'NOM strategist has a breakdown during interview' and other Friday midday news briefs

Frank Schubert, Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment Mastermind, Crumbles Under Questioning (AUDIO) - This is HUGE! Frank Schubert is the NOM strategist behind the Prop 8 campaign and is behind the "marriage equality will harm children" lie. However, during an interview with Michelangelo Signorile, Schubert seems to have what can be called a breakdown under intense questioning. This has to be heard to be believed.  Try to listen to it all, but the real good stuff starts at 10:00. According to Signorile:

Schubert seemed to crumble when I played a clip of Marc Mutty, his campaign manager in Maine in 2009, admitting in the new documentary Question One that the campaign had used hyperbole and engaged in distortions and untruths (and saying that he was worried that he would be remembered for that ugly campaign). Schubert responded to me by oddly distancing himself from the campaign while also saying that Mutty was "misrecalling" events.

... Several times he said he is not trying to stop gay adoption because he just wants to "protect" traditional marriage and is not "on a crusade" to take away the rights of gays -- including those of his own sister. (I raised the fact that she, a Sacramento deputy district attorney, is a lesbian in a relationship and has children, as has been reported in the media.) But why isn't he on that crusade if he truly believes that children do better in heterosexual households, as his campaign rhetoric claims? The only answer is that his money is coming from the folks trying to ban gay marriage, not from those trying to ban gay adoption. And that's what it seems to be all about for Schubert: money.

In other news: 

 Video: Maggie Gallagher's friend and former boss says vote NO on MN marriage ban- Former marriage equality opponent says NO to voting for Minnesota's anti-marriage equality bill. 

 Knights of Columbus’ Financial Opposition to Marriage Equality Revealed - Guess who much the Knights of Columbus shelled out to stop marriage equality? Who knew they had THAT much money?

 A Brief History Of Fox News’ Support For Anti-LGBT Bullying - Brief but repulsive. 

Religious right leader blames marriage equality for attacks in Libya.

Scarborough

Apparently according to religious right leader Rick Scarborough, marriage equality is one of the reasons for that awful attack in Benghazi, Libya which left four American, including Ambassador Chris Stevens dead.:

In Isiah 5:5, God warns Israel of the punishment which will befall the disobedient nation: “Now I am going to tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard, I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed. I will break down its wall and it will be trampled.” And again in Deuteronomy 28:25: “The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: Thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.” Like Biblical Israel, America is mired in sin – 1.2 million abortions a year, the assault on God’s institution of marriage, an explosion of pornography, children robbed of their innocence, skyrocketing rates of divorce and out-of-wedlock births, the Church persecuted – need I continue? And yet we blithely go on as if there was no connection between this and the way we violate God’s commandments? Too many Americans act as it the Bible’s prophecies are charmingly poetic, but bear no relation to today’s events? How many more 9/11 attacks, how many more wars, how much more turmoil – how many more Benghazis – will it take before we finally begin to make the connection between our behavior as a nation and the horror unfolding before our eyes?

If you recognize this awful stream of thought, it's because it was the same one that the late Jerry Falwell used to partly blame gays in the aftermath of 9/11:

And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."

It was nauseating when Falwell did it and its equally nauseating when Scarborough does it.

It's sad when anyone exploits tragedy for their own agenda. It's especially sad when so-called religious leaders do it.

Waffle House beat down underscores potential problem with lgbt community

 By now, you have probably seen this controversial video of a presumed heterosexual man verbally slurring a group of gay men and getting beaten down hard. It's generated a lot of discussion.

There are some lgbts who applaud what happened because they figured the man brought it upon himself.

And another camp worries about what effect would it have if the religious right would use it to attack gays.

Lastly, there are many who say that violence under any circumstances is wrong, i.e. it was wrong to attack this man no matter what he said.

I'm kinda in the third camp . . . with a caveat.

I don't condone this type of violence, period. There was no need for it. But the caveat I have was how many who condemned this action was so caught up in denouncing the violence that they missed the bigger picture.

When one looks at the group of gays in the video, one would probably brand them as violent thugs. I don't because I know folks like them. And I know why they were so quick to gang up on the man.

These are the lgbts you hardly ever know or see. Part of it has to do with the fact that they are African-American and urban. Let's be honest about some things in our community. There are times that if you don't look a certain way, dress a certain way, fit a certain social strata, or don't run in a clique, you might as well be invisible.

Unfortunately this problem bleeds into our equality organizations

And the problem with being invisible is that a lot of times, your issues get ignored. The progress that is seen in the gay community skips over you. Yes DOMA is being defeated in the courts, but how does it help a young lgbt of color who can't seem to find a group indigenous to his or her needs? We see folks like Ellen DeGeneres, Ricky Martin, and Neil Patrick Harris daily, but again let's be honest.  How many young lgbts of color know who these folks are as opposed to white lgbts. And how many lgbts of color regard these folks as role models?

Also, another problem being invisible is that you have to adapt. You have to survive on your own with very little support systems and unfortunately young lgbts of color are put in that situation. Who is there for young gay black men in schools when they get jumped in school for "acting too feminine?"

And say they make it out of high school and into college? They have two choices - either go to a predominantly white university where they most likely won't fit in with the gay crowd because they are considered "too ghetto" or go to a predominantly African-American university where homophobic attacks against them are at times ignored by faculty members who assume that these children bring it on themselves for "acting like a punk."

But the beauty of mankind is how we survive. When someone closes a door, we open a window or knock down a wall. Young lgbts of color form loose groups of friends and organizations that are underground. They love each other, support each other, and - as I suspect what I saw in the video - stand up for each other when the time call for it.

There are solutions to this problems. All of us need to recognize that the gay community is not a bland, homogenous concept of folks.  We are multicultural and multi-ethnic. We do not like the same things. We don't admire the same heroes and we don't celebrate our sexual orientation the same way.

We need to get out of our cliques and celebrate our differences. If you are white, don't assume that black pride events preach separation. If you are a gay man, educate yourself on the transgender community.

Don't look for things that force us to come together so much that you ignore the things that make us unique as gay people.

And above all, each of us must take a stand - whether it be verbal with our friends, volunteering, or even emailing our organizations - about those in the lgbt community we don't hear about - the lesbian community, the elderly gay community, the different cultures of the gay community.

When we recognize that our differences make us strong instead of attempting to force each other to blend in, we as a community become stronger.

'DOMA just lost in federal court AGAIN!' and other Thursday midday news briefs

BREAKING: Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down DOMA In Opinion By Republican-Appointed Judge - How much money is Boehner wasting to defend DOMA? He keeps losing.

 E.W. Jackson: Pro-Gay Rights Liberals 'Have Done More to Kill Black Folks' than the 'Ku Klux Klan' - My lgbt brothers and sisters have to learn that when it comes to the religious right, there is a certain degree of style which must be applied. For example, hearing about a young lgbt youth committing suicide is something we should get angry about. E.W. Jackson going on one of his tangents is not something we should be mad about, but rather use for our own benefits. You should never get angry at a nut, but if he is bound and determined to make a fool of himself, you give him room. With his words, Jackson is indicting famous African-American lgbts as Barbara Jordan, Bayard Rustin, Billy Strayhorn, Johnny Mathis, James Baldwin, Wanda Sykes, Keith Boykin, LZ Granderson, Don Lemon and so many others of killing their own people. He is personally attacking the sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers in the African-American community of killing more black folks than the Klan. Rather than shake with anger or shake our heads, we need to point out the basic inane hatred of his words to everyone, especially folks in the black community.  

Gay Pride Month: Black LGBT Icons (PHOTOS) - According to crazy E.W. Jackson, it is these folks who are helping to kill more African-Americans than the Klan. No it doesn't make sense. Let's hammer that point a bit.  

Liberty Counsel: Dan Savage is Encouraging Violence Against Christians Like the Nazis Did to the Jews - IRONY ALERT - Matt Barber, who is included in this interview, once said the first who attacks his opponents as Nazis is losing the argument. Well Matt, more proof that you are a loser works for me.

 The Catholic Hierarchy’s Devotion to Fighting Marriage Equality - Ultimately, this fight will severely hurt the Catholic Church. 

AFA's Bryan Fischer continues to gripe about CNN smack down

If you can stomach it, here is 12 minutes of the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer going on tangents on several things.

He briefly talks about the recently lovely smack down he received from CNN's Carol Costello when he attempted to spout his lies on her show. I would link to my post about it, but there is no need. Fischer reruns the entire embarrassing interview himself.

Also, his callers are a hoot - especially the one who is distressed that "evangelicals" are supporting Mitt Romney. However, towards the end, a caller challenges him on his lies about the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Editor's note - Those CDC studies and such Fischer talks about when he goes on about the supposed dangers of homosexuality have also said that homophobia (which leads to a lack of knowledge about good health care) plays a part in when some gays are beset with bad health and such.Of course Fischer would never tell you that.

Hate group claims it wants to reach out to gay youth

I wish this was funny, but according to Right Wing Watch, it's actual fact:

The American Family Association without fail hurls some of the most derogatory and incendiary rhetoric at the gay community,. For example, the group’s spokesman Bryan Fischer claims that gays are like drug addicts, domestic terrorists and Nazis and are responsible for the Holocaust, and the organization’s general manager blamed gays for Hurricane Isaac and linked the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell to an increase in suicides in the military.

But now the anti-gay group hopes to teach people how to “reach out with biblical compassion” to gay youth, which they routinely call “Big Gay.”

The AFA’s Rightly Concerned blog reposted an article from Kerby Anderson Probe Ministries about the “gay agenda in schools,” fitting with the AFA’s new campaign to stop “Mix it Up at Lunch Day” out of the fear young people will eat the gay “poisoned candy.”

The blog post warns that homosexuality in and of itself leads to health and psychiatric problems and suggests anti-bullying efforts are simply attempts to “increase homosexual behavior among students.” Ironically, Anderson cites a study which concludes “educational efforts, prevention programs, and health services must be designed to address the unique needs of GLB youth” to argue that schools should not assist their gay, lesbian and bisexual students in anyway…unless it is with ex-gay therapy. “We should reach out to those caught in the sin of homosexuality and offer them hope and point them to Jesus Christ so that they will find freedom from the sexual sin that binds their lives,” Anderson writes, claiming that “many in the homosexual lifestyle are there because of some emotional brokenness in their families” and are “trying to meet their emotional needs in ungodly ways.”

I got only two ideas for the AFA. If you want to reach gay youth, then stop making them feel like they are freaks with your nasty rhetoric. Or better yet, why don't you just cease to exist.

At the very least, FIRE this guy. Quickly. As in last year:

'Anti-gay religious right plagiarist now exploiting Martin Luther King, Jr' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Land: Fighting Abortion & Gay Marriage is Like MLK Fighting for Racial Justice - Fascinating that the same folks who accuse gays of exploiting the civil rights movement are doing it themselves:



There is a HUGE irony with Richard Land exploiting the civil rights movement. Earlier this year, he faced an ugly controversy for accusing President Obama and other African-American leaders of using the Trayvon Martin case to "gin up votes" for Obama. And the controversy gets funnier. It turns out that Land plagiarized his comments from someone else's piece. Ultimately, he was reprimanded by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and lost his weekly radio show.

In other news:

Why The Gallaudet University Incident Reveals Nothing About Marriage Equality - In a sad attempt to get support for an anti-marriage equality initiative, the religious right is exploiting another cause celebre. 

 Illinois Hate Group Attacks School’s New Transgender-Inclusive Policies - They just can't help themselves. 

 DOMA Defense By House Republican Leaders Has Cost Nearly $1.5 Million - And they have thus far lost EVERY case. 

GoProud embraces its second-class citizen status with pride

The conservative gay group GoProud has been tweeting its support of Mitt Romney and bragging on twitter about appearing on Fox News and such.

But for me, it's all about presentation. To whit, check out what the lgbts who are supporting Obama have been doing:

To my knowledge, GoProud has yet to film a pro-Romney commercial and my guess is that the organization probably won't. After all, it would really piss off the religious right supporters of Romney such as the National Organization for Marriage and the Family Research Council.

So I bet Romney really appreciates GoProud. Not only does the organization give him undeserved credibility on gay issues in the eyes of some pundits (i.e. Fox News), but it embraces its second-class citizen status like it was a hungry lover.

I guess it's always good for SOME PEOPLE to know their place.

Anti-gay Obama hating Dinesh D'Souza busted for stepping out on his wife

Did you know that Dinesh D'Souza, the author two vicious anti-Obama books and that ridiculous movie Obama 2016 is not in favor of marriage equality either?

In 2008, he published a piece entitled Gays Rights vs. Democracy, in which he maligned marriage equality with diatribes like such:

. . . states have a legitimate right to define marriage. State legislatures, drawing on tradition and appealing to the values of their constituents, have defined marriage in a very particular way. Marriage requires a) two people who are b) of legal age and c) not closely related to each other who are d) one male and one female. Note that this definition excludes people who want to marry children, or guys who want to marry their sisters, or Muslims who want to take four wives, or that strange guy who wants to marry his dog.

Now gay activists, with the acquiescence of the California high court, want to remove one of the criteria of marriage while keeping all the rest. Yet if it’s discriminatory to gays to require that marriage be between a man and a woman, why isn’t it discriminatory to Mormons and Muslims to require that it remain between two people? Isn’t incestuous marriage also between “consenting adults” who have a right to equal protection of the laws? And why doesn’t the Fourteenth Amendment protect the fellow who wants to walk down the aisle with his poodle on the grounds that “I love my dog and my dog loves me”?

The point is not that gay marriage is indistinguishable from child marriage or polygamy. The point is that any definition, and marriage is no exception, includes some people and excludes others. Consequently it’s unreasonable to say that gays have a constitutional right to over-ride the definition but other groups do not. The court’s real justification seems to have little to do with constitutional reasoning and everything to do with an assertion of political power.

Now why am I bringing this up? Simply because recently, D'Souza reportedly attended a Christian conference with a young woman who he introduced as his fiance.

Nothing wrong with that, except that it was news to everyone who knew that D'Souza has been married for 20 years to a woman named Dixie.

Sarah Posner gives the rest of the details:

According to WORLD’s Warren Smith, D’Souza, whose $10,000 per speech honoraria places him in the “top tier” of Christian speakers, was in South Carolina to speak at a Baptist church, which was hosting “high-profile Christians speak on defending the faith and applying a Christian worldview to their lives.” (Cue guffaws here.)

Smith describes one conference organizer, Alex McFarland, being “distressed” at the behavior of their celebrity speaker. According to Smith, D’Souza told McFarland that he had “recently” filed for divorce, although Smith found in court records that D'Souza filed for divorce about a week after the South Carolina conference took place.

D’Souza is also the president of The King’s College, and Smith reports that he's expected to be under scrutiny by the school’s board over this incident. (Smith’s boss, Marvin Olasky, resigned his post as TKC’s provost shortly after D’Souza was named president in 2010.) After TKC began looking into the matter, D’Souza texted Smith: “I have decided to suspend the engagement.”

Don't you just love it when anti-gay hypocrites fall on their faces. Dixie! Don't take him back! Take half of his money!

'Bryan Fischer gets DESTROYED on CNN' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Wow! Homophobe Bryan Fischer gets destroyed on CNN. This is what happens when folks like Fischer get challenged on their rhetoric.

 In other news:  

New NOM-branded video equates marriage equality with drug dealing, incest, and pedophilia - And we are surprised why?

 Gay, Chinese Campbell Vice Mayor Verbally Assaulted- No respect at all. 

 Iowa: Homophobic misogynist pastor wants to slap woman for objecting to his anti-LGBT activism - If that pastor EVEN HINTED this sort of thing in my church, there would be a rumble which would make Armageddon look like a tea party. And yes, I would get some shots in if it was MY mother he said this about. 

BUSTED! Anti-marriage equality groups caught peddling same lies

I believe that the correct term for this is BUSTED!

From the group American Equal Rights comes proof that the forces seeking to stop marriage equality peddle the same lies over and over again:





These videos are highly important because they signify that we are catching on to the lies of the anti-marriage equality forces.

Our ability to spot their phony arguments are getting stronger.

And they are running out of phony argument.

'Bigot: Obama and Jeremiah Wright are lovers' and other Monday midday news briefs

Who wants to hear a theory that Obama and Rev. Jeremiah Wright are lovers? This man REALLY needs Jesus:

 

Hat tip to Jeremy Hooper 

In other news (pick yourself up from the floor first):

 Maine Media Finds Anti-Equality Group Routinely Peddles Falsehoods - I believe the correct word for this is BUSTED!!  
 
Christian Group Finds Gay Agenda in an Anti-Bullying Day - Just pitiful. A day to combat high school cliques is harmed by religious right hysteria.

 LaBarbera: ‘Homosexual Activists’ are ‘Doing to Christians’ what the ‘Nazis Used to Do to the Jews’ - Say what? 

New anti-Obama group full of the same old liars

A supposedly African-American-led group, God Said, working to siphon black support from Obama just released its first ad

It's nothing particularly shocking, but one thing did catch my eye. See if you can stop the video at 17 seconds so you can see who is involved. I recognize four faces.

E.W. Jackson

There is E.W. Jackson who has been attempting to lead an "exodus" of African-Americans from the Democratic Party, claimed that Obama has "affection" for Islam, and has made pointedly homophobic statements, including one about gays serving openly in the military:

 "What of Christians who believe that homosexuality is sin? Are they to be silenced? Subjected to discipline or discharge? Will they live in close quarters with men or women attracted to the same sex? When homosexuality is given protected status, Christians are muzzled or persecuted for their beliefs, and their First Amendment Rights are trampled. This has happened in corporations all over America. The message is 'be silent or lose your job.' In the military, you cannot merely find another job. If keeping qualified people is the priority, what about the Christians who may be forced to leave the military because the environment is hostile to their faith? The message from Gates and Mullen is, 'Get out.' The repeal of the 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' law is a disaster of historic proportions and it must be reinstated. My organization and others will to fight to make sure that happens.

Bill Owens

Bill Owens who is supposed to be leading another group, CAAP (the Coalition of African-American Pastors) whose purpose to ask African-Americans to withhold their votes from President Obama. CAAP's momentum was broken earlier this year when it was discovered that Owens has basically served as a paid shill for religious right groups, such as the National Organization for Marriage (who has already endorsed Obama's opponent Mitt Romney), and may have misled folks about his participation in the Civil Rights Movement.

Alveda King

Alveda King, who has made a career out of exploiting the fact that she is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s niece. However, while she has insulted King's late wife, Coretta, on occasion, she is not as forthcoming as to what she herself accomplished in the Civil Rights Movement.

Harry Jackson

And last, but certainly not least, Harry Jackson, who People for the American Way calls  the point man for the religious right's attempt to exploit the black community.According to Mother Jones magazine, Jackson has received $20,000 from the National Organization for Marriage's "education fund" for his efforts to exploit the opinions of those in the black community who do not agree with marriage equality. In addition, in 2010, Jackson attempted to get a measure on the ballot opposing marriage equality in D.C. In pursuit of that effort, he led the group Stand for Marriage DC.  According to documents attained by Mother Jones magazine, NOM gave $60,000 for that effort.

So what it all comes down to is that this group is a phony concoction comprised of the same African-American sellouts who clutch their Bibles with one hand while having their other hand held out for that religious right and conservative money.

Know Your LGBT History - Stephen Stucker

Those of us who remember the classic manic comedy Airplane! (1980) remember actor Stephen Stucker who literally walked away with the movie with funny lines like such:



According to Wikipedia:

Stucker was born in Des Moines, Iowa, on July 2, 1947. His family moved to Shaker Heights, Ohio, where he distinguished himself in school as a pianist and class clown, and graduated from high school in 1965. Stucker made his screen debut co-starring in the 1975 comedic sexploitation film Carnal Madness as Bruce Wilson, a gay fashion designer who escapes an insane asylum with two fellow inmates, fleeing to an all-girls school.

He went on to perform in the 1977 earthquake-in-Los-Angeles comedy Cracking Up, alongside Fred Willard, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer. Stucker was a scene-stealing member of the cast of the Madison, Wisconsin Kentucky Fried Theater sketch comedy troupe founded by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker.[1] In 1977 he appeared in the film based on it, directed by John Landis. This led to his memorable supporting role in the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker comedy Airplane!, which he reprised in Airplane II: The Sequel. For the initial film, the writers gave Stucker the straight lines for his scenes and let him write his character's off-the-wall responses.

In 1982 he had a guest role in a three-episode sequence in the TV series Mork and Mindy and, in 1983, he had a small featured role in Landis' Trading Places. In 1984, Stucker had a co-starring role as the sex-obsessed psychiatrist, Dr. Bender in the teen comedy film Bad Manners (aka: Growing Pains).

However, there is another reason why the lgbt community should remember Stucker. He was one of the first celebrities to go public with his HIV infection in 1985. As such, he appeared on talk shows like Donahue, where his wild and acerbic personality sometimes bumped hard against an audience ignorant and fearful of the disease AIDS. Some may criticize Stucker for his behavior, but I found him refreshingly honest and uncompromising:

 

Stucker died of AIDS-related complications in 1986.

While we mourn this man's life and what could have been, let's never forget Stucker and those who lived before the age of Ellen, Will and Grace, and the openess regarding who we are as a people.

They endured so we didn't have to.

 Past Know Your LGBT History posts:

'Video defense of anti-gay hate group falls FLAT' and other Friday midday news briefs

Video: Bradlee Dean defends FRC by offending vast majority - Wow! If Bradlee Dean tried to defend the Family Research Council against the charges of being a hate group with the following video, he does a sh@@ty job:

 

 In other news:

 Nordstrom Joins Starbucks, Microsoft, & Amazon in Support of Referendum 74 - More companies standing up for marriage equality is always a good thing.

 Bryan Fischer: No Dialogue, No Middle Ground On LGBT Equality - When it comes to folks like Bryan Fischer, I agree. You will lose, Bryan.

 Coming Out Improves LGBT Youth Happiness, Family Ties - Remember that when religious right spokespeople (I'm especially talking to you, Peter Sprigg) trot out numbers about how "detrimental" the supposed homosexual lifestyle is, they always omit that it's because that we have to deal with homophobia. This study proves that point.

Kirk Cameron knows NOTHING about humility or the love of God

Former child star Kirk Cameron recently gave a speech at Liberty University in which he talked about the controversy stemming from his interview on Piers Morgan's talk show. Naturally, he made himself look like the victim:

 

For the edification of those who do not know what Cameron actually said, this is the portion of the interview in question:

 

My personal opinion is simple. When Cameron voiced his disagreement with marriage equality, that was fine. He had every right. However, where I draw the line is when he called being gay "detrimental" and "destructive." He wasn't talking about an "ism." He was talking about actual people and actual families, many whom he had never met.

As a matter of fact, when a group of gay students wanted to have a meeting with him about his comments, Cameron refused.

That's the problem with folks like Cameron. Their words and actions are not about bringing glory to God or understanding to the human experience as it relates to God.

 It's all about them and their so-called "strong convictions." It's all about their egos.

Despite of what Cameron claimed in his Liberty University speech, there is no love in his words to Piers Morgan nor is he a victim.

To me, the real victim is a young gay child who hears those words and hates him or herself a little more. Who is there for them while Cameron basks in his martyrdom and self-victimhood? Who is going to be there for them while Cameron basks in his media attention and receives praises from religious right groups and their supporters?

In Matthew 25:40, Jesus said " . . .whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

I don't think he meant kicking an anonymous gay child in the face and then bragging about it later.

Take the hint, Kirk.

Presenting probably the most asinine reason to oppose marriage equality

There is an old adage which says give a man enough rope and he will hang himself. In the case of the audio above, I think the adage should be give a bigot enough space and watch her make a fool of herself. With that, I present to you NOM's Jennifer Morse with possibly the dumbest reason EVER to oppose marriage equality. And I think it says more about her biases as a person than marriage equality itself.

Hat tip to Equality Matters. 

'Anti-gay teacher resigns after controversy' and other Thursday midday news briefs

N.J. high school teacher who made anti-gay comments on web resigns - Remember Viki Knox, the teacher who got into trouble for criticizing a pro-gay display at her school and whom NOM was canonizing as a martyr. Well as it turns out, she has resigned and this article includes other portions of the story which NOM omitted. She may have been making outrageous charges against lesbian and gay teachers.  

Anti-Gay Strategist Feigns Ignorance About Campaigns’ Harms - Frank Schubert, the NOM mastermind of the "gays want to harm children" lie doesn't think that the claim doesn't harm anyone. Schubert's sister, by the way, is a lesbian raising children. 

 Maryland Marriage Alliance head: Gay families 'not God's best' - And they are bashing gay families again.  

Happy National Coming Out Day…messages from Harvey Milk - After all of that ugly news, let's get some inspiration. 

Pastor - if you vote for Obama, you deserve your misfortune

According to Right-Wing Watch, Bishop Harry Jackson preached a blistering sermon telling folks that if they vote for President Obama, they are voting against God and deserve any misfortune they get.

Transcript:

Listen to me Black Christian. You are foolish enough to vote against the God that brought you out of slavery, the God that brought you out of the civil rights thing. Just because somebody’s skin is black, you’re gonna support an anti-God, anti-Gospel agenda -- no wonder you can’t get a job. If you celebrate your race over grace you ought to do badly. God is spanking you right now. And I got news, you heard it right here, the folks that sign onto this now and support the president right now in this will find that their best days are behind them….Four more years of Barack Obama will ensure an aggressive anti-Christian spirit that has currently grabbed hold of the administration and this country. Beware my Christian friend, you should not vote for Barack Obama 

Naturally one of the reasons he mentioned has to do with President Obama's support of gay equality. Jackson's sermon was his participation in an event called Pulpit Freedom Sunday, in which religious right groups encourage pastors to endorse or rebuke candidates in the pulpit.

If Jackson was a true Christian, he should talk about something more important, like how the influence of money can taint everyone.

Of course he wouldn't and the irony is that particular sermon would relate to him.

Remember, Jackson, has already received a grand total of $80,000 from the National Organization for Marriage for his efforts against marriage equality.

So my guess is that when he preached this sermon, his eyes wasn't on God, but his bank account.

New effort to harm Obama in eyes of black voters will fail

Alveda King

According to the Advocate magazine, there is now a HUGE effort to keep African-Americans from voting for President Obama because of his support of marriage equality:

A nonprofit group of African-American faith leaders has pledged $1 million toward an anti-Obama ad campaign encouraging black voters to abandon the president at polls in November, due to his support for marriage equality. The group, which calls itself God Said, aims to strip Obama of 25% of his African-American support, asking voters not to cast a ballot by political affiliation, but rather to vote "their biblical values."

On Tuesday, the newly formed group announced its plan to target voters with radio and TV ads in the swing states of Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Florida, according to The Daily Caller .

"The black community is among the most religious in America," founder Apostle Claver Kamau-Imani told The Daily Caller in a statement. "We are offended that President Obama has announced his support of same-sex marriage, that the NAACP has blindly supported the secular views of the Democratic Party, and that their national platform plainly supports same-sex marriage. I am confident this message will be well received and acted upon on Election Day."

According to the group's website — which features an ominous video preaching that "God said marriage equals one man and one woman" — its founders hope to "impact the social and cultural climate; to bring about a notable, nonpartisan support of natural marriage and natural family life in the African American community and society as a whole."

In addition to Kamau-Imani, the executive board of God Said also includes former Miss America contestant Day Gardner, and Alveda King, the right-wing niece of Dr. Martin Luther King.

So this "group"  is targeting Obama in the swing states; states crucial for victory. How convenient. 

Personally, I have never heard of these folks except for Alveda King and if this woman is involved then hold your nose so you don't smell the distinctive wafts of a rat.

For those who don't know, Alveda King has made a career out of being the niece of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She has self-anointed herself as the designee of his legacy in civil rights and is almost always called upon if conservatives or members of the religious right needs a token African-American to somehow make it seem that their policies and efforts are universal.

However, other than exploiting her uncle's name, King has done absolutely nothing for the civil rights movement. In an interview I conducted with her earlier this year (in which I confronted charges she made about Bayard Rustin, the openly gay organizer of the 1963 March on Washington), she could not tell me what her participation was in the civil rights movement nor could she defend the charges she made against Rustin. I guess that's why she hung up on me.

Any group or effort which Alveda King is involved in when it concerns civil rights should be taken with a grain of salt. A very small grain of salt.

But even if King wasn't involved in this endeavor, it would fail anyway because of its own ego. The organization made a huge mistake in revealing how much money will go into its effort to undermine Obama's African-American support.

Or to put it in the vernacular of so many African-Americans who will read this article - "where in the hell are they getting $1 millon from?"

This silly organization with a cute name, will, no doubt, be correctly pegged as an astroturfed group which is backed by predominantly white organizations who actually support Obama's opponent, Mitt Romney.

We already saw that with the Coalition of African-American ministers (CAAP), who has received funding from the Family Research Council and the National Organization for Marriage - two group who support Romney.

And we already saw that with Bishop Harry Jackson, a black pastor who received a grand total of $80,000 from the National Organization for Marriage for his efforts against marriage equality.

So there is no question that this new group  - thanks to its ego in announcing its funding - will fail.

The only question I have is how much of that $1 million will magically ease its way into Alveda King's purse.

'African-American leaders push back hard against anti-marriage equality argument' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Video: Southern Baptist for Maryland equality - The next time someone accuses black ministers being at the forefront of homophobia, show them these videos. Just awesome:





 It's a welcome change from the attacks on our families by bought-and-paid for pastors like Harry Jackson

In other news:

Former NOM president: Marriage is not a “civil rights issue” - From the sound of the article, Maggie Gallagher got some serious push back against her positions from some African-American leaders. I wish I had been there.  

Transgender Voters Could Be Disenfranchised By Voter ID Laws, Advocates Warn - Better safe than sorry. Transgender voters need to know this info before they attempt to vote.

 Preserve Marriage Washington Sidelines Ken Hutcherson, Imports Harry Jackson To Play “Homophobic Black Pastor” - That's gotta be nice. Disposable homophobic black pastors. Just throw the one you are finished with in the trash and pop in a new one.

 

Bishop tells woman she risks going to hell if she accepts her gay son

Nienstedt

What you are seeing is an unbelievably cruel letter by Minnesota Archbishop John Nienstedt to a mother of a gay son in 2010. In essence, it's telling her that if she accepts her gay son, she risks going to hell.

Apparently this is par for the course for Nienstedt. According to an article in the Minnesota's Star Tribune, Nienstedt has raised eyebrow with how he has led the charge against marriage equality in Minnesota:

Working aggressively behind the scenes, the 65-year-old Nienstedt has emerged as a key financial and political force for passage of the marriage amendment, which will be on the Nov. 6 ballot and is the most contentious issue in the state this election season.

He has committed more than $650,000 in church money, stitched together a coalition of leaders from other faiths and exerted all his power within the church to press Minnesota's million-plus Catholics to back him.

 . . .  Nienstedt is not a new disciple to the traditional marriage campaign. In 2006, as bishop of the diocese of New Ulm, he mobilized Catholics to send postcards to lawmakers urging them to support a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

Not long after he was promoted to archbishop in 2008, Nienstedt ordered an end to the gay pride prayer service at St. Joan of Arc Church in Minneapolis. Before the 2010 election, he led a move to send DVDs opposing same-sex marriage to 400,000 Catholics in Minnesota . . .


 . . .   Undeterred by the criticism, Nienstedt has raised the stakes. To a mother who pleaded for acceptance for her gay child, he wrote: "I urge you to reconsider the position that you expressed. ... Your eternal salvation may well depend upon a conversation of heart on this topic."

To clergy, he issued orders that no "open dissension" would be allowed. He wrote one outspoken priest, the Rev. Mike Tegeder, that if he persisted, "I will ... remove you from your ministerial assignments."

"He silenced his priests under the order of obedience," said Ed Flahavan, a member of Former Priests for Marriage Equality, a group that went public in May with the names of 80 former Minnesota Catholic priests against the amendment. "It's the first time in my experience or knowledge that kind of blanket order has been given" in this archdiocese.

Individual Catholics have seen their parishes directed to form committees to work for passage of the amendment. The archdiocese also appointed married couples to talk up marriage at Catholic high schools. Nienstedt asked priests to recite a "marriage prayer" during mass.

Folks like Nienstedt is most likely the reason why some people are making the choice to turn away from religion.

Pat Robertson's group embroiled in huge gay scandal

The chickens have come home to roost for the extreme homophobe Pat Robertson. After years of verbally bashing the gay community, including helping the late Jerry Falwell blame us for 9/11, Robertson's legal group (the American Center for Law and Justice) is now embroiled in a HUGE gay scandal.

According to the Advocate magazine:

A senior attorney has been fired from the conservative American Center for Law and Justice for reportedly having multiple relationships with younger men.

Metro Weekly reports that James Henderson was fired September 25, one day after two blogs, Exposed Politics and The Patriot-Ombudsman, posted reports that Henderson may be gay. The reports showed that Henderson created a Facebook account solely to communicate with at least two men he was involved with.

While it is unclear whether the men are at the age of consent or old enough to consume alcohol, it appears that Henderson provided them with alcohol and marijuana. One of the reports alleges that one of the men was 17 when he began communicating with Henderson in 2010.

Henderson is married with eight children.

The American Center for Law and Justice was founded in 1990 by Pat Robertson as a counter to the American Civil Liberties Union. Representatives of the organization confirmed to Metro Weekly that Henderson had been fired but would not make any further comments. His attorney, Christopher Zampogna, told Metro Weekly that he would not comment on Henderson's termination, but also confirmed that he was fired.

Henderson previously taught undergraduate religious studies at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va., also founded by Pat Robertson.

Comment away, folks.

'Huge error spotted in Maine anti-marriage equality ad' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Protect Marriage Maine—or Ukraine?! - Anti-marriage equality commercial in Maine pulls a huge deception. Couldn't they find any Maine couples or at least a couple not as far as the Ukraine?  

Michigan State Rep Calls Homosexuality A ‘Lifestyle’ That People Can Leave - Here we go again.

 Roy Moore, Alabama Chief Justice Candidate, Calls Gay Marriage 'Ultimate Destruction Of Our Country' (VIDEO) - Roy Moore is like a fungus you can't get rid of.  

Not So Nice: Meet The Group Behind Minnesota's "Low-Key" Anti-Equality Ads - They know how to fake being polite. 

NOM fails HARD in NY Senate primary

To hear the National Organization for Marriage proclaim it, its attack on the New York Senators who voted for the passage of marriage equality in the state worked liked gangbusters.

You wanna bet:

Equality Matters - who was kind enough to create the above chart - said the following:

NOM endorsed six candidates in New York’s state senate primary. Out of these six, two ended up winning their races, and only one of those races revolved around the issue of same-sex marriage. NOM also claimed credit for forcing two additional pro-equality state senators to resign before the election:

• Sen. Mark Grisanti. Although NOM worked aggressively to defeat Grisanti in the primary, the pro-equality Republican won his district with roughly 60 percent of the vote.
• Sen. Stephen Saland. Saland – who provided the critical 32nd vote to pass New York’s marriage equality law – was declared the winner of his close primary despite being targeted by NOM.
• Sen. Gustavo Rivera. Freshman state Sen. Gustavo Rivera handily defeated NOM-endorsed challenger Manny Tavarez, who campaigned against Rivera’s support for marriage equality.
• Mark Amodeo. In the race to determine who would challenge Republican Sen. Grisanti in November, Democrat Mark Amodeo defeated NOM-endorsed candidate Charles Swanick by a wide margin.
• Sen. Roy McDonald. McDonald’s defeat proved to be NOM’s only real “victory” in New York’s Senate primary. After losing a close race to NOM-endorsed challenger Kathleen Marchione, McDonald decided to drop out rather than run as a third-party candidate. A poll taken earlier this week showed that McDonald could have won his seat in a three-way race.
• Sen. Shirley Huntley. Although NOM claims that Huntley lost to challenger James Sanders as a result of her vote for same-sex marriage, it likely has more to do with the fact that she was indicted on felony corruption charges just weeks before the election. Gay marriage wasn’t a central part of Sanders’ campaign, which instead emphasized “clean government.”
• Sen. Carl Kruger. NOM also claims responsibility for ending Sen. Carl Kruger’s career over his vote for marriage equality, failing to mention that Kruger resigned in anticipation of being convicted  on federal corruption charges. He’s currently serving seven years in prison.
• Sen. James Alesi. Alesi is the last of the four “turncoat” Republican senators NOM targeted for supporting marriage equality. NOM claimed credit for his decision to retire this year, but reports indicate that his retirement might have more to do with a “bogus lawsuit” he filed against constituents several years ago than with his support for same-sex marriage.

Of the six races NOM was involved in, only one can reasonably be considered a “victory” for NOM. That’s a pretty pitiful record for any organization . . .

That's the thing with  bull. It's unfortunate but sometimes, it must be revealed as such by a careful wafting of the smell by those who know it as such.

Otherwise, those pushing it will get away with the lie that what you smell are rose petals.

NOM-affiliated pastor calls gay families 'discombobulated Frankenstein structures'

I don't think Jeremy Hooper will mind if I steal this one from him. I want to get this clip out to as much people as possible because it underlines a basic hypocrisy about the National Organization for Marriage and their supporters.

They seem to always whine about being unfairly labeled as "bigots" because they believe that marriage should solely be between a man and a woman. This is a lie and NOM bought-and-paid for pastor, Bishop Harry  Jackson proves this point with what can only be called an unprovoked, nasty attack on same-sex families. This is totally uncalled for and the only reason why Jackson and NOM gets away with stuff like this is because NO ONE presses the issue. Not the mainstream media or OUR media.

 We've got to stop letting them get away with this mess. People like Jackson and the folks I talked about in the post this morning are attacking our families and we should be pointing attention to that simple fact every chance we get. They don't want to simply "preserve" the supposed traditional definition of marriage. They are unfairly attacking same-sex families who have never done them any harm.

When is someone is going to ask folks like Jackson and company questions like - "If you don't want to seem bigots, then why are you attacking same-sex families?

'Supreme Court Justice Scalia would criminalize being gay' and other Monday midday news briefs

Thought police: One Million Moms blasts a yet-to-be-filmed concept - Whatever happened to waiting for something to air before attacking it. This Jennifer Lopez project doesn't even have an IMDB page yet. Geez! 

 No, Justice Scalia, Overruling Roe, Criminalizing Sex and Killing Inmates Are Not ‘Absolutely Easy’ Cases - Sorry but Scalia is a bigoted moron. He refers to gay lives as "homosexual sodomy." One would have to ask what does he think of "heterosexual sodomy."

“Ex-Gay” Plaintiff Spoke At NOM’s Student Conference - Surprise! Surprise! One of the plantiffs in the case against California's ban on "ex-gay" therapy is affiliated with NOM.

 LGBT History Month Icon Of The Day: Manvendra Singh Gohil - This man deserves accolades because he has guts! It must be heck to be India's first openly gay crown prince. 

NOM compares potential gay parents to rapists, sexual predators

Pay attention, gay folks. There is seems to be a quiet war going on against our rights to be surrogate parents.

Via the NOM blog, I found this highly offensive piece, The New Sexual Predators. In it, the author, Alana S. Newman compares gay couples and older woman to human traffickers out to steal the eggs of younger women.

Every portion of this piece is gag-worthy drivel:

Young women now have to defend themselves not only from stereotypical sexual predators, but also from older women and gay men who seek their eggs.

 . . . there are new predators on the scene, for whom we do not have a script. There are new characters eager to exploit our daughters’ bodies, who enjoy unsullied reputations, passing detection even as they blatantly hunt for eggs and wombs with checkbooks in hand. And historically they have been the people women should fear the least. These new players vying for access to young women’s bodies are older or infertile women, and gay men—quite often our friends and members of our family.

 . . . Our gay friends and family members may now also be after our daughters’ bodies. These are the only men in the world we thought we could trust because they weren’t interested in our bodies. That is, until they grew older and discovered they wanted to be parents. Today, more and more often, gay men are using egg donors and surrogates to create motherless children on purpose. Toleration of these attempts to create families follows a timeline of slipped slopes and fallen barriers. If heterosexual couples can use sperm donors to create children who are separated from their biological fathers, so the logic goes, then lesbians should be able to do the same thing. To them, it’s not biology that matters—kids just need two parents. And if lesbians use sperm donors to create fatherless children, then it’s only equal and fair for gay men to be able to use egg donors and surrogates to create motherless children too. Because again, it’s not biology that matters; kids just need two parents. At present, all those who believe in gender equality rather than gender complementarity are being urged to accept this often violent (against women) form of third-party reproduction. 

It's not just the the piece itself which we should be paying attention to but also who is promoting it. Yet again, the National Organization for Marriage undercuts its false claim of simply attempting to protect marriage and having "intelligent and decent" discussion on marriage. By promoting this piece on its blog,  it is now even more apparent that NOM has declared war on same-sex families.

Secondly, and most importantly, Newman's piece was published by the Witherspoon Institute. That is the organization which approached Texas researcher Mark Regnerus to create a study claiming that same-sex families are inferior to two-parent heterosexual families. The organization gave him a $695,000 "grant" to complete said study, which since then has been embroiled in a huge scandal in regards to a multitude of errors. In fact, over 200 professors and researchers signed a letter condemning it.

If we do not recognize what seems to be a consistent effort by NOM and the Witherspoon Institute to undercut our right to be parents, we may find those rights diminished, or worse, extinguished.