Okay this is corny, but every now and then if you don't laugh at the opposition, you start to take them too seriously:
Analyzing and refuting the inaccuracies lodged against the lgbt community by religious conservative organizations. Lies in the name of God are still lies.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
'Did Maggie Gallagher lie about NOM's affiliation with ex-gay groups?' and other Tuesday midday news briefs
'Protecting marriage' always comes down to 'changing' gays: @MNForMarriage Edition - Maggie Gallagher claims that NOM doesn't push reparative (ex-gay) therapy. However why does Minnesota for Marriage , an organization affiliated with NOM to stop marriage equality in MN, associate with groups which do? According to Jeremy Hooper - the Minnesota Catholic Conference, one of the named coalition partners in the current Minnesota For Marriage push for an anti-gay-marriage amendment is promoting an ex-gay group, Courage, on its webpage. The question is where does NOM stand on this?
Pennsylvania House Committee Pulls Same-Sex Marriage Ban - Excellent news indeed!
HHS weighs accepting men who have sex with men as blood donors - Count on the religious right freaking out over this.
Rick Santorum Prayed with Anti-Gay Pastor Implicated in Cover-up of Child Abuse - But the important thing was that the pastor wasn't gay-friendly, right?
Ted Olson To Rally Against North Carolina Gay Marriage Ban - Awesome news!
Pennsylvania House Committee Pulls Same-Sex Marriage Ban - Excellent news indeed!
HHS weighs accepting men who have sex with men as blood donors - Count on the religious right freaking out over this.
Rick Santorum Prayed with Anti-Gay Pastor Implicated in Cover-up of Child Abuse - But the important thing was that the pastor wasn't gay-friendly, right?
Ted Olson To Rally Against North Carolina Gay Marriage Ban - Awesome news!
Why can't NOM stop lying about gays and children?
Brian Brown, NOM's president |
In a blog post, Gay Activists Promoting "30 Ways to Make a Baby" Children's Book, NOM makes it seem that the lgbtq community is pushing a book about the creation of children.
NOM linked this story from a right-wing publication, Lifesite News (no friend of the lgbtq community. The headline on this site clearly says Book to teach elementary students 30 ways babies made slammed by pro-family culture critics. As you can see, there is nothing about the lgbtq community in the title.
The reason why NOM is linking this book to the lgbtq community is because of one paragraph in the Lifesite article which states:
The homosexual rights community is getting behind the book for its positive portrayal of the dozens of alternative methods that can be used to create a new human life (about 30 according to the author). The author intends that his “book for kids about sex,” aimed at pre-schoolers through to 8-years-olds, will also be accompanied by a teacher’s resource to assist its implementation in a school setting.
But here is the problem. No one from the lgbtq community is quoted as saying that they support this book or will promote this book. In fact, no gay activist is quote in the article at all.
And I venture to say that most likely, the vast majority of us - if not all - have never even heard of this book. So basically, NOM is lying. It's not anything we haven't seen before, but this time it's so unabashedly blatant that it should be criminal.
In actuality, the book has less to do with the lgbtq community and more to do with educating people that not all children come from the traditional manner. Author Cory Silverberg says this:
What Makes a Baby is my response to the fact that books about where babies come from leave many of us out. They tell a nice story (mommy + daddy + intercourse = you!) but the truth is that more and more of us are acknowledging the help we get to bring children into our lives. That help might be a doctor, fertility clinic, adoption or foster agency; it might be a turkey baster and a friend; it might be a sperm donor or a surrogate. What Makes a Baby helps parents tell children a story about where they came from that isn’t just true for them, but true for everyone.
Crafted for children roughly from pre-school to 8-years-old, What Makes a Baby is written and illustrated to include all kinds of kids, all kinds of adults, and all kinds of families - regardless of how many people were involved, what the orientation, gender identity, or other make up of the family is, or how it came to be that way. It's a social justice approach to sex education. Like all picture books, it's meant to be read to a child and gives the adult reader the opportunity to fill in as much detail as they would like.
Written by a certified sexuality educator, Cory Silverberg, and illustrated by award-winning Canadian artist Fiona Smyth, What Makes a Baby is being designed and produced with the help of Zab Design & Typography and will be an exquisitely made hardcover picture book. 32 pages and full color, it will be as fun to look at as it is useful to read.
It's an interesting concept to say the least. But to exploit this book to push a notion that gays are declaring war on the so-called traditional way of creating children? Not so interesting. In fact, it's downright foul.