Washington state marriage equality bill is signed - Equality rules!

According to Think Progress:

The law will not take effect before June 7, three months after the conclusion of the legislative session. However, if opponents succeed in putting a question of marriage on the November ballot defining marriage as a union between one mand and one woman, the law would be suspended until the certification of election returns in December.(Gov Chris) Gregoire predicted that the people of the state of Washington “will say yes to marriage equality in the state of Washington” if the law is reviewed in a referendum.

'ANOTHER false 'religious liberty' case bites the dust' and other Monday midday news briefs

Federal court dismisses suit against UT - This is one of those "religious liberty" fake outs from way back. In 2008, University of Toledo associate vice president for human resources Crystal Dixon was fired for writing a piece in the area newspaper objecting to a previously written by the Toledo Free Press’ editor-in-chief on gay rights. Using inaccurate information, Dixon said that gays rights and African-American civil rights cannot be compared. But the substance of her piece was not what led to her dismissal. In her piece, she talked about university policy and without the permission of the university. In ruling against her, the court said:

“…The balance of [Ms. Dixon’s] interest in making a comment of public concern is clearly outweighed by the University’s interest as her employer in carrying out its own objectives. Therefore, [Ms. Dixon] has failed to establish that her speech was protected,” the judge wrote. “[Ms. Dixon] also claims that she was fired for violating an impermissibly vague speech policy. However, the damage she did to her ability to perform her job and to the University provide ample justification for her termination.”

Christopher Cain, Atlanta Anti-Gay Attack Suspect, Arrested And Charged With Aggravated Assault And Robbery - Good. Put that SOB under the jail if he is guilty!

Roland Martin's Controversial Tweets Draw Attention To Issues Faced By LGBT Blacks, Activists Say - To put it as simple as I can, Roland Martin's tweet AND the article above are two reasons why THIS gay black man carries peppery spray at all times. It's a reality, children.

CPAC Speakers Seek To Dismiss The Lives Of LGBT People - They do it all of the time. No shock there.

NOM's Maggie Gallagher caught lying on MSNBC

Editor's note - It happened again. So many things going on that I decided to write two posts this morning rather than one. After reading this one, please feel free to pan down and enjoy "Whines about 'attacks on religious liberties' reveal a lack of faith"

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

They say that when some animals are cornered, they fight with both cylinders.

In the case of Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage, she chose to fight back with lies. Lies which can be easily refuted by a simple google search.

Gallagher was  interviewed recently on Up With Chris Hayes and it didn't go well for her.

According to Scott Wooledge of Daily Kos, when she was vigorously challenged on NOMs claims, she got defensive and told a bunch of lies (the good stuff starts at 8:44):

  . . . The sparks really fly when Richard Kim, executive editor of TheNation.com, gets a chance to address Gallagher. He begins by saying:

Kim: I think you and your organization have really failed to present any evidence that same-sex marriage impacts heterosexual marriages. You also however have advocated for gay reparative therapy, as has the National Organization for Marriage, you have called homosexuality a "dysfunction" and not normal...

Gallagher: No! I have not! I have not! I have not done any of those thing

Kim: So it's hard to escape the conclusion that there is just anti-gay animus and bigotry behind your campaign.

Gallagher: You know you are making up---well, you can make up any conclusions you want. But you have just made up a bunch of facts that aren't true.

Gallagher then proceeded to say that NOM does not advocate for gay reparative therapy. Kim then called attention to several articles on NOM's webpage which called homosexuality a mental health problem.

The following were Maggie's exact words:

"No there isn't. You are confusing us with some other organization. It's not true.

Gallagher said also that she keeps a close view of what goes on the blog and just because NOM links to a piece doesn't mean the group endorses it.

Of course that explanation is just plain ludicrous. Linking to a piece  doesn't mean you endorse the piece. It is all about context. And generally when NOM links to pieces about the lgbtq community, the inference is that we are the "diseased other out to destroy society." So I am of the opinion that there is a slight degree of endorsement in the pieces that NOM links to. Gallagher used  the "we don't endorse everything we link to" defense in December when it was discovered that NOM's blog linked to an article A "Bad Catholic" Case Against SSM?

Whines about 'attacks on religious liberties' reveal a lack of faith

The cries about "attacks on religious liberty" says a lot more about those making the charges than the parties accused of such offenses.

On the surface, the claims evokes images of ugly persecution, including the rounding up of people into camps where they will be the victims of all sorts of evil.

Now while there may be anecdotal examples of people and companies being too zealous to not show religious favoritism, such an image is a serious flight of fancy.

This is not to say that there weren't cases of religious persecution in the past. The Romans accused Christians of cannibalism and starting the Great Fire, thereby justifying their feeding them to the lions and other brutal acts.

Mary I of England - a Catholic stalwart - burned over 300 of her subjects at the stake for practicing the so-called wrong religion of Protestantism.

Even as we speak, Christians are being persecuted in foreign countries.

But the argument of "attacks on religious liberties" cries out for a degree of levity

Being fed to ravenous lions by vindictive Romans in no way compares to Catholic Charities not being able to take gay taxpayers' money for the adoption of children while declaring these gays unfit under the guise of religion.

Nor does being burned at the stake by a zealot queen compare to not being able to interfere with women receiving vital contraception.

To even imply so is the flight of fancy of an entity with a martyr complex. And more to the point, it is an indictment on the faith of those who would push such bogus images.

I come from the black worship experience, which was very vital to the survival of the African-American community in this country.

Before the days of the mega-churches and the sold out arenas, my people clung to their songs, wooden churches, and faith even in the face of ugly oppression. Down south, we sang and worshipped with vigor even though we were aware that at any moment, any racist with a bad attitude would and could snuff out our very lives and get away with these wanton acts of violence.

So why did we do it? Simply because of our faith in God. We knew that in spite of all that we faced, God would see us through our trials and tribulations and into better days.

And to a degree, we were right.

So to those crying about "attacks on religious liberty," many of whom have it better than any of my black ancestors, I say where is your faith?

If you truly believe in God, then you have nothing to worry about. The Bible which you claim to follow says that no weapon formed against you will prosper.

If there is some type of conspiracy to beat down your "religious liberty," wouldn't it be doomed to fail?

What are you scared about?

Or could it be that these cries about "attacks on religious liberty" are nothing more than cynical ploys to either scare your followers or appeal to your own egos?