'Fans rush to defend Josh Duggar' & other Friday midday news briefs

‘Boys are curious': Meet the Duggar defenders using religion to excuse fondling your sleeping sisters - Even in the midst of the scandal, Josh Duggar and his family has their defenders . . . 

‘Here are 6 of the most horrifying examples of the Duggars’ homophobia  - . . . who seem to not only justify what Duggars did but also miss the big point of hypocrisy.  
 
Montel Williams Goes Off on ‘Scumbag’ Josh Duggar: ‘Gay People Are the Danger to Kids?’ - Montel Williams gets the point, though.

The Family Research Council’s Strange Statement On Josh Duggar’s Child Molestation Confession - Meanwhile, Duggar's former employer, the Family Research Council is left in a stupor because a central point it makes, i.e. gays are harmful to children, just got blown up in its face.

Josh Duggar resigns from the Family Research Council after incidents of past molestations resurface

Josh Duggar

This is NOT meant to be celebratory news. Just an observation regarding anti-gay lies and people who live in glass houses:

Josh Duggar, the eldest son of conservative icons Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar of TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting fame, has announced that he is resigning from his position at the Family Research Council following revelations that he molested several young girls, including some of his sisters according to TMZ, when he was a teenager.

In Touch magazine first published details from the 2006 police report that showed that when Duggar was 14 he confessed to his father that he had sexually molesting five young girls. But Jim Bob waited more than a year before alerting the police and his since tried to keep the felony investigation out of the public eye.

“Twelve years ago, as a young teenager, I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret. I hurt others, including my family and close friends,” the now 27-year-old Josh Duggar told People magazine in a statement Thursday. “I confessed this to my parents who took several steps to help me address the situation. We spoke with the authorities where I confessed my wrongdoing, and my parents arranged for me and those affected by my actions to receive counseling. I understood that if I continued down this wrong road that I would end up ruining my life.” 

Duggars, as well as other members of his family were vocal regarding their stance against lgbt equality, particularly marriage equality.  According to the Huffington Post:

 The Duggar family has found themselves in the midst of several controversies surrounding LGBT issues. In August, Michelle Duggar narrated a robocall asking voters to oppose a bill aimed at strengthening protections for transgender residents of Fayetteville, Arkansas. And in November, the family allegedly removed photos of a same-sex couple kissing from their Facebook page.

Last year, Duggar led a rally against marriage equality in Arkansas when he said the following:

“Arkansans should not face the threat of fines or being sued for living out the deeply-held convictions of their faith. We have the First Amendment in this nation, and we have the right to live out our faith. The rally will send a strong reminder to Arkansas Supreme Court Justices that an overwhelming majority of voters, 75 percent, voted to preserve marriage as the union of a man and a woman,”

Right Wing Watch points out that in December of last year, he led a campaign to defeat a non-discrimination ordinance in Arkansas, claiming that it would threatened the safety of children.

I'm sure that there will be plenty of words. But as I said before, this is nothing to celebrate. Just a reminder that those who become so high and mighty that they see nothing wrong with scapegoating  others would be best served to remember what is hiding in their own dark closets before pointing the finger.
 

Sen Ted Cruz thinks gay marriages will become 'mandatory'

Editor's note - Due to computer problems,  today's news briefs were canceled.

Along with the vile allegiance to anti-gay discrimination, Sen. Ted Cruz turns a strange phrase in this video. Starting at .20, he mentions something about "mandatory gay marriages." It was not a mistake by Cruz but a deliberate talking point. According to Salon:

"Mandatory same-sex marriage” and “mandatory gay marriage” are actual terms that Ted Cruz has been running around warning the masses about. It is a staple of his talking points on the issue."

MSNBC  also noted that Cruz has been using the phrase "mandatory gay marriage" on numerous occasions.

Anti-gay groups, their spokespeople, and supporters are uniquely skilled in repeating phrases, memes, and claims designed to sway the public in their favor, but I don't see it happening here with Cruz's insistence on using the talking point of "mandatory gay marriages."

It's an idiotic phrase which does nothing to turn the public against marriage equality. I think it puts people in the opposite mindset because it implies that the opposition to marriage equality is getting hysterically paranoid.

You won't find many people who believe that pro-marriage equality laws will force people to enter same-sex marriages.  But you will find them questioning the intelligence of those who do.

Bryan Fischer enters drama queen territory and begins making space

As we get nearer to the Supreme Court's decision on marriage equality, the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer is getting more shriller with her his calls to alarm.

Sorry for the punctuation error there, but Fischer has totally entered "drama queen" territory and is now making space for himself:

Anti-gay groups own the patent on scientific distortions

The sad fact that a pro-gay study has turned out to be fraudulent would only be made worse should, when discussing this situation, folks forget that anti-gay groups have practically wrote the book on distorting science.

FOF's Tom Minnery distorted science in 2011.

By now, I am sure many of you have heard about this monstrosity of a situation:

A study claiming that gay people advocating same-sex marriage can change voters’ minds has been retracted due to fraud. . . . The study was published last December in Science, and received lots of media attention (including from BuzzFeed News). It found that a 20-minute, one-on-one conversation with a gay political canvasser could steer voters in favor of same-sex marriage. Not only that, but these changed opinions lasted for at least a year and influenced other people in the voter’s household, the study found.

Donald Green, the senior author on the study, retracted it on Tuesday shortly after learning that his co-author, UCLA graduate student Michael LaCour, had faked the results. Science posted an official “editorial expression of concern” — a very big deal in the science world — on Wednesday afternoon.

“I am deeply embarrassed by this turn of events and apologize to the editors, reviewers, and readers of Science,” Green, a professor of political science at Columbia University, said in his retraction letter to the journal, as posted on the Retraction Watch blog.

I am personally furious for the obvious reasons that a pro-gay study turned out to be fraudulent, but also I can just imagine how anti-gay groups and spokespeople will attempt to spin this.  If they are smart, they would be wise to remain in their glass houses.

'Jindal enforcing anti-gay discrimination via executive order?' & other Wednesday midday news briefs

Jindal

Bobby Jindal Vows To Enforce Religious Freedom Measure Through Executive Order - Good news - the Louisiana legislature killed that awful anti-gay "religious liberty" bill. BAD NEWS - Gov. Bobby Jindal is pushing it through via an executive order. Oh yeah, Bobby. THAT will get you to the White House. 

Jindal: Protecting LGBT Rights Will Hurt Businesses In The Long Run - And naturally after he does that awful act, Jindal runs to the anti-gay hate group Family Research Council for cover. This post is specifically for those who underestimate the power of anti-gay groups and say the lgbt community shouldn't "give them any attention." 

 Backlash, Bullies, and Victory Blindness - Wonderful piece by my new friend Richard J. Rosendall on how conservatives (some who are gay) are attempting to undercut lgbt equality victories.  

Ted Cruz, Cornered Again on Gay Rights, Says ISIS is Worse Than He Is - But YOU were the one who said that marriage equality was the greatest threat to "religious freedom" and also implied something about "mandatory gay marriages." Don't deflect about ISIS when you can't stand the heat of the fire you started. 

 Host Of Rubio Fundraiser Was Foreign Agent For Dictator Who Endorses Gay Beheadings - Something to remember the next time Marco Rubio whines about being "labeled as a bigot." 

 Data Faked In Study About Gay People Changing Voters’ Minds - What the @%!$! There is absolutely NO EXCUSE for this type of behavior, especially from those who are supposed to be our allies. The only good thing which can come out of this is if and when the anti-gay right trumpet this situation, we can remind folks of the many, many times they have distorted science to demonize gays, INCLUDING a certain $850,000+ fraudulent study on gay parenting which blew up in their faces in time for the DOMA case at the Supreme Court. In fact, one can almost expect a stand alone post from me on these distortions so we can have a level playing field when it comes to just WHO likes to distort science.

'The New Black' explores relationship between black community & lgbt equality

After the 2008 Prop 8 vote, the African-American community shouldered the blame (whether unfairly or not) for that loss. Four years later, it was the African-American community which played a pivotal role in marriage equality coming to Maryland.

What changed over four year's time? If you ask me, it was less assumptions by lgbt community and more dialogue between that community and the African-American community as well as the basic acknowledgement of lgbts of color.

A wonderful film, The New Black, examines what happened in Maryland against the backdrop of the struggle of lgbt equality in the black community. Here is the trailer:



From The Huffington Post:

 The film is now enjoying a new life as part of an initiative to get students at historically black colleges and universities to talk about a longtime taboo in the African-American community — sexual identity and the church. The initiative is a project of the Human Rights Campaign, an advocate of LGBT equality, and Promised Land Films, the producers of the film. HRC designated $4,000 in grants to bring “The New Black” to so-called HBCUs. To date it has been shown at about a half-dozen schools, including Spelman College, Howard University and Tennessee State University. Chris Smith, an outreach coordinator for HRC, said the grant money covers the screenings and follow-up discussions.