Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

National Org for Marriage official doesn't want to talk about 'diaper pastor' ally

2012-01-29T14:30:00.000-08:00

Patrick Wooden

Last week, I asked that readers of this blog contact National Organization for Marriage cultural director Thomas Peters and ask him why is the organization allying itself with Raleigh, NC Pastor Patrick Wooden.

NOM hopes to pass an anti-marriage equality amendment in NC this year and Wooden is doing outreach in black churches in order to get support for the amendment.

Now the pushers of this amendment - Vote for Marriage NC, the umbrella group led by NOM, the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, NC Values Coalition and the Christian Action League - have said that they want a dignified and fair discussion on marriage equality.

However, Wooden seems to have not gotten the memo. Two weeks ago during an interview, he claimed that gay men have so much anal sex that they require surgery and wear diapers to control their bowel movements.

Last week, he claimed that gay men use gerbils, baseball bats, and cell phones for sexual thrills.

In between those two interviews while I encouraged folks to write to Peters or tweet him, I myself emailed Peters inquiring about Wooden.

Not surprisingly, I received no answer.

So yesterday, I read the following from a post on Goodasyou.org from Peters:

That motivated me to send him three messages on twitter:

@AmericanPapist We aren't trolls. We just want NOM to make a statement about 'diaper pastor' Patrick Wooden.

@AmericanPapist If you want a nice discussion on marriage equality, then why is NOM using this services of this awful man?

@AmericanPapist Patrick Wooden says gay men wear diapers and "use" gerbils but NOM using his help in North Carolina. Please explain why.

You can guess what happened next.

No answer.

Of course I can hear folks say "well what the heck did you expect" and they are right.

NOM likes to whine about being labeled as "bigots" but then none of the organization's people will say a word when it comes to calling out its allies for their homophobic behavior. It's the typical hypocritical behavior we have come to expect from the organization.

Just something to keep in mind.

And throw in NOM's face every chance we get.

Know Your LBGT History - Paul Winfield

2012-01-27T15:06:00.000-08:00

You knew his voice even if you didn't know his name:

'Mitt Romney's foundation funded 'ex-gay' therapy' and other Friday midday news briefs

2012-01-27T09:08:00.000-08:00

Federal Judge Finds Same-Sex Long-Term Care Ban Unconstitutional - This just came in and it's a doozy.

Romney Foundation Gave To "Ex-Gays" - When I hear things like this, I gladly renew my "Obamabot" card.

FRC: 'Rebel Fleet Surrenders to Gay Empire' - So now Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council are attacking Star Wars over gay relationships. You know, I'm beginning to think that these folks are a couple of fries short of a Happy Meal.

Newt Gingrich Compares Gay Marriage To Paganism - Oh Lord, it's just too easy to post a response. What the hell . . . this from a man who cheated on two wives with mistresses, one who he is know presently married to is accusing someone else of being a pagan? I think lightning has given up trying to strike Gingrich when he says stuff like that because he seems to do it all of the time.

Stacey Campfield, Tennessee Senator Behind 'Don't Say Gay' Bill, On Bullying, AIDS And Homosexual 'Glorification' - You simply HAVE to read this interview. Forget drug testing people who get government insurance. I say we give I.Q. test to prospective public office holders.

Black pastors, marriage equality, and NOM's money

2012-01-27T04:57:00.000-08:00

A 2005 article on now disgraced Atlanta pastor Eddie Long highlights a disturbing perspective to this issue of the National Organization for Marriage utilizing the black church and leaders against marriage equality that very few people are openly talking about.

The article theorizes that there was a tie between Long's 2005 anti-marriage equality march held in Atlanta and a $1 million grant he received from the faith-based initiatives of the Bush Administration. The article also theorizes that other black pastors were rewarded like so for making public positions against marriage equality.

When I read the recent disgusting comments of Pastor Patrick Wooden and several other black ministers and leaders assembled by the NOM to combat marriage equality, I can't help wondering if we are seeing a retread of this theory.

While I'm certainly not making pointed accusations, I have been amazed at how quickly and convenient these coalitions between NOM and several black pastors and leaders have come together I have also been alarmed by the rhetoric. There seems to be a degree of unrestrained glee and vindictive pleasure in not only attacking marriage equality, dehumanizing the gay community, and also - particularly in Wooden's case - going on a tangent about alleged gay sex acts.

And they do this even though they know personally members of the gay community either by family relationships or as members of their congregations.

These folks come across like well-paid hired guns. Their tone betray a certain eagerness, like that of customers attempting to advantage of an exclusive sale at the mall or prospectors who just discovered a mountain of gold for the taking.

And in this case, we may be talking about NOM's mysterious funds. Remember, the organization has fought tooth and nail to conceal not only how much it has, but also just who is footing the bill. Yet NOM spends that money like water, brazenly committing large sums of money to stop marriage equality in states like New Hampshire and Washington.

Also, I would be remiss not to mention that former NOM head Maggie Gallagher is used to receiving possibly inappropriate largesse for her "opinion." According to Media Matters, Gallagher:

received $21,500 from the Department of Health and Human Services in 2002 to conduct a briefing and write brochures and a Crisis magazine article that promoted the Bush administration's $300 million marriage initiative. She received an additional $20,000 in 2002 and 2003 to write a report ("Can Government Strengthen Marriage?") for the National Fatherhood Initiative.

In addition, Gallagher promoted Bush administration policies in several of her independent columns. She also testified in front of Congress in favor of "healthy marriage programs." And she did all of this without disclosing the payments she was receiving.

So Gallagher is used to such questionable practices. The question is did she bring these practices to NOM. It's not farfetched to wonder whether or not any honorariums have been used to "motivate" prominent black ministers and leaders.

I am not the only lgbtq of color to have voiced this opinion. In the lgbtq of color community, there has been much talk and opinion-forming that these ministers and leaders who step out publicly to not only vilify marriage equality but verbally crucify the gay community in general aren't exactly doing it solely on spiritual terms.

Again, I am merely speculating. However, if, when it's all said and done, we find out that money has in fact been greasing some brown, very well manicured palms, lgbtqs of color won't be surprised and we won't be shocked.

But we will say "we told you so."

It's a phrase we have learned to use a lot. Usually when it's discovered that a homophobic black pastor is actually a closeted gay.

Gov. Christie accidentally proves a basic point of marriage equality

2012-01-26T15:10:00.000-08:00

Today, in explaining just why he would veto marriage equality legislation and also why he felt it was an issue which should be decided by the voters, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said the following:

"The fact of the matter is, I think people would have been happy to have a referendum on civil rights rather than fighting and dying in the streets in the South."

If this fool for real? In his ignorance, Christie seems to forget that one of those rights back then was the right to vote.

Needless to say that black lawmakers aren't very happy with Christie's comment:

The comment outraged many African-American leaders in the state, who pointed out that such a referendum never would have passed in the south during the 60s — and that many black people were also disenfranchised at the time.

“People were fighting and dying in the streets of the South for a reason,” Oliver said. “They were fighting and dying in the streets of the South because the majority refused to grant minorities equal rights by any method. It look legislative action to bring justice to all Americans, just as legislative action is the right way to bring marriage equality to all New Jerseyans.”

“The governor’s comment is an insult to those who had no choice but to fight and die in the streets for equal rights,” she added.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) had a similar take. “Dear God, we should not be putting civil rights issues to a popular vote, to be subject to the sentiments, the passions of the day. No minority should have their rights subject to the passions and the sentiments of the majority. This is the fundamental bedrock of what our nation stands for.”

Jerome Harris, chairman of the New Jersey Black Issues Convention, told the Star-Ledger: “The 1965 Voting Rights act was enacted to overcome the systemic, intentional racial suppression of the black vote. It’s certainly a lack of historical understanding about how the expanding definition of who ‘We the People’ are has happened.”

And State Assemblyman John Wisniewksi (D) added: “Rosa Parks didn’t get to the front of the bus through a ballot question and Jim Crow laws weren’t repealed by public referendum.”

I guess we should be thankful to Christie's stupidity though. Regardless of how the gay community or the black community feels about marriage equality, they both agree that no one's rights should be voted on.

'NOM still trying steal marriage equality away from New York' and other Thursday midday news briefs

2012-01-26T09:04:00.000-08:00

NOM will take away NY marriage licenses; driver and voter registrations apparently in clear (for now) - NOM is still trying to take away the fairly won right of marriage equality from New York couples.

Targeting Hollywood with Spiritual Warfare - Another prayer group? Oh goody.

Same-Sex Marriage Question To Appear On Maine Ballot - Round two and this time, it's our turn to win.

Harrisville becomes 14th Utah locale to ban anti-gay bias - Way to go, Harrisville!

Coalition at historically black North Carolina Central University opposes marriage discrimination amendment - Take that, Patrick Wooden!

National Gay Straight Alliance Day Seeks To Unite Organizations Nationwide - And we certainly can't forget about this.

Homophobic radio ad gets a pictorial retouch

2012-01-26T04:38:00.000-08:00

A very appropriate retooling of a radio ad:

NC pastor - gay men molest gerbils, baseball bats, and cell phones

2012-01-25T15:26:00.000-08:00

If the National Organization for Marriage and Vote for Marriage NC - the organization it helped to create to push for an anti-marriage equality referendum in the state - truly want to have a meaningful and dignified discussion on the amendment as they have claimed, then someone from either group needs to muzzle Raleigh pastor Patrick Wooden.

Wooden will be doing outreach in the African-American community for the amendment.

Last week, he claimed that gay men have so much sex that they require surgery and diapers.

Today he just topped it in the second part of an interview with anti-gay activist aptly named "Porno" Pete LaBarbera:

Wooden: I do not back off or back down from my statements at all. I was giving anecdotal examples that I am personally aware of that have happened as a result of men who have given themselves over to this lifestyle. One man past away, a friend of mine shared this information with me, that where what used to be his anus had become a gaping hole and he literally died in diapers, he literally lost control of himself. There are examples of men who have stretched their anuses, their sphincter muscles so that they could fit objects into themselves that once the sphincter muscle is stretched too much it will not contract. Because the truth is, despite the anger of the homosexual community, the anus is not a vagina. A vagina, a woman can give birth, God so designed it, the hips release can give birth to babies and things return back to normal. The anus doesn’t work that way; this is one of the reasons why many male homosexuals place larger and larger objects in their rectums.

. . . I know of a case where in a hospital a homosexual male had a cellphone lodged in his anus and as they were operating on him the phone went off, the phone started ringing! There’ve been instances where men have put bats, baseball bats, in their rectums!

. . . Even the homosexual lobby knows, those who are pro-homosexual, they know that they cannot win the argument describing what it is that these people actually do to each other, the objects, the animals in certain cases, the little gerbils; thank God I’m a human being! Because if you talk about what it is that these people actually do, they can’t win the argument.

One has to wonder three things. First, was Wooden on any medication which he may have abused before that interview? Secondly how the heck does one put a cell phone up one's behind and thirdly, does it ring if lodged up there?

Wooden is obviously lying and not just about the cell phone. The "gays have dangerous sex" lie is as old as the hills. Take a gander at this 1985 comic (endorsed by anti-gay group Concerned Women for America) called Deathstyle:

It's almost comical until you realize that Wooden will most likely be repeating that mess to get African-Americans to vote for the amendment.

And of course neither NOM nor Vote for Marriage NC will comment on Wooden's words, even though they will be in full use of his services. And their silence will emphasize the fact yet again that those who seek to stop marriage equality are willing to do it by any mean necessary even while they whine about being "unfairly" labeled as bigots.

Of course the grand irony of the entire thing is that Wooden was one of the pastors who took part LaBarbera's recent silly protest against Southern Poverty Law Center. SPLC claims that certain anti-gay groups - including LaBarbera's - are actually hate groups because they spread hurtful propaganda about the gay community.

I would say conducting an interview with a pastor who claims that gay men wear diapers because they molest brooms, gerbils, and cell phones makes LaBarbera into a first class hypocrite.

Don't you?

Editor's note - On his webpage, LaBarbera prefaces the interview with the following:

LaBarbera references a Wikipedia entry on “fecal incontinence” that cites this 1993 study on the ill effects of anal sex. They talk about the SPLC’s racist-tinged release on the AFTAH protest. And when Wooden brings up the heinous “gay” sex practice of “fisting,” LaBarbera recalls the 2000 Massachusetts “Fistgate” scandal at a conference sponsored by the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network – in which homosexual youth were given verbal “how-to” instructions by adults on “fisting” (hand-arm-rectal “sex”). LaBarbera notes that GLSEN never issued a sincere, strong apology for the incident — and the media double standard that excuses and ignores scandals on the Left.

Of course LaBarbera never lets anyone know that the study in question was a convenience sample study which looked at gay AND heterosexual men. He also doesn't give the entire story of the phony Fistgate controversy. For that, read 'Fistgate' and President Obama - religious right pushes a pitiful attempt of guilt by association

'Gays take over homophobic twitter hashtag' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

2012-01-25T09:03:00.000-08:00

Pastor Ken Hutcherson: “The only way to make your enemy a friend is to defeat them or kill them” - Apparently anti-gay pastor Ken Hutcherson doesn't believe in that thing Jesus said about loving your enemies.

Tammy Baldwin’s Anti-Gay Opponent Attacks Her Pro-LGBT Record - Of course cause we don't want no lesbians in Senate. Why they may think that they are Americans too.

#LGBTFacts - Long story short - some fool started posting some homophobic crap on twitter with this hashtag. But WE have taken it over. Come and join the fun.

Chris Christie Gay Marriage Stance: Would Veto Bill Legalizing Same-Sex Unions, Supports Ballot Measure - Now THERE is the Chris Christie that I know and despise.

Gingrich Tells CBN He Will Fight the 'War Against Religion' - ESPECIALLY that religion which says you can't cheat on your wife. Okay he didn't say that, but you know he wanted to.

Hate groups make fools out of themselves at press conference

2012-01-25T05:01:00.000-08:00

Video footage is coming in of that disastrous press conference held by "Porno" Pete LaBarbera and his crew of assorted nuts against the Southern Poverty Law Center. The press conference was held to protest SPLC calling so-called pro-family groups out for their deliberate inaccurate rhetoric about the gay community.

And it was just as everyone suspected - it was a colossal bomb. But the most interesting portion is the following. Rochelle Conner, a representative of Scott Lively’s Abiding Truth Ministries (an SPLC designated hate group), read a statement from Lively calling for “God himself to destroy” the SPLC:

Transcript - My prayer as one who really does hate irrational prejudice is that the Lord by His sovereign power will remove this dangerous, hate-spreading organization from our nation and its leaders and its members cause them to repent of their wickedness. Finally, to prevent the Southern Poverty Law Center from using my prayer as part of its perpetual fundraising campaign, I want to make clear that I am asking God himself to destroy their organization and I am asking that it be by His miraculous hand and not by human beings just so as with Sodom and Gomorrah, they will know that God will get the glory, and not man.

By the way, you will notice that standing next to LaBarbera - who is the only white male in the small group for those who have never seen him - is "diaper pastor" Patrick Wooden. I heard that they were filming their own press conference, so of course Wooden just had to position himself to be at the forefront of the camera.

My guess - and forgive if I am being sacrilegious here - is that the only reason why God didn't strike these folks down for their lies is because he was laughing so hard.

The press conference was so pitiful that it's not even worth getting angry about. However, I will say one thing.

I love girlfriend's hat. And those boots? Smoking!

NC anti-marriage equality group has already begun lying

2012-01-24T15:09:00.000-08:00

According to Think Progress, those pushing that awful anti-marriage equality amendment in North Carolina have wasted no time in pushing lies in order to scare up votes:

Conservatives supporting North Carolina’s proposed constitutional amendment banning recognition of all same-sex relationships have launched a new website called Vote For Marriage NC. The site describes same-sex marriage as a “threat” and a “new legal orthodoxy” that would “redefine” marriage as “genderless” for all couples, and those who do not agree “will be treated under the law just like racists and bigots, and will be punished for their beliefs.” Unsurprisingly, none of the claims made stand up to scrutiny.

My fellow blogger, Zack Ford who work at Think Progress, breaks it down He does such an excellent job that it needs to be passed around to as many North Carolinians as possible:

CLAIM - “Religious groups who have refused to make their facilities available for same-sex couples have lost their state tax exemption.”

REALITY - The only example conservatives ever cite is a New Jersey Methodist pavilion, and that pavilion did not actually have a religious exemption.

CLAIM - “Religious groups like Catholic Charities in Boston and Washington DC have had to choose between fulfilling their social mission based on their religious beliefs, or acquiescing to this new definition of marriage.”

REALITY - Catholic Charities have never been obligated to shut down their services, but have done so voluntarily when they are no longer subsidized by the state because they discriminate.

CLAIM - “Nonprofit groups are faced with abandoning their historic mission principles in order to maintain governmental contracts (for things like low-income housing, health clinics, etc.).”

REALITY - Again, no group has been forced to close, though some may lose state funding. In one case, the Maine Catholic Diocese shuttered a homeless support agency as punishment for supporting marriage equality.

Read more of Zack's spectacular break down of the lies here.

Related posts - Marriage Equality - Simple answers to NOM's complicated lies

PROTECTNCFAMILIES.ORG

'Glitter-bombing is counterproductive nonsense' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

2012-01-24T09:17:00.000-08:00

Dan savaged by glitter before Vancouver talk - Dan Savage got glitter-bombed again, this time in Vancouver. For whatever reason this time confuses me. You just have to read the article.

But allow me to give a little editorial comment on this practice of glitter-bombing.

I don't care who is the victim of it, the practice of glitter-bombing is a cheap, unfocused psychological stunt. It's a petty rush for an attention addict who has deceive him or herself into thinking that they are doing something substantial for the community rather than providing fodder for the opposition on how the lgbtq community is supposedly pushy and will resort to pettiness if it doesn't get it's way.

Glitter-bombing isn't merely stupid; it's the sad sign of a people who are showing themselves not ready for their roles in the important struggle for equality. You see with that role comes structure and planning for acquiring and securing equal rights. With that role comes patience and the knowledge that you are not doing things merely for yourself and what you want at the present, but also how your actions will improve the lives of those who will come up after you.

And let's face it. Throwing colorful bits of confetti at people who offend you is not a suitable substitute for structure and planning.

Also what's with this desperate need for publicity anyway? The opposition gets publicity, but in all honesty, it doesn't need it. You see they are carefully plotting and planning behind the scenes and away from the cameras to achieve their goals.

Now imagine what we could do if we employed that type of discipline for a change.

And in other news (if I haven't sufficiently gotten you angry):

Ironically, it's NOM that's hiding gender here - Jeremy Hooper (the Arn Anderson to my Tully Blanchard) catches the National Organization for Marriage in ANOTHER deception.

Romney’s Foundation Donated To Anti-Gay Marriage Group - Surprising no one with a pulse.

Hate Groups Are Pissed At Christie - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie obviously doesn't want to be vice president.

Family Research Council Launches Boycott of Girl Scout Cookies - I will be buying my Girl Scout Cookies. Hopefully you will be, too.

One News Now distorts controversy, insults gay parents

2012-01-24T05:06:00.000-08:00

Editor's note - Today is a first on my blog. I usually write one post in the morning but two things happened which deserves comment. After finishing this piece about how One News Now distorted a controversy to insult gay parenting, pan down to the second post and read about the American Family Association admitting that its boycott against Home Depot has NOT been successful.

If you want a good reason why the American Family Association's phony news source, One News Now, is a detriment to truth rather than an asset, then take a look at the following piece entitled School: Let him who 'screams loudest' get his way.

The piece is about how a column in a Wisconsin school newspaper about the gay community raised a huge controversy.

However, take a look at how One News Now phrases what happened as opposed to how the Green Bay Press Gazette tells the story:

One News Now:

Officials of a Wisconsin school have censored a student's editorial column printed in the city paper and "sincerely" apologized for his words in support of natural mother-father adoptions.

Both sides of the adoption issue were presented in separate articles, each written by students. But Shawano High School officials pulled the article written by a 15-year-old student who used scripture to support his argument. He wrote: "If one is a practicing Christian, Jesus states in the Bible that homosexuality is [a] detestable act and sin, which makes adopting wrong for homosexuals because you would be raising the child in a sin-filled environment."

The superintendent apologized, calling the editorial a form of bullying. But Steve Crampton of the Liberty Counsel thinks the school's action is reprehensible.

Green Bay Press Gazette:

A gay couple with school-age children is outraged over a Shawano High School newspaper column that cites Bible passages and calls homosexuality a sin punishable by death.

The column ran on the editorial page of Shawano High School's Hawks Post recently as part of an opinion package about gay families who adopt children. The other side said sexual orientation does not determine a person's ability to raise kids.

"This is why kids commit suicide," said Nick Uttecht, who is raising four children with his partner, Michael McNelly.

One News Now:

According to Crampton, the school caved after it received a complaint from one homosexual in the community. And in a public statement, the superintendent claimed the censored article created a "negative environment."

Green Bay Press Gazette:

Uttecht said his 13-year-old son, Tanner, who is in eighth grade, saw the article and asked about it.

"When I saw this I was in shock," said Uttecht, who is raising four children, three who are his biological kids and the biological daughter of his partner. Three are in the Shawano school system; the youngest is 4.

"I talked to the school superintendent; he said he was shocked," Uttecht said.

I think the column should have ran since it was a part of a pro/con duo of columns regarding gay adoption. However, I would have edited out the part about homosexuality being punishable by death.

But what intrigues me is what One News Now did to the story. It deliberately omitted the part which seemed to have been the basis of the controversy, i.e. the column stating that homosexuality is punishable by death.

And even more insulting, is the phraseology in the article by Crampton of the Liberty Counsel:

According to Crampton, the school caved after it received a complaint from one homosexual in the community.

That one homosexual happened to be a gay parent who was concerned about how reading the article would affect his son.

So not only does One News Now omit details from a controversy to put the gay community in a bad light, it also insults gay parents.

All in day's work for a phony news source.

Home Depot feeds the American Family Association a big plate of crow

2012-01-24T05:01:00.000-08:00

Last week, the American Family Association claimed that its boycott against Home Depot was successful.

AFA was boycotting the company because Home Depot has been very supportive of the lgbtq community, even publicly supporting pride events and providing booths for children during those events.

AFA claimed the following:

AFA spokesman, Randy Sharp says “We’re seeing some movement. It appears that the Home Depot is pulling back from their support of homosexual activism. Over the course of the last three years, we’ve seen a reduction in the number of gay pride events that they’re sponsoring and participating in. However, we want to be cautious.”

However, Samantha F. DeVaney, a representative of Home Depot, said that this was not true:

We have never changed our commitment to diversity and inclusion of all people, and we have no intention of doing so. Nor have we changed our apron policy or the guidelines for our Foundation?s charitable giving.

So today, AFA is now admitting that it was wrong about its Home Depot boycott:

American Family Association, which heads up a boycott against Home Depot, reported earlier this month that the national retailer appeared to be pulling back its support of homosexual activists, noting the home improvement chain participated in just four "gay pride" events in 2011 -- down from at least 16 such events in 2009 and 2010. Furthermore, AFA reported that Home Depot ordered its employees to stop wearing their orange aprons to homosexual-themed events.

But AFA's director of special projects, Randy Sharp, now says his organization spoke too soon. "Once we brought that to light, Home Depot made a public statement to everyone who contacted them and said [essentially] 'No, we haven't changed any policies. When it comes to homosexuality, homosexual marriage in our culture, we will continue to support it financially.

I hope that fried crow tastes good, Mr. Sharp

Washington State close to getting marriage equality, religious right getting fits

2012-01-23T15:18:00.000-08:00

By now, everyone has heard the good news:

Washington's Legislature has enough votes to legalize gay marriage with a statement from Democratic Senator Mary Margaret Haugen Monday who said she will support the measure, becoming the 25th vote needed to pass the bill out of the Senate. The House already has enough support, and Gov. Chris Gregoire has endorsed the plan.

Haugen's announcement came has hundreds of people filled the capitol to advocate for and against gay marriage. State senators began considering the bill during a morning committee hearing.

In a statement, Haugen said, "I know this announcement makes me the so-called 25th vote, the vote that ensures passage. That's neither here nor there. If I were the first or the seventh or the 28th vote, my position would not be any different. I happen to be the 25th because I insisted on taking this much time to hear from my constituents and to sort it out for myself, to reconcile my religious beliefs with my beliefs as an American, as a legislator, and as a wife and mother who cannot deny to others the joys and benefits I enjoy."

And if and when this vote goes through, we know what will happen next. The National Organization for Marriage will push a referendum. And my guess is that the man in the following video will receive a star role:

That's Pastor Ken Hutcherson. And yes his testimony stank. And it was muted too. Based on past experiences, I was expecting more. Earlier this week, he compared the governor of Washington state to John Wilkes Booth, the murderer of President Abraham Lincoln, simply because she publicly supports marriage equality.

For many of us, Hutcherson will live in infamy due to a following comment during a sermon in 2008 castigating men he termed as "weak" or "effeminate:"

"God hates soft men" and "God hates effeminate men . . . If I was in a drugstore and some guy opened the door for me, I'd rip his arm off and beat him with the wet end."

He later claimed that this is a joke, proving that his sense of humor is as lacking as his testimony in the video above.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that the process in Washington state ends in our favor. And also that not one of us holds the door open for Hutcherson.

'Wingnut claims that license plates can make children gay' and other Monday midday news briefs

2012-01-23T09:16:00.000-08:00

MD police official: Transgender rights bill did not lead to rapes, assaults in public restrooms - Confirming something we all knew.

Ken Hutcherson likens Gov. Gregoire to President Lincoln’s Assassin - Great. One black pastor claims that gay men wears diapers, while another one is comparing a governor to Abraham Lincoln's assassin because she supports marriage equality. I swear if it weren't for the sexual coercion charges and the hypocrisy, Eddie Long would look like a saint compared to these two.

Gov. Christie Nominates Openly Gay Justice - I generally loathe Gov. Chris Christie, but sometimes he has a good head on his shoulders.

Indiana Wingnut Worried License Plate Will Make Kids Gay, Give Them AIDS - Oh for the love of . . . By the way, for you edification, the "wingnut" in question, Micah Clark, once bragged about citing the discredited work of junk scientist Paul Cameron during a hearing and sidestepping a legislator who quizzed him on it.

Ask NOM about its partnership with 'diaper pastor' Patrick Wooden - Lastly - and yes this is important - if you have not emailed or tweeted the National Organization for Marriage's cultural director Thomas Peters on why the organization is allying with the "diaper pastor" Patrick Wooden, please do so. The link gives an overview of the story and both his email and twitter address.

Ask NOM about its partnership with 'diaper pastor' Patrick Wooden

2012-01-23T04:43:00.000-08:00

Last week, North Carolina pastor Patrick Wooden shocked a lot of people with his blatantly inaccurate comments that gay men have so much sex that they require surgery and diapers.

But while folks either laughed, rolled their eyes, or gagged in disgust, it's important that we all don't miss an important connection here.

Wooden is one of the pastors who is teaming up with the National Organization for Marriage to pass that awful anti-family, anti-marriage equality amendment in North Carolina.

According to Brian Tashman of Right Wing Watch:

. . . Wooden is no fringe figure, and is actually one of the major spokesmen for the campaign to pass an amendment to North Carolina’s constitution outlawing same-sex marriage.

Wooden was “the main speaker for the rally organized by the conservative North Carolina Family Policy Council where he shared the stage with National Organization for Marriage president Brian Brown and Randy Wilson, the Family Research Council’s National Field Director. He also spoke at a press conference alongside Republican House Speaker Pro Tem Dale Folwell and Kevin Daniels of the right-wing Frederick Douglass Foundation in support of the bill, and Wooden is spearheading outreach to African American voters on behalf of Vote for Marriage NC the umbrella group led by NOM, the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, NC Values Coalition and the Christian Action League.

Wooden is not NOM's only questionable alliance. Presently the organization is teaming up with the Minnesota Family Council in that state to pass an anti-marriage equality amendment. MFC was discovered to have material on its webpage accusing the gay community of pedophilia, bestiality, and the consuming of bodily wastes.

NOM did not issue a comment about this controversy, yet the organization is always quick to claim that those who share its beliefs are being unfairly labeled as bigots.

So one wonders where does NOM stand on Wooden's words regarding gay men and diapers.

I sent the following letter to Thomas Peters, NOM's cultural director. It reads as follows:

Dear Mr. Peters,

Your organization, the National Organization for Marriage, claims that it simply wants to protect marriage and that those who share your view that "marriage is the union between one man and one woman" are in danger of being unfairly labeled as "bigots."

However, one has to ask the question that if you do not want the label of "bigot," then why does your organization team up with those who slander the gay community, such as Patrick Wooden of the Upper Room Church of God in Christ in Raleigh, NC. In a recent interview, Mr. Wooden said the following about gay men:

The God of the Bible made the human sperm, the God of the Bible designed it and it was not designed to be emptied into an area that is filled with feces, there is nothing for it to germinate with, it will most certainly mean the extinction of the human race. My belief is that if the medical community would just step forward and just would share with the American people what happens to the male anus, the problems that homosexuals have with their rectums, the damage that is done, the operations that are needed to sew up their bodies if you will, and how many of the men don’t even give these stitches time to heal before they are back out there practicing that wicked behavior. Some are bleeders, men who are not turned off by ingesting the feces of other men.

Now while Mr. Wooden does assert that it is his personal opinion, as I understand it, he is teaming up with your organization in an effort to pass an anti-marriage equality amendment in North Carolina. Furthermore, he did share the stage at a rally last year with NOM's president, Brian Brown and he is spearheading outreach to African American voters on behalf of Vote for Marriage NC the umbrella group led by your organization, the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, NC Values Coalition and the Christian Action League.

My question is where does NOM stand on Mr. Wooden's comments. Do you reject them and will you continue to work with him in your campaign to pass this amendment?

Respectfully yours,

Alvin McEwen
Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
charlekenghis@aol.com

Mr. Peters' email address is tpeters@nationformarriage.org and you can twitter him on @AmericanPapist

Please feel free to email him and ask him where does NOM stand on Wooden's comments. And above all, DO NOT BE RUDE. Regardless of how you feel about NOM, this is a serious issue and should not be approached with frivolity or anger.

If you twitter him, simply ask "Where does NOM stand on P. Wooden's diaper comments?"

Feel free to share whatever email or twitter message you may have sent.

NOM wants Newt to 'save' marriage? Hilarity ensues

2012-01-22T07:18:00.000-08:00

Of all the stories spinning about Newt Gingrich's victory in the SC Republican primary, the strangest has to be the congratulations he received from the National Organization for Marriage. From the NOM president Brian Brown, courtesy of the organization's blog:

It is now clear that the Republican Party will nominate a candidate who is strongly committed to preserving marriage as the union of one man and one woman," Brown said. "We have succeeded in making the preservation of marriage a key issue in this race, and we will continue to do so throughout the primary season, and into the general election against President Obama."

NOM is dancing in the streets because Gingrich was one of the candidates to sign it's silly "Marriage Pledge."

However, NOM seems to omit the simple fact that Newt Gingrich is a man with sordid history of marriage rivaling that of Henry VIII of England.

In all honesty, it is not known whether or not NOM has commented on Gingrich's three marriages or the interesting stories coming from those three marriages such as:

He cheated on his first wife with his then second wife.

He cheated on his second wife with his now third wife. And this was going on while he was pursuing the impeachment of Bill Clinton chiefly because of indiscretions with Monica Lewinsky?

He also allegedly wanted an open marriage with his second wife because he felt that there was " more than enough Newt" to go around.

And I won't even mention the ugliness about the divorce proceedings during the cancer of his first wife.

The fact that NOM wraps its homophobic talons around Gingrich regardless of his controversial marital history speaks to the further lack of integrity of the organization's message. And makes one wonder does NOM really want to preserve marriage or keep it away from those allegedly "dirty homosexuals" regardless of assurances by former NOM head Maggie Gallagher that NOM is not interested in being anti-gay?

I mean come on. Are gays and lesbians really putting marriage in danger or does the danger truly lie with the fact that some folks - one who shall remain nameless - can't keep it in their pants.

It's obvious that if Gingrich is interested in, as NOM claims, preserving marriage as the union between one man and one woman, he seems to think that he is exempt from the rule.

And it's even more obvious that NOM's silence regarding his, shall we say, indiscretions is signalling that the organization is turning a blind eye to his past behavior.

I knew NOM was fake, highly hypocritical, and full of empty platitudes but DAMN!

Know Your LGBT History - Barbara Jordan

2012-01-20T15:35:00.000-08:00

'Bigot says that gay men have lots and lots and LOTS of sex' and other Friday midday news briefs

2012-01-20T08:58:00.000-08:00

Fischer: 'Poppers' and Promiscuity Cause AIDS - Don't let the headline fool you. Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association is saying that gay men have thousands of sexual partners. He claims that we admit this "in our own literature," but of course he doesn't say which literature. Now before you get angry - and you should - we should look at Fischer's claim scientifically. Now according to people like him, we are only one to three percent of the population. But yet also according to people like Fischer, we have thousands of sexual partners. Now there are only 365 days in a year which means that according to Fischer, a gay men has sex over three times a day with a different partner. It leaves me to ask the question where in the heck do we find the time to "indoctrinate children," "imprison Christians," and plot the general downfall of America? Answer - Bryan Fischer needs Jesus.

Jumping Beyond The Broom: Policy Priorities Outside Of Marriage Equality - A piece we ALLL need to read AND take into account. LGBTQs of color need more than marriage equality.

More Than 70 American Mayors Announce Coalition to Support Marriage Equality: FULL LIST, Statement - This is truly awesome.

Tony Perkins: Social Conservatives Are ‘Not Judgmental’ - And in other news, Elizabeth Taylor left me all of her diamonds in her will.

Lincy Pandithurai, Texas Nurse Practitioner Who Harassed Lesbian Veteran, Removed From Job - Sorry honey but you have to go. And I DARE anyone to defend what she did.

Viki Knox deserves to be fired

2012-01-20T05:02:00.000-08:00

The American Family Association's One News Now is all upset over the fact that a New Jersey teacher may be fired for comments she made about a diversity display at her school.

Since this is an old story and I really haven't talked about it, allow me to give a short recap:

Last year, Knox posted comments on her public Facebook page criticizing a Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender History Month display at Union High School, her place of employment. She later went on to describe homosexuality as a "perverted spirit" and a "sin which breeds like cancer."

Her full comments are the following:

"Homosexuality is a perverted spirit that has existed from the beginning of creation. The word of God refers to it often. That's if you believe the Word to be truly God's intended blueprint for his people. I have friends and loved ones who are practicing/ living as homosexuals. Yes I love can care about them. We hug and exchange gifts. We have family dinners. But how they live and their actions, behaviors -CHOICES are against the nature and character of God! Do I tell me so? Yes, of course. Do I treat them bad? If course not! Jesus never did that to ANYONE he meant. He spoke to them of their situation and offered them life eternal. He didn't say it was okay but we've all sinned and come short if God's will for us daily. That's why we Christians true followers pray, repent, and spend time with Christ daily. The Word of God instructs us to die daily to our flesh-meaning our will. What we want; what feels good to us; what we like; what we can rationalize and justify. I do not pretend to know ALL things. Nor do I pretend not to have biases, failings and faults. But I know sin and it breeds like cancer!"

Naturally this caused a furor and the school district put her on paid leave. Now it looks like it is taking steps to dismiss her.

Now, as to be expected in this situation, those on the right are claiming that Knox is being silenced because she "merely" expressed a view about homosexuality.

Meanwhile, others have rallied to Knox's defense in the name of "free speech."

And both of these parties are full of it.

Let's be clear here. This is not a free speech issue. This is an issue about an employee who should have kept her mouth shut about situations regarding her job. She made pointed comments about her place of employment in an inappropriate arena. If I was to spout off on Facebook about things regarding my place of employment, I would probably get fired.

And I would deserve it too.

That's the technical aspect of why Knox should stop whining about being a victim. Let's address her comments.

Allegedly, she has a 20-year tenure as a teacher and one in special education at that. She should know the devastation of words on young minds, particularly nowadays with young impressionable lgbtqs.

Also, I am so tired of people saying that she merely "expressed a religious view." What is with this attempt to disguise vulgar hatred as religious views?

Earlier this week, a pastor from a North Carolina church claimed that gay men have so much sex that they need surgery and diapers. No doubt if questioned on it, he would probably claim that he is being persecuted for supposedly expressing a mere religious view.

This idea that you can say any hateful and vindictive thing about gays and hide your nastiness behind the facade of supposedly expressing religious belief has got to stop.

If the display was about religion or another ethnic group and Knox made her vindictive comments, we would not be having this discussion.

And in this case, we shouldn't be having that discussion here. Whether some folks like it or not, homosexuality is not an abstract idea.. LGBTQs are real people who deserve the same amount of respect as any other group of people. When comments like Knox's are made, she is not talking about a theory or an hypothetical idea. She is slandering people.

Knox is not a victim. I prefer to think of the young lgbtqs - some who probably traveled through her classroom - who heard her words as the potential victims here.

She is supposed to lead and guide them. How can she do such if she thinks of them as "cancers?"

Tony Perkins joins 'diaper pastor' and AFA in an interview of lies.

2012-01-19T15:24:00.000-08:00

According to Right Wing Watch:

On Today’s Issues, American Family Association president Tim Wildmon and Family Research Council president Tony Perkins hosted and praised North Carolina pastor and anti-gay activist Patrick Wooden, the very same pastor who said that gay men “have to wear a diaper or a butt plug just to be able to contain their bowels,” to condemn the Southern Poverty Law Center’s work against anti-gay organizations. Wooden has not only focused on “what happens to the male anus” but also said homosexuality is “wicked, deviant, immoral, self-destructive, anti-human” and should make people “literally gag.”

During the show, Wooden claimed that SPLC, which he recently protested alongside Peter LaBarbera and Matt Barber, was “hijacked” and “infiltrated” by gay rights advocates, and called homosexuality “deviant” and a “death style,” and even claimed that the LGBT community discriminates against African American males.

Perkins accused the SPLC of trying to “silence the debate” over gay rights and Wildmon asserted that the SPLC “switched over” to covering LGBT issues because racism is in “rearview mirror here in our country and we moved beyond that and they had to have something to do,” and labeled the AFA and FRC anti-gay hate groups simply because the two organization “stands for traditional marriage and against homosexual marriage.” However, their stance on marriage equality was not part of the SPLC’s criteria as “not one of them was listed because of their position on same-sex marriage.”

The very fact that Tony Perkins and Tim Wildmon would join with a man who falsely claims that gay men have to wear diapers is enough to prove SPLC's point about their organizations (American Family Association and the Family Research Council) being hate groups a million times over. And Wooden just happens to be one of the leaders in the effort to push awful anti-family, anti-marriage equality amendment in North Carolina.

But don't think that this would stop Perkins any. Apparently he is still popular on MSNBC and CNN.

Honestly, doesn't the media have any standards. If they are going to have Perkins on their shows, the very least they can do is grill him on his comments and his partnerships.

Related post: 16 reasons why the Family Research Council is a hate group

'Gingrich a defender of marriage except his own' and other Thursday midday news briefs

2012-01-19T09:09:00.000-08:00

Fox News Hires Gay Rights Activist Sally Kohn As Contributor - Why do I want to act like the Amityville Horror House when speaking to Ms. Kohn - "GET OUT NOW!"

Kickoff of Protect All NC Families campaign to defeat Amendment One (updated) - North Carolina hits the ground running to defeat that awful anti-family, anti-gay amendment.

Despite Publicly Backing One Man-One Woman Marriage, Newt Asked Ex-Wife To ‘Share Me’ With Other Women - If his ex-wife's claim is true, there are SOOOO many things wrong with this, chiefly who in the hell else would want to have sex with Newt Gingrich.

GLAAD Media Awards 2012: Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin, 'Glee,' And 'Dancing With The Stars' Among Nominees - Congratulations to all of the GLAAD award nominees.

Elementary School Climate, Anti-Gay Bullying Examined In New Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network Report - Excellent report by GLSEN.

NC anti-family amendment - just who is ruled by fear and hatred?

2012-01-19T04:38:00.000-08:00

In May, North Carolina will be voting on one of those dreary anti-marriage equality amendments (Amendment One).

Those pushing it say that they are not ruled by hate or animus against the gay community. They claim that they merely want to "protect marriage."

Judge for yourself just who is in the right here.

In other words, this (North Carolina pastor Patrick Wooden, one of the chief organizers for the North Carolina amendment to ban same-sex marriage):

vs. this (the families in the middle of this amendment fight):

The choice is yours, North Carolina.

Editor's note - As of now, no supporters of the amendment have made any comment about Wooden's words.

Gay and in a Black Church - another view

2012-01-18T15:08:00.000-08:00

I just found this clip and it is hilarious! This is openly gay comedian Sampson performing his show "Don't Make Me Take Off My Earrings" at The DC Arts Center. It's nice to see a gay black man talk about the issue in such a manner. And Sampson isn't lying either:

'Mitt Romney's flip-flops on gay equality' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

2012-01-18T09:04:00.000-08:00

Maryland Anti-LGBT Groups Object To Transgender Protections As ‘Dangerous’ - You know what they are saying. It's what they always talk about when defaming our transgender brothers and sisters, i.e. bathrooms.

Romney’s meandering voyage on gay rights - In all honesty, Mitt Romney has flipped-flopped on everything else. If he didn't flip-flop on lgbtq equality, I would have felt left out.

COLORADO: Catholic Church Hands Out Pledge Cards Against Civil Unions - The Catholic Church is dooming only itself in this fight.

Chuck Colson's Latest Pathetic Claim that LGBT Rights is Undermining Religious Freedom - Whine, whine, whine!

Create a fun caption for 'Porno Pete's ' bigoted press conference

2012-01-18T04:49:00.000-08:00

Today is my birthday, so let's have some fun this morning. The following pictures are from yesterday's ridiculous press conference held by "Porno" Pete LaBarbera and his homophobic merry men at the headquarters of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

As you can tell, the press conference was a colossal bomb, attracting attention only by those of us who live to refute the lies put out by LaBarbera and company.

What I want you to do is put on your thinking caps and create a funny caption for either or both of the pictures.

Don't be too mean or too nasty.

But then again . . .

NC anti-gay marriage amendment supporter claims that gay men need diapers

2012-01-17T15:03:00.000-08:00

Reports are coming in that today's press conference by Peter LaBarbera and his merry band of homophobes at the Southern Poverty Law Center headquarters was a bomb.

Which surprises no one.

However, Right Wing Watch uncovered something a bit nauseating but also very telling at the same time. At his press conference, LaBarbera included a bunch of black pastors and was pushing the phony notion that "gay are trying to piggyback off of the civil rights movement."

They were also trying to push the phony notion that SPLC was attacking groups like LaBarbera's because they supposedly stand up for "Christian principles."

Now I ask you, are the following comments by North Carolina pastor Patrick Wooden an example of "Christian principles?" Wooden not only participated in the press conference but also is one of the folks trying to pass an anti-marriage equality amendment in North Carolina.

The comments come from an interview he conducted with LaBarbera before the failed press conference:

Wooden: The God of the Bible made the human sperm, the God of the Bible designed it and it was not designed to be emptied into an area that is filled with feces, there is nothing for it to germinate with, it will most certainly mean the extinction of the human race. My belief is that if the medical community would just step forward and just would share with the American people what happens to the male anus, the problems that homosexuals have with their rectums, the damage that is done, the operations that are needed to sew up their bodies if you will, and how many of the men don’t even give these stitches time to heal before they are back out there practicing that wicked behavior. Some are bleeders, men who are not turned off by ingesting the feces of other men.

. . . If the truth was told, people would literally gag and no one would want to be in a lifestyle like that. Who wants to practice anything that is going to ultimately lead a grown man to about the time he’s in his 40s or 50s, or what not, having to wear a diaper or a butt plug just to be able to contain their bowels?

If you ask me, I don't think SPLC needed to issue a response to LaBarbera's failed press conference. All they have to do is replay Wooden's words. Call them what you want, but to me they epitomize hate. They epitomize ignorance. It's the same type of hate and ignorance which racists used to claim that integration was merely a way for the black man to have his way with white women.

Someone should tell Wooden that lies and exploitation of ignorance are not "Christian principles."

'SPLC smacks down hate group press conference' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

2012-01-17T09:07:00.000-08:00

Anti-Gay Haters Plan Press Conference Today at SPLC - The Southern Poverty Law Center responds to the anti-gay hate group press conference held today. And the response is a doozy!

The amazing public turnaround of Bernice King on LGBT rights - It's the beginning of something good. And I hope more good comes out of it.

Three South Carolina Gay Couples To Protest Marriage Ban - Those are MY PEOPLE who are doing that! I love my lgbtq brothers and sisters from my state.

While Santorum wins Religious Right Support, No Signs of 'Strong Consensus' - Can't these dipsticks decide who dislikes gays more?

Black pastors demean Dr. King's legacy by teaming up with anti-gay hate groups

2012-01-17T04:51:00.000-08:00

Peter LaBarbera

It saddens me to report that a group of black pastors have learned nothing from Martin Luther King Jr's message of love.

How else can one explain what a group of them are doing today?

Today, these pastors are teaming up with resident homophobes Peter LaBarbera, Linda Harvey, Matt Barber, and others to hold a press conference at noon outside the headquarters of the Southern Poverty Law Center to protest the fact that several religious right groups, including LaBarbera's Americans for Truth, were named by SPLC as hate groups.

According to SPLC:

the SPLC’s listings of these groups is based on their propagation of known falsehoods — claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities — and repeated, groundless name-calling. Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups.

But of course LaBarbera and company will push the false idea that these groups are being attacked because of their supposed Christian beliefs. This is what he had to say about the press conference:

Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans For Truth, which is sponsoring the press event, recently interviewed Pastor Wooden, who said that the SPLC’s gambit of labeling mainstream pro-family groups that oppose homosexual activism as “hate groups” is seriously damaging the SPLC’s credibility. Wooden also debunked the “civil rights” analogy used by “gay” activists, saying it is wrong to compare “my beautiful blackness” with homosexual perversion.

LaBarbera said the SPLC is engaged in a thinly-veiled, one-sided campaign to demonize adherents of traditional Judeo-Christian morality.

Patrick Wooden

How sad. LaBarbera gets a bunch of black pastors who are desperate for publicity to accompany him. I don't recognize these black pastors, except for one - Dr. Patrick Wooden, pastor, Upper Room Church of God in Christ (COGIC), Raleigh, NC.

This is the same Wooden who said the following in 2004:

"We have to block the use of euphemisms when we talk about homosexuals. They are not gay. We've got to use terms like 'deviant' and 'abomination.' "

Maybe these pastors are so desperate for publicity that they are not aware of who they are teaming up with, so allow me to give a short overview of their "friends:"

Matt Barber of the Liberty Counsel who defends countries that persecute lgbts, compares lgbts and progressives in general to idol worshippers and child sacrificers of Biblical times, and made the following ugly comment about gays being allowed to serve openly in the military:

And above all, let's not forget the following comment he made about same-sex relationships:

There is nothing “conservative” about “one man violently cramming his penis into another man’s lower intestine and calling it 'love'”

Linda Harvey of Mission America who, according to Right Wing Watch:

believes that gay people use “demonic manipulation” to recruit children and told parents to “separate your child” from their gay friends, maintains that same-sex couples create a “sin-based family” that is “constructed around sexual deviance.” By affirming and promoting sin, Harvey says that “other sins are more likely to scurry in through the cracks,” like “substance abuse” and “poor decisions about finances.” She claims that the mortgage crisis has its roots in tolerance of homosexuality since “sexual and material covetousness are usually sin siblings,” and alleges that the acceptance of gay and lesbian families leads to social ills like “infidelity, divorce, gambling or porn addictions, job instability, credit card default, domestic abuse, sexual deviance, and criminality,” along with more children born out of wedlock and declining church attendance

Harvey also believes that parents should keep their children away from gay and lesbian doctors. This is confusing because another time, Harvey said that gays don't exist.

Rabbi Yehuda Levin, Rabbinical Alliance of America who in 2010 called the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell the "equivalent of the spiritual rape of our military." He further claimed that the country would lose wars because of it. Levin also called gays "moral terrorists," blamed LGBT people for things like the Haitian earthquake and 9/11, and compared gays to pedophiles.

Arthur Goldberg who, according to the site Truth Wins Out, was sentenced to 18 months in jail for bilking poor communities with complicated bond schemes and served six months in prison. He now runs a fraudulent ex-gay group, JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality) which, when not pushing cherry-picked science, contains unlicensed therapists who force prospective patients to allegedly strip and touch their genitals. Goldberg is on record defending the practice of asking patients to strip but says no one was asked to touch their genitals.

Brian Camenker, head of the hate group Mass Resistance. Amongst other things, Camenker has manufactured a phony panic about "schools teaching children about homosexuality," made a claim in 2006 that "gays were trying to get legislation passed to allow sex with animals" in Massachusetts, and continued a vindictive campaign of misinformation against the transgendered community (whom the organization refers to as "men in dresses) . Camenker's group was also spread lies about Obama appointee Kevin Jennings such as he was teaching children "deviant sexual behavior," and that he was giving children sexually explicit books. Both claims were refuted as lies.

And last but not least, Peter LaBarbera himself who has become a walking billboard for homophobia. All of the things LaBarbera has done to smear the gay community can fill a several volumes of an encyclopedia, but for my money, these are the worst:

Defended a bill which would lead to the imprisonment and possible genocide of Ugandans simply for being gay or lesbian.

Going to subcultural leather events and using the "racy" behavior of gays attending to stigmatize the entire lgbt community while ignoring the behavior of heterosexuals at the same events.

Freely admitting to errors when it comes to claims against the gay and lesbian community but not taking responsibility for them.

Continuously citing the work of the discredited researcher Paul Cameron, even when made aware of his dubious history of getting kicked out of medical groups, censures and rebukes.

Then there is this nasty picture he doctored up of openly gay Congressman Barney Frank:

The sad irony of what black these pastors are doing will elude them. No doubt we will hear during the press conference about how you "can't compare homosexuality to being black" and how "the gay rights movement is an aberration of the civil rights movement."

As for me, I'm tired of the argument. I have finally come to the conclusion that no one group owns the civil rights movement. As along as people - any people - are subjected to hatred, discrimination, and dehumanization, these people are going to cry out in protest, as they should.

It's all about respect. It's about being treated like a basic human who is able live your life by your own expectations and not shackled down by the ignorance of others.

But here is the thing I don't understand and I need these black pastors to explain to me. How can they hold the legacy of standing up to those who would demean them for being black while at the same time standing with those who demean the gay community.

The hatred is no different.

The lies are no different.

The dehumanization is no different.

That's the real sad thing of this entire incident. We often make the mistake of thinking that those who have been victims of discrimination would have empathy for other victims. This generally isn't true. As long as there is publicity to be had, and money to be made, empathy goes right out of the window and in its place comes a disturbing degree of tone deafness.

The presence of these black pastors at this mockery, i.e. press conference is a slap in the face to not only the Christian love they profess to hold but also to the legacy of Dr. King.

And I hope they enjoy looking into the television cameras which may come from their publicity stunt because if they were true people of God, they shouldn't be able to look at themselves in the mirror.

Bayard Rustin - Gay man in the Civil Rights Movement

2012-01-16T15:41:00.000-08:00

Today is the national holiday celebrating the birthday of the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

While he definitely embodied the civil rights movement and the promise this country made about equality better than anyone I ever know, let's not forget those who aided him along the way, particularly the architect and organizer of the 1963 March on Washington as well as one of his personal aides, Bayard Rustin. Rustin was a genius, a man before his time whose gay orientation stood in the way of him getting the recognition he deserved. That is until now.

Of course the irony is that even if Rustin had gotten the recognition he deserved before he died, he probably wouldn't have cared. He was a man devoted to fighting injustice anywhere he saw it:

'LGBTQs of color reflect on MLK Day' and other Monday midday news briefs

2012-01-16T08:55:00.000-08:00

NOM's reliably reductive Frank Turek claims = FALSE - To me, it's not just the fact that NOM repeats lies here which is depressing, it's where the organization is repeating the lies. Forbes magazine is highly regarded and highly read. We need to understand that sometimes truth means nothing if you can't get it in an arena to be heard.

Habemus Santorum! - In case you haven't heard, the religious right have picked Rick Santorum as their candidate. Whoop te do.

MLK Day Reflection for LGBTQ Justice in the Black Church - Awesome piece by Rev. Irene Monroe.

Why We Cannot Wait: NBJC Celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day - Another awesome piece by Sharon J. Lettman-Hicks, Executive Director and CEO, National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC)

Gay Straight Alliance Taking Hold In Earlier Grades: Report - This is excellent news!

Faith leaders deliberately mislead about marriage equality

2012-01-16T06:52:00.000-08:00

It's bad when religious leaders spread deliberate lies. From the Kansas City Star:

A coalition of almost 40 religious leaders has published an open letter that seeks to recast the battle against same-sex marriage as a fight on behalf of religious freedom.

The religious leaders, predominantly from conservative Christian churches and Orthodox Judaism, say their concern is not that legalizing gay marriage will force their ministers to perform same-sex weddings; they say they doubt that will happen.

Rather, they wrote Thursday, allowing same-sex couples to marry would wind up “forcing or pressuring both individuals and religious organizations — throughout their operations, well beyond religious ceremonies — to treat same-sex sexual conduct as the moral equivalent of marital sexual conduct.”

“There is no doubt that the many people and groups whose moral and religious convictions forbid same-sex sexual conduct will resist the compulsion of the law, and church-state conflicts will result,” they warn in the letter, titled “Marriage and Religious Freedom: Fundamental Goods That Stand or Fall Together.”

The leaders include Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals; New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; and H. David Burton, presiding bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The signers note that religious adoption agencies already have been required to place children with same-sex couples, and religious institutions are being told to provide insurance benefits to gay partners.

So they have abandoned the phony claim of being "forced to officiate over same-sex weddings." That's good I am not familiar with the idea of religious institutions being told to provide insurance benefit for gay partners.

However, I am very familiar - as no doubt many of you are - with the false claim that religious adoption agencies would be required to place children with same-sex couples.

It's always interesting to me that when folks make these claims, they deliberately omit the fact that these religious institutions are receiving tax dollars (which come from gays and lesbians as well as heterosexuals) to provide their services. These religious institutions seem to want the money but don't want to abide by the rules which come with this money.

If these groups want to discriminate with adoption services, then why can't they do it with private funds. As a gay man, I think I have every right to cry foul when my tax dollars are going to an institution who don't think that there is anything wrong with using my money to discriminate against me.

Don't be fooled by this letter. As the article says:

The thrust of the letter is to frame opposition to gay marriage in terms of a battle for religious freedom, an argument that many religious groups believe could gain some traction with the American public, even as Americans increasingly — and perhaps inexorably — grow more accepting of same-sex relationships.

It's not going to work, guys.

The American Family Association lies about Home Depot boycott

2012-01-15T07:05:00.000-08:00

Recently the American Family Association claimed that its boycott against Home Depot was working.

AFA was boycotting the company because Home Depot has been very supportive of the lgbtq community, even publicly supporting pride events and providing booths for children during those events.

AFA claimed the following:

AFA spokesman, Randy Sharp says “We’re seeing some movement. It appears that the Home Depot is pulling back from their support of homosexual activism. Over the course of the last three years, we’ve seen a reduction in the number of gay pride events that they’re sponsoring and participating in. However, we want to be cautious.”

I smelled a rat and apparently so did site Back 2 Stonewall. A reader of that blog contacted Home Depot and received this reply:

We have never changed our commitment to diversity and inclusion of all people, and we have no intention of doing so. Nor have we changed our apron policy or the guidelines for our Foundation?s charitable giving.

Sincerely,

Samantha F. DeVaney
The Home Depot Corporate Office
2455 Paces Ferry Rd.
Atlanta, GA. 30339
1-800-553-3199

So the AFA lied. What else is new? Let this be a lesson for our community. When the news broke, many of us were raising hell and were ready to write ugly letters to Home Depot.

The claims about Home Depot came solely from AFA. And knowing the history of the AFA, I wouldn't believe the organization if it told me that it was snowing during a blizzard.

When religious groups make claims, let's verify them before we give them veracity. After all these groups make their money lying about our lives. Of course they are going to lie about other things. When you lie about one thing, lying about other things becomes easy.

Hat tip to Back2Stonewall

NOM's latest 'victims of alleged gay agenda' following familiar script of lies

2012-01-14T06:15:00.000-08:00

I knew it.

Sooner or later, the National Organization for Marriage's phony Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance would feature Eunice and Owen Johns, the British couple who were allegedly told that they could not be foster parents because of their Christian beliefs:

NOM's blog even exacerbates the lie by saying the following:

NOM's Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance just released this incredibly moving—and yet chilling—video interviewing Eunice and Owen Johns, a black Pentecostal married couple in Great Britain whose own government told them they were not fit to foster a child unless they were willing to advocate for gay sex.

Of course this is a lie. The Johns were denied the ability to be foster parents because their beliefs could intefere with the welfare of a child, especially if that child was gay or lesbian.

And according to Robert Pigott, BBC News religious affairs correspondent:

The case is likely to be seen as a landmark decision, as senior judges ruled so decisively against any idea that attitudes might be justified purely because they were Christian in origin.

The court discriminated between kinds of Christianity, saying that Christians in general might well make good foster parents, while people with traditionalist Christian views like Mr and Mrs Johns might well not.

Such views, said the judges, might conflict with the welfare of children.

The summary of the decision, particularly the part regarding how in 2007, the couple was assessed by Jenny Shaw, an independent social worker, tells the entire story:

Referring to the discussion on 23 July 2007, Ms Shaw said:

"both Eunice and Owen expressed strong views on homosexuality, stating that it is "against God's laws and morals". They explained that these views stemmed from their religious convictions and beliefs. Eunice explained at a later interview, that she had always been brought up to believe that having a different sexual orientation was unnatural and wrong, and that these convictions had not come about as a result of being "saved".

In our initial discussion on this issue, when asked if, given their views, they would be able to support a young person who, for example was confused about their sexuality, the answer was in the negative. Eunice at this time also mentioned a visit she had made to San Francisco, in relation to it being a city with many gay inhabitants. She commented that she did not like it and felt uncomfortable while she was there."

They are also recorded as telling Ms Shaw that they would not feel able to take a child to a mosque.

Then there is this discussion:

Referring to a subsequent discussion with Mrs Johns on 7 August 2007 (Mr Johns was not there) Ms Shaw said:

"I expressed my concerns regarding their views on homosexuality and said that I felt that these did not equate with the Fostering Standards where they related to the need to value diversity, address a child's needs in relation to their sexuality, enhance the child's feeling of self-worth and help the child to deal with all forms of discrimination. I emphasised the need for carers to value people regardless of their sexual orientation. Eunice responded by saying that she could not compromise her beliefs, but that she did value people as individuals and would be able to support a young person on that basis. Eunice informed me that her nephew, who lived in the U.S., is gay, and that she has been to stay with him and his partner, and had not treated them any differently from anyone else.

I discussed with Eunice, four possible scenarios, and asked how she might support the young person:

1 Someone who is confused about their sexuality and thinks they may be gay.

2 A young person who is being bullied in school regarding their sexual orientation.

3 A young person who bullies others regarding the above.

4 Someone in their care whose parents are gay.

Eunice's response to the first situation was that she would support any child. She did not offer any explanation as to how she would go about this. On a previous occasion when the question had been put to Owen, he responded by saying that he would "gently turn them round". In the second situation, Eunice said she would give reassurance and tell the child to ignore it.

In response to the third situation, Eunice said she didn't know what she would do. In the case of someone whose parents are gay, Eunice said that it wouldn't matter, and that she would work with any one."

She recorded her judgement as being that "Eunice's response to these hypothetical situations was somewhat superficial, and ignored the impact that her strong beliefs on the issue, could have on her work with young people." However, at a much earlier stage in the process Mrs Johns had assured a social worker that she would never seek to impose her belief system on a child or to denigrate the parents for their lifestyle or sexual orientation.

Mr Johns's response to the first postulated scenario is, it might be thought, particularly revealing. There can be no doubting the meaning and significance of his reference to "turning" such a child round.

So basically this is not a case of Christians being discriminated against because they would not "affirm homosexuality." This was a case of a couple whose beliefs could pose serious problems for a child they would potentially provide a home for. Period.

Know Your LGBT History - Michael Jeter

2012-01-13T16:22:00.000-08:00

Today, I am announcing a different direction in my Know Your LGBT History segments. I've focused on movie and television portrayals, but now I want to focus on famous lgbtqs throughout history.

In the coming weeks, I will be featuring people who you may know to be lgbtq and a few that you probably didn't. My first person will be one of my favorite actors, the late Michael Jeter. From wikipedia:

Michael Jeter was born in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. His mother, Virginia (née Raines), was a housewife. His father, William Claud Jeter (March 10, 1922 – March 1, 2010),was an optometrist. Jeter had one brother, William, and four sisters, Virginia, Amanda, Emily, and Larie.[2] Jeter was a student at Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) when his interests changed from medicine to acting. He performed in several plays and musicals at the Circuit Theatre and its sister theatre, the Playhouse on the Square, in mid-town Memphis. He left Memphis to further pursue his stage career in Baltimore, Maryland.

His woebegone look, extreme flexibility, and high energy led Tommy Tune to cast him in the off-Broadway play, Cloud 9, and again on Broadway in a memorable role in the musical Grand Hotel, for which he won a Tony Award in 1990. Much of his work specialized in playing eccentric, pretentious, or wimpy characters, as in The Fisher King, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Drop Zone. Occasionally, Jeter was able to stay away from these types of roles for more diverse characters like those he portrayed in Jurassic Park III (where he was killed by a dinosaur), Air Bud, The Green Mile, and Open Range. He won an Emmy award in 1992 for his role in the television sitcom Evening Shade as math teacher and assistant football coach Herman Stiles. In the Evening Shade episode "Chip Off the Old Brick" Brian Keith plays his macho truck driver father, Brick Stiles. He was also a favorite with younger audiences in his role as Mr. Noodle's brother, Mr. Noodle on Sesame Street from 2000 to 2003. The movies The Polar Express and Open Range are dedicated to his memory. He appeared in an episode of Touched By An Angel in 1999 as Gus an Insurance Salesman who arrives in Las Vegas in the episode, 'The Man Upstairs'.

Jeter died of AIDS on March 30, 2003, Jeter was found dead in his Hollywood home at the age of 50. Jeter was HIV positive but had been in good health. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered.

'Legislator threatens the transgender community with violence' and other Friday midday news briefs

2012-01-13T09:10:00.001-08:00

Tennessee Bathroom Bill Sponsor: ‘I Would Stomp A Mudhole’ In A Transgender Person - No he didn't! I don't believe in violence but if I ran across a scene like this, a certain person would get handed his ass. This man's comments is the epitome of all religious right rhetoric about the transgender community.

Today in heavy-handed Fox Nation headlines (*and by heavy-handed, I mean blatant lie) - Fox News deliberately lies in a headline. So what else is new?

READ: NOM 'Marriage Anti-Defamation' project served with removal demand - This was so good that I had to post it again, this time with some background information.

Background info - NOM accused of distorting controversy in Canada

Obama opposes laws ‘designed to take rights away’ - Well good for him!

School Board Moves to Fire Viki Knox, NJ Teacher Who Called Homosexuality a 'Perverted Sin' on Facebook - The comment she made was about her place of employment and it dealt with students. She deserves what she gets.

Phony expert Glenn T. Stanton can't stand up to scrutiny

2012-01-13T05:04:00.000-08:00

From time to time, I have the opportunity to go one-on-one with religious right talking heads. When this happens, I am able to ask them certain questions that I feel the media misses.

Today, I bring you Glenn T. Stanton of Focus on the Family.

Last week, I featured a blog post from Think Progress which accused Stanton of dog whistling a study to denigrate same-sex families. Now the study said nothing about same-sex families and neither did Stanton per se. But the religious right semantics of "children do better with a mother and a father" was clear. Generally when religious right groups feature studies such as these, there are implied negative digs to same-sex family situations. In my post, I also brought up another incident in which he was rebuked by the American Anthropological Association. Needless to say, Stanton wasn't happy about that and wrote about it on his blog:

Getting falsely accused and innuendo’d by gay bloggers is nothing new, but this has been an interesting week. See here, here, and here. I wasn’t going to respond – the reaction such things deserve. But a friend at National Review Online asked me to respond, so I did.

Here’s my piece on the silly games played regarding this very serious topic.

His piece was a long-winded big piece of nonsense which avoided Think Progress's accusation. I felt the need to write the following back to him:

Oh stop it, Glenn. You weren’t falsely accused. You were called out for being inaccurate. And by the way, I noticed that you didn’t say a word about the rebuke you received from the American Anthropological Association a while back. And while I have your attention, I would like you to address something you wrote a while back called “Why Homosexuality Falls Short of the Ideal.” In that piece, you cited, via third hand, the discredited work of Paul Cameron (I’m sure you have heard of him) and claimed that gays suffer from something called “gay bowel syndrome.” Now you know that term doesn’t exist. It’s things like that which lead us to call you out. Not falsely accuse you, my friend. But call you out for the charlatan that you are.

He did not like that at all and took the time to write me back:

Not sure who I am responding to exactly since there wasn’t a clear name, but I thought you deserved a reply out of personal respect.

I was accused of being dishonest by a number of sites, starting with ThinkProgress. They got it wrong. They made the connection to ss parenting. I didn’t. I was not dishonest. I represented the study honestly and correctly….as well as the larger body of research on how family impacts the educational attainment of children.

And I fully debated the anthropological thing in multi-part exchange with an anthropologist from your fold at Box Turtle a few years ago. I don’t believe he ever proved me wrong, (he would say otherwise, I am sure) nor did he convince me that same-sex or homosexual marriage or parenting has ever been a notable part of the anthropological record of a culture. There is not good record of it. I believe the AAA ‘s statement about gay families is weak and unfounded. I address that in the exchange.

And I don’t have an article entitled “Why Homosexuality Falls Short of the Ideal” to my knowledge. If you can tell me where it published, then I can dig it up and we can talk. But I don’t find anything like that in my archive or memory. And I have never quoted Cameron and will not. How do you know I quoted him “third hand”? I would very much like to see that bread-crumb trail.

If gay bowel syndrome or GRID doesn’t exist, what are these article about:

http://www.annemergmed.com/article/S0196-0644%2880%2980310-6/abstract

http://gut.bmj.com/content/26/9/869

http://ukpmc.ac.uk/abstract/MED/578386/reload=0;jsessionid=lt4ZVT2IIVRIDZiVF7eO.86

And I don’t know what I would have written about this, but many of these studies that I found via quick search just now on google scholar indicate the things I know of the malady.

And the term is not used today, and this article from the Wash Blade explains some of the reason why:

http://www.aegis.org/news/wb/2005/WB050411.html

And it is not nice to call people names….like charlatan. If you have problem with my research and/or line of reasoning, lets discuss it. But calling names is just cheap.

And of course I had to answer him back:

Oh Glenn, Glenn, Glenn,

you seem to have this need to justify yourself but when you attempt to do such, you only make it worse.

All of those citations about "gay bowel syndrome" were from the late 70s or early to mid 80s. That was before doctors realized that gay bowel syndrome had nothing to do with the bowels, nor did it only affect gay men, or did it fit the definition of a "syndrome."

And that last link you sent merely confirms what I said, particularly this sentence:

An official with the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention said LGV is not "gay bowel syndrome." The rare chlamydia strain has been around since the 1970s, and may have once been considered among the various diseases doctors loosely referred to as "gay bowel syndrome," according to Jessica Frickey, a spokesperson for the federal health agency.

But it's difficult for the CDC to know -let alone track - which diseases used to be included in "gay bowel syndrome" because the term was so informal and has since gone out of use at the CDC, Frickey said.

Now in terms of Cameron, you did cite him - third hand - in your piece "Why Homosexuality Falls Short of the Ideal." In that piece is the following passage:

HIV is the most notable infection associated with homosexual sex and other promiscuous behaviors, but it is important to realize that this is only part of the problem. Professor Thomas Schmidt, in his excellent study of homosexuality, Straight & Narrow?, explains, "Doctors who work with homosexual men are now trained to look regularly for at least 15 common afflictions apart from HIV/AIDS and we could double or triple the number by taking into account less common problems."

In that book, Straight and Narrow, Schmidt cited Paul Cameron in various places. And one more thing. Schmidt is a theologian, not a credible medical researcher.

Didn't you read his book. If you had, you would have known. Or did you read it anyway and cited the information without caring?

Basically Mr. Stanton, I called you a charlatan because I feel that you are one. You and others like yourself have built a nasty house of cards based on junk science, cherry-picked studies, and outright lies against the lgbtq community. If I were you, I would be prepared to be ready for that house to fall because it will sooner or later.

And for the record, I have a copy of his piece "Why Homosexuality Falls Short of the Ideal" in my files. I didn't indicate that to him in my letter but I found it interesting while he denies writing the piece, he defended the existence of "gay bowel syndrome," a term which figured heavily in the piece.

Needless to say that Stanton didn't write me back. And I really don't blame him. He debates me with archaic medical terms and pretends not to remember writing pieces that he clearly did which used junk science. It was a pitiful performance.

Stanton is the perfect face of phony religious right research.

Conservatives demand that 'ex-gay' therapy, inaccurate health information be taught in schools

2012-01-12T14:50:00.000-08:00

The Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota is in the middle of a huge issue regarding its sexual orientation curriculum policy which says that LGBT issues should not be discussed in the district's schools.

And based on the actions of some parents at a recent school district meeting, it's going to be a long slog:

A slew of conservative Christian parents — and even an orthodox rabbi — implored the Anoka-Hennepin School District to purge schools of any mention of homosexuality and demanded that teachers teach about the “ex-homosexual” movement and “gay-related immune deficiency.” One district member even assailed Dan Savage’s It Gets Better campaign as vulgar and accused the popular columnist of teaching children about “three-ways.” Several people testified using little more than versus from the Bible that are often used to demean and degrade the LGBT community.

The controversy in the district is over the sexual orientation curriculum policy also called the “neutrality policy” which says that LGBT issues are not to be discussed in the district’s schools. Six students are suing to eliminate the policy on the grounds that it makes for a hostile school environment and the district announced last month that they are considering scrapping the policy and replacing it with one that deals with “controversial topics” but doesn’t single out LGBT students and issues.

But the Parents Action League, a group of conservative Christians, want the policy to remain.

Brian Lindquist and Mike Skaalerud presented a resolution and list of demands that the Parents Action League wants to the school board to fulfill including incorporating “ex-gay” therapy into the school resources.

And it got uglier:

PAL also uses the term Gay Related Immune Deficiency or GRID. That was the initial name given to AIDS when it was still only a cluster of gay men. It hasn’t been used since 1984 — aside from those in the religious right who have a limited knowledge of epidemiology and biology who use it as a derogatory remark about gay men and HIV.

The Parents Action League has been behind much of the anti-LGBT activity in the district and have been advocating “ex-gay” therapy since it’s founding in 2009.

Barb Anderson has been the spokesperson for the group. She’s also a researcher for the Minnesota Family Council and has accused LGBT advocacy groups of being responsible for bullying and suicides in the district.

At Monday night’s board meeting, she accused the LGBT community of indoctrinating the students of the district.

“On Dec. 25th, on the front page of the Star Tribune, the pro-homosexual media once again held up the St. Paul school district as an example of how the districts should deal with GLBT issues. In St. Paul, the fear of the gay agenda coming into the schools is now a thing of the past. Well, that’s exactly right. There’s no reason to fear it coming in because its so entrenched in their schools that parents have given up all hope of getting it out.”

She said that the “gay agenda” was trying to force Christians into the closet.

She quoted Steve Warren who she called a leader in ACT-UP claiming that his “gay manifesto” from 1987 was the rallying cry for the community. What she didn’t note was the Warren’s article, written under the pseudonym Michael Swift, was satire.

Where do you think these folks got this stuff from? Organizations like the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, etc.

You see that's why it's important for the lgbtq community to start focusing on these groups. They are feeding gullible folks bad info which in part is being used to stymie the progress of our children.

'Religious right can't get rid of discredited researcher' and other Thursday midday news briefs

2012-01-12T09:10:00.000-08:00

Family Research Institute: 'Where Gays Cluster, Boys Suffer' - Once upon a time, boys and girls, Paul Cameron was the toast of the religious right. They used his discredited work to prove the case against lgbtq equality until we got savvy enough to point out his myriad of errors. Now the religious right avoid him like the plague. Only he refuses to go away, which is good for us.

Related post: Paul Cameron - why the religious right can't keep him 'in the closet'

Anti-Gay Legal Guns For Hire: How The Right Uses ‘Religious Liberty’ To Fight Discrimination Suits - An excellent piece by Talking Points Memo.

AP: Gay marriage within reach in Wash. Legislature - Sweet!

Native American lesbian elected to Minnesota House - Awesome news coming out of Minnesota.

Unmasked! Anti-LGBT Group Behind Girl Scout Cookie Boycott - And THIS, brothers and sisters, is how the religious right astroturfs a protest.

MSNBC's possible dismissal of Pat Buchanan is hypocritical

2012-01-12T04:50:00.000-08:00

You must forgive me for not being impressed with the news that MSNBC has allegedly finally been driven to the extremes by columnist Pat Buchanan's racist rhetoric and is seeking to get rid of him.

Don't get me wrong. It's way overdue. Buchanan has gotten away with racist dog whistling for too long and his book, Suicide of a Superpower, with its venomous attack on all of those who don't fit Buchanan's idea of proper American culture - i.e. those who aren't white - is a fitting final straw.

But as I said before, I'm not impressed.

You see, Buchanan is not the only problematic individual to be given somewhat of a home at MSNBC.

According to the site Equality Matters, Family Research Council head Tony Perkins has made 11 appearances on MSNBC news programs. Perkins is the same guy who has said vindictive things about the lgbtq community including:

Gay Activists Are Intolerant, Hateful, Spiteful Pawns Of The Devil. [Right Wing Watch, 5/3/11]
Senators Who Vote For DADT Repeal Will Have “The Blood Of Innocent Soldiers On Their Hands.” [Right Wing Watch, 12/16/10]
"Kids Do Worse In These Same-Sex Households. They’re More Susceptible To Violence.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends Sunday, 4/24/11]
Gays Are Trying To “Spread Fear And Intimidation So That They Can Disrupt And Destabilize” The Legal System, Like Terrorists. [Good As You, 4/29/11]
“Research Is Overwhelming” That Gay Men Are More Likely To Molest Children. [MSNBC, Hardball, 11/29/11]

The stuff Perkins says is no different than the drivel Buchanan spews.

And in addition, his organization, FRC, has been known to either cherry-pick science or refer to junk science in order to smear the lgbtq community. It is for reasons like this that the organization was named as an official anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Of course Perkins and FRC will claim that they are being victimized for their stance against marriage equality, but this is yet another lie.

SPLC puts it this way:

The FRC often makes false claims about the LGBT community based on discredited research and junk science. The intention is to denigrate LGBT people in its battles against same-sex marriage, hate crimes laws, anti-bullying programs and the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.To make the case that the LGBT community is a threat to American society, FRC employs a number of “policy experts” whose “research” has allowed FRC to be extremely active politically in shaping public debate. Its research fellows and leaders often testify before Congress and appear in the mainstream media. It also works at the grassroots level, conducting outreach to pastors in an effort to “transform the culture.”

In Its Own Words
“Gaining access to children has been a long-term goal of the homosexual movement.”
— Robert Knight, FRC director of cultural studies, and Frank York, 1999

“[Homosexuality] … embodies a deep-seated hatred against true religion.”
— Steven Schwalm, FRC senior writer and analyst, in “Desecrating Corpus Christi,” 1999

“One of the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the ‘prophets of a new sexual order.’”
--1999 FRC pamphlet, Homosexual Activists Work to Normalize Sex with Boys.

But in spite of all of this, Perkins continues to be called upon by the network as a credible analysis of the GOP presidential primary even as recently as yesterday on MSNBC’s Martin Bashir.

Seems to me that if MSNBC wants to be consistent, the standards that the organization is using to dismiss Pat Buchanan should be used against Perkins and FRC.

Or is MSNBC saying that racism is a no-no but homophobia is allowable?

There is a nasty double standard here.

Related post - 16 reasons why the Family Research Council is a hate group

Marriage equality will destroy humanity

2012-01-11T14:35:00.001-08:00

Batten down the hatches and alert NOM! Jimmy Kimmel explains how marriage equality will destroy humanity:

'NOM's candidate turns his back on the organization' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

2012-01-11T09:13:00.000-08:00

D.C. Council candidate no longer opposes gay marriage law - How sweet. A candidate the National Organization for Marriage supported turns his back on them.

Republicans, Local Governments Endorse Marriage Equality Effort In Washington State - Meanwhile momentum is building for marriage equality in Washington State.

FRC slams NH politician for pragmatically reading NH polls - But I thought the Family Research Council liked Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)

DADT Would Return To Oklahoma National Guard Under Mike Reynolds' Proposed Bill - Try as he might, he won't make it happen.

Porno Pete declaring war on Archie Comics?

2012-01-11T05:13:00.000-08:00

Archie Comics is a long-running comic book that has added two new twists. It has included a gay character, Kevin , who has just been married to his physical therapist:

Naturally it has been seen as groundbreaking by some. And of course infuriating by others, including our resident homophobe, Porno Pete LaBarbera. He sees the entire thing as an insidious plot to indoctrinate children:

It’s really manipulative. Of course they are going to have a solider having a homosexual so-called marriage with a black, so it’s interracial, they want to work that in there, which is fine, interracial marriage is good but not between two men, and he was the physical therapist for this soldier so they’re really manipulating these kids. Here you are taking something that parents take for granted is wholesome, Archie Comics, and now even that is being turned into a promoter of the radical homosexual agenda.

. . . Obviously the left and the homosexual activist movement is dead-set on promoting homosexuality to impressionable children. This is a comic book that is supposed to represent mid-American values and they are corrupting those values. Homosexuality is for one, often linked to very severe health problems, especially male homosexuality, it’s considered immoral, since time immoral, all of Judeo-Christian history. Yet now, in the name of diversity—and it’s interesting Jim that the left’s diversity framework never seems to include former homosexuals, will we ever see a healthy, happy former homosexual in the movies or in the media in the name of diversity? It is only what the left wants diversity to be is what we see promoted.

I personally take umbrage with that comment he made earlier - "Of course they are going to have a solider having a homosexual so-called marriage with a black."

Was it so hard for Peter to say "a black man?" Through his terminology, he makes the black man sound something negative and foreign.

But then would that be as petty as Peter himself whining about a comic book?

Basically though, this ridiculous display by Peter just demonstrates how obsessed he is with the lgbtq community.

Lighten up, Peter! It's just a comic book. I guess if we followed your train of thought, Batman is indoctrinating children into dressing like creatures of the night and swinging on rooftops.

Maggie Gallagher now contradicting NOM on same-sex parenting

2012-01-10T15:10:00.000-08:00

A while back when former National Organization for Marriage head Maggie Gallagher made a comment actually praising gay parents, I knew it would come back to haunt NOM.

Gallagher made the comment to save NOM from embarrassment because the constant negative comments it and its affiliate - the Ruth Institute - has continued to make about same-sex parenting and most specifically citing the discredited work of junk scientist Paul Cameron.

But if that was her intention, it failed miserably because the Ruth Institute keeps attacking same-sex parenting and now the lgbtq community has Gallagher on record giving a contradictory message.

The latest attack came today. From Equality Matters:

As Equality Matters has noted, the National Organization for Marriage’s (NOM) anti-gay politics go far beyond the issue of same-sex marriage. The group has been a strong proponent of restricting the rights of gays and lesbians to raise their own children -- arguing against adoption and non-discrimination efforts while promoting damaging myths about same-sex parents.

Last Friday, Jennifer Morse -- president of NOM’s Ruth Institute -- continued this trend in a blog post titled “Two Moms: the triumph of the Will over Nature.”

In her post, Morse lamented the stories of two lesbian couples who gave birth to their children with the help of sperm donors, writing:
According to data from around the world, lesbian couples are the least stable type of couple. What happens when the partnership breaks down? [...]
One of the women donated the egg. The other had it implanted in her womb, and carried it to term. So, they are both mothers and both have custody rights. The child’s father was an anonymous sperm donor. He is completely out of the picture. No one cares about him. No one cares that this poor little girl will never know her father. [...]
The courts are trying to do the impossible: create justice out of an intrinsically unjust situation. [emphasis added]
Morse’s assertion that lesbian relationships are unstable- which she supports by citing 2006 studies from Sweden and California -- has been debunked by several recent reports.

However, most specifically, this idea was debunked by Maggie Gallagher herself. Remember her statement:

I would like to say personally that nothing in any argument I've ever made on gay marriage, rests on the idea that same-sex couples harm their own children at any higher rates than any other family form. (If there is data that shows this, I've never seen it.)

Maybe Jennifer and Maggie need to have a discussion.

'Did Mitt Romney nearly march in gay pride parade?' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

2012-01-10T09:02:00.000-08:00

Mitt Romney Almost Marched In The 2002 Boston Gay Pride Parade - For someone who seems to be anti-gay, Romney was definitely in our corner once upon a time.

Gingrich Argues Adoption Services Should Be Allowed To Take Taxpayer Money While Discriminating Against Gays - Oh sure. Take our tax dollars while spitting in our faces.

Troy Mayor Said 'Disturbing Things' in Meeting, Gay-Straight Alliance Leader Says - Her again? I'm beginning to think that she doesn't like us lgbtqs.

UPDATE: NC elections official resigns rather than facilitate the marriage discrimination amendment - Good for her!

NOM EXPOSED: Earmarks for historical pockmarks: Brown commits $500k to NJ - Where oh where is NOM getting their money?

Minnesota anti-gay group pushing contradictory messages

2012-01-10T05:01:00.000-08:00

In a way to put a sort of a nice face on its efforts to disenfranchise same-sex families, Minnesota for Marriage - the group in that state trying to pass a law outlawing marriage equality - has launched phony newscasts called Minnesota for Marriage Minute:

It looks real nice and very artificial from its stock photos - of people not from Minnesota at the beginning - to the woman giving the news, former Minneapolis news anchor Kalley King Yanta.

But looks can be deceiving. Don't be fooled by this nice and light image. Particularly when one remembers that Minnesota for Marriage includes the group the Minnesota Family Council, the group which at one time accused gays of bestiality, pedophilia, and the consuming of body wastes.

And even Yanta is perpetrating, i.e. hiding her true feelings. In the above video, she is all sweetness and light. But according to the Advocate magazine, she reveals her true paranoia when it comes to marriage equality:

In an interview last week on the conservative Christian radio show Word of Truth,Yanta said she was moved to participate in the campaign because she believes heterosexual couples are best suited to raise children and because she fears that if same-sex marriage becomes widely accepted, those who oppose it could face serious consequences, including arrest.

“There are studies that are being conducted right now about how children are being raised and how that affects somebody in their psyche and in their self-esteem and in the various ways that that can affect a person being raised by either a man and a man or a woman and a woman,” she told host Brad Brandon. “It’s not natural.”

But that statement is in direct contradiction to a statement former National Organization for Marriage Maggie Gallagher said a while back:

I would like to say personally that nothing in any argument I've ever made on gay marriage, rests on the idea that same-sex couples harm their own children at any higher rates than any other family form. (If there is data that shows this, I've never seen it.)

The National Organization for Marriage is yet another organization which makes up Minnesota for Marriage. And I guess the organization doesn't mind contradictory messages as long as same-sex families are disenfranchised.

Liberty Counsel accusing Macy's of covering up sexual assaults

2012-01-09T15:39:00.000-08:00

In its continuing war against Macy's Department store for firing an employee who harassed a transgender customer - which was in violation of company policy - the right-wing Liberty Counsel has chosen to stoop low.

I mean really low. The organization is now accusing Macy's of covering up rapes. Liberty Counsel head Mat Staver said the following today on the Faith & Freedom radio show:

We also have another individual that contacted us, Matt, who said that he was sort of a trouble shooter, I forgot the exact title that he was working in in Macy’s, and he brought to Macy’s the issue of these men going into the women’s fitting rooms. . . . Loss prevention or something of that nature. He brought to their attention articles from around the country where people had gone into Macy’s, and some other stores but specifically Macy’s, women had gone in and they had been sexually assaulted in these fitting rooms by men that have been coming into those fitting rooms, and even rapes. He brought this to the attention of Macy’s to address this policy and he said rather than address it he was terminated.

How convenient that this tipster is anonymous, just like the last tipster Staver referred to last year who claimed to be an employee of Macy's allegedly fighting to keep "men out of the women's dressing rooms.

I said it back then and I will say it again. I smell a rat. Or more specifically, until Staver produces this anonymous tipster, I think he is lying.

And this time, it's serious.

Staver is accusing Macy's of covering up the heinous crime of rape. This isn't something that needs to be merely talked about on a radio show. It needs to be investigated. And if Staver is lying, he and the Liberty Council need to face the full consequences.

Related posts:

LGBTQ youth caught in the crossfire of phony 'religious liberty'

Woman files lawsuit because she can't harass transgender customers

Macy's stands up for the lgbtq community

'Mitt Romney running away from pro-gay past' and other Monday midday news briefs

2012-01-09T09:07:00.000-08:00

Romney Campaign Disavows 2002 Gay Pride Flyers - Somebody is REALLLLY desperate to be president. The flyer in question:

Same-Sex Marriage Follows Rick Santorum Around New Hampshire - He gets what he deserves.

Advocates of N.J. legalization of gay marriage hope for better outcome with new bill - Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Gathering of Eagles Prays for Ex-Gays to 'Blitz' the Media and Defeat the 'Homosexual Agenda' - Okay I haven't included a wildly homophobic brief in a while.

Republican candidates don't care for same-sex couples, families

2012-01-09T04:38:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder from Think Progress detailing - via the recent New Hampshire debate - what the Republican candidates think of our families. Please remember this on election day:

Focus on the Family distorts ANOTHER study to denigrate same-sex families

2012-01-07T09:37:00.000-08:00

Glenn T. Stanton can't stop lying about same-sex families

I wish more attention was focused on how religious right groups and talking heads distort science to denigrate the lgbtq community.

There is a Pulitzer just waiting for the intrepid reporter who can break down this decades old story. At any rate, until that happens, it's up to us bloggers to make these facts known.

And Think Progress just did:

Focus on the Family’s duplicity is not always obvious, but execution of their anti-gay rhetoric is becoming more transparent. In a post yesterday, FOTF’s director of Global Family Formation Studies Glenn T. Stanton boasted that a new study from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business proves that boys benefit behaviorally from having “a home with a mom and a dad”:
STANTON: This supports over three decades of consistent research showing that kids who grow up in a home with their married parents tend to do better in all measures of educational attainment than their peers being raised in single, divorced and cohabiting-parent homes. This is true from everything from grade-point average, behavioral issues, high school graduation and going on to graduate from college. Moms and dads both matter here, as well as the type of relationship between them.
But though FOTF is clearly trying to use this as evidence against same-sex marriage, the study did not prove anything “against” same-sex parents. The study in question (PDF here) did not, in fact, address same-sex parenting whatsoever, but instead compared children raised by married heterosexual parents to children raised by a single mother. It is one of many “fatherless” studies that conservative groups use to conflate not having a father/having one mother with having two mothers. Recall when Sen. Al Franken eviscerated FOTF’s Tom Minnery at a July Senate hearing for attempting to do the very same thing.

If anything, the Booth study supports arguments in favor of marriage equality, because it found that it was neither family structure nor biology that were the direct cause of differences in boys’ behavior, but environmental factors determined by levels of parental input. Stanton’s conclusions reflect nothing found in the actual research data — merely his discriminating ideology.

It should be known that scientific distortions is old hat for Stanton. In March 2008, he claimed that there’s a “clear consensus” among anthropologists that “A family is a unit that draws from the two types of humanity, male and female.”

However, those with expertise in such matters vehemently disagreed with this claim.

The American Anthropological Association in particular wrote a letter to Focus on the Family calling out Stanton for his error, calling it a gross misrepresentation of the position of the anthropological community on gay marriage:

My name is Damon Dozier, and I am the American Anthropological Association (AAA) Director of Public Affairs. In this capacity, I am responsible for the Association’s full range of government relations, media relations, and international affairs programs. Founded in 1902, the AAA—11,000 members strong—is the world’s largest organization of men and women interested in anthropology. Its purposes are to encourage research, promote the public understanding of anthropology, and foster the use of anthropological information in addressing human problems.

I write to address the gross misrepresentation of the position of the anthropological community on gay marriage in your March 3, 2008 Citizen Link press release, “Anthropologists Agree on Traditional Definition of Marriage.” In the release, Glenn Stanton, an employee of your organization who does not identify himself as an anthropologist, asserts that “a family is a unit that draws from the two types of humanity, male and female.”

In point of fact, the AAA Executive Board issued in 2004, the following statement in response to President Bush’s proposal for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage:

The results of more than a century of anthropological research on households, kinship relationships, and families, across cultures and through time, provide no support whatsoever for the view that either civilization or viable social orders depend upon marriage as an exclusively heterosexual institution. Rather, anthropological research supports the conclusion that a vast array of family types, including families built upon same-sex partnerships, can contribute to stable and humane societies.

I am alarmed and dismayed at this example of irresponsible journalism and deliberate misrepresentation of the anthropological community. In the future it is my hope that your organization will accurately and honestly convey and communicate the views and interests of the AAA, its 11,000 members, and the social science community at large.

Damon Dozier
Director of Public Affairs
American Anthropological Association
2200 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 600
Arlington, VA 22201
703.528.1902
ddozier@aaanet.org

Hat tip to Box Turtle Bulletin for this letter.

Related post:

Twelfth researcher complains about religious right distortion of her work

Know Your LGBT History - All in the Family and Beverly LaSalle

2012-01-06T15:38:00.000-08:00

'Santorum's homophobia gets him booed' and other Friday midday news briefs

2012-01-06T09:07:00.000-08:00

Santorum Booed Again For Saying Gays Aren’t Entitled To Marriage Or Military Service - I swear what happened to the "good old days" when such blatant homophobia garnered one a standing ovation.

'HIV doesn't cause AIDS', says dangerous mythmaker who recently spoke alongside GOP presidential candidates - At this point, are we really surprised at the filth coming out of Bryan Fischer's mouth?

Chris Matthews And Robert Traynham, Gay Former Santorum Aide, Have Heated Clash - That an openly gay man would work for Santorum in the first place just boggles the mind.

NOM: Marriage Equality Will Create A “Moral Wasteland,” Normalize Pedophilia - NOM loves to stoke the pedophilia card.

Minnesota anti-gay group caught 'faking it'

2012-01-06T04:56:00.000-08:00

An anti-marriage equality group in Minnesota has been using stock images instead of real Minnesotans to push the case against marriage equality.

From Think Progress:

Minnesotans United for All Families — a coalition opposing the state’s proposed anti-gay constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman — has discovered that proponents of inequality are having a hard time finding Minnesotans who oppose same-sex marriage. Yesterday, the anti-gay group released its first video of 2012, but rather than interviewing actual residents of the state, the commercial is “full of stock images“:
We tracked down the phony stock images of families that they used in their video, and we think you deserve to see the proof. Check them out:
1. Children Having Fun in Playground Together
2. Loving and Playful Family
3. Happy Bride and Groom Smiling Together
4. Happy, Smiling Family
5. A house, also found on a securities website
6. And last but not least, this couple, who are also prominently featured on a website for a hospital in India!

Check out the video:

Minnesotans for Marriage is no doubt following the lead of the organization it's teaming with to stop marriage equality in the state - the National Organization for Marriage.

In October of last year, Jeremy Hooper from the site Goodasyou.org caught the organization stealing photos from past Obama rallies and using them to boost the number of its followers.

NOM tries to embarrass Congresswoman, gets knocked down by her calm rhetoric

2012-01-05T15:18:00.000-08:00

If there ever was a incident which demonstrates the National Organization for Marriage's absolute cluelessness, it would have to be the video above. In it, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, while in Iowa, was asked to respond to the fact that Rick Santorum supports a Federal Marriage Amendment.

NOM featured the video under the title Democrat Party Head: Marriage Amendment Would be "Un-American and Un-Democratic"

I guess the organization was attempting to portray Wasserman-Schultz as "intolerant," but what ended up happening is that NOM gave her a perfect plateau to state her points in a clear and concise manner.

If the attempt was to embarrass Wasserman-Schultz and gain sympathy for their side of the argument, NOM failed miserably.

'Project demonstrates ally love for the lgbtq community' and other Thursday midday news briefs

2012-01-05T09:11:00.000-08:00

aNoteToMyKid.com: Heartwarming Messages of Love from Parents, Family and Friends of LGBT People - This sort of thing is awesome. It's a way for families, parents, and friends to express unconditional love for the LGBTQ people in their lives.

Must See Video: Harry Jackson shows Maryland Marriage Alliance's true underpinnings - Something NOM won't show you about one of its "moneyed black ministers."

Nancy Pelosi Intervenes To Stop Deportation, Keep Gay Couple Together - Way to go, Congresswoman Pelosi!

Labor leaders in Md. promoting same-sex marriage bill - NOM is going to take time way from its Rick Santorum fawning to go through the roof.

Sermon reveals problem between gays and the black church

2012-01-05T04:51:00.000-08:00

The sermon from two years ago by Roosevelt Wright Jr. at the Tabernacle Baptist Church is kinda conflicted. On one hand, the minister spreads all sorts of inaccuracies about gay men (i.e. imply pedophilia), but on the other hand, his words reveal the duplicity going on in the black church.

Twelfth researcher complains about religious right distortion of her work

2012-01-04T15:46:00.000-08:00


Rick Fitzgibbons is accused of distorting research

Another researcher has come out complaining about how a religious right "expert" distorted her work to stigmatize the lgbtq community.

According to Box Turtle Bulletin, Rick Fitzgibbons of the NARTH (the National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality) wrote a piece about same-sex adoption. In the piece, Fitzgibbons cited the work of Seton Hall professor Dr. Theodora Sirota to make the case that children in same sex households are not raised better than children "in stable homes with a mother and a father."

However, according to Sirota, Fitzgibbons misused her work. You can read the letter here, but Box Turtle Bulletin breaks the distortion down nicely:

To support his denunciation of same-sex adoption, Fitzgibbons offers this summary of Sirota’s research:
Researchers interviewed 68 women with gay or bisexual fathers and 68 women with heterosexual fathers. The women (average age 29 in both groups) with gay or bisexual fathers had difficulty with adult attachment issues in three areas: they were less comfortable with closeness and intimacy; they were less able to trust and depend on others; and they experienced more anxiety in relationships compared to the women raised by heterosexual fathers.
The problem is not with what Fitzgibbons said; it’s what he left out: The gay and bisexual fathers in Sirota’s study were married to the mothers.

Dr. Sirota’s article is about the impact of a homosexual father raising a girl in a heterosexual marriage. It has nothing to do with same-sex couples, nothing to do with same-sex adoption at all.

Or as Dr. Sirota says in her letter:

. . . no conclusions about gay or lesbian fitness to adopt children or quality of active gay parenting can be drawn from the findings of my research. No conclusions about the well-being of children who are or were actively raised by gay or lesbian parents can be drawn from the findings of my research.”

While NARTH is looked upon as experts on the lgbtq community in religious right circles, the mainstream scientific community pretty much ignores the groups's research and with good reason.

The website Truth Wins Out calls NARTH a discredited “ex-gay” fringe organization that peddles fraudulent “cures” for homosexuality.

According to Truth Wins Out, several NARTH members have been embroiled in controversies including:

Gerald Schoenwolf, PhD, a member of NARTH’ “Scientific Advisory Committee,” who wrote a piece on the group’s website that seemed to justify slavery

NARTH psychiatrist Joseph Berger, MD, another member of its “Scientific Advisory Committee,” who wrote a paper encouraging students to “ridicule” gender variant children.

Also, according to Truth Wins Out:

NARTH’ co-founder, Joesph Nicolosi encourages male clients to become more masculine by drinking Gatorade and referring to friends as “dude”. NARTH therapists have been known to practice rubber band therapy, where a gay client is made to wear a rubber band and snap it on his wrist when sexually stimulated. It is a mild form of aversion therapy meant to “snap” the client out of the moment of attraction. NARTH members have also been known to practice “touch therapy”, where a client sits in the therapist’ lap for up to an hour, while the therapist caresses him.

In 2010, another member of NARTH, George Rekers, resigned from the organization after caught coming from a vacation overseas with a "rentboy."

Unfortunately the distortion of legitimate scientific work by religious right experts is not done solely by NARTH. Other groups have gotten into trouble over this sadly overlooked aspect of the so-called culture wars. Over the years, there have been 11 other complaints from researchers about how their work was being distorted by religious right and so-called "pro-family" groups, including:

National Institute of Health director Francis Collins, who rebuked the right-wing American College of Pediatricians for falsely claiming that he stated sexual orientation is not hardwired by DNA.

Six researchers of a 1997 Canadian study (Robert S. Hogg, Stefan A. Strathdee, Kevin J.P. Craib, Michael V. Shaughnessy, Julio Montaner, and Martin T. Schehter), who complained in 2001 that religious right groups were distorting their work to claim that gay men have a short life span.

The authors of the book Unequal Opportunity: Health Disparities Affecting Gay and Bisexual Men in the United States (Professors Richard J. Wolitski, Ron Stall, and Ronald O. Valdiserri), who complained that their work was being distorted by Focus on the Family.

University College London professor Michael King, who complained that the American Family Association was distorting his work on depression and suicide in LGBT individuals

University of Utah professor Lisa Diamond, who complained that NARTH (the National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality), a group which also share board members with the American College of Pediatricians, distorted her research on sexual orientation.

Dr. Carol Gilligan, Professor of Education and Law at New York University, who complained that former Focus on the Family head James Dobson misrepresented her research to attack LGBT families.

Dr. Kyle Pruett, Ph.D., a professor of child psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, who has also complained that Focus on the Family distorted his work.

Dr. Robert Spitzer, Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University, who has consistently complained that religious right groups distorted his study to claim that the LGBT orientation is easily changeable.

Judith Stacey, Professor of Sociology at New York University, who has had to, on more than one occasion, cry foul over how religious right groups distorted her work on LGBT families.

Greg Remafedi, Professor at the University of Minnesota, who has complained several times about how religious right groups such as the American College of Pediatricians and PFOX have distorted his work, all to no avail. The American College of Pediatricians refused his request to remove his work from their site.

In 2010, John Horgan, a science journalist and Director of the Center for Science Writings at the Stevens Institute of Technology, became the 11th researcher to complain.

Last year, Tom Minnery, a spokesman from Focus on the Family, was dressed down by Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) during a Congressional hearing for deliberately misrepresenting a study. Minnery initially used the study to claim, as Fitzgibbons did in his misrepresentation, that same-sex households are inferior to two parent mother/father households.

'Good riddance, Michele Bachmann' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

2012-01-04T09:06:00.000-08:00

After Bruising Loss In Iowa, Bachmann Bows Out - I personally never really shared the amusement of Bachmann that my fellow bloggers did. To me, she proved that demagogues come in both sexes. A hateful woman who didn't care if what she said wasn't true and when told of the fact, she doubled down on the lie. Now if only she would leave Congress.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire To Endorse Marriage Equality - Not bad at all.

They've tossed more stones than Bedrock's head contractor. Our agenda: Surviving that. - You know for all of the talk coming from the religious right about how "gays have plotted to take over America," I have yet to see any concrete proof from them and I have YET to get any orders from "national gay headquarters."

Florida Appeals Court Rules That Both Lesbian Moms Have Parental Rights - A victory which should not be overlooked.

Proposed Bill Would Permit Christian Students to Bully Gays in Tennessee: VIDEO - Ugh!

Alabama Crimson Tide Site's 'Hey Homeauxs' T-Shirt For Louisiana State University BCS Game Sparks Controversy - This t-shirt is a hot mess and a half.

NOM anoints Santorum as 'Catholic hero'

2012-01-04T05:01:00.000-08:00

Regardless of who won the primary last night - Romney actually won by eight votes but Santorum got the momentum, the National Organization for Marriage is patting itself on the back for supposedly contributing to Ron Paul's third place victory.

NOM ran several ads against Paul because he would not sign its silly marriage pledge. Today, the organization is crowing hard:

NOM congratulates Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney for their photo-finish in Iowa. Both these candidates, along with Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann are champions for traditional marriage. It’s especially satisfying to see Senator Santorum, a longtime friend and champion for the family, come from behind to mount such a successful campaign. The strong showing by both Santorum and Romney shows that supporting marriage is not only the right thing to do, it is the politically smart thing to do. This is a lesson that Ron Paul may be learning the hard way. Paul suffered a big loss by finishing third in Iowa, a state he was expecting to win. NOM aired television and online ads that were highly critical of Paul’s unacceptable stance on marriage, including his belief that civil marriage should be abolished altogether. No doubt our ads, along with tens of thousands of telephone calls and grassroots work with our thousands of supporters in Iowa were a factor in Ron Paul’s poor showing. We will continue to point out Paul’s unacceptable views on marriage to voters in upcoming states.”

Actually the idea that Paul was supposed to win isn't necessarily true. Romney was ahead in the polls.

But we know that ignoring the truth is a NOM specialty.

Now aside from the self-back slapping, NOM is also taking time out to declare Santorum as the next big thing. Try not to get nauseated as you read the following from former NOM head Maggie Gallagher calling Santorum a Catholic hero:

Rick Santorum gave a magnificent speech tonight. It was an expression, a flowering in a way I do not think America has seen in my lifetime of Catholic culture. He made his economic message more than a question of self-interest -- he made it a moral cause. He connected the dignity of every human life, with the dignity not only of work, but every human being who is made in the image of his Creator to be a creator -- a worker, and not just a consumer.

God bless him, God bless him. This is a serious fight.

Not to be outdone, another NOM employee - Thomas Peters (who wrote that ill-timed column claiming that the marriage equality push failed in NY days before it actually passed) said the following:

For many voters, tonight was the first time they got a chance to see Rick Santorum as a real contender, after he has spent the past months quietly canvassing every county in Iowa. Tonight viewers of his speech were reminded that hard work and aspiration pay off. Santorum said tonight he learned these essential lessons from the example of his grandfather and father.

He was inspiring, effective, while sounding fully like himself. He contrasted his positions with both the Democrat and Republican establishment, arguing that "cutting taxes is not enough." He offered more: for America to reach its full potential, he said, it must embrace the values that made it into the great country it is. American values, Santorum said, which are not shared by those who currently occupy the White House.

What tripe. Of course Peters - and Gallagher for that matter - don't have to worry about paying taxes or the economy because they are the beneficiaries of an obscenely huge amount of money funneled into their pockets by anonymous sources for being self-proclaimed "moral defenders" of the family.

However, the rest of us normal, ordinary folks - particularly the lgbtqs whom Santorum has waged war with over the years - aren't impressed.

You can't get the vast majority of us to vote for Santorum on a bet. That's not to say that he doesn't have his uses, however.

He certainly wiped the "I'm inevitable" smile off of Romney's face.

New Hampshire newspaper - 'Don't mess with marriage'

2012-01-03T15:09:00.000-08:00

The National Organization for Marriage loves to push the mantra "don't mess with marriage" as a way of falsely claiming that gays want to disrupt the institution.

However, according to Think Progress, the mantra has been turned not only on NOM but others who would supports its efforts:

The GOP presidential race will shift to New Hampshire after today’s Iowa caucuses, where Republicans in the legislature and Catholic leaders have pledged to repeal the state’s 2009 marriage equality law — despite overwhelming public support for the measure. This morning, the state’s leading newspaper, the Concord Monitor, debunks the arguments against same-sex marriage and calls on lawmakers to “leave the law alone“:

• Marriage is between one man and one woman. This is more of a declaration than an actual argument. In fact, it’s a declaration of bigotry. After all, who gets to define marriage? Those already married? Without a compelling reason to deny marriage to gay people, a statement like this is hard to take seriously.

• But marriage has been restricted to heterosexuals for thousands of years. Many traditions outlive their usefulness. Slavery was an ancient practice too, after all. So was barring women from participation in politics. Once upon a time, people with disabilities were routinely locked away in institutions. Mercifully, times change.

• Marriage is for procreation. In many cases, yes. But infertile, straight couples marry all the time. So do those uninterested in having kids. Those past their child-bearing years aren’t forced to divorce. Having children isn’t the only thing that brings couples together.

• Same-sex couples don’t do as good a job raising children. There are all sorts of good parents and, alas, a wide variety of bad ones, too. Sexual orientation has nothing to do with it. Nor is there a legislative push to ban other sorts of truly bad parents – child molesters, bank robbers – from marrying. No doubt each of New Hampshire’s 424 legislators has among his or her constituents gay couples raising children just fine. Examples that disprove this worry are easy to find.

You really should read the rest of the editorial. It is a definite take down of all of the phony arguments against marriage equality

'Bachmann won't talk about anti-gay comments' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

2012-01-03T09:02:00.000-08:00

Bachmann Refuses To Explain Past Anti-Gay Comments - Come on Michele. Whatever happened to that titanium spine.

NOM, while calling us Soros-funded elites, continues to spend money like its water - Naturally NOM won't disclose anything about ITS finances.

Delaware Welcomes First Civil Unions - That's Delaware AND Hawaii.

Spain's First Gay Retirement Home Represents LGBT Rebellion Of Older Generation - Interesting story.

NOM thrilled with Santorum's momentum

2012-01-03T04:30:00.000-08:00

By tomorrow morning, the Iowa Republican caucus will be over and my head will stop throbbing from overkill.

The big story seems to be Rick Santorum (who probably never met a same-sex relationship or family he approved of) is moving up in the polls. I refuse to say "surging" because that term has been overused as it is.

It's looking like this uptick is due to Romney still making folks uneasy and how Santorum appeals to the so-called evangelical crowd.

And the one group who seems to be thrilled for Santorum is the National Organization for Marriage. Check out its last five posts:

Perry Launches Anti-Santorum Radio Ad in Iowa

Santorum on the Campaign Trail: America Needs One Marriage Law

Santorum's Fundraising Soars Along With His Poll Numbers

Santorum: GOP's Man of the Moment

In Last Iowa Poll, Santorum Voters Most Committed

Don't be fooled by NOM's "Santorum fever." He is clearly the flavor of the month (like Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, etc.,etc). Regardless of how he does in Iowa, it will be his single moment in the sun.

And when Santorum's moment is up, count on NOM to slink to the candidate in the lead while omitting it supported anyone else.

Know Your LGBT History - The Lion in Winter

2011-12-30T14:54:00.000-08:00

One of the wildest, mind blowing experiences I ever had was attempting to watch the motion picture The Lion in Winter (1968) for the first time.

It was originally a 1966 play which was made into a motion picture starring Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn. It received three Oscars, including one for Hepburn for Best Actress. From Wikipedia:

Set during Christmas 1183 at Henry II of England's château in Chinon, Anjou, Angevin Empire, the play opens with the arrival of Henry's wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, whom he has had imprisoned since 1173. The story concerns the gamesmanship between Henry, Eleanor, their three surviving sons Richard, Geoffrey, and John, their guest, Philip II of France (the son of Eleanor's ex-husband, Louis VII of France), and Philip's half-sister, Alais, who has been at court since she was betrothed to Richard at age 8, but has since become Henry's mistress.

'More Chuck Norris hypocrisy' and other Friday midday news briefs

2011-12-30T09:04:00.000-08:00

Chuck Norris Wants The Christian Bible To Be Taught In Every Public School - Excuse me but a man who will deliberately lie about Obama Administration policy as it pertains to the lgbtq community has no business giving advice on the reading of the Bible because it is apparent that he never reads his own.

Capt. Obvious low on ad budget, TWO steps in to run 'Gay is not like KKK' ad - Truth Wins Out kicks butt with another full page ad.

Gay baiting party loses in Jamaica - Too early for the full happy dance, but a bad party has been moved out in Jamaica.

Gay Nativity Scene At Claremont United Methodist Church Vandalized - Ugh.

Pariah Personals - Via Think Progress, Salon looks at the various stories of lgbtq youth of color.

Take action against the American Family Association

2011-12-30T04:47:00.000-08:00

My post yesterday on how the American Family Association (via One News Now) was distorting an Associated Press article to demonize the gay community got many people talking. A reader sent me the following note:

Hi Alvin--saw your blog post on the rewriting of an AP article. The rewrite is surely a copyright violation, and a double violation if they are posting the article without permission from AP in the first place. The same article is on the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/new-laws-target-abortion-illegal-immigration-texting-add-regulations-to-schoolkids-lives/2011/12/28/gIQABLubMP_story_1.html

Note at the end "Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed." Note also that One News Now used the author's byline (Andrew Welsh-Huggins); the Washington Post article provides his twitter address so I would suggest contacting him directly and pointing out their rewrite. He may not be happy to see how his article has been rewritten. Welsh's email address is awelsh@ap.org. He's also on Facebook.

I think that it's more than appropriate for those of us concerned with how the AFA dehumanizes the gay community to register our disapproval of such tactics. I also think that it's more appropriate to notify other parties who are unfairly being used to further that aim.

The following is my letter:

Dear Mr. Huggins,

I am a reader who wanted to notify you concerning a possible violation of AP policy as it pertains to the reproduction of its articles.

The American Family Association reprinted an article you wrote after giving it a rewrite to push an anti-gay agenda.

This is what you wrote:

Girls seeking abortions in New Hampshire must first tell their parents or a judge, some employers in Alabama must verify new workers' U.S. residency, and California students will be the first in the country to receive mandatory lessons about the contributions of gays and lesbians under state laws set to take effect at the start of 2012.

The American Family Association changed it to the following:

Girls seeking abortions in New Hampshire must first tell their parents or a judge, employers in Alabama must verify new workers' U.S. residency, and California students will be the first in the country to receive mandatory pro-homosexual indoctrination under state laws set to take effect at the start of 2012.

Not only is the article given a homophobic spin, but your byline remains, making it appear as if you are aware of this breach of objectivity. I sincerely that for the sake of your personal integrity as a journalist and that of the AP as an unbiased new sources that this breach doesn't go unanswered.

Thank you for your time.