Analyzing and refuting the inaccuracies lodged against the lgbt community by religious conservative organizations. Lies in the name of God are still lies.
To say the National Organization for Marriage isn't happy that marriage equality has come to Wisconsin is an understatement. From its president, Brian Brown:
"Again, an individual, activist judge is legislating from the bench and trampling on the sovereign will of the people of Wisconsin.This has got to stop, and the only way it will is for the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and protect the democratic process and the rights of the tens of millions of voters who have declared that they want their state's social policy to define marriage as it has been known for millennia — the union of one man and one woman."
Oh stop whining, Brian. It's not anyone's fault that the horror stories and fake homilies you all used to pass these laws can't stand up in a court of law.
This post is dedicated to the intelligent but misguided colleagues of mine who complain when anti-gay spokespeople are given a platform to spread their homophobic lies.
You cannot stop lies by covering the mouth of those who tell them. You only give them power through pity. As the following post, courtesy of Right Wing Watch proves, by all means, give anti-gay spokespeople a platform to spread their lies. But not a platform which offers no challenge. Let people like Tony Perkins, or in this case, Mat Staver, speak. But make sure they are challenged by someone who knows their stuff such as Rep. Jerry Nadler:
Testifying before a House committee today about supposed threats to religious freedom in the U.S., Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver struggled to defend his support for allowing businesses to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.
New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler grilled Staver about his view that it would be wrong for a wedding photographer to discriminate against a Jewish couple because of a religious objection, but that the photographer is free to discriminate against a same-sex couple.
First, Staver tried to avoid the question by saying a photographer wouldn’t refuse to work for a Jewish wedding, but ultimately agreed that such anti-Jewish discrimination is in fact a violation of the law.
“I don’t see any difference at all” between refusing a Jewish couple and a gay couple, Nadler said.
He continued: “I’m holding out myself in commerce and my religious belief is that I don’t want black people or Jewish people or gay people in my restaurant and the federal government says that is discrimination, is that a violation of the freedom of religion?”
“No,” Staver conceded.
Public condemnations are messy, but in the case of anti-gay groups and spokespeople, it is something which is very necessary. You see, even when their anti-gay propaganda is refuted on paper, they tend to repeat it as if nothing happened. They tend to get away with this a lot.
Public condemnation and exposure is one of the only few actions which they have a difficult time ignoring. It not only exposes flimsiness of their arguments but also their lack of integrity. Don't think so? Ask Tom Minnery of Focus on the Family about the 2011 incident in which Sen. Al Franken called him out during his testimony for distorting a study.
NY state senator filling #March4Marriage buses without actually mentioning march itself - So a NOM supporter, State Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr., is pulling a fraud to get participation in its upcoming march. Not surprising but I seriously have to give props to the blogs who have been on top of this. The work that lgbt blogs have put in to expose anti-gay distortions should never be forgotten in the annals of lgbt history.
I've heard of throwing tantrums, but what the Family Research Council president Tony Perkins recently said about Wisconsin judge Barbara Crabb (the justice ruling against Wisconsin's anti-marriage equality law) was just plain nasty:
Tony Perkins
While Americans are glued to the story of one high-profile deserter,
the courts seem packed with them -- lawless judges eager to walk away
from the Constitution and the oath they swore to uphold it.
Unfortunately, the country is all too familiar with one of those
activists, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb, who's been tied to the
National Day of Prayer, which she tried -- unsuccessfully -- to strike
it down. Obviously, Crabb hasn't learned anything since her rogue days
in 2010, when a higher court rebuked the ideologue for her obvious
political agenda.
Now, the Wisconsin judge is back to her old ways, ruling late Friday
afternoon that natural marriage belongs in the same garbage pile as
public prayer. Like her past outrages, this ruling makes a case for same-sex "marriage" absolutely devoid of religious or legal authority.
To make matters worse, we don't even know all of the facts behind the situation of the person Perkins compares Crabb to, i.e. Bowe Bergdahl. To call Bergdahl a deserter without knowing all of the facts is vile and totally un-Christian. Clearly Perkins is exploiting a hot controversy in a pitiful attempt to smear Crabb.
Unfortunately, when it comes to Perkins and company, the case in Wisconsin is no different from the other cases in which anti-marriage equality laws have been struck down. It was easy for them to get people to vote for these laws by spreading vicious lies about lgbt or useless homilies such as "every child has a right to a mother and a father." However, none of these arguments can be used as a defense in the courts.
So when they lose in court cases, Perkins and company throw extreme tantrums, making sure to call the ruling judges everything BUT a "child of God" in a sad effort to obscure how empty their arguments against marriage equality were in the first place.
Even though it's enjoyable when fake Christians like Perkins show their true faces when things don't go their way, this act of feigned shock and outrage they put on when they lose marriage equality cases is beginning to become tiresome and redundant. And extremely offensive.
With the National Organization for Marriage planning its big march (March4Marriage) and taking the guise of a group whose followers "supports marriage between a man and a woman," the flyer below, comprised by the site NOManiacs, shows otherwise.
How the National Organization for Marriage Doomed Itself to Collapse - According to Slate writer Mark Joseph Stern, the National Organization for Marriage is imploding before us all for a simple reason which has nothing to do with homophobia. While I don't like to pronounce the end of any anti-lgbt equality group before they are in the grave, Stern makes an excellent point. However, I have to disagree with him on this point:
After its success in California, the group took its tactics on the road, successfully batting away marriage equality in Maine and North Carolina while exacting revenge on judges who dared to uphold legal equality. Through these campaigns, NOM rewrote the modern anti-gay playbook, demeaning the LGBTQ community as promiscuous, predatory, diseased, and disordered.
That's simply not true. NOM merely followed the same playbook that Anita Bryant and others did when attempting to defeat pro-lgbt laws and such. It's an old playbook and I wish the community would get serious about analyzing it in a manner which can broken down in simple terms.
Wait a minute.Some of us have.
Remember that lovely big flop of an event last year - 'Ex-Gay Awareness Month - which got canceled because of a lack of interest, and then rescheduled with the same disastrousresults?
Guess what? It's back:
Say what you want, but with a line-up like this, I don't think they will have a lot of success, but lawd, the speeches will be . . . . something
If anti-gay activist Peter LaBarbera hates it when we call him "Porno Pete" then why does he give us such juicy reasons such as what he said in the following video courtesy of Right Wing Watch:
On the American Family Association's fake news site, One News Now, there is a story alleging about "immoral activities" during a gay pride parade.
The headline is provocative: Where were police during vulgar 'gay pride' parade? In it, of course
The charge - that the police were present while gays during a pride parade were supposedly being vulgar but did nothing about it - is also there:
A traditional values leader in Ohio found out where the police are when immoral activities are happening in homosexual pride parades.
At issue are homosexual pride parades in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio although they happen nationwide.
Phil Burress, who heads Citizens for Community Values, tells OneNewsNow that what occurs in the parades shouldn't be described, and certainly children shouldn't be exposed to it, he says.
"You have women and men parading around in their underwear, and in Cincinnati it's not near as bad as it is in Columbus," he says. "In Columbus, women have actually gone topless before, and the signs and things are just totally inappropriate."
And the article actually includes a video of a Cincinnati gay pride parade . . . and that's where everything goes south for the article in rapid fashion. The video doesn't show any supposed vulgarities during the gay pride parade. In fact, the video contradicts the claims.
After all, who would walk around in their underwear in the rain:
I live for refuting religious right lies about lgbts. But there is a special joy which comes when they do the job for me.
The U.S. Supreme Court has given NOM's Brian Brown a new reason to cry
The Supreme Court denied the National Organization for Marriage’s attempt to stop same-sex couples from marrying in Oregon.
NOM has appealed the trial judge’s decision not to let the group,
which is opposed to same-sex couples’ marriage rights, to intervene in
the lawsuit challenging Oregon’s ban on such marriages.
The appeal of the intervention denial now continues at the 9th
Circuit, but same-sex couples will continue to be able to marry during
the time that is happening.
The 9th Circuit, which is hearing that appeal, denied NOM’s request
to stop the trial court decision striking down the ban from going into
effect during the appeal. NOM then went to Justice Anthony Kennedy to ask him to stop the marriages while that appeal is pending before the 9th Circuit.
Kennedy, who hears procedural matters brought to the court from the
9th Circuit, referred the request to the full court, which denied the
request without comment on Tuesday. NOM’s appeal of the denial to intervene is the only matter left
pending in the case because Oregon state officials had not fought the
lawsuit, having agreed with the plaintiffs that the ban is
unconstitutional. They had said that they would not appeal the decision
if U.S. District Court Judge Michael McShane struck down the ban.
Ken Blackwell, a spokesman with the Family Research Council, recently caught a lot of heat for blaming marriage equality for the recent awful mass killings in Isla Vista, CA.
Family Research Council senior fellow Ken Blackwell yesterday linked the Isla Vista mass killings to marriage equality laws, which he claimed are destroying the culture. Speaking with FRC president Tony Perkins on “Washington Watch,” Blackwell blamed the shooting on “the crumbling of the moral foundation of the country” and “the attack on natural marriage and the family.”
“When these fundamental institutions are attacked and destroyed and weakened and abandoned, you get what we are now seeing,” Blackwell said, arguing that people who are “blaming the Second Amendment” are “avoiding talking about what is at the root cause of the problem.”
In the face of this controversy, FRC has chosen to ignore Right Wing Watch, and the with the help of a site called TruthRevolt, attack a second party who reported the story, Media Matters. The following is from an email sent by FRC president Tony Perkins as a part of his Washington Update:
If you can't beat 'em, smear 'em. That seems to be Media Matters's
far-Left M.O. for intimidating people who make compelling cases for
conservatism. Its latest target? FRC's Ken Blackwell. In an interview
last week, Ken talked about the latest shooting spree at the University
of California and pointed back to the "crumbling of the moral foundation
of the country" as a contributing factor to the recent spate of
violence. Media Matters, a pet project of multi-billionaire George
Soros, went on the attack -- accusing Ken of blaming same-sex "marriage"
for the murders.
TruthRevolt immediately fired back
at the wild distortion. "Blackwell never mentions same-sex marriage.
Not once. His discussion... revolves around the generalized breakdown
and destruction of sexual values. Blackwell's main point is with the
hyper-sexualized, porn-obsessed society that we live in, Elliot Rodger's
perception of what a relationship between a man and a woman comes from
the "development of human sexuality in our culture."
I don't know what the heck TruthRevolt is supposed to be, but both it and the Family Research Council are attempting to pull a fast one. Let's look at what Blackwell actually said (and this exact quote is from Truth Revolt. The audio is from Right Wing Watch):
Transcript:
When you see there's a crumbling of the moral foundation of the country,
you see the attack on the -- on natural marriage and the family that
has been a part of the, not only the moral foundation and the upbringing
of our children but the teaching of sexual roles and the development of
human sexuality in our culture. When these fundamental institutions are
attacked and destroyed and weakened and abandoned, you get what we are
now seeing and that is a flood of these disturbed people in our society
that are causing great, great pain. And as opposed to dealing with the
foundational problems, we look for ways of blaming the Second Amendment,
or blaming knives or blaming cars when they are used. At the end of the
day, you have just underscored the problem. This is a convenient way of
avoiding talking about what's at the root cause.
So yes, Blackwell was talking about marriage equality or "same sex marriage," even though he didn't mention it by name. And he was blaming it in part for the mass killings. To say otherwise when one has access to the original audio and the transcript is a bold-faced lie.
And to claim that Blackwell wasn't talking about marriage equality in his comments is an even bigger bold-faced lie if you just happened to have been there when he made the statement, isn't that right, Mr. Perkins.
You see, the other person on the audio with Blackwell was in fact Tony Perkins, i.e. the same person who is now claiming that Blackwell was not blaming marriage equality for the Isla Vista mass killings. And one has to ask why would Perkins cite a second party (i.e. TruthRevolt) in a sad attempt to absolve Blackwell when he was present at the time of Blackwell's statement?
I can't say much for his honesty, but Perkins deserves some type of special recognition to lie this brazenly.
Excellent video, excellent family. More like them are needed:
Of course, according to Equality Matters, SOME people (such as Fox News' Keith Ablow) are being nasty about the situation:
“From a personal, not a professional standpoint, were my
daughter to assert that she were a boy, not a girl, there is no chance
we would be headed to a surgeon’s office without a trial of
anti-psychotic medication,”
Equality Matters points out that Ablow has no expertise in sexuality issues. Equality Matters also points out:
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, gender identity is usually established by the age of four. Medical
professionals note that denying medical treatment to transgender
children can be harmful; Dr. Norman Spack of Children’s Hospital Boston,
for instance, states that many children who don’t receive treatment
resort to self-mutilation in
an attempt to change their anatomies. According to Spack, the earlier
children deemed to need treatment start receiving it, the easier of a
time they'll have passing as the gender with which they identify and the
less likely they'll be to require more radical treatments later in
life.
The National Organization for Marriage is pushing their upcoming "March for Marriage" extremely hard.
Of course, as I said before, if the organization could prove to the courts that gay couples shouldn't be married, such a march designed to gain headlines wouldn't be necessary.
However, one has to ask what type of people will be there. Certainly there will be some people who have an ignorant view of the situation because they have been brainwashed by slogans like "every child needs a mother and a father" (the irony being that NOM has done NOTHING to push adoption) and horror stories of being "called a bigot."
But then there will be these individuals who have supported NOM in the past. The following videos are courtesy of NOM Tour Tracker:
Granted, these videos were shot in 2010 but NOM continues to push the same message since 2010. Do you actually think the mindset of the organization's supporters have changed any iota?
The following video is tonic for a tiring day. Marriage equality became officially legal in Illinois yesterday and of course you know what that means - Mass wedding in Chicago!!:
According to the video's description:
On the first day of marriage equality throughout the state of Illinois
June 1, 2014, Unity in Chicago hosted "Married in Unity," an
all-inclusive, non-denominational group wedding ceremony in the Unity
garden at the church. Rev. Heidi Alfrey, the church's senior
minister, officiated the ceremony for 40 same- and opposite-sex couples.
Among them were couples making commitments without legal documentation
and married couples renewing their vows.
We're going to teach our kids and our citizens that homosexuality is a civil rights issue when it's not," he laments. "It's a human misbehavior issue. It's just a sin movement – and we're elevating it to civil rights icon status. . . . I fear for our country, because when a nation starts celebrating sexual immorality as the norm and as a social good, then that nation cannot survive in the long run," he explains. "Every other civilization has been brought down for sexual immorality as part of the factors bringing it down, and I think the United States of America will not be an exception in that regard." - 'Porno' Pete LaBarbera
LaBarbera was reacting to the news that the National Park Service will now be identifying places and events associated with the history of lgbt Americans for
inclusion in the parks and programs of the National Park Service as a part of its Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender Initiative.
Maybe one of these days, people like LaBarbera will recognize that acknowledging lgbt history is not a part of a plot or a "sin movement" (which is a phrase I have NEVER heard before), but a way to recognize that lgbts exists and that we have a diverse history.
But that is the problem with folks like LaBarbera, isn't it? The fact the lgbts exist.
Former Secretary of Defense and new head of the Boy Scouts of America Robert Gates recently said he would have allowed openly gay Scoutmasters but does not wish to revisit the issue just yet.
And like they always do when it comes to issues involving lgbts, some anti-gay activists heard what they wanted to hear and proceeded to go ballistic about it:
Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel Action, and founder of Barbwire.com, says Gates should have seen the impact of repeal of the ban on open homosexuals in the military.
"With homosexual assaults on men in the armed forces particularly skyrocketing," says Barber. "Since 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' was lifted, upwards of more than a third increase in sexual assaults – male on male."
. . . "I have said all along that they will eventually cave," says Barber, "because the homosexual activist juggernaut simply will not be daunted. And they are demanding nothing less than absolute affirmation and allowing fully, openly out and proud homosexual men to take your boys on overnight camping trips."
There is just one problem with Barber's assessment of the situation. There has been no correlation between the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the rise of male-on-male assaults in the military. Notice that I said male-on-male assaults. Barber is of the inaccurate mindset that when a man assaults another man, the assaulter identifies as gay.
According to a June 23, 2013 New York Times article, the problem of male-on-male assault in the Armed Forces has been going on decades before DADT was repealed. What is going on now seems to be that more men are having the courage to report the incidents.
The article also says that ironically, the policy about gays being barred from the military was one of the reasons why men didn't report the incidents.
Last, but certainly not least, the article refutes Barber's ridiculous claim about gay military men assaulting other men in the Armed Forces:
Many sexual assaults on men in the military seem to be a form of violent
hazing or bullying, said Roger Canaff, a former New York State
prosecutor who helped train prosecutors on the subject of military
sexual assault for the Pentagon. “The acts seemed less sexually
motivated than humiliation or torture-motivated,” he said.
It's a shame that Barber is so obsessed with fantasizing about gay men taking boy scouts on overnight camping trips that he exploits a genuine problem impacting our men and women in the Armed Forces in pursuit of his obsession.
How homophobic is the American Family Association's fake news site One News Now? In article about lgbts supposedly "recruiting" children (cue the spooky music), readers were invited to vote in the following poll:
I think it's safe to say that lgbts won't turn out the winners in this vote.
Texas Restaurant Bans Gay Couple Because ‘We Do Not Like Fags’ - You would be surprised that this sort of thing may be perfectly legal. If it blows up, count on groups like the Family Research Council to stand behind this restaurant, even to the point of defending the use of the anti-gay slur.
After nearly nine hours of discussion, punctuated by opponents
chanting outside City Hall and by emotional supporters' personal stories
of discrimination, the Houston City Council on Wednesday passed an
ordinance extending equal rights protections to gay and transgender
residents.
Public dissension has persisted for
weeks, but the final vote was 11-6, a count that matched guesses made
months ago when Mayor Annise Parker - the first openly gay mayor of a
major U.S. city - said she planned to bring the measure forward.
The approval was greeted with
applause from the audience, largely full of supporters by the time of
the vote, and chants of "HERO," for the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance. Opponents vow to gather the
signatures needed to trigger a referendum to repeal the law this
November, and others say they plan to seek recall elections against some
council members who supported the measure.
. . . The measure bans discrimination based not just on sexual orientation
and gender identity but also, as federal laws do, sex, race, color,
ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, pregnancy and
genetic information, as well as family, marital or military status. The ordinance applies to businesses
that serve the public, private employers, housing, city employment and
city contracting. Religious institutions are exempt. Violators could be
fined up to $5,000.
The ordinance vote gained nationwide attention and even commentary from groups such as the anti-gay Family Research Council as opponents threw out the standard memes of "bathroom bills" and "religious liberty," such as:
but those supporting the ordinance were firm and had their facts together:
Still, this issue is far from over. My guess is that opponents of the bill will continue to be stirred on by their homophobia, fears, and outside groups such as the Family Research Council. However, I also believe that Mayor Parker and the supporters of the ordinance are going to dig in and give them one hell of a fight.
In the case of the National Organization for Marriage's huge loss today in front of the Maine Ethics Commission, I really miss lgbt investigative reporters. While it's awesome that NOM was embarrassed and fined record amount (more than $50,000) for its violation of Maine's election laws, the meat of the story lies in the organization's funders.
(The Maine Ethics Commission) ruled that the National Organization for Marriage failed to
properly register as a ballot question committee and file campaign
finance reports in the referendum that struck down same-sex marriage
before it was legalized by voters in 2012. The decision could force the group to eventually disclose the names
of its donors, which it has long sought to keep secret. But a lawyer for
the National Organization for Marriage said it intends to appeal the
decision in state court, and members of the Maine Ethics Commission said
they expect litigation to continue for at least a year.
. . . The group, which fought in Maine courts for more than four years to
keep the names of its donors concealed, argues that it worked to ensure
it was complying with Maine law by not raising any money specifically
earmarked to influence the gay marriage question in the state. It says
revealing the names will put its contributors at risk for harassment and
intimidation and will chill future donations.
I say that's bull and I am extremely intrigued. NOM looks like it will go the ultimate limit to protect its list of donors. And I want to know why. I have a feeling that when we ultimately find out who is funding NOM, all hell is going to break loose.
I also have to ask am I the only one who is wondering about this? I'm curious to hear your thoughts and speculations.
Like so many around the world, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters mourns the passing of legendary civil rights activist, poetess, and lgbt ally Maya Angelou. She left so much of a legacy but if there is one reason why I can say I admire Ms. Angelou, it's the fact that she didn't say you should love yourself, she DEMANDED that you love yourself.
Yesterday, I predicted that today would be the National Organization's day of reckoning for breaking Maine election laws. Today, it has happened:
Was It First Annual Gay Night At FRC’s Watchmen On The Wall? - What does one say about a "Christian" organization having a huge meeting and only being able to talk about how "evil" gays are and how they "love" us in spite of it all. If I wanted love like that, I would pay my mother to pistol-whip me.
Last night, I wrote how the National Organization for Marriage's astroturfed black pastor group, CAAP, had put out a vile video comparing marriage equality to slavery and segregation.
This morning, I just want to show a video of the lgbt of colors who are hurt when NOM plays its divide and conquer game between the lgbt and African-American communities. It should speak for itself:
In 2012, it was discovered that the National Organization for Marriage was planning to divide the lgbt and African-American communities on the subject of marriage equality. According to a court document:
The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays
and blacks - two key democratic constituencies. We aim to find, equip,
energize and connect African American spokespeople for marriage; to
develop a media campaign around their objections to gay marriage as a
civil right; and to provoke the gay marriage base into responding by
denouncing these spokesmen and women as bigots. No politician wants to
take up and push an issue that splits the base of the party.
Even though they were caught red-handed in this cynical attempt to play both communities like chess pieces, NOM persisted to the point of teaming up with a group entitled the Coalition of African-American pastors (CAAP). CAAP is led by a man named William Owens who claimed that he is a veteran of the civil rights movement. He also claimed that the lgbt community was exploiting the civil rights movement.
However, there are certain things you need to know about Owens and CAAP:
NOM was using CAAP in a failed attempt to sabotage President Obama's African-American support during the 2012 election after the organization (NOM) had endorsed Obama's opponent, Mitt Romney
These are facts you should keep in mind when watching the following video by CAAP which connects slavery, segregation, and the indignities perpetrated on African-Americans to marriage equality in anticipation to NOM's upcoming supposed "March for Marriage:"
Never mind that this march is crap because the arguments are now in the courtroom and it would serve NOM and those who are against marriage equality better to bring up cohesive arguments which could sway judges.
They won't do that of course because they don't have any cohesive arguments to justify denying marriage to gays and lesbians. Therefore, they are going back to the standard plan of all demagogues, i.e. divide and conquer. And the potential victims will be the gay and black communities. Just how many news programs, specifically on African-American networks, will Owens be invited to in order to pitch the false division between the lgbt and black communities on marriage equality? How many will entertain his bombastic statements about not marching an inch in the civil rights movement to see gays marry instead of challenging the notion that he marched at all in the civil rights, much less scratched his nose when hearing that MLK was speaking.
Lastly, how many program will dissuade going for the "sexy angle" of conflicts between blacks and lgbts and instead focus on the following fact that marriage equality is an African-American issue. According to a study published last year:
The report also said that 58 percent of the couples are female and the majority of all of these couples live in areas with high populations of black residents, but these areas have yet to have passed any laws which protect these couples.
These are the people whom NOM is hurting. African-Americans who just happen to be lgbt. If you ask me, it's people like Owens who are the real dangers to the African-American community, not marriage equality And certainly not the lgbt African-Americans who will most likely suffer because of pay-for-play pastors such as Owens and the others appearing in the above video and the coming march.
Maine’s battle with National Organization for Marriage is worth it - Tomorrow morning, the full Maine Ethics Commission will be voting on the punishment the National Organization for Marriage will receive for breaking its election laws. Will we finally see full disclosure of NOM's funders? Could be.
WATCH: Fox News Guest Blames Mass Shooting On 'Homosexual Impulses' - An ugly mess took place over the weekend and it was exacerbated by this Fox guest. I report on this because I have just received a statement from one of her employers, Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC (from Scott Wooledge who contacted the company via Facebook):
Dr. Robi’s comments on the tragedy in Santa Barbara do not represent the opinions of Coldwell Banker. Therefore at this time we feel it best to part ways with her as our lifestyle real estate correspondent.
It was a long weekend so by now, a lot of us have heard about the recent speech from Franklin Graham at the Family Research Council's Watchmen on the Walls conference in which he said that pastors must be willing to "get their heads chopped off" for opposing lgbt equality and that he loves gays so much he is willing to tell them to "stop what they are doing." He even added the old customary inference of "don't get angry at him because God said so."
There are so many things to be said that I think I shall comply a list:
1. Pastors are free to oppose lgbt equality and at no time will anyone have to fear getting martyred for it. Of course we all know this but that never seems to stop folks like Graham from conjuring up that image constantly.
2. What exactly are gays doing that Graham is opposed to. Is he talking about SEX? In that case, I haven't a thing to worry about. And I say that in a depressed tone of voice.
3. The last I checked, potential martyrs never sat in exquisite ballrooms, dressed in nice clothing, and listening to men in expensive suits and large bank accounts talk about how they will be persecuted.
4. SPEAKING of number three, I have never heard of a man dressed in an expensive suit and a large bank account (courtesy of his prominent family) talk of being a martyr. In fact, I have never heard of anyone make a speech about becoming an martyr to an unfair situation and then reaping the benefits of the speech without said "benefits" being arrest, torture, and execution. Let's put it another way - John the Baptist, Simon Peter, and Paul of Tarsus were all executed for their faith. At the very least, Graham will receive a rebuke from blogs like this for his hubris. Oh yeah. THAT'S balance.
5. Most importantly, what is the deal with the Christianity practiced by Graham and the folks who applauded him? What's up with any type of religion in which making assumptions about the nuances of someone else's life before examining your own is acceptable? What type of Christianity encourages a person to condemn someone else to hell for supposed behavior in front of enthusiastic audiences while ignoring the things that Jesus actually talked about such as basic human kindness, forgiveness, and most importantly the type of love in which you give and expect nothing in return. The type of love Graham claims has for lgbts is the type which makes one see an analyst every week. It's a type of love we can all do without.
Why Is This Transgender Teen in Solitary? - A 16-year-old transgender child is in jail and she has done NOTHING to deserve it. What the hell . . . This story will break your heart.
Mike Huckabee (right) and anti-gay hate group leader Brian Camenker
The National Organization for Marriage has reason to be excited this morning. The organization is going to have an interesting speaker in its upcoming March for Marriage:
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee will be a featured speaker at the 2nd Annual March for Marriage on June 19th.
Governor Huckabee is an outspoken champion for marriage, family, and life.
He has called the National Organization for Marriage "wonderful" and been "very proud to be associated with them [NOM]."
Governor Huckabee has said publicly:
"...my thanks also to the National Organization for Marriage, a highly-respected family organization that has been willing to courageously show leadership in states where there have been ballot measures, to not change something but rather to leave something alone, to simply allow us to continue in the traditional view of marriage."
When it comes to someone being a standard bearer of the duplicity behind NOM's arguments and their attacks on lgbts, the organization certainly picked the right person to be a featured speaker. Like the organization, Huckabee has a vicious dislike of the lgbt community which he is able to hide behind a facade of concern about the so-called fate of traditional marriage. I can pretty much predict what Huckabee will say during his speech, i.e. the standard whine about how folks who supposedly believe in traditional marriage are being attacked and persecuted by the "so-called tolerant gay community."
Don't be fooled. Huckabee has a long history of attacking and demonizing lgbts. According to Media Matters, he has a long history of denigrating the lgbt community:
As A Public Official, Huckabee Called Homosexuality An
"Aberration" And Condemned The Government For Supporting It Along With
Pedophilia, Sadomasochism, And Necrophilia. In a 2007 appearance on Meet the Press,
Tim Russert asked Huckabee about his assertion in a 1998 book claiming
"it is now difficult to keep track of the vast array of publicly
endorsed and institutionally supported aberrations -- from homosexuality
and pedophilia to sadomasochism and necrophilia." Huckabee responded
that "all of these are deviations from what has been considered the
traditional concept of sexual behavior." Russert also asked Huckabee
about his assertion in 1992 that "I feel homosexuality is an aberrant,
unnatural and sinful lifestyle." Huckabee responded that "all of us are
sinners."
In 1992, Huckabee Came Out Against Additional Funding For AIDS
Research And Called For U.S. Government To "Isolate" AIDS Patients
During a 2010 interview with Anne Coulter, Huckabee said "I Am Not ... Pro-Gay, Pro-Sodomy."
In that same year, Huckabee attacked same-sex families by voicing support
for an overturned Arkansas law which prohibited gays and lesbians from
becoming foster or adoptive parents, claiming that laws like that are in
the best interest of the child.
In 2012, he equated gay Scout leaders to pedophiles.
In addition, he has also
aligned himself with Southern Poverty Law Center – identified hate group Mass Resistance whose leader Brian Camenker once made a claim in 2006 that “gays were trying to get legislation passed to allow sex with animals” in Massachusetts (see picture above of Huckabee and Camenker),
attacked lgbt families by comparing them to people raising puppies.
Yep, NOM picked the right speaker to peddle its message during its upcoming March. But just like lgbts aren't fooled by NOM, I would hope we won't be fooled by Huckabee.
At a ceremony in the White House earlier today, there was an official unveiling of the United States postal stamp of legendary gay activist, Harvey Milk. Ain't it awesome:
One would think that in light of their recent losses in Oregon and Pennsylvania with regards to marriage equality in the courts, anti-gay group leaders would have just a little introspection about the emptiness of their arguments Riiiiiiight:
Barber
Matt Barber, a constitutional law expert with Liberty Counsel Action, believes governors need to turn their backs on federal court decisions against traditional marriage. He describes the decision in Pennsylvania by Judge Jones as "cartoonish."
"This decision is absolutely outrageous and it reads like a parody," he tells OneNewsNow. "We have moved beyond judicial activism into judicial imperialism."
Barber, Matt (Liberty Counsel) Barber, founder of Barbwire.com, says the problem can be rectified. On a federal level, he suggests the other two branches of government "reject and start pushing back" against what he calls a "false, counter-constitutional notion of judicial supremacy."
On a state level? "It's time for governors to reject these opinions, and that's what they are," states Barber, pointing out that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states can determine the definition of marriage. "[They need to] say No thank you, we are a sovereign state and we are going to adhere to our constitution in this state."
And finally, he adds: "... These judges who have abdicated their sworn duty to defend the United States Constitution [and] who are legislating from the bench? They need to be impeached."
Gramley
Diane Gramley of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania tells OneNewsNow she's looking to Congress to take action against judges like John Jones.
"Congress has the ability in the U.S. Constitution to begin impeachment proceedings," she explains. "When you look at these judges – not only Judge Jones here in Pennsylvania, but other federal judges who are handing down these decisions – their actions are unconstitutional."
Gramley, Diane (AFA of Pennsylvania)Gramley also contends those activist judges don't reflect the will of the people. "We're seeing homosexual wins across the country not because the views of Americans are changing but because of judicial activism," she says. "And that's the same thing that's happened in Pennsylvania.
"The views in Pennsylvania are still that marriage is only between one man and one woman."
Tony Perkins Falsely Claims Obama Was Too Busy Pushing Gay Rights 'To Acknowledge Armed Forces Day' - No, today is not Let's Pick on Tony Perkins" Day. Granted, I loathe the man and his anti-gay hate group, the Family Research Council. I also despise how his every word figuratively sets Christianity back to the days of Torquemada and the Bloody Mary Tudor of England. But most of all, I just can't respect a man who will tell a lie so embarrassingly easy to expose such as this one he spins about Obama pushing lgbt equality instead of acknowledging our fighting men and women. Betcha Perkins won't acknowledge or apologize for the error either.
It's like I said before, in lieu of providing proof of their arguments in court cases (such as the recent marriage equality victories in Pennsylvania and Oregon), anti-gay organization leaders such as Family Research Council president Tony Perkins are whining about "activists judges."
What I didn't count on is how folks like Perkins would take the visage of dotty old men shaking their fists at the sun while talking about open rebellion against the courts:
Tony Perkins
Like a dozen black-robed activists before him, Judge Michael McShane argued,
"Because Oregon's marriage laws discriminate on the basis of sexual
orientation without a rational relationship to any legitimate government
interest, the laws violate the Equal Protection Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution." The state's
failure to defend its own constitution, and the failure of an openly homosexual judge to recuse himself,
demonstrate what an overreach this decision was. The deluge of rulings
hit Pennsylvania next, where Judge John Jones wrote one of the harshest
opinions yet, insisting that laws affirming natural marriage should be
discarded "into the ash heap of history."
While both judges cited the Supreme Court's June decisions as a
rational basis to destroy marriage, the high court said nothing that
would give a federal judge the right to redefine marriage. In an
interesting twist, both rulings came down within hours of Politico's new polling
-- which showed that a clear majority of likely voters in swing states
(52-48%) are digging in on their support of natural marriage.
Obviously, the Left's strategy of forcing this agenda through the
courts is backfiring -- and it's only a matter of time before the
country begins to discard the opinions of unelected judges on the same
ash heap where Jones tried to send marriage. Just as the country has
never accepted the Supreme Court's declaration of a "right" to destroy
unborn human life in Roe v. Wade, we will never accept the
Court's assertion of a "right" to change the definition of our most
fundamental social institution. The courts can ignore natural law, or
even suppress it, but they will never succeed in subduing it.
So according to Perkins, based on a poll which has nothing to do with marriage equality, court rulings are backfiring. In addition, states should ignore the opinions of judges because they aren't elected anyway.
