Monday musings

A sad result of Mayor Jim Naugle’s campaign of lies against Florida’s gay community is that it is dividing the area’s African-American community:

. . . the debate over gay rights threatens to drive a wedge between members of South Florida's black community. Despite the support that many black ministers showed for Naugle, the local NAACP took a public stand against the mayor, calling his crusade a ``hate campaign.''

''I'm not here to condone or condemn gay sex,'' Marsha Ellison, head of the Broward NAACP, told The Miami Herald. ``This is a hate campaign against gays launched by the mayor.''
She said the branch's position -- adopted after a unanimous vote of its 22-member executive committee as well as branch members -- echoes the national NAACP's position. ''Anytime any group is discriminated against it becomes a civil rights issue,'' she said.

Of course the entire situation is sad. Naugle's silly stance was not about the supposed sinfulness of lgbts but whether or not a large group of us were committing the crime of sex in public places.

It has been proven that this is not the case, but some folks have taken advantage of the situation to throw out condemnations of lgbts.

Talk about deviating from the subject.

But then again, maybe the division isn’t so bad.

In fact, I think it brings attention to an unfortunate proliferation of prosperity gospel, megachurches, and demagogues perpetrating as ministers willing to use the word of God to stand in a spotlight rather than bring solutions to the complex problems the black community faces:

(Head of Broward NAACP Marsha) Ellison and others argue the clergy is ignoring Naugle's questionable track record with blacks.

The mayor drew harsh criticism last April from the city's predominantly black Northwest section when he rallied against an economic revitalization plan along Sistrunk Boulevard spearheaded by Commissioner Carlton Moore. Naugle sparked further anger after siding with police after the November 2006 shooting death of Troy Eddines, 21, -- the fourth police slaying that year.

''It's baffling that those ministers have chosen to stand with Naugle,'' said Ellison. ``He's attacking gays now . . . it'll be blacks next.''

It also shows that while there are some in the African-American community who will stand against their lgbt brothers and sisters, there are plenty more who will stand in our defense.

Thanks guys.

Now for a little comedy, courtesy of Mr Robert Knight:

"If there's only less than 2-3% of the population that are gay, how are they so powerful?” Knight’s answer: “Because they are like a little kid, with a big brother and a baseball bat behind them—the American media."

According to Knight, the "gay media" is making bizarre, unfounded claims. Gay and lesbian journalists' organizations, he argued, should be courted by The Weekly World News and the Globe instead of reputable news providers; "The truth about those gay aliens" should be exposed, he joked.

Mr. Knight gives truth to the old adage: you can lead a homophobe to water but you can’t make him think.

Paul Cameron dresses up trash as diamonds, but it is still trash

It has been a wild weekend.

South Carolina had its 17th annual lgbt pride and it was wilder than usual.

One thing that was outrageous was the increased number of protestors and their level of vitriol. But more about that in a later post.

I wasn't going to post today but I wanted to direct everyone's attention to something I saw on Box Turtle Bulletin.

Our lovely friend Paul Cameron is not only back but he has undertaken a very interesting project.

He is starting his own online journal. Log onto to Box Turtle Bulletin for a more complete story. According to editor Jim Burroway:

Cameron intends to dress this “journal” up as an academic journal, but that doesn’t mean it will actually be one. Because there are some 1,700 real social science journals listed in Journal Citation Reports, an article in the most reputable journals may still be read by only a few thousand professionals around the world. But that’s not who Cameron is targeting. Instead he wants to draw in thousands of unsuspecting readers on the internet, few of whom will realize that it isn’t a reliable journal– or even a real one.

Pay attention folks because probably in no time at all, anti-gay industry blogs, talking heads, and groups will be citing the nonsense coming from this "new" place in their continuing attempts to demonize the lgbt community.

We really need to be on top of this.

Anyone who is interested can find a complete story of Cameron's sordid history of distorting studies at numerous places online including Box Turtle Bulletin and my recently published book, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters.

Controlling the argument

Apparently this is the week for anti-gay industry gathering.

Fresh from the so-called "values voters" debate, some members of the anti-gay industry will be gathering tomorrow for a three-day Family Impact Summit in Florida.

They claim that the event is to "enable those who have become the "next generation" of national and grassroots Family Values Leaders to pass on their know-how to people wanting to make a difference and needing some guidance in how to do it."

Just who are they kidding.

These folks are going to gather together, whine about how everything should go their way because they are the "chosen people," and most of all tell a bunch of lies about lgbts.

Don't think so? The list of speakers is a plethora of who's who amongst anti-gay industry heads and spokespeople including Donald Wildmon, Gary Bauer Tony Perkins, Harry Jackson, and Richard Land. Even Robert Knight is coming out of his MRC cave to be there.

I also see that former Congresswoman Katherine Harris will be a speaker there.

But folks attending the conference will be facing opposition. Equality Florida is teaming up with Truth Wins Out head Wayne Besen to hold a press conference.

I am all for the press conference but I have a question.

Will there be specifics regarding their opposition to this phony family summit?

Too many times, the argument regarding lgbts and the anti-gay industry is framed in a way that gays and lesbians seem like the outside aggressors. We look like a harassing horde while folks like Knight, Perkins, and others look like upstanding Christians.

And that is not the truth of the matter.

No matter what is said, this is not a pro-family summit.

Knight has consistently used the work of discredited researcher Paul Cameron. He has on occasion distorted legitimate studies and further had the nerve to attack the authors of the studies when they complained. I would love to see him questioned on these points.

Jackson has falsely claimed that gays will use hate crimes legislation to have pastors arrested in their pulpits, even after he has been told the truth of the matter. I definitely want to see him having to answer questions about this.

Will these specific incidents like these be mentioned? Or will there be yet another protest filled with righteously indignant gays with no ammunition?

I can just see Harry Jackson, Gary Bauer and Robert Knight holding a joint press conference in which they innocently claim that all they are doing is trying help gay people and framing the argument into a religious one.

The point is that this argument is not about religious condemnation of homosexuality but how a group of demagogues continue to lie and distort in order to make life harder for lgbts. That is why we are angry .

It is not enough to scream about homophobia. We should show proof as consistently and often as we can.

Values Voters debate my pinkie toe!!

The radio show was taped today and I think I did rather well.

But on the national front, some members of the anti-gay industry held a presidential debate under guise that it was a debate for "values voters."

From what I hear, they sang Christian songs and prayed.

Then proceeded to lie like a bunch of rugs.

Wisely Fred Thompson, Rudy Guiliani, and John McCain did not show up. But there were enough "candidates" there to make an impression.

Specifically perennial phony candidate Alan Keyes.

Keyes disappoints me because he has so much potential. But he reduces himself to a laughing stock with every campaign he enters and loses (by a wide margin) because of his constant talk of "moral values." Keyes is a combination of Harold Stassen, Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mather, and Increase Mather in a tired chocolate shell that works to simultaneously give me gas and put me to sleep.

To Keyes, no one has the right moral fiber but him. That is this man’s constant schtick; his gimmick.

I suspect that if Keyes made it into Heaven, he would start criticizing God for not running the place on a "Scriptural" basis.

Keyes reminds me of a fancy looking restaurant that tries to fill up customers on appeitizers because it has no decent entrees. In other words, all he can do is talk an interesting (and bear in mind I said interesting, not good) game. But he has no substance. And every time he enters a campaign or debate, it is not to serve the needs of the public but to feed his own yawning darkness of an ego.

If by some insane anti-miracle, Keyes actually won a campaign, my bet is that the first thing he would do is piss in his pants because he would have to back up his bullshit with action.

There was one question that did disturb me. It was asked by "ex-gay for pay" Stephen Bennett:

Would you support legislation ensuring that schools would lose federal funding if they exposed children to homosexual indoctrination?

Knowing the anti-gay industry’s love of code words and distorting semantics, this means that funds should be taken away from any school that dares to acknowledge the fact that lgbts exist in places other than public bathrooms, "bathhouses," and dirty shadows.

This entire thing really boggles the mind. One would think that these so-called righteous folks learned something from 1992. For those who can’t remember, the Republican National Convention’s preoccupation with homosexuality, particularly Pat Buchanan’s speech about a cultural war, spooked the hell out of the country and paved the way for Bill Clinton’s election.

How strange that history seems to repeat itself.

Well those who don’t learn from history generally find themselves repeating it. And personally, that suits me just fine.

Radio show tomorrow!

I hope everyone bears with me while I try to balance news of anti-gay industry distortions with that of the progress of my book.

Tomorrow, I will be taping a local radio show, Rainbow Radio. I hope to talk in detail about the findings of my book.

I also hope to have a link to the radio show after it airs on Sunday.

Value Voter debate?

What if the anti-gay industry gave a debate and no one wanted to show up?

The answer to that question is happening tonight as some members of the religious right are having a so-called "Values Voter" presidential debate.

Only thing is that GOP front runners - Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, John McCain and Fred Thompson - aren't going to be there due to "scheduling conflicts."

Maybe Alan Keyes will show up and entertain the audience by juggling. After all, that is what court jesters do.

And the sheep goes baaaaaaaaa

If any of you want to know just how much power the anti-gay industry has with many people of faith, check out this very hilarious item from People for the American Way:

The American Family Association recently took time out from its work against hate-crimes protections for gays and religious pluralism to launch an attack on a series of sleazy TV ads for hamburgers.

In urging its supporters to contact local TV stations to halt the Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s ads, however, AFA’s automatic-outrage-generator unfortunately left letter-writers with the option of demanding satisfaction from all media outlets, leading one frustrated newspaper editor to pen an editorial titled “Please quit sending these generic letters.”

From the Salem, Oregon Statesman Journal:

I haven't taken time to watch the commercials, but they must be pretty tasteless (no pun intended). …

But I digress. My point is not the commercials; it's the letter-writing campaign. The generic letter is from the American Family Association web site. It's to be sent to TELEVISION STATIONS; they air commercials, newspapers don't.

One has to wonder about the smarts of these letter writers, if they don't follow the directions on the Web site, if they misspell the Statesman Journal's name and Hardee's name, if they send the letters to towns that don't have a Hardee's or Carl's Jr. -- and if they participate in a generic letter-writing campaign, which usually gets ignored.

From what people have told me, the commercials are awful. Still, don't expect to see any of these letters in print anywhere in the country. Opinion editors automatically toss generic letters.

Divide and conquer

In this fight over the Employee Non-Discrimination Act, the Traditional Values Coalition and Concerned Women for America have made the transgender community the new boogeymen.

It would be funny if it wasn’t so damned insulting to hear Lou Sheldon and Matt Barber go on about "she-males" and "linebackers with five o’clock shadow dressed in drag" trying to get jobs at nurseries and churches.

Their hysterical ramblings can take on a more sinister purpose.

How long will we have to wait before an article is "conveniently placed" in a legitimate publication talking about divisions between gays and transgenders.

It could happen in the same manner that conversations on whether or not Senator Barrack Obama was "black enough" for African-American voters took place.

That was funny in itself because before it became an item of discussion for folks like Tucker Carlson, I had never heard anyone in my community ever voice such an opinion.

In the case of gays and transgenders, there wouldn’t be a need to manufacture a division or a conversation about a division.

There are some gays think that transgenders have no place in our community. I am ashamed to admit that a loooong time ago, I was one of those people.

I have since then changed my opinion, but so many others haven’t. And they don’t mind being vocal about their ignorance.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my gay people but many of us have a tendency to verbally shoot from the hip. And when you do that sort of thing, your mouth starts running before your brain can adequately process information.

And unfortunately in our community, we have too many folks willing to open their mouths before they think. They call it being "brutally honest."

It’s these gays that the Traditional Values Coalition and Concerned Women for America are counting on to take the bait.

So I am hoping that in our fight for ENDA we don’t allow ourselves to be taken in by divide and conquer tactics. There is no difference between the lie that gay men insert gerbils in our rectums and the lie that transgenders are just confused people who need help.

So let’s not go about creating those differences.