An ugly flashback courtesy of Anita Bryant

A Facebook friend pointed this out to me so all credit goes to him.

This is an interview with the infamous Anita Bryant from 1990. It's important that the entire lgbt community, particularly the younger generation, take in and remember our history, whether it be good or bad.

What strikes me is Bryant's continued ignorance. She falsely accused gays of being pedophiles and claimed that it was her "Christian duty" to do such. Who knew Jesus dealt in lies.

The more things change, the more they stay the same when it comes to folks in the religious right, don't they?

One more thing: Bryant's career is still in tatters and probably will never recover. Not celebrating, mind you. Just pointing that out..

More on the AFA's attack on Home Depot and lgbt families and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Love your dads, become part of an AFA condemnation - Apparently there is more to the story than what I posted this morning about the American Family Association's attack on Home Depot. Long story short - those pictures used by the AFA in it's attack, particularly the one with the child who is proud of his two dads, were meant to be positive images of lgbt families. This means the AFA, in the name of "morality" and "truth" exploited those pictures to present a false image of the lgbt community. Kind of makes you angry, doesn't it? It should.

Gay and Transgender Youth Homelessness by the Numbers - There simply is NO EXCUSE for this.

Gays will get leave to care for partner's sick child - Almost forgot about this bit of good news.

Costs prompt AIDS expert to close S.F. practice - This ain't good.

Dispatches from Greg Quinlan’s Crazy Space - Just when you have seen it all, supposed "ex-gay" Greg Quinlan produces a new spin on Obama Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.

Home Depot attacked for supporting THE GAYS

I received the following "action alert" from the American Family Association via an online friend of mine:

According to the 2010 Southern Maine Pride website, Home Depot signed on as a major sponsor of its 2010 Gay Pride events. But simply financing and marching in the parade wasn't enough for the big box chain.

Home Depot also signed on as a "festival" vendor, conducting Kid's Craft Workshops for children in the midst of loud and boisterous gay activities.

To this end, Home Depot is basically encouraging the attendance of children at events which openly expose them to transvestites, cross-dressers, and homosexual activists

. . . Gay pride events have a long track record for offensive public displays of homosexual conduct. Obviously, Home Depot is OK with the idea of exposing children to an unhealthy and risky environment. So much so, it is willing to also celebrate it by participating in its promotion, as demonstrated in these photos from the 2010 Maine and Boston events.

And do you want to see the two photos which the AFA claims is proof that children are being exposed to danger during gay pride? Here they are:

Oh the horror! Someone call Batman. Unfortunately this isn't the first time that the religious right have attacked Home Depot for sponsoring a Pride event. Last year, the Liberty Counsel's Matt Barber made the same illogical argument. And it probably won't be the last.

Unfortunately some pride parades do have the reputation of being a bit risque, but not all pride are the same.

It's like I said last year at the time of Barber's attack on Home Depot:

a. many same-sex families include children

b. not all Pride events fit the stereotype of half naked men and women running around in open areas dancing to disco music and bumping and grinding into each other.

Down here in Columbia, SC, we are proud of the fact that our lgbt festivals (including Black Pride held this week) are highly family friendly.

The American Family Association's diatribe proves just how the religious right want to paint us into a corner when it comes to children. They are always quick to imply that we harm children but never address the fact that we are raising children.

Think about it. When folks like Maggie Gallagher and Barber talk about how same-sex marriage will hurt children, they never acknowledge the fact that lgbt families have children.

It's not an unintentional oversight.

Related post:

Matt Barber's ignorance is a blast from the past

A Father's Day lesson in bigotry

A simple message on Father's Day by President Obama has some religious right organizations up in arms:

Nurturing families come in many forms, and children may be raised by a father and mother, a single father, two fathers, a step father, a grandfather, or caring guardian. We owe a special debt of gratitude for those parents serving in the United States Armed Forces and their families, whose sacrifices protect the lives and liberties of all American children. For the character they build, the doors they open, and the love they provide over our lifetimes, all our fathers deserve our unending appreciation and admiration.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, in accordance with a joint resolution of the Congress approved April 24, 1972, as amended (36 U.S.C. 109), do hereby proclaim June 20, 2010, as Father's Day. I direct the appropriate officials of the Government to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on this day, and I call upon all citizens to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. Let us honor our fathers, living and deceased, with all the love and gratitude they deserve.

The part which is making religious right groups see red is the acknowledgment of gay fathers. The usual cast of characters have responded with the same degree of vitriol with which the lgbt community has come to expect, including:

Peter LaBarbera:

“Gay parenting is a selfish social experiment whose long-term effect on children has not yet been determined — biased homosexual-authored studies notwithstanding,” he said. “We know that dad-and-mom-led homes are the best for children. That is the timeless brand of fatherhood that Obama should be promoting.”

 and Tim Wildmon:

"This is the first time in our nation's history that a president has used Father's Day as an excuse to promote the radical homosexual agenda and completely redefine the word 'family,'" said AFA president Tim Wildmon. "Virtually all Americans have the common sense to recognize that children need both a mother and a father. Rudimentary biology tells us it's impossible for a child to have two fathers. But here we have the leader of our nation and the Democrat Party celebrating sexual behavior which is contrary to nature and pushing a household structure that we know is harmful to children. This is a sad day for the American family.

Also, the National Organization for Marriage falsely implied that through his proclamation, President Obama was saying that fathers didn't matter.

Meanwhile, the Family Research Council pushed an "offensively cute" graphic (seen on the left) meant to denigrate lgbt families.

One has to ask what's with all the vitriol on the supposed Christian right about the President's proclamation? The answer is very simple.

The fact that some lgbts are parents - and good parents at that - is a constant thorn in the side of religious right groups. It throws a monkey wrench in their goal of pushing a false image of lgbts on American society (oversexed, selfish, and hedonistic) while at the same time holding back more truthful and positive images of lgbts under the phony guise that such images interfere with their "Christian sensibilities."

As you can see, truth has a way of pushing itself forward no matter how many ignorant hands are trying to hold it back. And the truth in this case is that gay fathers contribute positively to a child's upbringing.

Furthermore, the ideas that acknowledging the existence of gay fathers is somehow a slap in the face to heterosexual parenting or that lgbt parenting in general is an automatic detriment are simply the products of a prejudiced mind.

There is no need for competition here between heterosexual and lgbt parents. Certainly that wasn't in President Obama's mind and it's not in the mind of the millions of parents - be they lgbt or straight - who care for, nurture, and sacrifice for their children on a daily basis without asking anything in return.

 The only folks pushing competition are America's supposed moral guardians on the right.

 But there is something sinisterly wrong with the desire to eliminate or disrespect the presence of lgbt parents under the guise of "morality."

And there is something equally vindictive in claiming - with no proof at all - that somehow lgbt parents will harm their children.

The preponderance of studies clearly show that this is not the case. And if you don't believe me, just look outside your door. Many of us know lgbt couples who are raising families.

We need to ask ourselves do the images we see match the ravings that lgbt parenting is a "dangerous concept."

The fact of the matter is that some folks just plain don't like lgbts. And that's fine because it is their right.

But it's bigotry, pure and simple, for one group to tell another - "we don't like you, so you don't exist."

Right upset at Obama for recognizing gay fathers and other Monday midday news briefs

David Brody Is Very Upset That Obama Recognzied Families With "Two Fathers" -

Papa can you jeer me: NOM patronizes patriarchs  -

Just two articles to highlight the bigotry and hypocrisy of some religious right groups and spokespeople. They constantly whine about "unfairly" being called bigots but then they do things like attack President Obama for noting the presence and contributions of gay fathers. Apparently our families are not important to them.

Huck my 'ick'- So Mike Huckabee claims that his animus against the lgbt community isn't personal even though he has compared our families to raising puppies and consistently aligns himself with anti-gay hate groups. Sometimes I do prefer folks like Peter LaBarbera. At least with Porno Pete, you know where you stand and are not looking for the knife in your back. If Huckabee gets anywhere near the White House, lgbt Americans will be in serious trouble.

Texas GOP Wishes to Punish Straight People Who Support Gay Rights - Tell me again how it's about "LOVE." I dare you.

Weddings for Everybody! - Maureen Dowd NAILS IT about the Prop 8 trial.

The Boondocks, Tyler Perry, 'No Homo,' and Rocky Horror?

This a clip from the episode of the Boondocks which will either cause a feud between Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder and noted playwright and filmmaker Tyler Perry . . . or not depending on how much of a sense of humor Perry has.

And believe me, he is going to have a huge one, especially when one takes into account when character Huey Freeman astutely breaks down the plot to almost every Tyler Perry play and movie - seen here in clip one

or the HUGE Rocky Horror Picture show number in clip two when the Tyler Perry-type director sings an ode to cross dressing.

And yes, it gets worse - and by worse I mean funnier - after that.

Related posts:

The Boondocks SKEWERS Tyler Perry with 'Pause'
  
Boondocks to take on 'No Homo' . . . and Tyler Perry? and other Tuesday midday news briefs
 

The Boondocks SKEWERS Tyler Perry with 'Pause'

This may be a controversy waiting to happen or maybe Tyler Perry will laugh it off.

Whatever the case may be, the bottom line is that the popular Adult Swim show The Boondocks took aim at Perry and his Madea franchise tonight and made a direct hit:



The video isn't available yet but when it does become available, I'm posting it ESPECIALLY the Rocky Horror Picture show production number with the Tyler Perry type director dressed in a bustier, stockings, and garters.

Oh Aaron McGruder (creator of The Boondocks)! You was hilarious when you made fun of R. Kelly, you were on point with the episode about Dr. King coming back to life, but I think you may have stepped into it this time.

You know how us black folks get about our "Jesus plays."

Related posts:

Boondocks to take on 'No Homo' . . . and Tyler Perry? and other Tuesday midday news briefs

The 'Complete' Words of love? A reminder of what some people really think about the lgbt community

The following is a combination of two of my popular posts. From time to time,I repost them so that folks are not deceived by the "I'm only expressing my personal, deeply held religious beliefs" talking points of religious right groups and supporters. It is about hate, pure and simple, as well as fear and ignorance.


Well they can tell you better than me:


Linda Harvey - the former advertising executive who "found Jesus"  and founded the religious right group Mission America. Subsequently this supposedly entitles her to become an "expert" of all things regarding the lgbt community. It allows her to say the following mess:

When people have views supporting homosexuality, they should not be involved with youth in any way, period. Here’s why:
• They will provide inaccurate, misleading information to kids;
• They may limit a student’s opportunity to hear warnings about the behavior;
• They may advocate or model inappropriate behavior;
• They may be directly involved in the molestation of kids themselves; or
• They may be in a position to allow others to do so. - Fairy Tales Don't Come True: Impressionable Kids and Homosexuality

Kevin McCullough - conservative columnist, leader of the so-called "Musclehead Revolution" and an all-around strange character who feels that since he is a man who has fathered a son whose skin is darker than the average African American (his exact words), he can tell the black community just how "evil" Obama is.

Hush up y'all about how "right" McCullough may be about Obama. The point is that his ridiculous comments about the President falls in line with the absolutely inane things he has said about the lgbt community in 2003: 

The "alphas" in homosexual relationships, be they men or women, are many times recruiting younger partners. A vast percentage of those who enter the homosexual life do so after having been sexually initiated by an older person of their sex – be it consensual or not – it usually has the feel of enticement or seduction. - The 'gay' truth

Guy Adams - Rounding out the lower echeleon list of anti-gay nobodies is this mean looking fellow, Guy Adams. If you are not familiar with him there is a reason for that. In 2006, the one-time bodyguard of  Alan Keyes said probably the most ugly, rudest thing ever about lgbts. It was so nasty that I don't think that Peter LaBarbera or Matt Barber at their most logically gymnastic could defend it:

The newest thing in Chicago, it's becoming a trend—and you're going to find this hard to believe—sex with infants. It's not enough that they have—you know, when you engage in perversion, and homosexuality is perversion—we don't hate the gays mind you, we don't hate them, we hate what they're doing—pretty soon that perversion is like addiction, it's not enough, so you need to graduate to something else. You need to move on. So now they're having sex with animals, a small group that's getting bigger, sex with infants, sex in the street in Chicago out in the open—it's just getting more and more perverted. So, I just don’t believe that there are a lot of really, really good gays.

After this comment, Adams has since retreated into his cocoon of crazy and I haven't heard from him since.

Ken Hutcherson - Of course this list must be multi-racial because ignorant, homophobic comments are like diseases; they know no color, gender, or religion. And who better to put in this list than perennial Microsoft stock threatener Ken Hutcherson. Hutcherson has never met a self-aggrandizing comment that he didn't like.

But the one thing he does not like are polite men because polite men are not macho:

"If I was in a drugstore and some guy opened the door for me, I'd rip his arm off and beat him with the wet end."

Supposedly it was a joke. But Hutcherson comes across as funny as "the itch." And his comments take a deeper resonance when one remembers his past protests against GLSEN's Day of Silence.

Chris Buttars - This lovely Utah representative who looks as if he has a low tolerance for gassy people doesn't necessarily like lgbts. But the folks in Utah seem to like him because they keep electing him to office. Maybe some folks like to hear such comments as: 

Homosexuality will always be a sexual perversion. And you say that around here now and everybody goes nuts. But I don't care. They're mean. They want to talk about being nice. They're the meanest buggers I have ever seen. It's just like the Muslims. Muslims are good people and their religion is anti-war. But it’s been taken over by the radical side. What is the morals of a gay person? You can't answer that because anything goes. They're probably the greatest threat to America going down I know of."

Anita Bryant - Come on guys. You know that girlfriend was going to be included. Anita Bryant who galvanized both sides of the aisle of gay rights in her successful attempt to get a Florida non-discrimination ordinance repealed in . She claimed to do it because she was worried that gays "recruit" children. I bet you all think that her quote about gays supposedly recruiting children is the reason why she made this list. It isn't. She had a funnier quote in Playboy magazine:

In a long Playboy interview, Bryant claimed that homosexuals are called "fruits" because "they eat the forbidden fruit of the tree of life. God referred to men as trees, and because the homosexuals eat the forbidden fruit, which is male sperm."

Speaking of fruits, everyone knows the story of how she was hit in the face with a fruit pie by an angry gay activist. Hell, seeing that picture is required for every lgbt entering the "lifestyle."  Well let me just say for the record that I totally disagree with her being hit with the pie. But God help me, when she broke down while praying after getting the pieing, I didn't feel sorry for her.

Reverend Gregory Daniels - Daniels was a black minister in Chicago. In 2004, he made the following comment:

"If the KKK opposes gay marriage, I would ride with them."

He later tried to de-emphasize the stupidity of his comment by saying that it was a mere indication of how strong he as a black man oppose gay marriage.

I say Rev. Daniels is !#@#*!!@ and also (CENSORED)!

His First Amendment right to say stupid crap is beside the point. I'm not against him speaking his mind.

But shouldn't one have a mind before choosing to speak it.  For those who are curious, the picture I choose to show is not a picture of the Rev. Daniels, but a jackass - my equivalent of any black man who will brag about teaming up with the Ku Klux Klan for any reason.

Know Your LGBT History - Ode to Billy Joe

Ode to Billy Joe is a legendary song by Bobbie Gentry which told the story of the reaction (or lack thereof) of a small town when a young resident commits suicide.

The reason for Billy Joe's suicide was never given in the song and it remained a mystery.

That is until 1975 when the movie Ode to Billy Joe premiered. It was sad, complex movie which explained the young man's suicide:

Billy Joe McCallister killed himself because he was gay.

Two scenes in the movie stand out in hearbreaking detail. The following scene is Billy Joe (played by Robbie Benson) coming out to the heroine and eventual narrator of the song (played by Glynnis O'Connor).

His "confession" starts at 5:37 and I defy you to watch it without tearing up just a little:



The second scene is the final scene in the movie. Now the only people who knew why Billy Joe killed himself are O'Connor, Benson . . . and the man whom he had sex with who turned out to be Billy Joe's boss (played by James Best). O'Connor's character is running away in an attempt to save Benson's reputation. Apparently the word around town is that Billy Joe got her pregnant and committed suicide so as to not deal with the responsibility. Supposedly that makes him a legend amongst the young men.

On her way out of town, O'Connor meets Billy Joe's boss. All I can say is that the scene proves that the closet is NOT a good place to live. The gist of the scene starts at 1:50:




Past Know Your LGBT History postings

Know Your LGBT History - Adorable Adrian Adonis

Know Your LGBT History - The Night Strangler

Know Your LGBT History - All in the Family

Know Your LGBT History - Tongues Untied

Know Your LGBT History - The Celluloid Closet

Know Your LGBT History - Querelle

Know Your LGBT History - Theatre of Blood

Know Your LGBT History - Strange Fruit

Know Your LGBT History - Designing Women

Know Your LGBT History - The Children's Hour

Know Your LGBT History - Sylvester

Know Your LGBT History - Once Bitten

Know Your LGBT History - The Boys in the Band

Know Your LGBT History - Christopher Morley, the crossdressing assassin

Know Your LGBT History - Midnight Cowboy

Know Your LGBT History - Dracula's Daughter

Know Your LGBT History - Blacula

Know Your LGBT History - 3 Strikes

Know Your LGBT History - Paris Is Burning

Know Your LGBT History - The Women

Know your LGBT History - Soul Plane

Know Your LGBT History - The Player's Club

Special Know Your LGBT History - Fame

Know Your LGBT History - Welcome Home, Bobby

Know Your LGBT History - Barney Miller

Know your lgbt history - The Jerry Springer Show

Know your lgbt history - Martin Lawrence and that 'gay guy' on his show

Know your lgbt history - The Ricki Lake Show

Know your lgbt history - Which Way Is Up

Know your lgbt history - Gays in Primetime Soaps

Know your lgbt history - Boys Beware

Know your lgbt history - The Boondocks

Know your lgbt history - Mannequin

Know your lgbt history - The Warriors

Know Your LGBT History - New York Undercover

Know Your LGBT History - Low Down Dirty Shame

Know Your LGBT History - Fortune and Men's Eyes

Know your lgbt history - California Suite

Know your lgbt history - Taxi (Elaine's Strange Triangle)

Know your lgbt history - Come Back Charleston Blue

Know your lgbt history - James Bond goes gay

Know your lgbt history - Windows

Know your lgbt history - To Wong Foo and Priscilla

Know your lgbt history - Blazing Saddles

Know your lgbt history - Sanford and Son

Know your lgbt history - In Living Color

Know your lgbt history - Cleopatra Jones and her lesbian drug lords

Know your lgbt history - Norman, Is That You?

Know your lgbt history - The 'Exotic' Adrian Street

Know your lgbt history - The Choirboys

Know your lgbt history - Eddie Murphy

Know your lgbt history - The Killing of Sister George

Know your lgbt history - Hanna-Barbera cartoons pushes the 'gay agenda

'Know your lgbt history - Cruising

Know your lgbt history - Foxy Brown and Cleopatra Jones

Know your lgbt history - I Got Da Hook Up

Know your lgbt history - Fright Night

Know your lgbt history - Flowers of Evil

The Jeffersons and the transgender community   

Sarah Palin endorses anti-gay activist for Congress and other Friday midday news briefs

Palin's Newest Endorsement: Star Parker - take the hint. Sarah Palin don't like gay people. For the record, I don't care about Palin's hair, outfit, cute tone of speech, or how she has that "Lonesome Rhodes squeezed into a tight dress" mentality going on. This woman just endorsed a crazy woman for Congress.

School Board Votes to Bring Back Gay-Straight Alliance - Good news for a Friday.

Norquist Assailed For Supporting Gay Conservative Group - I do love it when those on the right tear at each other.

Malawi president: We need children rights, not gay rights - Silly me. Here I thought the two overlapped at times.

Queen Latifah discusses not discussing her sexuality - Not a celebrity based blog here but I couldn't resist with this one.

Is the lgbt community plotting to make children 'crossdress?' Of course not

An incident is taking place in a private New York school which lgbts are being blamed for.

But the thing is that we had nothing to do with it.

Here is what we know: according to New York Post columnist Andrea Peyser, a private New York school staged a student production of  La Cage aux Folles, the famous Tony-award-winning Broadway play about a gay couple and their meeting with the parents of their son's fiance.

Or as Peyser called it:

 . . .a cross-dressing, limp-wristed, gay comic romp whose main characters are a pair of "married" men.

Peyser's column in general is ignorant and goes for the jugular from the beginning:

A Manhattan dad nearly choked on his Wheaties when his 14-year-old son timidly asked:

"Dad, do I have to wear a dress to school?"

No joke. These conversations went on in kitchens and living rooms around the city, as a top school that educates learning-disabled and autistic children staged a student production of "La Cage aux Folles" -- a cross-dressing, limp-wristed, gay comic romp whose main characters are a pair of "married" men.

As the show packs in adult audiences on Broadway with campy star Kelsey Grammer and a cast of drag queens (right), the kiddie version of "La Cage" was cooked up by the executive director of Child School, a private institution on Roosevelt Island that takes on youngsters from kindergarten through middle school.

Other than the words of a very nasty columnist, I really don't know what happened here. And if the reports turn out to be as she described, I am NOT defending the school.

The problem I have with Peyer's piece are the comments it encourages, like such:

A big swing back to the right is coming to America because of things like this. Gays, you have the right to do whatever the hell you want to do to yourselves, but now that's not good enough. Kids have to be taught to accept your perversions, and that's not right. Say what you want but being gay is unnatural. Basically it's a crime against nature.

. . . I'm not anti-gay but I don't go nor take my kids to the village gay pride parade every year. I'm not anti- African American but I didn't go to the million man march. This isn't about hate. That's what the left always cries when anyone disagrees with them. This is about standing up for what's right, looking out for kids. Simply put, La Cage is an adult play and not appropriate for 10 to 14 year olds. Hate? This is about Love, loving our kids enough to speak out.

What the hell does the lgbt community in general have to do with this situation other than the fact that the play had lgbt characters? What's with this implication that somehow lgbts secretly plotted to "indoctrinate" children into crossdressing?

I'm sure that - barring what the truth may actually be in this case - there are as many lgbt parents as appalled by the staging of the very mature La Cage aux Folles as heterosexual parents.

And that is what reasonable people in general should be concerned about - a mature play being put on by children.

Again please bear in mind that I say "barring what the truth may be," because Peyser seems to be more about inducing shock rather than telling the real story.

Were parents made aware of the play?

Did the school make participants sign permission slips?

Were there changes made to the play to address the fact that children were playing the characters?

You see these are the types of questions which needed to be asked and they would have been asked . . . by a columnist who is up to her job.

We call them bigots because they show themselves to be bigots

A hallmark tactic of religious conservative groups is constantly complaining that they are unfairly labeled as "bigots" simply because they are supposedly defending the so-called normal time-honored definitions of morality, family, and decency.

After a good look at one organization - the Family Research Council - and its comments against the The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C., one has to wonder just what values are being defended.

According to People for the American Way:

The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C. has unveiled its "Agenda: 2010" which is "designed for educating D.C. candidates for Mayor and D.C. Council on LGBT issues" while also serving as "a resource for journalists, activists, and the general public."

Now to the Family Research Council, this a parlor trick, another plan for the lgbt community to "destroy" America:

Local groups will try to elect more homosexuals to places of power, push in-school gay-straight alliances, support D.C. sex-oriented businesses, defend adult entertainment, grant special perks to cross-dressing prisoners, force same-sex adoption, and legalize sex trafficking. Lots of people in this country mistakenly believe that this community will be satisfied when it redefines marriage. That's not the case. Homosexuals and transgenders won't be happy until they sever every moral underpinning in America. This has never been about "acceptance" or "equality" but about a devastating strategy meant to destroy innocence, the family, local communities, public health, and parental authority.

The group even added a "cute graphic" to emphasize the point.

 Now just to be clear, FRC is claiming that any action of the lgbt community is suspect because we are not human beings but willing props in some plot overturn American values.

This means:

a child wanting to get through the school day without being beaten up for being an lgbt,

or an lgbt couple wanting to extend their homes to a child who needs love,

or an lgbt couple merely seeking to preserve dignity and the right to protect each other's interests in the event of one's death are all pieces of a puzzle hatched by the fevered imagination of an international cartel led by some bald man hidden in the shadows who can only be identified by his soft hands which he uses to stroke his pet Persian cat.

The implication would be hilarious if FRC and those who support the group didn't believe this drivel.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, a bigot is:

One who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ.

 This describes many religious right groups such as the Family Research Council. It's not enough for them to oppose homosexuality per se. They have to take it a step further. To them, we are not people. We are not human beings with feelings and emotions. By their very deeds and actions, they strip us of our humanity.

Unfortunately for the sake of parity and phony objectivity, some - including members of the lgbt community - allow religious right groups an unfair free pass by way of the excuse that their tactics and claims are mere expressions of their faith.

And then folks claim that the lgbt community guilty of the same type of actions.

I think that's unfair. Lgbts are not the ones who distort science to make some claim that Christianity is a "bad lifestyle."

Nor do we chalk all of the actions of religious right groups as an attempt to steadily trap us in a second class style of living, although if we did, we would have more than enough evidence to do so.

We call groups like the Family Research Council bigots because that is simply what they are.

The real question should be if these groups consider themselves moral and Christian, how can they justify their lies and attempts to stigmatize the lgbt community?

Religious right doesn't like interfaith dialogue and other Thursday midday news briefs

Religious Right Paranoia Knows No Bounds - Because there can be NO interfaith dialogue unless it's led by religious right groups and only including religious right groups, etc.

Uganda “Kill-The-Gays” Bill Supporter To Speak In St. Louis - Where he will probably whine about "Christian persecution." Whatever happened to the good old days when you could taking about killing gays with impunity, huh?

Baptists oppose repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" - Oh please. You wanna shock me? Have them saying that they support gays serving openly in the military.

Can GetEQUAL NOW Make the LGBT Rights Movement Less Racist, Transphobic, and Ageist? - Well this conversation about GetEQUAL was BOUND to happen.

Maggie Gallagher Is VERY Sad About the Prop 8 Trial - All together now . . . AWWWWWWWWW!

More trouble for African gays - this time in Ghana

Add the Ghana to the list of places in Africa, such as Uganda and South Africa,  where gays and lesbians are having their share of problems:

Thousands of citizens of the West African nation of Ghana attended a rally on Friday which aimed to stamp out emerging gay communities in its biggest cities.

An estimated 3,000 young people in the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolis marched in the rain, many wielding placards adorned with anti-gay slogans.

Local news website GhanaWeb reports that the protest was organized by the region’s Muslim community, following reports that gay parties and same-sex marriages had been organized recently in the suburbs.

The protest’s organisers are calling on the government to criminalise homosexuality, calling it an ‘ungodly act’.

“Ghana will suffer more than the experience of Sodom and Gomorrah, should we embrace this practice in this country,” said the rally’s leader Saeed Hamid.

It gets worse. According to the Ghana Web article, Hamid also had this to say:

He said most of the young boys involved in the practise are having health problems and are wearing pampers.

"How would you feel, if someone puts his penis into your anus?" He queried.

Talk about behind the times. Homophobes in the United States stopped linking us to diapers over 30 years ago.

Related posts:

Ugandan anti-gay bill creator wallows in the filth of his own homophobia

Even dead gay men aren't safe in some African countries

African gays and lesbians becoming victims of 'corrective rape'

Lesbians in South Africa getting raped as a corrective measure? What the hell?


Hat tip to Rod 2.0 Beta

I still love South Carolina: a love dirge from the pit of a crazy state in the Union

This week, South Carolina’s lgbt community celebrated a huge victory which you probably won’t hear anything about.

Last year state legislators came up with the idea of a bill addressing teen dating violence. It was an excellent idea and a great bill, that is until some legislators wrote in a codicil which would have excluded lgbt relationships, thereby telling lgbt teens that the state of South Carolina really doesn’t care if they suffer relationship violence.

Through quiet tenacity and steadfast devotion, several statewide lgbt groups and their allies caused the bill to die in committee during this legislative session.

For us sensible South Carolina residents, it was a much needed victory because let’s face it: South Carolina right now is a damn embarrassment.

From Gov. Mark Sanford’s dalliances on Argentinian soil, to the alleged affairs of possibly soon-to-be governor Nikki Haley, to “Captain Redneck” Jake Knotts, and culminating with the odyssey of Alvin Greene, this state will most likely be single handedly responsible for the Daily Show receiving yet another Emmy for Best Variety Series.

But such is the history of South Carolina. From starting the Civil War by firing on Fort Sumter to pioneering the practice of lawmakers cane-whipping each other in the Congressional halls, this state seems to be bound and determined to designate itself as the insane cousin whom one lets out of the attic at his own risk.

However in spite of how low we sink, many South Carolinians - be they gay or straight, young or old, black, white, Latino, etc - still love this state

And even though the sensible thing would be for a group of us to put on black wigs and sunglasses, get the hell out of town, and tell inquiring minds that we are from the planet Venus, we are determined to hold our heads high even though we continue to be dragged through new controversies by those whom we have selected to represent us.

Why shouldn’t we? It’s like a circus down here.

In 2004, Gov. Sanford brought two pigs to the State House to express his displeasure in the overriding of his vetoes. And the pigs “expressed” themselves all over him.

He was re-elected with over 50 percent of the vote.

We have a statue on the State House grounds of a man (Ben Tillman) who proudly bragged about using violence to keep African-Americans disenfranchised

And I won’t even mention the late Strom Thurmond except for to say that when many South Carolinians displayed shock over his secret African-American daughter, we were just pretending.

Basically, us sensible folks down here have come to the conclusion that South Carolina is not a state, but a Fellini movie. Therefore it’s best to grab a few balloons and either join the parade of bizarreness or just watch it go by.

Besides, some of us don’t look exactly fetching in black wigs and sunglasses.

Elton John has much explaining to do and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Prop. 8 backers target 18,000 same-sex marriages - Three words come to mind - trifling, meanspirited, and coldhearted.

Rush Limbaugh Married By Anti-Gay Pastor Ken Hutcherson - Yes this is the SAME Ken Hutcherson who once remarked:

"If I was in a drugstore and some guy opened the door for me, I'd rip his arm off and beat him with the wet end."

And yes this is the SAME wedding where Elton John played. Perhaps Elton got away unscathed because he didn't hold open the door for Hutcherson.

If Gays Can Serve Openly In The Military, God Will Cause Us To Lose Wars - I'm speechless. Sometimes you have to let ignorance stand on it's own.

Gay Group GOProud First To Cross Manchester Picket Line - This is just sad.

ENDA Vote in Question - You really didn't expect for it to be that easy, did you?

Mike Huckabee's passive aggressive war against gay community nets him an award

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South Carolina = hot mess! Thank you for pointing that out, Jon Stewart

I will interrupt the regularly scheduled takedown of religious right lies to let you all know something:

South Carolina is a hot mess.

I'm sorry but this is my state, my racial heritage, and even my first name involved here and I am totally mind boggled about the entire Alvin Greene thing.

I had a friend last night to tell me that attacks on Greene added up to racism. Of course if I were to speak honestly, that same friend thinks that Obama is several shades of the Anti-Christ warmed over, so I guess it's no surprise that I don't take his opinion seriously.

But I continue to be overwhelmed about the ridiculousness of the entire thing, so I will let Jon Stewart of The Daily Show take over:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Alvin Greene Wins South Carolina Primary
www.thedailyshow.com
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McDonalds CEO ruins good pro-gay moment and other Tuesday midday news briefs

How Not to Advertise Burgers: McD's CEO Turns a Gay Molehill Into a Culture War Mountain - The CEO of McDonalds turns a pro-gay moment into something INCREDIBLY stupid.

Tilted 'Slate' - A demonstration on how slyly members of the right try to make their studies seem objective.

Philadelphia: Scouts should confront anti-gay rule - The Boy Scouts have every right to let in who it wants, BUT it shouldnt' have access to public money or facilities if it continues to be discriminatory. Lgbt tax dollars do into funding those facilities.

Freddie Ljungberg addresses gay rumors - This is hilarious!

The stupidest statistic ever - How the heck did I miss this one?

When religious right talking heads feud, it's fun, fun, fun!

Believe it or not, there are some religious right talking heads who don't get along. And when they launch barbs at each other, it's fun to watch.

Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out spotlighted a post from Randy Thomas of the ex-gay group Exodus International. The post was about a recent Time magazine article spotlighting "Gay Day at Disney." Maybe it's just me but I got the impression that Thomas was calling the article into question for showing lgbts in a normal environment having fun just like others attending Disney.

Besen took Thomas to task over this quite adequately.

But there was one portion of Thomas's piece which caught my eye:

Within the Christian community it also bothers me when Christian activists will go into these events, take a few tabloid TMZ worthy pictures and then post those as the only representation of what gay people are trying to do to our country. I always maintain that stigmatizing (anyone) is not Christ-like.

To answer your question, yes he was talking about our "friend" Peter LaBarbera. It's no secret that Thomas and LaBarbera don't get along. One can chalk it up to different philosophies. Thomas is from the school of the "let's passively aggressive attack lgbts while at the same time claiming to minister to them," while LaBarbera is from the school of "gays are nasty, period."

Last year, this difference of philosophy exploded in an over-too-soon, but highly entertaining feud between LaBarbera, Thomas, and of all people, Matt Barber of the Liberty Counsel.

I found it hilarious to read these so-called "fishers of men" stoop to a level of bitchy sniping not seen since the classic motion picture The Women.

Who knows what will happen this time. Maybe LaBarbera will ignore Thomas's swipe.

I hope not though. The world would be so much more fun if religious right folks sniped at each other like the following:



Oh well, I can always dream.

Related posts:

Gay sex quote causes three-way feud between Porno Petey, the Liberty Counsel and Exodus International

Matt Barber seeks to end feud with Porno Petey by painting the Liberty Counsel as liars