Part 3: The HOMOPHOBE strikes back . . . rather badly

Graphic created by Mark from www.slapupsidethehead.com

As some of you know, yesterday, I published two posts from a Truth4Time member -LTP - who was offended by my story regarding the secret group.

The first post was him spouting all sorts of rambling nonsense about "evil homosexuals." Short of refusing to allow him to place the link to his dumb page, I published his words as is to demonstrate just off the rail some of these people are.

He didn't appreciate it because he sent me a second post in which he detailed supposed truthful information as to why homosexuality is supposedly a dangerous lifestyle.  The information he sent contained straw man arguments about the supposed "gay gene" and citations from discredited organizations as to how homosexuality can be changed. He dared me to post it as is.

I took his words as a challenge to not only post the information but to also refute it, which I did, specifically AND implicitly.

To put it nicely, I mopped up the floor with the child. It was a slaughter, a massacre, a tidal wave of truth which totally dismantled his nonsense and left him figuratively naked.

So what does he email me as a response or refutation? The follow two emails:

Email 1: Wikipedia is not a source kids, as for expelling mistakes keltic, cuantas lenguaguas habla usted fluentemente? un, deux, trios ...yep, it figures, nice try!

It is what it is, and I am not surprised for the responses of the all of you... as expected!

One of the most difficult things is for anyone to be truly honest with themselves, to then admit wrong doing, or that their lives may be not quite correct, or a sad passage in their lives, etc, and then have the courage and strength to make a course correction. I don't expect any of you to do that, since your psychological response was to latch out at the messenger of the truth, me.

As for all the other information and science pointing out the detrimental outcome of the homosexual behavior, well kids I have given you links, specially the links of my book, where in one of the chapters there is page after page of documented and corroborated examples of the detriments of homosexuality... but I do not expect any of you to admit when you are wrong...that requires and education higher than the one demonstrated by your responses, and by your responses you all seem very emotional and not very logical, so sorry.

And Alvin I give you at least credit for having the courage to at least post my side of the story, more than I can say for the responses by the other posters here. .. facts are facts people, there is no gay gene, multiple studies now prove that to be the case, therefore all that is left according to logic is that it a condition generated after birth... I know, it is not something easy to confront, and for many of you perhaps for the first time, a person that is not an echo like in the homosexual/progressive circles you are clearly navigate in.. but it is what it is. No emotional repose, no politics, just pure logic and analysis of the evidence, and then the results... so sorry. It is what it is...!

Now you can all go back and insult me...lol.... it doesn't hurt me a bit. Good night, Buenas noches.

Talk about tone deaf. He didn't even address the points I made in regards to his citation of a discredited organization (NARTH) or the legitimate organizations who have spoken against "ex-gay" therapy, or even the simple fact that the concept of the alleged "gay gene" is merely a religious right talking point. But you will love email number two.

'Dan Savage calls out religious hypocrisy in controversial speech' and other Monday midday news briefs

There is so much drama in regards to Dan Savage's recent speech in Seattle. And naturally, I got a couple of things to say. But first:

Check out this powerful detailing why Amendment One (that awful anti-family amendment in North Carolina) could harm domestic violence victims:



Join me (or, rather, follow me) for a one-day Twitter fundraiser to fight Amendment One - Check out this link from Pam Spaulding if you want to help in defeating Amendment One.

In other news:

Maine's Mike Heath continues to sabotage his side; yay!! - If we get marriage equality in Maine, this will probably be the guy will end up helping us. And he hates our guts.

Romney’s Inconsistent Reaction To Massachusetts’ Same-Sex Marriage Ruling - Brother Etch-A-Sketch strikes again.


And as you can tell, I saved this one for last . . .

Dan Savage Addresses Journalist Conference Speech Controversy, Denies Attacking Christianity - Now about this Dan Savage controversy. I have said on more than one occasion that he and I don't see eye-to-eye on many things. Also, the language he used here isn't exactly something I would have said.

But you know what? He is exactly right.

 I consider myself a person of faith. I credit my faith in God with accepting my sexual orientation. But here is something that I have never understood about some of my fellow Christians. How is it that they can cite passages regarding the supposed sin of homosexuality, but will ignore the ones advocating slavery, children obeying their parents, keeping women silent in church, divorce, and other things that they will not talk about which is clearly in the Bible. Why didn't Jesus say one word about homosexuality? And for that matter,why  didn't God Himself?

How is it that they can cite the story of Sodom and Gomorrah as proof that God hates homosexuality when it is clearly said in the Bible that God decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah long before the passages regarding homosexual rape appeared? How is it that when other passages in the Bible talk about why Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed, you don't see anything regarding homosexuality? And why won't they discuss that chapter in the book of Judges (Judges 19) which pushes forth the theory that one of the reasons why Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed was not because of homosexuality but because of how the city treated visitors. You see a similar incident happened in the book of Judges where men in a city wanted to rape a visitor. But the visitor escaped by handing over his concubine whom the men brutalized until she died.

Why is it that so many folks call the Bible the unquestioned word of God but won't talk about parts of the Bible which would actually challenge their notions of who God is. God does want obedience but He doesn't want blind obedience and those secure in their faith should know that seeking the answers to questions would only work to enhance the faith rather than destroy it.

So my question to those offended by Savage is basically simple. What are you afraid of?

NOM's ability to lie becoming a sad parody

Maggie Gallagher

Remember a certain moment in February 2012 when the National Organization for Marriage's Maggie Gallagher was interviewed on Up With Chris Hayes?

It was a contentious interview, by the way, punctuated by Gallagher accusing commentators from the show of "making up" facts to use against her and NOM, particularly when it comes to "reparative therapy," or the practice of trying to change the sexual orientation of lgbtqs:

Well, I've never advocated for gay reparative therapy, and the National Organization for Marriage does not. We focus on fighting for laws that define marriage as the union between a man and a woman.

Someone should ask Gallagher about a certain post on NOM's blog which appeared on Friday:

New California Law Would Forbid Professionals from Helping Teens with Unwanted Same-Sex Attraction

Parents and/or teens' wishes notwithstanding:

An unusual assortment of groups are beginning to express alarm over a bill moving through the California legislature that has sweeping implications for both free speech and family rights.

Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, is not mincing words. "I can honestly say this is one of the most outrageous, speech-chilling bills we have ever seen in California-and that's saying a lot," he said.

The main purpose of the bill, SB 1172, is to limit the ability of psychologists, therapists and other counselors to assist adult or minor clients with sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE). SB 1172 flatly bans SOCE for minors-regardless of the parents' or minors' wishes-and requires a new consent form for adults containing statements about sexual orientation that many counselors would dispute. The bill then creates significant liability for professionals who proceed with SOCE. -- Pacific Justice Institute press release

The actual story, by the way, has to do with a proposed California law which would outlaw reparative therapy for those under 18-years-of-age. Reparative therapy, while popular amongst many religious institutions, is frowned upon by mental and medical associations such as the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the American Counseling Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

Let's play the game of "spank the homophobe"

The person who I talked about in my last post - who by the way is a member of the Truth4Time site - can't seem to take a hint.  He didn't exactly appreciate me mocking him. Subsequently, he sent me a long post and dared me to publish it.


I will, with a few additions of my own. Now I have given the poor child the initials of LTP. Never mind why. LOL

LTP:

I dare you Alvin to post my response... lets see if you are as open minded as you people say you are.

 My friend - "Homophobe", "sad ignorant fool", subpar intelligence"..."nice" (sarcastic).. insults, typical of the responses from this kid of crowd... well, here is an education on facts:

First… there is no "gay gene".... if you are a homosexual you were not born one, you are made, a fact explained by geneticists like Dr. Neil E. Whitehead PhD in YouTube:

Type in the search box: [ Dr. Neil Whitehead answers, "Is there a gay gene?"]

Dr. Neil says that even after decades of looking:“ No statistical significant gene has been found, and they even looked at the whole human Geno…”

Another is large “Identical Twins Studies” in the Netherlands and Holland also prove homosexuality not to be genetic, since only less than 10% of the time if one identical twin is gay the other one is also gay, meaning 90% of the time if one is gay the other is not… in a situation were b-o-t-h beings (the twins) are genetically identical, and cooked in the mothers belly at the same time (under the same hormonal environment).

Even England's leading gay activist Peter Tatchell recently stated that: "Homosexuality isn’t natural. Ignore those researchers who claim to have discovered a ‘gay gene’, gay desire is not genetically determined". (Spiked, Tuesday 24, 2008).

My answer - First of all, my friend, you didn't give any information on Dr. Neil Whitehead.  Whitehead is a member of the discredited group NARTH (National Organization for  the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality). No one in the scientific community takes that organization seriously because it pushes "reparative therapy" - the false notion that homosexuality is a condition which can be changed. According to Truth Wins Out:

NARTH relies on outdated studies and frequently confuses stereotypes with science. Dr. Nicolosi, for example, often tells audiences that people are gay because they have a rift with a same-sex parent or a have domineering opposite sex parent. It has been decades since any serious scientific body subscribed to these views and there is no contemporary research to uphold these anachronistic theories. Yet, NARTH’ co-founder Dr. Joseph Nicolosi repeats the empty mantra, “We advise fathers, if you don’t hug your sons, some other man will.”

 . . . NARTH also has bizarre theories, such as encouraging male clients who drink Gatorade and call their friends “dude,” because this will supposedly make them more masculine. Dr. Nicolosi also espouses the bizarre idea that, “Non-homosexual men who experience defeat and failure may also experience homosexual fantasies or dreams.”

In 2006, NARTH had a meltdown after two major controversies. In the first, psychiatrist Joseph Berger, MD, a member of their “Scientific Advisory Committee,” wrote a paper encouraging students to “ridicule” gender variant children. “I suggest, indeed, letting children who wish go to school in clothes of the opposite sex–but not counseling other children to not tease them or hurt their feelings,” Dr. Berger wrote on NARTH’s website. “On the contrary, don’t interfere, and let the other children ridicule the child who has lost that clear boundary between play-acting at home and the reality needs of the outside world. Maybe, in this way, the child will re-establish that necessary boundary.”

 In the second controversy, Gerald Schoenwolf, PhD, also a member of NARTH’s “Scientific Advisory Committee,” wrote a polemic on the group’s website that seemed to justify slavery.

Two years ago, a member of NARTH's board, George Rekers, had to resign after being caught coming from a European vacation with a male escort.

But even without your citation of NARTH, your entire claim about a "gay gene" is merely a tactic for you to attempt to control the argument.

The ramblings of a poor, obsessed homophobe for your enjoyment and pity

Far be it from me to put someone in a spotlight as a subject of derision to be made fun of, but this child deserves it.

He kept sending me messages on the Signorile video until I blocked him, so he took the time to send me this long rambling message. This is sad homophobia defined.

Just read and understand the ignorant mindset behind some people's reasonings of why they treat us lgbtqs like freaks:

.. you blocked my responses to your post Alvin in YouTube, but I am not surprised, people like you want to block the Truth, to silence it like Chris Mathews even said in his video.

No matter, here it is anyway...

Do you know what it will take for a t-r-u-l-y better world to happen? Brutal honesty, and then Responsible Behavior from everyone! It will take for every single person to look at their lives, identify what they are doing wrong, and correct it, no excuses, ...none!

And what is correct and what is wrong behavior? Easy, look at the outcomes of the action, and then it becomes clear as daylight. And we all have flaws, things we need to work on, we assume too much, we care too much about our own selves and not enough for others, we pursue material things when we should we working more on our own selves, we consume too much, we rape the land too much, we neglect one another, we indulge on physical pleasures too much, when we should be more spiritual and protect and not abuse our bodies, and on and on.

And of course, out of those many flawed lives, many negative "side-effects" blossom, like children raised in neglectful environmental/dysfunctional/abusive environments, hell... some of the people having children are themselves children! Many children (like the case of homosexuals) are atrophied by those bad environments, and make the incorrect Gender Identification, or what is called Gender Identity Disorder in Philology, which later blossoms into full homosexuality. Remember, there is no “gay gene”.

My problem with people like you is that the dysfunction you have you seem to try justify it, to excuse it, when in reality if you look at it... A-L-L of it, it is clearly a bad behavior. High disease rates, high mortality rates, high cost to the individual and society, unstable relationships, physical damage to the body due to the erroneous sexual acts, and on and on... and on! It is all here: (Editor's note - the poor child supplied his page but I refuse to give it out. I've seen it and it's the same cherry-picked or discredited junk science we have seen repeatedly but ths time grouped together in one sad package. The young man obviously took so much work in gathering together his statistics that he didn't read them thoroughly or derive where they came from. A little note, my friend. There is no such thing as "gay bowel syndrome." Dumb ass.)

You tell the doctors that have to deal with the many diseases being spread in the population more and more by highly sexually promiscuous homosexuals, since many of homosexuals happen to be asymptomatic, carrying disease most are not even aware of, but are spreading it on to others thanks to your reckless sexual behaviors that homosexuality is good... go on and tell them...

You go on and tell the taxpayer that the health care cost going higher and higher every year due to more and more homosexuals (and other liberals as well) doing reckless sexual behaviors, causing more people to get sick with preventable disease it is a good thing... you go ahead... you tell them (just look at the HIV cost numbers in Canada in that webpage)...go ahead tell them...

Wrongs are wrong, no matter how much you make like doing it, no matter how much you may "feel" you have no choice but to do it! The same thing has happen to other groups like the alcoholics and smokers, people that would say they had "no control over their actions"... "they couldn't help it"... And just because others may be doing other things wrong still does not make a wrong right... that is the mentality of a child.

In the end, humanity will never achieve a better world as long as groups like the homosexuals stay in denial and keep pushing their dysfunction upon society as an "OK" thing", as a "harmless thing", ignoring and even blocking the data again and again that point and says, hey you have a problem...

I leave you with this thought by the great Greek philosopher Socrates (469–399 B.C.E.) that said that the biggest endeavor for a person in life is to “TRULY know thyself” or what he called, to have an Analyzed Life, he wrote: "...The unexamined life is not worth living..."

And please note that I have refuted his claims in a myriad of past posts, including this one which addresses in particularly the lies of "shortened mortality rate," the "unstable relationships," and the "promiscuity argument."

My prime objective for posting this child's pathetic ramble is for you see the folks who have dived  headfirst into the pool of lies pushed by the religious right.

But with this posting comes a caveat. Not everyone believes this mess and the wilder these folks get, the more mainstream we are becoming.

So in essence, you are witnessing death throes of archaic ignorance.

But I'm feeling a little guilty about it. Who knew watching the death throes of archaic ignorance would be so much fun to watch?

One more thing that someone just pointed out to me. What's the definition of stupid irony? Using a quote from a gay man (Socrates) to end a ramble criticizing gays.

The hidden story behind the Truth4Time controversy

Just a recap of probably the wildest week on my blog. It began Monday with the following post:

Part 1 - The post that started it all

Secret religious right Facebook group plotting cyber attack on gay community

A little background - I had received some information a while back that there was a secret Facebook group, Truth4Time, comprised of members of the religious right. A member of the group sent me screenshots of members, the venomous things they were saying about the lgbtq community, and also plans they were making, including the following two:

It was these two ideas, coupled with the members of the group which caught my attention and convinced me that someone needed to post something on this.  I was intimidated by this information because I knew it had the potential to be a big story. I told no one about this but one individual who I trusted - and continue to trust - immensely.

I was also concerned about one thing - reprisal. There were private individuals who were involved with this group as well as public figures. So when I finally decided to post on it, my original goal was to focus on the fact that this group existed, that there were plans out there to disrupt the gay community, and that there were some religious right bigwigs as members. But I wasn't going to be so eager to name names. I had another concern also, but I will get into that later.

Needless to say, the story exploded in a way I didn't expect. I had a feeling that the reponse would be huge, but had no idea just how huge it would be.

I got a lot of praise, but I also got a lot of negative feedback. Many were angry that I wasn't revealing names. One particular wannabe activist - who shall be named  the TOAD - claimed that I faked the entire thing to garner attention for my blog.

Then things got interesting.

Part 2 - Michelangelo Signorile comes calling

Legendary gay activist Michelangelo Signorile contacted me to do a radio interview and asked would I be interested in at least two names. At that time, I was thinking "what the hell." I am more comfortable with the idea provided that the folks  I revealed were public figures, rather than private figures.

And the interview was wild. Needless to say, I revealed more than two names, including Oklahoma legislator Sally Kern, Peter LaBarbera, Bradlee Dean, Matt Barber, Scott Lively, Jennifer Morse, Maggie Gallagher, Brian Brown, Phyllis Schafly , and several other religious right public figures:



Phase 3 - The story goes into orbit

The next day, I realize just how much of an effect the interview had when I looked at the Huffington Post and realized that it was the leading article of the Gay Voices section.

That's when folks in the Truth4Time group began to respond.  Small free member, mind you.  I knew that no one like Maggie Gallagher or Bradlee Dean would talk about this group. A supposed Christian radio show host, Stacy Harp spent over 30 minutes of her show declaring me a "nothing" and claiming that I was pushing a bad conspiracy theory. Of course the irony that if I were truly a "nothing" spinning a conspiracy theory, why did she need to spend 30 minutes of her show stating those things was something she conveniently didn't mention.

An administrator of Truth4Time, Michael Brown spun the same talking points in an addendum added to the Huffington Post article - i.e. this was not a big deal, I was misrepresenting the group and its members, the pieces I posted talking about getting pro-gay pages kicked off of Facebook as well as jamming pro-gay pages and bombarding school boards and physicians' offices with inaccurate and negative information about the gay community were mere "suggestions."

He managed to stretch that nonsense in a longer column on the conservative Town Hall where he compared my original post to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the legendary fraudulent document which claimed that members of the Jewish community were plotting to take over the world.

The irony was that very few people - except Brown's supporters - were actually believing his explanation. Many of us lgbtqs have been around the block too many times with the religious right to fall for their explanations when they are trying to pull some nonsense.

The larger irony was that Brown's insistence in talking about the story only generated more interest for it. Gradually, his attempts to quell the story actually led to more people reading and believing my article.

That's not to say that there were some gays who didn't take his side. The TOAD (who I alluded to earlier) went from accusing me of lying about the charges to taking Brown's side. At this point, I should tell you that the TOAD only did what he did because he has a personal grudge against me . . . and a martyr complex the size of the planet of Jupiter.

4. What would I have done differently - Not a thing. You see, the weekend before I published the post, I gave it some heavy thought, AND heavy prayer. I had a lot of trepidations about revealing names for more reasons than the ones list above. When I calmed down mentally and realized that there would be nothing wrong with revealing public names, I was still reticent when it came to private figures.

I'm still not clear whether or not I would have been in the right legally to reveal private names, but I do know what could have happened. There was a lot of anger from this story. What if one of us had recognized one of the names and proceeded to boycott their business, or conduct a writing campaign against them.

Then the story "Radical homosexual activists attack Christians for merely expressing their opinion on Facebook" would have been the talking point of the religious right.

The basic essence of this story - the fact that a secret Facebook group was plotting mischief against the gay community - would have been lost because the religious right is skilled at generating fake crap. When something like this happens, some of us, in the name of righteous indignation, play into the hands of the religious right. And in our "righteous indignation, we forget that we are dealing with moneyed, skilled individuals who can take a pound of mud, peddle it as ice cream, and get a face time in the media who will not call them out for lying.

The possibility that my story could have taken a huge detour in a direction which would work against the lgbtq community was a HUGE concern of mine.

But as it is, God answers prayers. I consider my article a win. The basic gist of my story was not lost or obscured.  The religious right ended up in a rare position of playing defense - rather badly. And it turned out to be a significantly large chink in their armor of lies.

And it was fuuuuuun!

Know Your LGBT History - Venus Xtravaganza

I am featuring a rather sad edition of Know Your LGBT History



From Wikipedia:

Venus Xtravaganza (died 1988) was a transgender American saving up money for sex reassignment surgery while earning a living as a prostitute in New York City. Venus Xtravaganza came to national attention appearing in Jennie Livingston's Paris Is Burning, a 1990 documentary film about New York City ball culture. The story of her life as a transgender person living in New York City and subsequent murder form a story arc within the film. Venus was featured on the original 1990 theatrical release poster in for the film.
Born to an Italian American family, she took the female name Venus in her early teens. As is the tradition of the gay ball culture, she took the name Xtravaganza upon becoming a member of the House of Xtravaganza in 1983. The house, like similar houses, is named in the style of European fashion houses (e.g. House of Chanel) and is an affiliation of young drag queens, transgender and gay youth who have come together around the underground Harlem drag ball scene.

In Paris Is Burning, she says she wanted to be "a spoiled, rich, white girl living in the suburbs." ^[1] She shares a story of her time as a prostitute where one of her clients became enraged upon the discovery that Venus was not a cissexual woman. Venus fled through a window and, fearing for her life, claims to have left the prostitution business as a result, opting instead to work as an escort. On her life as a prostitute, she claims "If you're a married woman living in the suburbs, a regular woman, married to her husband...and she wants him to buy her a washer and dryer set, in order for him to buy that I'm sure she'd have to go to bed with him anyway - for him to get what he wants, for her to get what she wants. So in the long run, it all ends up the same way".

According to her transgender adopted House mother Angie Xtravaganza as told in the film, Venus Xtravaganza was found strangled and stuffed under a bed in a New York hotel room in 1988. Her body was discovered by a stranger four days after her death.

To me Venus was an awesome child with a lot of potential. She made bad choices and those choices subsequently caused her death. But she was led into those choices by an ignorant and uncaring world.

It's something we should all remember. We justifiably get shocked when we hear about our lgbtq brothers and sisters getting beaten up or murdered, but what about those whose spirits are slowly crushed by ugly words, nasty stares, and deliberate isolation? What about those who have the potential to change the world for the better but are never given the chance because of boot of the haters on their necks?

Venus was one and unfortunately she isn't the only one. Let's never forget to encourage each other every now and then.  Give a smile or a kind word to one of your lgbtq sisters you may see passing on the street. It doesn't matter whether you know them or not.

You would be surprised what good it could do.

Past Know Your LGBT History posts:

'15 African-American Clergy Oppose North Carolina's anti-family amendment' and other Friday midday news briefs

Meet The “Legal Experts” Supporting North Carolina’s Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment - Looks like the forces attempting to push that awful Amendment One in North Carolina have been caught lying about their "legal experts." It's not a new tactic. The National Organization for Marriage did it last year when attempting to keep marriage equality from coming to New York.

15 Interfaith African-American Clergy Oppose North Carolina’s Discriminatory Amendment - All of those folks who give the African-American community hell on the subject of marriage equality should pay attention. This is huge.

Maine's 'marriage protectors' fighting publicly; anyone else want popcorn? - Meanwhile, the folks attempting to keep marriage equality out of Maine are engaging in a knock down, dragged out fight . . . with each other.

‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill Sponsor Complains That His Bill Is Misunderstood - This explanation should be epic.

Awesome video makes excellent point about marriage equality and love

This video is from the UK and it makes the point regarding marriage equality better than a thousand words.




It's produced by Produced by the Coalition for Equal Marriage, a British marriage equality advocacy group.

Alright, you all can wipe your eyes now. Or is it just me.

NOM - Same-sex households and their children don't matter

Whether it meant to or not, the National Organization for Marriage just demonstrated how ugly they are when it comes to children living in same-sex households:



This what NOM's blog says about the matter:

Kalley Yanta of the Minnesota Marriage Minute explains why marriage should not be redefined because some same-sex couples are raising children:

"Very few same-sex couples are raising children. According to the Williams Institute, only 22% of same-sex couples are raising children. Many if not most of those couples involve children from a previous heterosexual relationship. The census bureau shows only 0.55% of all U.S. households are households of same-sex couples. Only 0.12% of U.S. households are same-sex couples raising children."

Yanta sums up the coldness of NOM's anti-marriage equality campaign beginning at 1:14 with this statement:

"Why should the definition of marriage that has served us so well be redefined for the 99.88 percent of households in order to accommodate the desires of the 0.12 percent?"

First let's get that question out of the way. Protecting same-sex families in no way redefines the marriages of heterosexual families. Nor does protecting same-sex families cause harm to heterosexual families.

I'm just struck by the basic callousness of Yanta's statement. I refuse to argue whether or not her points are accurate because it is irrelevant. It doesn't matter how many percentages of same-sex families raising children exist in America. Shouldn't these families be treated equally as heterosexual families?

Not according to Yanta and definitely not according to NOM. To hear them, since same-sex families are not as numerous as large as heterosexual families, they don't deserve protection under the law.

To Yanta and NOM, these families and their children don't matter. It's a contradiction of the statements  made by former NOM head Maggie Gallagher during a Congressional hearing last year. Remember when she said that "there are some gay people who are wonderful parents."

So Gallagher thinks that gays make wonderful parents, but according to her organization, they don't deserve protections for their partners and especially their children.

Is this the new Christian ethic in which we value families not by the love and support they give, but by the number of them exist?

It's an ugly thing to ponder, especially when one remembers the Biblical story of the lost sheep. According to the Gospels of Matthew (18:12–14) and Luke (15:3–7), Jesus told a story of a shepherd who left his flock to find one lost sheep because he cared about that one lost sheep as much as he cared about those 99 others.

The shepherd did not say "forget that sheep. It's just one and I have 99 others." No, the shepherd looked for that sheep until he found it.

The point is that we all have value, not by the number of us who may exist, but because we exist, period.

And that's a value which needs to be upheld. It doesn't matter how many same-sex families raising children exists in this country. They count just as much as heterosexual families raising children. And they should be treated with the same amount of fairness because it is the right thing to do.

A truly ethical and Christian organization would know this. But what does NOM know about true Christianity and true ethics?

No matter how much NOM tries to deceive us, the organization's mask seem to always fall off, showing its true ugly face.

'Romney catching hell for flip flops on gay issues' and other Thursday midday news briefs

Ebony finds gay religious Atlantan Darian Aaron - Don't let the National Organization for Marriage and their band of liars fool you. Many African-Americans support lgbtq equality and there are many African-American oriented magazines focusing on our issues. Ebony magazine is one of many.

FRC Slams Romney On Homocon Hire - Uh oh, Romney is in trouble part 1.

Tony Perkins, Gary Bauer Side with Bryan Fischer on Romney's Openly Gay Staffer - Uh oh. Romney is in trouble part 2.

GLAAD notes Romney's support for inclusive scouting (fittingly tying social conservatives' tummies in knots) - And part 3 - Romney once believed that the Boy Scouts should admit gays. That's what you get for being such a blatant flip flopper. But I still ain't a Romney supporter. Remember he did sign that ugly NOM pledge.

Fox’s Starnes Misinforms About Kansas Non-Discrimination Ordinance - Equality Matters catches a Fox pundit in a HUGE lie about a non-discrimination ordinance. And in other news, water is wet.

Attacks on Jay Bakker's family is not a Christian virtue

Jay Bakker

For anyone dumb enough to think that the American Family Association's One News Now is a Christian publication, today's articles should erase that notion.

The fake news publication is on a tear about the gay community. Let's look at two items.

In the article, EEOC's 'gross distortion' of Civil Rights Act, One News Now quotes the Liberty Counsel and Truth4Time member Matt Barber to make gross distortions regarding a recent case in which a transgender woman won a landmark case against discrimination. First the actual story courtesy of ABC news:

A Bay Area woman has won a landmark discrimination case in favor of transgender rights.

Mia Macy applied for a job at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms while she still identified herself as a man.

During the hiring process, Macy revealed that she was transitioning to life as a woman. Days later, the ATF said it eliminated the position. Macy later learned someone else was hired for that job.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled the former police officer had been discriminated because of her gender identity.

"It's important because every person from this point forward falls under that federal protection and that was something that maybe I had a part in," said Macy.

This is what Barber said the case would lead to:

"This ruling basically says that a Bible bookstore owner, for instance, could not turn away a homosexual, cross-dressing man, a man who likes to wear a miniskirt and lipstick -- this would protect that man from being denied a job at a Bible bookstore that holds sincerely held religious beliefs that are opposed to that individual's lifestyle," Barber explains.

That, according to the attorney, is another example of the Obama administration stomping on religious rights and "using the EEOC as his henchman to get the job done."

Barber isn't interested in discussing the case on its merits. He is only interested in inflaming fear by appealing to stereotypes about our transgender brothers and sisters.

But believe it or not, that article is merely a prelude to an attack which I found to be ugly, even for One News Now.

Jay Bakker, son of former televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, is himself an evangelist and, as far as I am concerned, a breath of fresh air from the preachers collecting gobs of money while simultaneously whining about being persecuted.

He is also a supporter of the gay community. He was in North Carolina recently holding a rally against that awful Amendment One. In an article, One News Now quoted Mark Creech, a supporter of Amendment One, to make a low attack on Bakker:

Rev. Mark Creech of the Christian Action League of North Carolina is not surprised by Bakker's "feel-good" stance that requires "no real holiness."

"It's unfortunate that, as a child, he was injured … by a lot of hypocrisy that he witnessed in the church, and I think he was also the innocent victim of forms of unjust religious condemnation that seriously, negatively impacted him and made him vulnerable to acceptance of a false message.

Creech is referring to the PTL scandal which took place over 20 years ago which led Bakker's father to serve time in jail for fraud.

I don't know what's worse - the fact that Creech felt the need to throw that mess up in Bakker's face (he was only a child when it all took place) or the fact that he tries to make his comments seem that of a concerned Christian.

Why was it necessary for Creech to make such a nasty dig at Bakker's family? At his father and his deceased mother (Tammy Faye Messner died of cancer in 2007)?

Bakker's father served his time and has returned to the ministry. His mother became a gay icon after spreading a message of love and self-acceptance. And I might point out that she had more Christian love and charity in one mascaraed eyelash than Creech has in his entire Bible thumping body.

Creech and One News Now epitomizes the phoniness of some American Christians and give adequate reasons why so many folks are abandoning the religion.

Who wants to be associated with such nasty hypocrites?

See the Religious Right Dance

When I wrote the post Monday about the secret Facebook group Truth4Time, I knew it had the potential to be a huge story.

However, I never expected for it to explode in the manner which it did. I didn't expect to be interviewed by Michelangelo Signorile and I certainly didn't expect for it to be the number one story in the Huffington Post Gay Voices section.

Now I did expect some negative feedback from members of the group and administrator Michael Brown didn't disappoint.

He was allowed to publish what he called corrections to the Truth4Time article Signorile wrote. I found these corrections to be disingenuous and wrote so in the comments section and in more detail on a blog post.

I felt the story should have ended there. Let folks read it and make up their own minds.

But for some reason, neither Brown nor the other members of the group will let the story go.

Brown not only parlayed the story into a ludicrously transparent post on the conservative Town Hall (comparing my post to Protocols of the Elders of Zion - the legendary fraud document which claimed that Jewish people plotting to take over the world)  but also a feature on his radio show. I have no doubt that there may be a future column on the American Family Association's One News Now.

His spiel seems to be claiming that the group was merely innocent Christians who was inundated by homosexuals simply because they were merely condemning them to hell and supposedly telling the truth that God hates "their lifestyle," whatever that is. Brown also seems to be claiming that those documents I posted detailing plans of jamming and flagging pro-gay sites and sending school districts and physician offices' bad information on gay health were "mere suggestions." He also seems to be saying that just because some people had access to the group's resources didn't mean that they were members.

Doesn't Michael remind you of that Eddie Murphy comedy routine in the movie Raw, where a man's wife catches him redhanded cheating on her and when confronted by her, he continuously says "it wasn't me" until she begins to doubt what she saw. 

Another member of Truth4Time, a sad African American pastor, D.L. Foster who claims that he is an 'ex-gay," cited Brown's ridiculous column to claim that my post was a bomb. Ironically,  I wrote him a note disputing this. Of course it is no longer on his page.

All you need to know about Foster is that he was one of the participants in Peter LaBarbera's failed protest against the Southern Poverty Law Center.

But probably the funniest, albeit creepiest response from a Truth4Time member I've gotten is from small-time radio host Stacy Harp. I wrote this morning about how she spent 30 minutes of her broadcast calling me a nobody for my post (in between insulting Rachel Maddow and Michelangelo Signorile) and also sent a post demanding that I apologize:

It gets funnier. Girlfriend just can't quit me:

Sorry Stacy. You are not my type. And we are not two ships passing in the night. If we were,  I would throw my anchor on your deck in hopes of sinking you.

Ironically, Foster claims that I wrote the post because I wanted wide media attention. Now in reality, I am not that naive. I know that the media has more important stories to attend to, such as interviewing the woman who spilled yogurt on President Obama.

My purpose of posting the Truth4Time post (which I stand by) was basically to expose the lies and deceptions of Brown, Harp, Foster, and the rest who exploit Christianity and who seem to think that Jesus died on the cross for them to lord over folks and gave them the right to decide what makes a family.

They have a serious sense of entitlement which needs to be broken.

The fact that I am making them dance like puppets on a string is merely gravy.

But I do have three questions.

If this is such a non-story, then why are they all spending so much time and effort on it? 

Just who are they really trying to convince?

Lastly, can any of them do the macarena or tootsie roll?

'Chris Matthews' favorite hate group leader guest embraces birtherism' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Perkins: Questions About Obama's Birth Certificate are a 'Legitimate Issue' - Chris Matthews of Hardball now has a dilemma. In the past, he has been known to eviscerate "birthers" or people who don't think that President Obama is a United States citizen:



So now what is he going to when someone whom he has defended as being a guest on his show, Family Research Council's Tony Perkins, is now flirting with birtherism:



The ball is now in your court, Chris.

In other news:

Ruling Extends Sex-Discrimination Protection to Transgender Woman Denied Federal Job - Awesome news!

NOM to supporters: Dump Starbucks is now a global failure - We know this already but its always fun to hear.

Anti-Amendment One videos: Sen. Hagan, Gov. Perdue, Rev. Barber, and a jaw-dropping domestic violence video - I have so much admiration for folks fighting in NC against Amendment One.

Truth will stop NOM's race-baiting

Editor's note - It's one of those two post days. After reading about this sad attempt by the National Organization for Marriage to yet again divide the black and gay communities, pan down and read the hilarious post about Truth4Time members demanding that I apologize.

The National Organization for Marriage has come out with a doozy of a nasty video which plays into its infamous wedge strategy:




That's the darkness. The following videos are the light:

Civil rights leaders Julian Bond:



Civil rights leader and Congressman John Lewis:



Finally, as the following video shows through its simplicity, lgbtqs of color exist. And NOM's race-baiting strategy hurts them:

Hilarious homophobes want me to apologize

Members of the secret anti-gay Facebook group Truth4Time have been steadily trying to play defense in light of being discovered.

Yesterday, I talked about Michael Brown's silly attempt to accuse me of distorting the purpose of the group. This morning, a friend sent me the following:

 

Stacy Harp runs a small-time radio program, supposedly of the Christian variety. However when one hears her, I doubt they would mistake her for a Christian. She is egotistical, nasty, and extremely hateful. The best way to describe her is an offshoot of the Phelps family without the doom and gloom but still no charm.

But she can be amusing. On her program yesterday, she talked about how much of a nothing I was for probably 30 minutes. Apparently she missed the Biblical admonition of knocking dust off of her shoes.

At any rate, if girlfriend expects an apology from me for my truthful accounts of Truth4Time, she is going to be waiting a loooooong time.

Secret anti-gay Facebook group leader fails miserably to refute charges

Michael Brown

One of the administrators of the Truth4Time site, Michael Brown has taken it upon himself to make an attempt to refute the article written about the group in the Huffington Post. I personally think that he was being disingenuous. Allow me to break down his comments:


Michael Brown - 1) “Shortly after he wrote about the secret Facebook group, named "Truth4Time," he reported that the group disbanded.” That is completely false. The group did not disband, nor was that a subject of consideration for the group.

My source, a member of the group said differently. However, it is possible that the group felt the need to start up again.

Michael Brown - 2) It is stated that “the group included a ‘member of a state legislature,’ a ‘Fox News pundit,’ and various other unnamed prominent individuals,” which were then named, including Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization of Marriage and Dr. Keith Ablow of Fox News. This is actually quite misleading, since access to the site was given to people like Maggie and Keith, but to my knowledge they were never active on the site and might not even know of its existence.

Brown is being extremely deceptive here. All of these folks are listed on the membership roster. If this is a secret group, then wouldn't access be given to members?  Also Brown is not clear on whether or not they knew of its existence. While it is true that people can be added to groups without their say-so, they are generally made aware of their addition. So the question is why didn't they remove themselves from the group. It's a question they need to answer.


Michael Brown - 3) According to Signorile, “McEwen said that tactics the group planned to employ included ‘ganging up’ on ‘pro-gay pages with comments and flagging Facebook pro-gay pages multiple times with the intent on getting these pages removed.’” This is patently false, from beginning to end. The group was actually formed with the intent of doing the exact opposite of this. Some of our conservative colleagues documented for us attempts by some gay activists to have their Facebook pages removed by constantly reporting them to Facebook as containing “hate speech” or “hateful” content. One of the goals of our group was to be alerted to tactics like this so we could report this to Facebook in the interest of fairness and so as to combat cyber-bullying.

I don't even need to give a written refutation of this. Brown omitted this mission statement from the site's leader:

Seems to me that Brown is being "patently deceptive" with what he is omitting.

Michael Brown - 4) Lastly, McEwen claimed that one former member of the group (who somehow was approved for acceptance) was “especially disturbed by a plan, whether it will come to fruition or not, to bombard physicians and school boards with negative and distorted information about the gay community.” This again is as misleading as it is untrue. There was no such plan, but there was always encouragement to raise the issue of the health risks of homosexual activity, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and the like, whenever relevant in different discussions and blogs.

Brown calls it "encouragement," I call it a "plan." Read and decide for yourself:

And if I can nitpick just a bit, Brown makes it seem that the lgbt orientation is the cause for negative gay health choices, when in fact the CDC has said that racism, poverty, and homophobia play a big role.

Poor Michael. Other members of this group - with the exception of Peter LaBarbera via sad tweets - have opted to keep quiet about this controversy.

But not him. 

There is an old saying which speaks so aptly here to Brown's sad attempt to refute my information:

It is better to be thought of as a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

'Secret anti-gay Facebook scandal explodes on Huffington Post' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Facebook Group, Included NOM Co-Founder, Fox News Pundit And More - Lord give me strength. I just made the top story of the Huffington Post.

Ministers Betray the Black Community by Defending Race-Baiting Group - Well this WAS going to be the leading post in today's news briefs. It is something I wrote then forgot about. The basic gist - any black minister who supports the exploitation of his/her people deserves a scathing so vicious that it would take the paint off of walls. I hope I did a good job here.

Video: Newt hopes he can impart his electoral karma onto North Carolina; me too - So Newt Gingrich, a man who has been married three times is giving advice on protecting marriage? Puleazeeee!

Missouri Don’t Say Gay Bill Sponsor: ‘There Is No Need To Talk About Billy Wanting To Marry A Goat’ - I've been known to date some "dogs" but I have never felt the inclination to marry a goat. LOL

Some are furious at my post on secret anti-gay facebook group

Some members of the religious right are no doubt raising hell amongst themselves about my Truth4Time, yesterday, looking at each other with heightened suspicion.

Like I actually care that these folks are angry. To paraphrase one of my favorite television show characters, their anger only makes the lgbtq community stronger. And I recommend that folks not get discouraged at these groups and the phony facts they attempt to throw out. The gist of the matter is that my post yesterday gave some of these folks a deserved kick where it counts.  And if any of them are reading this post, please be aware that your plans are being watched.

Now - cheap plug time - if you haven't heard the interview I had yesterday with Michelangelo Signorile in regards to the secret Facebook group Truth4Time, please take a listen again:



It's interestingly funny how I pivoted from not wanting to reveal the names of the people in that group to naming quite a few. Hopefully that ends the debate which was started on whether or not some of these people should have been named and also quells notions from a bitter blogger (who shall remain nameless) that I made up the entire thing.

Some of these allies weren't exactly happy with me either. I hope they are now.

Unfortunately, some of my friends are deaf and therefore could not hear the video, so allow me to break down the juicy parts that some of you have been wanting to know. The names I listed include:

Oklahoma legislator Sally Kern
Peter LaBarbera
Bradlee Dean
Matt Barber
Scott Lively
Jennifer Morse
Maggie Gallagher
Brian Brown
Phyllis Schafly

These are the people listed as members of this organization. Now how they got involved the group or whether they are fully involved in the group is for them to say. That's not my problem.

But knowing these folks, they will probably ignore this controversy, hoping that it goes away.

That's all very well, but it's like I said before. There are members of the lgbtq community more savvy than those in the past. And while we don't march or shout, we plot and plan because we have to. Our very survival depends upon it.

And to the religious right - your plans are being watched.

Naming names in the secret religious right Facebook group

I caught some flack when it came to my post regarding Truth4Time, the anti-gay secret Facebook group, because I did not give the names of the individuals involved.

However during an interview today on the Michelangelo Signorile radio show, I go into detail about Truth4Time, including giving the name of several prominent figures involved with the organization. No private citizens were called out. Like I say during the interview, I have proof of all of my charges:

'Secret anti-gay Facebook group disbands' and other Monday midday news briefs

Editor's note on Truth4Time - According to my source, the secret anti-gay Facebook group Truth4Time have dismantled itself. As far as my source knows, the group is disabled/gone from Facebook. I'm not gloating by saying this but you all can run, but you can't hide. Seems to me that if you are doing God's work, you shouldn't be ashamed of said work.


Related post - Secret religious right Facebook group plotting cyber attack on gay community


In other news:

I have to give it up for the folks fighting that awful Amendment One in North Carolina. They didn't just come to fight, they came to win. Check out these two commercials:







Also:

Video: And the proud mother merit badge goes to… - This video is too awesome. This is the family environment that the religious right tries to unsuccessfully blot out.


Iowa Paper Spotlights Bullying On Front Page - Good. A problem which needs a spotlight.

Mat Staver says Day of Silence is a Tool of the 'Radical Homosexual Agenda' to push 'Deviant Lifestyles' - Maybe I'm old fashioned but to me, it's deviant to allow children to be picked on and fear coming to school. Staver needs to check himself.

Secret religious right Facebook group plotting cyber attack on gay community

Based upon information I received from an anonymous source, there is a project afoot by members of the religious right to strike at the gay community via sites like Youtube, Twitter and Facebook.

This project is conducted by a secret Facebook group called Truth4Time. According to the creator of the group (whose name shall remain anonymous because he is not a public figure), Truth4Time is supposed to be a library of anti-gay articles, blogs, and other materials for its members to use in their fight against the supposed "gay agenda." Apparently the group has a large lists of documents which contains anti-gay information (i.e. propaganda) that members are invited to use. The founder says that the group is supposed to be a sort of a "behind the scenes support system for the religious right. He seems to think that he is on some type of divine mission. If that is the case, I seriously doubt that it is God who is dictating his marching orders. :

In all fairness, the group isn't breaking any rules (or any laws) with this idea. Members of Truth4Time also encourage each other to go on webpages featuring anti-gay or pro-gay articles and freely comment. Some members of this group who have written columns in publications such as the conservative Town Hall also encourage fellow members to bombard the prospective sites with comments:

 Again, the group isn't breaking any rules or laws by doing this.

But it is the following questionable tactics, such as "ganging up" on pro-gay pages with comments and flagging Facebook pro-gay pages multiple times with the intent on getting these pages removed, which is sure to raise eyebrows. Truth4Time seems to be under the ludicrous impression that gays stoop to this action, so they figure "what's good for the goose is sauce for the gander:"

One member of the group, a certain Georgia pastor (who has a long history of maligning the gay community) provides tips on what he calls "leveraging public perception on the subject of homosexuality," or in layman's terms, providing an inaccurate picture of whether or not there is support for lgbt equality:

And just who are the members of this group you ask?  I have the list of the members, but  I won't reveal it because many are ordinary citizens, not public figures.

However, that's not to say that Truth4Time does not many contain public figures and prominent members of the anti-gay industry, including:

• a Fox News pundit,
• former employees of Concerned Women for America and The Family Research Council,
• a prominent member of the American Family Association,
• long term anti-gay activists, including those who testified in front of Congress,
• prominent members of the so-called "ex-gay" movement,
• a member of a state legislature, 
• college professors from right-wing universities,
• activists who have called for laws declaring homosexuality illegal,
• members of a prominent anti-gay marriage equality group, and
• various religious right talking heads who us bloggers have had to refute many times in the past.

I should also add that I did not steal this information. A member of the group - who has been disturbed by the comments and plans of this group  - freely gave me this information. The member in question was especially disturbed by a plan (whether it will come to fruition or not) to bombard physicians and school boards with negative and distorted information about the gay community:

Gayterribletruth is a quackery webpage. It's filled with headlines implying that gay men are beset with all sorts of awful diseases due to their orientations alone. However, if one took the time to read several of the articles, they clearly demonstrate that the bad health besetting these gay men have less to do with their orientation and more to do with how homophobia leads to their poor health choices. And other headlines lead to biased religious right articles on the gay community.

Studies already show that the gay community faces negative health problems in part due to the perceived homophobia of their health physicians. Information such as this sent out to physicians can only serve to exacerbate this problems.

And I don't think that I have to mention what would happen to gay youth if at least one school board takes this information as fact.

One hilarious thing about Truth4Time is how members absolutely despise Joe Jervis of the famous blog Joe.My.God (which of course makes me jealous as hell). Many members of the right have been on a tear against Jervis since he won the GLAAD Blogger of the Year award two years ago. Also Jervis has never been known to mince words when it comes to confronting members of the religious right. Naturally that drives them nuts:

I omitted the post in which members speculated whether or not Satan whispers in Jervis' ear.

Lastly, according to my source - the member of the group who gave me this information - several members have a serious hang up about "gay sex"  like such:

While I am not an armchair psychiatrist, that last point brings to mind the recent study which says that those who speak out the loudest against homosexuality are secretly gay themselves.

But there is something else you should know. According to my source, there is one other secret Facebook group like this one which refers to the gay community in a viler language. And a few folks from Truth4Time are members of that group.

While it is not my intent to make the gay community paranoid as to the plots of the religious right, I am a firm believer of knowing all you can about those who designate themselves as your enemies.

Perhaps it's time for members of the gay community to stop laughing some of these folks off as mere homophobes and take into account the depths they will stoop to in their homophobia.

After all, you never know who is lurking on Facebook.

Editor's note - I deliberately obscured all the names in the listed graphics because the comments of private citizens are mingled with those of religious right public figures. I thought it would be best to be consistent and obscure all of the names.