Saturday, October 30, 2010

Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Sarah Palin - Three Faces In The Crowd?

This entire year, we have been inundated by Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Sarah Palin claiming to stand for the common man against the so-called conspiracies of  "those who want to remove what makes this country great." They claim to use simple folksy common sense to combat the intricate plans of "anti-Americanism."

From time to time, in the back of my mind, I knew I had heard something like this before. And today it struck me.

In 1957,  there was a movie called A Face In The Crowd which told the story of how a backwoods con man (Andy Griffith), with the help of the media, became a popular national spokesman. He is loved by millions and his endorsement is sought by sponsors and Congressional seekers. That is until he gets consumed with his own power and destroys himself.

Is it just me or are do these two scenes look familiar when it comes to certain current right-wing spokespeople.






A con man manipulating the media to become a powerful national figure? In 1957, it was a motion picture. Today, it's a sad reality.

Related post:

Message to the Tea Party - What took you so long to get angry?


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Friday, October 29, 2010

Know Your LGBT History - Maude

Maude was an excellent situation comedy created by Norman Lear (All in the Family, The Jeffersons) which starred the late Bea Arthur as a neurotic but likable liberal woman living with her fourth husband, Walter and sharing adventures with her daughter (Adrienne Barbeau), and screwy friends, played by Conrad Bain and the late Rue McClanahan.

The show, like All in the Family and The Jeffersons, also introduce some very controversial topics. Probably the most controversial was when Maude had an abortion.

But for the purpose of this blog, let's look at the episode in which Maude tries to stop Bain's character from picketing a gay bar in an attempt to close it down. I found the episode fresh, funny, and not dated in the least - okay maybe the reference to orange juice, but us lgbts will probably get it:









Past Know Your LGBT History posts:
 
Know Your LGBT History - That Certain Summer

Know Your LGBT History - Boat Trip

Know Your LGBT History - Staircase

Know Your LGBT History - Beautiful Thing

Know Your LGBT History - Armed and Dangerous

Know Your LGBT History - The Proud Family

Know Your LGBT History - Suddenly Last Summer

Know Your LGBT History - Gay TV Now

Know Your LGBT History - Stewardess School

Know Your LGBT History - Up the Academy

Know Your LGBT History - Don't be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood

Know Your LGBT History - A Different Story

Know Your LGBT History - Victim

Know Your LGBT History - The Color Purple

Know Your LGBT History - Making Love

Know Your LGBT History - A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge

Know Your LGBT History - Noah's Arc

Know Your LGBT History - Ode to Billy Joe

Know Your LGBT History - Adorable Adrian Adonis

Know Your LGBT History - The Night Strangler

Know Your LGBT History - All in the Family

Know Your LGBT History - Tongues Untied

Know Your LGBT History - The Celluloid Closet

Know Your LGBT History - Querelle

Know Your LGBT History - Theatre of Blood

Know Your LGBT History - Strange Fruit

Know Your LGBT History - Designing Women

Know Your LGBT History - The Children's Hour

Know Your LGBT History - Sylvester

Know Your LGBT History - Once Bitten

Know Your LGBT History - The Boys in the Band

Know Your LGBT History - Christopher Morley, the crossdressing assassin

Know Your LGBT History - Midnight Cowboy

Know Your LGBT History - Dracula's Daughter

Know Your LGBT History - Blacula

Know Your LGBT History - 3 Strikes

Know Your LGBT History - Paris Is Burning

Know Your LGBT History - The Women

Know your LGBT History - Soul Plane

Know Your LGBT History - The Player's Club

Special Know Your LGBT History - Fame

Know Your LGBT History - Welcome Home, Bobby

Know Your LGBT History - Barney Miller

Know your lgbt history - The Jerry Springer Show

Know your lgbt history - Martin Lawrence and that 'gay guy' on his show

Know your lgbt history - The Ricki Lake Show

Know your lgbt history - Which Way Is Up

Know your lgbt history - Gays in Primetime Soaps

Know your lgbt history - Boys Beware

Know your lgbt history - The Boondocks

Know your lgbt history - Mannequin

Know your lgbt history - The Warriors

Know Your LGBT History - New York Undercover

Know Your LGBT History - Low Down Dirty Shame

Know Your LGBT History - Fortune and Men's Eyes

Know your lgbt history - California Suite

Know your lgbt history - Taxi (Elaine's Strange Triangle)

Know your lgbt history - Come Back Charleston Blue

Know your lgbt history - James Bond goes gay

Know your lgbt history - Windows

Know your lgbt history - To Wong Foo and Priscilla

Know your lgbt history - Blazing Saddles

Know your lgbt history - Sanford and Son

Know your lgbt history - In Living Color

Know your lgbt history - Cleopatra Jones and her lesbian drug lords

Know your lgbt history - Norman, Is That You?

Know your lgbt history - The 'Exotic' Adrian Street

Know your lgbt history - The Choirboys

Know your lgbt history - Eddie Murphy

Know your lgbt history - The Killing of Sister George

Know your lgbt history - Hanna-Barbera cartoons pushes the 'gay agenda

'Know your lgbt history - Cruising

Know your lgbt history - Foxy Brown and Cleopatra Jones

Know your lgbt history - I Got Da Hook Up

Know your lgbt history - Fright Night

Know your lgbt history - Flowers of Evil

The Jeffersons and the transgender community    
 


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'Porno Pete' LaBarbera is mad at me, bigot will resign from school board, and other Friday midday news briefs

First, I have a confession to make. From time to time when I post something about the religious right, I send what I have written to subject of the post. The goal is to get them try to refute what I have written. I have been very unsuccessful when it comes to refutations, but sometimes, the answers I do receive are very interesting. This morning, I emailed Peter LaBarbera my post about him embracing the lies of the discredited Paul Cameron. He sent the following back to me:

You are one hateful dude, Alvin. If I called you a name like that you'd freak out. What a hypocrite you are. But you are formally invited to come to Chicago to hear Hutch at our banquet Nov 13 (you'll have to lay down $50). You need God's forgiveness and love, but that means leaving your homosexual sin and that awful pride behind. Yes, Jesus Christ can set you free, Alvin, and no, you cannot be a faithful Christian and celebrate sin like you do every day of your life thru that moronic blog. God bless you.

PS. Stop the Hate. :)

Of course I had to answer him back:

I find it sad that you have the temerity to talk about my supposed sins when on a daily basis you commit the sins of lying and bearing false witness.

Look at yourself, Peter. You are a sad, bloated excuse of a man who has made it his life work to demonize and harm a group of people who haven't done you a bit of harm. You sow the seeds of hate and help to create an atmosphere which causes vulnerable lgbt children to end up hating and harming themselves. Just in case you are wondering, yes I am blaming you in part for these lgbt children committing suicide. And then you talk to me about Jesus's love. You wouldn't know Jesus's love if you died of a heart attack and he raised you from the dead. "Porno Pete" is too nice of a monicker for you, but since I'm being polite, I will only tell you that you shouldn't worry about what I will do when I stand before God. You had better worry about the explanation you intend to give Him for your lifetime of needless hate.

And by the way, I will keep my $50 dollars.

Now on to news briefs:

Bigoted school board member resigns on television- Let the doorknob hit ya where the good Lord split ya:




God disowns gays, and other Knight tales - Another Paul Cameron enabler, Robert Knight says not everyone is a child of God. Funny, Knight doesn't look like God so how would he know.

Barber Wants Obama Investigated for "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" - Matt Barber continues to try and beat out Peter LaBarbera for the ignorance championship title.

Gays should pressure GOP lawmakers, Obama says - I'm inclined to agree with him here. We give our allies more hell than our enemies and I don't agree with that.

Most troops wouldn't oppose serving with gays - Some good news in the midst of the madness.



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Porno Pete LaBarbera embraces Paul Cameron

I haven't written about Peter LaBarbera for a long time.

Luckily he has done something today which I couldn't resist to mention. He actually vouched for the discredited Paul (gays stuff gerbils up their rectums) Cameron:

Researcher Confirms Cameron Hypothesis: Children of ‘Gay’ Parents More Likely to Identify as ‘Gay’

No surprise here, except that an academic has the guts and integrity to report findings that challenge ”gay” activist propaganda. Parents are role models for their children. Homosexual parents are more likely to have children who identify as homosexuals (like their ”moms” or “dads”…). Duh. Note that try as he might, Schumm could not invalidate the hypothesis of Family Research Institute founder Paul Cameron — whom “gay’ activists and their fellow travelers have gone to considerable lengths to demonize.

LaBabera was prefacing a LifeSite news article which reached the exact same inaccurate conclusion - that researcher Walter Schumm proved Cameron's study to be accurate.

The irony is that this comes over a week after several folks concluded that Schumm's work was fraudulent. Of course Schumm's work validate's Cameron's mess because Schumm used the same bad research tactics that Cameron committed in his original study. According to Box Turtle Bulletin:

Schumm’s paper seeks to replicate Cameron’s work while acknowledging some of the criticisms of Cameron’s 2006 paper. It’s important to emphasize however that Schumm only acknowledges someof the criticisms. The most important criticism — the completely non-random nature of the so-called “dataset” that Cameron used — Schumm not only ignores, but he repeats that same flaw and embellishes it in a grandly enlarged form.

. . . Schumm’s “meta-analysis” (and Cameron’s before him) doesn’t even have the benefit of being built off of random convenience samples. There were no convenience samples in any of the ten prior works that Schumm used for his meta-analysis. In fact, they weren’t even professional studies. They were popular books!

That’s right, each of the ten sources that Schumm used to construct his “meta-analysis” were from general-audience books about LGBT parenting and families, most of which are available on Amazon.com. Schumm read the books, took notes on each parent and child described in the book, examined their histories, and counted up who was gay and who was straight among the kids. The ten books were:

* Abigail Garner’s Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Is
* Andrew Gotlieb’s Sons Talk About Their Gay Fathers: Life Curves
* Noelle Howey and Ellen Samuels’ Out of the Ordinary: Essays on Growing Up with Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Parents
* Maureen Asten’s Lesbian Family Relationships in American Society: The Making of an Ethnographic Film
* Mary Boenke’s Trans Forming Families: Real Stories About Transgendered Loved Ones
* Jane Drucker’s Families Of Value: Gay and Lesbian Parents and their Children Speak Out
* Peggy Gillespie’s Love Makes a Family: Portraits of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Parents and Their Families
* Louise Rafkin’s Different Mothers: Sons and Daughters of Lesbians Talk About Their Lives
* Myra Hauschild and Pat Rosier’s Get Used to It!: Children of Gay and Lesbian Parents
* And Lisa Saffron’s What About the Children: Sons and Daughters of Lesbian and Gay Parents Talk About Their Lives

Furthermore, according to Box Turtle Bulletin, Schumm copied how Cameron distorted certain books:

Schumm used Abigail’s book in precisely the same illegitimate way that Cameron did. Despite the fact that Abigail expressly said that she intentionally made her balance of gay kids to straight kids at about 50/50, Schumm used that sample as part of his “meta-analysis” to conclude that gay parents are more likely to create gay kids. Schumm doesn’t say how many of his 262 “samples” he derived from Abagail’s book. Cameron said he used “over 50″ of Abigail’s interviews, so it is likely to be a considerable chunk of Schumm’s “dataset” as well.

So in other words, Schumm didn't validate Cameron's work. He just copied it.

The irony of LaBarbera's piece is that if he sought to somehow enhance Cameron's - and Schumm's - credibility, he failed miserably.

Nothing anyone on the right can do or say will ever make Paul Cameron a credible expert. He has too large of an ugly paper trail. But what LaBarbera did was further destroy his own credibility and given the lgbt community another weapon against him to remind folks just how phony and hateful he actually is.

Personally, every time LaBarbera's name comes up, I'm going to remind people of his "love" of Paul Cameron every chance I get.

And I mean every chance I get.

Related post:

AOL article sanitizes Paul Cameron and bad science


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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Message to the Tea Party - What took you so long to get angry?

Not necessarily an lgbt issue per se, or is it? I didn't write this. The actual author is unknown but he/she speaks gospel. In anticipation of the election and most assured coronation of the astroturfed group as kingmakers, no matter the outcome:

You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.

You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate Energy policy and push us to invade Iraq .

You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.

You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.  

You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.   You didn't get mad when we spent over 800 billion (and counting) on said illegal war.  

You didn't get mad when Bush borrowed more money from foreign sources than the previous 42 Presidents combined.    

You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars in cash just disappeared in Iraq .    

You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.     

You didn't get mad when Bush embraced trade and outsourcing policies that shipped 6 million American jobs out of the country.

You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.     

You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.

You didn't get mad when Bush rang up 10 trillion dollars in combined budget and current account deficits.    

You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.  

You didn't get mad when we let a major US city, New Orleans drown.   

You didn't get mad when we gave people who had more money than they could spend, the filthy rich, over a trillion dollars in taxbreaks. You didn't get mad with the worst 8 years of job creations in several decades.   

You didn't get mad when over 200,000 US Citizens lost their lives because they had no health insurance.  

You didn't get mad when lack of oversight and regulations from the Bush Administration caused US Citizens to lose 12 trillion dollars in investments, retirement, and home values.   

No.....You finally got mad

When a black man was elected President and decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick.

Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, job losses by the millions, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, and the worst economic disaster since 1929 are all okay with you, but helping fellow Americans who are sick...Oh, Hell No!!

Editor's note - as you may have noticed in the comments section, some tea party member tried to answer back this post. I answered the person back but a more complete version of what I said to him/her is at this link. It was enjoyable to refute the tea partier's lies but his/her callous comments were sad.

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Will homosexuality bring America's downfall and other Thursday midday news briefs

NBC Affiliate: Will Gays Bring American Downfall? - Of course not. Cell phones have already done that.

Uganda’s “Hang Them” Tabloid To Resume Publication - This ain't good.

Gay U.S. House members: ‘Elections Matter’ - That right, dammit.

How Do We Really Make It Better for Gay Teens?
- This is an excellent piece.

De Rossi: 'Being a lesbian caused anorexia' - I'm pushing this to show how a bad headline can ruin an excellent article. De Rossi said that her struggle with her lesbian identity caused her problems. It was an unfortunately bad headline.



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Clint McCance demonstrates the best way for a gay child to commit suicide

I would love to see and hear how the religious right can defend this one:

The Arkansas Department of Education has condemned anti-gay comments made by a local school board member and posted on a social networking site.

Midland School District Vice President Clint McCance wrote on his personal Facebook page that he wanted gay people to commit suicide, according to The Advocate, a newspaper focusing on gay news. McCance used the terms "queer" and "fag" repeatedly, promised to disown his own children if they were gay, and stated that he enjoys "the fact that [gay people] often give each other AIDS and die."

A strongly worded statement signed by Dean Stanley, superintendent of the Midland School District, disavowed the remarks. "The district strives to foster an environment that discourages all forms of bullying," the statement read, "and an environment that encourages a safe and productive educational climate of all of our students. The district is very diligent in pursuing and addressing bullying of any variety on our campuses."

A separate statement sent to CNN by Julie Thompson, director of communications for the Arkansas Department of Education, said the department is "dismayed to see that a school board official would post something of this insensitive nature on a public forum like Facebook."
I hear he is running again for the school board unopposed. That's nice. Words cannot describe the absolute disgust I feel at this man. It is the height of irony that this awful story comes out in the midst of religious right so-called experts coming out with statements claiming that homophobia doesn't lead to suicide. Guess what dumbasses, it does. The following is a clip of Anderson Cooper interviewing the man who blew the whistle on McCance's actions:






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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Phony Christians shedding crocodile tears over the bullying of lgbt teens

Of all religious right responses to the recent suicides of gay teens and bullying against lgbt youth in general, the following has to take the proverbial cake:


Real Christians Say 'No' to Bullying and Homosexual Behavior

A coalition of pro-family leaders today urges Christian families to be faithful to biblical morality and discerning in the face of false and irresponsible accusations. Christianity and traditional values are not the cause of teen suicides, and attempts to link the two are deceptive and will ultimately harm children.

"Gay" activists nationwide are fueling an effort to indict traditional moral values as "guilty until proven innocent" in some bullying incidents involving teens. Their proposed solutions end up sexualizing teens at young ages into known high-risk behaviors and silencing concerned parents.

Now, the U.S. Department of Education seems to be joining the effort, setting the stage for implicating traditional morality as the cause of some cases of bullying, and using the force of federal government to force pro-homosexual, pro-"transgender" indoctrination programs onto local schools.

"Just say no" to these outrageous and unsubstantiated claims, said Buddy Smith, Executive Vice President, American Family Association (www.afa.net). "Bullying can be prevented without endorsing homosexual behavior. Activist adults essentially are saying that American parents who want their kids to avoid high risk homosexual sex acts and remain abstinent until traditional marriage, are harming kids. This is preposterous, and local parents and communities need to resist enforced political correctness."

Authentic Christians will remember several key concepts from Scripture:

1. Homosexual behavior is always a sin, God's plan for sexuality is male/female marriage, and God has not changed His mind about this (Genesis 19; Leviticus 18:22; Matthew 19:4-6; Romans 1:24-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

2. Jesus described marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and that humans were created male and female "from the beginning." Gender change is a defiant and ungrateful sin against God's direction and design (Matthew 19:4-6)

3. Violence against children is wrong. Jesus was very clear in his protection of children and also had harsh words for those who would forbid children from knowing His truth and love ( Luke 17:2; Luke 18: 15-16). "Gay" activists want to keep children from knowing, loving and following the real Jesus Christ. At the very least, schools must not interfere in the desires of parents to raise their own children to follow Christ and live out biblical morality.

4. School boards aid child corruption and insult faithful families when they allow "gay-straight alliances," homosexual indoctrination programs, permission for use of opposite sex restrooms, and any of the other ridiculous demands of the "gay" lobby.

So in other words, in spite  a CNN poll which says churches contribute to the problem of gay teen suicide, these folks who call themselves "real Christians" continue to play the "it's the rabid homosexual activists" card.

Personally, I'm astounded by the audacity of these folks because you see, I don't necessarily blame the church for this problem. And of course I don't blame the lgbt community.

The problem is staring us all in the face. It's these "real Christians" that are to blame. For years, they have bent over backwards to demonize the lgbt community, making us look like the other, and basically calling us evil. Their actions and comments create an atmosphere that make it difficult for not only lgbt teens but lgbts in general.

And now they have the temerity to push a statement blaming other for their actions.

You think I am wrong? Well let's look at some of these folks on this list:

1. Linda Harvey, president of Mission America - The former ad executive who "found Christ" and also publicly said gays and people who support us shouldn't be around children because, amongst other things, we will cause them to be sexually abused:

When people have views supporting homosexuality, they should not be involved with youth in any way, period. Here’s why:
• They will provide inaccurate, misleading information to kids;
• They may limit a student’s opportunity to hear warnings about the behavior;
• They may advocate or model inappropriate behavior;
• They may be directly involved in the molestation of kids themselves; or
• They may be in a position to allow others to do so. - Fairy Tales Don't Come True: Impressionable Kids and Homosexuality
 
2. Micah Clark, American Family Association of Indiana - who in 2002 bragged that during a hearing on domestic partnerships in Indianapolis, he not only cited the distorted data of Paul (gay men stuff gerbils of their rectums) Cameron, but sidestepped a councilmember who called him out for it:

“The author of the (domestic partner benefit) bill . . . tried to come at me for using a Paul Cameron study. I diverted that one pretty well by pointing out that I have spoken with Dr. Paul Cameron and her information was wrong. In any event, I said it was published in a well respected peer review journal and the research has not been disproved. I have been waiting for that one for years.” (Indianapolis Rejects Domestic Partner Benefits, Concerned Women for America, August 8, 2002)


3. Gary Glenn, President, American Family Association of Michigan - who this year said that we should "criminalize homosexual behavior."

4. J. Matt Barber, Director of Cultural Affairs, Liberty Counsel - who not only defends countries which persecute lgbts, describes gay relationships as "one man violently cramming his penis into another man’s lower intestine and calling it ‘love", but also makes it a point to encourage people to focus more on the "ick factor" of gay sex.

5. Mathew D. Staver, Founder and Chairman, Liberty Counsel - who recently implied that children raised in gay households have a danger of catching HIV/AIDS.

6. Peter LaBarbera, President, Americans for Truth - who really needs no introduction.  When it comes to demonizing lgbts, LaBarbera has not only written the book but also the movie. These are just a few of his acts:

1. Smearing gays via a CDC report on an increase on HIV while intentionally downplaying the part of the report which clearly places the blame on this increase on homophobia (while at the same time implying that the report "dispels the homophobia causes AIDS propaganda")

2.
  Defending a bill which would lead to the imprisonment and possible genocide of Ugandans simply for being gay or lesbian.

 
3. 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.

4
. Making ugly comments about a "transgender quota" in the Obama Administration simply because the president appoints a (very, very qualified) transgendered woman to an office in his administration.

5.
Instigating a  highly inappropriate comment about gays, lesbians, and sexual intercourse; a comment so ugly that it led to a feud between three religious right groups.

6.
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.

7.
Aiding and abetting Conservapedia spread lies about gay health using the fictional term "gay bowel syndrome."

8.
Freely admitting to errors when it comes to claims against the gay and lesbian community but not taking responsibility for them.

9.
Falsely accusing the Democratic National Convention and the Gay and Lesbian Task Force of putting on a sadomasochistic event.

10.
Attempting to imply that a staph infection was the new HIV and then lying about his implications when caught.

When these people come out with this statement about bullying and everyone focuses on the church, we all miss the point. The church is not the problem, it is these folks who exploit the beliefs of the church who are the problem. And they need to be exposed.

Because quite frankly, their statements on the bullying of lgbt teens is the equivalent of a pyromaniac issuing a statement about fire prevention.



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Arkansas school board member wishes more gay teens would commit suicide or catch AIDS and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Arkansas School board member: gay students should 'get AIDS and die' - And that's not all he said. I didn't report on this personally because frankly I didn't want his words to soil my blog. This $@! needs to be dismissed and quickly. Forget any nonsense about political correctness. There is simply no excuse for this.

Video: These three people want to unseat learned legal scholars for following the constitution - Ignorance is contagious this year.

Go Rachel: MSNBC Host Tracks Down AK Tea Bagger Candidate Joe Miller And Asks About Marriage Equality - And his answers are confusing. Par for the course. See what happens when a black man is elected president. All the nuts fall from the trees.

"Real Christians" Say Bullying Is Bad, But Being Gay Is Even Worse - So according to these people - and you are going to love who is on this list - bullying is bad but giving lgbt students the tools they need to survive the bullying is worse. OKAY.

New Ralph Reed Ad Campaign Literally Declares "It's Us Vs Them" - Guess who is the "us" and who is the "them." And here I thought Reed had gotten into trouble for corruption. You can't keep a good lying hypocrite down.

Mississippi school to pay gay teen's legal bills - All together now . . . ha ha ha!


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Right-wing group wants to reinstate Florida's gay adoption ban to 'save' children from catching AIDS

Florida's ban on adoption by gays is dead due to Attorney General Bill McCollum's decision not to appeal court rulings calling it illegal.

But the ban could be brought back if the right-wing Liberty Counsel has anything to do with it. Liberty Counsel head Mat Staver said:

"The fact of the matter is [McCollum has] listened to wrong advice by people who are trying to count heads at the Florida Supreme Court, wondering whether they have enough votes," Staver suggests. "But the fact of the matter is if they don't have enough votes then, they certainly have already abdicated the fight now by not appealing this."

That means homosexual adoption is now legal in Florida, but the Liberty Counsel founder notes that the ruling is not the last word as he plans to ask the 2011 legislature to pass a similar law and protect Florida's children.

Staver claims that his reason for doing so is simple. But it's not simple. In fact, it's rather proposterous:
"Children should not be placed in a homosexual household," he contends. "Recent studies have indicated that children raised in a homosexual environment are more likely to engage in homosexual activity at an exponentially increased rate, and the Centers for Disease Control recently came out with a study that said one in five homosexual men are HIV positive."

Interestingly enough, Staver doesn't even cite these so-called "recent studies."  One wonders if they even exist.

In a sly way, Staver is implying that children raised in same-sex households have a danger of catching HIV/AIDS. But are no studies which say this is the case.

On the contrary, studies show that children raised in same-sex households thrive very well.

Staver claims that his group's efforts is to protect children but if the Liberty Counsel really wanted to do this, they best leave well enough alone.




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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Religious right leader distorts truth, twists logic to duck blame for gay teen suicides

According to People for the American Way, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council told NPR that gay teens are suicidal because they "know that they are abnormal:

"There's no correlation between inacceptance of homosexuality and depression and suicide," he says.

Rather, Perkins says, there is another factor that leads kids to kill themselves.

"These young people who identify as gay or lesbian, we know from the social science that they have a higher propensity to depression or suicide because of that internal conflict."

Homosexuality is "abnormal," he says, and kids know it, which leads them to despair. That's why he wants to confront gay activism in public schools. For example, his group supports the Day of Truth, when Christian high schoolers make their case that homosexuality is a sin.

But Perkins is wrong and the strangest thing is that his own words prove him to be a liar.

 Remember that piece he wrote which was published in the Washington Post on National Coming Out Day? A portion of it said the following:

There is an abundance of evidence that homosexuals experience higher rates of mental health problems in general, including depression.

Media Matters said the following:

Perkins links to a February 2002 American Psychologist article, which reported on the "results of several breakthrough studies are offering new insights on gay men, lesbians and bisexuals." While Perkins is right, "Several studies suggest that gay men, lesbians and bisexuals appear to have higher rates of some mental disorders compared with heterosexuals," he's totally wrong that these rates have nothing to do with discrimination. In fact, the article immediately goes on to report that "[d]iscrimination may help fuel these higher rates." The article reported: "In a study that examines possible root causes of mental disorders in LGB people, [Susan] Cochran [PhD] and psychologist Vickie M. Mays, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, explored whether ongoing discrimination fuels anxiety, depression and other stress-related mental health problems among LGB people. The authors found strong evidence of a relationship between the two." Several other studies back up this finding. 

So while Perkins claims that there is no correlation between unacceptance of homosexuality and depression, he has no problem with distorting research that says just the opposite.

And it's not the first time he has done this.

According to Gay and Lesbian Medical Association's Ten Things Gay Men Should discuss with Their Healthcare Provider:

Depression and anxiety appear to affect gay men at a higher rate than in the general population. The likelihood of depression or anxiety may be greater, and the problem may be more severe for those men who remain in the closet or who do not have adequate social supports. Adolescents and young adults may be at particularly high risk of suicide because of these concerns. Culturally sensitive mental health services targeted specifically at gay men may be more effective in the prevention, early detection, and treatment of these conditions.
Me citing this piece is important because Perkins actually used it in 2009 as a part of his testimony in front of Congress in opposition to ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act). Endnote five of the printed testimony clearly says:

Evidence for the negative health consequences of homosexual conduct is available even from pro-homosexual sources such as the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. See their "Top Ten Issues to Discuss with Your Healthcare Provider" online at: http://www.glma.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=586&parentID=533&nodeID=1

He used the GLMA piece to talk about the so-called negative behaviors associated with homosexuality, omitting of course how homophobia plays a part in these negative behaviors, particularly depression - which was something the piece made abundantly clear.

Tony, allow to paraphrase something for you:


It's better to be thought of as a lying homophobic bigot than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.



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Why can't the religious right stop denigrating gay suicide victims?

Leave it to One News Now and the Liberty Counsel's Matt Barber to take the recent suicides of gay youth and tarnish them in a sad effort to cover up how their homophobia may play into the situation:

A conservative attorney agrees with a Cornell University psychology professor who believes the idea that there is a homosexual youth suicide epidemic is a dangerous misconception.

Following the recent suicides of four homosexual youths, Professor Ritch Savin-Williams stated he believes "it is important to point out...that there is absolutely no scientific evidence of an 'epidemic of gay youth suicide,' or even that gay youth kill themselves more frequently than do straight youth." Though he agrees the deaths are tragic, he decides they are rendered "even more tragic because they come at a time when growing up gay has never been better or easier."

The "conservative attorney" who agrees with Savin-Williams is none other than the Liberty Counsel's Matt Barber. Barber, who once called gay relationships "one man violently cramming his penis into another man’s lower intestine and calling it ‘love" and also defended the right of countries to persecute lgbts had this to say:

"As we've known all along, this line that is being pushed by radical homosexual extremist pressure groups that somehow societal homophobia is responsible...this is purely propaganda," he argues. "And as this professor points out, this is the case."

Studies show suicidal tendencies among homosexuals are about ten percent higher than the rest of society, but that occurs even in European nations where homosexual activity is celebrated and in areas of the United States where the lifestyle is more accepted. So since so-called "homophobia" is not the cause, Barber suggests another possibility.

"I think the cause is clearly we need to look to these kids who are sexually confused and are really disturbed and tormented internally -- it's not an external source," he notes. "So often times, unfortunately, with no other perceived means at hand, some of these kids are at risk to hurt themselves.

First of all, it doesn't take a blind, mute, and deaf man to know that Barber doesn't have an inkling of what he is talking about.

This particular statement of his is highly inaccurate:


"Studies show suicidal tendencies among homosexuals are about ten percent higher than the rest of society, but that occurs even in European nations where homosexual activity is celebrated and in areas of the United States where the lifestyle is more accepted."

The first part concerning Europe is a distortion of a Netherlands study. I talked about it earlier when referencing how Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council was misusing it. The second part of his statement concerning "areas of the United States" is a lie, plain and simple.

You see, Barber has an unfortunate habit of sometimes making things up.

Actually the entire premise of the article is wrong. From what I understand, there has been a lot of alarm and sadness over the recent suicides of gay youth, but no one has ever called it an epidemic or pandemic. Savin-Williams is doing some good by keeping such talk from becoming a hysteria. However, Barber is taking his words to trivialize the recent suicides in general.

The sad irony is that Barber omits the part of Savin-Williams's research which calls into question how much homophobia does play a part in the suicides of gay youth:


"First, middle schools can be tough places for youth who are 'different.' Bullies, however, seldom limit their attacks to gay youth. Research at Cornell's Sex and Gender Lab concludes that the life satisfaction of both straight and gay youth suffers if they behave in a gender 'inappropriate' manner (feminine boys, masculine girls). It is gender expression, not sexual orientation per se, that is linked with decreased psychological wellbeing, and this is likely the result of bullying.

"Second, some early adolescents who believe that they might be gay lack friend and parent support. Perhaps they have not yet developed their network of friendships and have parents who approach their child's same-sex sexuality as if it were a 'phase' that can and will change.

"Thus, to assert that there is an epidemic of gay youth suicide is not only speculative but also irresponsible because of the message it delivers to gay youth: 'be prepared to kill yourself.' Indeed, most gay youth love their life and wouldn't change their sexuality even if they had a magic pill to do so. Is this not the better message to deliver?"



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Monday, October 25, 2010

A few words about voting from SAVE Dade

This isn't only about Florida. It goes for the entire country:



Hat tip to Save Dade.





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Apparently I am an 'Uncle Tom' and other Monday midday news briefs

No Maggie…And You Don’t Have Any Blood In Your Heart Either- Give it up Maggie Gallagher, your protests only make it worse.

McCollum’s last stand? He won’t appeal gay adoption ruling, BUT…. - Florida's gay adoption ban is dead but McCollum seems to want to play Dr. Frankenstein.

Unlikely allies in bias battle: Gay man and his ex-attacker - This is a pretty cool article.


Finally, someone (who shall remain nameless) took the time to pick apart my earlier work. By picking apart, I mean calling me names like an shill for the Democratic Party and an Obama apologist. Then two others - one with a personal beef with me - decided to join in. And I have a problem with that because it proves the point I am trying to make. Can the lgbt community do anything but demonstate creative ways concerning how angry we are throw useless insults at each other. Anyway, this is my answer to him just in case he decides not to publish it on his page:

Dear Sir,

the piece I wrote was a response to the nonsense I hear about lgbts sittiing out this election. To do so would be counterproductive to our struggle. And yes I have a problem with the lgbt community consistently being "reactive" instead of "proactive" We gather together after a tragedy, hugging each other and the like but what are we doing to keep the tragedy from taking place in the first place?

Please bear in mind that I am no one's shill but a free man with my own mind. My background determines who I am and I decide how I will act as a gay man. That's another problem in our community. Some self-appointed individuals call themselves setting the rules and the dictates of what our history is and demanding that folks adhere to them. Well I don't and I am tired of all of this useless anger, these ugly words - "I am an Uncle Tom," "my writing is piss poor," etc. Yes I get it. You are angry but the question is what are you going to do with it? What are you going to do about it? Probably nothing but stew in your juices and call people names. It's unfortunately what some of us do best. Two more things - even those in the civil rights movement realized that proaction is better than reaction. I suggest you look up the full history before citing it. Just because the struggle for lgbt equality and African-American equality is similar doesn't mean you can cite it without knowing what you are talking about.


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The lgbt community should NOT sit this election out

According to the Associated Press, a lot of lgbts are angry at the Democratic Party to the point that some are thinking of either not voting or sitting this election out:

If Democratic candidates are counting on long-standing support from gay voters to help stave off big losses on Nov. 2, they could be in for a surprise.

Across the country, activists say gay voters are angry — at the lack of progress on issues from eliminating employment discrimination to uncertainty over serving in the military to the economy — and some are choosing to sit out this election or look for other candidates.

Let me make this short and sweet. Any lgbt thinking of sitting this election out should think long and hard about whether it is a wise thing to do for the community. I say that on the basic principle that no American at any time should surrender his or her right to vote.  Me as an African-American will never do that no matter how angry I feel.

Too many people have suffered beatings, humiliation, and even death for me to vote. For me not to vote would be spitting in their face.

But as a gay man, while I'm not happy with the progress of the Obama Administration on the BIG issues (i.e. DOMA, DADT), there is something nagging me extremely.

The lgbt community has had a wonderful year. Prop 8 was overturned, the Florida anti-gay adoption law is gone, the exposure of George Rekers opened so many's eyes to religious right junk science, the nation rallied around our youth when those awful suicides took place, and this week will mark one year since lgbt-inclusive hate crimes legislation was signed into law.

I have a serious problem reducing all of the positives of this year to one big minus simply because of DOMA and DADT.

I have a serious problem getting angry at the Democrats so much that I am willing to sacrifice our momentum.

But mostly, I have a serious problem with our community getting so angry at what Obama didn't accomplish that we ignore what we did accomplish. Please notice I said we as in the lgbt community and our allies

It would be nice that with a simple stroke of a pen, our lives would get better, but it's not going to happen that way. Even if DOMA and DADT was overturned, we are still going to have to deal with ignorance and prejudice. Our children are still going to have to deal with bullying. We are still going to have to deal with those who seek to either trivialize our lives or bash in our skulls.

All of this took place before the Obama Presidency and it will continue after his presidency. The only reason why there have been positive changes is because we took the initiative to make those changes.

And I guess that's my reason for getting angry at folks threatening to sit out on election day. To me, not voting is the same as cowering when someone threatens you. And this time's it's not necessarily a person making the threats but the circumstances of the times. But as quickly as a coward runs home when threatened by a bully, some of us are retreating into our safe zones, ready to give up our advantage (because we do have one) simply because our anger.

There should be a bit more understanding and an appreciation that the BIG issues are not the only ones affecting the lgbt community and that there are some who not affected by the BIG issues at all. I know many young black gay men who could care less about DADT but was floored by the fact that Obama took time out to speak to youths about bullying. To them, it was the first time they ever saw a president and a black man being publicly supportive.

Some victories may come fast, others will take time, but we are winning.

This by no means is a defense of the Obama Administration or the Democrats, but an attack on how the lgbt community is yet again "reacting."

For me, it mostly comes down to this:

We reacted because the police kept harassing us as Stonewall,

We reacted because Anita Bryant told those lies about us in the 70's,

We reacted because of the AIDS crisis,

We reacted because of the Proposition 8 vote.

Our history seems to be a pattern of reacting.

When you react, you lash out and are on the defensive. You are not in control of the situation because you are trying to rally yourself from whatever calamity that has been thrust upon you.

And that has been our problem.

We are constantly trying to rally ourselves after being slapped. We wait until we have been wronged before we act and then we try to take care of the situation with a rushed public display of anger. And deciding to sit this election out is the ultimate rushed public display of anger. Refusing to vote would do nothing but surrender our advantage, not to mention send a negative message to the many lgbt candidates running for office (another victory we seem to forget about in the midst of our anti-Obama gripefest).

One level, we do come across as a community with legitimate grievances (because our anger and frustration are legitimate), but on another level, we come across as a community willing to cut our noses off to spite our faces simply because we want things NOW.

But basically, I'm saying this - don't sit this election out because if we don't vote because we haven't gotten what we wanted, then we deserve whatever we get.



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Saturday, October 23, 2010

Oprah takes a sad look back in AIDS in America circa 1987

Editor's note - I generally don't make this kind of warning but feel that I should in this case. What this clip shows will get you angry and will probably make you cry. But it needs to be shown what it was like when AIDS first came on the scene - the ignorance, the fear, the surreal hatred must be shown, remembered, and especially told to those who were too young to remember.

Oprah Winfrey took a look back at one of her 1987 shows. This particular one showed a community (Willamson, West Virginia) at odds with a young gay man with AIDS, Mike Sisco. The fears and hatred exploded when Sisco visited the local swimming pool and residents freaked out thinking that he had contaminated it. This is just a small clip of the show:





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Friday, October 22, 2010

Know Your LGBT History - That Certain Summer




That Certain Summer was a groundbreaking television movie which premiered on ABC in 1972. It told the story of a teenager (Scott Jacoby) who finds out that his divorced father (Hal Holbrook) is gay and in a relationship with another man (Martin Sheen)  while visiting him during the summer.

It was one of the first movies to deal with the lgbt community on a sympathetic level. The movie can be described as sad - the ending was at least. At the time, it was highly controversial and but successful, garnering several Emmy nominations and one win (Jacoby for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Drama).

It was also viewed as a huge success by the critics.

From Wikipedia:

Marilyn Beck of the New York Times called it "one of the finest pieces of drama you'll see this year on large or small screen." Judith Crist described it as "a giant step for television" in New York. TV Guide declared, "Television grows up," and in his review in the Los Angeles Times, Charles Champlin opined, "It is the best movie for TV I have yet seen . . . a film which would do honor to any size screen."


Past Know Your LGBT History posts:

Know Your LGBT History - Boat Trip

Know Your LGBT History - Staircase

Know Your LGBT History - Beautiful Thing

Know Your LGBT History - Armed and Dangerous

Know Your LGBT History - The Proud Family

Know Your LGBT History - Suddenly Last Summer

Know Your LGBT History - Gay TV Now

Know Your LGBT History - Stewardess School

Know Your LGBT History - Up the Academy

Know Your LGBT History - Don't be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood

Know Your LGBT History - A Different Story

Know Your LGBT History - Victim

Know Your LGBT History - The Color Purple

Know Your LGBT History - Making Love

Know Your LGBT History - A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge

Know Your LGBT History - Noah's Arc

Know Your LGBT History - Ode to Billy Joe

Know Your LGBT History - Adorable Adrian Adonis

Know Your LGBT History - The Night Strangler

Know Your LGBT History - All in the Family

Know Your LGBT History - Tongues Untied

Know Your LGBT History - The Celluloid Closet

Know Your LGBT History - Querelle

Know Your LGBT History - Theatre of Blood

Know Your LGBT History - Strange Fruit

Know Your LGBT History - Designing Women

Know Your LGBT History - The Children's Hour

Know Your LGBT History - Sylvester

Know Your LGBT History - Once Bitten

Know Your LGBT History - The Boys in the Band

Know Your LGBT History - Christopher Morley, the crossdressing assassin

Know Your LGBT History - Midnight Cowboy

Know Your LGBT History - Dracula's Daughter

Know Your LGBT History - Blacula

Know Your LGBT History - 3 Strikes

Know Your LGBT History - Paris Is Burning

Know Your LGBT History - The Women

Know your LGBT History - Soul Plane

Know Your LGBT History - The Player's Club

Special Know Your LGBT History - Fame

Know Your LGBT History - Welcome Home, Bobby

Know Your LGBT History - Barney Miller

Know your lgbt history - The Jerry Springer Show

Know your lgbt history - Martin Lawrence and that 'gay guy' on his show

Know your lgbt history - The Ricki Lake Show

Know your lgbt history - Which Way Is Up

Know your lgbt history - Gays in Primetime Soaps

Know your lgbt history - Boys Beware

Know your lgbt history - The Boondocks

Know your lgbt history - Mannequin

Know your lgbt history - The Warriors

Know Your LGBT History - New York Undercover

Know Your LGBT History - Low Down Dirty Shame

Know Your LGBT History - Fortune and Men's Eyes

Know your lgbt history - California Suite

Know your lgbt history - Taxi (Elaine's Strange Triangle)

Know your lgbt history - Come Back Charleston Blue

Know your lgbt history - James Bond goes gay

Know your lgbt history - Windows

Know your lgbt history - To Wong Foo and Priscilla

Know your lgbt history - Blazing Saddles

Know your lgbt history - Sanford and Son

Know your lgbt history - In Living Color

Know your lgbt history - Cleopatra Jones and her lesbian drug lords

Know your lgbt history - Norman, Is That You?

Know your lgbt history - The 'Exotic' Adrian Street

Know your lgbt history - The Choirboys

Know your lgbt history - Eddie Murphy

Know your lgbt history - The Killing of Sister George

Know your lgbt history - Hanna-Barbera cartoons pushes the 'gay agenda

'Know your lgbt history - Cruising

Know your lgbt history - Foxy Brown and Cleopatra Jones

Know your lgbt history - I Got Da Hook Up

Know your lgbt history - Fright Night

Know your lgbt history - Flowers of Evil

The Jeffersons and the transgender community    




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'Real' Rolling Stone smacks Ugandan homophobia and other Friday midday news briefs

African 'Rolling Stone' Impostor Spreads Hate Agenda - Rolling Stone magazine strikes against homophobia in Uganda and a bad mark on its good name.

Poll: churches to blame for suicides of LGBT youth - Supposed people of God, there IS a problem here. You can either deny or do something to combat like good Christians would do.

NOM/FRC/IFF sure have a funny way of honoring Spirit Day - The "puke" bus runs along. That's right, I said it.

Gay student teacher gets Oregon job back- This is what happens when the community steps up.

Janet Porter Prays For Control Of the Government - Again? You just can't stop the crazy in Janey.


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