Shouldn't being a 'Values Voter' involve having decent values?

This weekend, various religious right groups and conservatives are holding which is yet another one of those dreary "God hath designated us to save America" conferences designed to make everyone think that Jesus actually condensed the Sermon on The Mount to two words: Vote Republican.

This year's conference will be interesting thanks to the words of one of the guest speakers:

gay sex is a form of domestic terrorism.

. . .our public policy toward homosexual conduct should be the same as our public policy toward intravenous drug abuse.

A homosexual judge cannot help but give the home-field advantage to every legal team appearing before him who represents homosexual causes. It will be impossible for the visiting team, the team representing sexual normalcy and natural marriage, to get a fair shake in his courtroom.

Bryan Fischer is the American Family Association’s Director of Issue Analysis. He also has a radio program where he spouts nonsense like this as well as other more outrageous comments which can be heard if  you click on the above video.

He will also be sharing the spotlight at the Values Voters Summit with GOP leaders such as Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Mike Pence, Bob McDonnell, Michele Bachmann, and newly crowned tea party star Christine O'Donnell.

And I am sure that these leaders will tell you how much they do not agree with Fischer's statements if asked. But so far they haven't been asked. And that's a problem.

Granted, some GOP leaders aren't exactly slouches themselves when it comes to things like homophobia.

When Huckabee isn't assuring folks like Anne Coulter, that he isn't "pro-sodomy," he insults same-sex households by comparing them to people raising puppies.

O'Donnell has a history of all sorts of ugly comments and stances from being involved in an "ex-gay" ministry,  to claiming that AIDS prevention gets too much money.

And then there is that incident of Michele Bachmann watching a gay pride parade while hiding behind a bush during her days as a state legislator.

So Fischer can be considered as the over ripe cherry on the top of a rotten sundae.

But for those who really care about morality, this association with Fischer shouldn't be anything to be proud of. It's another item on the grocery list of right-wing hypocrisy stored at the "do as I say, not as I do" aisle.

Some on the right like to claim that the word "racist" has been overused too much as sort of a "mark of Cain" given to someone for "merely expressing a politically incorrect opinion."

I tend to think that the words "values" and "morality' have been equally overused. Or rather it seems that some groups have figuratively copyrighted the words with the ferocity of a record company trying to co-opt the plans of a departing singing group.

Just because you use the words "values" and "morality" in your talking points don't mean that you have them. Peppering these two words in your statements while you speak in clipped tones to the press doesn't necesssarily compare to Jesus healing the sick or raising the dead.

Personally I tend to think that "values" and "morals" entail more than a group of well-paid, well-heeled, high-moneyed individuals assembling themselves in luxurious conference rooms whining about how much they are being victimized simply because gays and lesbians are able to marry or provide a home for a child.

I also think that having "values" and "morality" don't involve turning a blind eye and sharing a stage with a man who seems to think that blatant homophobia is a Christian virtue.

Who knows. Maybe these folks have a different version of the Bible than most of us.



Hat tip to People for the American Way.

Newly crowned Senate candidate to share stage with homophobe and other Thursday midday news briefs

O'Donnell To Speak At Values Voter Summit, Will She Denounce Fischer's Bigotry? - She'll get a standing ovation but somehow I don't think it will appeal to the voters in Delaware.

White House Stands by Veto Threat - Don't do it, President Obama.

Groups Cheer Tim Kennedy Win Over Anti-Gay Marriage Bill Stachowski - Another victory overshadowed by teabagging mess. Oh well.

My Ex-Gay Life With the Tea Party Queen - Not trying to Christine O'Donnell you to death but this is an excellent article about a gay man who used to be involved in her ex-gay ministry with a little Peter LaBarbera mixed in for some spice.

Cruel irony - Asst attorney general cyber bullies gay college student

How is this Ann Arbor story for an ugly irony:

In classroom’s across the state, Attorney General Mike Cox uses videos to teach students the dangers of internet predators and cyber bullies.

. . . But is one of his top lieutenants engaging in cyber bullying, the very behavior Cox says is so dangerous. Andrew Shirvell is an assistant attorney general who helped run Cox’s last re-election campaign. But on his own time, he’s the author of a blog he started last spring targeting Chris Armstrong, the openly gay president of the University of Michigan’s student assembly.

Apparently in this blog, Shirvell has accused this young man of several things including the customary "pusher of the gay agenda" to the outrageous "being Satan's representative on the Student Assembly."

Lifesite News and Tony Perkins team up to bash gay marriage with bad research

A very aggravating thing about religious right groups is how they will continue to distort studies about the lgbt community.

Case in point - the Family Research Council and the conservative online news site Life Site News

Last week, I blogged about how the Family Research Council was distorting a Netherlands study in a piece on its webpage to claim that gay marriages have more promiscuity than heterosexual marriages.

In spite of the fact that the Netherlands study looked at casual relationships involving gay men and none of the men in the study were married, the Family Research Council not only used the study to bash gay marriage but also same-sex households with children.

The Netherlands study was again distorted last week, but this time by Family Research Council head Tony Perkins in an  address at the Faith and Freedom Conference:

Data show that the great majority of married homosexuals have multiple sexual partners. One recent study of homosexual couples found that each member of such couples averages eight additional sexual partners per year.

And as if this distortion isn't bad enough, Perkins then says the following:

Other studies suggest that children raised in homosexual homes are much more likely to be exposed to violence than those raised by a mom and a dad.

Perkins doesn't go into detail about just what these studies are but LifeSite News, in an article about Perkins's speech, attempts to take up the slack by assuming just what studies Perkins is talking about:

For example, a 1994 study in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence examining conflict and violence in lesbian relationships found that 90% of the lesbians surveyed had been recipients of one or more acts of verbal aggression from their intimate partners during the year prior to the study, with 31% reporting one or more incidents of physical abuse. A 2001 survey in the Journal of the Family Research Institute found that gay men were 25 times more likely than married men to be domestically attacked.

But like Perkins, LifeSite News is highly inaccurate.

According to the Journal of Interpersonal Violence’s own web page:

The Journal of Interpersonal Violence offers the most up-to-date information on domestic violence, rape, child sexual abuse and other violent crimes . . . Focusing on both victims and perpetrators, the journal examines theoretical links between all types of interpersonal violence, exploring the similarities and differences between these types of crimes.

In other words, the Journal of Interpersonal Violence tracks domestic violence, as well as other violent crimes.

Those surveyed in journal articles are the victims of violence, verbal or otherwise, because this is what the journal is designed to track.

What Life Site News is doing here is the equivalent of taking a study of domestic violence in the African-American community published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence and using it to allege that black relationships are indicative of violent behavior. 

And that second study? It's entitled Gay Domestic Violence Finally Measured and it was written by researcher Paul Cameron.  Cameron is the creator of numerous inaccurate studies about the lgbt community. He has been discredited continuously and extensively by such organizations as the American Psychological Association and the American Sociological Assocation.

But at least LifeSite News finds him credible. I guess that makes it all okay.

Delaware GOP Senate nominee supports 'ex-gay' ministries and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Delaware GOP Senate Nominee A Staunch Supporter Of Ex-Gay Ministries - More proof that if Christine O'Donnell becomes a senator, lgbts are in for a world of trouble.

FRC's continued attempts to drag down Reid - My gosh, can the Family Research Council get any more tasteless?

A very good night for LGBT candidates - Something for under the radar but that's okay. Take it from me, you can get a LOT done while under the radar.

Focus on the Family: Legally Married Couples Do Not Count As "Families - And yet they whine about being called "bigots."

New study on LGBTQ students in school - I don't mean to end the news briefs on this sad note but it's an important issue.

LGBT community should fear the thought of 'Senator' Christine O'Donnell

Christine O'Donnell's victory last night was a gamechanger on so many fronts.

For one the emphasis is off of the supposed Democrat electoral slaughter in November and is now on one of the backstories everyone was  ignoring - the crisis of leadership in the Republican Party.

And now O'Donnell, whose victory in the Republican Delaware Senate primary over establishment pick Mike Castle (thanks to out of state tea party money and Sarah Palin) has made her the new media star for a time.

Right now folks are laughing at O'Donnell because of her extreme right-wing and strange views, including starring in a video which criticized masturbation. People are saying that she had no chance to win the general election.

But as long as she is running and is not taken as a serious challenger, she can easily sneak up and win, especially when she is backed by the money and influence of the tea party.

And this doesn't bode well for the lgbt community. She used to be a spokesperson for anti-gay Concerned Women for America.

That's the organization which, amongst other things, blames the lgbt community because young black men aren't graduating, stands against the repeal of DADT,  and who at times cites the discredited work of Paul Cameron.

This is the type of person who can be a United States Senator and it should scare the lgbt community.

It's one thing to have Family Research Council head Tony Perkins called as "expert witnesses" in front of Congress.

But having someone like O'Donnell in Congress is like having a rabid fox trapped in a henhouse.

So the lgbt community and the Democratic Party in general should be careful. Don't laugh O'Donnell into Congress.

SC Republicans stoop racially LOW

I was going to write a piece on the consistent distortion of the word "values," but the following caught my eye from Fits News:

The National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW) held its annual fall Board of Directors meeting in Charleston, S.C. last weekend – a decision the organization is likely regretting after several controversial pictures from one of the meeting’s sponsored events began surfacing on the internet.

One of the pictures shows S.C. Senate President Glenn McConnell - who FITS readers will recall enjoys dressing up as a Confederate General – posing in his Rebel garb with a pair of African-Americans dressed in, um, “antebellum” attire.

The event in question – dubbed “The Southern Experience” – was held last Friday evening at the Country Club of Charleston. Hosted by the South Carolina Federation of Republican Women, it was included on the national conference’s official itinerary.

In addition to McConnell, S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford attended (and spoke at) the event – although it was not listed on his weekly public schedule. S.C. Republican Attorney General nominee Alan Wilson also attended.

Invited speakers to the NFRW conference included U.S. House Majority Leader John Boehner, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, RNC Chairman Michael Steele, Rep. Joe Wilson, House Speaker Bobby Harrell, former U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins and GOP gubernatorial nominee Nikki Haley.

Fits News has more pictures posted on its site.

Okay accuse me of political correctness all you want, but I'd like to hear who exactly these two black folks were "portraying" during that experience. How about a "real experience" and tying the brother to a tree and whipping his back or . . . modesty precludes me from saying what should be done to the "sista'" but you get the picture.

I don't think its necessarily a good thing to celebrate some mess like this. But in a state where the Confederate flag hangs at the State House and where there also resides a statue devoted to an "unashamed" racist (Ben "Pitchfork" Tillman) who proudly bragged about using violence to keep African-Americans disenfranchised, what else can you expect? 

"Southern experience" my ass!