Wingnuts at Free Republic go ape@!& over Elton John's new son

The news that Elton John and his husband of 12 years, David Furnish, are the fathers of a baby boy via surrogate received congratulations from many circles.

That is except for the rabid wolves, bloodsuckers, harpies, orcs, and ogres at the right-wing site Free Republic. They aren't exactly happy about the news. On the Free Republic newsboard, responders left many homophobic comments.

Some were as follows:

• They want acceptance to their perverted lifestyle. God won’t accept them, so their next best chance at acceptance is through a politically correct populace that has been desensitized to this lifestyle for a couple of decades now through media and culture.

• They don’t care about being a family. Two male homos now have full access to a little boy. How sad for that child.

• the real evil is any woman being a surrogate for this perversion....

• “They” did not make the child. One of them provided the sperm, and a female provided the egg and the womb. This is not “their” child. They are living in a fantasy world where just because they can call what they have a family or a marriage, it makes it so. And I am positive that at some point, the child will learn enough to wonder who the biological father and mother really is. I wonder what PC line of BS they will feed to that child to get him to shut up.

• In the 70’s the gays couldn’t deny they were freaks and counter culture as it was so unacceptable back then, which is why gays stayed in the closet. Now since the desensitized image of who gays are due to Hollywood and the media, gays are more brazen and want equal rights as that of traditional heterosexual married couples. I think the man / woman roles in a gay couple; also looking for children and being considered legally married may also be part of this ploy to get their lives looked upon as “normal” by the powers that be to make legislation happen to give them a leg up.

• Could someone explain to me why the gays want all want to act as a heterosexual family????

Believe it or not, those were some of the more polite comments.

I know you want to get angry at this, but don't. I posted this to provide some perspective as we pivot from 2010 to 2011.

In the long run, the folks on Free Republic are a bunch of sad creatures who can't cause any harm except probably to their fingers with the enormity of nonsense they type.

They are a perfect example that unfortunately in some circles, homophobia will always exist just like racism and other forms of prejudice will always exist. We will probably never conquer it.

But the important thing is that we don't let it conquer us. 2010 was one of the best years I have seen for the lgbt community and if God is merciful, 2011 will be better.

When push comes to shove, let the ignorant people talk and whine. Let's continue to move forward as a people because no matter how much they talk, they can't stop us. We have survived worse and we are still here.

And when the folks at Free Republic dry up and blow away (or get a crucifix branded on their chests, shot by a silver bullet, have a stake embedded in their hearts, get chased away by holy water, whichever), we will still be here.

NOM needs to stop peddling in fantasy and face reality about same-sex families

Brian Brown, head of the National Organization for Marriage, published a Christmas message on the group's blog featuring a picture of him and his family:

Brown looks like he has a wonderful family and he has every right to be proud of them.

But something is bothering me. What's the difference between his family and these families:

None of these families are any different except for the sexual orientation of the parents. Yet it is this one little thing which propels Brown, NOM, and other members of the religious right to oppose not only same-sex marriage, but also same-sex households.  I could cite many studies which easily demonstrate that there is nothing with same-sex households, but sometimes I just feel like I don't need to.

At what point do we recognize the fact that same-sex families having to always have to "prove" themselves is a basic insult?

The truth is we all know of same-sex households which include children and we all know that these children are happy and healthy.  We all know that these households provide children with the love, support, and structure they need to get through life.

To claim that same-sex households are harmful or even push the cynical talking point that same-sex households is an "untested experiment" is an insult to basic intelligence. 

The question that those on the right, Brown included, never seem to want to answer is what makes them the arbiters of what constitutes a "good family." What gives them the right to create a caste system for families who doesn't fit their narrow idea of an "idealized situation?"

An "idealized situation" is not reality. It's a fantasy.  Reality is the fact that two-parent heterosexual families are not always the best place to raise children. Reality is that sometimes children thrives in single parents households or even same-sex households.

If Brown and company really cared about families or children, they would do something more about the reality rather than to manipulate the fantasy.

By writing this, I mean no disrespect to Brown and I certainly don't mean any disrespect to his family. But it is patently obscene to me that someone will show pride in his family while attempting to deny others the chance to have the same privilege simply because he does not agree with their sexual orientation.

Teachers who bullied gay student sues school district and other Thursday midday news briefs

Teachers who engaged in anti-gay bullying now suing school district - Whatever happened to the "good old days" when teachers could make fun of lgbt students without reprisal, huh? This story got me so upset that I stopped reading it several times. I can tell you that if the student was me, my mother would given a new meaning to the term "raising hell."

Video: A pack of Savages - I take back my negative opinion of Dan Savage as of now. Any man who can tell it like it is about GoProud and piss off Peter LaBarbera at the same time is a hero in my book. And that's not even counting the awesome work he started this year with the "It Gets Better" project.

Peter LaBarbera Spreads Gordon Klingenschmitt’s Lie Further - And speaking of LaBarbera, apparently he really adores discredited anti-gay sources.

Our complicated relationships with the john - The issue of lgbt equality should not be reduced issues of bathroom usage, but we need to get a handle on this nonsense before the religious right can exploit it.

Apple rejects "Manhattan Declaration" app for second time - DEAL with it, religious right! Your homophobia has been rejected again.

The 2010 Five Most Embarrassing Moments of the Anti-Gay Right Caught on Video

One thing that I will never forget about this year is how members of the religious right and the right in general made complete fools of themselves in their zeal to oppose lgbt equality.

And luckily we have the best moments on video and audio. So without further comment, I present the 2010 Five Most Embarrassing Moments of the Anti-Gay Right Caught on Video.

Honorable Mention: Peter LaBarbera loves Paul Cameron

Okay this isn't exactly a video moment, which is why it gets an honorable mention. Yes I am cheating but I want folks to remember this. Our friend, Porno Pete LaBarbera in an interview with Concerned Women for America's Martha Kleder freely admits to using the discredited research of Paul Cameron in order to demonize the lgbt community. Not only is he not ashamed of it, but he claims that gays don't take Cameron's work seriously because we flat don't like him. This is true. We don't like Paul Cameron. Maybe it has to do with all of those censures and rebukes he has gotten from legitimate groups (i.e the American Psychological Association, the American Sociological Association) for his awful research techniques:




5. Martin Luther King, Jr. supported imprisoning gays?

 In February, Molotov Mitchell of World Net Daily gives an absolutely ridiculous defense of the Ugandan "kill the gays" bill, including the part about the death penalty.  But the most offensive item from this video comes at 3:00 when Mitchell actually evokes the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to justify not only this bill but his labored defense of it:  

"Like the great Dr. King told us, 'the moral arm of the universe is long but it bends towards justice.' Ugandans, stay on the right side of history."

First of all, it's not "arm," but "arc" you dumbass.

It's bad enough that Mitchell sullies King's good name by actually thinking that he would have supported this  travesty of a bill. He compounds his homophobia and stupidity by getting the quote wrong:




4. Barney Frank owns phony journalist

In December,  DADT was repealed. However the conservative CNS News tried to trip up Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) by reducing the issue to that of heterosexuals "being forced" to shower with gays. What happens next is one of the reasons why Frank is one of my heroes. It begins at 3.50:

South Carolina lgbt organization takes on anti-gay discrimination in a hilarious video

The Alliance For Full Acceptance is just one of the many lgbt organizations in South Carolina standing on the front line against anti-gay discrimination.

In an excellent video campaign, the organization challenges folks to take a look at homophobia and how it harms the lgbt community.

Enjoy:

The sad story of the gay man who prevented a presidential assassination and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Video: Actually, I just showered (though I need another after watching this) - I won't put said video on my blog. Just check it out via Jeremy Hooper. It's another reason why the defense of anti-gay hate groups (i.e. we are just expressing our "Christian" beliefs) fall short. Guess where this guy got his material from?

A Gay Marine Who Saved a President - A gay man saved President Gerald Ford from being assassinated and it ended up destroying his life. A sad tale of how dangerous closets are and a remembrance of a hero who really never got his due.

Poorly Produced NOM Video Very Upset About Potty Words in FCKH8 Video - How interesting. It's okay for children to think of lgbts as freaks and their classmates who live in lgbt households as hellbound, as long as they don't cuss.

Farah: “Purge” the Conservative Movement of Gays and Gay-Rights Supporters - Ah yes. The man behind the World Net Daily site. He already thinks we are affiliated with Nazis so I guess this is the next step.

Palm Springs police Chief apologizes for insensitive remarks during sex sting - He had better apologize! Of course if I were to get snarky about his comment . . .

Britain's first gay surrogate parents to open surrogacy centre for same-sex couples - This is an excellent idea. More centers like this one are needed.

World Net Daily selling discredited book about gays and Nazis

The website World Net Daily is known as "World Nut Daily" for good reason in many progressive circles, particularly in the lgbt blogging community.

A writer on the site, Les Kinsolving, has in the past referred to the lgbt community as the "sodomy lobby." In October of this year, he called a judge’s order to stop enforcement of the military’s ban on gay and lesbian troops in the military as a "disease ridden judicial decision."

In August of this year, the publication dropped conservative writer Ann Coulter as a keynote speaker from a conference it held because she earlier spoke at a conference held by a gay Republican group.

And in February of this year, another writer on World Net Daily, Molotov Mitchell, spoke out in favor of Uganda's "Kill The Gays" bill, even evoking Martin Luther King Jr's name in defense of it. 

But apparently that's not the extent of World Net Daily's homophobia.

At its online superstore (yes World Net Daily has a "superstore"), interested individuals can buy a discounted copy of The Pink Swastika. According to the description on the page:

The Pink Swastika is a thoroughly researched, eminently readable, demolition of the "gay" myth, symbolized by the pink triangle, that the Nazis were anti-homosexual. 

In other words, The Pink Swastika supposedly gives proof that the gay community was behind the Nazi Party in Germany during World War II.

Not exactly.