Religious rightie says DeGeneres not a good choice for raising AIDS awareness

Sometimes, mess coming from the religious right doesn't need an explanation. It just needs a spotlight to underscore how clueless and homophobic they are.

Recently, openly gay actress and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres was named as special envoy to raise awareness about AIDS.

This decision was hailed in many circles. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said DeGeneres will “bring her sharp wit and big heart, and her impressive TV audience and 8 million followers on Twitter” to support U.S. efforts to save the lives of those suffering from HIV/AIDS.

However to the folks on the right, particularly Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America, the only thing that matters is that DeGeneres is a lesbian:

"She is openly lesbian and obviously is an activist on the issue of homosexual rights and has taken a very active role in pushing the homosexual agenda. So for her to be the person who's out front and the face of the Obama administration in the whole fight against AIDS I think is inappropriate," Crouse decides.

Does that even make any sense? Of course not. The only thing that matters to Crouse is that DeGeneres is a so-called "dirty lesbian" and will somehow taint the fight against AIDS.

The only thing that has tainted the fight against AIDS thus is ignorance and stigmatization - which is what Crouse is showing in spades. 

But more than that, it amazes me how some in the religious right will push sexual orientation as a reason for people not being able to do their jobs. It wasn't that long ago when anti-gay activist Linda Harvey was telling parents to not allow their children to be treated by gay physicians.

It's fascinating when one looks at both cases and realizes the one thing that Crouse and Harvey vehemently opposes is the fact that these folks  - i.e. DeGeneres and gay physicians - are openly gay and unashamed.

I think that says more about the mindset of Crouse and Harvey than anything else.

Know Your LGBT History - The 37th anniversary of 'Flowers of Evil'

Posts like this are the reason why I do this Know Your LGBT History. Once upon a time, it wasn't all Glee and Gaga on television for the lgbtq community.

I was just informed by a favorite site of mine, Box Turtle Bulletin, that this week marked the 37th anniversary of "Flowers of Evil," a controversial episode of the 1970s hit show Police Woman. I had already done a segment on this particular episode, but it warrants a repeat. From Box Turtle Bulletin:

When NBC’s hour-long action drama Police Woman starring Angie Dickinson began airing in 1974, was so popular that even its reruns in the spring and summer of 1975 ranked number one in the Nielsen ratings, making it the first successful police drama to feature a woman in the starring role. Dickinson’s unabashed sex appeal, undoubtedly, played a far greater role in its success than the plot lines themselves. One particularly odious episode, “Flowers of Evil,” had Dickinson’s character, Sgt. Pepper Anderson, investigating a trio of lesbians who run a retirement home where they murdered and robbed their elderly residents. Positive portrayals — indeed, any portrayal — of gays and lesbians were extraordinarily rare, which made this episode particularly egregious. To add insult to injury, the Police Woman aired one month to the day after a similarly negative plot line appeared on ABC’s Marcus Welby, M.D., in which a child molester was portrayed as gay. Police Woman’s “Flowers of Evil” was originally scheduled to air on October 25, but after the National Gay Rights Task Force organized national protests which led some advertisers to pull their commercials, NBC pulled the episode for re-editing. But with the filming wrapped up, the edits were mostly cosmetic. After the episode aired on November 8, TV Guide called it “the single most homophobic show to date.” A week later, a group known as Lesbian Feminist Liberation occupied NBC’s Standards and Practices office overnight, unfurled a banner from an office window reading “Lesbians Protest NBC.” Advocates continued to negotiate with NBC for several more months, and NBC finally agreed in 1975 to not rebroadcast the episode and withhold it from syndication. The “Flowers of Evil” episode re-appeared again, but this time in the Season 1 DVD box set after more than thirty years had passed, where in today’s context it can be safely viewed as a historic and cultural artifact.

I just happen to have a copy of that DVD box. However, for your edification, you can view the minisode of the episode above. And yes, it's ain't pretty.

 Past Know Your LGBT Posts: .
 

Minnesotans for Marriage soft peddling its message of bigotry

Via a series of youtube videos - which I refuse to post - the group Minnesotans for Marriage is pushing a false image in its fight to keep marriage equality out of the state.

The group has gotten some folks - couples and individuals - to appear on film and talk about what marriage means to them. Of course the points they make undercut their argument because it begs the question that if marriage means so much to them, then why are they trying to keep it from others? Why are they trying to keep the stability of marriage from families simply because these particular families are comprised of couples of the same sex?

More importantly, the group Minnesotans for Marriage is intentionally soft peddling its message. Minnesotans for Marriage seems to want folks to forget that the organizations which comprise it - National Organization for Marriage and the Minnesota Family Council - operate to attack and demonize same-sex families through their various tactics.

Let's not forget that amongst other things, the National Organization for Marriage routinely pulls the "they want your children" card to stop marriage equality.

Nor should we forget that the Minnesota Family Council has a long, ugly history of smearing the gay community.

And as the video below (which should be referred to every time these "we have to protect marriage" folks pull out their lying videos) demonstrates, the Minnesota Catholic Clergy - which is advocating that Catholics team up with the MFC - is fastly gaining dirty hands in the effort to make same-sex couples inferior:



No matter how subtle these entities try to peddle their message, we are still talking about exploiting hate, fear, and ideas of religious supremacy. And exploitation is not a Christian concept.

Related link:

Minnesotans United for All Families

Thank you, lgbt veterans

While we honor ALL of those who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in preserving our freedoms, let us not forget those who gave their lives even while they had to hide the details of their lives:

Scapegoating gay men for the Penn State tragedy

It was bound to happen. I was hoping that it wouldn't but in hindsight, I shouldn't have been surprised.

Someone from the religious right is now blaming gay men for the Penn State tragedy.

Peter LaBarbera of the hate group Americans for Truth had this to say:

. . . how many boy victims of homosexual predator Sandusky will end up believing that being homosexual ("gay") is "who they are"? How many will struggle with sexual identity issues? And how many will be told by LGBT advocates and liberal-minded people just to "accept being gay" as "who they are" because they were "born that way"?

. . . There IS a long history connecting homosexuality to pederasty, and a disproportionate link between homosexuality and pedophilia: why else would so many child molestation victims be boys when only 1-3 percent of the population is homosexual?

LaBarbera has a long history of demonizing gay men for even the most trivial of things, but today is probably the lowest he has ever stooped.

Now some may ask why am I publicizing LaBarbera's comments. He obviously wants some type of attention and now I am giving it to him.

This is true. But what LaBarbera said warrants attention. Some of us may scoff at his words but we would be wise to remember one thing. In a subtler form, the slanderous notion that gay men want to harm children has been used by organizations - i.e. the National Organization for Marriage - in efforts stop marriage equality.

In a less subtle form, this lie formed the building blocks of fear and hatred which led to that awful bill in Uganda and subsequently the brutal murder of activist David Kato. His murderer was recently sentenced to 30 years in prison.

So yes, LaBarbera's word warrant attention, but not in the way he desires. LaBarbera's words deserves attention as a shining example of hatred and ignorance encased in a mindset so blind that it refuses to acknowledge truth.  A mindset masked in religious demagoguery and extremism in its most nauseating form.

To whit, there is no link between homosexuality and pedophilia. None whatsoever.

And this is backed by the American Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the American Academy of Child Psychiatrists and the Child Welfare League of America.

LaBarbera, on the other hand, has no expertise in this area. He has no degrees and has done no research.

He doesn't even cite any studies.

In layman's terms, LaBarbera is talking out of his pudgy ass.

What LaBarbera seems to be doing is speaking from an internal pathological need to smear gay men.

The scandal at Penn State is volatile and out-of-control and that is highly understandable. Children have been harmed, quite possibly psychologically scarred for life.

What we all need to do here is pray for them as well as guard our own children against those who would prey on their innocence.

What we don't need to do allow ourselves to be exploited by someone who doesn't give a damn about anyone or anything but his own personal prejudices.

'Republicans make bigoted fools of themselves' and other Thursday midday news briefs

Senate Judiciary Committee Advances Respect For Marriage Act - The repeal of DOMA got out of the Senatorial Committee but not before the Republican Senators made homophobic asses of themselves.

Speaking of which, here are the idiotic highlights:

Al Franken Fact Checks Chuck Grassley: Marriage Has Evolved Over Time

Republicans: Only Straight Couples Form ‘Stable Families’, Marriage Equality Is Too Expensive

in other news:

Crafting a ‘Marriage Anti-Defamation’ video: How, why, and who? - More proof of  NOM's deceptions.

Man Sentenced To 30 Years For Murder Of Ugandan Gay Rights Activist David Kato - Those who helped to foster the attitude in Uganda which led to this murder walk away. But not completely.

Box Turtle Bulletin gives a more detailed look at the murder and the conviction.

As Maryland Prepares For Marriage Equality Push, Catholics Complain Of ‘Religious Liberties’ Infringement - It's sad seeing the lies coming from the Catholic Church in regards to marriage equality.

Hate group whining that Obama is hostile to Christianity

Tony Perkins

 The Family Research Council's Tony Perkins is whining that President Obama is hostile to Christianity:

I have no doubt, as you look back over the last two and a half of years of this administration, that the President has used his bully pulpit, he has done public policy but beyond the public policy that he’s pushed for, its created an atmosphere that is hostile toward Christianity. And we’re seeing this played out all across this culture and the courts have been emboldened by this and now you see the military doing it as well. There’s no end to this as long as you have someone who is the Commander-in-Chief who is the president of this country that has a disdain for Christianity.

I would sincerely hope that President Obama is hostile to any type of Christianity  defined by Tony Perkins and FRC.

Remember Perkins is the same person who referred to gays as terrorists while FRC spokesman Peter Sprigg advocates deporting gays or criminalizing what he calls their sexual behavior.

The Family Research Council in general has devoted a huge amount of energy demonizing the gay community in the name of God and Christianity. The organization clearly deserves its hate group designation given by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Seems to me that not only President Obama, but any red-blooded American should have a serious disdain for the type of Christianity which FRC and Perkins advocates.

Of course I'm not telling you anything that you don't already know. I know that I am preaching to the choir. But sometimes, the choir needs a pick-me-up from the preacher.