'Group planning 40-day fast against marriage equality' & other Monday midday news briefs

Editor's note - beginning tomorrow, my postings will less on schedule than usual due to my attending the Netroots Nation conferences. But I will have things up, so please check back now and then when you can.

Christian Group Plans 40-Day Fast Against Marriage Equality - Oh for Pete's sake! I am not against this sort of thing (Gandhi would fast for a cause) but don't you think that fasting so that lgbts and their families don't receive rights defeats the noble notion of the practice?

  The Woman Who Helped Change How Police Treat Transgender People - A genuine hero gets her due.

 Former Congresswoman Apologizes For Requesting Religious Exemption From LGBT Protections - Fine. Just don't let it happen again.

 Comic book icon Archie to be killed off while protecting gay friend - Sorry but I simply DO NOT agree with this. 

 Will criminalization of HIV transmission hinder or help prevention efforts? - And Uganda shoots itself in the foot with its homophobia.

The new anti-gay argument - marriage equality will lead to incest

Just preparing folks for the newest anti-marriage equality argument that you will most likely hear:

An Australian judge will be investigated for his "appalling" comments on incest, in which he reportedly said sex between siblings was gaining social acceptance just like homosexuality, authorities said on Friday.

New South Wales state Attorney General Brad Hazzard said he was "extremely concerned" about District Court judge Garry Neilson's alleged comments in a case where a man was accused of repeatedly raping his younger sister, which were reported in the Sydney Morning Herald.

"In my view the community would be rightly appalled at his reported comments," Hazzard said in a statement.

"Incest is completely reprehensible, unacceptable, disgusting and criminal." 

Neilson was quoted as saying communities might no longer see sex between siblings as "unnatural" or "taboo", likening a change in mindsets to how homosexuality was now socially accepted despite being criminalised in the past. 

That last sentence (highlighted by me) is what unfortunately connects this awful situation to us. I have already read references to it on many anti-gay sites and more are sure to follow.

Granted, the case has nothing to do with lgbts or our fight or marriage equality, except for in the mind of one foreign judge.

But to a crop of desperate anti-gay groups and spokespeople who have been on the losing end of the marriage equality fight for quite a while now, any case or offhand quote coming from the case is fodder.

'Brian Brown reduced to sad anti-gay conspiracy theories on twitter' & other Friday midday news briefs

Poor Brian Brown of NOM. To paraphrase Don Knotts on The Andy Griffith Show, "we are beginning to get to him."

I have never seen Brown answer back on twitter until this morning but it was both a treat and tragedy to see him attempt to defend the discredited Regnerus study by claiming that some of its challengers (the 200 researchers who signed a letter against it, the American Sociological Association, and the Michigan federal judge who ruled for marriage equality in that state) of being motivated by politics:

.@NOMupdate …disgraced. All of the prominent people know what #Regnerus did & why he did it. http://t.co/gDl37bn8Wr pic.twitter.com/zqia9bWYCM
— Memeographs (@memeographs) July 10, 2014

@briansbrown @memeographs 200 researchers, the American Sociological Association, a Michigan federal judge. Any questions?. #Regnerus
— Holy Bullies (@holybullies) July 11, 2014

RT @holybullies: Yes! I suppose the Michigan federal judge and the American Sociological Association were ruled by politics.
— Brian S. Brown (@briansbrown) July 11, 2014

Conspiracy theories - the last refuge of a scoundrel.

In other news:

Photographer to Matt Barber's website: Stop using my copyrighted image or face lawsuit - Looks like Matt Barber is caught being tacky again. Strange what homophobia does to someone.

Watch A Child Dismantle Fox's Panic Over Gender-Neutral Restrooms - When a child can your homophobic argument, that should be a signal to you. But we are talking about Fox News here.

Hobby Lobby Wants To Control Which Bathroom A Transgender Woman Can Use, Too - But ... but religious liberty . . .

Obama Is 'Obsessed' With Homosexuality, According To Peter LaBarbera - 'Porno Pete' LaBarbera claims that President Obama is 'obsessed' with homosexuality. Let that sink in for a while . . .

Inside the American Family Association, an anti-gay hate group

Bryan Fischer of the AFA

Anna Wolfe of the Jackson Free Press has written a very good article on the anti-gay group, The American Family Association. While not "hard-hitting," one could hardly call her article one that panders to the group. In her own style, Wolfe shows how disturbingly vast the AFA empire is (over $20 million a year), how it wages war on lgbts and businesses who support lgbts, and how potentially disconcerting AFA spokesman Bryan Fischer is even to his co-workers:

Fischer, AFA's director of issue analysis for government and public policy, stands by the accusation that local businesses who display the anti-discrimination stickers are bullying Christians. "Apparently, you have a little bit of difficulty grasping the concept that this is what the gay lobby is really all about," Fischer says in a matter-of-fact tone. Fischer speaks with a deep, kind of gargled voice and, sitting at the Jackson Free Press with the receiver to my ear, I can picture his sagged, slightly artificially tanned-looking face. (Maybe it's just the contrast to his bright white hair). His condescension in speaking to a young female reporter is emblematic of AFA's overall tone and image toward anyone the group feels is standing in its way of promoting biblical ideals through condemnation of the LGBT community. This isn't just how AFA officers speak with reporters, but through its press releases and all communication with the

 . . . Fischer, nonetheless, said in an AFA blog post that when it comes to discrimination, "[I]t's time for conservatives to unhesitatingly reclaim the "D" word, dust it off, and use it without apology. A rational culture that cares about its people will in fact discriminate against adultery, pedophilia, rape, bestiality, and, yes, homosexual behavior."

 . . . Fischer admits that religious conscience is personal and depends entirely on individual experience, saying, "His conscience and his standards may be different than the baker down the street."

That is certainly true for Mitchell Moore, the owner of Jackson's Campbell's Bakery. He is a heterosexual, a Christian and a Republican who does not consider same-sex marriage offensive to his religious beliefs.

In May, AFA publicly attacked a campaign Moore helped start in Jackson in opposition to SB 2681. The campaign urged business owners to post stickers reading "If You're Buying, We're Selling" in their windows to ensure customers know they will not discriminate, drawing national attention and requests for stickers from around the country.

In response to the effort, Fischer tells me that gay activists, whom he assumes are responsible for the stickers, are the "most intolerant bullies and bigots on the block."

Since the religious-freedom bill received flack just as the failed Arizona RFRA did, Mississippi business owners including Moore and Eddie Outlaw of William Wallace Salon—both occasional Jackson Free Press columnists—started the sticker campaign to demonstrate their and other businesses' aim to serve everybody. (Outlaw is gay and married his husband, Justin, in California last year.)

The AFA is unhappy about that, saying the campaign illustrates the "homosexual agenda" the AFA is hell-bent on destroying. It sent out alerts to supporters, claiming that the campaign displays hatred toward Christians, despite the fact that Moore is a straight, Christian conservative.

Fox News gives misinformation on the First Amendment to smear lgbts

It's not that the folks on Fox News don't know what they are talking about. They know exactly what they are doing. If you ever look at Fox & Friends, take a look at how many times the hosts look down at the notes in front of them.

I would kill to know what those notes are telling them to say.

From Equality Matters:

On July 10, Fox News host Steve Doocy interviewed Jason and David Benham while an on-screen graphic declared they had been "fired for faith." Doocy argued, "You were fired for having an opinion. I mean, there's this thing called the First Amendment where people are entitled to their opinion and their Christian beliefs as well."

But the First Amendment does not protect individuals from being fired by private employers, as it does not limit the actions that private employers may take based on employees' speech. The First Amendment Center explained:

The First Amendment does not limit private employers. The Bill of Rights -- and the First Amendment -- limit only government actors, not private actors. This means that private employers can restrict employee speech in the workplace without running afoul of the First Amendment.

HGTV did not violate the First Amendment rights of the Benhams by dropping their show. As Columbia Law's Suzanne Goldberg pointed out in an interview with CNN, it was most likely a decision to protect the business' brand following widespread outcry against the Benhams' comments. Even David Benham told CNN that he does not hold a grudge against the network, telling Erin Burnett, "It was too much for them to bear and they had to make a business decision."

 

'Another judge destroys anti-marriage equality arguments' & other Thurs. midday news briefs

The one where Regnerus, most criticized researcher in recent memory, criticizes others' research - And the pathetic attempt to rehash Mark Regnerus and his discredited anti-gay study continues. 

5 Ways A Colorado Judge Destroyed Conservatives’ Arguments Against Marriage Equality - But the right will continue to push these points. The only thing we can do is continue to strengthen the brick wall they keep smashing themselves into.  

Is 'Orange is the New Black''s Laverne Cox the First Trans Person To Get an Emmy Nomination? - Just in case you didn't hear, Laverne Cox received an Emmy nomination for Best Guest Actress in a Comedy. Sweet!

  The Legacy of the Hobby Lobby Case: Protecting Anti-Gay Discrimination? - Bring it on, bitches.

 Police arrest five Ugandans, accuse them of trying to turn kids gay - What America has created . . . 
 
Obama’s Evangelical Gravy Train - . . . it can't kill. Why is the Obama Administration still funding overseas anti-gay groups and other organizations giving out inaccurate information on HIV and pregnancy.

Anti-gay group attempts to trick Pride attendees into 'converting'

During a recent pride event in Minnesota, an evangelical group attempted  to infiltrate in an attempt to "bring lgbts to Jesus:"



Like the video said, the group, Trinity Works, was bragging about its so-called victory on Facebook, claiming to have "converted" 80 people. While there is no way to verify this, according to Andy Birkey of The Colu.mn (a statewide lgbt publication), the group was engaging in some tactics which can be seen as highly un-Christian:

Trinity Works’ tactics were indeed deceptive. When TheColu.mn approached the evangelical outreach teams, they refused to acknowledge Trinity Works or the mission to encourage LGBT people to leave “the lifestyle.”

Some of the outreach workers posed as medics and evangelized to people who sought assistance. The Trinity Works group created fliers to mimic those being handed out by OutFront to warn the community about the groups efforts to evangelize.

Outfront also notes that Trinity Works’ outreach workers appeared to have started wearing coral colored shirts to mimic OutFront Minnesota support team members in an attempt to confuse Pride attendees.

Trinity Works held a corn feed at 11th Street and Hennepin Avenue along the Pride parade route. According to OutFront, the support team had to counsel dozens who mistakenly thought it was part of Pride activities.“Pride-goers who went in, assuming it was LGBTQ-friendly, were surrounded by Trinity works people who said they would burn in hell because of their sexual orientation,” OutFront’s Monica Meyer said in a statement.

Surprising? No. Outrageous? You better believe it.

How come I never get approached at Pride by folks like that? I got some choice words for them that I haven't used in YEARS.