She Don't Hate Us, She Just Wanna Take Our Rainbow

A singer whose "Rainbow Song" offered a crayon-colored version of theology, says that the song was not intended to disparage gays... just reclaim the rainbow from their embrace.

A June 27 post at gay news site JoeMyGod reported on how Signe Walsoe's rendition of Johnny Noer's "love the sinner" ditty, titled "The Rainbow Belongs to God," drew harsh critiques after it was posted at YouTube. In return, the chanteuse posted the following:

"Addressed to those of you who has left some pretty hateful comments to the Rainbow-song (and to me)! I don't know if your hearts can (wants to) receive this.... however, I wish to bring this statement: NO HATE, WHAT SO EVER, on my part, having shared this message concerning the rainbow! However, it IS the conviction of my heart, that has driven me to shout from the rooftops, that this in fact this IS a serious matter... and whether you believe it or not, I have shared it with LOVE... coz' I love and respect people... people of ALL KIND!"

The "serious" nature of the issue, involving the proper use of the multi-hued phenomenon often seen in the sky during or after rainstorms, derives from a belief among some anti-gay Christians that the rainbow flag, and similar uses of the full-spectrum color scheme by gays, poses an affront to God.

The reason for this lies in Christian mythology, in which the origin of the rainbow is described as God making a covenant with humankind not to destroy the world by water a second time. The Book of Genesis describes a great flood that eradicates life on Earth by submerging all dry land. The only survivors, according to the story, were a man named Noah, his family, and paired specimens of every sort of animal on Earth. These survivors were said to have weathered the catastrophic event by taking refuge aboard an enormous wooden ship that Noah, inspired by God, built in advance of the deluge.

The great flood was the result of forty days and nights of continuous rainfall, the Bible story says. When dry land reappeared, Noah landed the ship and reestablished animal life on the non-aquatic regions of the planet.

There is no account offered for the survival of land-based plant life, and no mention of any greenhouse facilities aboard the wooden ship.

In the flood's aftermath, God promised never again to purge the planet with water, and offered the rainbow as a visible sign of his pledge. Since rainbows are a commonplace phenomenon caused by the refraction of sunlight through suspended water droplets in the atmosphere, Biblical literalists have sought to preserve the tale's credibility by claiming that prior to the forty-day deluge, rain never fell from the sky but rather rose from the ground to sustain crops, animals, and human beings. This explanation sidesteps the question of how optics in pre-diluvian times operated, but contradicts other areas of physics, as well as meteorological science.

Biblical literalists also posit that God's kindly promise to refrain from further planetary dousings carries a sinister undertone.

"And who is the one that dares to doubt God's warning that the next time is fire? Ooooooh, FIRE. Ooooooh, next time is FIIIIRRRREEE!!!" the "Rainbow" song concludes, notes a