Greg Gutfeld To Open A Gay Bar Next To Ground Zero Mosque

[Newsbot]

Greg Gutfeld To Open A Gay Bar Next To Ground Zero Mosque To Cater To “Islamic Gay Men”

No, this is not a joke. In fact, it is instead one of the most brilliant pieces of provocations in recent years. Greg Gutfeld from Fox News’ Red Eye announced today via his blog that he is actively speaking to investors and plans on opening a gay bar next to the controversial mosque being built near Ground Zero in New York. To make matters worse (better?) the bar will be specifically designed to cater to homosexuals of the Islamic faith. God, this is going to be an exciting block.

Here’s Gutfeld’s entire post which he will expand upon during tonight’s Red Eye:

“So, the Muslim investors championing the construction of the new mosque near Ground Zero claim it’s all about strengthening the relationship between the Muslim and non-Muslim world.

As an American, I believe they have every right to build the mosque – after all, if they buy the land and they follow the law – who can stop them?

Which is, why, in the spirit of outreach, I’ve decided to do the same thing.

I’m announcing tonight, that I am planning to build and open the first gay bar that caters not only to the west, but also Islamic gay men. To best express my sincere desire for dialogue, the bar will be situated next to the mosque Park51, in an available commercial space.

This is not a joke. I’ve already spoken to a number of investors, who have pledged their support in this bipartisan bid for understanding and tolerance.

As you know, the Muslim faith doesn’t look kindly upon homosexuality, which is why I’m building this bar. It is an effort to break down barriers and reduce deadly homophobia in the Islamic world.

The goal, however, is not simply to open a typical gay bar, but one friendly to men of Islamic faith. An entire floor, for example, will feature non-alcoholic drinks, since booze is forbidden by the faith. The bar will be open all day and night, to accommodate men who would rather keep their sexuality under wraps – but still want to dance.

Bottom line: I hope that the mosque owners will be as open to the bar, as I am to the new mosque. After all, the belief driving them to open up their center near Ground Zero, is no different than mine.

My place, however, will have better music.”

Hot Air contacted Andy Levy who reiterated that Gutfeld is serious. And, on his blog, Gutfeld points to the lack of humor in the post as further proof of his intentions (although, I think he’s under estimating himself. That last line about the music is hilarious).

I, personally, think it’s a brilliant idea. I absolutely abhor all of this anti-mosque nonsense currently going on in this country. It’s disgusting bigotry plain and simple. However, just because I support Muslim Americans in their fight against anti-Islam prejudice, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get a few dings for their religion’s own prejudice against homosexuals. If you want to be treated fairly, you should treat others fairly as well. Still though, the only thing that would make this plan perfect would be if Gutfeld created a chain of gay bars and plopped them down next to churches and synagogues since it’s not like those religions have been super open-minded.

Insomniacs around the country already know that Red Eye is underrated genius. If Gutfeld goes through with his plan, hopefully it will be enough to finally thrust them into the satirical limelight with Stewart and Colbert like they deserve.

[anarky]

This whole "mosque" debate is really, really getting on my nerves. I'll rant here, since I respect everyone's opinion here, and I don't have to risk crazy aunts calling my mom to find out if I'm secretly a gay Muslim.

It's not a mosque. It's the Muslim equivalent of a YMCA. It's two blocks from the former WTC, in an active commercial neighborhood where an actual mosque pre-dates the World Trade Center. There are lots of Muslims there. They're going to pray somewhere, since their religion has some (I think absurdly) strict rules regarding when and how one must pray. There will be a religious center that will be used as a mosque, but is open to other faiths as well.

They picked the date of 9/11/2011 to dedicate the building not as a slap in the face to everyone else, but because they're not stupid enough to not pick up on the meaning of that anniversary, and they hope to foster better relations between Islam and other faiths.

That said, it's private property. They bought it. They could, so long as it falls within building codes, build an actual mosque there. They could even add an animated statue of bin Laden abusing an eagle while singing "Fuck you, America!" if they wanted to. It doesn't matter if anyone likes it, it's their right under the First Amendment. So long as they don't break any laws, they can do whatever they want as a religious group. They'd be watched like hawks for the slightest sign of wrongdoing, and probably become the target of violence, but, aside from that, there's not a damned thing anyone can do about it.

It doesn't matter if it's a good idea. It's what they want to do. Take the right from any legitimate religious group, and you undermine the Constitution, pure and simple.

I don't care if you're for it or against it. What I do care is that the far right has been using this as a wedge issue to inflame Americans, using inaccurate terms like "Ground Zero mosque" and implying all Muslims are terrorists, or saying that Bloomberg, Paterson, and Obama aren't doing anything to stop it, as if it's totally normal for any elected official to just strip away the rights of any religious group. They're hoping to piss people off, and it's working, and they're not even thinking about the very serious long-term effects of inciting anger and even hatred against an entire group.

They're leaving out pertinent facts, like the guy who's behind this whole thing having been praised by the Bush administration as a spokesman for mainstream Islam, the hundreds of Muslims who died in the terrorist attacks, the multi-faith chapel in the Pentagon near the impact site used by Muslim employees to pray every day, the mosque just down the street, or that the building has already been used by Muslims to pray for some time now. And they take out-of-context passages from the Q'uran to imply that there are no non-extremist Muslims, never minding that anyone can do the same with passages from the Bible or Torah. (Really, Old Testament God makes anything you could find in the Q'uran look like a pantywaist.)

Because, really, who wouldn't be completely against a mosque on the actual Ground Zero site? But when you actually read the facts, it's not so cut and dry.

And the media, aside from the talking heads on the far left who rarely have any argument but "RACISM!" anymore, aren't doing their job to point out the facts, either. Only the humorists are giving the straight scoop, and most people don't realize how seriously they should take them, since they're all that remains of an informative news media. Fuck, Fox News as a whole actually went from praising the center a few months ago to being at the forefront of condemning it once it became a divisive issue.

I think the center would be fine if the news hadn't made a big deal of it. Not the best site, but not an issue if the folks in the neighborhood don't mind. Now, it's not so fine. It should move, if that's possible, if only because it puts in danger anyone who would use it. I know that with the price of real estate in Manhattan, that's probably not possible at this point, though.

All that in mind, Gutfield's idea isn't a bad one at all, and he, too, has every right to do what he's proposing. I hope, like Newsbot, that he would expand it to include churches, synagogues, and, especially, tabernacles. Not to single out the Mormons to be an asshole, but they did as an entity spend a shitload of money spreading baldfaced lies to pass Proposition 8 in California, and anyone whose holy book says "Thou shalt not lie" (or anything to that effect) shouldn't be spending money to do just that when there are millions of starving kids in the world.

It's really easy to defend someone's rights when you agree, but it's more important to defend them when you disagree. And if we can't as a race agree on who's living in the sky, if anyone, we all have to get along while we're here and let the Big Guy make any judgments regarding who goes to Hell or Sheol or wherever bad people go. Attacking one another, verbally or physically, is not the answer.

However, and I'm not sure if it's because I caught it on off-nights, but based the time or two I actually saw Red Eye, I wouldn't agree with Newsbot that it's a work of satirical genius. I'd give it another shot, though, based on her recommendation, if I'm up late enough to see it anytime soon. I'll just have to overlook the lack of Samantha Bee and her awesomeness.

[Ran]

You're right. Its freedom of religion. They can do it if they want. Although, the Muslim community hasn't really spoken out against terrorism. You'd think they would do that to boost their PR or at least distance themselves from the extremists.

Harry Reid came out against it, and all the local Muslim are pissed at him and saying they won't re-elect him. What are they going to do? Vote for Sharron Angle? Right.

[anarky]

Reid and Pelosi are both tools who do whatever's politically expedient, or whatever they think is politically expedient. Quick--name a Speaker of the House or Senate Majority Leader in history who hasn't been a ripe douche.

Tool or not, though, he's better than Angle. She is freakishly out of what passes for mainstream American thought. Then again, Michelle Bachmann was elected in Minnesota at the same time they elected Al Franken, and she's absolutely batshit insane. Seriously, man, I think in the DC Universe she ran against the Joker, who used the slogan "I might kill dozens of people at one time by bludgeoning them with fish, but I'm the sane one in this race."

I agree that the Muslim community should be more vocal in denouncing terrorism. The vast majority are peaceful, and the Q'uran is the only holy scripture in any major western religion that actually instructs followers to be tolerant of other religions, especially Christiantiy and Judaism, and you'd think they'd want everyone to know that. If nothing else, it could make some agnostics (maybe even some religious folks) research more and convert. I don't think that's a good thing necessarily, but I would think they would. Isn't the point of any religion to convert everyone else?

In any case, it should be quite interesting to see how this plays in the long run for the Republican Party. Muslims mostly support the Republicans, it seems, as do a large number of Hispanics, and here they are using the divisive issues of the "Ground Zero mosque" and immigration policy, running the risk of alienating both groups. Maybe not the best strategy when everyone on the left has essentially stopped debating and started crying "Racism! Racism!*" whenever anyone disagrees with anything, since the President is black.

Could be a moot point, though. Obama was one of the most successful communicators I've seen during the campaign, and one of the least successful once he was elected. You'd think he'd be aware of how his farthest-right critics in the media are convincing more and more people that he's a Muslim Nazi Communist who was born in Kenya. If he'd give more speeches about how his plans will work, or at least how he expects them to work, instead of letting his super uncharismatic press secretary be a doucherocket, perhaps his popularity wouldn't be plummeting into the toilet. It's like he wants to be a one-term president and let Palin take over.

*--Just thought I'd mention: Rand Paul doesn't seem like a racist to me for not supporting the Equal Rights Act. Liberals say this at their own peril. I may not agree with him on this, since it implies a level of idealism about human nature that I don't share, but it's consistent with the Libertarian view of as little government involvement in the private sector as possible.

[Ran]

I haven't looked it up myself, but a guy I work with said the Mosque might not happen. He listens to Rush Limbaugh's radio station all day, so I'm not sure how accurate his facts are. He said that Mosque is going to cost $100 million, and they only have $10k.

I don't like Angle or Reid. All of Reid's TV ads aren't about the stuff he's done while serving Nevada, they are all "Angle is scary crazy" ads. Angle's ads are a little of both. Last poll I saw shows them about even. With Reid's popularity being low, you'd think the Republicans could have found a better candidate. I don't think there is even a third party candidate. Libertarians have a guy, but he has no website.

[anarky]

I suspect this "Tea Party" is going to impact the elections in November, but in the opposite way Republicans expect. Moderate Republicans are losing primaries across the country and the party's fielding insane candidates instead. A few will definitely win. I don't think most of them will.

[vynsane]

I suspect this "Tea Party" is going to impact the elections in November, but in the opposite way Republicans expect. Moderate Republicans are losing primaries across the country and the party's fielding insane candidates instead. A few will definitely win. I don't think most of them will.

kind of like the same effect of the green and liberal party candidates have on the other side of the spectrum.