Know Your LGBT History - Culture Club

Back in the 80s, I loved me some Culture Club, an English band fronted by George Alan O'Dowd, or rather Boy George, whose androgynous appearance and incredible voice set many tongues wagging but also created a multitude of teen imitators.

If you want to read the history of Culture Club, go to Wikipedia. I prefer to post several of their videos and enjoy my memories:

  
 

And let's not forget when Culture Club won the 1993 Grammy for Best New Artist:



Past Know Your LGBT History Posts:

'Family Research Council's credibility problem needs more attention' and other Friday midday news briefs

16 reasons why the Family Research Council is a hate group - Past reference material to go with this morning's post about the Family Research Council's latest deception. It all goes to question FRC's credibility. A Christian organization has absolutely no business using such tactics and lies. 

Credible science vs. Peter 'I'd prefer to export homosexuals from the United States' Sprigg - And speaking of FRC distortions, their spokesman Peter Sprigg is a former actor and present-day pastor. He has no business having as much credibility on any issue as the American Medical Association.  

FRC's Sprigg Desperately Tries To Justify Discriminating Against Gay Blood Donors - More on Sprigg's lack of expertise from Equality Matters.

 Gay Weddings Now Make Up 17 Percent Of Marriages In Washington State - Not bad at all for the first year of its legality.  

Transgender cop in Conn. files complaint - And I hope she wins.  

Truth Wins Out Praises Congresswoman Jackie Speier For Reintroducing Resolution Protecting Minors From ‘Reparative’ Therapy - This would be so awesome if we get it through Congress.

Anti-gay group distorts researcher's work a decade after he demanded a retraction

Simple question. If the Family Research Council's opposition to lgbt equality is rooted in Biblical foundation rather than animus, why does the organization distort scientific data to attack the lgbt community.

On the FRC webpage is an original "study" entitled Homosexuality and Child Sexual Abuse. This piece of "work" was published by former FRC employee Timothy Dailey.

It puts forth the theory that:

Pedophiles are invariably males: Almost all sex crimes against children are committed by men.

Significant numbers of victims are males: Up to one-third of all sex crimes against children are committed against boys (as opposed to girls).

The 10 percent fallacy: Studies indicate that, contrary to the inaccurate but widely accepted claims of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, homosexuals comprise between 1 to 3 percent of the population.

Homosexuals are overrepresented in child sex offenses: Individuals from the 1 to 3 percent of the population that is sexually attracted to the same sex are committing up to one-third of the sex crimes against children.

Some homosexual activists defend the historic connection between homosexuality and pedophilia: Such activists consider the defense of "boy-lovers" to be a legitimate gay rights issue.


Pedophile themes abound in homosexual literary culture: Gay fiction as well as serious academic treatises promote "intergenerational intimacy."

These points are junk.  More credible sources, i.e. the American Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the American Academy of Child Psychiatrists and the Child Welfare League of America, all say that gay men are not more likely to molest children than heterosexual men.

I'm glad that Nelson Mandela was here

Nelson Mandela

Today the world mourns one of our greatest heroes.

Nelson Mandela died today at the age of 95. Mandela's fight against the awful system of apartheid in South Africa led to his 27-year imprisonment after which in 1994, he became the first black president of the country, helping to dismantle apartheid and inequality.

Mandela never gave in to the demons of revenge or resentment, choosing to use his time as president as well as his status to be a statesman for peace and equality for all, including lgbts.

The Human Rights Campaign issued the following statement:

Nelson Mandela tore down oppression, united a rainbow nation, and always walked arm-in-arm with his LGBT brothers and sisters—and with all people—toward freedom. Though every man, woman and child who seeks justice around the world mourns this loss, his vision of an equal future lives on undimmed. Mandela, who was South Africa’s first post-Apartheid president, was an outspoken advocate for LGBT equality. He appointed an openly-gay judge to South Africa's High Court of Appeal and during his presidency, South Africa became the first nation in the world to constitutionally prohibit sexual orientation-based discrimination. Mandela will be remembered for his social justice activism and commitment to equality for all people. 

While there is sadness over Mandela's passing, I'm not really mourning. I never met him but I am so glad that he wasn't taken from the world before he could fully impact it like other leaders such as John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mandela lived a long life and leaves a great legacy. And now he is at peace, taking his well-deserved rest. So while there is a void in our hearts, let there also be a bit of contentment and gladness. Let's not waste so much time mourning the fact that Mandela is gone that we forget how thankful we should be that he was here in the first place.

Magic and Cookie Johnson's unconditional acceptance of their gay son is wonderful

The following snippet is from an interview that former basketball superstar Magic Johnson and his wife, Coookie, had with Oprah Winfrey. I was very happy to see this because we don't hear conversations about African-American lgbts and our families. Instead we hear the lazy narrative about how the African-American community is supposedly more homophobic than other communities.

That's really not the truth. What Magic Johnson said about accepting his son is not an anomaly in the black community. In fact, it mirrors how I came out to my father and I'm sure it mirrors experiences of other African-American lgbts.

While it is true that some African-American families do not accept their lgbt children, let's not forget that many others do with no conditions at all.

That's something which should always be kept in mind

The saddest anti-gay letter you will ever read

Police detective Kat Cooper was in the news earlier this year because of an ugly incident which took place regarding her family. Her family was asked to leave their Tennessee church because she helped to pass legislation which would give benefits to same-sex couples in her town.

Now comes something a bit more alarming and almost amusing if it weren't so disturbing. She received the following very nasty letter which she posted on her facebook page:

 

Oh Lawd, did the writer say he/she is in college? 

 UPDATE - A commentator just informed me that the writer isn't saying that he/she is in college. Collegedale is actually the name of a city in Tennessee, which to me is even more embarrassing. For the city that is.

Hat tip to the Huffington Post.

''Stand your ground' group pushed vile anti-gay propaganda' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Newly Uncovered Documents Expose ALEC's Anti-Gay Past - Decades before pushing those awful "Stand Your Ground" laws and restrictions to voting rights, ALEC was pushing extremely homophobic nonsense like such:

ALEC classified all gay people into six categories: “the blatant, the secret lifer, the desperate, the adjusted, the bisexual and the situational.” The “blatant” gay person was "obvious and ‘limp-wristed’” . . . . Yet no matter what category a gay person fell into, ALEC argued, the most dominant practice within “the homosexual world is pedophilia, the fetish for young children.” This tendency, the group claimed, was the product of the fact that “the homosexual cannot reproduce themselves biologically, so they must recruit the young.”

Ah yes. No homophobic propaganda is complete without an inference to the following image, the constant lying monkey on the back of lgbt equality:

Editor's note - This image is not from the report on ALEC but originally from a book entitled Deathstyle

In other news: 

 How Junk Science and Anti-Lesbian Prejudice Got Four Women Sent to Prison for More than a Decade - And this is one of the end results of people believing the above crap.

 Meet Alliance Defending Freedom, Fox's Favorite Anti-LGBT Legal Organization - A major news network (even if it is Fox) giving an anti-gay group an unrestricted and unchallenged forum is going to spell worse problems for our community. Trust me on this one. 

 Rep. Karen Clark plans to introduce bill banning ex-gay therapy - And this is Minnesota. What would Marcus Bachmann think?  

Dick Cheney Was 'Surprised' By 'Attack' On Liz Cheney Over Anti-Gay Marriage Stance - This is giving me flashbacks to childhood when sibling friends of mine would fight so viciously that their parents had to break it up. What did I say back then? "OOOOOOOO! Somebody's gonna get it!!"

Dear One Million Moms, not all black drag queens are RuPaul

One Million Moms think that all black drag queens are RuPaul.

Religious right groups seemed to determined to milk this phony "Kinky Boots performance at Macy's Thanksgiving parade" controversy to its fullest.

If you ask me, they should quit while they're ahead. The latest so-called morality group to register "anger and shock" is that bastion of failed protests, the American Family Association's One Million Moms.

There is no need to rehash the group's entire faked outraged email but I wanted to point out two very interesting parts:

"Raise You Up" was not suitable for families for many reasons. The inappropriate act starred Kinky Boots, referencing a musical written to celebrate the differences in each other and included: (all) the men and women in thigh-high boots [mostly red pleather while others were sparkly "hooker" boots], a man in boxer shorts and men in burlesque and Moulin rouge costumes prancing around expressing themselves, RuPaul (famous drag queen) along with several men dressed in drag, transgender and transvestites, singing and dancing as an expression of "diversity" and honoring whatever sexuality you want.

Okay, first of all, the "drag queen" in question was not RuPaul, but Tony-award-winning Broadway actor Billy Porter. Now I've heard the offensive adage that to some folks, us black folks all look alike, but never would I have ever thought it meant black drag queens, too.

But that's not all. One Million Moms made it a point to print some of the supposed "sexualized" lyrics from the song the Kinky Boots crew sang:

The performance was sexually charged and quite offensive. Here are some, but not all of the lyrics to the song they chose to sing, to give you a better idea:

Celebrate you to elevate you! Ladies, Gentlemen, and those who have yet to make up their minds. Instill the truth… learn something new. Accept yourself and you'll accept others too. Let love shine… let pride be your guide. Change the world when you change your mind. Just be who you wanna be. You're beautiful; it's beautiful! 

Now I feel comfortable in confessing to you all, my dear readers, that it has been a long time since I've had "relations" (a long, long time, which if we to believe religious right propaganda puts me way under the quota for sexual intercourse for gay men), but I'm sure that things haven't changed so much that the above lyrics about accepting yourself can be taken to mean a hot and steamy roll in the hay.

This controversy was a false flag of moral outrage from the start and we should thank One Million Moms for finally proving it.

Hat tip to Right Wing Watch.

'30 moments from Hawaii's first day of marriage equality' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

30 Moments From Hawaii’s First Day Of Marriage Equality That Prove It Really Is The Aloha State - A little antidote to the anti-gay crazy. Buzzfeed shows us 30 moments from Hawaii's first day of marriage equality. It's all about love, y'all. 

Virginia Tax Policy To Punish Same-Sex Couples And Businesses That Recognize Their Marriages - I'm beginning to think that Virginia isn't exactly approving of marriage equality (snark). 

 PFOX Tricks Parents by Getting Listed In Phone Book as ‘Help Line’ - An 'ex-gay' group with as a "helpline?" Mercy.  

WND: What If Mary Cheney Were A Pedophile? - Eeeeeew! I hope Dick Cheney is paying attention. If there is anytime I wish the Republican Palpatine would strike somebody, it's now.  

Sasha Fleischman, Agender California Teen, Speaks Out After Having Skirt Set On Fire On Bus - You have to read this story!

'Marriage equality exorcism' a bizarre comedy of verbal contradictions

Paprocki

On the same day last month in which Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed that state's marriage equality bill into law,  Illinois Bishop Thomas Paprocki held what was called an exorcism of the law at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

To tell the truth, I really didn't pay attention to this event because I found it silly. However, I read a snippet from what a site, Catholic Vote, highlighted what it called "12 Must-Read Quotes" from his homily.

If Catholic Vote meant to highlight these quotes in order to praise Paprocki, the site failed miserably. Let's look at some of the "must-read" quotes along with a few comments of my own:

The fact is that a “minor exorcism” takes place in every Baptism and Confirmation ceremony when we renounce Satan and all his works and empty promises. This prayer service will be along those lines. I’m not saying that anyone involved in the redefinition of marriage is possessed by the devil, which, if that were the case, would require the remedy of a “Major Exorcism,” but all of us are certainly subject to the devil’s evil influences and in need of protection and deliverance from evil.

Whew!

Our prayer service today and my words are not meant to demonize anyone, but are intended to call attention to the diabolical influences of the devil that have penetrated our culture, both in the state and in the Church. These demonic influences are not readily apparent to the undiscerning eye, which is why they are so deceptive.

Okay, now I'm confused.

The deception of the Devil in same-sex marriage may be understood by recalling the words of Pope Francis when he faced a similar situation as Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 2010. Regarding the proposed redefinition of civil marriage in Argentina, then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio wrote on June 22, 2010, “The Argentine people must face, in the next few weeks, a situation whose result may gravely harm the family. It is the bill on matrimony of persons of the same sex. The identity of the family, and its survival, are in jeopardy here: father, mother, and children. The life of so many children who will be discriminated beforehand due to the lack of human maturity that God willed them to have with a father and a mother is in jeopardy. A clear rejection of the law of God, engraved in our hearts, is in jeopardy. . . . Let us not be naive: it is not a simple political struggle; it is an intention [which is] destructive of the plan of God. It is not a mere legislative project (this is a mere instrument), but rather a ‘move’ of the father of lies who wishes to confuse and deceive the children of God.”   The Pope’s reference to the “father of lies” comes from the Gospel of John (8:44), where Jesus refers to the devil as “a liar and the father of lies.” So Pope Francis is saying that same-sex “marriage” comes from the devil and should be condemned as such.

Okay, so it is a major exorcism . . .

The work of discouragement by the Devil in same-sex marriage is apparent in the message being conveyed to defenders of traditional marriage that the universal redefinition of marriage is unstoppable, so we might as well just stop trying. But the legalization of abortion on demand forty years ago did not silence those who believe that abortion is contrary to God’s law. On the contrary, Roe v. Wade only heightened the need for more concerted efforts to protect all human life from conception to natural death. So, too, the legal redefinition of civil marriage does not put an end to the need for discourse and action to defend natural marriage in accord with God’s plan, but only serves to heighten the need for greater efforts in this regard.

Are you surprised? Of course he was going to tie abortion in this sucker somehow.

Politicians responsible for enacting civil same-sex marriage legislation are morally complicit as co-operators in facilitating this grave sin.

That's right. Paprocki is even exorcising civil marriage which has nothing to do with the church because . . . well what the hell. 

We must also affirm the teaching of the Catholic Church that homosexual persons “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.

I checked Paprocki's homily in its uncut version and confirmed that yes, after talking about the Devil and implying that marriage equality is Satanically influenced, he included this lovely CYA statement of how lgbts must be "treated with respect, compassion, and sensitivity." Paprocki probably felt that talking nice about lgbts before throwing out all of that stuff about Satan would have seemed hypocritical instead of what it looks like now, which is . . . hypocritical. Okay wait a minute . . .

Paprocki's attempt to play both sides of the fence leaves me conflicted about his "exorcism. And more importantly, it makes me wonder will laughing at it cause me to look like Linda Blair in The Exorcist and spit pea soup? Because not only do I despise pea soup, but green is not my color.

Anti-gay talking head gets downright hysterical over 'Kinky Boots'

Austin Ruse

As we all know, a certain performance during Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade of the Tony-award-winning musical 'Kinky Boots' sent some conservatives and religious right talking heads into orbit.

But hands down, the most hysterical response regarding this non-controversy had to come from Austin Ruse, president of The Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-FAM). According to Right Wing Watch, as he guest-hosted on the American Family Association's radio show today, Ruse went on and on about how children will be hurt by this performance. On second thought, that's putting it mildly:


There is pathologically homophobic and then there is hysterical and when I say that Ruse crossed both lines, I am not exaggerating. Ruse, who obviously has not even seen the show, made the performance segment sound less like what it was and more like an alien invasion out of the Twilight Zone. 

It really wasn't that bad. In fact all of the controversy actually worked out in favor of 'Kinky Boots.' According to the Huffington Post, it "smashed ticket sale records."

And I wouldn't be shocked if Ruse comes around looking for a cut of the proceeds.

'The Passion of Dan Choi' and other Monday midday news briefs

The Passion of Dan Choi - As easily the most recognizable face in the fight to overturn DADT, Dan Choi became an lgbt icon. This is the price he paid for his activism and fame. 

Olympic diver Tom Daley is 'dating a guy,' 'couldn't be happier' - Olympic diver Tom Daley is dating a man. Okay, who is Tom Daley. Just kidding.

 How The Pacific Justice Institute Plans To Continue Demonizing Transgender Children - No one can tell me that this is Christian behavior.  

On This World AIDS Day, I Celebrate Black Gay Men - Awesome post which should receive more exposure.

 The 2013 POZ 100: Celebrating Unsung Heroes Fighting To End HIV/AIDS - Easily some of the most awesome people I've read about.

LGBT community should call out anti-gay propaganda instigators instead of their pawns

I received a response to a comment I made in July on a Charisma Magazine online article entitled Why Gays Hate Christians by a writer named David Aikman. The following is the original comment:

Gays do not hate Christians but we are alarmed by the false information put out about us by some folks who call themselves Christians. Mr. Aikman's piece is a perfect example of this.

For example, this sentence - "Life expectancy can be up to 20 years shorter than for the heterosexual population, almost entirely as a result of sexually transmitted diseases." This is a false statement based upon two studies. One is by a discredited researcher by the name of Paul Cameron. The other is from a 1997 Oxford study. In 2001, the authors of the study publicly complained that their work was being distorted to push the false notion that gays live 20 years less than the heterosexual community.

Another distortion is the following - "Depression, attempted suicide and drug abuse are significantly higher among gays and lesbians." Mr. Aikman practices the sin of omission there. The Centers for Disease Control has said when gays suffer from these defects, it is because of a homophobic society and the lack of a support system to deal with the homophobic society.The other claim Mr. Aikman makes about the Netherlands comes from a cherry-picked study by Dr. Theo Sandfort.

The problem is that a lot of well-meaning Christians are being bamboozled by people putting out junk science and cherry-picked research about the gay community. That's the problem here.

Imagine how surprised I was when I received a reply on Saturday (November 30) from someone calling himself  "Sam Spade"

According to the center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), HIV/AIDS rate was at 63% among MSM (men who have sex with men) in the USA in 2010. Another one-third are also infected, but won't know it until they become chronically ill. This is an 81% infection rate. I wonder what it will be in another ten years or so? As unprotected sex is common among MSM, how many other people are being unknowingly infected? MSM are 44 times more likely to acquire the virus than heterosexuals, with the highest risk group being young men between the ages of 13 to 19. Think about that. Who is infecting 13 year old boys with HIV/AIDS? The CDC has further stated that most college-age males will be dead before they reach 50. Other diseases and infections seem to affect MSM more than any other group. Anal cancer is spreading among MSM by 3% per year, and MSM in Vancouver, Canada, are responsible for 95% of all syphilis cases. This is quite simply horrifying, given their tiny numbers. Indeed, most MSM are lucky to reach 65. Even in countries where GBLT rights are fully protected, they still suffer from a higher percentage of mental health issues, addiction problems and shortened lifespans than do heterosexuals. How many gays and lesbians over 80 do you know? The Bible has made it explicitly clear: To engage in unnatural sexual relations has serious, even deadly consequences (Romans 1:27). But quoting from scripture is almost a hate crime these days, isn't it?

Apparently, Mr. Spade didn't read my original response as he should have. But there was something I found interesting in his response and told him so:

It's a matter of seeing what you want, Sam. According to the same Centers for Disease Control, the lgbt orientation is not the root cause of these things. The CDC has said that the root cause of these things, particularly in lgbt youth, is a homophobic society and lack of decent support systems. Lgbt youth who are bombarded with negative images without any positive reinforcement are more likely to engage in bad behaviors. I really think you should come clean. You did not receive your information from the Centers for Disease Control, but rather a supposedly religious webpage or organization which cherry-picks CDC information. I recognized the phrase "Even in countries where GBLT rights are fully protected, they still suffer from a higher percentage of mental health issues, addiction problems and shortened lifespans than do heterosexuals."

That phraseology exists in many anti-gay studies but strangely NO objective studies regarding lgbt health. In addition, there are NO studies which claim that gays have a shorter lifespan than heterosexuals. The CDC has acknowledged this and don't EVEN try to pull out that 1997 Canadian study because the authors have steadily complained about how it has been distorted by the religious right. - http://www.politifact.com/virg...

While the Bible is not as clear as you think about homosexuality, it is VERY clear about false information and bearing false witness. Perhaps you need to consult objective sources before putting stuff out here.

The problem was that "Sam Spade" (and Mr. Aikman for that matter) seemed to have derived their data, not from objective sites, but religious right sites which freely cherry-pick information, making sure to highlight negative lgbt information and eliminate the information which refutes the negativity they are trying to illuminate.

 It has always been my belief that the lgbt community's roadblock when it comes to reaching equality is not necessarily religious folks who believe that homosexuality is a sin, but rather the organizations (i.e. the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, the National Organization for Marriage, etc) who exploit the beliefs of these individuals by giving them inaccurate, negative information about lgbts. This information is designed to cater to their ego and exploit their beliefs about homosexuality.

Refuting Aikman and "Sam Spade," while gratifying, doesn't get us to the root cause. When we begin to take the initiative to call out the instigators of propaganda rather than their pawns, that's when we will begin to see more progress. 

'British Supreme Court tanks 'religious liberty' argument in ruling' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

British Supreme Court Rules Against Discriminating Bed & Breakfast Owners - Boom! The phony "religious liberty" argument fails in Great Britain. 

INDIANA: Mary Cheney To Host Fundraiser To Fight Proposed Gay Marriage Ban - Oh snap! Dick Cheney's little girl is catching an attitude. Personally I totally approve. Now I know there are some lgbts who will be "where the hell was she when . . ." but I disagree. There is a time to talk about that sort of thing but now isn't the time. In a war, you don't read potential allies the riot act . . . at least not yet.  

Texas National Guard to allow same-sex couples to register for benefits - Score one for the good guys. 

Oregon Family Council Compares Gays to Neo-Nazis - Oh come on! No gay man alive would be caught dead in those tacky uniforms.

Family Research Council continues to post inaccurately bad studies on lgbt community

Last week, I wrote about how the Family Research Council was posting an outdated and flawed study, Comparing the Lifestyles of Homosexual Couples to Married Couples to denigrate same-sex couples.

This week, I am now reporting that the organization has done even worse by posting yet another flawed study. However, this study denigrates the lgbt community as a whole

The study, The Negative Effects of Homosexuality,  was actually removed from FRC's webpage in 2008. An employee of the organization, Kathy Athearn, told me that the study was one of a few removed because it contained outdated sources.

But it has now returned to FRC's webpage and it has not been updated.

The study is supposed to show the so-called “dangers of homosexuality" and all of the religious right talking points about lgbts are touched on including:


Gays have a short life span,
Gays and lesbians don’t know how to be monogamous,
Gays and lesbians have high rate of domestic violence.

But strangely enough, this study includes the same inaccurate information as the study I talked about last week:

- A citation of the book Homosexualities: A Study of Diversity Among Men and Women by Alan Bell and Martin Weinberg as a correct generalization of lgbt sexual habits despite the fact that it was published in 1978 and was not meant by the authors to be a correct assessment of the lgbt community in general.  A passage from Homosexualities clearly says:

“. . . given the variety of circumstances which discourage homosexuals from participating in research studies, it is unlikely that any investigator will ever be in a position to say that this or that is true of a given percentage of all homosexuals.”

- A citation of the book The Male Couple: How Relationships Develop by David P. McWhirter and Andrew M. Mattison despite the fact that the book was written 1984 and was not meant to be a correct assessment of the lgbt community in general.  A passage from The Male Couple says:

“We always have been very careful to explain that the very nature of our research sample, its size (156 couples), its narrow geographic location, and the natural selectiveness of the participants prevents the findings from being applicable and generalizable to the entire gay
male community.” 

But there is more:

Gay Bowel Syndrome (GBS): The Journal of the American Medical Association refers to GBS problems such as proctitis, proctocolitis, and enteritis as "sexually transmitted gastrointestinal syndromes." Many of the bacterial and protozoa pathogens that cause gbs are found in feces and transmitted to the digestive system: According to the pro-homosexual text Anal Pleasure and Health, "[s]exual activities provide many opportunities for tiny amounts of contaminated feces to find their way into the mouth of a sexual partner . . . The most direct route is oral-anal contact."

"Gay bowel syndrome" is a term no longer used because it is considered outdated and many physicians  no longer use it.

Then there is this citation:

Reduced Life Span. A study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology on the mortality rates of homosexuals concluded that they have a significantly reduced life expectancy:

In a major Canadian centre, life expectancy at age twenty for gay and bisexual men is eight to twenty years less than for all men. If the same pattern of mortality were to continue, we estimate that nearly half of gay and bisexual men currently aged twenty years will not reach their sixty-fifth birthday. Under even the most liberal assumptions, gay and bisexual men in this urban centre are now experiencing a life expectancy similar to that experienced by all men in Canada in the year 1871.

In 2001, the researchers of this study complained that religious right groups were distorting their work. As a matter of fact, as recent at last year, one of the researcher, Julio Montaner, was still complaining about how the study was being distorted:

"To use my report to support the notion that gay and bisexual sex is somehow the reason why people die early is misusing the data," Montaner said.

Montaner noted that his group’s original report was conducted at a time when the HIV epidemic was poorly controlled and treatments were ineffective. Since then, there have have been great strides in treating the disease and preventing its spread, Montaner said. In British Columbia, annual diagnoses of new infections have dropped from 900 in the mid-1990s to 300 in recent years, he said. Deaths from HIV also have fallen sharply, he said.

Let me take a guess. It's all about "religious liberty," isn't it, FRC?

THIS is what the American anti-gay right did to Uganda

The trailer of this documentary 'God Loves Uganda' is easily the most heartbreaking thing I have seen in a long time. This is what the American anti-gay right did to this country and it's awful.

Go here to Political Research Associates to read an interview with the creator of this documentary, Academy Award winner Roger Ross Williams.

'Anti-gay right rally to defend supporter of Russia's homophobic laws' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Religious Right Piles On To Defend Proponent Of Russia Anti-Gay Laws - To the American religious right, a secular bakery owned by "Christian" making a cake for a gay couple = persecution but a country which forbids your freedom to assemble or to express yourself, and whose police will do nothing while homophobes beat the hell out of you in their presence = "preservation of morality and Christian values." Things have certainly changed since Jesus was crucified. 

Correction: Greeks are not giving themselves HIV to get government benefits - That's one urban legend shot to pieces, thank goodness. But why oh why couldn't they handle the lies about black men on the "down low" as swiftly? 

 Arkansas Supreme Court Overturns Ruling Preventing Gay Man’s Partner From Sleeping Over When Son Is Present - Good news part 1!

 Judge Orders Expedited Marriage For Gay Couple - Good news Part 2 but for a bittersweet reason.

Truth Wins Out catches the 'attention' of anti-gay news source

It looks like one of my mentors, Wayne Besen, and his group Truth Wins Out has hit the "big time."

The organization has the American Family Association's One News Now spinning horror stories about it:

A radical homosexual group, "Truth Wins Out," is calling for the termination of Dr. Mike Rosebush, who has been named as the chief of Character and Leadership Coaching at the Colorado Springs school. Air Force cadets at AF Academy.

Rosebush is a former homosexual who has successfully come out of the lifestyle and has been an advocate for reparative therapy. Peter LaBarbera, founder and president of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, calls "Truth Wins Out" a "vicious homosexual activist group."

 "Ex-gays are now one of the most politically incorrect groups in American, one of the most persecuted groups," says LaBarbera, noting that reparative therapy counseling is being banned in two states, California and New Jersey.

Homosexuals want so badly to convince the public that their lifestyle is acceptable, they want to do damage to those who have left because it proves their spin is simply not true, LaBarbera claims. He adds: "For the homosexual movement that demands respect, it's pretty odd that they are leading the hateful charge against ex-gays and ex-lesbians, people who are mostly Christian, who left the homosexual lifestyle through the grace of God. But, boy, do they catch the hatred and the intolerance from the liberal left and the homosexual lobby."

Despite the claims of groups like "Truth Wins Out," many people have come out of the sinful homosexual lifestyle and now live normal healthy lives. 

Isn't always so "odd" how religious right groups and activists seem to brand every gay group as "radical." And of course One News Now didn't even seek out any comments from Besen or Truth Wins Out.  If One News Now had acted like an actual news organization, it would have been informed of the following, which is included in Truth Wins Out's press release on the matter:

Rosebush served as a vice president for Focus On The Family, as a professional member of NARTH, and was the director of the Professional Counselors’ Network for Exodus International. He also co-authored a handbook on “unwanted homosexual attractions” with NARTH’s Joseph Nicolosi and George Rekers, the longtime “ex-gay” activist who was infamously caught taking rent-boys on European vacations. Rosebush has devoted his life to disproven, harmful junk science, and with such credentials, has no place serving in a counseling role in the United States Military.

 . . .  Rosebush’s former employer, Exodus International, closed its doors this year, acknowledging that “reparative therapy” and other efforts to change a person’s sexual orientation do not work and often do damage. Every major professional medical and mental health organization concurs with this assessment. However, NARTH and Focus On The Family have not taken steps to acknowledge this truth, and there is no evidence that Dr. Rosebush has decided to embrace real science and ethical counseling methods. As such, cadets at the Air Force Academy are in danger of being counseled in ways that violate all the accepted tenets of the counseling profession. Though the Air Force Academy claims that Rosebush does not directly counsel cadets, the organizational nature of his job — which seems very similar to his role with Exodus International — puts them at risk just the same.

The fact of the matter is that with  gays and lesbians being allowed to serve openly in the military coupled with the fact that "ex-gay" therapy has no basis in truth or accuracy, Truth Wins Out's concern in this matter is genuine and sincere. In other words, this is not a case of a so-called radical gay group targeting an man because he is supposedly ex-gay. This is a case of a group bringing attention to the fact that a man with a long history of embracing anti-gay junk science now being put in a position where he could potentially place the well-being of some of our service members in jeopardy.

Homophobic, racist haters will hate (because that's all they can do)

I was looking for a video of President Obama awarding Bayard Rustin's partner, Walter Naegle, with Rustin's Medal of Freedom.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find video footage of it. However, check out what I did find. Some bozo who doesn't even deserve to be identified attacking Rustin and the Civil Rights Movement.

So why am I posting it? Simple. Bayard Rustin got his due last week and he will be remembered as one of the greatest men this country has ever known.

This fool on the video won't be remembered even if his name was on the Hollywood sign.

So I take GREAT satisfaction in watching this video. Haters will hate because that's all they can do:

'After repeal of DADT, rough patches still confront gay troops' and other Monday midday news briefs

After Repeal Of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Pockets Of Difficulty For Equality - After the repeal of DADT, we still have rough patches to smooth out.  

Calif. trans law ‘unlikely’ to qualify for referendum - Keep your fingers crossed but it's looking for our transgender children.  

School Board Member: Trans Students Should Be Castrated Before They Can Use Restrooms - Vile, disgusting woman to say this.

Wisconsin Governor Defends Ban On Same-Sex Marriage As ‘Healthy Balance’ Of LGBT Rights - Is Scott Walker for real? Unfortunately yes.  

Alex Newell, Actor Who Plays Transgender Character On 'Glee,' Responds To Bill O'Reilly - Handle yo' business, my friend!