04/03/2021
Penzeys Presents — You Make the Call.
Pope’s anti-LGBTQ+ Letter—Jerk or Dill W**d?
$2 Rainbow Spices, 1/2 price Jerk & Dill W**d, free Love & Hope! After the Pope’s out of nowhere letter declaring that the Church can’t bless gay love because “God can’t bless sin” we felt we had to act.
Words matter. From a distance it might be hard to understand just how crushing these words and the direction they now send the Church in will be. LGBTQ+ kids don’t get to pick religions that are safe for them. For those forced by parents into a Catholic upbringing, it can feel like there is no escape from hell for them even on the best of days. These words, especially coming from this Pope who so many in the Church’s LGBTQ+ community came to see as the loving, accepting Catholic father figure they never had in their lives for many will be too much.
The Pope and all the cardinals and all the bishops know the Catholic Church has a gay teen su***de problem. With his letter, the Pope just made it much worse. For Francis to say God believes the most decent thing in their lives, their love, is nothing more than a sin will push many over the edge. This really is inexcusable. Heartbreaking, too. This is nothing short of abuse.
We were just as taken by surprise by this needless assault on the Church’s gay community as everybody else. But after the shock of Monday’s letter, by Wednesday early morning we were up and running an offer of a greatly reduced price on our seven “Rainbow Spices.” And since this attack on people who the Pope knows full well are exactly as God has created and wants them to be was such a jerk thing to do we also offered both our Jerk Seasonings at half-price. We pledged every Rainbow and Jerk dollar we took in to helping those the Pope’s words put most at risk.
With your help, in just two days we were able to send a check for $54,227.45 to the Trevor Project who, through their website and 1-866-488-7386 lifeline, do great work saving so many people like those the Pope knowingly put so coldly at risk. In addition, I know many of you with spice drawers already overflowing from your previous support donated directly to the Trevor Project as well. Thanks to all of you! You can find their donation page here: https://give.thetrevorproject.org/give/63307/ #!/donation/checkout
Cooks are amazing people. Their compassion and kindness and caring set a better future in motion for all of us. Clearly from your incredible response on this issue this was a place we belonged, but from your emails it was also clear that many wanted to give Pope Francis the chance for correcting this himself. Some had hoped that these really weren’t the words of a Pope they had been led to believe held the hope for change and honesty about God intentionally creating the human race to be far richer in makeup than just heterosexual men and women.
There was the hope that maybe someone else got a hold of his stationery or that he was rushed into signing it while boarding a plane before actually getting the chance to read its words and grasp the cruelty of their impact. Out of respect we waited to take this offer further. But now two and a half weeks have passed and still no correction. Maybe it’s time to admit that it’s quite possible the Pope got exactly the letter he wished for. Maybe there’s never been a plan for change, only a plan to prevent it.
Other emails took objection to the term Jerk being applied to the behavior of the Pope and finding it disrespectful. That’s kind of the point. See this issue up close and it’s the respect that kills. Anyone else saying the love of LGBTQ+ people is a sin doesn’t mean much, but spend a decade convincing tens of millions of impressionable young people that this man’s voice is the voice of God on earth and the results too often are deadly.
The Pope is the most powerful and wealthy person in all of religion and using all this power to hurt marginalized children in his care while knowing full well they are just as God made them to be is far worse than a “Jerk” thing to do in my book. But here’s your chance to vote otherwise.
Through Monday, along with all seven of our regularly $2.49-$5.95 Rainbow spices at just $2 each and half-priced Jerk Seasoning, with all dollars again being donated to su***de prevention, we’ve also added another option. If Jerk is too disrespectful of a word for you, how about Dill W**d? Thanks to Beavis and Butt-head, Dill W**d, in addition to being an awesomely fresh flavored herb for salads, fish, carrots, potatoes, asparagus, and rice, is now also a substitute for clueless, out of touch, and naive.
So, the Pope’s letter calling LGBTQ+ love a sin, is it a Jerk move or merely a Dill W**d act? You make the call. Both is also an option.
In fairness I will put the Dill W**d link first. It’s here: https://www.penzeys.com/online-catalog/dill-weed/c-24/p-704/pd-s
For Jerk Chicken & Fish click here: https://www.penzeys.com/online-catalog/jerk-chicken-and-fish-seasoning/c-24/p-195/pd-s
For Jerk Pork click here: https://www.penzeys.com/online-catalog/jerk-pork-seasoning/c-24/p-189/pd-s
We will tally link clicks for both and any money you spend on both will go entirely to the Trevor Project. Any money spent on regularly $2.49-$5.95 Rainbow Spices for just $2 each through Monday will be donated as well. You can find those here: https://www.penzeys.com/shop/spices?spiceCategory=177
Plus, with any purchase, a free Choose Love Magnet like the image for this post and a very colorful Embrace Hope pin as well. No matter our faith, or resistance to it, especially this year, spring and the return of life seem so in need of celebrating. This celebrating still needs to be done at a distance, but from the return of flowers, to transgender rights, to my son’s much-loved Brewers winning opening day in the 10th inning, there is much to rejoice about.
To see a Choose Love Magnet click here: https://www.penzeys.com/online-catalog/choose-love-magnet/c-24/p-3144/pd-s
And for the Embrace Hope pin this is the spot: https://www.penzeys.com/online-catalog/embrace-hope-pin/c-24/p-3135/pd-s
And Pope Francis, if you are listening, you were a Jerk in your letter of 3.15.21. I trust that is not who you want to be, but you have work to do to make this right. I’ve received a great number of emails since calling out your Jerk behavior, a good number actually defending you. Even among your most ardent and decent supporters, none could offer up even a shred of goodness being created in the blocking of gay people from marrying in your church. In your indecent supporters your refusal to defend equality for all God’s children is fueling the very ugliest kind of hate.
If not now, when? If not you, who? The time has come for you to do what God gave only you the power to do. Thanks for your consideration.
And thanks to those on our email list for all the wonderful, incredibly touching emails in response to our Wednesday mailing in support of Transgender Day of Visibility. These issues touch at the very heart of so many people’s lives. If you have both a business and compassion and are thinking of dipping a toe into these waters, just do it. But I’ll tell you up front that from dipping in a toe to being joyously in over your head will go quick.
Once you see who you are supporting and how much your support means, any doubts you have will slip away. But I can tell you from experience it will be the handful of angry emails from those upset you are taking the fun out of their hate that will have you in no time leaping all in with gusto. Nothing, not even an old book, gives anyone the right to hate on someone because of who God/Nature/the Universe made them to be. Nothing. My advice is dip a toe, but have your favorite big plush bath towel at the ready.
Thanks for reading and sharing and commenting. Your word of mouth makes us possible,
Bill
[email protected]
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