and will instead “pioneer” by knocking on people’s doors and preaching the “good news” about God as interpreted by the church and the bad news about “spanx” as interpreted by such people as Anthony Morris III.
I’m doubting, though, that spandex or Spanx sales will decrease as a result of the Jehovah’s Witness leader’s comments.
