Porno Petey strikes again

There he goes again.

Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth (in name only) has just published his eyewitness report of San Francisco's Folsom Street Fair complete with pictures.

For those who us who are aware of Peter's proclivities, it is business as usual, as he makes us all aware of every "depraved" sexual act we missed as we go about with our boring lives.

In other words, business as usual.

For the record, I have never been to Folsom Street Fair and I don't plan on going soon. I am not into bondage or seeing half dressed people in chains and leather walking the streets.

Not that it matters to Peter or any of his supporters. In their eyes, my boring life as a gay man is a dodge, an illusion put forth by some secret gay empire.

And it is up to Peter (like some reluctant hero of a Stephen King novel) to "expose" the true face of lgbt America. Which, according to him, is all about baccanalia and hedonism.

Never mind that there are many other lgbts like me who have no interest in Folsom Street Fair or that there are a good number of heterosexuals (as evidenced in the pictures Peter took) that do have an interest in such goings on, laws determining lgbt self-determination should be decided solely on the anti-gay spin Peter try to put forth from his "investigation."

It would be ludicrous if Peter wasn't so damned serious and the implications of his innuendoes weren't so damned scary.

Oh no! Not another ENDA post!

Yes another ENDA post but it's a short one.

By now, I am sure everyone is aware of how the House of Representatives is gutting the ENDA bill due to the reluctance of some members to support the part about our transgender brothers and sisters.

Apparently anti-gay industry instigations about "she-males" wanting jobs in churches and "300 pound linebackers" dressing in drag and using the women's bathroom is getting to some people.

I don't like how the House Democrats acted.

I understand it, but I don't have to like it.

Strangely though, the anti-gay industry seems to be silent as to how their scare tactics worked. I think a lot of them are either reeling from the low attendance of their "Values Summit" or attending the Folsom Street Fair.

Be sure to take some interesting pictures, Peter.

I have a feeling that the lgbt community has not heard the last of the Folsom Street Fair controversy. Poll numbers and experts show that the anti-gay industry pissed away the advantage they gained from the 2004 elections.

Well that could have been easily predicted.

I am sure that in the coming weeks, we can probably expect to hear more about "she-males" and men in leather.

I sincerely hope that some of us in pursuit of "personal freedom" don't provide the anti-gay industry with ammunition that could destroy us all.

There is one thing though about this fight over ENDA that I am very proud of. I was wrong (so far) about "brutally honest" gay folks who would use the opportunity to voice their prejudices about the transgender community and play into the hands of the anti-gay industry.

From what I have seen, lgbts (major organizations included) have formed a united front in defending the dignity of our transgender brothers and sisters.

Let's see more of that unity in defending those in our community who don't fit the personfication of a "perfect lgbt."

But at the end of the day, we would do best to remember that it's all politics.

And politics is like sticking your hand in a pile of manure in search of a diamond.

When you find the diamond, how in the heck do you get the smell off of your hand?

It's been a good day - The Senate passes hate crimes legislation and my radio show appearance is online

As the headline hinted, I am in an unusually good mood today. The following is one of the reasons why:

Senators voted Thursday morning to give the federal government more jurisdiction to prosecute hate crimes and included protections for gay, lesbian and transgender victims, attaching the measure to an annual defense policy bill.

Sixty Senators -- just enough to override a Republican filibuster -- voted to attach the Matthew Shepard Act, named for the gay Wyoming college student murdered in 1998, as an amendment to the 2008 Department of Defense authorization bill. The measure was sponsored by Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore.

The next step is getting our beloved president (and I say that with utmost sarcasm) to sign the bill. He has already indicated that he may veto it and I am sure that the anti-gay industry will lobby him hard to do so.

Not a problem as far as I am concerned. The big step has been taken and the die has been cast. History has been made and there is no going back.

Sooner or later, whether with or without this president, the hate crimes legislation will be passed.

Now let's work on ENDA.

My second piece of good news is more personal. My appearance on a local radio show, Rainbow Radio, is now online.

It was taped last week and aired last Sunday but I finally got a chance to listen to it this morning.

I think I did rather well seeing that it was my first (but hopefully not last) radio interview about my book.

Big ups to Rainbow Radio for devoting the entire show to my book. Check the show out sometime. It does excellent work in educating South Carolina on the issues and needs of its lgbt community.

In particular, enjoy 30 minutes of me and hosts Bruce Converse and the Rev. Candace Chellew-Hodge as we talk about Paul Cameron, Michael Johnston, gerbils, alleged gay sex habits and the rest of the hot messes the anti-gay industry creates about lgbts. The link is below. And by all means tell me what you think (but no snide remarks about my nasal tone.)

Show 103 - Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

My bad prediction may come true

On Sept. 12, my blog post talked about how the anti-gay industry are exploiting the transgender community in order to garner opposition to ENDA.

Now it looks like they are having some success:

House Democratic leaders are strongly considering dropping anti-discrimination protections for transgender persons from the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, after an internal Democratic head count on Wednesday found that the bill would likely be defeated if it included the trans provision, multiple sources familiar with the bill said.

The current version of the bill calls for banning employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, terms that are defined in the measure to include gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender persons.

As of late Wednesday, it appeared likely that the trans provision would be removed, setting up a potentially divisive fight within gay activist circles over whether or not to support an ENDA bill that excludes trans people.

Now here is the question - will those with influence and access to the media in the lgbt community recognize this demonization of the trangender community as a tactic of the anti-gay industry to divide and conquer us?

Or will some of our "brutally honest" and "outspoken" folks in the community play into the hands of Sheldon, Barber, and company and display their ignorance of our transgender brothers and sisters.

Whatever the case may be, the anti-gay industry has found another avenue to attack us. In the fight over marriage equality, they were able to play the lgbt and African-American community against one another.

Now it looks like they are playing the gay and trangender against one another.

This time, unlike the last, we have some forewarning of their tactics.

I just hope we can do something with the forewarning.

Oh look, another leather thing for Porno Pete to attend

Batten down the hatches, our friend Peter LaBarbera is upset.

Peter (and Matt Barber of Concerned Women for America) seems to be upset over a poster advertising San Francisco's Folsom Street Fair. Apparently the poster is parodying the New Testament's Last Supper.

Now in all honesty, I find the poster in bad taste on many levels.

Of course in all of Peter's bitchings, he will ignore the lgbts out there (like myself) who don't necessarily find the poster to be of good taste.

Just like he ignored the women in the poster in his attempts to portray it as yet more proof of how us lgbts are anti-Christian hedonists.

I have never been to Folsom Street Fair and I don't plan on going anytime soon. I am sure that Peter has gone in the past and will probably go in the future, where he will be snapping pictures to indict the entire lgbt community on the actions of a few.

But from what I understand, the Fair is attended by heterosexuals as well as lgbts. Believe it or not, they also have an interest in leather, s & m, fisting, and the other stuff the Fair promises to showcase.

Not that this little detail matters to Peter or Matt or Concerned Women for America or anyone else willing to demonize the lgbt community.

But Peter's anger inspires me.

One day, I am going to journey down to Fort Lauderdale during Spring Break and make a video of all of the antics I see there.

The question is who will pay more for it - parents or horny heterosexual boys?

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.