Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Wednesday news briefs

Where Are the Black Gay Men? - from the article: "Two weeks ago individuals and organizations across the nation marked National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Judging by many of the articles, press releases and events commemorating the day, however, you might never guess that the highest percentage of new HIV infections in 2006 was among black gay men.

Why, even on a day dedicated to black AIDS awareness, do black gay men remain a footnote?"

Those are my sentiment exactly

Buttars Has a Friend in Matt Barber - Well at least Chris Buttars has one friend. It's kinda sad when even Peter LaBarbera won't defend your anti-gay words. But never fear, Matt Barber will be a friend to homophobes the world over.

Perkins Contemplating Primary Challenge to Vitter - Great. Jason vs. Freddy part 2.

Bobby Jindal Response Panned By Pundits, Republicans And Democrats Alike - I tried watching Bobby Jindal last night in an attempt to be fair but I couldn't finish. It was a disaster. And let's face it - him mentioning Hurricane Katrina as proof of government ineptness is like the Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback throwing an interception twice to the same Dallas Cowboy player in Superbowl XXX.

Schultheis: HIV testing for pregnant moms rewards ‘sexual promiscuity’ - First Renfroe, now this. Have Colorado legislators lost their damned minds?
Another state legislator, another show of 'Biblical' disrespect

The Chris Buttars situation continues to cause controversy in Utah.

And the religious right continues to be silent about it.

Which is totally opposite of their behavior last year in the case of Oklahoma legislator Sally Kern. When Kern made and defended her comments comparing gays to terrorists, the religious right all but made her a patron saint, including having a huge rally for her in the Oklahoma State House.

Whether it be the stark nature of Buttars's comments or the fact that he is a Mormon rather than an "evangelical Christian," the religious right hasn't given him the time of day.

But now comes a situation where I dare them to sink their sanctimonius teeth in:

On the floor of the State Senate, right-wing Senator Scott Renfroe (R-Greeley) actually referred to gay and lesbian people as an "abomination" and an "offense to God."

It gets worse:

Renfroe equated gay and lesbian people with murderers and quoted the Book of Leviticus suggesting that gay people should be put to death.

He also said that women were created to be "helpers" for men, quoting the Book of Genesis.

Renfroe was referring to Senate Bill 88, a bill that would extend healthcare coverage to the same-sex partners of state employees. SB 88 is about healthcare. It's about gaining some measure of equality for gay and lesbian state employees. And regardless of how people like James Dobson and Scott Renfroe feel about gay people, their shameless hate-mongering has no place in public debate and we should reject them completely.


Now I could say that Renfroe's absolutely stupid comments proves that the opponents of gay marriage lie when they say their position is only to clarify the "fact" that marriage is between one man and one woman.

In so many cases, they have used the anti-gay marriage laws to keep gay couples from job benefits, healthcare benefits, and adopting children.

But I would be preaching to the choir and highlighting something that has been said on much better blogs than this one.

I really want to commend Renfroe for saying it all. Usually when someone cites Leviticus while making the statement that homosexuality is against God's will and that we should listen to "God's word," they leave that part out about death.

If there's anything I hate, it's a lukewarm Christian.

At any rate, just as in the case of Buttars, I don't suspect that there will be any call to make Renfroe the new icon of gay "intolerance."

For one thing, his speech was nasty. I don't think anyone in their right mind would try and spin his words as simple Christian truth.

Of course we are talking about the religious right so I reserve the right to take back my "right mind" statement.

But secondly, and most importantly, how many times must this sort of thing happen?

The routine of religious right groups is to portray themselves and their supporters as innocent upholders of moral values who are beset by "intolerant radical homosexual activists."

But in the cases of Buttars, Renfroe, and even Kern, it hasn't been the gay community who have started the fight - it's been the "Christian" politicians.

I don't care what your biblical or world view is of homosexuality, no community should have to be put up with being called terrorists or disrespected in any form.

Gays are not criminals, so you cannot compare us to murderers. Gays are not mentally sick so you cannot compare us to alcoholics.

We are thriving, successful members of the American community and as such, we have every right demand respect from our leaders and politicians even if they disagree with what they think our so-called lifestyle entails.

If the religious right continues to defend every politician who attacks the gay community, how long will it be before this country stops buying into their phony claims of innocence and finally realizes that they are inciting the problem?

After all, you can't continue to clutch the pearls in shock when you are the ones doing the shocking.