Audacity alert - NOM wants Obama to pay for Boehner's junk science

Today, the National Organization for Marriage really decided to raise the bar for unashamed audacity. The organization is now demanding that Obama's Justice Department pay for Speaker of the House John Boehner's defense of DOMA ( the Defense of Marriage Act):

In response to Democratic Rep. Mike Honda of California's calls for hearings on the cost of the House's defense of DOMA, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) released this statement:

"John Boehner and the House are stepping in to do the job that President Obama refused to do: defend a law passed by bipartisan majorities. The cost of hiring lawyers to defend DOMA should be deducted from the budget of the Justice Department," said Brian Brown, President of NOM. "The $1.5 million cost of defending DOMA represent less than one-one hundredth of one percent of the Justice Department's huge $28 billion budget. President Obama's defection of duty is responsible for incurring this cost; he should trim some fat and find the money to pay for it."

The Obama Administration decided not to defend DOMA because it felt that the law could not be defended. Speaker of the House John Boehner decided to take up the slack . . . and stepped into a hornet's nest. He is now set to spend over $1 million on the defense of DOMA. The amount of the defense was earlier set at $500,000 but apparently the lawyer handling the case,  Paul Clement, quickly went through this amount.

Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that the defense of DOMA was rooted in chicanery and junk science:

1. Clement tried to sneak in the testimony of former NOM chair Maggie Gallagher in a way which would have kept her from being cross-examined.

2. A professor cited by Clement in a brief defending DOMA, Lisa Diamond, complained that her work was being distorted.

3. Clement is also citing - in a second hand fashion - junk science from discredited researchers. In his defense of DOMA, Clement cites the work of Case Western Reserve University law professor George W. Dent, Jr. But Dent's work - which Clement uses -  cited both Paul Cameron and George Rekers, two discredited researchers. Cameron has been censured or rebuked by several organizations for his bad methodology in his studies. He has published work which claimed, among other nauseating false things, that gays stuff gerbils up their rectums. (Editor's note-  the piece Cameron cited to make this claim - The Straight Dope - actually said that this claim was not true. Cameron dishonestly "flipped the script" to make it seem that The Straight Dope was affirming this claim.) Rekers lost a lot of credibility for last year's scandal when he was caught coming from a European vacation with a "rentboy."

It is for these reasons that Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA) demanded a hearing on how money is being spent on the defense of DOMA.

Even if no one ignored that Boehner's defense of DOMA is rooted in bad techniques and junk science - which I noticed NOM did ignore -  the audacity of the organization here is astounding.
NOM just lost a court case in which it sought to sought to hide donors in CA who contributed to the successful effort to pass Proposition 8.

Perhaps NOM shouldn't worry who is paying for the defense of DOMA and focus on releasing its donors as it has been ordered to by law and the courts.

'More schools stepping up to protect gay students' and other Monday midday news briefs

More schools take action to stem anti-gay bullying - This is real good news here.

Battling for gay rights, in Allah's name - Sometimes you have to give homage to folks who are really sticking their necks our for lgbtq equality.
  
New Hampshire Committee To Vote On Repealing Marriage Equality - Of course the move is unpopular with the state's residents. But we know how NOM and company operates. Any opinion is irrelevant unless it matches their point of view or at least has been washed in the slurry of its "gays want to use marriage equality to steal the innocence of children" lies.

Wait, FRC doesn't realize its 'research' is detrimental? Weird, everyone else does- ANYONE who tries to publicly pass the Family Research Council's propaganda off as legitimate research will have hell to pay. And I just happen to have a huge pitchfork in both hands.

Do they want gay youth to commit suicide?

My favorite phony news service, One News Now, is giving a Florida religious right group, the Florida Family Association, room to gripe about what it calls a "gay promotion targeted at children:"

MTV's channel "Teen Nick" has begun airing a promotional announcement for The Trevor Helpline, "a free and confidential service that's open for gay and questioning youth. Be proud of who you are." The organization's website has a constant link called "Things to consider when coming out" and is currently promoting "Gay History Month."

Upon discovering that Target Corporation is the main advertiser during Degrassi, the Florida Family Association -- which describes that program as "shameful" -- prepared an e-mail for the public to send to the CEO and other officials of the retail chain.

They are openly recruiting teens and children to become 'gay' on a program that also promotes the transgender and homosexual lifestyle," laments David Caton, executive director of the pro-family group.

And he wonders how the helpline helps a child or teenager who may be a bit confused about his or her sexuality, since in openly promotes that "if you call this helpline, you are not persuaded to walk away from the lifestyle. You are persuaded to be proud and embrace it." Caton contends that is "irresponsible" on the part of a network that caters to young people, and on the part of Target.

What's irresponsible is letting Caton run his mouth. The hotline he is griping about is a part of the Trevor Project, which is an organization devoted to preventing suicide amongst lgbtq youth.

But apparently suicide amongst lgbtq youth doesn't seem to be a problem to Caton. He seems to think that telling a lgbtq youth to simply change "his or her orientation" will keep them from being bullied at school or isolated at home.

And there, ladies and gentlemen, is the real sad story of how Christianity has been corrupted in this country. By himself, Caton is an unfeeling, uncaring buffoon. But he is not by himself.

Caton is a part of a much-moneyed interwoven system of wannabe Christians who seem to ignore the sick and the hungry in lieu devoted solely on the nonexistent gay menace.

Even as they fund efforts to keep teachers employed who attack their gay students (i.e. Vicki Knox), they attack the programs which gives these students some sort of support in the face of these ugly comments and other indignities heaped on them.

It seems to be a zero sum game to these supposed Christians in which they are willing to sacrifice anything, including the safety and well-being of lgbtq children.


 

Everything you need to know about religious right oppression

When I first saw this on Joe Jervis's site, I told him that I simply had to steal it. Sometimes comic strips and editorial cartoons nail plain truth so succinctly:

Know Your LGBT History - A Cage Without A Key

The 1975 made-for-television movie Cage Without A Key is a juvenile prison picture with a twist.

Susan Dey portrays a young woman who is thrown into reform school after being tricked into committing a robbery. Of course the story is about her trials and tribulations in reform school, complete with the requisite evil prison lesbians. However one character did stand out.

Vastly underrated actress Jonelle Allen (this woman should have gotten more roles because she was awesome) portrays Tommy, another prisoner who is also a lesbian, but becomes Dey's friend and savior.

Wikipedia said the following about her character:

Media researcher Steven Capsuto cites the character of Tommy as probably the earliest well-developed gay teen character on television, as well as the first well-developed non-white gay character.

And of course you know that means, don't you? Allen's character is not long for this world. In fact, she dies saving Dey in the middle of a brawl at the end of the film as the following scene shows (starting at 10:10):




Past Know Your LGBT Posts: .

'NoMoreDownLow.TV celebrates its first anniversary' and other Friday midday news briefs

The Down Low Made Me Do It! - NoMoreDownLow.TV. celebrates first anniversary.

Nigeria seeks to strengthen anti-gay laws - Well this sucks!

Marine Commandant Says He’s ‘Fine’ With Gay Marines Bringing Their Partners To Marine Corps Ball - That ought to make Elaine Donnelly squawk.

15 Inspiring LGBT Religious Leaders - These faith leaders need to be commended for proving that the lgbtq identity and religious faith are NOT necessarily in separate camps.

Study - same-sex families are growing at a wide rate

To hear some members of the religious right talk, any progress of lgbtq equality is the result of a nefarious plan to supposedly "indoctrinate" folks.

However as the following snippet of an Associated Press article proves, there are no evil plans, just the steady flow of progress:

The number of gays and lesbians adopting children has nearly tripled in the last decade despite discriminatory rules in many states, according to an analysis of recent population trends.

"It's a stratospheric increase. It's like going from zero to 60," said Miami attorney Elizabeth Schwartz, who has coordinated more than 100 adoptions for gay and lesbian families in the last year. "I think many really dreamed of doing this but it wasn't something they ever thought would become a reality."

About 21,740 same-sex couples had adopted children in 2009, up from 6,477 in 2000, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. About 32,571 adopted children were living with same-sex couples in 2009, up from 8,310 in 2000. The figures are an analysis of newly released Census Bureau estimates.

The New York-based Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute released a report Thursday culminating a four-year project surveying 158 gay and lesbian parents and their experience with the adoption process. Their researchers found the highest number of homosexuals adopted children from Massachusetts, California, New York and Texas.

Several states specifically prohibit same-sex couples from adopting jointly, while others have a patchwork of discriminatory policies that make it difficult for gays and lesbians to adopt either as individuals or as couples. But some states have eased restrictions on gay families.

No doubt the religious right will step gingerly around this issue. "Same-sex households are untested social experiments," they will say. "The true effects of these households have not been seen."

It's all a bunch of poppycock.

The point is clear. These families illustrate the point that when it comes to same-sex household and the gay community in general, we are not talking about hypothetics or abstract concepts.

Same-sex households encompass real people with real families - just like every other normal American family. And whether folks like it or not - be it a teacher who attacks a gay display at her place of employment or marriage clerks who refuse to do their elected duties - there is going to have to be some acknowledgement AND respect of these families.

All of the talking points in the world aren't going to change that.