Old lies never die - they just get repolished

An ugly trend sprouting up is how the anti-gay industry will exploit ignorance of the transgender community in order to beat back pro-gay laws:

Citizens in Gainesville, Florida, are trying to repeal an ordinance that lets anyone reject their biological sex simply by stating that they "feel like" a member of the opposite sex. At least one citizen argues that introduces some serious safety concerns for the public.

It gets even worse:

Cain Davis, chairman of Citizens for Good Public Policy, says the ordinance was not well thought out. "[A] man, for example, [can] walk into a women's restroom .... just by merely saying, 'I feel like a woman,' they can go into a women's restroom," he explains. In fact, Davis' group has been collecting reports of such incidents, including one in which an elderly woman using a wheelchair complained when an adult male followed her into the women's restroom at a local grocery store.

"And the manager said, 'He can legally do it,'" Davis relates. "The manager didn't even ask this person if he had a sexual or gender identity issue . . . "

I can't help but to question the veracity of this claim. The details are too vague. What store did this take place? What happened next? Were the police called?

It also reminds me of 1983 when discredited researcher Paul Cameron told the audience of the University of Nebraska Lutheran Church that a four-year-old boy was castrated due to a sexual attack by a gay man.

Cameron told this story as part of an attempt to defeat an anti-discrimination law in Lincoln, Nebraska. Police investigated and discovered the story to be false. But the anti-discrimination law was defeated.

So now, over 20 years after that incident, we have so-called Christians telling the same type of story and inferring that laws that would protect lgbts from discrimination would allow predators to attack our most vulnerable citizens in public areas.

I guess they figure why not go with the game plan that has been successful thus far.


Another reason to vote for Obama

James Dobson has gone on record criticizing Obama for daring to voice a version of Christianity that he doesn't agree with:

Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family -- who has stayed unusually quiet in this election cycle likely due to his loathing of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz -- will tomorrow attack Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, on Tuesday for a speech the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee delivered in 2006 to the liberal Christian group Call to Renewal.

The AP was given an advance copy of Dobson's 18-minute radio segment, which has already been taped, and will air Tuesday.

In it, Dobson hammers Obama's views of religion, and says the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is trying to govern by the "lowest common denominator of morality," and calls Obama's views "a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution."

Be honest. Is anyone surprised over this? If Dobson wanted to shock me, he could have said something positive about Obama.

Does Dobson really think that he is relevant to people who don't buy his phony bullshit?

He doesn't like Obama and he doesn't like McCain. If you ask me, I think Dobson may be cushioning folks for his declaration of an intent to run for president.

Okay, that is farfetched, but you have to admit - it would make things very interesting.