The 30 Dirty? Why can't the religious right stop lying about ENDA?

Earlier this week, I pointed out the similarities between the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC)'s lies about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and those of a racist group concerning HIV and black men as proof of how racists and homophobes rely on fear and stereotypes instead of facts for their arguments.

TVC had inaccurately said that ENDA would force children to be "trapped" in classrooms with "drag queen teachers."

Today the group outdid itself in the "sparking fear" department:

In the next few weeks, President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and their homosexual and transgender allies will attempt to ram through the so-called Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).

What you may not know is that ENDA normalizes and provides special federal protection for 30+ bizarre sexual orientations listed by the American Psychiatric Association – the so-called “Dirty 30.” These 30+ fetishes include behaviors that are felonies or misdemeanors in most states.

ENDA’s “Dirty 30” includes such bizarre criminal acts as incest, pedophilia, prostitution, beastiality, and cross-dressing. If we don’t act today, Obama and Pelosi will normalize these disorders by federal law on April 21!

 . . . If Obama, Pelosi, Hastings and the Congressional Democrats pass ENDA, co-workers will be forced to work alongside individuals with these bizarre sex fetishes. Christian businesses will be directly impacted by ENDA. They would be forced to hire or retain cross-dressers and individuals who engage in these sinful behaviors. Students will be indoctrinated that “alternative lifestyles” are no different than traditional lifestyles. Young children will be forced to learn about these bizarre sexual fetishes – and you will have no say in the matter.

There are lies, damn lies, and obscene lies but there needs to be a new category of lies to describe to what TVC is attempting.

According to the site Religious Tolerance:

The Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) has created a unique definition of the term "sexual orientation" that differs greatly from the meaning used by others. They state:

"A person's sexual orientation can include sexual attraction to children, animals, feet, and a whole range of bizarre behaviors that are listed in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). In fact, there are 30 sexual orientations listed in the DSM."

This is a definition apparently created by TVC whose purpose may have been to confuse legislation and legislators. Both the ENDA bill, and bills covering hate-crimes offer protection to every American on the basis of their sexual orientation, whether they be heterosexual, bisexual or homosexual. By enlarging the number of orientations to 30 the bills become meaningless.

The first sentence in the quote is in error. The DSM defines three and only three sexual orientations. The American Psychiatric Association describes the three sexual orientations both in their DSM and in their "Healthy Minds, Healthy Lives" web site.

What TVC has done is to redefine the DSM's 30 sexual paraphilias as additional sexual orientations. Paraphilias are activities causing sexual arousal in response to sexual objects or situations, including incest, necrophilia, pedophilia, bestiality, masochism, sadism, voyeurism.

And according to the Human Rights Campaign:

What ENDA Does

• Extends federal employment discrimination protections currently provided based on race, religion, sex, national origin, age and disability to sexual orientation and gender identity
• Prohibits public and private employers, employment agencies and labor unions from using an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity as the basis for employment decisions, such as hiring, firing, promotion or compensation
• Provides for the same procedures, and similar, but somewhat more limited, remedies as are permitted under Title VII and the Americans with Disabilities Act
• Applies to Congress and the federal government, as well as employees of state and local governments

What ENDA Does Not Do

• Cover businesses with fewer than 15 employees
• Apply to religious organizations
• Apply to the uniformed members of the armed forces (the bill doesn't affect the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy)
• Allow for quotas or preferential treatment based on sexual orientation or gender identity
• Allow a "disparate impact" claim similar to the one available under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Therefore, an employer is not required to justify a neutral practice that may have a statistically disparate impact on individuals because of their sexual orientation or gender identity
• Allow the imposition of affirmative action for a violation of ENDA
• Allow the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to collect statistics on sexual orientation or gender identity or compel employers to collect such statistics.
• Apply retroactively

And again, if a racist group repeated a list of lies about ethnic groups (be they African-Americans, members of the Jewish community, etc), their fear tactics would be repudiated.  What's the difference between a racist group and the Traditional Values Coalition other than the misappropriating of the designation of being a Christian?

It's a question that needs to be asked often and not only about the Traditional Values Coalition but other so-called morality groups who claim to stand for Christian principles while they tell lies on the lgbt community.

Related article:

A novel, conservative Christian definition that includes 30 behaviors

Maggie Gallagher and company channels Paul Cameron and other Thursday midday news briefs

TinyU-R-Gay: @NOMupdates limits gay lives to less than 140 characters/years - National Organization for marriage channels Paul Cameron. Why should be we surprised?

Birds of a Feather Do Not Always Flock Together - Okay you KNOW you are in bizarro territory when you become hateful that even the Ku Klux Klan repudiates you.

Houston Clergy at Arms Over Lesbian Mayor's Orders - They will get over it, but unfortunately not before pulling the "men in women's bathrooms" card.

Santa Rosa council approves gay and lesbian retirement community - But I thought lgbt seniors didn't exist. Ain't that right, Tony Perkins?

Beck admits he doesn’t give ‘a flying crap about the political process. … We’re an entertainment company.' - Soooo all the crying and whining about how he loves America is a big fraud. Geez who knew? Not necessarily an lgbt issue per se but worth remembering. Sometimes people get taken advantage of because they allow themselves to. Pay attention, tea baggers.

African gays and lesbians becoming victims of 'corrective rape'

It's interesting that this story came to my attention yesterday:

An annual report by the US State Department on human rights in Zimbabwe has said that gays and lesbians in the country face harassment and rape by people trying to 'cure' them.

It said that lesbians were sometimes raped, even by their family members, to try and turn them straight, while gay men were forced into heterosexual sex.

Associated Press reports that Amanda Porter, political officer at the US Embassy in Harare, said yesterday: "Some families reportedly subjected men and women to corrective rape and forced marriages to encourage heterosexual conduct."

Sodomy is illegal in Zimbabwe and punishable with up to a year in prison or a heavy fine.

Although there have been no recorded prosecutions in recent years, gays and lesbians say they face harassment and stigma in the community.

The country's only gay group, Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (GALZ), has warned that gays live in fear and are driven underground.

It's interesting for two reasons.

My piece appeared in the Huffington Post last night and already it is besieged by pseudo intellectual individuals who claim that being black and being gay are different.

Secondly, this piece provides a bit of grounding. Whenever organizations like the Family Research Council pull up specious anecdotes about how some "Christian" was supposedly unfairly fired of THE GAYS, it helps to be reminded what real persecution looks like.

Constance McMillen's classmates learn the costs of gloating

By now, many of us know the story of Constance McMillen, the Fulton, MS student who wanted to attend the Itawamba Agricultural High School prom with her girlfriend.

The school decided to cancel the prom rather than allowing her to do such, something else we all know.

The ACLU sued and the courts ruled that McMillen's rights were violated but the school was not forced to put the prom back on. In response, some of McMillen's fellow classmates held a "private party," which she was supposed to be invited to. However, as it turns out, McMillen, as well as a few other students who had learning disabilities were steered to a "fake prom" while their classmates held their party.

And to make matters worse, some of these classmates created a Facebook page making fun of McMillen and gloating about how they "showed her," including pictures of them smiling and dancing at the prom.

Yes, we all know the story. But now it gets interesting.

An online buddy of mine, Pam Spaulding received an email from a student concerning a post she wrote about the situation. The student asked Pam to remove pictures of her and her classmates enjoying themselves. Pam, who, when she wrote the original story did not give out the names of the student or her friends, took the pictures from another public site created to gloat about what had happened.

Pam was very nice in explaining to the young lady that the pictures will not be removed and she is well within her rights in posting them.

And this is not the only thing I noticed. On various other blogs, students are posting comments trying to somehow rationalize not only their decision to make McMillen and the other students feel like outcasts but gloating about it afterwards.

And why? Because apparently the Facebook page (which I will not post, but it's called "Constance, quit yer cryin'") is getting a lot of attention. Many people have joined the group to voice their displeasure about what happened.

As far as I know, no one has been threatened, but some of the comments aren't pretty. A lot of them, mine included, are reasonable and rational in voicing the opinion that what happened was awful.

But let me be honest here. I don't feel sorry for you students of Itawamba Agricultural High School who are now feeling the blowback from what you did.

You got played by the school. My guess is that when school officials canceled the prom, they expected you all to make McMillen the scapegoat and you did with as much fervor as a pack of wild dogs in Call of the Wild.

So you decided to hold a party, making sure to steer McMillen away to a fake prom. You celebrated like you won a big victory, and then to make matters worse, you gloated about what you did in a public manner designed to humiliate McMillen.

What exactly did you think would happen?

This ain't Carrie and McMillen doesn't have telekinetic powers, but you are experiencing a nasty shock, aren't you?

I don't wish any of you ill will and I certainly don't wish any of you violence, but you brought this on yourselves.

I read one of you saying that you resent how McMillen was making the school sound backwards and I found that notion ridiculous because it's obvious that none of you needed her help in that department. You did such a completely excellent job of it yourselves.

Now how do you feel?

'Gay lifestyle' finally revealed and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Myth of the 'gay lifestyle' justifies bias - Amen L.Z.

May Day: Saving America From Forced Starvation, Obama's Brownshirts, and God's Wrath - Janet Porter resembles a fruitcake on Christmas. Never mind trying to make sense out of that. If you can, then maybe you can make sense out of her ramblings.

Foxx fuming over Stern's gay jibe - Shut up, Alvin, shut up, Alvin. I'm so conflicted now. Howard Stern is a dumbass but the comment by Foxx about eating pizza in a shower was stupid.

Fired Maine reporter gains religious aid - BEFORE the religious right pushes this as yet another phony story of the discriminated Christian, it's worth mentioning that even though the reporter in question used his personal email, it was on company time using company equipment.

NAACP president calls out gay community for lack of black support

Here we go again:

We all know that Julian Bond Civil Rights Leader and Board Chairman of the NAACP has been a steadfast LGBT Rights supporter.  But today NAACP President Benjamin Jealous, who has been mostly non-commital where the "organization" is concerned tried to lay the fault squarely at the LGBT Community's feet when it comes to the fact that black activist have not been supporting the Gay Rights Movement.

In an article from ThinkBig::

I really just have one thing to say about this. No one from the African-American community ever had to do outreach for me to stand up for their rights. I have marched, I have protested, and I have signed petitions. And I did it because it was the RIGHT thing to do. And I did it gladly.

Jealous is also attuned to the civil rights struggles of another minority group—gay Americans—and aware of the public perception that black activists have been lukewarm in supporting their cause. Yet for his own family as well as the NAACP, he says, gay rights are not only important but "personal"—and if there's a gap between the movements, it's a product of insufficient outreach from the LGBT side.

I remarked "here we go again" because I can predict what's going to happen next.

Some in the lgbt community are going to be get defensive instead of maybe assessing the fact that Jealous's words have a ring of truth. Already, terms like "hater" and "homophobe" have been thrown around.

The black community will most likely have another "if we ignore it, maybe it will go away" moment that it always does when it comes to issues of the gay community.

Meanwhile, lgbts of color, who are by now are so used to this sort of thing, will wonder yet again "will these turkeys ever get this issue right?"

I'm sorry if I sound cynical but when it comes to the tired old argument of black community vs. gay community, I feel as if some entity out of a Roger Corman movie has attached itself to my side and has sapped the energy right out of me, putting in its place a kind of weariness.

So let me be succinct. I'm tired of the arguments. It doesn't matter if the gay movement for equality is the same as the African-American civil rights movement (it is). And it doesn't matter if sometimes, well meaning white gays and lesbians refuse to acknowledge that they take unfair liberties in assessing the two movements without knowing the inner workings of the black civil rights movements (they do).

We are going to continue to have this tired argument until both communities stop clinging to past symbolism and acknowledge the present and probably only true connection between the black and gay community - me and the rest of my lgbt brothers and sisters of color.

Speaking for myself, I get a very low opinion of both communities when this tug of war of position takes place. I don't feel like a person to the black or gay community. I feel like a commodity, a frozen asset. Both communities seem to be so busy with trying to use what tie I have to them for their own purpose that neither want to look at me as a person whose African-American heritage and lgbt sensibility mingle together to create something rich and unique which would be an asset to both communities.

I am useful to the lgbt community because I am gay. I am useful to the African-American community because I am a black man. But I don't seem to be useful to either community as a gay black man.


There are some of us who cannot separate being black and being gay into two separate camps because we encompass both identities.

But the problem is that neither community seems to get that point.

Hate groups, fake proms. bad interviews and other Tuesday afternoon news briefs

Matt Barber: I Know You Are But What Am I? - Americans for Truth is an officially designated hate site. Deal with it, Matt Barber. It really couldn't have accomplished that without you. 

VIDEO: CNN’s Kyra Phillips’ Awful Interview with Richard Cohen - What the hell is this hot mess? Richard Cohen getting taken seriously? 

He who 'sins us' vs. sense as it pertains to us - Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council claims that counting gay couples in the census adds up to false data. Well they would know about false data, wouldn't they? 

McMillen: I Was Sent to Fake Prom - Coldhearted, hateful mess.