Analyzing and refuting the inaccuracies lodged against the lgbt community by religious conservative organizations. Lies in the name of God are still lies.
Whether she meant to or not, former Miss Oklahoma beauty pageant winner and spokesperson for the Florida Citrus Commission became an icon in lgbt history after her controversial and successful campaign to repeal a pro-gay rights ordinance in Dade County, FL in 1977.
She won the battle but lost the war. She had other victories in other states, but she also galvanized the gay rights movement big time. Subsequently, her career was ruined.
However, her legacy still stings our community. It was the first time someone used the "gays are a public hazard, particularly to our children" argument to defeat pro-gay legislation. And it would not be the last. Bryant provided a blueprint to future generations of bigots and homophobes:
Now the following is a clip everyone seems to remember. Bryant was assaulted by a gay man who hit her in the face with a pie. I am NOT for this sort of behavior. I don't care how empowering it allegedly feels. And I am totally against anyone who feels that we should do this sort of thing now (hello those who remember that stupid idea of throwing glitter on people). In the fight for equality, we should never stoop to levels which make us look like rabid dogs:
When it comes to the Republican Party and it's "rebranding," particularly on the issue of marriage equality, very few can put it better than Jon Stewart:
Discredited anti-gay researcher Paul Cameron held a press conference today in which he spread more lies about the lgbt community.
In this clip, he claimed that pedophilia is a standard practice in the gay community:
The sad thing about this clip is not what Cameron claims, but the fact that many lgbts - and heterosexuals for that matter - don't know who he is.
Gay men molest children at a high rate and are more likely to be serial killers,
Gay men stuff gerbils up their rectums,
Gays and lesbians in the military are more likely to rape their heterosexual counterparts.
In short, Cameron is a laughing stock, a clown, a person so oblivious to his obvious failings that he continues to flail away.
But he is so much more. He is a reminder of something. You see, as religious right groups combat the growing popularity of marriage equality by portraying themselves as bullied organizations merely standing on their faith, they don't want you to know about Cameron.
However, as Cameron's reputation for distortion became more widely known, these groups either disassociated themselves from him, cited him through a second source (which some still do), or cherry-picked legitimate research to prove crackpot theories which originated with him (such as the lie that gay men molest children at a high level or the false accusation that gay men have a shorter lifespan than heterosexuals).
None of these groups ever apologized for using Cameron's lies to smear the lgbt community nor even acknowledged that for a time, he was a main component in their war on the lgbt community.
And for the most part, they were able to get away with it because neither the lgbt community nor our leadership pressed the issue.
So Cameron is a symbol in another way. He is representative of the failure of the lgbt community to take the offensive in the fight for our equality.
While we laugh at this doddering old man, we forget that his work is still being cited as fact by people as insignificant as commentators on Facebook to very significant as Republican leaders (i.e. Dave Agema).
Yet, other than a few bloggers such as myself, there has never been a major offensive to connect him to the religious right groups or take them to task for citing his bad work in defense of their "morals."
The defense of morality should never include lies. And those who are lied on should not allow it to happen without challenge. But the lgbt community has allowed this to happen by underestimating just how willing religious right groups are to deceive. Meanwhile because of our carelessness and inattention, they have built up a firewall of anti-gay theories backed by lies, distortions, and cherry-picked science. The vast majority of these theories originated from Cameron.
So will there be some serious part on behalf of the lgbt community to knock down this firewall? It can be easily knocked down because it's so flimsy. Lies generally are.
Or are we going to continue to do what we have done, which is attack the media for allowing anti-gay spokespeople like Tony Perkins, Maggie Gallagher, or Peter Sprigg to repeat these lies without challenge.
Forget blaming the media. Our community is powerful enough to handle this. We are powerful enough to take on these lies before they are used against us. And we especially powerful in knocking them down.
But are we ever going to take the initiative?
There is nothing wrong with us relying on intelligence and progressive ideas to achieve equality. But the religious right deceptions are something which cannot be ignored. There is nothing wrong with addressing them head on.
When dealing with folks not afraid to lie, good old fashioned and straightforward truth-telling never hurts.
I am sooooo ashamed of myself but I am enjoying this feud between Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly over marriage equality.
O'Reilly earned the ire of a lot of conservatives - and especially Limbaugh - when he recently said that marriage equality supporters give a compelling reason why they want rights while the opposition can do nothing but "thump the Bible." Since then, it was on:
According to the email, the gala will include a raffle featuring two
pieces of autographed memorabilia from the Chicago Bears Organization,
who the group thanks for “supporting our message”:
This year, we're planning on sending our graduates off with a bang!
And we've got some help! Several donors have stepped up and donated
terrific items for us to raffle as prizes in an effort to raise funds
for ITAF '13.
[…]
For now, you should know that we have two fabulous raffle items from
the Chicago Bears Organization (and a huge THANK YOU to the Bears for
supporting our message).
The items in mentioned are the following:
Naturally, this left many folks wondering about whether the Chicago Bears supports NOM and the Ruth Institute'santi-gay message. After some inquiries, the Chicago Bears sent the following message:
"The
two items featured in The Ruth Institute gala invitation were personal
donations to Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse. Neither was a club donation, nor
do they represent the team’s view on any social issues. Any remarks
stating otherwise are false."
Check and mate. This is a story in progress. Details may or may not change.
Reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, Morse initially declined comment.
But the website later dropped all images and references to the Bears at
the team's request, and Morse issued a statement: "The Ruth Institute is
not working with the Chicago Bears organization or any of its players
past or present to promote our upcoming auction. The memorabilia we are
auctioning off was acquired by me personally, not through the team or
players. We understand that the Chicago Bears organization takes no
position on social issues, and we regret any confusion we may have
caused on this point."
