Some people don't know the difference between criticizing Obama and hoping for his destruction

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Not necessarily an lgbt issue per se but still an important one.

I am so sick of people minimizing the nasty rhetoric against the President. The hateful rhetoric emanating from supposed mainstream venues such as television shows and radio talk shows, the nasty signs at those teabagging rallies, the constant comparison to President Obama and dictators of the past such as Hitler and Mao, the taking everything he does and making a huge issue out of it; all of it is going in an ugly direction.

And while this is happening, you have the other group playing that straw man argument - "waaah, I am being accused of being a racist because I am simply criticizing the President. Why can't you criticize the President without being thought of a racist"

It's nonsense. Maybe if they were as quick as to condemn the hateful rhetoric against the President as they are to making stupid jokes regarding him receiving a Nobel Peace Prize or whatever else, their comments would have more credibility.

To me, these folks playing the straw man argument are just as bad as those who would carry the ugly signs and make the ugly comments. They see the nastiness taking place and more often than not, they try to overlook it.

And that whining about "well they did it to Bush too" is ridiculous. I personally don't agree with anyone calling for or inferring for the death of a President.

But let me ask you this - just when did you ever see a commentator on a major news network compare Bush to Hitler or Stalin?

Whiny comments made about how Bush was treated intended to lessen the impact of ugly things said about Obama merely proves my point.

And it only proves my point about the abject absence of decency coming from some circles who attack Obama.

Religious right anti-hate crimes rally featured person from actual hate group

Submitted for your approval and laughter, scenes from the anti-hate crimes rally:



For those who are not aware of this fact, the first speaker at .09 seconds is Scott Lively, the head of Abiding Truth Ministries. Abiding Truth Ministries is an officially declared hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and mostly because of Lively.

A while back, Lively wrote a book, The Pink Swastika, which  incorrectly affiliated the Nazi Party in Germany with the lgbt community. The book has been repeatedly discredited, including in 2005 and in 2007:

Stephen Feinstein, director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota, said the book was "produced by a right-wing Christian cult and is as correct as flat earth theory."

In addition, Lively has been known to sanitize the reputation of  the discredited researcher Paul Cameron even to the point of lying about Cameron's work being published peer-reviewed journals (it wasn't) and claiming that Cameron's critics have no scientific merit to criticize him (they do):

While Cameron has been the subject of intense, unrelenting criticism (and mockery) by “gay” activists and their allies, he has produced an impressive body of work related to the homosexual issue, much of it published in peer-reviewed journals, and I do not believe the criticism of his work is merited on scientific grounds.

Also, according to Box Turtle Bulletin:

(Lively) is associated with not just one, not two, but three of just eleven organizations identified by the SPLC as a hate group (He co-founded Watchmen on the Walls, founded Abiding Truth Ministries, and he is now the leader of the School of Christian Activism). If that weren’t enough, he spoke at a banquet last winter for a fourth SPLC hate group, Mass Resistance.

This year, Lively was amongst the number of anti-gay figures who journeyed to Uganda for a three-day conference. In this conference, Lively helped to stoke a myriad of anti-gay lies and myths.

And anti-lgbt sentiments in Uganda are totally different than they are in America in terms of how the government embraces them.

Last month, the Uganda government was pushing an anti-gay bill which favored :

  . . .lifetime imprisonment on conviction of homosexuality, and defines a new category called “aggravated homosexuality” with provisions for the death penalty upon conviction. Among the factors which can lead to “aggravated homosexuality” is if one partner is HIV-positive. This bill would mandate HIV testing to determine eligibility for “aggravated homosexuality.”

The bill also pushed :

a complete ban on all LGBT activities — including blogging — which could be construed as “promoting homosexuality.”

So even after all of that, Lively didn't get arrested for what he said Monday. It's further proof that religious right claims about hate crimes legislation is inaccurate.

But it still bugs me how he tries to make himself into a noble soul during his speech when he goes on about how he will continue to say that homosexuality is wrong regardless of whether or not he gets arrested.

He needs to focus on his eagerness to lie.

Or does he think lying is okay.

One would think so based upon his history.

More than anyone could ever do, Lively puts the absolute hypocrisy of these folks on center stage. He is a perfect example of the old adage that action speaks louder than words.

The type of love that he and his cohorts claim to have is the type that no one needs.

More information about Scott Lively and Uganda can be found here at Truth Wins Out.

Family Research Council attacks Obama appointee with sliced footage and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Video: FRC invited Chai to speak; now slicing both her footage and her back - Family Research Council tries to smear EEOC appointee with sliced video footage.

Catholic Report: Homosexuality Not a Factor In Clerical Sex Scandals - A surprise to everyone but us.

Transgendered aide turns to law she helped pass - A bad situation involving an online friend of mine. Give em hell, girlfriend!

DC Elections Board Rules Against Prop.-8 and Question 1 Style Ballot Initiative - Harry Jackson and company loses another one.

Join the group 'Expose religious right’s history of anti-gay junk science'

Expose religious right’s history of anti-gay junk science is a facebook group that I am helping to start.

When we talk about lgbt rights, we sometimes forget to emphasize the fact that for over 30 years, religious right groups have either relied on junk science or distorted legitimate research to weave an inaccurate anti-lgbt narrative.

We don't emphasize, among other things, their continued reliance on the studies of discredited researcher Paul Cameron nor do we mention the large number of physicians and researchers who have in the past complained about the distortion of their work by these groups.

Subsequently, these groups (i.e. the National Organization for Marriage, the Traditional Values Coalition, the American Family Association, etc.) and their spokespeople are not questioned or called to the carpet for their lies as much as they should be.

A lot of us know that these groups are phony but we aren't doing enough to emphasize the point.

It is because of our lack of attention that religious right groups are either able to push the phony notion that they are somehow upholding "traditional values" while distorting science or push tacit approval of vile  homophobic images, such as the above Concerned Women for America endorsed comic book (of which several pages are present on the facebook group). 

This group is meant to be a call to action. It's a call for the lgbt community to start changing the narrative in the fight for our equality.

Seems to me if organizations are either deliberately relying on junk science or truncating legitimate science, they should be the ones whose credibility should be questioned rather than the people who are the victims of their inaccurate invectives.

As we have seen with Monday's silly sideshow rally against hate crimes legislation, we are dealing with organizations who will push a point even after said point has been continuously proven wrong and refuted.

And while we laugh this time at religious right groups falling on their faces in public embarrassment, let's not forget the times when their tenacity to push inaccuracies have harmed the lgbt community.

The point of this so-called culture war is not lgbts having to explain why we are deserving of basic rights. The point should be why are these so-called moral groups lying to deny lgbts our basic rights.

Click here to join.

Congressman pushing Carrie Prejean for public office?

This is just too funny not to post about. From TMZ:

Carrie Prejean has a serious congressional supporter who thinks she should pursue a career in politics ... and it's not just because she has her finger on the hot-button issues.


TMZ spoke with Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) who tells us he thinks Prejean could be a serious contender in the political arena: "[Carrie] has the ability to draw crowds and if she has a strong message to go with that, who knows what she can do? She has star power which can open doors.

"We've all made mistakes when we were 17. [The sex tape] is going to be an impediment, but people are excited about her convictions and her beliefs."

For the record -- Carrie was 20 when she filmed her world famous solo mission.

Well in terms of faces of the Republican party, she'd be much prettier than Rush Limbaugh.

Palin/Prejean in 2012? What do you think?

Arrest made in anti-gay murder, more laughing at anti-hate crimes rally, and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Puerto Rico Police Arrest Suspect In Gruesome Murder- I want to know what kind of animal would do such a thing to a child!

The messengers of God can't get arrested in this town - And the anti-hate crimes legislation rally sinks even LOWER! Go get em, Dana Milbank!

Out puts out its list of top 100 people - My buddy Pam Spaulding made the list!!

Play depicting Jesus as gay packs church - Apparently it was a hit!!

Date Set for First Latin-American Gay Marriage - Good news out of Argentina

They came, they protested, they got ignored: Anti-hate crimes legislation rally a huge disaster

Gary Cass and his Christian Anti-Defamation Commission held their protest against lgbt inclusive hate crimes legislation yesterday and I think it's safe to say that despite the hype and the myriad other organizations and personalities involved, including Harry Jackson, Rick Scarborough, Janet Porter* (seen here above pushing her silly book), Matt Barber, etc., it stunk worse than a Southern kitchen after a pot of chitterlings cooking on the stove.

People for the American Way's Religious Right Watch said the following:

Sure, we heard many of the Religious Right’s standard lies about the hate crimes bill being an effort to silence Christians, and, of course, Janet Porter waving her book about “the criminalization of Christianity.” We heard the inflammatory and inaccurate characterization of the bill as the “Pedophile Protection Act.” We heard from a Philadelphia grandmother with Repent America who in the Right’s inaccurate retelling, was arrested only for sharing the gospel with attendees at a gay pride event. We heard essentially irrelevant examples of anti-gay preachers being suppressed in other countries which don’t have the First Amendment protections Americans enjoy. And we heard some preaching that God and the Bible say homosexuality is wrong. In other words, we heard standard and typically false Religious Right talking points about the hate crimes law, and a bit of standard anti-gay theology that is unquestionably protected by the First Amendment.

But there was nothing that anyone could remotely consider incitement to a hate crime, and nothing that even these speakers could say with a straight face had any chance of getting them arrested. Even Matt Barber, who typically does not shy away from disparaging comments about gay people and their supporters, gave a relatively dry recitation of the Liberty Counsel’s assertions that the law is unconstitutional.

So, what happened? Did these culture warriors essentially chicken out? Did they feel outnumbered? In spite of the event being billed as a “rally,” the number of speakers gathered behind the microphone seemed to outnumber the number of people attending in support of their message. The “love is legit” folks had the most visible presence. Maybe the organizers just figured out that a “we love the homosexuals” message would play better than “God wants them dead.

Damn, I'm disappointed. Not even Focus on the Family could make this rally seem better than it was. Although  Cass, tried to make a diamond out of the pile of manure he helped to create. Check out his sleight of hand statement:

Gary Cass, president and CEO of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, said pastors who preach from the Bible could be held accountable if someone hears their sermon and then commits a crime against a gay-identified individual.

"It puts the burden on the minister to have to read the minds of the people that are listening to him and be able to predict the future," he said. "It has a very chilling effect on the minister's speech, because the safest thing is to just say nothing."


Nice trick. Pathetic but nice. I was under the impression that the narrative was that pastors would be arrested for preaching that homosexuality is a sin, period.

I noticed that Peter LaBarbera wasn't invited. Maybe he should have been. You think he would have brought pictures from Folsom Street Fair?

Seriously, this is a huge victory for our side and we really didn't have to do anything but not get in the way when Cass and his cohorts shot themselves in the foot.

If only the entire fight for lgbt equality was as easy as this.

* Just wanted to add another point that I couldn't fit into this piece regarding Janet Porter. How ironic is it that she wrote a book talking about the "criminalization of Christianity," when in 1988 when she was Janet Folger, she supported sodomy laws, which in essence criminalized gays for private behavior. So among her other "qualities," (i.e. paranoia, eagerness to engage in hyperbole and distortion tactics), one can put hypocrisy on her scorecard.

Related posts:

Let the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission wallow in the filth of its own ignorance

Christian Anti-Defamation Commission defends exorcists and hate groups from the 'scary gays'