Attacks on Planned Parenthood, gays only harms Christianity

"Dr. King said that the end has to be pre-existing in the means. In other words, there's no right way to do the wrong thing. The fact that there are no ethics, there are no scruples, in people who claim to hold the moral high ground and who seek to indict others for offering compassionate care that is accepted in general by the public, it is the ultimate irony. It is the ultimate paradox that you will deceive to bring about truth. I don't understand how that works."

This wonderful passage was a part of a piece recently published by Cosmopolitan magazine and written by Dr. Willie Parker. Parker was defending Planned Parenthood senior director of medical research, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, who was recently victimized in a supposed video expose which purported to imply that her organization was making profit off of selling aborted fetuses.

It sounds disgusting, but video was distorted and edited to cast Nucatola as a villain as well as deliberately give the false impression that Planned Parenthood was marketing human tissue from abortions. The organization behind it is one of those right-wing groups dedicated to eliminating a woman's right to an abortion because they feel that abortion is murder and a sin and therefore it is their Christian duty to stop it.

And right on cue, folks such as Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback are demanding investigations into the workings of Planned Parenthood. Across twitter, nasty comments and ugly hashtags against Planned Parenthood are spread by people who claim to be Christians, even though it has been shown to them that the videos in questions are distorted.

And I keep telling myself that I've seen this scenario before - i.e.  supposed Christian groups deliberately lying in the name of God  but this time by either the spread of junk science or the distortion of legitimate science in order to prove a supposed Biblical belief about a group of people along with "Christian" elected officials who create policy based upon these lies.

I should know it well. I've spent eight and a half years fighting it on this blog. It's when so-called Christian groups target the lgbt community with lies to prove the false idea that homosexuality is  a "dangerous lifestyle."

And why? Because according to their religious beliefs, homosexuality is a sin.

But in both cases - the one involving distorted videos of Planned Parenthood and the other involving junk science and distorted studies to defame lgbts -  I have to ask do the groups and individuals creating these false images really think God approves of their actions? Do they think that a lie told in the name of God is somehow a good thing? Does lying in the name of God suddenly make that lie into truth?

I doubt that these individuals will seriously harm Planned Parenthood in the long run and thanks to a lot of intrepid bloggers (myself included), the lies they tell about lgbts don't have as much power as they once did.


However, it saddens me to think how they hurt  Christianity. These deliberately false attacks on Planned Parenthood in the name of God are similar to the ones perpetrated against gays in the name of God. And both attacks will do nothing but depict Christianity as a weapon of lies.

God doesn't like ugly, even when it's supposedly done in His name.

'Writer says 'Christian persecution complex' is embarrassing fraud' & other Wed. midday news briefs

Writer Barry Dixon nails the message of this cartoon in his column.

Please Stop With The Christian Persecution Complex. You’re Embarrassing The Faith - This is one of those column which makes me jealous because it's so good I wish I had written it. 

This Dad Can’t Bring His 6-Month-Old Daughter Home Because He’s Gay - Excuse the hell out of me?!!  

Harrisonburg’s Eastern Mennonite University expands non-discrimination policy to include married LGBTQs - Wonderful!!  

Pastor Asks Governor Haley For The Right To Exclude LGBT People - This madness is the result of journalists who get paid handsomely to educate people NOT doing their jobs. One more time folks - CHURCHES ARE NOT REQUIRED TO MARRY GAY PEOPLE!!!!  

A Golden Girl’s Legacy Brings Hope To LGBT Youth - I always liked the late actress Bea Arthur. What she did for lgbt youth during her life and after she passed only cements my feelings about her.

Liberty Counsel's homophobia, vicious animus on display with attorney's callous attitude

Gannam

There are times when anti-gay groups and spokespeople are their own worst enemies. Just give them a platform and watch them undercut their claimed beliefs in morality and fairness.

Take for example, the court case in Kentucky involving Kim Davis, the clerk who says she will not give out marriage licenses to same-sex couples because of her religious beliefs. The judge is expected to rule in August but that didn't keep her attorney, Roger Gannam from the Liberty Counsel, from speaking to the American Family Association's fake news site, One News Now.

And his words about the gay couple seeking to marry does wonders to illustrate the animus which led anti-gay groups and their supporters to lose in their fight against marriage equality:

"We were able to see through her testimony that this case, more and more, is really about the plaintiffs wanting to force Kim Davis to issue a marriage license despite her sincerely held religious beliefs," the attorney explains. "It's not about the plaintiffs' desire to get married."

Kentucky law stipulates that marriage license applicants can get a license in any county – so the plaintiffs could have driven a short distance to obtain the license elsewhere. As Gannam points out, they were certainly willing to put out extra effort to go to court Monday.

"They drove two hours to a county where they could have gotten a license if they wanted one," he notes. "They drove an hour last week to court to a county where they could've gotten a license if they wanted one. And they could've gotten a license in just about every county in between that they passed through if they had wanted one."

Gannam argues that the case is about "crushing dissent" and forcing Christians out of public office.

And there we go again with the ridiculous notion that our desire to marry is actually a part of a nefarious plan (which by the way, I have yet to get the memo about) to silence people against marriage equality and keep "Christians" out of public office.

I could say a lot about Gannam's ridiculous conspiracy theory and how his appropriation of the term "Christian" (as if to say that lgbts cannot be Christians) insults me.

But I would rather talk about his callous comments regarding the same-sex couple.

'American religious right attempting to create global backlash to lgbt equality' & other Tues midday news briefs

The Global Backlash To America's Gay Rights Triumph - This makes me sicker than words can express. American anti-gay groups and figures know that they have lost the so-called culture war in THIS COUNTRY  so, like bullies, they peddle their crap overseas to victimize the religious beliefs and ignorance of other countries, thereby leading these countries to terrorize their own lgbt citizens. What's the solution? Knowledge. Yes. I am peddling my free booklet here but I want to express more than that. We are a slack community in demanding accountability from our journalists, newspapers, and magazines. We yawn and make jokes while the lazy folks in the Beltway media copy and paste talking points about anti-gay groups supposedly protecting "religious liberties" and we don't demand something more when the latest faux journalist or think tank  publish another collection of  deliberate and badly researched trash masquerading as a book pushing the false notion that progressive folks are "intolerant" to those supporting supposed "evangelical beliefs." We do nothing even we know that they are lying. We don't demand better accountability even when we know that they are lying. We don't demand truth even though we know that they are attempting to omit their extensive history of scapegoating our community. Why? Because we think we are winning. Mythology tells us that in the Trojan War, the Trojans were defeated because they let their guard down when they thought they had won. What we do as the American religious right instigates persecution against our brothers and sisters overseas is OUR Trojan War moment. 

Sweeping Federal LGBT Rights Bill Will Be Introduced This Week - Now this is good news. It may not pass, but that's not the point. We are showing that we are at the gate and we won't leave until the door is open, whether it is opened peacefully or we push it in.  

This Woman Is Stuck In An Iowa Jail Simply Because She Is Transgender - I read the story. It is accurate and IT IS A HOT MESS! 

 After Losing On Same-Sex Marriage, Conservative Christians Find A New Enemy - Guess what. The religious right's support for "religious freedom" only means the freedom to believe what THEY believe.  

Pat Robertson: Gay Marriage To Legalize 'Love Affairs Between Men And Animals,' Pedophilia - You just KNEW someone would tie those bogus anti-Planned Parenthood "expose videos" to the lgbt community.  

Gay Priest Fired From Chaplain Job Asks Pope To Meet LGBT Catholics In U.S. - One of my new heroes.

Rick Perry, do you really want to tangle again with the gay community?

According to Think Progress, former Texas Governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry made a statement against allowing gay scoutmasters in the Boy Scouts:

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry expanded on his beliefs on gay Boy Scout leaders Sunday, saying on Meet the Press that he didn’t think openly gay Scout leaders belonged in the Boy Scouts.

Meet the Press’ Chuck Todd asked Perry, who served as the governor of Texas from 2000 – 2015, whether his views on openly gay scout leaders had changed since 2008, when he wrote that “openly active gays, particularly advocates, present a problem. Because gay activism is central to their lives, it would unavoidably be a topic of conversation within a Scout troop. This would distract from the mission of Scouting; character building, not sex education.”

Perry said he still stood by that statement.

“I believe that scouting would be better off if they didn’t have openly gay Scout masters,” he said.

Perry also said that he would oppose a new Boy Scouts policy of allowing openly gay Scout leaders — something the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) looks poised to adopt.

Does Perry really want to go another round with the lgbt community after the last time.  For those who can't recall, when Perry ran for president in 2012 elections, he ran this anti-gay commercial decrying gays serving openly in the military:



The repercussions were immediate and unrelentingly negative. The ad was seen as either so homophobic or so inane that it not only divided his staff, but made him a laughing stock (the parodies were practically endless). Folks even noticed that the jacket he wore was also worn by the late Heath Ledger in the classic gay-themed movie Brokeback Mountain and that the background music was inspired by Aaron Copland, a gay composer.

The ad, along with a couple of other gaffes, reduced Perry's campaign to shambles.

So Perry, if you didn't learn not to mess with us last time, "you gon learn today."

'Where does Huckabee stand on the 'religious liberty' of hospitals?' & other Mon. midday news briefs

Does Huckabee think hospitals should be able to use religion to turn people away?

Mike Huckabee: Gay Marriage 'Violates Nature And Nature's God' - Chalk it up to either Mike Huckabee getting carried away when being interviewed by a friendly source when it comes to his ignoring SCOTUS on its marriage equality decision or me being paranoid, but in the context of marriage equality and lgbt rights in general, why is he mentioning hospitals when it comes so-called religious liberty? I'm curious to know where does Huckabee stand when it comes to hospitals possibly denying potential patients and using "religious liberty" as an excuse.  We seriously need some clarification here:

" . . .You can reverse the executive orders as it relates to how the president has said you’re going to make this a mandatory issue throughout federal government but you also instruct the attorney general to defend religious liberty and the rights of people of faith and conscience whether they’re business owners acting as individuals, whether they’re hospitals, churches, schools, adoption agencies. It doesn’t matter what it is. That no one’s religious liberty will be trampled upon because they refuse to bow to something that violates nature and nature’s God. Words, that by the way, I borrowed right out of the Declaration of Independence. . ."

Republicans In Iowa Compare The Fight Against Slavery To The Fight Against Gay Marriage - There they go again. Republicans are incredibly skilled at the use of language to influence the populace. However, I really don't think the slavery connotation is going to help them here.

Indiana-Style Bill Promoting Anti-Gay Discrimination Gains Steam In Congress - It's called the First Amendment Defense Act and it's a load of junk.  

Veterans Kicked Out Of The Military Because They Are Gay May Get Help From Democrats' New Bill - Now THIS bill is a wonderful idea as opposed the one above. 

 Former Pastor Suggests Christians Should Fight Gay Rights With Guns - He's a fool but pay attention to his reasons why he holds his positions. The anecdotal stories didn't come from him. They came from anti-gay groups like the Family Research Council and right-wing organizations such as the Heritage Foundation. It only takes one fool to be emboldened by one lie . . .

Marriage equality opponent embroiled in HUGE gay scandal

Nienstedt

At one time, former Minnesota Archbishop John Nienstedt was one of the most powerful and vocal opponents against marriage equality.

Now however, his reputation is in disgrace after resigning due to allegations of sex abuse coverups. To make matters worse, he is embroiled in a personal scandal which may serve to make him the latest stereotype of the adage that those who decry homosexuality the loudest are actually gay themselves.

From The Star Tribune:

Former Archbishop John Nienstedt said he remains “dumbfounded” by the allegations of personal misconduct that emerged last year during an internal church investigation of his behavior — a report that the archdiocese now is considering making public.

 . . . Commissioned by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the probe looked into claims that Nienstedt had engaged in behavior that was inappropriate for a priest. The Star Tribune has learned that investigators collected affidavits from priests, former seminarians and a former priest alleging actions, some dating to the Detroit area in the early 1980s, that range from inappropriate touching to visiting a gay nightclub.

 . . .  In one affidavit, a priest in Harrison Township, Mich., reported seeing Nienstedt at a gay nightclub in Windsor, Ontario, just across the border from Detroit in the 1980s. “I recall seeing John — and there is no doubt in my mind that it was him based on my prior interactions with him — at the Happy Tap,” the Rev. Lawrence Ventline wrote in his affidavit. “He appeared to wave me off as I was coming — and I backed off because I did not want impose on him.”

Another affidavit from a Michigan priest said that Nienstedt pulled up to his car in an area frequented by gay men one December in the early 1980s and asked him if he had any “poppers,” an inhalant used by gay men to enhance sexual pleasure. When he got into Nienstedt’s car, and Nienstedt recognized him as a former student, he changed the subject, the priest told the Star Tribune.

 . . .  Nienstedt denied all the allegations, point by point and in general. He also stressed that none of the people who filed affidavits claimed that he “ever abused any minor, had a sexual relationship with any individual, or committed any crime.”