Analyzing and refuting the inaccuracies lodged against the lgbt community by religious conservative organizations. Lies in the name of God are still lies.
In light of the news that GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has selected the extremely homophobic Rick Santorum to be one of his advisors, I want to repost this list of Trump's other "advisors." They are to be his "Evangelical Advisory Board," but I call them the "Legion of Homophobia." You can see why:
Trump seems to be calling out almost every "big-name" anti-lgbt activist to help him create policy, should he become president. That should alarm every lgbt in America.
LGBT media condemns Out Magazine for Milo Yiannopoulos puff piece - Picture a young man working for a venomously anti-lgbt publication. He delights in being a so-called provocateur, i.e. making transphobic comments, Islamophobic comments instigating troll attacks, sometimes racial, against celebrities, and being an all-around vicious proud "alt-right" member. One more thing. He is openly gay. It still doesn't take away from the fact that this young man (Milo Yiannopoulos) is a waste of space. But him being gay caused Out magazine to give him a "superficial puff piece" in its magazine. Naturally a lot of folks are angry. And with good reason.(Full disclosure note - I signed the open letter condemning Out for running the puff piece. My decision was for a number of reasons. It's gay men like Milo who once called me a "tar baby.")
Milo Yiannopolous - More information on this young man courtesy of Media Matters.
Here’s How You Can Explain What ‘Queer’ Means To Kids - It's easier than you think. Heck, I'm surprised some kids won't sit their parents down and explain it. This mess from the religious right about the supposed corrupted innocence of children is a crock.
According to the above graphics from a defunct Facebook page, the argument over lgbt equality is relatively simple. One one side is a clean cut young man innocently stating his beliefs against the lgbt community and on the other is an angry person calling him names because of it.
Taking all of that into account, how could anyone not agree with the anger of the guy on the right rather than fall for the subterfuge of the guy on the left.
Because there are times when even yours truly gets tired of the struggle. And with the election this year, we ALL need a break.
So, instead of a serious post, I present some of the best videos from one of my favorite shows growing up, The Electric Company. And for those asking about certain people - yes, that is Rita Moreno, Morgan Freeman, Denise Nickerson (Violet Buearegarde from the original Willie Wonka movie), and Todd Graff:
When The Alt-Right Attacks- Ah yes. Cowards target what they think is your vulnerabilities. It doesn't matter who you are (in this case though, we are talking about a same-sex family)
What's worse than religious right groups lying about the lgbt community? It's when they get patronizing:
Minnesotans are the face of a new campaign by a national network of
anti-LGBTQ organizations. The campaign, #askmefirst, features Christians
imploring schools, businesses, and “transgender activists” to ask them
for permission before allowing transgender people to use the bathroom.
A video released with the campaign’s launch last week features Emily
and Jamie. The video doesn’t say where the duo are from. Their story is
about a school that didn’t “ask them first” before making steps to be
inclusive of transgender and gender nonconforming youth. The two parents
formerly had children at Nova Classical Academy in St. Paul and were
outspoken critics of what they call “gender confusion.” Both appeared at a press conference earlier this year with Republican Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen and spoke in support of barring transgender people from using the bathroom.
In the video released last week, they spoke of a “gender confused
student.” Emily said, “This is a battle for our children’s innocence…
It’s a battle that I think is worth fighting and I will continue it for
other people’s children.”
The Ask Me First campaign was developed by the Family Policy Alliance
— formerly called Citizenlink — which provides a network of financial
and political assistance for Family Policy Councils throughout the
United States including the Minnesota Family Council.
No, their children's "innocence" is not threatened by transgender boys and girls using bathrooms. That is a lie which has been refuted continuously. And unfortunately refutations mean nothing to these groups and their supporters because they repeat the lie, as if they believe that constant repetition is the same as truth.
And what's worse is how these ladies claim to be fighting for children. That is the crux when it comes to the absolute moral obscenity of this campaign.
What about transgender children? Don't they have rights? Who is fighting for them? Or do these women, in spite of their perky smiles, June Cleaver personas, and precise talking points, even care about transgender children?
Or could it be that they and the organization behind this monstrosity of a video simply don't care about our transgender kids?
To celebrate the fifth year anniversary of the official ending of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' Right Wing Watch took a look at the top five failed predictions the anti-lgbt right made about what would happen should DADT be repealed.
Just two years ago, Gordon Klingenschmitt, a former Navy chaplain who is
now a Colorado Republican state lawmaker, approvingly read a quote from
Chaplain John R. Kauffman, who said that gay service members will be “taking breaks on the combat field to change diapers all because their treacherous sin causes them to lose control of their bowels.”
Yeah, I don't think that is happening anywhere . . .
On September 9, three of the country’s most notorious white nationalists held a press conference in Washington, D.C., titled “What Is The Alt-Right?”
The event, organized by the white nationalist “think tank” the National
Policy Institute (NPI), came in response to growing media interest in
the “alt-right” movement. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump
has helped mainstream
the racist movement, including by hiring Breitbart News executive
chairman Stephen Bannon as his campaign CEO. As the Southern Poverty Law
Center has noted, under Bannon’s leadership, Breitbart has “has been
openly promoting the core issues of the Alt-Right, introducing these
racist ideas to its readership.”
NC Gov. Pat McCrory is in the middle of a firestorm over HB2. Businesses are boycotting the state and they are now joined by the NBA, NCAA, and the ACC. Of course this is getting many folks in the state, including legislators who voted for HB2 talking about a repeal.
McCrory seems to be remaining firm in support of that ridiculous law. And backing him up is the Rev. Franklin Graham via twitter and Facebook, where he continues to push inaccuracies about HB2 and the transgender community:
The momentum of public opinion seems to no longer embrace these lies. McCrory would do himself a favor if he stopped listening to this lessening minority of fear. But apparently he wants to do things the hard way.
While everyone ruminates over the election, let's not forget that the fight for full lgbt equality goes on. And on that front, same-sex couples and their children just won a major victory in Wisconsin:
A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Wisconsin officials discriminated against a married lesbian couple by refusing to list the name of the non-biological mother on their child’s birth certificate.
The couple, Chelsea Torres and Jessamy Torres, had married in New
York in 2013 and conceived through artificial insemination in 2014 ― the
same year same-sex marriage became legal in Wisconsin.
But when their son was born in 2015, the Wisconsin Department of
Health Services denied them a birth certificate listing both of their
names ― as the birth mother, only Chelsea was listed in the document.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb said on Wednesday that this practice ― which Wisconsin enforced by law
against same-sex couples but not different-sex couples ― is
unconstitutional, and ordered the state to read its artificial
insemination rules in “gender-neutral terms.”
Editor's note - If I said it once, I will say it again. I'm going to have to buy a tablet. Today the computers in the public library were offline so that meant no midday news brief. In all honest, this hasn't been a good week in general. Yesterday, I was sick as a dog so I couldn't post but one item. And tomorrow may continue the light posting as I prepare for my blog's 10th anniversary party to be held Saturday. Just bear with me, folks. You have stood with me for 10 years (and I haven't thanked you all enough for that) so I hope that you can stand with me through this week. Anyway, enjoy the following news items:
With both the NCAA and ACC boycotting the state because of that awful HB2 law, North Carolina legislators have the eyes of many on them. The question is what will they do? It seems that Gov. McCrory is starting to lose his bravado:
For the definition of scraping the bottom of the barrel to launch a silly attack on Hillary Clinton, I give you religious right spokesperson, the first president of the anti-lgbt hate group the Family Research Council, and the man who helped undermine efforts to combat the AIDS crisis in the 80, Gary Bauer.
The American Family Association's fake new source, One News Nowcited Bauer as an authority on the idea that Clinton would not get that many minority voters in the upcoming election.:
A
veteran conservative activist doubts that Hillary Clinton will benefit
from similar voter turnout among minorities that Barack Obama enjoyed.
Some observers consider if
very unlikely, says Gary Bauer, that a "70-year-old white person with
ethics problems" will inspire minority turnout like Obama did.
"So on that basis," he concludes, "the turnout on election day in November is likely to include fewer Democrats."
And (surprise, surprise), One News Now conveniently didn't include a picture of Bauer. But I will:
Gary Bauer thinks he knows minority voters
Don't he look like a "down brotha?" Of course Bauer didn't cite any statistics because polls say that Clinton has maintained a strong lead amongst minority voters. And of course Bauer didn't talk about Trumps's association with the racist alt-right and white supremacists such as David Duke, or his really embarrassing effort to reach black voters.
I guess Bauer's ability to predict the minds of minority voters is just as good as as his Christian integrity.
Trying to build some anti-Hillary Clinton momentum on a comment she made last weekend has probably backfired (at least I hope it does) on the Trump/Pence campaign.
Last weekend during a fundraiser, Clinton said half of Trump's supporters could be put in a "basket of deplorables". She was commenting on various racist, sexist, xenophobic, and all-around nasty comments these folks have made during Trump's campaign rallies. Even though she had a point, the Trump campaign and various conservatives have been attempting to manufacture a "pivotal campaign" moment from it.
Because of the "magic" of the internet, they have been unsuccessful. Folks have been posting and referring to old videos and articles which proved Clinton's point. However, Trump and company have continued to milk her statement.
They really should have stopped. Today, Mike Pence, Trump's running mate, was interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN and that led to this exchange in which Pence refused to denounce white supremacist and former Klan leader David Duke as "deplorable":
BLITZER: But [Clinton] said, there are supporters, and you know this,
there are some supporters of Donald Trump and Mike Pence, who, David
Duke, for example, some other white nationalist, who would fit into that
category of deplorables. Right?"
PENCE: "As I’ve told you the last time I was on, I'm not sure why the
media keeps dropping David Duke's name. Donald Trump has denounced
David Duke repeatedly. We don't want his support and we don't want the
support of people who think like him."
BLITZER: "You called him a deplorable. You would call him a deplorable?"
PENCE: "No, I'm not in the name-calling business, Wolf, you know me better than that."
The media keeps bringing up Duke because Duke has aligned himself with Trump, including saying that he and Trump share the same voters. Duke also endorsed Trump, who at first, would not disavow the endorsement.
Pence's reluctance to denounce Duke as "deplorable" reminds me of the time last year when he was asked eight times about the anti-lgbt "religious liberty" law he signed as governor of Indiana. Eight times he refused to say whether or not the law could be used to discriminate against lgbts:
And they like to claim that Clinton won't answer a simple question?
Religious right talking head Gary Bauer is the classic case of what happens when the lgbt community doesn't raise sufficient hell about those who have harmed us.
In the 80s, Bauer worked in the Reagan Administration. He also undermined efforts to educate Reagan on the AIDS crisis and efforts to get the president to address it publicly. He was instrumental in undermining Surgeon General C. Everett Koop as the crisis swept through the nation. According to Koop, Bauer felt that AIDS was God's punishment.
So was Bauer ever made to address these issues. No. Not when he was the first president of anti-lgbt hate group the Family Research Council. Not when he ran for president in 2000. And of course not when he gave the following speech last weekend at FRC's nonsensical Values Voter Summit:
I hate to say it but Bauer will probably never have to answer for his efforts in furthering the AIDS crisis.
Today is the beginning of the 2016 "Values Voter Summit" put on by the anti-lgbt hate group the Family Research Council. Keeping my description of FRC in mind, it doesn't take a palm reader to guess who attendees and speakers at this weekend monstrosity will be attacking.
This year will be extra nauseating because GOP presidential candidate and self-described "friend to the gay community" Donald Trump will be one of the speakers. With various members of the media seemingly more concerned with Hillary Clinton's "emails" and "optics," it's up to folks like yours truly to highlight the coming visual disaster of Trump's visit.
I've already written a post about the vile homophobia of folks and groups who will be present at this summit. Now let's focus a little more on the group sponsoring it, the Family Research Council. There are very good reasons why FRC has been called a hate group.
"We’re not political people, never wanted this attention, and only filed a claim with Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries after six months of relentless media attention and harassment.
Meanwhile, the Kleins quickly became media darlings of the right wing. Conservative groups flew them out to appear at events, Ted Cruz featured them in a campaign video, and their fundraising page raised over $600,000.
In contrast, we became the target of hateful, violent threats and a daily onslaught of negative calls and emails from around the world. Over the past three years, we have received several thousand Facebook messages calling us fat, evil, and dumb — some with threats so violent that we have sincerely feared for our lives, moved houses, and lived in hiding in hopes of protecting our family. "
Billboards cause controversy in Waco's LGBT community - 'Ex-gay' billboards. And check out the semantic game of evasion played by the organization behind it. They claim to have no problem with gay folks except for the fact that they think we shouldn't exist.
The clip starts on a black screen with the words #WEAREYOURCHILDREN
printed across. Then, we see a crying Ziegler wiping paint under her
eyes, as if crying rainbow tears, or perhaps applying warpaint for
battle. A large group of kids lies on the ground below her, motionless,
and she begins screaming (though we don’t hear her), urging the kids to
get up.
Once the music starts, the group begins moving in unison, with Maddie leading the charge. Attitude reportsthat the children represent the victims killed in the deadliest mass shooting in America’s history ― “49 dancers for 49 lives lost,”
as the magazine put it. With lyrics like, “Don’t give up, I won’t give
up / Don’t give up, no no no” and “Running out of breath but I / oh I I
got stamina,” it’s hard not to draw those parallels.
The kids dance through an old house, eventually coming together as one
group. They jump up and down, moving together as a single entity (much
like individuals would at a club as music blares through the speakers)
before collapsing to the ground, leaving behind the haunting visual of
bodies on the floor.
Behind in the polls, NC Gov Pat McCrory is relying on the old religious right tactic of fear to get folks to vote for him.
Never mind that the ad targets transgender children by implying that they are predators in defense of that awful HB2 law he passed, i.e. the same law which is probably the reason why he has a strong chance of being a one-term governor.
First his re-election campaign exploits a victim of child molestation to attack the transgender community and now this. With at least two more months left, I'm scared to think how low can McCrory sink:
Trump to put on the mantle of morality this weekend?
Those who continue to claim that Trump is a friend to the lgbt community deserves a swift kick. Trump will be a featured speaker at the Family Research Council's "Values Voter Summit," which will be held this weekend.
The organization hosting the program, anti-lgbt hate group the Family Research Council, bragged earlier last month about attaining Trump as a speaker:
The organizations gathering together for this mess have always claimed that they have been unfairly attacked for their "personal Christian beliefs" rather than the untrue and ugly claims they have made about the lgbt community. According to Right Wing Watch, this is a lie:
In the 10 years I have been blogging, the religious right have decreased its reliance on junk and cherry-picked science to denigrate the lgbt community, but the central exploitation of fear still remains.
Case in point - a bill in Pennsylvania, which has a good chance of passing, would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the already existing state nondiscrimination ordinance law. It sounds simple, but the American Family Association fake new site, One News Now, is spinning the bill into a spooky "bathroom bondoogle" attack against the transgender community. It also is claiming that the law has negative consequence for churches, even while admitting that the law has a religious exemption
It even has a poll question, which further exploits this notion:
Junk science or no junk science, with the religious right, it's always about fear.
Journal by Pence-helmed foundation described gay sex in graphic detail - See, children. If you spread lies about gay sex, there are no repercussions. You too can go on to be elected to Congress, serve as governor, and be a vice presidential candidate. THAT is the main reason why more needs to be done to not only refute anti-lgbt propaganda but also hold those who spread it in the present and past accountable.
Anti-lgbt and all-around conservative hagstorm Phyllis Schlafly passed away yesterday at 92. I won't crack any jokes about her age, her life, or the fact that even though she had a gay son, she bent over backwards to be nasty to us. I will just revisit the wackiest reactions to last year's SCOTUS ruling for marriage equality just as a way of demonstrating how yet again the lgbt community has survived and thrived whilst another enemy of our equality is gone:
Tuesday, September 6 will mark the 10th anniversary of this blog. It's come a long way since being than an idea I had to pump up knowledge of a book I was self-publishing.
For the record, the book was somewhat of a disaster, but this blog has existed on its own to break barriers, get a bit of acclaim and a few awards, as well as put a great spotlight on a issue we've long needed to discuss - how the religious right and morality groups use junk science, cherry-picked science, and outright lies to create a pattern of deceit against the lgbt community. This pattern is then used to manufacture reasons to deny us equality under the law.
I like to think that I've done well to expose these lies and the entities who tell them. I also like to think that I've made history in my own little way as one of the many tireless lgbt activists and independent news figures. We've all come a long way from 2006 and have gotten so many victories because of our efforts.
I've certainly learned a lot about my community and myself. And it will be something I hope to continue the next 10 years.
The following is the first post I published here and reading it always pleases me. It reminds me of where this blog is now in comparison to where it began. It also reminds me that anyone willing to work and sacrifice for the better of his or her community will always succeed in their goals.
There are a bunch of organizations in this country who thrive on ignorance, fear, and a sense of entitlement.
They refer to themselves as "pro family" and even members of the gay community regard them as the religious right
With
all due respect, I don't see them as that. They are an anti-gay
industry who seeks to gain political power by building on the religious
beliefs and ignorance of people of faith. And they have been pretty
successful.
Central to this success are their so-called studies
on the gay community. In order to prove that gays and lesbians should
not have any protection of laws, they have created a written and oral
pattern of deception that is not only blatant in its attempts but
shameful in its audacity. In their zeal to prove the worst about the gay
community, the anti-gay industry runs roughshod over science and truth.
They have created a houses of pseudo-scientific studies based on
distortions, lies, headless monsters, and legitimate studies taken out
of context , which are then pushed by fake experts, Ph.D.s, conservative
columnists and bloggers, and ignorant people of faith all willing to
sacrifice their integrity on the altar of an alleged higher calling.
We know the claims these studies make:
gays have a short life span gays molest children at a higher level than heterosexuals lesbians abuse their partners at a high level gays are more violent and are prone to crimes gays are promiscuous and cannot handle the concept of marriage.
For
two years, I have studied the methodologies of so-called "pro family"
groups (i.e. Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, the
Traditional Values Coalition, etc) and am glad to say that their claims
are rooted in lies, outright deceptions, and legitimate studies with
portions cherry picked out.
In 2007, I will publish my book, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters,
detailing just what how the anti-gay industry propagandizes about the
gay community. Through this blog, I will publish some of my findings and
update everyone as to the progress of my book. I will update this blog
on a weekly basis.
Now I must emphasis that I am not attacking
anyone's religion. I respect a Christian's right to believe that
homosexuality is an abomination. I also respect the right of the Boys
Scouts of America to prohibit gays from serving as members. Of course I
also believe that if the organization had any integrity at all, it
should refuse any form of public monies because some of this money is
derived from gay sources via taxes. And isn't accepting money from those
who you feel will not conform to your moral code just as bad as
allowing them in your group.
But I digress.
What I am
saying through my book and my blog is that distortions and lies in the
name of God are still distortions and lies. And anyone who knowingly
uses them and can still refer to themselves as a person of faith needs
to examine themselves.
Editor's note - I will be celebrating my blog's 10th anniversary with a September 17th party. Pictures will be posted.
The anti-gay right has terrible habit of cherry-picking science
Recently, I've written several posts about a supposed new study which disputes the idea that people are born gay or transgender. The supposed study, published by Drs. Lawrence Mayer and Paul McHugh, has been pushed by members of the anti-lgbt industry as a supposed breakthrough and a new development with regards to the lgbt orientation.
However, others were quick to point out how its credibility is damaged by the motivations its publishers and authors. Last month, The Daily Beast published an article detailing the extensive anti-lgbt bias of one of the authors, McHugh.
On Monday, Dean Hamer, Ph.D. and scientist emeritus at the National Institutes of Health, blasted the report in an issue of The Advocate:
The article claims to be “a careful summary and an up-to-date
explanation of research — from the biological, psychological, and social
sciences — related to sexual orientation and gender identity.” It
claims to show sexual orienation is chosen and not fixed, and that gay
people are not "born gay." In truth, it is a selective and outdated
collection of references and arguments aimed at confusing rather than
clarifying our understanding of sexual orientation and gender identity.
. . . The authors' review of the role of genes in sexual orientation, the area of my own research, is revealing of their methodology. Of the six studies using proper probability sampling methods that
have been published in the peer-reviewed literature in the past 16
years, they include only one — and it just so happens to be the one with
the lowest estimate of genetic influence of the entire set.
They then discuss, at great length, an obscure study of 7th-to 12th-graders,
published in a sociology journal, that doesn't even measure sexual
orientation, instead relying on a single question about “romantic
attraction.” It's an odd choice of articles to review given Mayer and
McHugh's emphasis on proper trait measurement; perhaps they were driven
by the fact that it failed to find any heritability, thus supporting
their claim that nobody is “born gay.” A very different conclusion was
reached by a careful meta-analysis of allthe available twin data, recently published in a large review that Mayer and McHugh fail to even mention.
Hamer's accusations isn't the first time that various members of anti-lgbt and conservative groups have been called out for scientific cherry-picking when making their case against lgbt equality. Over the years, I've catalogued a few incidents:
In 2012, Seton Hall professor Dr. Theodora Sirota complained that Rick
Fitzgibbons of the NARTH (the National Association of Research and
Therapy of Homosexuality) misused her work to make the case that children
in same sex households are not raised better than children "in stable
homes with a mother and a father."
In 2011, Tom Minnery, a spokesman from Focus on the Family, was dressed down
by Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) during a Congressional hearing for
deliberately misrepresenting a study. Minnery initially used the study
to claim, as Fitzgibbons did in his misrepresentation, that same-sex
households are inferior to two parent mother/father households.
In his sloppy pursuit of the White House, GOP candidate Donald Trump is getting so many groups angry at him.
You can now add black Republicans to the list. According to Buzzfeed, Trump actually has them enraged regarding an interview he will be having with a black pastor. Initially this was spun as Trump coming to a predominantly black church in a bid to reach African-American voters. But then, it turned into a simple interview. Now, it has become something absolutely comical:
On Saturday, Donald Trump will sit down for an interview with Wayne
T. Jackson, a pastor in Michigan as part of his tentative black outreach
efforts — and black Republicans are fuming.
For one thing,
they say, Jackson isn’t conservative and doesn’t support Trump. But
Jackson also presided over a ordination ritual some time ago that became
a source of viral controversy.
The video published in 2013 shows
Jackson mounting two male bishops on the ground as part of an
“consecration” ceremony; the video drew scrutiny, with some criticizing
it as sexual, and others saying it wasn’t sexual, but had no place in
the church.
That would be this video below:
In the ceremony, Jackson tells the men, “You got to be buried… you
got to die.” With the contemporary gospel song “I Give Myself Away”
playing in the background, the men first laid face down on the ground.
In the video depicting the ritual, Jackson circles them a number of
times, appearing to grab their ankles. When the two men were covered,
face down, in white sheets, Jackson then covered them in another red
sheet, and promptly laid on top of each of them, one at a time, to the
audience’s approval. After being helped up, Jackson removed the sheets.
Jackson defended the act to Fox 2 Detroit
as nonsexual, saying the bishops were being consecrated under his
authority. “For somebody to take that and try to use that, you know, in a
perverted way, we pray for them. We walk in love,” he said in an
interview with Fox 2 Detroit. He lambasted detractors, saying, “if you’re ignorant about something, you need to shut up.”
The black Republicans quoted in the Buzzfeed article saying that Trump choosing to be interviewed by Jackson, in light of the fact that the pastor does not support Trump and the controversial video, shows that the GOP candidate is not taking them seriously.
If they feel that way about Trump, they need to take a number and get in line.
Woman arrested for child abuse citing Pence's religious freedom law as a defense.
Woman charged with child abuse uses Indiana Religious Freedom Law as defense - Another case of an anti-lgbt law having consequences far beyond what some folks think. And no, this woman was not simply "disciplining" her child. She put 37 bruises on the body of this seven-year-old using a coat hanger and then cited the Bible. Bang up job pushing that law, Mike Pence!
NC Gov. Pat McCrory and Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick like to play dumb with regards their verbal and legislative attacks on the transgender community. Both have gone on record claiming that there is no clear definition of a transgender person. They should educate themselves by watching this short video created by the Human Rights Campaign:
Supreme Court asked to hear Gavin Grimm case- When it comes to lgbt equality, particularly our transgender community, our opponents are determined to go as far as they can. They just want to do it the hard way.
On its blog, the Family Research Council recently promoted a report which came out last week. The report, which was falsely called a "study" claimed that the no one was born gay or transgender. FRC's promotion of this tripe was to be expected.
What was not expected was the backlash of comments FRC received. There was a small, but consistent, outpouring on the organization's blog calling out the report's errors and calling out FRC in general. One comment caught my eye because of its poignancy:
Vast Majority? Show me the stats? EVERY Trans person I know is happy. We
can argue biblical view on the subject, but this is not a Christian
nation. I am a Christian, but It is a secular nation, built on a
combination of the view of diests, but also on people who observed human
behavior over all time. Let the church lead people to the Savior, and
also allow people to live according to the conscience. Yes, Christians
have the right to freely practice their faith in public and private
office, but they are constrained by the constitution against creating
laws simply to prevent behavior they consider sin. Laws should be
limited to allowing for free commerce, and the protection of the
innocent, unwilling, and vulnerable. As a Christian, I live my life as a
witness to compel others to ask about Jesus, whom I freely share. But
there are things I cannot answer. And I am certain that people were born
certain ways. When you have people like Ravi Zacharias saying that some
people will always have the urge, yet they need to refrain from acting
on it, it confirms that some people cannot be changed in ways of their
sexuality or gender identification, only to abstain from the feelings. I
think that is a cruel state of being, and I wait til Heaven to get an
explanation. Meantime, I will not be an activist against those people. .
All I know is that I will resist any organization that uses the
coercion of law to prevent behavior that harms nobody other than the
individual making the choice. The FRC is not different than those
seeking sharia law, save that their message is different. They are a
public policy organization. Not the church. God changes people.
Government or people do not. Progressivism and neoconservatism are
different sides of the same coin, and the antithesis of freedom. No gay
marriage ever threatened the sanctity of your marriage. No trans person
ever threatened your masculinity or femininity. God will not condemn you
for baking a cake. As far as their twisted goals. Their goals are to be
able to live as they wish. Your twisted goal is to prevent them from
doing so. I find your twisted goal more offensive in a secular
constitutional republic.
Though this video is two years old, it accentuates a point we should all remember.
In spite of the opinions of some folks, gay Muslims exist. Rather than generalizing and attacking their religion, the lgbt community needs to give them love and support:
The Truth About The Massive New Study That Has Captivated Anti-LGBT Groups- Zack Ford of Think Progress provides more proof that the recent "study"/report attacking the lgbt community is yet another anti-lgbt industry fraud. But we all need to start paying attention to the fact that it probably won't be the end of fake studies coming from Catholic universities and right-wing think tanks like the Heritage Foundation with the goal of exploiting science to smear us. In the past, anti-lgbt groups such as the Family Research Council manufacture their own in-house "studies." Now they seem to be relying on these new, albeit, still fraudulent entities. Don't just insult it. Call it out.
