Right-wing blogs spread ugly rumors about murdered ambassador

Last week, this country suffered an awful tragedy when several Americans were killed due to an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Amongst the people murdered was Ambassador Chris Stevens.

And unfortunately, according to Salon, Mitt Romney isn't the only person who has grossly capitalized on this incident:

Amid the questions about Stevens’ last minutes, there is another rather vile peripheral debate occurring in the right-wing blogosphere. Michelangelo Signorile from the Huffington Post sums up the various rumors:

1) Ambassador Christopher Stevens was gay; 2) that the Obama administration is responsible for his death because it had the supposedly terrible judgment to send a gay man to an Islamic country, or even did it as an intentional provocation, and; 3) that Stevens’ corpse was dragged outside and sodomized by an angry mob because that’s what Muslims do — they have sex with the dead bodies of gay men.

The gay rumors seem to have originated on Hillbuzz.com, the website of Kevin DuJan, who also believes that President Obama is gay. DuJan uses the very, very shaky sourcing of a “Serbian consulate employee [who] identified himself to me as ‘Dino’ and wouldn’t give me any more of a name than that, but told me it was no secret that Chris Stevens was gay and that ‘it was stupid to send him to Libya as the ambassador when he was a known homosexual.’”

The story was picked up by a number of right-wing blogs, including Breitbart.com, which offers this explanation for why Stevens being gay would be at all relevant: “It just seems like one more way the Obama administration needlessly enraged the passions of protesters in that part of the world.” A blogger for the Examiner even speculates that Stevens was sent by Hillary Clinton as an “intentional provocation” to Libya.

As for the claim that Stevens was raped, that seems to have originated from a story  on the Lebanese news outlet Tayyar.org that erroneously cites the AFP, and that was picked up by the Washington Times. The AFP told TWT that the “report falsely quoted our news agency and has no truth whatsover to it.”

What the hell is wrong with these people?

'Boy Scouts helped molesters cover tracks' and other Monday midday news briefs

Boy Scouts helped alleged molesters cover tracks, files show - This is not gloating. This is just sad. Remember how folks like Mike Huckabee were hailing the Boy Scouts for continuing its discriminatory anti-gay policy. I bet they will be silent, that is unless they blame this mess on gays. In reality,it's a matter of the Scouts kicking Little Red Riding Hood out in the forest (by keeping gays out), but giving the Big Bad Wolf (pedophiles) free reign of their house.  

So, should President Obama be concerned about black voters staying home on election day? - My blogging buddy - and one of my mentors - Pam Spaulding nails the point home here. This question is more of a laziness of the media in pushing conflict rather looking into the complexity of the issue. My take on this stupid question is hell no. The need of the black community to exercise our right to vote in this election has been pushed hard from day one. Also, the idea that black folks would be so angry at Obama supporting marriage equality that we would withhold our votes from him is a sad fantasy from the deep recesses of the minds of the ignorant. Especially in churches like mine where the victory of Obamacare in the Supreme Court was hailed as (verbatim words used) "an act of God." Long story short - black folks know what's at stake in this election and we aren't looking at it lightly.  

Rick Warren continues to divide America, alienate gays (as Jesus would)- Rick Warren, the hypocrite. He talks about not being ashamed of voting "in line with the Bible." That's nice but as for me, I remember how long it took him to speak out against that awful anti-gay bill in Uganda. Whatever miniscule respect I had for him then was lost.  

Local Catholics Voice Their Opposition to Marriage Amendment - Good for the Catholics in Minnesota!

GetEqual protests 'Values Voters' Summit

Apparently, on Saturday, the Family Research Council's annual Values Voters Summit got paid a visit from the activist group GetEqual.

According to the blog Back2Stonewall:

Activists walked into the conference carrying a simulated coffin, draped in a rainbow American flag, while reading anti-LGBT quotes from Tony Perkins (head of the Family Research Council, the main organizer of the event)

The private security firm that was hired by the Family Research Council treated the protesters roughly and with no respect — literally pushing and in some cases physically dragging them out of the hotel while protesters chanted “Your values are killing us.!” — many Values Voters attendees shouted at them and some even physically abused the protesters with punches, elbows and kicks and they were being dragged out.

The comments of the attendee were definitely present in the first video as one can hear them referring to AIDS, etc.

According to Charles Butler of  GetEqual, picketers began protesting Friday night on the outside. He said they were also able to interact with attendees of the Value Voters Summit.

Butler claimed this interaction was successful because some were not aware of the level of homophobia embraced by the Family Research Council. Allegedly, many folks attending had a focus on abortion.

Butler also said the group went inside the raise the level of interaction.

As the video demonstrates, GetEqual's attempt was successful. Not only that, but according to a reporter at Talking Points Memo, one of the attendees of the Values Voters Summit, Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center allegedly said the following:

Now some may go gung-ho for what GetEqual did, while others may criticize the group for the strident manner of its protest, especially in the view of the recent shooting at the Family Research Council headquarters.

Personally, I'm leaning towards GetEqual on this one. While I've never been one for what looks like extreme direct action, I have a serious problem with the desensitized attitude folks, particularly members of the media, have when it comes to the Family Research Council and the attendees of their faux values voters summits. True, they are expressing their opinion, but it's fair to note how decrepit and dangerous their opinions are. The following is a cacophony of vicious slander, lies, and innuendo wrapped up in a Christian veneer about not only gays but a host of other issues. And it leaves one to ask why is GetEqual the only ones angry at this:

Know Your LGBT History - Gladys Bentley

She was a huge part of lgbt history who has been unfortunately forgotten. But during her time, very few could outdo Gladys Bentley:

Gladys Bentley was born on August 12, 1907. She was the eldest of 4 children born to a Trinidad born mother, Mary Mote (Bentley) and an American born father, George L. Bentley. Gladys left home at 16 years old. Like many African Americans of her generation she ended up in New York City's Harlem, the capital of "The New Negro ". For Gladys, her lesbianism made her need to strike out on her own all the more urgent. As she would recall many years later in an Ebony Magazine Article, "It seems I was born different. At least, I always thought so....From the time I can remember anything, even as I was toddling, I never wanted a man to touch me...Soon I began to feel more comfortable in boys clothes than in dresses".

Bentley left Pennsylvania at 16 to be part of the Harlem Renaissance and come out as a bulldagger. She began singing at rent parties and buffet flats and moved on to speakeasies and nightclubs. later she would headline the popular speakeasy the Clam House as well as the Ubangi Club.

She wowed audiences with her powerful voice and obscene parodies of blues standards and show tunes and was famous for her glamorous girlfriends. Very open about her sexuality, Bentley also performed at lesbian bars and once told a gossip columnist she had married a white woman while in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

In the 1920s a large part of the elegant town houses and apartment buildings in both Harlem and downtown in Greenwich Village had been converted into cheap rooming flats. In both neighborhoods, artists and intellectuals flocked to this cheap housing in beautiful surroundings. In both neighborhoods, amongst all this creative talent, there was a large Homosexual population. In Harlem this great creative outpouring was also a celebration of optimism about the future of Black America. This era would later be known as The "Harlem Renaissance". The list of gay men, lesbians or bisexuals amongst the "Harlem Renaissance" is more or less a guide to many of the most talented people of the era. Langston Hughs, Countee Cullen, Wallace Thurman, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, and Moms Mabely just to name a few. Audiences of the prohibition era were always craving something new. There was a "Vogue of the Negro" , accompanied by a curiosity for "Pansy Acts" and "Hot Mama" lebian or bisexual singers.

'Milbank calls out Romney, Ryan for kissing up to Family Research Council' and other Friday midday news briefs

‘Values’ voters Romney and Ryan don’t need - Perhaps Washington Post writer Dana Milbank realizes that his defense of the Family Research Council from the designation of "hate group" sent the wrong message because today, he not only rebukes them but also Romney and Ryan for kissing up to them.

 #VVS12 live tweets - For your bulimic edification, Jeremy Hooper is tweeting from the Family Research Council's awful "Values Voters" summit. So far, Michelle Bachmann came very close to calling President Obama a traitor and Jim DeMint called teachers "thugs." And you just know they are going to have "interesting things to say about the lgbtq community.  

NOM didn't have a good night in NY (despite what the spin machine might sputter forth) - According to reports, NOM wasted a rather pretty penny last night in its unsuccessful long strategy of destroying marriage equality in New York.  

Jesse And Terry Ventura Come Out Against Minnesota Marriage Inequality Amendment - Way to go, Jesse and Terry Ventura! 

Gay man thanks Obama for repealing DADT

Sometimes pictures say more than words could ever convey. These two pictures from an Obama rally in Colorado are a prime example:

The pictures came from AfterElton.com, which also says:

Ricky Watson of Littleton, Colorado wipes tears from his eyes after he thanked President Barack Obama for repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” at a campaign rally in Golden, Colorado, September 13. Watson was kicked out of the Air Force 25 years ago for being gay.

Hate group leader advises parents to reject their lgbt children

Tony Perkins

In a speech today, Family Research Council leader Tony Perkins performed a verbal contradiction:

A prominent social conservative leader compared homosexuality to drug use on Wednesday while urging parents not to “condone and enable” a child being gay.

Tony Perkins, president of the anti-gay Family Research Council, made the remarks while speaking at the National Press Club luncheon after being asked if he would disown one of his children if they came out as gay.

Perkins, the father of five children, replied that he wouldn’t “disown my children for anything,” but advised parents they should express disapproval if their children make such an announcement.

Perkins claims that he is not advising parents to disown their gay children, but he certainly is implying it.

What exactly does he think would happen should parents follow his advice when their children come out to them? Just what is his definition of "expressing disapproval" which does not involve disowning a child or acting in a manner which implies great unhappiness which can be construed to a child as a parent disowning them?

We will never know because Perkins did not go into more detail. And we shouldn't be surprised about that. Perkins is a fraud offering artificial solutions to complex problems which do nothing but exacerbate the problems.

Dan Savage had the following to say about Perkins in a tweet:

Hostile parents double gay kids already quadrupled suicide risk. Perkins literally urging parents 2 kill their kids.

While I wouldn't make the statement so succinctly as Savage, I will say this:

Perkins has no degree in psychology, psychiatry, or pediatrics. Those who do - and therefore KNOW what they are talking about - say the following:

1. Parents who are intolerant of their lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) teens may increase the risk that their kids will suffer health problems in young adulthood, such as an increased risk of suicide, depression, drug abuse, and unsafe sex, according to a new report.

Researchers interviewed 53 families with gay teens to identify certain parental behaviors as "accepting" or "rejecting," then surveyed 224 young-adult white and Latino gays and lesbians (ages 21 to 25) to see which of these behaviors they'd experienced during adolescence.

The results? Higher rates of family rejection were strongly associated with poorer health outcomes. Among respondents who had high levels of family rejection:

more than two-thirds said they had tried to kill themselves (vs. about 20% among those who reported the lowest rates of rejection)

many reported high rates of depression, illegal drug use, and substance abuse

46% said they'd had unprotected sex with a casual partner in the past 6 months (nearly twice the rate of those in the least-rejected group) - "Family Rejection as a Predictor of Negative Health Outcomes in White and Latino Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Young Adults," Pediatrics, Jan. 2009.

2. I have heard too many LGBT youths tell horrifying stories of violent abuse and rejection from their parents. The teenage boy from upstate New York, who, when his father learned he was gay, he beat him to a pulp, then threw him out of the house and told him that if he tried to come back, he would kill his son and bury him in the backyard. Or the boy from Florida whose father put a gun to his head and said "You are no longer my son. Leave the house now." The 17-year-old transgender child whose mother attacked him when she learned of his male identity, ripping out a piece of his scalp, and screaming homophobic abuse as her child fled. Or the 15-year-old boy who came out to his family at a picnic in rural Delaware. His father, a Christian minister, jumped on him and tried to strangle him. That evening he gathered his belongings into a few garbage bags and banished his son from his home. Or the family that drove their daughter out into the backwoods of New Jersey and tossed her from the car for being a lesbian. This is clearly not something to joke about

Research now documents the terrible scope of this crisis. Approximately 50% of LGBT youth whose sexual orientations and gender identities become known to their families experience some degree of family rejection. A recent report published by the Center for American Progress estimates that there are over 100,000 homeless LGBT youth on the streets of our nation, and that LGBT youth make up to 40% of our nation's homeless youth population. - Carl Siciliano, Family Rejection of LGBT Youth Is No Joke

Of course Perkins will claim that he was telling parents to reject the "lifestyle" and not the child, but don't fall for the false semantics. 
 
If you pardon my candor, when it comes to gay children and their families, Tony Perkins doesn't know his ass from his elbow.