National Org for Marriage official doesn't want to talk about 'diaper pastor' ally

Patrick Wooden

Last week, I asked that readers of this blog contact National Organization for Marriage cultural director Thomas Peters and ask him why is the organization allying itself with Raleigh, NC Pastor Patrick Wooden.

NOM hopes to pass an anti-marriage equality amendment in NC this year and Wooden is doing outreach in black churches in order to get support for the amendment.

Now the pushers of this amendment - Vote for Marriage NC, the umbrella group led by NOM, the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, NC Values Coalition and the Christian Action League -  have said that they want a dignified and fair discussion on marriage equality.

However, Wooden seems to have not gotten the memo. Two weeks ago during an interview, he claimed that gay men have so much anal sex that they require surgery and wear diapers to control their bowel movements.

Last week, he claimed that gay men use gerbils, baseball bats, and cell phones for sexual thrills.

In between those two interviews while I encouraged folks to write to Peters or tweet him, I myself emailed Peters inquiring about Wooden.

Not surprisingly, I received no answer.

So yesterday, I read the following from a post on Goodasyou.org from Peters:

That motivated me to send him three messages on twitter:

@AmericanPapist We aren't trolls. We just want NOM to make a statement about 'diaper pastor' Patrick Wooden.

@AmericanPapist If you want a nice discussion on marriage equality, then why is NOM using this services of this awful man?

@AmericanPapist Patrick Wooden says gay men wear diapers and "use" gerbils but NOM using his help in North Carolina. Please explain why.

You can guess what happened next.

No answer.

Of course I can hear folks say "well what the heck did you expect" and they are right.

NOM likes to whine about being labeled as "bigots" but then none of the organization's people will say a word when it comes to calling out its allies for their homophobic behavior. It's the typical hypocritical behavior we have come to expect from the organization.

Just something to keep in mind.

And throw in NOM's face every chance we get.

Know Your LBGT History - Paul Winfield

You knew his voice even if you didn't know his name:

Paul Edward Winfield (May 22, 1939 – March 7, 2004) was an American television, film, and stage actor. He carved out a diverse career in film, television, theater and voiceovers by taking ground breaking roles at a time when African-American actors were rarely cast. His first major feature film role was in the 1969 film, The Lost Man starring Sidney Poitier. Winfield first became well-known to television audiences when he appeared for several years opposite Diahann Carroll on the groundbreaking television series Julia. Filmed during a high point of racial tensions in the United States, the show was unique in featuring an African-American female as the central character. He also starred as Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1978 miniseries King.

In 1973, Winfield was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1972 film Sounder, and his co-star in that film, Cicely Tyson, was nominated for Best Actress. Prior to their nominations, only three other African Americans - Dorothy Dandridge, Sidney Poitier and James Earl Jones - had ever been nominated for a leading role. He also appeared, in a different role, in the 2003 Disney-produced television remake of Sounder, which was directed by Kevin Hooks, his co-star from the original. Winfield played the part of “Jim the Slave” in Huckleberry Finn (1974) which was a musical based on the novel by Mark Twain. Winfield would recall late in his career that as a young actor he had played one of the two leads in Of Mice and Men in local repertory, made up in whiteface, since a black actor playing it would have been unthinkable. Winfield also starred in the miniseries, including Scarlett, and two based on the works of novelist Alex Haley: Roots: The Next Generations and Queen: The Story of an American Family.

Winfield gained a new segment of fans for his brief but memorable roles in several science fiction TV programs and movies. He portrayed Starfleet Captain Clark Terrell of the U.S.S. Reliant, an unwilling minion of Khan Noonien Singh, in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Lt. Traxler, a friendly but crusty cop partnered with Lance Henriksen in The Terminator starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 1996 he was part of the 'name' ensemble cast in Tim Burton's comic homage to 1950's science fiction Mars Attacks!, playing the complacently self-satisfied Lt-Gen. Casey. On the small screen Star Trek franchise, he appeared as an alien captain who communicates in metaphor in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Darmok". He also appeared in the second season Babylon 5 episode "Gropos" as General Richard Franklin, the father of regular character Dr. Stephen Franklin and on the fairy tale sitcom "The Charmings" as The Evil Queen's wise-cracking Magic Mirror.

'Mitt Romney's foundation funded 'ex-gay' therapy' and other Friday midday news briefs

Federal Judge Finds Same-Sex Long-Term Care Ban Unconstitutional - This just came in and it's a doozy.

Romney Foundation Gave To "Ex-Gays" - When I hear things like this, I gladly renew my "Obamabot" card.


FRC: 'Rebel Fleet Surrenders to Gay Empire' - So now Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council are attacking Star Wars over gay relationships. You know, I'm beginning to think that these folks are a couple of fries short of a Happy Meal.

Newt Gingrich Compares Gay Marriage To Paganism - Oh Lord, it's just too easy to post a response. What the hell . . . this from a man who cheated on two wives with mistresses, one who he is know presently married to is accusing someone else of being a pagan? I think lightning has given up trying to strike Gingrich when he says stuff like that because he seems to do it all of the time.


Stacey Campfield, Tennessee Senator Behind 'Don't Say Gay' Bill, On Bullying, AIDS And Homosexual 'Glorification' - You simply HAVE to read this interview. Forget drug testing people who get government insurance. I say we give I.Q. test to prospective public office holders.

Black pastors, marriage equality, and NOM's money

A 2005 article on now disgraced Atlanta pastor Eddie Long highlights a disturbing perspective to this issue of the National Organization for Marriage utilizing the black church and leaders against marriage equality that very few people are openly talking about.

The article theorizes that there was a tie between Long's 2005 anti-marriage equality march held in Atlanta and a $1 million grant he received from the faith-based initiatives of the Bush Administration. The article also theorizes that other black pastors were rewarded like so for making public positions against marriage equality.

When I read the recent disgusting comments of  Pastor Patrick Wooden and several other black ministers and leaders assembled by the NOM to combat marriage equality, I can't help wondering if we are seeing a retread of this theory.

While I'm certainly not making pointed accusations, I have been amazed at how quickly and convenient these coalitions between NOM and several black pastors and leaders have come together  I have also been alarmed by the rhetoric. There seems to be a degree of unrestrained glee and vindictive pleasure in not only attacking marriage equality, dehumanizing the gay community, and also - particularly in Wooden's case - going on a tangent about alleged gay sex acts.
 
And they do this even though they know personally members of the gay community either by family relationships or as members of their congregations.

These folks come across like well-paid hired guns.  Their tone betray a certain eagerness, like that of customers attempting to advantage of an exclusive sale at the mall or prospectors who just discovered a mountain of gold for the taking.

And in this case,  we may be talking about NOM's  mysterious funds. Remember, the organization has fought tooth and nail to conceal not only how much it has, but also just who is footing the bill. Yet NOM spends that money like water, brazenly committing  large sums of money to stop marriage equality in states like New Hampshire and Washington.

Also, I would be remiss not to mention that former NOM head Maggie Gallagher is used to receiving possibly inappropriate largesse for her "opinion." According to Media Matters, Gallagher:

received $21,500 from the Department of Health and Human Services in 2002 to conduct a briefing and write brochures and a Crisis magazine article that promoted the Bush administration's $300 million marriage initiative. She received an additional $20,000 in 2002 and 2003 to write a report ("Can Government Strengthen Marriage?") for the National Fatherhood Initiative. 

In addition, Gallagher promoted  Bush administration policies in several of her independent columns. She also testified in front of Congress in favor of  "healthy marriage programs." And she did all of this without disclosing the payments she was receiving.

So Gallagher is used to such questionable practices. The question is did she bring these practices to NOM. It's not farfetched to wonder whether or not any  honorariums have been used to "motivate" prominent black ministers and leaders.

 I am not the only lgbtq of color to have voiced this opinion. In the lgbtq of color community, there has been much talk and opinion-forming that these ministers and leaders who step out publicly to not only vilify marriage equality but verbally crucify the gay community in general aren't exactly doing it solely on spiritual terms.

Again, I am merely speculating. However, if, when it's all said and done, we find out that money has in fact been greasing some brown, very well manicured palms,  lgbtqs of color won't be surprised and we won't be shocked.

But we will say "we told you so."

It's a phrase we have learned to use a lot.  Usually when it's discovered that a homophobic black pastor is actually a closeted gay.

Gov. Christie accidentally proves a basic point of marriage equality

Today, in explaining just why he would veto marriage equality legislation and also why he felt it was an issue which should be decided by the voters, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said the following:

"The fact of the matter is, I think people would have been happy to have a referendum on civil rights rather than fighting and dying in the streets in the South."

If this fool for real? In his ignorance, Christie seems to forget that one of those rights back then was the right to vote.

Needless to say that black lawmakers aren't very happy with Christie's comment:

The comment outraged many African-American leaders in the state, who pointed out that such a referendum never would have passed in the south during the 60s — and that many black people were also disenfranchised at the time.

“People were fighting and dying in the streets of the South for a reason,” Oliver said. “They were fighting and dying in the streets of the South because the majority refused to grant minorities equal rights by any method. It look legislative action to bring justice to all Americans, just as legislative action is the right way to bring marriage equality to all New Jerseyans.”

“The governor’s comment is an insult to those who had no choice but to fight and die in the streets for equal rights,” she added.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) had a similar take. “Dear God, we should not be putting civil rights issues to a popular vote, to be subject to the sentiments, the passions of the day. No minority should have their rights subject to the passions and the sentiments of the majority. This is the fundamental bedrock of what our nation stands for.”

Jerome Harris, chairman of the New Jersey Black Issues Convention, told the Star-Ledger: “The 1965 Voting Rights act was enacted to overcome the systemic, intentional racial suppression of the black vote. It’s certainly a lack of historical understanding about how the expanding definition of who ‘We the People’ are has happened.”

And State Assemblyman John Wisniewksi (D) added: “Rosa Parks didn’t get to the front of the bus through a ballot question and Jim Crow laws weren’t repealed by public referendum.”

I guess we should be thankful to Christie's stupidity though. Regardless of how the gay community or the black community feels about marriage equality, they both agree that no one's rights should be voted on.

'NOM still trying steal marriage equality away from New York' and other Thursday midday news briefs

NOM will take away NY marriage licenses; driver and voter registrations apparently in clear (for now) - NOM is still trying to take away the fairly won right of marriage equality from New York couples.

Targeting Hollywood with Spiritual Warfare - Another prayer group? Oh goody.

Same-Sex Marriage Question To Appear On Maine Ballot - Round two and this time, it's our turn to win.

Harrisville becomes 14th Utah locale to ban anti-gay bias - Way to go, Harrisville!

Coalition at historically black North Carolina Central University opposes marriage discrimination amendment - Take that, Patrick Wooden!

National Gay Straight Alliance Day Seeks To Unite Organizations Nationwide - And we certainly can't forget about this.

Homophobic radio ad gets a pictorial retouch

A very appropriate retooling of a radio ad: