Family Research Council ally against SPLC has odd history of 'attacking' anal sex

Rep. Bob McDermott

Below this post is one explaining how the Family Research Council, with the help of a state representative in Hawaii is attacking the Southern Poverty Center for a workshop held for teachers regarding tolerating differences in classrooms.

The post goes into detail as to how this is actually a vendetta against SPLC for naming the Family Research Council as a hate group in 2010. However, there is more information regarding the state Rep. Bob McDermott, who is leading the charge against SPLC.

Apparently he is known for his bizarre attacks against a sexual education program which he feels talks too much about anal sex. Earlier this year, he held a press conference complaining about the program, Pono Choices. According to the Honolulu Civil Beat:

Bob McDermott, it seems, is obsessed with anuses.

In particular, the state legislator believes that the anus is not the same as a penis or a vagina because it isn't involved in making babies.

Public schools should not teach kids in grades 6-8 that anal sex is appropriate behavior — something the Republican representing Ewa, Ewa Beach and Iroquois Point, argues is part of the "agenda" of a Department of Education sex-ed program called Pono Choices.

"The anus is presented as genitalia, just another sex organ," he informed reporters at a press conference at the Capitol Thursday. "This is another example of forced 'equality' by ignoring the natural function of the rectum and anus. Therefore 'political' correctness dictates that the male rectum and the female vagina are 'equal' in terms of being sexual organs. This totally ignores the obvious facts of human biology and reproduction."

McDermott wants the DOE to pull Pono Choices from schools or revise it to his liking because, he contends, it is not medically accurate or age-appropriate, and it does not adequately warn of the dangers of sex between gay men. 

Anti-gay group Family Research Council continues silly vendetta against the Southern Poverty Law Center

Tony Perkins of FRC

Imagine my weariness when I opened my email to yet another notice from the Family Research Council about the false controversy involving the Southern Poverty Law Center workshop in Hawaii:

What's the going rate for political groups to buy classroom time these days? InHawaii, it's $250. At least that's what the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is paying teachers for the opportunity to present its radical message to kids as young as six and seven. The pay-to-play scheme is getting plenty of attention in the state, as more reporters dig deeper into the stipend scandal that lured teachers to take SPLC's two-day "Tolerance" workshop. While the Department of Education investigates the ethics complaint filed by State Representative Bob McDermott, more information is surfacing about the stipend scandal. Turns out, the $250 paid for a lot more influence than people originally knew. On top of the initial kickback, teachers were eligible for more money "if they implemented and submitted one lesson stemming from what they learned at the workshop, wrote up five implementation logs and agreed to be observed teaching the anti-bias material in the classroom." In other words, SPLC is paying teachers for access to students -- and worse, its employees will be fanning out in classrooms across Hawaii for "observation."

Oh clutch the pearls! However, don't be fooled. This is yet another much ado about nothing. From the Hawaii News Now:

A state lawmaker has filed an ethics complaint against the Department of Education because he said it broke the law by allowing an outside nonprofit to pay teachers stipends for attending a controversial anti-bias workshop. The Department of Education held the two-day training session at Wist Hall on the University of Hawaii Manoa campus a couple of weeks ago to help social studies and English teachers work anti-bias and multicultural lessons into their teaching.

The curriculum was created by the Southern Poverty Law Center for the workshop attended by 28 public school teachers.

State Rep. Bob McDermott (R- Ewa, Ewa Beach) said it went far beyond teaching tolerance. 

"It goes into forced acceptance, affirmation and celebration of behaviors that people of faith or creed or moral code find objectionable," McDermott said.    

McDermott is upset that suggested reading lists for children in kindergarten through 2nd grade include a short story called "10,000 Dresses," about a little boy who likes to wear dresses. 

There's a second story about two gay penguins.  

"Why does a first grader need to know about two homosexual penguins? Please, tell me.  Are we trying to indoctrinate, brainwash them?" McDermott asked. 

In other words, there is no controversy other than a state official raising a fuss over a workshop while being spurred on by FRC's hysterical notices.  It wouldn't be a surprise should it be discovered that McDermott and FRC are in "close contact" with each other about this situation.

Anti-gay hate group president Austin Ruse expresses desire for university leaders to be shot

Austin Ruse

A few years back when the Southern Poverty Law Center declared several organizations to be anti-gay hate groups, these organizations (specifically the Family Research Council), like-minded Congressional leaders, and "weak sister" pundits bent over backwards to excuse these groups and their rhetoric.

Some even claimed that these groups were being targeted because allegedly they were merely "Christian groups who disagreed with gay marriage."

I want to hear these folks have to say in light of the following statement from Austin Ruse, president of the anti-gay Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute  - one of the newest additions to SPLC's list of anti-gay hate groups - as he rails against a Duke University student who just revealed herself to be a porn actress:





Transcript:

That is the nonsense that they teach in women’s studies at Duke University, this is where she learned this. The toxic stew of the modern university is gender studies, it’s “Sex Week,” they all have “Sex Week” and teaching people how to be sex-positive and overcome the patriarchy. My daughters go to a little private religious school and we pay an arm and a leg for it precisely to keep them away from all of this kind of nonsense. I do hope that they go to a Christian college or university and to keep them so far away from the hard left, human-hating people that run modern universities, who should all be taken out and shot.

According to Truth Wins Out:

 The World Congress of Families (Ruse's group) serves as a vessel to bring worldwide hate groups together, as one can see from perusing the sponsors for their international events. The Religious Right has lost the culture war in the United States, and they realized over the past decade that they would have to expand internationally in order to keep their pocketbooks solvent and their ideology relevant. They prey on nations mired in institutional poverty, and they aid foreign governments who find scapegoats that distract their citizens from turning a keen eye on their leaders’ role in their plights quite handy. Both the World Congress of Families and C-Fam have been vocally supportive of Russia’s anti-gay laws, with the WCF expressing support in a press release not long after the Duma’s final vote on the “propaganda” law. The World Congress also held a roundtable in US House of Representatives office space recently in order to teach American “pro-family” activists how to export their hate around the world. Austin Ruse, president of C-Fam, expressed regret that the United States wouldn’t be able to start the sort of pogrom against LGBT people that Russia has, as he praised Russia in their efforts. It’s likely that the international activities of these groups contributed heavily to the SPLC’s decision to label them hate groups.

In other words, if Ruse expresses a desire for university leaders to be shot, God only knows what he wishes for the lgbt community.

As I said before, I want to hear if any folks are going to defend him against the SPLC. You just know the defense is going to be epic.

Hat tip to Right Wing Watch.

'NOM losing credibility, Jason Collins signed for the rest of the year' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

No more gloating from you, Brian Brown.

How the National Organization for Marriage Was Banished to the Basement at CPAC 2014 - A delightful story from Michelangelo Signorile on the rapidly decreasing influence of the National Organization of Marriage, particularly with folks at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference. But before you begin dancing in the streets, allow me to tell you a short Biblical story on the danger of complacency:

 The prophet Elisha was visited by the King of Israel, Joash, while on his death bed. Elisha told Joash to take some arrows and strike them on the ground. Joash smashed the arrows on the ground three times. Elisha was furious, telling the Joash that he should have struck the arrows at least five or six times on the ground until they were destroyed. The arrows represented the enemies of Israel. Because Joash was timid, the Israelites would defeat their enemies only three times instead of repeatedly until these enemies were consumed. 

And that is how we should look at not only NOM, but all groups who would seek to keep us from full equality. I don't mean physical destruction, of course. I am talking about the consistent way the lgbt community, via blogs, word of mouth, articles, lawsuits (thank you, Fred Karger), and other methods, came together and consumed NOM by ripping away its lies and phony talking points. Gone are the days when Maggie Gallagher rubbed defeats in our faces. Now we have them on the ropes and NOM is slowly sinking into a pit of  irrelevancy. Let's not slack up now. Let's continue to beat the arrows on the ground until they are consumed. 

In other news briefs (if you haven't gotten bored with my preaching yet):

Slaying of Lesbian Couple in Galveston Investigated as Possible Hate Crime - I am hoping and praying that the perpetrator of this awful crime is caught immediately. 

 Concerned Women For America Drops Out Of World Congress of Families Moscow Summit - An anti-gay group showing tact? I can't believe it. 

 Nets Plan To Sign Jason Collins For Rest Of NBA Season - Awesome!!  

How not to hold a commentator accountable starring Fox News' Jeanine Pirro - It's crap like this which makes it so difficult to expose anti-gay lies. Journalists need to learn to do their damn jobs!  

Experts, officials address concerns over transgender student athletes - You mean all of those spooky claims they made when the law protecting transgender students in CA was passed isn't taking place? Why that would mean Fox News and company were (gasp and swoon!) lying!

South Carolina legislators 'punishes' colleges for offering gay-themed books

Smith

It's as if South Carolina legislators have meetings on new ways to embarrass the state:

The $70,000 in money taken away from two colleges for assigning gay-themed books is a minuscule part of South Carolina’s $24 billion budget next year. But an effort to restore the money took up a majority of the first day of deliberations over the state’s spending plan in the S.C. House Monday.

Amendments sponsored by the House’s minority Democrats to give back $52,000 to the College of Charleston and $17,142 to the University of South Carolina-Upstate – the cost of the reading programs – were rejected soundly by near 2-to-1 margins in the GOP-controlled House.

The ongoing controversy over the book choices has led to a national debate over the role of government in publicly funded colleges.

 . . .  Rep. Garry Smith, R-Greenville, who spearheaded efforts to cut the schools’ funding, said the books – “Fun Home,” chosen by the College of Charleston, and “Out Loud: The Best of Rainbow Radio,” chosen at USC Upstate – do not reflect the community standards of S.C. taxpayers.

 . . . The House is expected to consider a budget amendment Tuesday that would have the state set aside $1 million from each public college’s state money until they ban using “pornographic content” in classes and requiring any students to take a class that includes a nude model. The amendment from state Rep. Mac Toole, R-Lexington, does not define “pornographic content.” He said most people understand the definition. Toole’s amendment also would require colleges to start courses on the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights before the money is released. 

The "community standard" argument is a weak excuse for those who don't want to own up to their homophobia. I contributed an article to the "Best of Rainbow Radio" and I am a taxpayer. I RESENT Rep. Smith appointing HIMSELF as the arbiter of community values. How dare he makes such a judgement about books he obviously has not read and people he obviously don't know. Since apparently my life doesn't fit his definition of community values, perhaps he should refund the portion of my tax dollars which pays his salary. If he deems my life as not adequately reflecting his definition of community values, I deem his pockets not fit for my community cash.

And that goes double for Rep. Toole. Instead of requiring colleges to start courses on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, Rep. Toole should make it a point to read the two items himself.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/03/10/3317994/sc-house-votes-to-penalize-colleges.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/03/10/3317994/sc-house-votes-to-penalize-colleges.html#storylink=cpy