Congratulations Mass Resistance - you hateful folks deserve your honor
For the second consecutive year, the Southern Povery Law Center has designated Massachusetts anti-gay group Mass Resistance as a hate group.
It couldn't have happened to a better bunch.
From the Southern Poverty Law Center:
Anti-gay groups are organizations that go beyond mere disagreement with homosexuality by subjecting gays and lesbians to campaigns of personal vilification.
Mass Resistance is in good company. Apparently Paul Cameron's group, the Family Research Institute, is included in SPLC's listing of anti-gay hate groups.
Now if you think that Mass Resistance gave a speech about their designation thanking the usual - God, their parents, and their supporters - think again.
In a way true to the form that led them to receive such designation, Mass Resistance claims that SPLC's honor is part of "the plan" put forth by the gay community in the book After the Ball:
It's a common theme of the left, going back to the Saul Alinsky tactics in the 1930s, to demonize your enemies if they become effective. This was adopted by the homosexual movement. In their classic manifesto After the Ball, Marshall Kirk & Hunter Masden advised activists to compare people with traditional values to the Ku Klux Klan (which lynched blacks).
That annoying and inaccurate claim has been popping up steadily this year.
In truth, Mass Resistance has done more than enough to deserve the designation given to them by SPLC, including the following:
At a recent MassResistance Banquet, the guest speaker was Scott Lively, the author of the book The Pink Swastika which alleges that gay men were not particularly persecuted under the German Nazi regime, and that homosexual men were especially prevalent in the ranks of German Nazism, and were in large part, the motivators of the Jewish Holocaust.
In an interview with the Daily Show, Camenker said that if he was given enough time he could "connect the dots" to same sex marriage in Massachusetts for the rise in homelessness and crime rates and the poor air quality.
MassResistance protested a Macys store in Boston because they believed Macys was dressing transgendered mannequins in their windows. MassResistance went so far as to roam the Macys and photograph what they considered "normal" mannequins and then compared the photos on their website.
On the MassResistance blog, the group stated that children learn about sex from hearing noises outside of their parents locked door: "And sometimes the bedroom door is locked and he hears noises. This is a child's normal introduction to sex. It is simply put before him in the context of normal, healthy family activities."
Even former Governor Romney, who is not an ally of the Marriage Equality movement issued a press release exposing Brian Camenker and this group MassResistance.
And let's not forget its lead role in the David Parker debacle.
Hat tip to Mass Resistance Watch for providing this list.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Dumb comment courtesy of One News Now
I try to talk about only religious right organizations and how they deceive people of faith with their lies.
But sometimes I see something that makes me think that some of these folks want to walk down the primrose path of deception.
A comment arising from a One News Now article, Christians in medical field face 'conscience' challenge, is a perfect example of this.
The article is a slanted view of President Obama's decision to rescind a sloppy overreaching regulation regarding physicians' personal beliefs when treating their patients. Supporters of the regulation claim that it's to prevent doctors from being forced to perform abortions if they are personally opposed to abortions.
The regulation is sloppy because it is too broad, dealing with more than abortion and dealing with more than physicians. It even covers people cleaning medical equipment.
Naturally One News Now provides slanted coverage and naturally many of its commentators are angry at President Obama's decision.
But one comment in particular caught my eye. The person was responding to another comment asking what would be done if your doctor was a Jehovah's Witness and refused to give a blood tranfusion. This is the response:
If I needed a blood transfusion and went to a doctor who was a Jehovah's Witness, I wouldn't ask him to change his beliefs...I would simply choose a different doctor. That's the beauty of living in a free society. You have the right to choose, AND you have freedom from tyranny. Forcing someone to do something against their will is the epitome of tyranny.
My question is if you are in the position to need a blood tranfusion, how can you "choose" a different doctor?
I try to talk about only religious right organizations and how they deceive people of faith with their lies.
But sometimes I see something that makes me think that some of these folks want to walk down the primrose path of deception.
A comment arising from a One News Now article, Christians in medical field face 'conscience' challenge, is a perfect example of this.
The article is a slanted view of President Obama's decision to rescind a sloppy overreaching regulation regarding physicians' personal beliefs when treating their patients. Supporters of the regulation claim that it's to prevent doctors from being forced to perform abortions if they are personally opposed to abortions.
The regulation is sloppy because it is too broad, dealing with more than abortion and dealing with more than physicians. It even covers people cleaning medical equipment.
Naturally One News Now provides slanted coverage and naturally many of its commentators are angry at President Obama's decision.
But one comment in particular caught my eye. The person was responding to another comment asking what would be done if your doctor was a Jehovah's Witness and refused to give a blood tranfusion. This is the response:
If I needed a blood transfusion and went to a doctor who was a Jehovah's Witness, I wouldn't ask him to change his beliefs...I would simply choose a different doctor. That's the beauty of living in a free society. You have the right to choose, AND you have freedom from tyranny. Forcing someone to do something against their will is the epitome of tyranny.
My question is if you are in the position to need a blood tranfusion, how can you "choose" a different doctor?
Come on, Peter. You know you miss Paul Cameron
Yesterday, I showed a comment that our friend Peter LaBarbera made about focusing on the supposed unhealthy aspect of being gay:
"I think they (young conservatives) feel that they have to do something for these gay unions. We have to bring it back to the behavior, the unhealthiness of the behavior, but also the entire gay agenda . . . " - Young conservatives misled on homosexual issue
Today in a humorously bad piece, MSM=Disease, he follows the same vein.
What makes the piece so bad is how he dances around the issue. He waxes about bathhouses and "queer ideology," and makes a veiled comment about the "extraordinary health risks of homosexual behavior" (without saying what these extraordinary health risks are. And here I was hoping he would dare to cite 'gay bowel syndrome.')
He also unleashes this howler:
This colossal public health disaster is the direct result of GLBT organizing and political clout which, ironically, helps perpetuate the suffering of homosexual men. If the public health powers that be could somehow manage to cut through the politically correct cow manure, they might ask themselves why this link between homo-sexual behavior (or, as Prof. Rob Gagnon calls it, homosex) and disease is being downplayed or ignored while other similarly obvious connections (e.g., smoking and lung disease) are dealt with forthrightly, resulting in no-nonsense prevention methods that discourage or ban unhealthy conduct (e.g., public media campaigns against smoking and laws banning smoking).
Sorry, but there is nothing backing up LaBarbera's inferrence that being gay directly leads to disease (as in the case of smoking and lung disease) Nor is his claim that organizing and growing political clout leads to disease in the gay community correct.
What LaBarbera will not tell you is that there are many studies which say homophobia leads to negative behaviors in gays, particularly our youth. And these negative behaviors can lead to diseases.
If anything, political organizing has led the way in stopping homophobia and negative behavior in gays, particularly our youth, thereby putting a damper on diseases.
But it's just like Peter to try and turn the truth on its head.
I bet he really misses the ability to cite Paul Cameron now.
Yesterday, I showed a comment that our friend Peter LaBarbera made about focusing on the supposed unhealthy aspect of being gay:
"I think they (young conservatives) feel that they have to do something for these gay unions. We have to bring it back to the behavior, the unhealthiness of the behavior, but also the entire gay agenda . . . " - Young conservatives misled on homosexual issue
Today in a humorously bad piece, MSM=Disease, he follows the same vein.
What makes the piece so bad is how he dances around the issue. He waxes about bathhouses and "queer ideology," and makes a veiled comment about the "extraordinary health risks of homosexual behavior" (without saying what these extraordinary health risks are. And here I was hoping he would dare to cite 'gay bowel syndrome.')
He also unleashes this howler:
This colossal public health disaster is the direct result of GLBT organizing and political clout which, ironically, helps perpetuate the suffering of homosexual men. If the public health powers that be could somehow manage to cut through the politically correct cow manure, they might ask themselves why this link between homo-sexual behavior (or, as Prof. Rob Gagnon calls it, homosex) and disease is being downplayed or ignored while other similarly obvious connections (e.g., smoking and lung disease) are dealt with forthrightly, resulting in no-nonsense prevention methods that discourage or ban unhealthy conduct (e.g., public media campaigns against smoking and laws banning smoking).
Sorry, but there is nothing backing up LaBarbera's inferrence that being gay directly leads to disease (as in the case of smoking and lung disease) Nor is his claim that organizing and growing political clout leads to disease in the gay community correct.
What LaBarbera will not tell you is that there are many studies which say homophobia leads to negative behaviors in gays, particularly our youth. And these negative behaviors can lead to diseases.
If anything, political organizing has led the way in stopping homophobia and negative behavior in gays, particularly our youth, thereby putting a damper on diseases.
But it's just like Peter to try and turn the truth on its head.
I bet he really misses the ability to cite Paul Cameron now.
The Mormon Church is at it again
this is from Box Turtle Bulletin
EXCLUSIVE: Mormon Machine Cranking Up Against Illinois Civil Unions Bill
The Illinois House will begin considering another Civil Unions bill this week. Introduced by Rep. Greg Harris on February 20, HB 2234 has been assigned to the Youth and Family Committee, which will hold a hearing on Thursday. We’ve received word that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has engaged its private communications network to bombard state legislators with phone calls in opposition to the bill.
The Mormon Church maintains a private internet social-networking service in lieu of individual churches having their own Internet web sites. This allows the church to oversee the information that is made available to members and nonmembers. It also allows the church to maintain private information that is only made available to church members.
Among the many capabilities the web site has for members who are authorized to log in is the ability to send private email to other church members in the same ward. It also allows a ward bishop to send a blanket email to all members of his ward, and it allows a stake president to send a blanket email to all members of his stake.
But this is key: no individual member can send a blanket email to all members of his ward without it first going through his or her bishop. The same is true at the stake level, where the stake president would have to first authorize the message. So when a church member receives a broadcast message, he or she can be assured that it has the blessing, so to speak, of the bishop or stake president.
In a private email sent out to LDS members of at least one ward in Illinois, church members are being encouraged to call their representative to voice their opposition to the bill, which would provide same-sex couples with recognition and limited protections under Illinois law. But the official LDS-sanctioned email to members is loaded with much of the same misinformation that was present in the campaign against California’s Proposition 8.
More at Box Turtle Bulletin
this is from Box Turtle Bulletin
EXCLUSIVE: Mormon Machine Cranking Up Against Illinois Civil Unions Bill
The Illinois House will begin considering another Civil Unions bill this week. Introduced by Rep. Greg Harris on February 20, HB 2234 has been assigned to the Youth and Family Committee, which will hold a hearing on Thursday. We’ve received word that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has engaged its private communications network to bombard state legislators with phone calls in opposition to the bill.
The Mormon Church maintains a private internet social-networking service in lieu of individual churches having their own Internet web sites. This allows the church to oversee the information that is made available to members and nonmembers. It also allows the church to maintain private information that is only made available to church members.
Among the many capabilities the web site has for members who are authorized to log in is the ability to send private email to other church members in the same ward. It also allows a ward bishop to send a blanket email to all members of his ward, and it allows a stake president to send a blanket email to all members of his stake.
But this is key: no individual member can send a blanket email to all members of his ward without it first going through his or her bishop. The same is true at the stake level, where the stake president would have to first authorize the message. So when a church member receives a broadcast message, he or she can be assured that it has the blessing, so to speak, of the bishop or stake president.
In a private email sent out to LDS members of at least one ward in Illinois, church members are being encouraged to call their representative to voice their opposition to the bill, which would provide same-sex couples with recognition and limited protections under Illinois law. But the official LDS-sanctioned email to members is loaded with much of the same misinformation that was present in the campaign against California’s Proposition 8.
More at Box Turtle Bulletin
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Gays are not persecuting Christians - The moral panic exposed
Did you hear the one about the church that was forced to allow lesbians to hold a commitment ceremony on its property?
How about the father who was dragged away from his son's school in handcuffs because he wouldn't let teachers "indoctrinate" his child in the alleged gay agenda?
Well how about the secret plan of gays to take over America via a six-point plan put out by a 1980's book?
I can't believe you haven't heard of these things? Haven't you been keeping up with the news? There is a HUGE conspiracy by gays to silence Christians.
I kid you not and I know for certain that this is true because the American Family Association and other religious right groups created a "documentary" proving it.
Okay, realistically, this claim about gays trying to silence Christians is an unadulterated fraud not unlike the equally phony "War on Christmas" moral panic perpetrated by religious right groups every December.
And like the "War on Christmas," this lie about gays plotting to silence Christians is built on deceit, intentionally misrepresented anecdotes, and the inherent laziness of the media and public in general for not seeking out the truth behind said anecdotes.
Creating a moral panic about the gay community is nothing new to the American Family Association (AFA) or any other religious right group for that matter. In the 80s and early 90s (and even now), these groups pushed shockingly inaccurate studies that masqueraded as scientific facts. The purpose of these studies was to give the false impression of gays as diseased hordes obsessed with gerbils, carrots, public sex, blood, and children.
And the idea of presenting anti-gay innuendoes in a "documentary" (thereby giving them a fake air of truth) isn't a new concept either. Religious right groups (AFA included) took those pre-mentioned studies and packaged them into propaganda films such as The Gay Agenda and Gay Rights/Special Rights.
So what's happening now is just a new version of the same tired game. In the past, the religious right tried to make the issue of gay rights into that of a public health menace. Apparently the gay community have gotten savvy to this game so they are now trying to slink their lies into another inaccurate talking point - gay rights will increase religious persecution.
Now all that is left is for a public religious right figure (i.e. Mike Huckabee) to push these lies with an unassuming frame of mind and say things like "you gays can't seem to understand that we Christians don't hate you" while his friends in the background (AFA and company) accuse gays of everything BUT attempting to bring back the Spanish Inquisition.
It's a nifty way to poison the case for gay rights in the eyes of the public while at the same time leave gays sputtering in anger over the wanton evasiveness of such tactics.
The end result being gays will look pushy and threatening while Huckabee and company will come across looking like St. Peter and smelling like a Rose of Sharon.
And let's not forget the anecodotes because they play a crucial part in this game. No matter how farfetched or deceptive they are, random stories about gays allegedly persecuting Christians are effective. No matter how many times they are discredited, there is always a crowd ready to believe them - especially when these anecdotes take centerstage in "documentaries" that will repeat them ad naseum.
But for the sake of bringing things back to the beginning, let me return to the anecdotes I mentioned at the beginning of this piece:
The incident involving the church had to do with the church receiving tax breaks for a pavilion it owned. But a requirement of the tax breaks was that the pavilion had to be open to all, gays included.
And that father allegedly dragged away in handcuffs? Well he objected to his son bringing home a book on different families on the grounds that one family in the book was of a same sex nature. The school accommodated his anger via private meetings, but he used the occasion to orchestrate his arrest - even to the point of having people waiting outside to take pictures when the police led him away in handcuffs.
Lastly, that book about gays taking over America? The majority of gays have never heard of it.
And that's the true story behind just three of the stories regarding gays allegedly persecuting Christians. But you won't find this truth featured in any religious right "documentary."
And that's a shame because it's proof that to some people who claim to fight for moral values, truth is an expendable casualty.
Did you hear the one about the church that was forced to allow lesbians to hold a commitment ceremony on its property?
How about the father who was dragged away from his son's school in handcuffs because he wouldn't let teachers "indoctrinate" his child in the alleged gay agenda?
Well how about the secret plan of gays to take over America via a six-point plan put out by a 1980's book?
I can't believe you haven't heard of these things? Haven't you been keeping up with the news? There is a HUGE conspiracy by gays to silence Christians.
I kid you not and I know for certain that this is true because the American Family Association and other religious right groups created a "documentary" proving it.
Okay, realistically, this claim about gays trying to silence Christians is an unadulterated fraud not unlike the equally phony "War on Christmas" moral panic perpetrated by religious right groups every December.
And like the "War on Christmas," this lie about gays plotting to silence Christians is built on deceit, intentionally misrepresented anecdotes, and the inherent laziness of the media and public in general for not seeking out the truth behind said anecdotes.
Creating a moral panic about the gay community is nothing new to the American Family Association (AFA) or any other religious right group for that matter. In the 80s and early 90s (and even now), these groups pushed shockingly inaccurate studies that masqueraded as scientific facts. The purpose of these studies was to give the false impression of gays as diseased hordes obsessed with gerbils, carrots, public sex, blood, and children.
And the idea of presenting anti-gay innuendoes in a "documentary" (thereby giving them a fake air of truth) isn't a new concept either. Religious right groups (AFA included) took those pre-mentioned studies and packaged them into propaganda films such as The Gay Agenda and Gay Rights/Special Rights.
So what's happening now is just a new version of the same tired game. In the past, the religious right tried to make the issue of gay rights into that of a public health menace. Apparently the gay community have gotten savvy to this game so they are now trying to slink their lies into another inaccurate talking point - gay rights will increase religious persecution.
Now all that is left is for a public religious right figure (i.e. Mike Huckabee) to push these lies with an unassuming frame of mind and say things like "you gays can't seem to understand that we Christians don't hate you" while his friends in the background (AFA and company) accuse gays of everything BUT attempting to bring back the Spanish Inquisition.
It's a nifty way to poison the case for gay rights in the eyes of the public while at the same time leave gays sputtering in anger over the wanton evasiveness of such tactics.
The end result being gays will look pushy and threatening while Huckabee and company will come across looking like St. Peter and smelling like a Rose of Sharon.
And let's not forget the anecodotes because they play a crucial part in this game. No matter how farfetched or deceptive they are, random stories about gays allegedly persecuting Christians are effective. No matter how many times they are discredited, there is always a crowd ready to believe them - especially when these anecdotes take centerstage in "documentaries" that will repeat them ad naseum.
But for the sake of bringing things back to the beginning, let me return to the anecdotes I mentioned at the beginning of this piece:
The incident involving the church had to do with the church receiving tax breaks for a pavilion it owned. But a requirement of the tax breaks was that the pavilion had to be open to all, gays included.
And that father allegedly dragged away in handcuffs? Well he objected to his son bringing home a book on different families on the grounds that one family in the book was of a same sex nature. The school accommodated his anger via private meetings, but he used the occasion to orchestrate his arrest - even to the point of having people waiting outside to take pictures when the police led him away in handcuffs.
Lastly, that book about gays taking over America? The majority of gays have never heard of it.
And that's the true story behind just three of the stories regarding gays allegedly persecuting Christians. But you won't find this truth featured in any religious right "documentary."
And that's a shame because it's proof that to some people who claim to fight for moral values, truth is an expendable casualty.
The most telling thing Peter LaBarbera will ever say
"I think they (young conservatives) feel that they have to do something for these gay unions. We have to bring it back to the behavior, the unhealthiness of the behavior, but also the entire gay agenda . . . " - Young conservatives misled on homosexual issue
How long will it be before we see this sort of thing again (Hat tip to Goodasyou.org):
"I think they (young conservatives) feel that they have to do something for these gay unions. We have to bring it back to the behavior, the unhealthiness of the behavior, but also the entire gay agenda . . . " - Young conservatives misled on homosexual issue
How long will it be before we see this sort of thing again (Hat tip to Goodasyou.org):
Tennessee bill going after the 'adopting gays'
Here we go again:
Tennessee bill would ban adoptions by unwed couples
They don't have Karl Rove. They no longer have James Dobson. But the religious right are bound and determined to create another campaign issue like the push against marriage equality.
Of course the bill doesn't mention anything about gays, just unmarried couples. But as the article and comments under it demonstrate, this bill is all about keeping gay couples from adopting children.
We know what may happen next. The bill passes, the court strikes it down, and we get to hear the standard blather about "activist judges trying to redefine the notion of family," thereby bringing a shitload of voters to the polls which the media (in all of its overdramatic glory) will give some stupid name to (i.e. values voters).
The need to engage in subterfuge over what this bill truly does should be enough to tell its supporters that it's not necessarily the Christian thing to do. That, and the fact that if the bill passes, it will put Tennessee in a financial bind and deny more children good homes.
But you know these folks. They have that special Bible - the one that says that God permits lying and dishonest if it is done in His name.
Here we go again:
Tennessee bill would ban adoptions by unwed couples
They don't have Karl Rove. They no longer have James Dobson. But the religious right are bound and determined to create another campaign issue like the push against marriage equality.
Of course the bill doesn't mention anything about gays, just unmarried couples. But as the article and comments under it demonstrate, this bill is all about keeping gay couples from adopting children.
We know what may happen next. The bill passes, the court strikes it down, and we get to hear the standard blather about "activist judges trying to redefine the notion of family," thereby bringing a shitload of voters to the polls which the media (in all of its overdramatic glory) will give some stupid name to (i.e. values voters).
The need to engage in subterfuge over what this bill truly does should be enough to tell its supporters that it's not necessarily the Christian thing to do. That, and the fact that if the bill passes, it will put Tennessee in a financial bind and deny more children good homes.
But you know these folks. They have that special Bible - the one that says that God permits lying and dishonest if it is done in His name.
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