PERSPECTIVE
The case of Jim Adkisson, the fellow who
murdered churchgoers in Tennessee, brought
up such a hodge-podge of thoughts and emo
tions for me that I couldn’t figure out how to
write this column. I sat here for an hour puz
zling how to begin. I think I heard my key
board snore.
I got a grip and realized I should start at
the start. Tallyho.
On a recent Sunday, Adkisson, 58, walked
into the Tennessee Valley Unitarian
Universalist Church in Knoxville and opened
fire with a shotgun. He killed two people and
wounded six others.
Children had just begun performing their
version of “Annie” when the shooter appeared.
I have to think both kids and adults will be
facing post-traumatic stress the size of Daddy
Warbucks’ wallet.
In a search warrant affidavit after the may
hem, an investigator stated Adkisson told him
that he “targeted the church because of its liberal
teachings and his belief that all liberals should
be killed because they were ruining the country^’
That’s an attitude I don’t think even Joe
McCarthy could get behind.
Adkisson left a four-page letter in his car.
In the letter, according to the Knoxville police
chief, Adkisson declared his hatred of liberals
and gays.
Yup, it’s us again. Homosexuals. The group
people love to hate. Really,
I think just by existing we
perform a kind of warped
public service.
I’m gay, liberal and a
Unitarian, so Jim Adkisson
wouldn’t like me one little bit.
I’m not too fond of him either. I have a hankering
for the day when straight white men with big
guns will stop taking out their problems — real
or imagined — on ftie rest of us.
Adkisson had a real problem, namely he
couldn’t get work. How he blamed liberds for
that is more perplexing than a statement by
Yogi Berra.
It’s clear that Adkisson didn’t think com
mitting mass murder would boost his job
prospects. He expected to die that day, commit
suicide by cop.\Vith 76 rounds in tow, he
wanted to take a lot of Unitarians with him.
The Unitarian Universalist faith is notably
gay-friendly, which is only one of the many rea
sons I joined up. The church in Knoxville has a
“gays welcome” sign and provides space for
PFLAG meetings and gaAerings of gay teens.
In other words, it’s a hotbed of lurid liberal
acceptance.
On its website, the Knoxville church
describes its “rich history of taking stands for
social justice.” Since the ’50s the congregation
has worked for desegregation, fair wages,
women’s rights, environmental protection and
a bunch of other issues sure to have made
Adkisson’s trigger finger itchy.
His first victim was usher Greg McKendry,
60, whom a congregant described as a big guy,
“a rSFrigerator with a head.” McKendry was
one heroic kitchen appliance, as witnesses
said he put himself between the shotgun and
the congregation.
It happens that on the day of the shooting,
I was volunteering as a greeter at my
Unitarian church in Seattle. That means I was
the first person people saw when they walked
into the building, a fact that gave my girlfriend
the jitters after we heard later that day what
had happened in Tennessee.
For the record. I’m not a fridge with a
head. More like a dishwasher with feet.
A friend of mine who has been a member
of my church for about a year frequently says
that many more people would join the
Unitarian Universalist religion if only they
knew about it. One of the perverse parts of
this terrible event is that Adkisson has helped
spread the word about this liberal faith that
emphasizes social justice.
1 hope that pisses him off. ^
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The inclusion of Isis is being hailed by Gay 8c Lesbian Alliance
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AUGUST 23 .2008 • ^Notes I 5