Analyzing and refuting the inaccuracies lodged against the lgbt community by religious conservative organizations. Lies in the name of God are still lies.
One of the wildest, mind blowing experiences I ever had was attempting to watch the motion picture The Lion in Winter (1968) for the first time.
It was originally a 1966 play which was made into a motion picture starring Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn. It received three Oscars, including one for Hepburn for Best Actress. From Wikipedia:
Set during Christmas 1183 at Henry II of England's château in Chinon, Anjou, Angevin Empire, the play opens with the arrival of Henry's wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, whom he has had imprisoned since 1173. The story concerns the gamesmanship between Henry, Eleanor, their three surviving sons Richard, Geoffrey, and John, their guest, Philip II of France (the son of Eleanor's ex-husband, Louis VII of France), and Philip's half-sister, Alais, who has been at court since she was betrothed to Richard at age 8, but has since become Henry's mistress.
The Lion In Winter was a classic example of palace intrigue done in hyper mode. There are so many twists and turns that it would be best for one not to root for one character because the character would veer off in another direction and betray your sympathies by revealing themselves to be cold and venomous.
The scene below is a perfect example of this. King Philip (Timothy Dalton) and King Henry are bartering over allegiances and property. Henry outmaneuvers Philip, or so he thinks.
Philip has one trump card he plays - his relationship with Henry's son, Richard. It's a nasty scene. Imagine entering into a gay affair just so that you could use it to hurt the man's father in the future:
Historically, it is not known whether or not Richard (who later became Richard the Lion-Hearted) and Philip had an affair. However, history does hint that Richard have been bisexual at the very least.
Note at the end "Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed." Note also that One News Now used the author's byline (Andrew Welsh-Huggins); the Washington Post article provides his twitter address so I would suggest contacting him directly and pointing out their rewrite. He may not be happy to see how his article has been rewritten. Welsh's email address is awelsh@ap.org. He's also on Facebook.
I think that it's more than appropriate for those of us concerned with how the AFA dehumanizes the gay community to register our disapproval of such tactics. I also think that it's more appropriate to notify other parties who are unfairly being used to further that aim.
The following is my letter:
Dear Mr. Huggins,
I am a reader who wanted to notify you concerning a possible violation of AP policy as it pertains to the reproduction of its articles.
The American Family Association reprinted an article you wrote after giving it a rewrite to push an anti-gay agenda.
This is what you wrote:
Girls seeking abortions in New Hampshire must first tell their parents or a judge, some employers in Alabama must verify new workers' U.S. residency, and California students will be the first in the country to receive mandatory lessons about the contributions of gays and lesbians under state laws set to take effect at the start of 2012.
The American Family Association changed it to the following:
Girls seeking abortions in New Hampshire must first tell their parents or a judge, employers in Alabama must verify new workers' U.S. residency, and California students will be the first in the country to receive mandatory pro-homosexual indoctrination under state laws set to take effect at the start of 2012.
Not only is the article given a homophobic spin, but your byline remains, making it appear as if you are aware of this breach of objectivity. I sincerely that for the sake of your personal integrity as a journalist and that of the AP as an unbiased new sources that this breach doesn't go unanswered.
As 2011 comes to a close, it is time yet again count down those special moments in which the religious right and other assorted members of the anti-gay industry made complete asses of themselves on video:
5. Brian Brown gets laughed at on Fox News - In 2011, a curious thing happened to the National Organization for Marriage. As the organization battled against marriage equality in several states - successfully in Maine and unsuccessfully in New York - NOM's leaders seemed be slowly backing away from giving interviews and having debates on news programs.
Now it could be that they were shying away from the press so they didn't have to answer ever growing questions about NOM's finances. But one could also point out the simple fact that as NOM's people gave more interviews and took part in more debates, their argument became less credible.
NOM's president, Brian Brown, emphasized this point. Now in his defense, Brown had a bad year which was accentuated by a picture of him crying when the state of New York passed a marriage equality law and a later video of him pushing a reporter out of a Newt Gingrich fundraiser.
But for my money, Brown's less-than-finest hour came in August when he was debating the issue of marriage equality on Fox News and not only was his points shot down by the host of the program, John Stossel, but also by the audience. Now seriously, if you are a conservative who can't get positive play on Fox News, you might as well quit your gig:
In all honesty though, it was Brown's own fault. He repeated his talking points in a delivery so wooden that he looked less like a so-called defender of marriage and more like a third rate actor auditioning for the sequel to The Stepford Wives. The Stepford Bigots maybe?
4. GLSEN spanks the Family Research Council - In August, the Family Research Council attacked GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) in a video, claiming that the organization distributed an explicit sex guide to school children in 2005.
But not only was the claim false, it was debunked overa year before FRC made it. So GLSEN sent FRC a cease-and-desist letter from its lawyers saying (and allow me to paraphrase here):
"Look suckers! You are telling a straight up lie and if you don't correct this, we are going to have so many lawyers up your behind that FRC will be funding GLSEN for years to come."
Like any other bully when stood up to, FRC backed down hard, changing the video to the following below:
As you can see, it now tells folks to go to a new video, which is an edited version of the original video.
But while FRC was quick to send out a new version of lies, the organization ignored the Christian tenet of apologizing to those you have wronged. All of this was done silently and without any acknowledgement by FRC of what it had done to GLSEN.
3. Al Franken humiliates Focus on the Family - In July during a Congressional hearing, Senator Al Franken became the idol of many in the lgbtq community when he publicly called out Focus on the Family's Tom Minnery for distorting a study in order to badmouth same-sex households:
Those on the right whined that Franken unfairly attacked Minnery, but who cares what they think. The big take away was that it was the first time that a member of the religious right was publicly caught and dressed down during a Congressional hearing for their common practice of cherry-picking and misrepresenting studies to demonize the lgbtq community.The only reason why this video doesn't rank higher is because it was wasn't Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council who was dressed down. He is long due for the numerous times he has cherry-picked studies.
2. Maggie Gallagher's Thanksgiving insult - In September, Maggie Gallagher stepped down as chairwoman of NOM. She claimed that she wanted to devote time to other projects. I personally think it was because she became such a polarizing figure whose public persona actually worked against her argument. Since that time, Gallagher kept a pretty much low profile. That is until November when she pushed the following video tips on supposedly how to "handle the same-sex debate at Thanksgiving."
And I imagine those who stood on Gallagher's side of the marriage equality argument rolled their eyes and wondered just why did she feel the need to grab the spotlight.
Now I got into a little trouble concerning the video when I made the following statement:
To say that Gallagher's video wasn't popular would be an understatement. To say that she created the youtube version of Battlefield Earth and Plan 9 from Outer Space (two motion pictures renowned for how bad they were) would be more to the point.
Some folks have said that her delivery wasn't exactly comforting. Also, Gallagher simply didn't say anything we haven't heard before. If her aim was to tug at hearts, then my guess is that she used how the Snow White's wicked stepmother wanted to tug at her heart as a model.
And forgive for saying so because I am certainly not trying to rag on Gallagher's looks but the way her hair would bob in her face when she made what she thought were emphatic points totally distracted from her message. All the while Gallagher was talking, I kept thinking about that scene in the motion picture Valley of the Dolls when actress Pattie Duke was singing at a telethon and her dancing caused her necklace to bob and weave as if it took a life of its own.
To reiterate, I wasn't attacking Gallagher's physical appearance, only the campy quality of the video. To tell the truth, I rather liked Gallagher's appearance. Her hair was on point, the pearls were fierce, and girlfriend was rocking that faux Chanel suit. However, from what I hear in regards to her salary (and not just with NOM but also with past groups), I doubt that the suit was fake.
This is NOM's second video on the countdown. When both videos are combined, they make a point about the organization. Brown's video demonstrates why NOM will lose in the end. The points he made about marriage are false, coming from a boardroom rather than any place of truth. Gallagher's video reveals why the organization is having success in some places even though its argument is below weak.
Someone is funding NOM, majorly. We don't know yet. But sooner or later, the truth will come out.
1. Poor Rick Perry - Maggie Gallagher's Thanksgiving monstrosity would have been number one if it weren't for Rick Perry.
Poor Rick Perry. At one time, the long-time Texas Governor was seen as the conservative savior, i.e the one who could defeat Obama in 2012. However after a series of gaffes, Perry was seen as less of a political genius and more of a beneficiary of Texas complacency.
Then came the following video in which Perry tried to regain his footing by pulling the "prayer in schools" and anti-gay cards at the same time:
The sad thing is that a while back, an ad like this would have probably gone over big. But unfortunately for Perry, the ad did the opposite.
This video didn't just yell "desperate." It screamed it with the volume of a virgin in the middle of his first orgasmic experience. And I won't even mention his Brokeback Mountain jacket.
Bishops Say Rules on Gay Parents Limit Freedom of Religion - An excellent breakdown of claims from the Catholic Bishops that they are so-called "victims" of the push for lgbtq equality. And the comments section is simply BRUTAL as the readers aren't buying their explanations.
FRC Hosts Michael Brown to 'Explain the Homosexual Agenda'- Hold on to your hoolahoops. We have YET ANOTHER phony anti-gay expert on the horizon. And he will be making his presence known in North Carolina also. Long story short - Michael Brown is a grandstanding so-and-so who wants his piece of the anti-gay pie of notoriety. Like so many others, he pushes the same lies about our community, including how we are "plotting" to take over America. So many nuts, so many lies.
Watching Jamaica - Thank you Box Turtle Bulletin for reminding us to keep an eye our for our brothers and sisters in Jamaica.
The American Family Association's One News Now is known for being a fraudulent news sources by often creating a story around the erroneous comments of anti-gay leaders or telling only one side of an incident (making sure to make the gay community look at fault).
But the audacity goes even farther. One News Now has on occasion been inaccurately manipulating AP articles to put the gay community in a negative light:
Girls seeking abortions in New Hampshire must first tell their parents or a judge, some employers in Alabama must verify new workers' U.S. residency, and California students will be the first in the country to receive mandatory lessons about the contributions of gays and lesbians under state laws set to take effect at the start of 2012.
. . . A California law will add gays and lesbians and people with disabilities to the list of social and ethnic groups whose contributions must be taught in history lessons in public schools. The law also bans teaching materials that reflect poorly on gays or particular religions.
Girls seeking abortions in New Hampshire must first tell their parents or a judge, employers in Alabama must verify new workers' U.S. residency, and California students will be the first in the country to receive mandatory pro-homosexual indoctrination under state laws set to take effect at the start of 2012.
. . . Also in California, a new law will add homosexuals to the list of social and ethnic groups whose contributions must be taught in history lessons in public schools.
One News Now - and the AFA in general - does seem to have a goal in mind. But it's obvious that this goal does not entail correctly informing or educating its readers.
I do a lot of talking about the need to focus on issues and interests of the lgbtq community of color.
Now, I want to back up all of my talk by focusing on an outstanding movie, Pariah:
A world premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, the contemporary drama Pariah is the feature-length expansion of writer/director Dee Rees’ award-winning 2007 short film Pariah. Spike Lee is among the feature’s executive producers. At Sundance, cinematographer Bradford Young was honored with the [U.S. Dramatic Competition] Excellence in Cinematography Award.
Adepero Oduye, who had earlier starred in the short film, portrays Alike (pronounced ah-lee-kay), a 17-year-old African-American woman who lives with her parents Audrey and Arthur (Kim Wayans and Charles Parnell) and younger sister Sharonda (Sahra Mellesse) in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood. She has a flair for poetry, and is a good student at her local high school.
Alike is quietly but firmly embracing her identity as a lesbian. With the sometimes boisterous support of her best friend, out lesbian Laura (Pernell Walker), Alike is especially eager to find a girlfriend. At home, her parents’ marriage is strained and there is further tension in the household whenever Alike’s development becomes a topic of discussion. Pressed by her mother into making the acquaintance of a colleague’s daughter, Bina (Aasha Davis), Alike finds Bina to be unexpectedly refreshing to socialize with.
Wondering how much she can confide in her family, Alike strives to get through adolescence with grace, humor, and tenacity – sometimes succeeding, sometimes not, but always moving forward.
