COMING OUT HAS TAUGHT GAAHL NOTHING

I don’t know what, if any, kind of persecution Gaahl has faced since coming out, but even if he’s been met with nothing but kindness and tolerance, I’d imagine he’s aware of the poor treatment homosexual receive all over the world. I mean, he met his partner, modeling agent Dan DeVero, approximately a year and a half before he came out, and common sense tells us that he was gay long before that – so why didn’t he come out sooner? Even if he wasn’t afraid of how people might react, he has said that DeVero was. So it’s not like he thinks there aren’t homophobes in the world, many of whom commit violent acts against gay men and women.

So mightn’t one assume that awareness of the effects of persecution would give Gaahl a new perspective on violent attacks against those whose beliefs and preferences are different from his own? You’d think so, wouldn’t you? Well, you’d think wrong. Chris Harris at Noiscreep reports:

“Church burnings are, of course, a thing that I support one hundred percent,” he says in the 2005 [documentary, Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey]. “It should have been done much more, and will be done much more in the future. We have to remove every trace from what Christianity, and the Semitic roots, have to offer this world.”

Well, it seems Gaahl’s views have remained unchanged… He reaffirmed his views in a recent interview, saying, “I have left my past behind, but I still have an anti-Christian attitude. Christianity has no place in this country. As long as the church has the power it has and supports oppression, we shouldn’t give the church any sympathy. Therefore I don’t think it’s wrong if [a church burning] happens again. The symbolic value of burning down churches is important.”

Okay, so I’m not exactly pro-organized religion or anything, and as a homosexual, Gaahl has more reason to hate the Church than most.

But burning down churches is wrong. I’m not saying that one must turn the other cheek all the time, but burning down someone’s house of worship isn’t an act of self-defense – it’s just a violent attack. There’s a million ways that Gaahl could take a stand against Christianity that wouldn’t be encouraging people to behave like assholes.

Read more at Noisecreep, then weigh in with your thoughts below.

-AR