Seven days . . . .

My post is going to be short today mainly because of my work on my book, hence the title.

In seven days, I will finally go to press. After over two years of research, I will send my book to the publisher. And what I hope to be one of the definitive books on the lies of the anti-gay industry will be in motion to be published.

For years, I have wanted to see something like this; a book that analyzes the deceptions of the religious right as they pertain to the gay and lesbian community.

This book will not be a fast food, cookie cutter deciphering of homophobia. We know that when people like James Dobson and Peter LaBarbera speak against our community, they are masking their homophobia behind slick language and propaganda techniques.

I intend to prove it.

There is nothing (except for two brief comments) in this book about Mr. God Hates Fags Fred Phelps. He is too easy a target. His stridency makes him p0werless.

The ones who give us trouble are people like a concerned mother who hears about a gay/straight alliance forming in her child's school. She has a personal fear and disagreement about homosexuality, so she looks up data about it.

And she goes to the Focus on the Family web page or the Family Research Council web page or the Traditional Values Coalition web page. It doesn't matter where she goes because in all of these locations she will find "scientific proof" for her opposition to the gay/straight club forming in her child's school. The fact that what she will find is junk science is not known to her.

She will take what she finds and use it to rally other parents against the gay/straight alliance. She will stand in front the school board and repeat the lies she has read. She will solicit the advice and help of the anti-gay industry groups whose web pages she got her information from.

Calling this woman homophobic is wrong. Saying and proving that she and so many others like her are misinformed will be what wins this battle for us.

I really hope that my upcoming book will be the first step in this process.

Are we finally catching on?

I'm not one for direct action campaigns. I respect the need for them but I don't like to participate in them.

And I don't believe they should be undertaken if the only goal is to "get attention." Trying to get attention without any idea as to what will be done with the attention is wrong. Too many times, I think that my lgbt brothers and sisters invest too much time and effort in direct action campaigns, enjoying the transitory empowerment. In the long run, direct action campaigns can be counterproductive if there is no cohesive plan as to what is to be done when one gets the attention.

What's the use of shutting down a business or getting arrested if all you get are outrageous pictures or given 30 second soundbites that no one pays attention to because they are too transfixed by the wildness of your actions.

Having said all of that, I would like to commend SoulForce for their recent actions at Focus on the Family headquarters. It was exactly what a direct action campaign should be. Two members of the group were arrested for not leaving the headquarters and demanding that Focus on the Family stop giving out misleading information regarding gay families.

I liked the fact that the two women didn't do anything outrageous that would take attention away from the reason why they were at Focus on Family headquarters. They were focused on why they were there.

I especially liked this part of the article:

Dobson and other Focus spokespeople frequently discredit LGBT parenting with references to "more than 10,000 studies that have showed that children do best when they have a mom and a dad."

Last year the American Psychological Association said that such claims rely on "studies that simply do not address gay and lesbian parents and their children." The APA also said that "no credible evidence shows that children raised by lesbian or gay parents differ in any important respects from those raised by heterosexual parents."

My question is why hasn't this fact been trumpeted by our side from day one? I may be wrong in saying this, but reading the article today was the first time I ever saw our press going into detail about the anti-gay industry distortion of gay families.

And I want to see more of it. I want to see it everywhere. I want to see it posted on as many blogs as possible. I want lgbts to be encouraged to write letters to the editor about the distortion. I want it to be a cover story in The Advocate.

I love you Ellen Degeneres, but this is more important. Tammy Lynn, you are my girl, but you have been on too many covers.

Is my community finally focused on what we need to bring attention to? I certainly hope so.

Talk about beating a dead horse

It's been one day and some certain individual is trying to use the Tim Hardaway story for his own purposes.

That's right, our friend, Peter LaBarbera had something to say and of course none of it was good.

Now he said that Hardaway's comments were wrong, then he threw in a "nice" caveat:

And Hardaway does have a point about homosexuals in the locker room: we don’t let men shower and dress in women’s locker rooms, so shouldn’t men who define themselves as sexually attracted to other men be relegated to an alternative space? Ditto for lesbians: parents of athletic daughters should be concerned about lesbian coaches and girls with in the girls’ locker room.

Peter didn't say he hated gay people, but he threw out stereotypes and lies, just like Hardaway did.

I would venture to say that LaBarbera's comments are worse than that of Hardaway's. Hardaway's comments were blatantly mean spirited and homophobic. LaBarbera is articulate and pretends to be concerned with the well-being of children.

It is comments like LaBarbera's that play excellently in front of a bunch of homo-ingorant Christians. If Hardaway spoke to them, they would call him out for his nastiness. LaBarbera gives them justification for their ignorance without them having to face the fact that what they believe is ignorance.

And then comes LaBarbera's coup de grace. He mentions the Pam Spaulding incident. A commentator made a threat to him on her blog. When Pam found out, she deleted the post and got banned the commentator.

One would think the situation would be over.

Of course the matter won't die as long as Peter and another friend of ours, Matt Barber from Concerned Women for America, can squeeze just a little bit of traction from it:

Here’s the problem: the same media and liberals who rush to condemn Hardaway’s comments look the other way when homosexual activists like Pam Spaulding (who runs the “Pam’s House Blend” blog) spew abject hatred against Christians or anyone who speaks out against homosexual behavior. As my friend and former AFTAH Corporate Outreach Director Matt Barber describes in a column below, you don’t have to search very hard on Spaulding’s website to find evidence of her anti-Christian bigotry and hate-mongering.

Pam has never spouted hatred against Christians. Pam has never said she hated Christians and Pam has never advocated hurting Christians.

No doubt by Peter's definition, I hate Christians and I spout hatred towards them.

The problem here is people like Peter who seem to think that their religion makes them infalliable to criticism.

When you spout such nonsense against gays and lesbians, we have a right to make noise. When you do other things like freely cite discredited researcher Paul Cameron, we have a right to make noise. When you continuously lie and exploit people's fears and ignorance of the gay and lesbian community, we have a right to make noise.

And bear in mind, I didn't say threats. I said noise.

Peter, you have it twisted. You claim to be of God and that is a matter of opinion. But one thing is not a matter of opinion:

You are not God and you are not infalliable.

Good grief, Tim Hardaway!

By now, I am sure everyone has heard of the nonsense that came from ex-basketball player Tim Hardaway regarding gay people:

"You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people," he said while a guest on Sports Talk 790 The Ticket. "I'm homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."

Sir bigmouth's comments are going to be dissected over and over again so I won't talk about them too much.

Rather, I am going to roll my eyes and batten down my hatches. Here we go again with yet another reason for the gay and African-American community to go to war. When the shock of what Hardaway said goes away, someone is going to analyze his comments and actually try to find some good in them.

No doubt, someone like Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck will talk about how Hardaway's comments were a bastardized version of how strict the African-American community is regarding homosexuality. In short, his comments were nasty but they reflect a positive degree of morality.

The cynic in me kind of hopes this does happen. Maybe those two will give Senator Barrack Obama a break and stop trying to attack his "lack of blackness" for a change.

Then there is enterprising ignorance in the gay community. Don't get me wrong because I love my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. However, in situations like this, many gays and lesbians will go for the easy, visceral parts of this controversy and not even attempt to hold their tongues before fully analyzing the situation.

In other words, I can be sure to hear all sorts of comments of "how can a black man put down gay people like white racists put down black people" until the cows come home, so to speak.

Want to know what I see in the Tim Hardaway situation?

Yet another reason why lgbt African-Americans will be put in the middle of a controversy between the white gay and lesbian and heterosexual African-American community. Both are going to be pulling us but neither will be acknowledging us.

So I am angry at Tim Hardaway having such an ugly idea of gay people. But I don't get too angry at him.

I have a feeling that I am going to have to save some of my anger for other parties: a little bit for the African-American community which creates circumstances for Hardaway's comments to be allowable and a little bit of anger for the gay and lesbian community whom I know will not use this opportunity to see how us lgbts of color are caught in two worlds of dual invisibility. This is because many of them will be exploiting their time to have "righteous indignation."

I swear, if something like this happens again, I am going to hide under my bed with a baseball bat.

Self-righteous indulgent tripe coming out of Charlotte

Part of the reason why the anti-gay industry is so successful in duping Christians in this country is because of the egos of the Christians themselves.

Case in point, this upcoming event out of Charlotte:

Charlotte Church Leaders to Discuss the Radical Agenda of Homosexual Activists at Weeklong Lecture Series

News Conference: Thursday, February 15, at 10:00 AM in front of the Booth Playhouse at the corner of Trade and Tryon

Contact: Kris Bennett, Coalition of Conscience, 704-782-3760

CHARLOTTE, Feb. 14 /Standard Newswire/ -- Three years ago, the Human Rights Campaign, the world's largest homosexual advocacy organization, moved its annual Carolina's dinner to Charlotte. While local gay activists have applauded the HRC's presence in Charlotte, not everyone is pleased with this development. Dr. Michael L. Brown, director of the Coalition of Conscience and a nationally known Christian leader and best-selling author, is convinced that now is the time to speak up.

"We have no desire to enter in a rhetorical battle with the HRC. We simply want to raise public awareness about who the HRC really is and what the HRC really stands for, demonstrating that they cannot legitimately be called the 'Human Rights' Campaign."

Translation: A series of lectures where they will no doubt invite anti-gay industry spokespeople who will scare ignorant Christians about the so-called agenda of HRC and the gay and lesbian community at large.

Or: a group of lectures for people who are so wrapped up in their idea of what Christianity is that they have negative preconceived notions about gays and lesbians, preconceived notions that can be eradicated if they took the time to establish a dialogue with the gay and lesbian community in their midst rather than sit on their behinds and have their fears and egos stroked.

Am I making too much out of this? I don't think so. I am willing to guess that the only thing the Christians coming to these lectures know is that homosexuality is wrong, according to their beliefs. This is fine. They have that right to believe this.

However, since they think that homosexuality is wrong, they set themselves up to believe any negative thing about the gay and lesbian community.

How long will it be before the dreaded headless monster (i.e. the constantly refuted but repeated as truth notion) about the "gay life span" come up in these lectures?

Or how about the other headless monster that gays molest children at a high rate? I am sure that one will come up also.

Or maybe the misuse of the Netherlands study (that was compiled before same sex marriage was legalized in the Netherlands) to make the case against marriage equality.

Or if the lectures really get good, I am sure the Paul Cameronesque lies about feces and gerbiling will come up too.

These lectures are not about establishing a dialogue. These lectures are about scaring people, people who are ready and willing to be scared:

"The HRC is not fighting for equal rights for all people. Instead, it wants to impose its agenda on others, including how we define marriage, how we run our businesses, how we teach our children, and even how we interpret the Bible. We feel that now is the right time to air our differences with the HRC in a rational and respectful manner. I am hopeful that they will respond to us in the same spirit with which we exercise our human right to differ with them."

After all, how can you establish a dialogue with a group of people who seem to want you to kiss their wannabe holy asses?

Yet another headless monster!!!!!!!!!!

I am off this week! Yaaaaay! So now it's time for serious work. I have to finish my manuscript before March 1.

But in my last post, I neglected to mention something. You may remember I was talking about how Peter LaBarbera took an unfortunate incident of a commentator threating him on Pam Spaulding's web page to recreate the execution of Joan of Arc with him as the star.

His supporting player in the drama, a blogger named George Archibald, took Pam to task, claiming that she attacks Christians. He listed several people she criticizes, including:

ALAN E. SEARS, president, CEO and general counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, who Spaulding’s Web site describes as “a foul, fundie legal group that is sponsoring The Day of Truth, to be held on April 27th, as a ‘counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective."’ What ADF is countering is The Day of Silence, a project of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and the United States Student Association.

So how does the Allied Defense Fund and its Day of Truth combat the Day of Silence? By spreading lies about the gay community, of course. This time, the anti-gay industry wants school children to log on the Allied Defense Fund site and repeat the "headless monsters" they find there. The following is from my upcoming book, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters:

Case in point is the handout, The Ten Biggest Myths of Homosexual Behavior:
The handout claims that "homosexual behavior is at much higher risk for many sexually transmitted diseases, including not just HIV, but also syphilis, gonorrhea, human papilloma virus (HPV), hepatitis, chlamydia, and a whole group of infections called ‘gay bowel syndrome.’ But as shown in chapter one, "gay bowel syndrome" is an obsolete medical term that medical practitioners do not use.

The handout also makes the following claim:"The Centers for Disease Control have found that 60 percent of new cases of HIV infection are men who have had sex with men, and also that the number of homosexual men who admittedly neglect to use condoms is rising. Homosexual victims of AIDS, they found, had an average 1,100 sexual partners in their lifetimes. They estimated that 30 percent of 20-year-old homosexual men will be HIV positive or dead before they reach their thirtieth birthday." This claim is a blatant lie. CDC spokespeople have said that agency does not collect statistics on the life span of gay men. The claim is a Paul Cameronesque lie.

Just a little food for thought as to how the anti-gay industry continues to lie. One more point: please notice that the Allied Defense Fund claim that gays catch HPV at a high rate. The Allied Defense Fund is affiliated with the same right wing groups who don't want the HPV vaccine to be mandatory for school children.

Talk about your contradictions.

Oh Give Me A Break Peter and George! Stop Picking on Pam!

Apparently Peter LaBarbera and the so-called Americans for Truth About Homosexuality never met a situation they didn't try to milk for all it's worth.

This week, there was an unfortunate situation on Pam Spaulding's web page in which a commentator threatened Peter LaBarbera. Pam was alerted about it and took the post down. She also made it clear that posts like that are way over the line and should not be allowed. She was not aware of the post until it was brought to her attention, by the way.

You think the situation would be over? Come on! You know how Peter is. Today he is continuing to talk about it, even linking to another blog by someone by the name of George Archibald. Archibald says this about Pam:

She has a right to be an announced practising lesbian, but she does not have a right to be hateful against Christians and heterosexuals, which is evident throughout her Web site.
She links to Kevin Jennings, founder of the Gay Lesbian Straight Educators Network (GLSEN) that pushes for acceptance of homosexuality in elementary, middle and high schools across our country.

Then on her Web site, Pamela Spaulding has a link called AmTALIBAN – meaning American Taliban – where she attacks by name 20 leaders of American Christian groups and makes spiteful, sexist, and hateful statements about their religious and cultural beliefs.

Now Archibald gets hypocritical because of what he says later in his blog:

Well, you get the tone of the crazies in this homosexual attack against heterosexuals and leaders of conservative Christian groups.

People like Pamela Spaulding, Kevin Jennings, and other homosexual activists want condoms given to everyone as part of their effort to promote gay sex. But maybe they all need diapers, as they obviously are intolerant and wetting themselves a lot over the fact that Americans mostly are actually a heterosexual religious culture that firmly rejects intolerance and promiscuity.

So calling Pam Spaulding a "crazie" isn't attacking her? Hardly.

That seems to be the new game the anti-gay industry is playing: whining that their "beliefs" are being attacked when they are called on their lies and hypocrisies. Catholic League for Religous and Civil Rights President William Donohue this week caused many problems with Sen. John Edwards using that same tactic. I still wait for his apology for his Anti-Semitic comments.

And the Family Research Council is getting in the act. This group is led by the same man, Tony Perkins, who thought it was okay to associate with the racist Ku Klux Klan and Council of Conservative Citizens.

I always wondered why there were no images of black people on the FRC site. Maybe now I know.

Now I am not one for making attacks. I like to use logic to make my case, and then go for the jugular. But in all honesty, I refuse to feel sorry for Peter LaBarbera or any of these "phony Christians (that's right, I said it). A man who has a web page that has a link called "Victims of Homosexual Murderers" does not get my sympathy.

I find it ironic that people who make it their life's work to use junk science and propaganda about gay people are now whining because they aren't getting a free pass for their nonsense.

Peter really should have not been threatened, but if you create a storm and then get caught in it, who should you blame other than yourself?

The anti-gay industry seems to want to play the victim now. I don't think so. I might remind them of just how ugly they were when President Bush won re-election in 2004. Their cocky bragging about how they "won the election" was disgusting. And as equally disgusting was the ways in which they attempted to move against the gay community, from plotting new ways to take away our rights to Paul Cameron thinking that it was okay to announce new lies about our life span and so-called propensity for dangerous behavior.

Don't even think about it, boys. You started this. And the vast majority of us who are trying to tell the truth about the lgbt community and how you have demonized us are not stooping to threats to get our point across.

We are the ones who you should be concerned about. Of course it really doesn't matter because we aren't going to stop until everyone knows how you lie.

Deal with that!