Eight is Mike Pence's unlucky homophobic number

In anticipation for the upcoming vice presidential debate, the following bears repeating.

I think it's safe to say that no one is fooled about Trump's false gestures to the lgbt community. He claims that he will protect us from foreign countries who would harm us in accordance to their beliefs. Conveniently he doesn't say a word about the American groups who would deny us our rights. In fact, he has aligned himself with them.

But to put it another way, if one wants to garner the truth about how Trump as president would treat the lgbt community, one word says it all - eight.

That's how many times last year his VP pick, Mike Pence, refused to say he is opposed to anti-lgbt discrimination during an interview with George Stephanopoulos. I wonder will the moderator at the upcoming debate between him and Democrat VP pick Tim Kaine ask him about it

'Mike Pence should be asked about extensive history of homophobia during VP debate' & other Mon. midday news briefs

At The VP Debate, Mike Pence Should Be Asked About Anti-LGBT "Religious Freedom" Laws - Let's not feast on Donald Trump's errors that we forget about those of his VP pick. In the upcoming vice presidential debate, Pence has a LOT to answer for with regards to his long history of homophobia, particularly the mess he created in Indiana with his "religious freedom" law. Remember his claim that the law had nothing to do with anti-lgbt discrimination in spite of the fact that he was surrounded by statewide anti-lgbt activists when he signed the bill?:

College Football Championship Will Now Be Held In A City With LGBT Protections - Just in case you didn't hear, North Carolina continues to suffer for its transphobia.  

Lyft driver kicks out rider after homophobic, anti-Semitic rant - A reminder about the work which must be continued.

 Inside Mexico’s Surprise Backlash To Marriage Equality - One guess who was behind it and what lies they used to rally folks. The beast never changes course of attack because no one confronts the beast head on.

Equality Forum, I love your list but I have a problem with two of your lgbt 'icons'

It's that time of the year again when the Equality Forum selects its 31 iconic figures for LGBT History Month:



I've always supported this endeavor and will continue to do so and I have a dream that one day I will included in a future list.

However, there are two choices this year which I must cry foul over.

 Granted, Equality Forum's list is always controversial and this year is no different. Malcolm Forbes was a multi-millionaire and owner of several successful ventures, including Forbes magazine. But he was not an out gay man. Instead, his outing as an alleged gay man generated a lot of controversy.

James Buchanan, the 14th president of the United States, was the subject of many rumors about his sexual orientation. His status as possibly the first and only gay president is can be considered the only reason why he is included in this list.

But honestly speaking, a lot of historians think of him as one of the worst presidents we ever had.

According to U.S. News and World Reports:

 Even before he became president, he supported the various compromises that made it possible for slavery to spread into the western territories acquired by the Lousiana Purchase and the Mexican War. (Particularly hurtful to the cause of restraining slavery's spread was the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, for example, allowed settlers to determine the status of slavery in their proposed state constitutions.) In his inaugural address, the 15th president tacitly encouraged the Supreme Court's forthcoming Dred Scott decision, which ruled that Congress had no power to keep slavery out of the territories. More damaging to his name, though, was his weak acquiescence before the secessionist tide—an unwillingness to challenge those states that declared their intention to withdraw from the Union after Lincoln's election. Sitting on his hands as the situation spiraled out of control, Buchanan believed that the Constitution gave him no power to act against would-be seceders.

My point is  if one is to be considered an official "lgbt icon," one should have more on his or her resume than being an lgbt or an alleged lgbt. An icon is one who is idolized because he or she creates a standard to emulate. Being considered one of the worst presidents of the United States or being a deep-in-the-closet millionaire who gets yanked out at the time of his death shouldn't be a standard anyone should want to emulate.

Gays are coming after YOUR children . . . again?

This lie must be confronted.

One thing the lgbt community should confront as a stand alone issue is the constant propagation of the lie that we are trying to "recruit" children.

From Anita Bryant in the late 1970s to the marriage equality fights, to the present battle over transgender equality, the religious right has consistently created a horrible image of lgbts luring young boys and girls into a so-called life of homosexual squalor and wanton sex.

It is probably the most successful and enduring lie the religious right has in its arsenal.

The latest incarnation is from wannabe anti-lgbt activist Michael Brown in an column at One News Now:

Do you need to lock your doors and windows at night because a homosexual predator is coming after your kids? That is absolutely not what I mean when I say that LGBT activists are coming for your children.I'm talking about educators and government leaders; I'm talking about celebrities and judges; I'm talking about people of influence who want to indoctrinate your children even before they get to school.I'm talking about an all-out war for the minds and hearts of your kids.
 . . . I understand what motivates the activists and educators. They want to teach "tolerance" and they want a child who does not appear to be "gender conforming" to realize that their insides might not be in harmony with their outsides. But that doesn't make what they're doing right, nor does it make it helpful. And the best motivation in the world cannot change falsehood into truth. That being said, it is clear that LGBT activists and their allies have had ample motivation to change the thinking of Americans, beginning with our children, and already in 1995, lesbian author Patricia Nell Warren stated, "Whoever captures the kids owns the future." (Published in The Advocate, October 3, 1995, p. 80, in the article "Future Shock.")

To put it mildly, Brown is an idiot. His hysterical diatribe omits two facts - that many young children are identifying as lgbts without any prodding from anyone and that same-sex families are raising children. That last point is important to combat the semantics of his argument. Lgbts are not after the children of so-called normal families. We are not outside the box watching heterosexuals raising children. We are raising children ourselves.

However, the sad part of Brown's nonsensical column is that some people will believe it as truth. That's unfortunately to be expected.

Still, the lgbts want to "recruit" children is a lie that the community must aggressively call out. And not before someone likes Brown puts us on the defensive.

John Hopkins faculty cry foul over distorted report on lgbt health

Paul McHugh sacrifices his prominence for prejudice.

As many of you already know, this blog began in 2006 as a way to call out how the anti-lgbt right either rely on junk science or cherry-pick legitimate science in order to demonize the lgbt community. By doing this, they create a pseudo-scientific reason to oppose lgbt equality because a solely religious reason never flies in courtrooms.

It has been a fun, albeit too quiet to the mainstream, fight to expose these liars. And it has also been successful because other entities with more access and prominence have joined in the struggle. Because of this, religious right lies about the lgbt community and those who push them have less power than they did over 10 years ago.

But that doesn't mean the religious right are stopping their efforts. I've noticed that there has been a stronger effort to, not rely on junk science or cherry-picked science, but replace legitimate science about the lgbt community with the help of some who should know better.

And it would seem that John Hopkins University is one of the ground zeros of this effort.

From Media Matters:

Faculty members at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health disassociated themselves from a recent report on LGBT health published by fellow Hopkins colleagues in a non-peer review journal, condemning the “troubling” report in a op-ed in The Baltimore Sun for “mischaracterizing” scientific evidence in a way that will “further stigmatize and harm the health of LGBTQ communities.”

Three faculty members from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health published an op-ed on September 28 in The Baltimore Sun criticizing a new report on LGBT health that they say is cause for “concern” because it “mischaracterizes the current state of the science on sexuality and gender.” The recent report is written by current Hopkins “scholar in residence” Lawrence Mayer and faculty member Paul McHugh. McHugh has long peddled anti-LGBT pseudoscience and refused to accept medical consensus on LGBT health, having previously written op-eds for The Wall Street Journal in which he lamented the increasing visibility of transgender rights and warned that transgender identities should be treated as "confusions" and illnesses.

The authors of the op-ed cited concerns with the report’s analysis and conclusion, noting that previous research was inexplicably excluded from the study. Additionally, the report was published in a journal -- The New Atlantis -- that that is not “subject to rigorous peer review” normal of scientific research. The New Atlantis is published by the Ethics and Public Policy Center, which is dedicated to “applying the Judeo-Christian moral tradition to critical issues of public policy.” The Hopkins faculty also expressed their fear that “the report's findings could further stigmatize and harm the health of LGBTQ communities.”

You can read an excerpt of the op-ed at Media Matters.

One thing is clear. I doubt this will be the last time we hear of such efforts and I think our community should do more to educate ourselves because it will probably get worse.

'Human Rights Campaign calls out homophobic 'medical' hate group' & other Thur. midday news briefs

Newt Gingrich thinks we've forgotten about his anti-lgbt history.

New HRC guide on trans children by pediatricians busts myths, offers support - This is huge. The Human Rights Campaign teams up with the American Academy of Pediatrics to take on and destroy the lies of the hate group/fake medical association The American College of Pediatricians. I give HRC props for this. But, as much as I hate to sound like Little Richard, I was sounding the alarm about this group since 2009. The ACP was one of the reasons why I created this blog:

The American College of Pediatricians and the Laundering of Junk Science

 American College of Pediatricians, NARTH pushes new site featuring old anti-gay lies 

American College of Pediatricians trying to work anti-gay web site into the schools 

 In other news:

 Endorsement or not, Log Cabin Republicans shill for Trump - Siiiigh!

Gingrich seeks unity with gays against ‘Islamic supremacism’ - More about the above nonsensical meeting. Gingrich invoked history to claim that Republicans stood with the lgbt community. If Gingrich wants to talk about history, he should talk about the time in 1994 when he promised virulent homophobe Lou Sheldon (of the Traditional Values Coalition) that he would hold public hearings against public-funded AIDS programs. Pitting the lgbt community against Islam doesn't make that fact go away.  

This Is What It’s Like To Have Your Transgender Kid Splashed Across The Media - Something we haven't thought about but very important to consider.

Anti-lgbt hate group leader - Vote for Trump or Clinton will destroy America

Mat Staver

Mat Staver, head of the anti-lgbt hate group the Liberty Counsel, has a dire warning for "Christians."

Either they vote for Trump or Hillary Clinton is going to destroy America. This, of course, leaves me jealous and confused. I thought lgbts were going to destroy America.