Don't let the religious right whitewash their history of anti-gay oppression

The anti-gay group Concerned Women for America is furious at the National Women's History Museum Project. According to Right Wing Watch, the group is especially angry that there is no mention of religious right activists, particularly its founder, Beverly LaHaye.

On that score, I say that Concerned Women for America has a point. LaHaye should be mentioned. But not in the way the organization thinks she should. No doubt, CWA would like LaHaye to be mentioned as a champion of so-called "traditional values" and the family.

However, I have a much better item which perfectly captures LaHaye's contribution to American society:

 

Readers of this blog should be familiar with the above booklet.

'Plan to cut money from colleges over gay issues may hit roadblock in SC Senate' and other Monday midday news briefs

Proposed cuts to S.C. colleges over ‘gay books’ face opposition in Senate - Keep your fingers crossed. 

Baby dies after being taken away from lesbian couple days before adoption - There are simply no words for this.  

Church Files Suit For Right To Perform Same-Sex Marriages In North Carolina - I like this twist in the marriage equality argument. 

For transgender service members, honesty can end career - An important, poignant article.

 A Response to Rev. Franklin Graham - A well-deserved smack in the face to homophobia hiding itself behind religious beliefs.

Brendan Eich vs. Donald Sterling - Is there a difference?

Eich

I was going to write about this but John Aravosis on Americablog articulated this point so well that I will post a little of what he said instead:

It was only a few weeks ago that America was lecturing the gay community about its intolerance for intolerance, for objecting to a bigot (in fact, an anti-gay activist, Brendan Eich) running a major American corporation (in this case, the Mozilla Foundation).

Republicans, including gay conservatives, were particularly upset that anyone would judge a man’s job performance, especially the man running a company, by his personal animus towards minorities, many of whom would be his own employees.  So long as he didn’t discriminate against his own employees, he was free to be a bigot, they told us.

Now, they’re all eating crow.

.

Sterling

Today, even conservatives are saying (on CNN) that the NBA simply must investigate whether the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, Donald Sterling, made racist remarks to his girlfriend, who is black and Mexican.

 . . .  It was only a hypothetical less than a month ago – the question, “what if” the guy running the company were a racist, or an anti-Semite?  . . .  No one is running to Donald Sterling’s defense (though Cliven Bundy, another forgotten “free speech hero,” has yet to weigh in).  No one is defending America’s “proud tradition” of defending the employment prospects of avowed racists.  Nor should they.  And even if, as Sterling alleges, the audio is a fake, America’s reaction to the audio was authentic, and universally critical.

Aravosis raises some good points and they deserve a lot more thought and discussion.

Know Your LGBT History - The AIDS Memorial Quilt

From the NAMES Project Foundation:

Established in 1987, The NAMES Project Foundation is the international NGO (non-governmental organization) that is the custodian of The AIDS Memorial Quilt, an official American treasure.The mission of The NAMES Project Foundation is to preserve, care for and use The AIDS Memorial Quilt to foster healing, heighten awareness, and inspire action in the age of AIDS. Specifically, The NAMES Project works to display The Quilt in nearly 1,000 venues each year, to conserve and care for the aging 54-ton tapestry and it’s half a million piece archive, and to encourage and support the creation of new Quilt panels for this ever-evolving handmade memorial.

Weighing 54 tons and composed of more than 48,000 panels dedicated to more than 94,000 individuals, The AIDS Memorial Quilt is the premier symbol of the AIDS pandemic, our greatest HIV prevention education tool and the largest ongoing piece of community folk art in the world. Throughout its 25 year history, The Quilt has been used to fight prejudice, raise awareness and funding, as a means to link hands with the global community in the fight against AIDS.

Whether The Quilt is displayed as a single section in an elementary school or 1,000 of blocks on the national mall in Washington, it provides balm for the painful wounds of grief, pours oil into the waters made turbulent by controversy, opens eyes that refuse to see and enlists every person who experiences it to play a role in stopping the pandemic.

Past Know Your LGBT History Posts:

Mississippi business owners not happy with state's anti-gay law' and other Friday midday news briefs

Fox News' Anti-Gay Selective Outrage In One Chart - To the surprise of no one . . .  

Idaho Won’t Allow Lesbian Veteran To Be Buried With Her Wife - This is a damn travesty. Point blank.

Mississippi Business Owners Protest State's Anti-Gay Law - Good for them!  

Stamping his feats: Randy Thomasson equates Harvey Milk with disasters - Dear religious right, Harvey Milk will be remembered as a legendary figure in American history and there is not a thing you can do about it.  

Committee decides to keep ‘Two Boys Kissing’ on school library shelves - Good. A community does the right thing.

Crystal Moore firing igniting a much-needed national conversation on ENDA

Over a week after she was fired, the case involving former Latta, SC police chief Crystal Moore has ignited a very appropriate national conversation over the need for lgbt-inclusive anti-discrimination laws. It's one thing to tell folks that people can be fire for simply being an lgbt. That doesn't seem to register in their heads. However, to see a case in living color where this sort of thing is happening registers with them big time.

As seen by the above interview with MSNBC host Craig Melvin, Moore is an intelligent, articulate woman who only wanted to do her job before caught in this controversy. Unfortunately she has now become a statistic of unfairness as seen by the graphic below:

'Anti-gay leader - America needs a crackdown on gays just like Russia' & other Thursday midday news briefs

Those have read this blog recently know that I am concerned with the attempt by anti-groups and personalities to portray themselves as innocent folks beset by an aggressively encroaching lgbt horde out to force their beliefs on them via the guise of "tolerance." Part of the reason why the re-imaging may be successful is the lack of attention when it comes to videos like above. When a spokesman in one of the largest religious right groups in the country expresses a public desire for laws which will basically imprison people for being lgbt, that's a big deal. Particularly when one considers how many Congressional leaders has appeared on this man's show. But to us, it's not. It's either because we have heard it so much that we have become desensitized or we just don't get the power of words. But whatever the case is, we have got to stop being nonchalant. No matter how they attempt to portray themselves, anti-gay groups can't get away from the rhetoric. They can't get away from the nasty words of the Linda Harveys, the Matt Barbers, or even the Bryan Fischers. But they can hide it, if we allow them. And so far, we have been doing a good job at that.  Those who whine about why folks like these three are given platforms obviously don't understand the power of the word. And they definitely don't understand when an enemy offers to hangs him or herself

In other news

Robert Oscar Lopez says I perform 'psychological operations routine' on him when I quote his own words from his own web site -  Robert Oscar Lopez likes to venomously slam same-sex families. However, he despises it when folks quote his comments.
 
How A New Book About Gay Christians Is Reviving Evangelical Homophobia - After all of the fuss they have been raising about "religious liberty," I have been enjoying anti-gay folks turn flips in order to justify their breach of "religious liberty."

Ugandan Health Workers Could Become Front-Line Enforcers Of Anti-Homosexuality Act - This move would be devastating to Uganda's public health. It's sad when folks don't realize just how much danger their homophobia puts them in.

Gay business owners still face challenges - The segment of the working population seems to be falling through the cracks and I don't think an anti-discrimination law can help them.