Family Research Council sued by former employee

To paraphrase Rosalind Russell in The Women, "get a grip on yourself because you are simply going to swoon." The Family Research Council is getting sued for retaliating against an employee who filed a sexual harassment suit

The former director of women’s and reproductive health at the Family Research Council, a prominent Christian conservative advocacy group, is suing the organization, claiming it retaliated against her and fired her after she filed a sexual harassment complaint against her boss.

According to court documents first obtained and reported by journalist Evan Gahr, former FRC employee Moira Gaul, 42, filed a complaint in 2009 with the District of Columbia Human Rights Commission in which she accused her supervisor of gender discrimination. She claimed that her boss, the director of the Center for Human Life and Bioethics at the time, referred to the use of birth control pills as "whoring around," addressed emails to her with the words "hi cutie," pressured her to attend parties, and referred to her as a "young, attractive woman."

"His attitude toward me and other women was rude, belittling, and at times, angry," she wrote in the complaint.

Gahr identified Gaul's former supervisor as prominent anti-abortion lawyer William Saunders, who now works at the anti-abortion group Americans United for Life. Saunders and his attorney, William J. Hickey, did not respond to requests for comment on the case.4

The FRC fired Gaul shortly after she filed the complaint, citing a loss in federal funding for abstinence -- Gaul's area of expertise -- and the need for someone with more experience on abortion issues. Gaul claims the FRC also retroactively canceled her health insurance for the time that she was on short-term disability for systemic lupus. 

According to the Huffington Post article, the complaint was settled in 2009. And there lies the interesting rub. Gaul is suing FRC for unfair retaliation to her filing the complaint:

The suit claims that Gaul had received excellent reviews and no reprimands at the FRC up until she filed the gender discrimination complaint. Then, three months after she was fired, abstinence funding continued to the FRC, and the organization "created a new position with duties substantially similar to those previously performed by Ms. Gaul."

J.P. Duffy, vice president of communications at the FRC, told The Huffington Post that "D.C.'s Office of Human Rights made no finding" on the gender discrimination case, "and the case was withdrawn." Duffy did not comment on the retaliation case, which is ongoing.

However this ends, I know one thing for sure. FRC can't blame the gay community for THIS one.

'Todd 'legitimate rape' Akin goes after gays in the military' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Todd "Legitimate Rape" Akin Now Going After Gay Troops - So Todd Akin, who lost a sure bet Senate seat for his unbelievable comments about women and rape, now seeks to serve as a roadblock to gays serving openly in the military. Somehow, I don't think that this is a good idea for Akin.  

SC: Governor Haley names anti-gay, gun-promoting teabagger black Republican to U.S. Senate seat - Why is it that almost every black Republican out there is practically loony. For once, I would like to see one challenge his/her own party on their errors as much as they attack Democrats.

UPDATE: USNews.com readers reject Brian Brown's flawed arguments - Any day Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage gets publicly embarrassed for his flawed arguments is a good day.  

Jeffress: Stopping Gay Marriage Must Be Part of U.S. Defense Policy - Why oh why are these people so scared of marriage equality. The worst that could happen are tacky wedding outfits . . . naw, we are the gay community. We don't DO tacky.  

Helena, Montana Passes LGBT Nondiscrimination Protections - Not bad. Even with folks pushing the "transgenders in the bathroom" scare story, the protections passed unanimously.

Religious right member 'cherry-picks' study to brand gays as pedophilies

This is an old clip, but I want you all to pay attention to something:



Barber claims that molestation leads to homosexuality by citing a passage from the Archives of Sexual Behavior.  He makes it seem like the study in question backs him up, but the study in no way has ever said that molestation leads to homosexuality.  In fact, one wonders if the phrase "homosexual pedophile" even existed in the study. When citing the study in another piece, Barber said:

“46 percent of homosexual men and 22 percent of homosexual women reported having been molested by a person of the same gender. This contrasts to only 7 percent of heterosexual men and 1 percent of heterosexual women reporting having been molested by a person of the same gender.”

The phrase "homosexual pedophile" is a creation solely of Barber and it proves that he is "cherry-picking" the legitimate study from the Archives of Sexual Behavior to reach the conclusion that he wants. And that conclusion is wrong.

Pay attention to that word, "cherry-picking." It plays heavily into the religious right repertoire of anti-gay lies and you will be hearing it a lot in the future.