Anti-gay group finds new person to attack same-sex families

Earlier this year, the National Organization for Marriage got into trouble for secret documents outlining a strategy of playing the black and gay community like pawns over the subject of marriage equality.

NOM deserved all of the trouble it got for this. However, in those same confidential documents is another strategy which seems to be now coming to fruition.  

Equality Matters points this out:

NOM Intentionally Seeks Out Children Of Same-Sex Parents.  . . .  According to the organization’s internal documents, NOM planned to spend $60,000 in 2010 alone to try to get the children of same-sex couples to speak on camera: 

I think it's safe to say that NOM has its spokesperson.

Robert Oscar Lopez, a self-described bisexual English professor, has just published a piece in the Witherspoon Institute publication Public Discourse called Growing Up With Two Moms: The Untold Children’s View in which he detailed growing up in a same-sex household.

He does not go into detail about his childhood, but the gist is it is tough growing up in a same-sex household. For his candor on this aspect, I don't fault him. Growing up in marginalized household, be it a same-sex household or a single-parent household is tough.

But what I do fault Lopez for is how he puts down his own family

By citing his childhood, Lopez attempts to give credibility to a recent study on same-sex households which has been criticized for its lack of good science.

This study, by Mark Regnerus of the University of Texas, was in part paid for by the Witherspoon Institute, the same organization in whose publication Lopez's piece appears in.

How very convenient.

Lopez says the following about the study:

Mark Regnerus deserves tremendous credit—and the gay community ought to be crediting him rather than trying to silence him.

Regnerus’s study identified 248 adult children of parents who had same-sex romantic relationships. Offered a chance to provide frank responses with the hindsight of adulthood, they gave reports unfavorable to the gay marriage equality agenda. Yet the results are backed up by an important thing in life called common sense: Growing up different from other people is difficult and the difficulties raise the risk that children will develop maladjustments or self-medicate with alcohol and other dangerous behaviors. Each of those 248 is a human story, no doubt with many complexities.

Lopez's words are probably irrelevant.  He is really a symbol.
Or, for lack of a better word, a pawn.

The fact that he is a product of a same-sex household whose words can be used to discredit those households is the important factor here.

And don't think NOM is wasting this opportunity.

Already NOM's former president, Maggie Gallagher, is citing Lopez in a column:

In mediaworld, gay marriage activists are all ordinary loving couples who seek nothing more than to be left alone to snuggle as they choose, and opposing gay marriage is "controversial" for a business executive.

. . . Professor Robert Oscar Lopez, a self-identified Latino bisexual professor of English raised by two lesbian moms, wrote an essay praising professor Mark Regnerus' study on the subject.

Children with a gay parent, Lopez says, are typically kids like him, the product of a previous heterosexual relationship. By declaring the children of "bisexuals" off limits, critics of Regnerus are seeking to shut out the voices of the majority of children with a gay parent, Lopez says, the voices of people like him

He went on to say that Regnerus "deserves tremendous credit -- and the gay community ought to be crediting him rather than trying to silence him."

 It is not known whether or not Lopez is receiving compensation for his "story."  As it is, I really don't care.

The only question I have now is how long will it take before Lopez will be appearing on Fox News.
 

Call out a phony anti-gay study and you are a Nazi

Mark Regnerus' bad study continues to cause chaos.

And yet another person has risen to defend Mark Regnerus' fraudulent study on gay parenting.

Karl D. Stephan, a professor of electrical engineering (you read that right) has published a piece in the Crisis magazine lambasting the critics of Regenrus' study and claiming that Regnerus is being personally attacked because he supposedly dared to publish a politically incorrect study.

And to do so, he even invokes images of Nazi Germany and its persecution of Jewish people:

In the 1930s, many prominent scientists and engineers in Germany lost their reputations, their jobs, and some eventually their lives because of a non-scientific reason: they happened to be Jews, or outspoken Christians, or simply opposed to some political aim of the government. Everyone now agrees that this was a grievous violation of human rights, an early warning sign of the greater wrongs the German government would do in World War II. While that situation differs from the one Regnerus finds himself in by degree, does it differ in kind from what Jewish scientists suffered in Germany in the 1930s?

Regnerus has reached scientific conclusions that oppose the prevailing political winds. Though his punishment has come from activists rather than official government sources, it is no less politically motivated and no less unjust. Smith thinks the integrity of the social-science research process is threatened by the “public smearing and vigilante media attacks” mounted against Regnerus. If such attacks are successful, we have taken a long step away from scientific integrity and a long step toward the encouragement of a political atmosphere that is totalitarian in its effects.

It probably would have been better had Stefan had just addressed the reasons why folks are questioning Regnerus' work. He briefly talks about it in this mind-boggling paragraph in which he pretty much says he isn't going to address the study's errors:

Regnerus’s study, which he himself admits is not perfect, found otherwise. There were significant negative consequences of being raised by parents who were gay, according to the study. I am not going to address the controversial question of defining “gay” or how extensive the negative consequences were or how accurate and scientific the study was.

Stefan then attempts to make it seem that he is merely criticizing the process in which the peer-review of the study was attacked:

A journalist and self-described “minorities anti-defamation professional” whose pseudonym is Scott Rose wrote a letter to the University of Texas administration alleging that Regnerus’s paper falsified data. This is the most serious professional charge that anyone can level against a scientist, comparable to a malpractice charge against a doctor.

The first wrongdoing (as I pointed out in a letter published in the Austin American-Statesman) was for UT Austin to act on such complaints from a person who was not in a competent professional position to make such assessments. Scott Rose is not a sociologist. Rose has since published the full “evidence” he plans to present to UT Austin, and it consists of two kinds of arguments. One kind comprises disputes over methods and definitions that Regnerus used. If Rose had been selected as a reviewer of Regnerus’s paper, these arguments might have played a role at that point. But Rose, not being a qualified sociologist, has no professional standing to make them, and they must be assessed on their merits by other professional sociologists.

Scott Rose is a free-lance writer who has been calling out Regnerus' study from day one. He is probably the one most singularly responsible for a lot of the negative attention it has been receiving.

However, in calling his name, Stefan makes an error. He makes it seem that Rose is the only person responsible for Regnerus' study being criticized. This is not true.

In June, over 200 professors and therapists sent a letter to James Wright, editor of “Social Science Research,” the journal where Regnerus’s study was published, questioning the study and the process in which it was reviewed.

And it's not as if Stefan isn't aware of the letter. He even acknowledges it in an offhand way:

I have not even mentioned the press coverage with derogatory headlines, the letter signed by over a hundred sociologists objecting to Regnerus’s conclusions, and the politically motivated letter-mobbing of the journal’s editor, James Wright, which pressured him to request the review audit.

Furthermore, Stefan omits the other experts (pointed out by Equality Matters) who has condemned Regnerus' study.

 The grand irony of Stefan's sad defense of Regnerus' work is that he cites another defense of the study from sociologist Christian Smith. In his piece, Smith didn't even address the study's errors. Instead, just like Stefan, he attempted to make Regnerus a victim.

But at least he didn't have the poor taste to imply that Regnerus' critics were just like Nazis persecuting Jews.

What's that saying about if you have to invoke Nazis to describe your opponents, that's a sure sign that you have lost the argument?

'What gays have to deal with on a daily basis' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

The news briefs today are dedicated to the crap that gays are subjected to on a daily basis and it is directed at people who can't seem to understand why we at times get angrier than most folks:

 Bryan Fischer: Children Of Same-Sex Couples Must Be Saved Through ‘Underground Railroad’ Kidnapping - Real classy as usual, Bryan Fischer. People who don't understand gay anger can't seem to realize that we hear crap like this on a daily basis.  

Just an FYI to Minnesota For Marriage (subject: stock photo bride) - Speaking of which, check out what this woman says. It comes straight out of a religious right text. 

 Staver & Barber Say Democratic Platform Supporting Marriage Equality will Lead to Christian Persecution - Lies and more lies.

NCLR Responds to Indianapolis Public Schools Termination of Expulsion of Bullied Gay Student - This gay student was expelled for defending himself against bullies and then done dirty by the school district. 

NOM Is Still Protesting General Mills, Now For Supporting Healthy Living - Of course if gays were healthy, then the religious right would have nothing to kick about. 

Call out CAAP for its attempt to divide the black and gay communities

Bill Owens - NOM's tool

As I have pointed out in numerous posts, there is a plot to sabotage President Obama's support in the black community.

The Coalition of African-American Pastors (CAAP) is demanding that members of the black community withhold their votes from President Obama until he no longer supports marriage equality.

However, CAAP is merely a shell group which seems to be backed by the National Organization for Marriage, an anti-gay group who is endorsing Obama's opponent, Mitt Romney.

Tuan N'Gai is concerned about this situation and he has created a petition calling about CAAP for its actions:

Stop the Coalition of African American Pastors (CAAP) from dividing the Black Community and splitting the Black vote. Now is the time for justice and unity.

Instead of uniting the Black Community to fight against Voter ID/Suppression laws, drugs, violent crimes, lack of education, high unemployment and the disproportionate number of Black men in the prison system, the Coalition of African American Pastors (CAAP) is rallying for 100,000 signatures on a petition to stand against President Obama in this election because of his personal views on marriage equality. We must stop allowing our community to be divided over our diversity, and focus on those things that make us the same. Equality has never hurt anyone, it only makes us stronger.

I have already signed it and anyone else interested in calling out CAAP should sign it.  There is also a section to leave comments. I would suggest that you say succinctly why you feel about CAAP's efforts.

Bet succinct. But above all, be polite, direct, and to the point.

Proposition 8 supporters hit with a HUGE fine for violating campaign disclosure laws

Organizations which pushed Proposition 8, the California law banning gay marriage, just got hit with a huge fine today.

From The Huffington Post:

The campaign for Proposition 8, California's 2008 voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, is facing a $49,000 fine for allegedly violating campaign disclosure laws during the 2008 election.

California's Fair Political Practices Commission  proposed the fine after an investigation revealed that ProtectMarriage.com - Yes on 8 failed to properly report over $1 million in campaign contributions.

The Sacramento Bee reported:

[Yes on 8] failed to report $1,169,292 in contributions under the timelines required by state law, including $508,150 in late contributions of $1000 or more given in the final days of the campaign. It also found that the committee failed to identify the donor behind a $10,000 wire transfer.

ProtectMarriage.com - Yes on 8 faces 18 counts of violating state political laws. . The group has agreed to both the violations and the fines, but the commission will meet to determine an appropriate recommendation on August 16.

It couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch.

'Father cruelly disowns gay son' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

This is What Hate Looks Like: Father Cruelly Disowns Son for Coming Out - Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council and the rest like to claim that it is the gay orientation which leads to negative behaviors such as drug and alcohol abuse. Of course they never tell you that it's letters like the above one which really leads to such mess. It's a heartbreaker and the sad thing is that so many lgbtqs have a story like the letter tells.  

The dangerous new idea NOM is pushing to defame pro-equality voices - This madness is ludicrous on so many levels including the fact that President Obama had nothing to do with the Chick-Fil-A controversy. But who cares about truth when a lie can carry you so far. 

Joseph, Montana Gay Man, Allegedly Beaten Outside Club On His Birthday - Ugh. I hate stories like this.  

Hate Group Encourages Parents To Pull Kids From Classrooms Of LGBT-Inclusive Teachers - Give me a break, people!

Tea Party: Has Obama Been Hiding He’s Gay And Was Married To A Man? - That is one heck of a drug these people are on! 

NOM continues attempt to sabotage Obama's black support with edited press conference

This is last week's press conference featuring the Coalition of African-American Pastors, the phony group working with the National Organization for Marriage to get Mitt Romney elected.

Of course neither CAAP nor its president, Rev. Bill Owens, will tell you that. They will say that they are attempting to get President Obama to take back his support of marriage equality. If he doesn't, they say, then CAAP will begin a campaign to persuade African-Americans to withhold our votes come November.

Not vote for Romney, mind you, but withhold our votes. Of course if the Black community withholds our votes, then that will ensure Romney being elected.

Of course CAAP won't tell you that its president, Owens, is working with NOM as its liasion to black churches.

Nor will CAAP tell you that NOM has already endorsed Romney.

Nor will CAAP tell you that its recent effort is a part of a strategy by NOM to create a wedge between the black and gay community (two strong Democrat constituencies) over the subject of marriage equality with the expressed intent of "sideswiping President Obama."

Anyone believing that this is a genuine effort to express anger over President Obama's support of marriage equality is sadly mistaken.

And as the following clips (which were conveniently omitted from NOM's video of the press conference) demonstrate, this effort is also fueled by hate and ignorance:











And listen to how Owens behaves when a reporter asks him a question about the "Biblical definition" of marriage:






Hat tip to Jeremy Hooper for the videos.

General Mills arsonist considers himself a 'preacher'

From the blog Joe.My.God:

The Smoking Gun has identified the douchebag who set fire to a box of Cheerios outside the Minnesota headquarters of General Mills. Flaming cereal bits then ignited the company's lawn and the man and his giggling accomplices fled.

The gay marriage opponent seen in a viral video accidentally setting a fire outside the General Mills headquarters is a Minnesota real estate broker who has previously recorded a series of anti-gay YouTube clips. Michael Leisner, 65, can be seen outside the General Mills corporate campus in Golden Valley. He is carrying a box of Honey Nut Cheerios in one hand and a blowtorch in the other. On Michael Leisner’s YouTube page (Live4Chr1st) he can be seen attacking Representative Barney Frank and Bill Maher, while noting that President Barack Obama has “bent forward to accommodate the sodomites of New York.” He also makes reference to "gay perverts," "fierce faggots," and the "depraved, debasing debauchery of gay activists."

And if you think the video of this "pastor" playing with fire is bad, then I don't know what you are going to think about the following video he made in "tribute" to Congressman Barney Frank marrying his long-time partner:




Lord, hammercy!

NOM can't handle the Biblical definition of marriage

You ever notice that for all of their complaining about how gays are attempting to "redefine" marriage, if you pointed out to religious right groups that marriage has not been the same throughout history, they bristle.

A perfect example is the graphic that has gotten NOM's Ruth Institute up in arms:

This is what the Ruth Institute says about the graphic on its Facebook site:

This image has been making the rounds on Facebook, in an attempt to discredit those of us who insist that removing the gender requirement is redefining marriage. Look carefully at the image and you will see that in ALL of the examples, both genders are represented. This image reinforces the conservative position about needing a gender requirement, it does not undermine our position. And here is why: marriage has always been understood primarily as the means to bearing and raising children. Yes marriage provides companionship to the married partners, but that has never been the reason we needed marriage as a society.

Do you buy that? Neither do those leaving comments. The Ruth Institute's Facebook site is getting blasted.

Extra Treat: Think Progress is also getting into the act - NOM Defends Biblical Marriage, Including Slavery, Concubines, Polygamy, And Rape

'Anti-gay protest hilariously backfires' and other Monday midday news briefs

Video: Man vandalizes General Mills' lawn; prob not the kind of grassroots fire NOM wanted

 

At least when we act "the fool," we do it with more style.

 In other news:

  In the News: In the District, a same-sex couple’s adoption success story - It's always sadly interesting that when the religious right talks about families, they omit OUR families. 

 Chick-fil-A: Were the Protests a Big Fail? And Where Do We Go From Here? - A dumb question but with a smart answer. And it speaks to the fact that our community must stop expecting overnight victories. An hour in a protest line or kissing in front of a restaurant will not undo decades of lies. It will take discipline, calm, and trust in each other. Also, each gay activist should read The Art of War.  

Even Mitt Romney Thinks Boy Scouts Shouldn’t Be So Anti-LGBT - Romney will probably change his mind before this post goes up. The bitch is fickle. 

NOM's 'sneaky support' of ex-gay therapy is fooling no one

Remember this video (the most pertinent part is 9:09):



Maggie Gallagher: I've never advocated for gay reparative therapy and the National Organization for Marriage does not."

Of course Maggie was lying back then and the idea that NOM does not advocate for reparative (ex-gay therapy) is a lie which can be proven by simply looking on its blog:

LSN: Democrat Admits, ‘Attack on Parental Rights’ is ‘the Whole Point’ of Banning Sex Orientation Therapy

The post is a link to Lifesite news, a right-wing site, complaining about a bill in California which would anyone under 18 from receiving reparative or sexual orientation conversion therapy, even if requested by the teens or their parents.

Seeing that reparative therapy is a fraud,  this law would be an excellent idea. But the point is that NOM is being duplicitous yet again.

In between the advertising about Chick-Fil-A and the braying about Chick-Fil-A, NOM seems to have tried to sneak that post in.

Of course Maggie Gallagher will probably do her standard "a link is not an endorsement" lie but of course that's another misdirection.

NOM knows exactly what it's doing by posting that mess and based upon the responses, it got what it wanted without getting its hands dirty:

The 80 to 97 percent of our children who are “not born that way” can easily be educated to find sexual pleasure that way (unless the parent is allowed to say “no” in one form or another). Our commercial world (and national education system) is being given full authority to teach and encourage our children to try these new forms of “healthy entertainment”. (“I kissed a girl and I liked it, hope my boyfriend don't mind it” being sung by a high-school girl [so it sounds], playing over the load speakers of your local family restaurant, being just the beginning of a commercial corporate free for all frenzy toward manipulating our kids toward new and never before explored financial gains.) And during this time the parents will not have the right to educate their children (the 80 to 97 percent who are “not born that way”) to focus their sexual energies toward the opposite sex. The whole nation can teach, force, pressure, encourage our children to learn algebra, spelling, chemistry, carpentry, all unnatural things that need concerted community effort, guidance and encouragement; but we will not be allowed to encourage in the slightest our children to stick to opposite sex sexual relationships, without coming across as being poor and abusive parents; who probably need their children taken away from them. What in the world are our armies doing over seas? We need them more then ever right here fighting to save us, from our own corrupted government and its money loving West and its banks! And not somewhere on the other side of the glob fighting for Wall Street and company's own personal gains.
Help to protect the 80 to 97 percent of our children who “where not born that way” from being sexually abused, and confused, by the United States Government, Wall Street, the City of London, the powers that be.

Rick you have nailed it on the head. Thank you to all of you on these NOM pages for intelligently commenting and standing up for true marriage. I remember a commercial in 2008 during Prop 8 saying that the Gays want nothing to do with teaching the children in schools about thier lifestyle. We now have 8 new mandates in the public schools teaching our children about homosexuality. We knew it was inevitable because it was and is happening in Mass. And we keep being told by the radicals that there is "no Gay agenda". Liars.

 

Homosexuality doesn't make sense, MGC. Certainly there are very few absurdities ever concocted in all of human history, that make less sense than gay "marriage".

Know Your LGBT History - Bugs Bunny

We have had an interesting week to say the least.

Therefore I think a little humor is in order and it begs the question how long will it be before Linda Harvey, Matt Barber, Peter LaBarbera, and the rest declare war on Bugs Bunny because of his penchant for crossdressing:



Editor's note - let me say right now that I apologize in advance to anyone who may be offended by the above montage.

Past Know Your LGBT History posts:

'Jesus predicted Chick-Fil-A controversy' and other Friday midday news briefs

Say what you will about the "chicken unpleasantness," it is empowering some interesting folks to send emails "educating" me on the situation. For example, read this email which I received last night:

The Anti-Chick-fil-A Jihad !

 (This sinister jihad is part of the end-time "days of Lot" - coordinated worldwide by powerful unseen beings - that Jesus predicted in Luke 17. To see if you are part of this soul-damning craze, read on!) Google “Zombietime” and click on “Up Your Alley Fair.” After recovering, Yahoo “God to Same-Sexers: Hurry Up” on the “ucmpage” listing (even Jesus told Judas to hurry up – John 13:27). Also Yahoo “Dangerous Radicals of the Religious Right.”

Read this before the predicted California earthquake happens a la Rev.16:19 (“the cities of the nations fell”) – and before hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts and other disasters occur! The fast-moving goal of Gaydom is to quietly sneak its depravity on to every Main Street on earth while normal folks stay asleep and do nothing. I wonder how soon San Francisco's underground saint - San Andreas - will get a big jolt out of the public gay porn that goes on over his head in "Madam" Nancy Pelosi's brothel district in front of children!

Not one to mince words, Jesus said in Mark 9:42 that anyone hurting a child in any way deserves to be hanged and have his body thrown into the ocean! It's far from coincidental that the more America elevates gays and senseless violence (see the predicted "days" of "Lot" and "Noah" in Luke 17), the more the cost of gas, food etc. goes up! If America is smart, it will pick up the big dust-covered book everyone owns and almost never reads - no, not the Sears catalog - and find out that the One who made the universe has some rights too! (Also Google "Obama Fulfilling the Bible.") Gays like to say that Jesus didn't explicitly mention homosexuality. Well, when gays are about to have a birthday, they don't talk about all the things they don't want. Instead they speak positively about what they'd like to receive.

In the same manner Jesus, instead of negatively listing every sexual variation and perversion that He knew mankind would invent, avoided an endless list of "thou-shall-nots" and positively stated that marriage was created for only one man and one woman. BTW, by fulfilling the same "days of Lot," gays are actually hurrying up the return of Christ as Judge and helping to make the Bible even more believable!

(Obama and his porn-protecting California friends - including Brown and Pelosi - did NOT approve of this message.)

 Now in other chicken-non-related news:  

Details of Tanzanian LGBT Advocate’s Murder Emerge - This is sad. A brother in Africa was murdered. Our brothers and sisters in the struggle need our prayers.

Target's not gonna have Peter LaBarbera to kick around anymore; harumph - Apparently Porno Pete LaBarbera is angry that Target acknowledges its gay customers.

 In Methodist Stronghold, a Dialogue on Gay Rights - Nice. Kirk Cameron doesn't have guts but these folks are meeting with gay youth. 

Gays have more support than those pushing homophobia

The more I think about it, the more I am starting to realize that after the immediate reaction of the "Chick-Fil-A" Appreciation day goes over, the restaurant is going to realize just how deep of a mess it got itself into.

I don't envision seeing crowds lining up to support Chick-Fil-A on a daily basis, but I DO envision seeing members of the gay community withholding their dollars from the company.

One thing I can tell you about us gays is that when we hold a grudge against a company which has wronged us, we DO NOT let it go.

I know of some gay men who STILL will not drink orange juice because of Anita Bryant.

Seriously though, while this "chicken unpleasantness" has become a cultural moment,  let's not get discouraged with the thought of those companies who will not support us and gives money to groups wanting to take away our equality.

Let's remember the companies who do support us:

Feel free to give your dollars to those businesses.


Related post - Simple answers to the questions about the Chick-Fil-A boycott

'Pastor - Steal the rainbow before gays make children taste it!!' and other Thursday midday news briefs

Harry Jackson: Gays 'Want to Recruit Your Kids,' Conservative Christians Must 'Steal Back the Rainbow' - Oh come on. You know Harry Jackson is pathetically amusing. And by the way, since this blog has always taken the high road, I will not write about the mannerisms of Jackson's vocal pattern. I'm sure a lot of you will have something to say about it:




 In other news:

LGBT seniors of color speak out - AWESOME!

Hopeful News From Maryland - Look what happened while NOM was eating chicken!

POLL: Overwhelming Support For Equality In Connecticut - AND in Connecticut!

Regina Hawkins-Balducci Wins Right To Add Lesbian Spouse's Name To Rent-Stabilized Lease - This, right here, is a HUGE victory. And just like a lot of victories, is under the radar.

A Gay Chick-fil-A Employee Speaks Out - Oh come on! Let have just one about Chick-Fil-A!

Religious right bigotry will keep NOM's race-wedge strategy from working

Editor's note - I may or may not be posting intermediately today due to a dentist's appointment.

Okay, I know after yesterday, everyone is all "chickened out." So let's talk about another subject while bearing in mind that the Chick-Fil-A situation is NOT over yet. The restaurant seems to have approached Anita Bryant status . . . and we all remembered what happened to HER.

On Tuesday, the Coalition of African-Americans Pastors (CAAP) held a press conference announcing plans to speak out against President Obama's support of marriage equality.

I'm sure we will be hearing more about this group, including the fact that the president, Rev. William Owens, is the "black church liaison with the National Organization for Marriage and that NOM has already endorsed Obama's appointment Mitt Romney.

For those not familiar with two plus two, add in the fact that NOM has already been called to the carpet because of its wedge strategy, i.e. the group's plan to play gay and black America against each other on the subject of marriage equality.

The following clip is another reason why NOM's race-wedge strategy won't work.

Let me preface by saying that I've always found it interesting how the religious right in general are so chilvarous to the black community when it seeks "defend" the legacy of the civil rights movement against the supposed unfair comparison to the gay equality movement.

However, Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association shows us what some members of the religious right think about black folks when they aren't faking their chivalry:

Transcript:

The Democrats as a party, I believe, they want slaves, they want Americans to be as slavishly dependent upon the central government as slaves were upon their masters in pre-Civil War days, that’s what they want. That’s why they’re trying to hand out goodies and dish out goodies to get them completely dependent because then they’ll know that they can count on them and count on their votes, they’re going to vote for whatever party is promising them the most goodies. We were talking this morning about how in the world is it that African Americans still support the Democratic Party? How can you explain that, when the Democratic Party is the party of slavery, the KKK, Jim Crow laws, lynch mobs, the party that filibustered the Civil Rights Act, how can you explain this?

. . . The only reason we can see why the Democrat Party still has support in the African American community is because the Democrat Party promises them more goodies, the Democrat Party is handing out stuff, basically getting them addicted. It’s like the government is one big giant methadone clinic and they’re just handing out these injections to people in the form of welfare benefits to get them hooked, so they got to hook up with their supplier once a month, they got to get their fix, they got to hook up with their dealer on a street corner once a month and get their fix from the federal government. They’re like drug-addled addicts and the Democrat Party has gotten them addicted to welfare benefits. That apparently is the only reason they continue to support this party.

. . . I think what keeps the African American community in the Democratic and on the Democratic plantation is the promise of goodies, it’s the promise of welfare, it’s the promise of benefits. That’s what keeps them on the Democratic platform as much as anything. So that’s just a form of idolatry, they put money ahead of principle. If they’re going to give me stuff, that’s materialism, that’s greed, that’s a violation of the Ten Commandments, they’re going to stick that in front of me I’m going to vote for them no matter what.

Now some folks will say that Fischer not a part of NOM. However, Fischer is a prominent voice in the religious right as a spokesman for the American Family Association. And AFA and NOM have joined forces before, particularly during this recent "Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day."

So at the very least, NOM (or at least CAAP) should say something about Fischer's words.

Of course they won't and THAT is the point.

Seems to me that if NOM wants to siphon the black vote away from President Obama, muzzling one of its allies would be more effective than using astroturfed black groups.

Meanwhile in the real world, gay folks are DOMINATING

While members of the religious right are patting themselves on the back on a successful Chick Fil-A Appreciation Day (while totally oblivious to how they helped US get the information out on the evil that Chick-Fil-A supports), the following has been happening in the real world:

These are ads which have been unveiled by Amtrak

From Towleroad:

As part of an effort to market its standard discounted family travel program, for the first time, the national passenger rail company included gay families in its materials. In an online ad sent by Instinct magazine to its email subscribers, a photo of same-sex parents with their child is featured.

Two version of the ad, one with a picture of a male couple and another with a female couple, were distributed.  Both versions include the headline: Priceless Family Moments Are Now Affordable.  The ad goes on to promote Amtrak's 50% off campaign for children age 2 to 15 who are traveling with an adult, and directs readers to its gay travel website www.AmtrakRideWithPride.com.

Also, Judith Arndt has become the first openly gay athlete to medal at the Olympics in London by winning the silver in Women’s Cycling Time Trials.

From The New Civil Rights Movement:

This is the third Olympic medal for Judith Arndt, who, as a 20-year-old, won silver for the 3000 Meter Pursuit at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. She also won a bronze in Road Race at the Athens Olympics in 2004.

'NOM spokesperson angry for being called out for her lies' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

NOM Spokesperson Complains That ThinkProgress Calls Her Anti-Gay Rhetoric Anti-Gay - Apparently Ms. Morse didn't get the memo. Gay folks no longer collapse in pools of self-pity when folks attack us.

Concerned Women For America vs. Amazon - Only a religious right group - in this case, Concerned Women for America - can contradict itself in its own writings and think that gay folks won't notice.


  Matt Barber, Fighting A Losing Battle, Decides To Hurl Anti-Gay Slurs At Puppets - A religious right talking head reduced to attacking a puppet. Careful Matt Barber, Miss Piggy knows karate.

 “Haven for Perverts” Raided in Gay-Friendly Beirut - Ugh. Our brothers and sisters in Beirut need our support.


 Kevin McCarthy: DOMA Defense Is Our 'Responsibility' - Yeah but you all keep losing and wasting my tax dollars WHILE losing. The most recent loss was yesterday.

 

You never lose when you stand up to homophobia and lies

Today is Mike Huckabee's ridiculous "Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day" and it's probably going to be a hit.

Of course what would one expect. His call to support the restaurant chain on this day has been echoed and endorsed by several religious right and anti-gay groups as well as some ignorant religious entities.

So while these folks will no doubt inundate the media with videos and photos of today's event, I would like to reassure my lgbtq community and our allies not to worry.

You see we have won already. And when I say that we have won, I don't mean the intangible way that the title of my piece implies.

Our goal has never been about "shutting down Chick-Fil-A."

Our goal has always been to make people aware of just who Chick-Fil-A supports because this issue goes way beyond chicken.

Rev. William Owens, Romney endorsing anti-gay group trying to manipulate blacks against gays

Rev. Owens is working hard to divide blacks and gays

I predicted it earlier today, and it is happening.

From CNN:

A group of conservative black pastors are responding to President Barack Obama’s support of same-sex marriage with what they say will be a national campaign aimed at rallying black Americans to rethink their overwhelming support of the President, though the group’s leader is offering few specifics about the effort.

The Rev. Williams Owens, who is president and founder of the Coalition of African-Americans Pastors and the leader of the campaign, has highlighted opposition to same-sex marriage among African-Americans. He calls this campaign “an effort to save the family.”

“The time has come for a broad-based assault against the powers that be that want to change our culture to one of men marrying men and women marrying women,” said Owens, in an interview Tuesday after the launch event at the National Press Club. “I am ashamed that the first black president chose this road, a disgraceful road.”

CNN deserves kudos for telling the entire story about Owens and his fake group, including talking about comments which Owens made linking gays to pedophilia:

Owens has long been an opponent of gay marriage and consults with the National Organization for Marriage as a liaison to the black churches.

At the press conference, Owens said that Obama’s support of same-sex marriage tantamount to supporting child molestation.

“If you watch the men who have been caught having sex with little boys, you will note that all of them will say that they were molested as a child…” Owens said. “For the president to condone this type of thing is irresponsible.”

Owens later walked about those comments back, saying he didn’t think the president was condoning molestation.

CNN also did make mention of NOM's wedge strategy, i.e. the group's plan to play gay and black America against each other on the subject of marriage equality.

'Business would rather fail before serving gay couples' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Jack Phillips, Denver Baker Who Refused Wedding Cake To Gay Couple, Defends His Stance - Phillips says he would rather lose his business before making a cake for a gay couple. It's good for us to know who NOT to give our business to. However, it goes beyond that. If businesses are allowed to discriminate against gay couples on the basis of their religious beliefs, then where is that line drawn? Today it's gays. Tomorrow it may be people of a different faith, be it Jewish or Catholic. And then there is the case of racial ethnicities.  

Report: marriage equality plank added to Dem platform draft - Celebrate but also keep in mind and be ready for those who will seek to exploit this against President Obama.  

On death penalties, fast food, and the suspect tastiness of felt puppets - Some supporters of Chick-Fil-A are just dumb as hell. 

Liberty Counsel Jumps on the Boycott Hypocrisy Bandwagon - One good thing about this Chick-Fil-A is how it exposes the hypocrites. Wasn't Matt Barber - a defender of Chick-Fil-A - one of the folks who organized a failed boycott of McDonalds a while back?  

NOM’s dumps are flattening out - Meanwhile, the National Organization for Marriage's anti-gay protests are fizzling hard. 

Simple answers to the questions about the Chick-Fil-A boycott

 An online buddy of mine, Rusty McMann, has assembled some simple answers to the questions about the gay community's anger at Chick-Fil-A, as well as why we are boycotting the restaurant.

This is necessary because while there have been so many television stations, newspapers, pundits, and columnists who have weighed in on the controversy, very few are trying to get the full story:

Simple answers to difficult questions about the Chick-Fil-A boycott

Q.  Why are the gays making such a big deal out of this?  Aren’t we all entitled to our own opinions?

A.  Well the first thing you need to know is that there is no "the gays."  Gay Americans don’t speak in a unified voice any more than all straight Americans, or all African-Americans, or all left-handed Americans.

Q.  OK  fine.  So what’s the big deal and why are *so many* of gays so upset that Dan Cathy is against gay marriage?

A.  Dan Cathy is perfectly entitled to his opinion about marriage equality or anything else.  That’s not what has so many people upset.  The reason we are boycotting Chick-fil-A is because the CFA Corporation, through its charitable arm The WinShape Foundation, has donated almost 4 million dollars to organizations and causes that are dedicated to doing harm to gay men and lesbians – not just here in the US, but around the world.

Q.  Oh, come on.  The WinShape foundation is about leadership training and strengthening families.

A.  While it is true that the WinShape foundation has a number of admirable programs for at-risk youth, it would also appear that WinShape believes that “curing” homosexuality (a concept that is roundly rejected by the scientific community) and preventing same-sex couples from being legally married is something that trains leaders and makes families stronger – because they give A LOT of money to foundations and advocacy groups that are hostile to the LBGT people.

In the year 2010 alone, WinShape donated nearly 2 million dollars to groups with anti-gay agendas:

$1,188,380 to the Marriage & Family Foundation (founded by Bubba Cathy (Dan’s Brother) the MFA provides funding to organizations that preach that the American family is threatened by the proliferation of same-sex couples )  

$480,000 to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (dedicated to “curing” gay athletes);

$247,500 to the National Christian Foundation (is a grant-making foundation that has provides money to anti-gay groups like Focus on the Family, Family Life, and the Family Research Council);

$54,000 to the New Mexico Christian Foundation (the New Mexico branch of the NCF);

$1,000 to the Family Research Council (which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center because of the provable falsehoods it spreads about gay men and lesbians);

$2,500 to the Georgia Research Council (which lobbies against marriage equality, both in Georgia and around the US); and

$1,000 to Exodus International, an organization dedicated to “curing homosexuality” and whose board member  Don Schmierer had a hand in the creation of  a bill in Uganda that could "punish homosexuality" with death .

So every chicken sandwich and waffle fry you purchase helps to fund one of those organizations.  

Why do the Log Cabin Republicans think that gays should do nothing when being disrespected?

In the African-American community, there is a comical phrase which denotes extreme anger. It is called "being pissed off to the highest levels of pissivity."

That is how I feel right now and there is nothing funny about it. What angers me are the words from Log Cabin Republican head R. Clarke Cooper over the gay community's anger at Chick-Fil-A. He didn't exactly defend us. Instead he attacked us in a piece.

Part of it reads a follow:

Turning a chicken sandwich into Public Gay Enemy Number One makes LGBT people look superficial, vindictive and juvenile — everything that we as a community have worked hard to overcome. Remember, employers don’t want drama queens on the payroll, military service is serious business, and marriage is not a right society grants to spoiled children. While in a perfect world our equality should not depend on our good behavior, in a world where our rights too often hinge on political reality, the way our movement conducts itself matters.

In the past, while I may have disagreed with the Log Cabin Republicans (a group of gay Republicans for those who are not aware), I have always respected the organization, even to the point of defending it when others in the community have attacked it as an "Uncle Tom" organization.

But right now, I simply can't. And I will tell you why.

Last week, I received a letter from a young man thanking me for this blog. He told me that what he reads here is the first piece of positive information he has read about the gay community. All other times, he said, he has been bombarded by negative information; information such as gays are evil, gays are sinners or things like us being called vile, intolerant, and pawns of the Devil:



or folks expressing wishes that our "behavior" be criminalized:



What's significant about these two statements is that both are coming from the Family Research Council, a group which has received donations from Chick-Fil-A. That is the main reason why so many of us are angry.

And it leads me to ask is Mr. Cooper clueless or does he just not give a damn. The above tripe from the Family Research is what he is defending. The destruction of the self-esteem of our lgbtq youth is what he is defending.

I could see if he voiced a problem with the way some of us in the community may express our anger but he didn't do that.

Cooper seems to think that gays shouldn't express anger at all over any of Chick-Fil-A's actions. That somehow if we are slapped and don't respond in any form or fashion, the so-called movable middle will respect us.

Well for one thing, I have no idea what this movable middle is and if the gay community should sacrifice our dignity and self-respect to get their approval, then maybe they are not a group we need to reach.

I'm serious about how Cooper's words bother me. He has been given a platform which many in our community don't have, especially our children. And he is using this platform in a hideous manner

He does not call out the folks who seek to hinder gay equality and positive self esteem (especially the self-esteem of our gay children) through lies but rather those of us who seek to put a stop to these lies.

It is a very sad entity - be it a singular person or an organization - who attacks their own people for demanding dignity and respect.

'Tax-payer funded school discriminates against same-sex family' and other Monday midday news briefs

Video: Accepting Uncle Sam's cash, barring his gay-parent-having nephew - If you are taking MY tax dollars, you will not discriminate against me nor my people. Point blank.  

Lawmaker To Catholic Church: Prove Your Claims Gay People Die Early - Awesome. Now watch how the Catholic Church will lie.  

Cheney Supported Marriage Equality In 2000, Kept Silent To Help Bush - What privilege brings you - chickenshit behavior.  

The Tragedy of the Isabella Miller-Jenkins Abduction - I haven't forgotten about this sad case about a lesbian mother denied access to her daughter. And now it takes a really sad turn.

  Religious Right Leaders Pray for 'Healing for Those who Struggle with Same-Sex Attraction' - With the way these folks lie, they need to pray for themselves before praying for me. 

What Chick-Fil-A's money supports - a video montage of homophobia

Again I say that we must make it clear why we are angry at Chick-Fil-A. There are religious right organizations and talking heads (and unfortunately mainstream journalists) who are attempting to make it solely a religious issue.

They claim that Chick-Fil-A doesn't have an anti-gay agenda and that supposedly us "radical homosexuals" are demonstrating intolerance.

Let's remind them what it's all about.

In 2010, Chick-Fil-A donated nearly $2 million to groups who make it their mission to attack the gay community through lies and distortions. These groups push several false notions from homosexuality is connected to pedophilia to the idea that gays can change their orientation - an idea frowned on by the legitimate scientific community.

According to Equality Matters, the Family Research Council is one of these groups:

The Family Research Council has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for its propagation of known falsehoods about the LGBT community. For example, president Tony Perkins has a long history of false and inflammatory attacks, such as claiming that pedophilia is a "homosexual problem." [Washington Times, 11/24/10; SPLC, accessed 6/27/12]

The Family Research Council employs Peter Sprigg, who once said that gays should be exported out of the United States:



and that "homosexual behavior" should be criminalized:



And let's not forget FRC's head, Tony Perkins, who has called gays vile, intolerant, and pawns of the Devil:



That is when he is not making ugly comments about gay youth (beginning at 3:10):



Let me be clear - there have been several elected officials attempting to use the power of their office against Chick-Fil-A. I am not in favor of this.

However, I am equally bothered by the need of so-called Christians to deliberately sugarcoat the issue to the point of omitting several facts about the groups that Chick-Fil-A supports.

Chick-Fil-A's money supports hate and lies and the last time I checked, hate and lies are hardly Christian principles:



Related posts -

Simple answers to the questions about the Chick-Fil-A boycott


Fake Christians are lying about Chick-Fil-A

Fake Christians are lying about Chick-Fil-A

I have to admit that I am not totally in tune to the Chick-Fil-A controversy as much as my fellow blogging colleagues and the rest of my lgbtq brothers and sisters.

But what I do see of it does bother me a bit.

It's not the boycott per se more than how folks who claim to support Chick-Fil-A in accordance to their "Christian values" are deliberately distorting the reasons why the lgbtq community are angry at Chick-Fil-A.

Folks like Mike Huckabee and organizations like the National Organization for Marriage and the American Family Association are attempting to force a false narrative that the gay community is angry at Chick-Fil-A simply because its owner, Dan Cathy, made an ugly comment about not supporting marriage equality.

They are attempting to make it seem that Chick-Fil-A is a victim of "alleged gay intolerance" because its president supports the "traditionally Biblical definition of marriage."

And they are not being truthful.

In 2010, Chick-Fil-A donated nearly $2 million to groups who make it their mission to attack the gay community through lies and distortions. These groups push several false notions from homosexuality is connected to pedophilia to the idea that gays can change their orientation - an idea frowned on by the legitimate scientific community.

DeMint succeeds in getting pro-gay ad pulled from SC television station

Unbelievable:

U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint’s attorney has succeeded in getting one Charleston media outlet to pull an ad that attacked DeMint’s eight-year-old position against gays teaching in public schools.

Warren Redman-Gress, executive director of the Alliance for Full Acceptance, said the story has received national attention in the gay and lesbian community since it first was reported this week.

“People just can’t believe one person can stop an advocacy campaign just because he doesn’t like the fact he was quoted in it,” he said.

The ad begins: “What if you saw this headline: Senator Jim DeMint: Jews Should Not Teach Public School. You wouldn’t tolerate such blatant prejudice and persecution. Substitute the word ‘gay’ and the reality is, you do.”

DeMint’s Washington attorney, Cleta Mitchell, had asked Charleston area televisions stations to pull the ad.

WCBD Channel 2 had asked the alliance to edit the ad by including a disclaimer clarifying that the first headline with the word “Jews” in it was not a real headline. A similar disclaimer appears under the second headline clarifying that it’s real.

WCBD station manager Rick Lipps said he made the request to eliminate any confusion, not in reaction to political pressure.

AFFA declined to edit the ad, so WCBD pulled it. In response, AFFA declined to let the station air its two less controversial ads.

In an email from Mitchell to a local television station, Mitchell claimed the ad portrayed DeMint, R-S.C., as anti-Semitic, though Charleston’s Jewish community has raised no concerns along that line.

Mitchell declined to comment, saying, “I just can’t talk about the work I do for my clients.” DeMint’s staff also declined comment, but Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said he found the ad “incredibly offensive and unfair to Senator DeMint.”

Brooks called DeMint “a great friend of the Jewish community.”

During his 2004 Senate bid, DeMint said he didn’t think gays should teach in public school — a remark reportedly widely around the state, and the ad was designed to show how the public still accepts discrimination against gays and lesbians, Redman-Gress said.

It's ridiculous to even ponder the notion that anyone looking at the ad would think that DeMint was anti-Semitic.

Seems to me that the claim the DeMint people are making is bogus. And in the case of one station, the bogus complaint has succeeded:

You can view all of the ads at  www.affa-sc.org/imagine
 
You can also donate to AFFA at http://www.affa-sc.org/affa/donate.htm