'Religious right zeroing in on transgender children' and other Monday midday news briefs

Transgender Homecoming Queen Faces Negative Backlash To Historic Win - She is such a strong young lady and the lgbt community needs to support her in this. We are all proud of her. The backlash is nothing new because you get a lot of flack at first when you are a pioneer. Then folks realize how brave you are. 

 
NOM Abandons Marriage Mission To Campaign Against Transgender Children - Wow! Such a "Christian" organization to pick on children.

 Anti-Gay Bishop Harry Jackson Will Keynote Secret ‘Ex-Gay Awareness’ Dinner - Oh this is hilarious! 

Peter LaBarbera Takes On Pope Francis, Claims 'Satan's Earthly Minions' Use Homosexuality To Undermine Catholic Church - Because apparently God speaks through a man who takes x-rated pictures of gay men and posts huge pictures of anal warts on his webpage.  

Media Complicit In Legislative Attack On LGBT Americans - It's not intentional. They're just kinda lazy.

CNN host Chris Cuomo calls out anti-gay propaganda, bigotry

I never get tired of this video. CNN host Chris Cuomo tangles with Catholic League president Bill Donohue on the subject of homosexuality, pedophilia, and the Catholic religion in general. This is how you handle anti-gay propaganda:

Know Your LGBT History - Brothers

Over a decade before 'Will and Grace' and Ellen Degeneres, the cable network Showtime came out with the television show groundbreaking television show 'Brothers.' It was highly successful, running from 1984-1989.

From Wikipedia:

Set in south Philadelphia, Brothers centered around the lives and relationships of the Waters brothers; oldest brother Lou (Brandon Maggart), a somewhat uncouth, but well-meaning construction foreman, middle brother Joe (Robert Walden), a retired placekicker for the Philadelphia Eagles and owner of a sports bar called The Point After, and the youngest brother, Cliff (Paul Regina).

In the premiere episode, Cliff shocks his family when he runs away from the altar on his wedding day. Instead of getting married, Cliff reveals to his family that he is gay.

The pilot and following episodes centered around the efforts of Joe and Lou coming to terms with Cliff's long-held secret of his true sexual orientation, with both coping in their own unique way. Joe, who was definitely more sensible and open-minded, didn't see Cliff's sudden declaration of homosexuality robbing any aspect of their relationship. Lou assured his baby brother "Cliffie" that he loved and respected him no matter what, but was convinced early on that what Cliff was feeling was just a phase, and came up with numerous efforts to "cure" him of being gay. Cliff's relationship with the both of them was part brotherly, but also that of fathers and son, since Lou and Joe had almost 20 years on Cliff (their mother died when Cliff was an infant, followed a few years later by their dad; Lou and Joe raised Cliff for the majority of his youth). He was very much independent minded, and kidded around with his brothers in the usual way siblings do, but at times looked to them for guidance and was very much overprotected by Lou and Joe.

And like so many shows, there was a standout character:

 Philip Charles MacKenzie played Cliff's out-and-proud new friend Donald Maltby, a successful writer/magazine editor whom Cliff sought out friendship with for advice and support in the time leading up to his coming out. During and after the fact, Donald continued to be Cliff's voice of reason as he learned to navigate his way around the LGBT world. It was an otherwise unlikely friendship, but Donald's fey, queen-like behavior versus the masculinity of Cliff never got in the way, surprisingly. Donald's womanly flamboyance always unnerved Lou, and caused some mild, but humorous friction between them. However, Donald always managed to get the last laugh on Lou with his sharp humor. He lived in a cozy loft apartment which was another common setting for the stories. Cliff and Donald sometimes frequented The Velvet Spike, a local gay club/bar.

Submitted for your perusal is the very first episode. Pardon if its a little scratchy. It was reproduced from a VHS tape:

 

 

 

Past Know Your LGBT History Posts:

'Family Research Council tells a lie in court' and other Friday midday news briefs

FRC essentially lied in court - Floyd Corkins, that awful man who tried to shoot up FRC headquarters last year got a much deserved jail sentence. However, FRC President Tony Perkins read a statement in front of a District Court judge which was basically a lie. I doubt we can do anything legally about it but you would be surprised how powerful knowledge is. 

 
Barber & LaBarbera: 'Every Major Institution Is Being Corrupted By The Homosexual Agenda' - Does this mean we won the "culture war." If so, then I demand to that Barber and LaBarbera accept our terms for their surrender. Hehehehehe!  

Michigan Officials Admit Same-Sex Families Exist, But Still Want To Deny Them Legal Protections - Because it's apparently what Jesus would do.  

Mormon Church: Same Bigotry, Different Packaging - It's the "religious liberty" junk again.

Russian anti-gay video demonstrates the ugly power of homophobic propaganda

You want to see the power of anti-gay propaganda?

Via my friend John Aravosis from Americablog comes this absolutely vile video from Russia. You may think this video is funny in its inanity but maybe that's part of the problem. Nothing which demonizes a group of people in this way should be considered funny. Also remember that what's funny to us is taken seriously by some folks in Russia as the country moves to persecute their lgbt citizens.

And the thing which makes me absolutely sick about this video? The discredited Regnerus study is included. NOM and its allies failed to move the Supreme Court with that trash, but they are doing incredible damage in other places with it.

Take note, religious right. This is what true persecution looks like and you should know it well. After all, you are partly responsible for it:

Republicans want to push nationwide discrimination bill against same-sex couples

Earlier this week, the Huffington Post published a piece of mine expressing the desire for the lgbt community and our leadership to confront anti-gay propaganda head on.

I got a lot of positive responses. But I also got some negative responses. Therefore, for all of you out there - and you know who you are - who attacked me personally, acted blase and apathetic, whined about being called the "correct" acronym, or declare verbal full-scale war on religion in general, or talked about how folks are calling out the religious right in the comments section of articles, this news from Think Progress is a reminder that all of your explanations and complaints don't mean diddly:

A group of House Republicans, led by Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-ID), has proposed a new bill that would provide a nationwide “license to discriminate” against married same-sex couples. Though Labrador claims the bill protects “religious liberty,” it is nothing less than a blanket invitation to deny benefits to same-sex couples that they are entitled to under law.

According to the draft of the bill (HR 3133), there would be no consequences for any organization or individual that chooses not to recognize a same-sex marriage:

The Federal Government shall not take an adverse action against a person, on the basis that such person acts in accordance with a religious belief that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.

In other words, the bill would create special religious protections only for people who oppose same-sex marriage or premarital sex. Under the guise of “religious freedom,” this bill specifically endorses one particular set of religious beliefs without concern for any others, a pretty clear violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

The consequences of this legislation would be immense, such that a few individuals could short-circuit the rights of gay and lesbian couples across the country. Given its prudish inclusion of opposition to premarital sex, these consequences could likely apply to many straight couples as well. Here are a few possible examples of the potential for abuse:

• Businesses could refuse to provide leave for an employee to take care of a sick same-sex spouse.
• Federal workers processing tax returns, visa applications, or Social Security filings could refuse to do their job if it meant providing benefits to a same-sex couple.
• Federally funded programs like homeless shelters and substance abuse programs could turn away LGBT people.
• A church-run hospital could refuse to provide visitation privileges to a married same-sex couple without fear of endangering their tax-exempt status.

The religious right isn't mentioned in this article, but let's not act stupid. We all know who is behind this bill and is most likely nudging the Republicans to push it

Pull your heads out of your butts and get serious. All of the street protests and glitterbombings don't mean jack to organizations powerful enough to dictate what bills they want Congressional leaders to pass.

The religious right's greatest asset is their credibility. It's credibility which they don't deserve because of their many distortions and lies pushed against the lgbt community.

When are we going to exploit these distortions and lies? When are we going to demand that OUR media address these issues? When are we going to demand that mainstream news programs have discussions about these things? When are we going to have discussions about these things instead of being bogged down with side issues?

Many of us in the lgbt community are intelligent. But when are we going to show that we have sense?

'Right-wing continues sad attempt to harm Matthew Shepard's reputation' and other Thursday midday news briefs

What's Really Behind Right-Wing Media's Matthew Shepard Trutherism - In which we learn that some of those draping themselves with the Christian religion have no shame or a truly balanced view of right and wrong. But try as they might, their attempts at playing revision with this awful tragedy won't fly. 

Barber: The NALT Christians Project Is 'Apostasy' - Meanwhile, as his colleagues attempt to besmirch the reputation of Matthew Shepard, the Liberty Counsel's Matt Barber goes on full assault against an effort to keep the religious right from boggarting the conversation what constitutes Christianity in America. If Christianity is truly in trouble in this country, it's because of oblivious behavior like that of Barber's.  

Pope Bluntly Faults Church’s Focus on Gays and Abortion - Archbishop Nienstadt is sooo not going to like that. Much like the folks in the library didn't appreciate the loud noise I made when I fell out after reading that headline. But talk is cheap. What is the Pope going to do about it.  

Texas AG Finally Reads San Antonio’s LGBT Protections And Realizes They’re Constitutional - Victory number two for the recently passed San Antonio non-discrimination ordinance.

Virginia Gurrola, Porterville, California Mayor, Removed From Office For LGBT Proclamation - Hoo boy! After reading that article, read this one.

Witness verbalized homophobia so dangerously stupid, it should be against the law

The late Andy Warhol once said that in the future everyone will be famous for at least 15 minutes. And with the creation of youtube and the like, it turns out that he was right.

Which means if he were still alive, I would give him a swift kick in the tush.

Why the anger? Because of a clip like this so mind-boggling ridiculous that I had to watch it twice and still I simply can't wrap my head about its idiocy. From Right Wing Watch:

Erick Stakelbeck, the former sports reporter who fashions himself to be an expert on terrorism, regularly argues that progressives and Islamic extremists are working together to establish some sort of communist, Islamic state. While appearing on It’s Supernatural!, host Sid Roth said he couldn’t understand his assertion since the “political left is not going to be aligned with someone who wants to kill homosexuals.” But as the Christian Broadcasting Network reporter explained, even though “the left would be the first ones with their heads on the chopping block if Islamic Sharia law came into power,” both liberals and radical Islamists “hate traditional America” and “hate the name of Yeshua (Jesus) so much that they will work together, at least in the short term, to chip away at traditional America and traditional western civilization.” 

Religious right can't stop lying about San Antonio ordinance

Oh brother, how many lies can one put into a newscast. Courtesy of the AIDS Ring Man Pat Robertson's 700 Club:



Sounds terrible, doesn't it? Well the only thing terrible is how disappointed I felt that lightning didn't strike every time a lie was told about the San Antonio ordinance.

Equality Matters broke down every lie a while back. And, as if its any surprise, NOTHING in the 700 Club report is accurate:

Fox’s Todd Starnes Will Lie Until The Very End About San Antonio’s Proposed Non-Discrimination Law

“Purposeful Misinformation”: How Right-Wing Media Are Smearing San Antonio’s Proposed Anti-Discrimination Ordinance

'SC anti-gay groups angry over college reading assignment' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

S.C. groups criticize LGBT-themed freshmen reading assignment at Upstate college - There is NOTHING salacious in this book, “Outloud: The Best of Rainbow Radio," which I was proud to participate in writing in a very small way. This just boils down to groups not wanting to acknowledge the existence of lgbts on ANY level. Well what to you expect when one of the groups protesting, The Palmetto Family Council, funnels out false and outdated information about gays, such as we are the victims of "gay bowel syndrome.'

NBC News holds Scott Lively accountable - Hot damn! NBC News publishes a BLISTERING article on arch-homophobe Scott Lively. 

 How Social Conservative Gary Bauer Uses His Network Of ‘Values’ Groups To Enrich Himself - Apparently homophobia is a huge money maker for Gary Bauer. 

 Pa. Lawmakers To Target Gay “Conversion” Therapy - Sweet! Do it!

Religious right gains new ally with Fox News reporter Shannon Bream

Shannon Bream

A while back, I made a prediction that Fox News would become a large danger to the lgbt community because it would funnel propaganda and one-sided interviews against our community.

As an Equality Matters report proves, it's already happened thanks to Fox News "journalist" Shannon Bream:

Fox News reporter Shannon Bream has become a reliable proponent of right-wing efforts to discriminate against LGBT people, using her national platform to validate religious extremists who claim that any LGBT protections infringe on religious liberty and freedom of speech.

 . . . Bream is also a devout Christian who claims to have been inspired by the work of the notoriously homophobic conservative activist Jerry Falwell. Bream attended Falwell’s right-wing Liberty University for her undergraduate degree, and in May of 2013, she became the first woman to deliver the keynote address at her alma mater’s commencement ceremony. During her speech, Bream urged the graduating class to live a life guided by the kind of Christian principles espoused by Falwell, challenging them not to “stand silently” as their “most deeply held beliefs are being questioned in the public square."

In that same speech, Bream talked about "religious oppression" and "religious liberty" - two code phrases popular with the anti-gay religious right.

Equality Matters also calls raises attention to Bream's behavior when supposedly covering news stories in an objective manner:

Fighting San Antonio’s Non-Discrimination Ordinance

San Antonio’s city council became the target of right-wing, anti-LGBT outrage over the summer as it considered an ordinance that would expand the city’s non-discrimination protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity. On Fox News, Bream led the effort to depict the measure as an assault on religious free speech. During the July 31 edition of America Live, Bream incorrectly warned that the ordinance posed a “First Amendment rights issue,” potentially blocking the hiring of “anyone who speaks out against homosexuality because of their moral or religious beliefs.”

Bream invited right-wing San Antonio pastor Steven Branson for a one-sided interview in which they both criticized a provision of the measure which had been removed for more than a month at the time of the interview. Bream failed to correct Branson when he falsely suggested the ordinance lacked exemptions for religious organizations . . .

Hate Groups And Horror Stories

Bream’s fact-free campaign against San Antonio’s non-discrimination ordinance is a textbook example of how she approaches broadly attacking LGBT equality on Fox, including relying on hate group spokespersons to depict blatant acts of discrimination as a form of religious speech.
Some examples include:

• The New Mexico Photographer. On August 23, Bream hosted a segment defending a New Mexico photographer who was sued under the state’s non-discrimination law after refusing to photograph a same-sex couple’s commitment ceremony. Bream questioned whether gay people actually have a right to be free from unjust discrimination and invited the photographer’s attorney – from the notoriously anti-gay Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) – to assert that the photographer was being forced to violate her religious beliefs by promoting a message approving homosexuality.

• Macy’s Transgender Customer. In December 2011, Bream hosted a segment about a former Macy’s employee who was fired after violating the company’s policy of allowing transgender customers to use their preferred changing room. Bream invited the employee and her attorney, anti-LGBT Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver, to mock the policy and joke about the customer’s appearance. Bream described the incident as “a case pitting religious freedom against a store’s anti-discrimination policy.” Bream’s behavior during the segment drew criticism from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

Bream seems to be the second Fox News personality who is allowing their personal religious beliefs to shape how they report the news. Todd Starnes of Fox News Radio has been consistently called out for not only his brazenly inaccurate reporting but also for his vicious comments about the lgbt community.

Bream, however, seems to be more of a danger to the lgbt community than Starnes.  While Starnes' comments and actions undermines his credibility, Bream tiptoes on that thin line between objectivity and bias, make sure to cheat when she thinks no one is looking.

'FRC claiming that 'straight soldiers' are victims of discrimination' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Perkins: Stop Discriminating Against Straight Soldiers! - More lies from Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council. 

Trans worker wins $50K in settlement over job bias - That's right, honey. You take that money and you deserve every penny of it. 

Mark Regnerus to join ADF at UN event - After his faulty anti-parenting study was destroyed, dissected, and devastated, I guess Mark Regnerus is now saying "to heck with integrity. show me the money."  

Orson Scott Card's New Job On North Carolina Public TV Board Comes Under Fire - Who thought of putting this bozo on public tv board.

NOM gives accidental compliment to the gay community

The following graphic is by the National Organization for Marriage in its latest fundraising appeal. My guess is that NOM meant for it to show the lgbt community as menacing warriors, but I don't take it as that.

The graphic doesn't insult me. On the other hand, it empowers me. I see it as typifying a community who was beset with anti-marriage equality fever in 2004 and suffered many losses from the Prop 8 vote in California to many smaller but nonethless equally bruising battles.

However, the lgbt never lost our resolve. We never allowed ourselves to succumb to defeat. No matter how many times we were beaten and Maggie Gallagher or Brian Brown would mock us, we never gave up. We - in the words of a famous pro wrestler whom I adore - "sweat, bleed, and paid the price."

And now, we are where we need to be. Not where we want to be, but at a much better place than where we were.

So no, NOM's graphic depicting the lgbt community as menacing warriors don't insult me and it shouldn't insult anyone else in the community.

We should own up to the distinction with pride. Hell, we earned it.

Media Matters calls out and destroys 'Matthew Shepard Trutherism'

By now, a lot of you are aware of a vile book coming out in October which will smear Matthew Shepard's name.

Openly gay author, Stephen Jimenez, is claiming that not only was Shepard's murder the result of a drug deal rather than because of anti-gay bias, but also Shepard and one of his murderers, Aaron McKinney, were lovers.

You can practically hear the religious right squealing and the concern trolls on our side of the spectrum rising up to defend this piece of hokum, even though Jimenez makes these assertions without an ounce of concrete evidence.

So it is again that I say THANK YOU to watchdog group Media Matters who reveals several facts about Jimenez's work which the religious right will deliberately omit and the mainstream media will probably accidentally omit.

I'm just going to give you some pertinent parts:

Right-wing media outlets are already celebrating a forthcoming book that claims that brutal 1998 murder of gay Wyoming teen Matthew Shepard - which became a rallying cry for LGBT activists - was actually fueled more by drug use than anti-gay bias.

In The Book of Matt: Hidden Truths about the Murder of Matthew Shepard, journalist Stephen Jimenez argues that Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson bludgeoned Shepard in a meth-fueled rage. Jimenez minimizes the role of anti-gay bias in the murder, writing that Shepard and McKinney had previously had sex and done meth together (an assertion that McKinney himself denies).

Although his report of a sexual history between Shepard and McKinney is new, Jimenez's central thesis - that drugs were the motivating factor in Shepard's murder - has been called into question before.

In November 2004, Jimenez co-produced a piece on the Shepard murder for ABC News' 20/20.  GLAAD highlighted key shortcomings in 20/20's report, including the lack of hard evidence that drugs were a factor and its failure to point out that McKinney himself had cited ant-gay bias as a central element in the case, even attempting to employ a "gay panic" defense at trial. Shepard's mother also condemned the report, criticizing its selective reading of evidence and accusing ABC of taking her comments out of context.

The 20/20 report neglected to mention another crucial detail: that Jimenez was a friend of Tim Newcomb, Henderson's defense attorney.

Most disturbingly, email correspondence revealed that the Jimenez had already decided that Shepard's murder wasn't an anti-gay hate crime before 20/20 even started its reporting. As Gay City News reported in December 2004:

Roughly two months before reporting began for a "20/20" piece on the Matthew Shepard killing, [Stephen Jimenez,] the freelance producer who sold the story to the ABC program had decided that methamphetamine motivated the murder and not anti-gay bias.

And barely two months into a six-month span of reporting on the piece, a "20/20" producer wrote in an e-mail that the "'hate crime' motivation of Shepard's death" was a "flawed theory."

Sean Maloney, a senior attorney at Willkie, Farr and Gallagher who represents the Matthew Shepard Foundation, said of "20/20"'s apparent prejudgment of the story, "This strikes us as bad journalism. There is a significant body of evidence that says that anti-gay bias played a role in Matt's death."

The November 26 story said that Aaron McKinney who, along with Russell Henderson, murdered Shepard on October 6, 1998 was fueled by meth. [emphasis added]

Media Matters goes on to detail the number of religious right groups and spokespeople who are now exploiting Jimenez's book to demonize the lgbt community at large.

I dare anyone to give me any crap about this book being written because of a "need to get the truth told."

 It's about money, pure and simple. And a group of hateful folks masquerading as Christians eager to besmirch the memory of a young man who cannot defend himself.

Where the hell is the decency in that?

'Religious right continues to lie about 'anti-Christian persecution' in military' and other Monday midday news briefs

As false horror story I posted about this morning about "anti-Christian" persecution in the military isn't enough, leave it to Matt Barber and Mat Staver of the Liberty Counsel to create a new one.

 In other news:

  Fox's Erickson Complains That Media Outlets Aren't Anti-LGBT Enough - Poor baby. Heavy on the baby part.  

Pro-LGBT Tech Executives Back Anti-LGBT Candidate For Virginia Governor - With all due respect, Northern Virginia Technology Council’s political action committee , y'all stupid.

Nigerian Student Uses Magnets To 'Prove' Gay Marriage Is Wrong - Say what?

Religious right pushing a false narrative about anti-Christian persecution in the Air Force

Conservatives and the religious right are under the sad impression that they have found of story of anti-Christian discrimination in the military so juicy that the Family Research Council, the Liberty Counsel, entities of Fox News, and even Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association are teaming up to talk about it.

Let me give you the gist of the story via the words of FRC's Peter Sprigg:

Air Force Senior Master Sergeant Phillip Monk told Todd Starnes of Fox News Radio that his openly lesbian commander at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio,Texas had essentially forced him into taking leave rather than completing his assignment. (A Lackland spokesman denied that Monk was punished, insisting to Starnes that he was simply at the end of his assignment.)

Monk was caught in the middle of a situation which involved an instructor who was subjected to an investigation for having told trainees that he opposed homosexual "marriage." Investigators sought to determine whether the unnamed instructor had slandered homosexuals and created a "hostile work environment."

Monk's job was to advise the commander on disciplinary action. According to Monk, however, the commander said from the outset that "we need to lop off the head of this guy." Monk concluded that the instructor's remarks were innocuous, and suggested instead that the incident could teach everyone - on both sides of the debate over homosexuality - about "tolerance" and "diversity."

In the end, the instructor was disciplined with a "letter of counseling" in his official file. The commander, however, demanded to know from Monk "if you can see discrimination if somebody says that they don't agree with homosexual marriage." Monk refused to answer because, "As a matter of conscience I could not answer the question the way the commander wanted me to." Instead, he "said that perhaps it would be best if he went on leave," and the commander agreed.

Monk said to Starnes, "I'm told that members of the Air Force don't have freedom of speech. They don't have the right to say anything that goes against Air Force policy." However, if the homosexual Air Force officer involved in this case thinks that "Air Force policy" requires rejecting the policy choice of three quarters of the States to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, she should think again.

But according to Equality Matters:

Try as Starnes might to depict the investigation of Monk as an all-out assault on conservative Christians in the military, it's clear that Monk's harsh words for his Air Force superiors may well have breached military regulations on soldiers' conduct. Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice prohibits soldiers from engaging in speech or actions "of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces." Going to the media with unfounded allegations that the Air Force is retaliating against Christians would likely merit an investigation under Article 134.

But Starnes asserted that Monk's case indicates widespread punishment of Christians in the military. Alas, this claim is based on nothing more than hearsay. An attorney for the Liberty Institute - which has a history of pushing trumped-up, unfounded "religious liberty" cases - told Starnes that "there must be some sort of systemic problem in the Air Force," while a local pastor told Starnes that he "hear[s] it every Sunday at church" that life at Lackland is becoming "difficult" for Christians.

And according to Media Matters, who reported on the situation and the fact that the Liberty Counsel is taking up Monk's case:

While Senior Master Sgt. Phillip Monk claims his anti-marriage equality views led him to be relieved of his duties, there's no evidence, besides the sensationalistic coverage of far-right news outlets, that that's actually the case. After devoting four minutes to touting the Liberty Institute's claims, Bream briskly noted that officials at Lackland Air Force Base said Monk was at the end of his assignment. A spokesperson for the base told Fox News Radio's Todd Starnes that while Monk and his lesbian commander did disagree on marriage equality, they "agreed to disagree," adding "the wing commander said there was no punishment."

The one constant in this strange is how the narrative of anti-Christian is being driven by the religious right and conservatives. According to Todd Starnes of Fox News, Monk is now being brought up on charges for repeating his tale.

Of course the irony of Starnes' story is while the headlines pushes the idea that Christians are being persecuted in the military, it doesn't even look like Starnes even tried to get the Air Force's side of the story.

Why should we be surprised at how conservatives and the religious right are pushing this story? It's a formula we have seen before - take a potential controversy, report on it in a half-assed way, bombard the media with the side of  the story you support, and finally take your victory before the truth even has a chance to put on its track shoes.

For folks to engage in this scurrilous propaganda is one thing, but for those who claim to be Christians while engaging in this underhanded tactic is positively nauseating.
 

SC couple sues about gender reassignment surgery performed on son' and other Friday midday news briefs

South Carolina Couple Files Lawsuit For Gender Reassignment Surgery Performed On Their Adopted Son - It's cases like that which blows away that ridiculous "God made men to be men and women to be women" mantra. I hope it ends well for the child. 

Transgender woman, Saskatoon bridal shop reach mediated settlement - And it turns out to be an excellent settlement for all involved.  

National Organization for [Opposition to Reproductive Technology, Gay or Straight] #MoreThanMarriage - So now, NOM wants to weigh in on how children are conceived. Forget it, guys.

 Stemberger: 'Abuse' To Affirm LGBT Youth; Sexual Relations Among Boy Scouts Will Become 'Commonplace' - Ignorant people like this just makes me want to pull my hair out. That's why I deliberately shave my head.

Family Research Council doesn't know meaning of 'irony' and 'hypocrisy'

In the irony to beat all ironies, less than a week after the religious right accused the lgbt community of unfairly causing the closing of a bakery which refused to make a cake for a same-sex wedding, Family Research Council head Tony Perkins is calling for a boycott of baking company Betty Crocker for giving away free cakes to gay couples getting married in Minnesota.


Bear in mind that in the case of the bakery, the lgbt community was accused of using "Mafia-style" tactics even though no one actually gave any description of these so-called evil tactics. At the very least, gays probably arranged a very successful boycott of the business.

Which leads us to this conclusion - when gays conduct a successful boycott, it's the equivalent of leaving a horse's head in someone's bed (Godfather reference). When the religious right attempts a boycott, they are merely "standing up for Christian values."

Someone really needs to send me a decoder book for all of this crap.

New information sheds light on FRC shooter's 'mental capacity'

While I am not one for usually citing the Washington Times, here is something regarding the shooting last year at the Family Research Council headquarters which I doubt FRC will let folks know. It would appear - and it should have really been obvious - that the perpetrator, Floyd Corkins, had mental issues:

A Virginia man who planned to kill employees at the D.C. headquarters of a conservative Christian organization last summer received mental health treatment for hallucinations months before he tried to storm the building and then shot a security guard.

The attorney for 29-year-old Floyd Lee Corkins II noted in court documents that his client had been doing well on prescribed antipsychotic medication but missed a doctor’s appointment for an additional dose the day before the Aug. 15, 2012, shooting at the Family Research Council.

Federal public defender David Bos noted Corkins‘ mental illness as a factor when asking for an 11½-year prison sentence for his client. Prosecutors previously recommended a 45-year prison sentence for Corkins, who is the first person to be found guilty of terrorism under the District’s 2002 Anti-Terrorism Act
.
In court documents filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District, Mr. Bos wrote that if Corkins “were unrepentant and unremorseful for his conduct, and not suffering from a mental illness at the time he committed the offenses, a severe sentence might indeed be warranted in this case.” Corkins is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on Sept. 19.

I think it was obvious that Corkins wasn't "wrapped too tight" when one discovers what he planned to do after the shooting had he been successful:

In addition to the pistol, Corkins also had with him two fully loaded magazine clips with 15 rounds each, a box of 50 rounds of 9 mm bullets, and 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches. The sandwiches were bought the day before the shooting, Corkins told investigators, with the purpose of smearing them in the faces of his victims.

In short, Corkins was extremely disturbed.  So I am going to say this right now. It's unfair for anyone to blame the Southern Poverty Law Center (which FRC has attempted to do) or FRC (which I am guilty of) for what Corkins attempted.

He was a young man with mental issues who interjected himself into a controversy the wrong way.

'Russian legislator citing junk science study in attempt to separate gay families' and other Thursday midday news briefs

Russian Lawmaker: Children Are Better Off In Orphanage Than With A Gay Parent - And guess what NOM paid-for-study did this bozo cite? 

 Being ‘Masculine of Center’ While Black - Articles like this need more prominence. 
 

Michigan Republicans Once Again Propose ‘License To Discriminate’ For Adoption Agencies - Lovely. Here we go again.

 Daily Caller Mocks Transgender Students "Running For Homecoming King, Queen, Whatever" - More proof that Daily Caller publisher and former journalist Tucker Carlson has continued to sink in credibility.

 ‘Ex-Gay’ Courage Award To Be Awarded To Former ‘Satanic Drag Queen’ - Oh lawd!