Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters: 2010

Friday, December 31, 2010

Know Your LGBT History - Some Like It Hot

Barring something incredible happening, this will be my last post of 2010 for my blog. 2010 has been a fun ride and we got a lot of stuff accomplished for our community. I want to end it all on a happy note with this latest edition of Know Your LGBT History, my series looking at the history of lgbt portrayals on television and in the movies. Enjoy today's edition and past editions. Can you believe that I am almost at 100 episodes? I apologize in advance for any broken links.

Happy New Year everyone and may 2011 be as fruitful for us as 2010 was

Some Like It Hot (1959) is a classic and one of my favorite movies of all time. Directed by the legendary Billy Wilder and starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and the one herself, Marilyn Monroe, it is a comedy about two musician who happen to witness the murder of a group of mobsters.

To escape the killers, they run away from the city and take refuge in an all-girls band, disguised as women. Hilarity ensues as Lemmon gets engaged to a millionaire and Curtis falls for the lead singer of the band, played by Marilyn Monroe:

From Wikipedia:

The film was awarded an Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (Orry-Kelly) and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Jack Lemmon), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White (Ted Haworth, Edward G. Boyle), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Best Director and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

It won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Comedy. Marilyn Monroe won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in Musical or Comedy, and Jack Lemmon for Best Actor in Musical or Comedy.

The film has been acclaimed worldwide as one of the greatest films ever made. In 1989, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant," going in on the first year of voting.

In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted it the eighth greatest comedy film of all time. In 2002, Channel 4 ranked Some Like It Hot as the fifth greatest film ever made in their 100 Greatest Films Poll.

The only problem I have with Some Like It Hot is the fact that Monroe should have gotten an Oscar nomination. If anyone ever wonders why Monroe is a legend, show them this film.

But the part that almost everyone remembers about this movie is the ending. Lemmon has to break the news to a millionaire that they can't get married because he is a man. But the millionaire doesn't seem to mind:

Wingnuts at Free Republic go ape@!& over Elton John's new son

The news that Elton John and his husband of 12 years, David Furnish, are the fathers of a baby boy via surrogate received congratulations from many circles.

That is except for the rabid wolves, bloodsuckers, harpies, orcs, and ogres at the right-wing site Free Republic. They aren't exactly happy about the news. On the Free Republic newsboard, responders left many homophobic comments.

Some were as follows:

They want acceptance to their perverted lifestyle. God won’t accept them, so their next best chance at acceptance is through a politically correct populace that has been desensitized to this lifestyle for a couple of decades now through media and culture.

They don’t care about being a family. Two male homos now have full access to a little boy. How sad for that child.

the real evil is any woman being a surrogate for this perversion....

“They” did not make the child. One of them provided the sperm, and a female provided the egg and the womb. This is not “their” child. They are living in a fantasy world where just because they can call what they have a family or a marriage, it makes it so. And I am positive that at some point, the child will learn enough to wonder who the biological father and mother really is. I wonder what PC line of BS they will feed to that child to get him to shut up.

In the 70’s the gays couldn’t deny they were freaks and counter culture as it was so unacceptable back then, which is why gays stayed in the closet. Now since the desensitized image of who gays are due to Hollywood and the media, gays are more brazen and want equal rights as that of traditional heterosexual married couples. I think the man / woman roles in a gay couple; also looking for children and being considered legally married may also be part of this ploy to get their lives looked upon as “normal” by the powers that be to make legislation happen to give them a leg up.

Could someone explain to me why the gays want all want to act as a heterosexual family????

Believe it or not, those were some of the more polite comments.

I know you want to get angry at this, but don't. I posted this to provide some perspective as we pivot from 2010 to 2011.

In the long run, the folks on Free Republic are a bunch of sad creatures who can't cause any harm except probably to their fingers with the enormity of nonsense they type.

They are a perfect example that unfortunately in some circles, homophobia will always exist just like racism and other forms of prejudice will always exist. We will probably never conquer it.

But the important thing is that we don't let it conquer us. 2010 was one of the best years I have seen for the lgbt community and if God is merciful, 2011 will be better.

When push comes to shove, let the ignorant people talk and whine. Let's continue to move forward as a people because no matter how much they talk, they can't stop us. We have survived worse and we are still here.

And when the folks at Free Republic dry up and blow away (or get a crucifix branded on their chests, shot by a silver bullet, have a stake embedded in their hearts, get chased away by holy water, whichever), we will still be here.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

NOM needs to stop peddling in fantasy and face reality about same-sex families

Brian Brown, head of the National Organization for Marriage, published a Christmas message on the group's blog featuring a picture of him and his family:

Brown looks like he has a wonderful family and he has every right to be proud of them.

But something is bothering me. What's the difference between his family and these families:

None of these families are any different except for the sexual orientation of the parents. Yet it is this one little thing which propels Brown, NOM, and other members of the religious right to oppose not only same-sex marriage, but also same-sex households. I could cite many studies which easily demonstrate that there is nothing with same-sex households, but sometimes I just feel like I don't need to.

At what point do we recognize the fact that same-sex families having to always have to "prove" themselves is a basic insult?

The truth is we all know of same-sex households which include children and we all know that these children are happy and healthy. We all know that these households provide children with the love, support, and structure they need to get through life.

To claim that same-sex households are harmful or even push the cynical talking point that same-sex households is an "untested experiment" is an insult to basic intelligence.

The question that those on the right, Brown included, never seem to want to answer is what makes them the arbiters of what constitutes a "good family." What gives them the right to create a caste system for families who doesn't fit their narrow idea of an "idealized situation?"

An "idealized situation" is not reality. It's a fantasy. Reality is the fact that two-parent heterosexual families are not always the best place to raise children. Reality is that sometimes children thrives in single parents households or even same-sex households.

If Brown and company really cared about families or children, they would do something more about the reality rather than to manipulate the fantasy.

By writing this, I mean no disrespect to Brown and I certainly don't mean any disrespect to his family. But it is patently obscene to me that someone will show pride in his family while attempting to deny others the chance to have the same privilege simply because he does not agree with their sexual orientation.

Teachers who bullied gay student sues school district and other Thursday midday news briefs

Teachers who engaged in anti-gay bullying now suing school district - Whatever happened to the "good old days" when teachers could make fun of lgbt students without reprisal, huh? This story got me so upset that I stopped reading it several times. I can tell you that if the student was me, my mother would given a new meaning to the term "raising hell."

Video: A pack of Savages - I take back my negative opinion of Dan Savage as of now. Any man who can tell it like it is about GoProud and piss off Peter LaBarbera at the same time is a hero in my book. And that's not even counting the awesome work he started this year with the "It Gets Better" project.

Peter LaBarbera Spreads Gordon Klingenschmitt’s Lie Further - And speaking of LaBarbera, apparently he really adores discredited anti-gay sources.

Our complicated relationships with the john - The issue of lgbt equality should not be reduced issues of bathroom usage, but we need to get a handle on this nonsense before the religious right can exploit it.

Apple rejects "Manhattan Declaration" app for second time - DEAL with it, religious right! Your homophobia has been rejected again.

The 2010 Five Most Embarrassing Moments of the Anti-Gay Right Caught on Video

One thing that I will never forget about this year is how members of the religious right and the right in general made complete fools of themselves in their zeal to oppose lgbt equality.

And luckily we have the best moments on video and audio. So without further comment, I present the 2010 Five Most Embarrassing Moments of the Anti-Gay Right Caught on Video.

Honorable Mention: Peter LaBarbera loves Paul Cameron

Okay this isn't exactly a video moment, which is why it gets an honorable mention. Yes I am cheating but I want folks to remember this. Our friend, Porno Pete LaBarbera in an interview with Concerned Women for America's Martha Kleder freely admits to using the discredited research of Paul Cameron in order to demonize the lgbt community. Not only is he not ashamed of it, but he claims that gays don't take Cameron's work seriously because we flat don't like him. This is true. We don't like Paul Cameron. Maybe it has to do with all of those censures and rebukes he has gotten from legitimate groups (i.e the American Psychological Association, the American Sociological Association) for his awful research techniques:

5. Martin Luther King, Jr. supported imprisoning gays?

In February, Molotov Mitchell of World Net Daily gives an absolutely ridiculous defense of the Ugandan "kill the gays" bill, including the part about the death penalty. But the most offensive item from this video comes at 3:00 when Mitchell actually evokes the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to justify not only this bill but his labored defense of it:

"Like the great Dr. King told us, 'the moral arm of the universe is long but it bends towards justice.' Ugandans, stay on the right side of history."

First of all, it's not "arm," but "arc" you dumbass.

It's bad enough that Mitchell sullies King's good name by actually thinking that he would have supported this travesty of a bill. He compounds his homophobia and stupidity by getting the quote wrong:

4. Barney Frank owns phony journalist

In December, DADT was repealed. However the conservative CNS News tried to trip up Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) by reducing the issue to that of heterosexuals "being forced" to shower with gays. What happens next is one of the reasons why Frank is one of my heroes. It begins at 3.50:

South Carolina lgbt organization takes on anti-gay discrimination in a hilarious video

The Alliance For Full Acceptance is just one of the many lgbt organizations in South Carolina standing on the front line against anti-gay discrimination.

In an excellent video campaign, the organization challenges folks to take a look at homophobia and how it harms the lgbt community.

Enjoy:

The sad story of the gay man who prevented a presidential assassination and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Video: Actually, I just showered (though I need another after watching this) - I won't put said video on my blog. Just check it out via Jeremy Hooper. It's another reason why the defense of anti-gay hate groups (i.e. we are just expressing our "Christian" beliefs) fall short. Guess where this guy got his material from?

A Gay Marine Who Saved a President - A gay man saved President Gerald Ford from being assassinated and it ended up destroying his life. A sad tale of how dangerous closets are and a remembrance of a hero who really never got his due.

Poorly Produced NOM Video Very Upset About Potty Words in FCKH8 Video - How interesting. It's okay for children to think of lgbts as freaks and their classmates who live in lgbt households as hellbound, as long as they don't cuss.

Farah: “Purge” the Conservative Movement of Gays and Gay-Rights Supporters - Ah yes. The man behind the World Net Daily site. He already thinks we are affiliated with Nazis so I guess this is the next step.

Palm Springs police Chief apologizes for insensitive remarks during sex sting - He had better apologize! Of course if I were to get snarky about his comment . . .

Britain's first gay surrogate parents to open surrogacy centre for same-sex couples - This is an excellent idea. More centers like this one are needed.

World Net Daily selling discredited book about gays and Nazis

The website World Net Daily is known as "World Nut Daily" for good reason in many progressive circles, particularly in the lgbt blogging community.

A writer on the site, Les Kinsolving, has in the past referred to the lgbt community as the "sodomy lobby." In October of this year, he called a judge’s order to stop enforcement of the military’s ban on gay and lesbian troops in the military as a "disease ridden judicial decision."

In August of this year, the publication dropped conservative writer Ann Coulter as a keynote speaker from a conference it held because she earlier spoke at a conference held by a gay Republican group.

And in February of this year, another writer on World Net Daily, Molotov Mitchell, spoke out in favor of Uganda's "Kill The Gays" bill, even evoking Martin Luther King Jr's name in defense of it.

But apparently that's not the extent of World Net Daily's homophobia.

At its online superstore (yes World Net Daily has a "superstore"), interested individuals can buy a discounted copy of The Pink Swastika. According to the description on the page:

The Pink Swastika is a thoroughly researched, eminently readable, demolition of the "gay" myth, symbolized by the pink triangle, that the Nazis were anti-homosexual.

In other words, The Pink Swastika supposedly gives proof that the gay community was behind the Nazi Party in Germany during World War II.

Not exactly.

2010 Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters Misinformer of the Year - Bryan Fischer

A lot of things happened this year. Some were good such as the repeal of DADT after 17 years, while others were simply awful, i.e. the suicides of several lgbt teens.

To me, though, a very significant thing was finally the recognition that religious right groups peddle in distortions and lies. The Southern Poverty Law Center added five new members of its list of anti-gay hate groups. The new groups were:

1. American Family Association
2. Americans for Truth About Homosexuality
3. Dove World Outreach Center
4. Family Research Council
5. Illinois Family Institute

This brings the total of anti-gay hate groups to 18 and all of them are profiled in exact detail by SPLC.

Other groups profiled by SPLC but not designated as official hate groups were:

1. Christian Anti-Defamation Commission
2. Concerned Women for America
3. Coral Ridge Ministries
4. Liberty Counsel
5. National Organization for Marriage

Naturally this caused a huge controversy with the Family Research Council attempting to lead a fight against the designation, including a huge ongoing campaign with over 150 Congressional leaders vouching for it and other religious right groups. Now FRC contended that SPLC was unfairly attacking religious right groups because their "Christian" stance against homosexuality.

However, thanks to the efforts of one man, we know that FRC's claims was a lie. While FRC played the innocent victim, this man did more to destroy their credibility than anything dug up by any blogger or news reporter.

Ladies and gentlemen, because of those efforts, the 2010 Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters Misinformer of the Year award goes to:

Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association.

Fischer has a long history of making astoundingly homophobic comments which alienated him from everyone across the political spectrum. However, his comments served the lgbt community well in reminding everyone that the SPLC had very good reason in calling out religious right groups, especially considering the fact that while these groups went on and on about being "victimized" for their Christian beliefs, not one of them vocalized any disagreement with Fischer's words. Hell, he was even given a place at the religious right's Values Voters summit.

There are just so many comments from Fischer which stand out that perhaps its better to just showcase the most egregious via video:

Who would have that such a rabid homophobe would actually serve as the lgbt's community best friend and the religious right's worse enemy?

North Carolina officials calls gays 'sexual predators' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

NC: County Commissioner Bill James in email to colleagues - gays are 'sexual predators' - Say what you will about homophobic public officials in South Carolina, none of them are as loony and mean as this guy.

Sir Elton John and David Furnish Welcome a New Baby! - Refrain from being mean folks. Just congratulate Elton and David on the addition to their family.

Star Parker: DADT Repeal Represents Most Dangerous Threat To Nation - Nothing spells excess like anti-gay hyperbole.

Family Research Council and Concerned Women For America pull out of CPAC, Religious Right Boycott Gains Momentum - A war in which I root for NO ONE.

AFA: Repeal of DADT will cause an epidemic of 'butt-sex'

Sometimes, it doesn't take much to demonstrate just how nasty and hateful some members of the religious right choose to be.

All you have to do is just give them free reign to talk.

Take for example the recent overturning of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The American Family Association's phony news service, One News Now published the following piece:

Fighting back against sodomized military

A national defense analyst and Pentagon advisor says the new Congress can take a number of actions to blunt the impact of the new law that allows homosexuals to openly display their lifestyle in the U.S. military.

Many pro-military pundits said they were sickened and angered last week when President Barack Obama ended 235 years of wholesome tradition by signing the bill that will effectively sodomize the U.S. military. One of those specialists is Lt. Col. Bob Maginnis (USA-Ret.), who was part of the military working group that helped craft the 1993 homosexual service ban that the lame-duck Congress and President Obama have now overturned.

"You have a very corrupt regime running the country," he laments. But he expects there to be a backlash when the 112th Congress replaces the lame-duck body that was repudiated by the American people last month.

Where does one start with this one?

Sodomized military? So according to the AFA, the overturning of Don't Ask, Don't Tell means that automatically the American Armed Forces is facing an "epidemic" of butt-sex?

Also, while the article claims that many "pro-military pundits" (which is a bizarre description. Just who are these "pro-military pundits" and does that mean there are "anti-military pundits") who oppose the overturning of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, it only quotes one person, Maginnis. And while Maginnis may be a former military person, he isn't exactly a legitimate source of information.

He just happens to be with the Family Research Council (another religious right group) as the "Senior Fellow for National Security." Before being quoted by this article, he said in another article that "America is no better than Sodom and Gomorrah" for allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military.

It's important to remember that the Southern Poverty Law Center has declared both the AFA and FRC as anti-gay hate groups due to their need to demonize and dehumanize the lgbt community. Granted both organizations claim they are being unfairly victimized for "upholding" Christian values.

And they may have a point . . . only if causing a panic about anal sex is a "Christian value."

Monday, December 27, 2010

Six ways the religious right groups lie about the gay community

This a repost which has been updated. We know that religious right groups peddle distortions designed to demonize the lgbt community.

However we really should do more than simply declare them bigots. The lgbt community needs to follow the advice of high school math teachers and "show our work" in proving what needs to be known about these so-called pro-family groups, i.e. that they lie intentionally to create a phony picture of the lgbt community. So I have compiled a pattern of religious right deception which can be broken down to six techniques:

1. Using nonrepresentative or out-of-date studies to make generalizations, or distorting legitimate studies to give misleading conclusions

Example 1 - Religious right talking point: According to the book Homosexualities: A Study of Diversity Among Men and Women, 43 percent of white male homosexuals had sex with 500 or more partners, with 28 percent having 1,000 or more sexual partners. Therefore gays have no concept of mongamy and certainly can't be trusted to raise children.

Truth - Homosexualities was a book written in 1978 that only looked a certain portion of the lgbt population (gay men in the city of San Francisco). It also did not look at same-sex households. In addition, the authors of Homosexualities (Alan Bell and Martin Weinberg) said that their book should not be used to generalize about all gays in general:

“. . . given the variety of circumstances which discourage homosexuals from participating in research studies, it is unlikely that any investigator will ever be in a position to say that this or that is true of a given percentage of all homosexuals.”

Example 2 - Religious right talking point: Same sex marriage and gay adoption are bad ideas because research shows that the best places to raise children are in homes with a mother and a father.

The truth - The research only looked at heterosexual two-parent households as opposed to single parent heterosexual households. Same-sex households were never included.

Point of fact - The following researchers, physicians, and Ph.D.s have complained about how the anti-gay industry has misused their work:

A. Nicholas Groth,

the six researchers of a Canadian study (Robert S. Hogg, Stefan A. Strathdee, Kevin J.P. Craib, Michael V. Shaughnessy, Julio Montaner, and Martin T. Schehter),

Dr. Robert Garofalo (see Gays as Diseased),\

Lisa Waldner,

Dr. Kyle Pruett,

Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc,

Carol Gilligan,

Dr. Robert Spitzer,

Dr. Francis Collins,

Gary Remafedi,

Professor Michael King,

Professor Lisa Diamond,

Judith Stacey,

Angela Phillips,

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),

Theo Sandfort, and

John Horgan.

2. Repetition - Despite the fact that several physicians and researchers complain about the distortion of their work, corrections are usually not made. In fact, you can still find the work of the six Canadian researchers, Judith Stacey, A. Nicholas Groth, and Robert Garofalo, as well as many others being distorted on various religious right webpages.

3. Conspiracy Theory - Claiming that gays and lesbians are consistently plotting to "erode traditional values"

Example - “The agenda of homosexual activists is basically to change America from what they perceive as looking down on homosexual behavior, to the affirmation of and societal acceptance of homosexual behavior. It is an agenda that they basically set in the late 1980s, in a book called After the Ball, where they laid out a six-point plan for how they could transform the beliefs of ordinary Americans with regard to homosexual behavior—in a decade-long time frame." - Craig Osten, Q&A: The Homosexual Agenda, Focus on the Family, July 25, 2003

4. Dire Consequences - Claiming that a pro-gay law or ordinance will lead to negative consequences without proof that the consequences will take place.

Example 1 - “Imagine, if you will, a 280 lb linebacker who likes to wear a dress and high heels and lipstick, you know comes to church wanting a job at the front desk as a receptionist and they turn him away because they don’t feel that that represents their values or the image that they’re trying to hold at that church, under ENDA they could be held accountable for discrimination against that individual.” - Matt Barber, Concerned Women for America, 2007

Example 2 - “H.R. 254 elevates one group of Americans above others, creating a special class of victims. All things being equal, it means that if a 5-foot-2-inch grandmother is violently attacked on the street, she is less worthy of justice than the 6-foot-4-inch homosexual man who is attacked by the same assailant.” - Matt Barber, Concerned Women for America, 2007

5. Phony Experts - Creating their own "experts" on the lgbt community. One such "expert" is Linda Harvey of Mission America. According to her bio, she is a former ad executive who became a born again Christian. Another phony expert is Glenn T. Stanton of Focus on the Family. He is considered an "expert" on the subject of homosexuality but has a master’s degree in interdisciplinary humanities with an emphasis in philosophy, history and religion. And this also includes organizations. In a recent appearance on the news program Hardball, Family Research Council head Tony Perkins cited the "work" of the American College of Pediatricians as proof that "homosexuality poses a danger to children." However Perkins neglected to mention that the American College of Pediatricians is not a legitimate group but a sham organization laundering religious right distortions as scientific fact.

6. Dehumanizing Semantics - Consistently using language (i.e. demonstrative verbs and adjectives) in their talking points, sound bites, and press releases to deliberately make gays and lesbians seem like impersonal, threatening outsiders. These verbs and adjectives include such phrases as:

promoting homosexuality
marketing homosexuality
endorsing homosexuality
teaching homosexuality
homosexual activists
radical gay agenda
forcing their agenda on us
pro-homosexual
sodomy advocates
sodomy lobby
sexual anarchists
special rights
homosexual behavior
legitimizing their lifestyle
lifestyle
deadly lifestyle
redefining marriage
counterfeit marriage
aggressive minority of sexual deviants
homosexual indoctrination
ramming their agenda down our throats
gay militants
they are after our children
homosexuals can’t reproduce so they have to recruit
normalizing homosexuality
marketing their lifestyle to children
indoctrinating children

If the lgbt community is going to get any headway with combating religious right groups, the labeling of these groups as bigots without any discussion or knowledge of their techniques of deception must stop. The lgbt community must roll up its collective sleeves and do the hard work not just to educate those in the mainstream, but also itself.

DADT editorial cartoons in bad taste and other Monday midday news briefs

Cagle syndicates tasteless, offensive ‘Don’t Ask’ cartoons following historic repeal signing - Satire is one thing. But these cartoon are downright rude. They make light of the struggles and sacrifices of lgbt soliders.

Familiar Pattern in Newark Park Slay - A tragedy crying for answers.

Vets Group Blasts 'Social Deviant' Farah's Anti-Gay Column - A homophobic column gets its just desserts.

Gay caregivers 'seriously under-researched' - Well duh!

Religious right scared that California youth will learn about gays in history

One thing is sure about religious right groups. Just mention the word "gay" in any form regarding the schools and watch them bloviate about how children are going to be "indoctrinated into the homosexual lifestyle." Case in point:

A California senator is proposing a bill that would radically promote the lesbian, "gay," bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement in schools and wouldn't allow parents to take their children out of discussions concerning the alternate lifestyles.

State Senator Mark Leno (D) has introduced a measure that would require public school textbooks to be re-written to contain information about the LGBT movement. Under the FAIR (Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful) Education Act, textbooks must highlight key LGBT figures who contributed to the history of the United States and include details about the homosexual movement.

But Penny Harrington, Concerned Women of America's (CWA) legislative director of California, says the bill mandates certain instruction in social sciences and removes safeguards from communities.

"This bill will prompt open discussion in classrooms of all ages about sexual practices, and these are conversations that most parents are going to consider inappropriate," she notes.

In other words, to merely mention the contributions of lgbts in history automatically means that children will be talking about sexual intercourse and parental guidance is needed.

Of course such notions are ridiculous. Talking about gay figures throughout history doesn't necessarily mean that there will be discussions about sexual intercourse, just like a child from a same sex household reading an essay about a family trip doesn't mean that there will be talk about sexual intercourse.

But the religious right will emphasize this false notion in a cynical attempt to appeal to ignorance and fear. Fox News has already talked about this issue of gay history and has called it as "propaganda" and "blackmail."

There is a practical reason why talking about lgbts in history is important to the upbringing of lgbt children. According to Media Matters:

The California Safe Schools Coalition surveyed California students and school administrators in 2003, 2004 and 2005 to determine whether curriculum that includes attention to LGBT people "promote[s] safer school climates." According to their research, "students who report learning about LGBT issues in school... report fewer mean rumors or lies spread about them, fewer reports of being made fun of because of their looks or the way they talk, and less LGBT bullying at school." The California Safe Schools Coalition also concluded that not only did more LGBT students feel safer at schools with LGBT issues in the curriculum, but "[m]ore straight students report feeling safe if they learned about LGBT issues." The report concluded:

Finding 1: Individual students feel safer at school when LGBT issues are included in the curriculum; this is true for LGBT students and for their straight peers.

[...]

Finding 2: School climates are safer when LGBT issues are part of the curriculum.

[...]

Finding 3: Many California school districts already include LGBT issues in the curriculum and many more are interested in doing so. [California Safe Schools Coalition, Safe Schools "LGBT Issues in the Curriculum Promotes School Safety", 2006]

In layman's terms, it's like this - when lgbt children realize that the gay community has made positive influences throughout history, they are more likely to have more self-esteem about themselves. It's pretty much the same reason why there is a Black History Month and a Women's History Month.

Personally I don't see anything wrong with it. We are a people with a rich history and have played a huge role in society which have nothing to do with bathroom encounters or sticky fumblings in open fields in the dead of night. Among our number are such historical giants as Alexander the Great, James Baldwin, Gertrude Stein, Socrates, Michelangelo, Herman Melville, and Bayard Rustin. It's time America stop thinking that being an lgbt is an issue solely about sexual intercourse.

Senator Leno put it best:

“Most textbooks don’t include any historical information about the LGBT movement, which has great significance to both California and U.S. history,” said Senator Leno. “Our collective silence on this issue perpetuates negative stereotypes of LGBT people and leads to increased bullying of young people.” He added, “We can’t simultaneously tell youth that it’s OK to be yourself and live an honest, open life when we aren’t even teaching students about historical LGBT figures or the LGBT equal rights movement.”

Of course you can't tell that to members of the religious right. To push the fact that there is more to being an lgbt than fevered sexual encounters leading to despair, death, and disease puts a huge chink in their argument regarding the supposed "negative effects" of homosexuality.

In their world, lgbts are not people, but sideshow freaks in cages to be pitied and pointed at. Granted, the world of the religious right in no way resembles the real world, but don't count on that little detail to stop them from trying to defeat this needed bill.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Happy Holidays from Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

Barring a huge controversy occurring, I will not be posting anymore today and also won't be posting on Christmas day.

I just want to wish everyone a very joyous holiday season and thank you for all of your support.

And I want to leave you with this:

Christian love = anti-gay lies?

No matter how much members of the religious right claim that they "love" the lgbt community, their actions reveal them to be unprincipled liars.

Take, for example, the latest purveyor of the "we stand against homosexuals because we love them" meme, John-Henry Westen of the right-wing LifeSite News:

"They're not opposed out of any kind of hatred or animosity. In fact, they're opposed out of love," Westen contends. "Christians care enough about those men and women who are in these destructive lifestyles to tell them that it's hurtful -- and it is hurtful. God designed us so that a man and a woman fit together in complimentarity."

You know what is more harmful? Lies pushed to make it seem that homosexuality is a "deadly lifestyle."

Which, according to one of my facebook friends, Wendy Equal Leigh, is what Lifesite peddles.

She pointed out to me a recent article pushed by the online publication:

75% of sexually active homosexuals are carrying Human Papiloma Virus, study suggests

Preliminary results from a Spanish study of sexually-active homosexuals indicates that seventy-five percent are carrying the Human Papiloma Virus (HPV), according to a report by Europa Press.

Sounds terrible doesn't it? Except for two things:

1. Lifesite News fails to give a link to the study, which can be argued as not a big deal. But the second point can't.

2. Lifesite News went into detail about the study. I highlighted the important part:

The study, which is seeking to follow sexually active homosexuals who normally use condoms, has so far followed 40 subjects over a period of several months, and has arrived at a preliminary figure of 75 percent HPV infection.

Just how in the world can a study which only looked at 40 subjects be used to make a generalization about all gay men? You see that's why its important for there to be a link to the original study. It could be that Lifesite News is distorting this study to make a conclusion that doesn't even exist.

Based on its past track record (see related posts below), it's not a farfetched conclusion to make about this publication.

If lying on the lgbt community is the type of love Westen pushes, I would hate to see his definition of hate.

Related posts:

Porno Pete LaBarbera embraces Paul Cameron

Lifesite News and Tony Perkins team up to bash gay marriage with bad research

Look out! Here comes a new distortion about changing sexual orientation

Thursday, December 23, 2010

More bad news for religious right: Chai Feldblum appointed to EEOC

And the Christmas season keeps getting worse for the religious right:

Lesbian lawyer and longtime activist Chai Feldblum was confirmed as a commissioner of the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in a Senate vote Wednesday, theFederal Times reports.

Feldblum, who has been the target of much criticism by conservatives, had been serving under a recess appointment by President Obama since April, along with another commissioner, the commission’s chair, and its general counsel, who also were confirmed Wednesday in one of the Senate’s last actions before the holiday break.

As the piece says, conservatives don't like Feldblum. The religious right in fact HATE Feldblum, claiming on more than one occasion that she will lead an onslaught on the "rights of Christians."

Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality:

Who could put it any better than lesbian legal activist Chai Feldblum, former law professor at Georgetown University and President Obama’s recess appointee to the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC)? Regarding what she calls the “zero-sum” game that exists between homosexual legal “rights” and the freedom of religious/moral Americans to oppose homosexuality, Feldblum stated: “Gays win. Christians lose.” We hope her prediction is wrong, but the lesbian prof’s secular “rights” formula is clearly advanced every time the noble institution of “marriage” is perverted to legally sanction ignoble, sinful conduct.

Editor's note - Feldblum never said that.

Traditional Values Coalition:

"Feldblum wants the government to promote every type of relationship as equal to traditional marriage, including ‘polyamorous’ relationships (those involving three or more sexual partners).

“Feldblum also believes that sexual liberty trumps religious liberty. She rejects the First Amendment’s protection of religious freedom.

“Feldblum has criticized the Supreme Court for its Boy Scout decision. She opposes the Boy Scouts right to exclude gay (LGBT) Scout leaders and gay Scouts from its organization.

Family Research Council:

Ms. Feldblum is one of the architects of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which seeks to give special protections to homosexuals and crossdressers, with no regard for the religious objections of those who see such practices as wrong. In fact, when questioned about instances when religious liberty and homosexual "rights" conflict, Ms. Feldblum brazenly stated she would have "a hard time coming up with any case in which religious liberty should win." There seems to be little doubt, even in Ms. Feldblum's mind, about how she will rule in cases involving religious liberty that come before her.

The statement these religious right groups are gaining the most mileage out is from a piece she wrote entitled Moral Conflict and Liberty: Gay Rights and Religion.

Ensuring that LGBT people can live honestly and safely in all aspects of their social lives requires that society set a baseline of non-discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. If individual business owners, service providers and employers could easily exempt themselves from such laws by making credible claims that their belief liberty is burdened by the
law, LGBT people would remain constantly vulnerable to surprise discrimination. If I am denied a job, an apartment, a room at a hotel, a table at a restaurant or a procedure by a doctor because I am a lesbian, that is a deep, intense and tangible hurt. That hurt is not alleviated because I might be able to go down the street and get a job, an apartment, a hotel room, a restaurant table or a medical procedure from someone else. The assault to my dignity and my sense of safety in the world occurs when the initial denial happens. That assault is not mitigated by the fact that others might not treat me in the same way.

Thus, for all my sympathy for the evangelical Christian couple who may wish to run a bed and breakfast from which they can exclude unmarried straight couples and all gay couples, this is a point where I believe the “zero sum” nature of the game inevitably comes into play. And, in making the decision in this zero sum game, I am convinced society should come down on the side of protecting the liberty of LGBT people. Once an individual chooses to enter the stream of economic commerce by opening a commercial establishment, I believe it is legitimate to require that they play by certain rules. If the government tolerated the private exclusionary policies of such individuals in the commercial sector, such toleration would necessarily come at the cost of gay people’s sense of belonging and safety in society. Just as we do not tolerate private racial beliefs that adversely affect African Americans in the commercial arena, even if such beliefs are based on religious views, we should similarly not tolerate private beliefs about sexual orientation and gender identity that adversely affect LGBT people.

In other words, Feldblum believes that a business should not be allowed to discriminate against lgbts no matter the so-called "deeply held personal beliefs" of the owner.

She does not believe owners of an apartment building should have the right to deny lgbts housing even if they have a so-called "deeply held personal belief" that homosexuality is a sin.

And she does not believe that the beliefs of service providers should override the needs of those they are supposed to be serving.

I personally can't think of a better choice. And not just because Feldblum sends the religious right into orbit.

That fact is merely icing on the cake.

Anti-gay 'poo-poo pastor' Martin Ssempa charged with conspiracy

Martin Ssempa, a pastor in Uganda infamous for being a chief pusher of the country's "Kill the Gays" bill and also for his penchant for showing "scat porn" in church is among eight people who was either detained or sought after an "alleged conspiracy to injure the reputation of Pastor Robert Kayanja of Rubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral, Kampala."

According to the site Box Turtle Bulletin:

The eight are being charged with filing false accusations against Kayanja, in a bizarre conspiracy to accuse Kayanja of sodomy. As we reported last year, the conspiracy unfolded this way:

Other pastors are jumping onto the “outing” bandwagon to settle scores as well, and the rivalries are so complex that it takes some diagramming to keep it all straight. Here goes: Pastor Solomon Male of Arise for Christ Ministry accused Pastor Robert Kayanja of the Rubaga Miracle Center Cathedral of being a homosexual, along with “a group of other pastors.” Kayanja’s Rubaga Miracle Center is a very large and prosperous megachurch in Kampala. (Controversial American faith healer Benny Hinn will present a “Fire Conference” at that church on June 5th and 6th.) But an apparent friend of Kayanjka, Pastor Joseph Serwadda of the Victory Christian Centre, another megachurch in the Ndeeba section of Kampala which operates two FM stations, accused Male of of being an impostor, saying that he doesn’t even have a church.
Kayanja’s personal aide, Chris Muwonge, was allegedly kidnapped and tortured by armed men and held for five days. His captors allegedly wanted him to make a video statement accusing Kayanja of molesting young boys. Kayanja accused his rival, Pastor Michael Kyazze of the Omega Healing Center of being behind the plot. Kyazze’s assistant, Pastor Robert Kayiira was arrested earlier for trying to sneak a laptop computer into Kayanja’s Miracle Center. His close friend? Pastor Solomon Male. Kayanja reportedly believes that Martin Ssempa is involved in the allegations against him as well.

Regarding Ssempa, the Daily Monitor said he is:

accused of hiring Robson Matovu to blackmail Pastor Kayanja. Court heard that Pastor Male reportedly gave Mr Matovu a signed and stamped affidavit implicating Pastor Kayanja while Samson Mukisa was reportedly promised necessities on condition that he would speak publicly on how Pastor Kayanja had sodomised him.

A police report indicates that complaints of sodomy against Pastor Kayanja did not reveal any evidence the offences. “In retracting their statements, the complainants said they had been mobilised to make false accusations against Pastor Kayanja in order to tarnish his name,” reads a report.

The controversy definitely throws a monkey wrench into the claim of those who support the anti-gay Ugandan bill. Supporters, such as Ssempa, have said that the bill was created to protect Ugandans, particularly children, from "gay recruitment."

However, Box Turtle Bulletin said the following:

Public charges of sodomy are a common way to settle political and other scores in Uganda. Should the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill become law with its death penalty and other heightened penalties for advocacy on behalf of LGBT people or failure to report gay people to police, such conspiracies will increase and carry far greater dangers.

Besides Ssempa, the others who have been detained or sought after are city advocate Henry Ddungu, pastor Moses Solomon Male, Bob Robert Kayiira, Michael Kyazze, lawyer David Kaggwa, Deborah Kyomuhendo, and David Mukalazi.

UPDATE - According to the Ugandan newspaper New Vision, the police are now looking for Ssempa, but so far, he has eluded them.

Related posts:

Martin Ssempa claims to be misunderstood

Martin Ssempa celebrates his homophobia via a blog

'Kill the gays' bill supporter reduced to showing gay porn in church

Martin Ssempa talks about 'poop' to demonize lgbts

Martin Ssempa's obsession with gay sex . . . and poo?

DADT repeal 'traps limp-wristed enlistees' and other Thursday midday news briefs

Fischer: DADT Repeal Means "Limp-Wristed Enlistees" Now Stuck In the Military - AFA's Bryan Fischer strikes again.

FRC staffer likens U.S. to Sodom and Gomorrah; we wonder if Biblical city had universal healthcare - There is nothing like the classic homophobic condemnations.

Parents of gay Rutgers student who committed suicide may sue school - This continues to be a sad story.

Alberta Delists Homosexuality as a Mental Disorder - What took them so long?

The 'evil, radical, nefarious' gay agenda revealed by Barney Frank

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) reveals our "agenda" for America. Dammit! I'm calling National Headquarters because he wasn't supposed to do that!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Family Research Council defends itself with distorted studies . . . again

It's a regular comedy of errors with the Family Research Council.

In the organization's zeal to defend itself from the charges of being an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, it continues to make huge missteps.

And the latest just happened today.

Now SPLC contends that FRC - and other so-called morality groups - either deliberately rely on junk science, distort legitimate science, or push propaganda to make the lgbt community seem like the dreaded "other" out to destroy American values.

FRC contends that SPLC is unfairly attacking them because they stand against gay marriage even though SPLC has made it clear that this isn't the case.

FRC spokesman Peter Sprigg, who has gone on record wanting gays and lesbians exported out of the United States and "homosexual acts" to be made illegal, said the following about SPLC's charges in a blog post today:

For the record, FRC believes that every human being, including those who experience same-sex attractions and those who engage in homosexual conduct, is created in the image of God and is loved by Him. How this qualifies as “hate” is a mystery.

We will be preparing a more detailed response to Cohen’s charge that FRC spreads “falsehoods” in our well-documented research, which does show that certain harms are associated with homosexual conduct. Those wishing to examine that research in the meantime can refer to the FRC book Getting It Straight: What the Research Shows About Homosexuality or to our recent pamphlet, The Top Ten Myths About Homosexuality.

For Sprigg's information, I have done just that several times in the past and have found a bunch of errors in both works he cited.

I've talked about these errors in several blog posts, but they bear repeating.

Let's look at the brochure The Top Ten Myths of Homosexuality.

What's the deal with the religious right and gay sex anyway?

This nonsense from conservatives and the religious right about the DADT repeal "forcing heterosexual men to shower with gay men" has me thinking. What is the deal with the religious right and "gay sex" anyway. Truth be told, I wish I was having as much sex as they accuse gay men of having:

"One study determined that homosexual males have from between 20 to 106 sexual partners per year. It's no wonder that homosexual men account for over 50% of all hepatitis cases, and still account for over 50% of all AIDS cases despite the fact that they only make up 1-3% of the population." - The Gay Agenda vs. Family Values, Matt J. Barber

"Fidelity is almost unheard of in homosexual relationships; the average number of partners for each person is eight. These relationships are not open--they are wide open. A homosexual publication, The Advocate, reports that 57 percent of its homosexual readers claimed they had sexual relations with 30 or more partners. Twenty-nine percent of their readers had anonymous bathhouse sex. A 1991 study of homosexual men in New York revealed an average of 308 sexual partners per man." - Supremes Ruled Wisely: Arizona Can't Afford Same Sex Marriage, The Arizona Conservative

An article in USA Today in November 1984 reported that homosexuals have an average of 50 different sexual partners each year. - Offering Hope to Homosexuals - http://www.firststone.org/articles/topic/homosexuality/offering_hope_to_homosexuals.htm

"Homosexual activists claim their lifestyle, which in some cases includes thousands of sexual partners, should be sanctioned, protected, and granted special rights by society. Would you critique this stance?" - a biased question on the Focus on the Family web page

I have an idea. Why don't they just show the following:

Idiotic, isn't it? Trying to reduce the lives of millions into fevered thoughts of sex acts is the very height of idiocy. But it's a tactic which has served the so-called Christian right well on many occasions.

You will remember that they claim to oppose ENDA and other anti-discrimination laws because it might lead to "men dressing up as women and harassing ladies and children in locker rooms and restrooms."

These tactics are not rooted in logic, but fear and prejudice - two very un-Christian characteristics.

Why is Senator McCain teaming up with a hate group? and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Just in case you missed it:

McCain Joins FRC Against DADT Repeal – The Politics of Slander Are Now His Values - It's sad how low Sen. John McCain has fallen.

Family Research Council: We'll Sue To Stop DADT repeal - speaking of which, the hate group's single-minded pursuit of fighting the DADT repeal will do wonders for convincing Americans just how homophobic they are.

The Catholic Church's $400,000 Fax Machine - Being a homophobic SOB certainly pays well.

Gay advocates win victory at UN - Let's end Wednesday's news briefs with some excellent news.

Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters