The Other "Victims" of 9/11

The effort to declare oneself a victim and seek sympathy may have reached a new low with this press conference (h/t James Taranto):

The anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks should include the memory of statements that blamed gays and lesbians for bringing God's wrath on the nation, a council of gay-friendly Christians said Monday.

Those targeted by such comments are "equally victims, 365 days a year of the kinds of teachings the Christian extremists espouse," said the Rev. Mel White, who spoke at a Dallas news conference in front of a colorful collection of 30 religious stoles representing defrocked or closeted gay clergy.

White, a former ghost writer for the Rev. Jerry Falwell and other fundamentalist leaders, said repeatedly: "It's over, it's over."

"We will not anymore stand silently by while they blame us for the ills of this nation, when we are at the very heart of what this nation represents," he said, amid "Amens" from supporters, including several wearing religious robes and clerical collars.

As Taranto notes, the aggrieved Mr. White is undoubtedly referring to ignorant statements by Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell in the days after 9/11. Those statements were stupid and should never have been made, but for Mr. White and his cronies to try and cloak themselves in the mantle of 9/11 victimhood is equally stupid.