'Anti-gay groups abusing campaign finance laws in Minnesota' and other Thursday midday news briefs

Anti-Gay Groups Abuse Campaign Finance Loophole To Shield Donors In Minnesota - You mean the National Organization for Marriage is engaging in the abuse of campaign finance laws? Don't you have to follow laws in order to abuse them?

Minnesota Hate Group Lists Major Donations From Catholic Church & NOM - Speaking of which, if monies I was giving to a church went to this mess, I would raise some serious hell.

Anti-Gay Group Calls For Boycott Of JC Penny Over Ellen DeGeneres Partnership - Cause apparently this will make children gay? I wouldn't be surprised if they pushed that argument.

The Power of Telling Our Stories Demonstrated: Washington’s Senate Ignored NOM’s Threats and Passed the Marriage Equality Bill - The perfect antidote to homophobic mess not only with marriage equality but in every situation.

NOM gets blasted on its blog for lying about military chaplains

This is good.

Recently, the National Organization for Marriage's president, Brian Brown, put up the following on the group's blog:

Last April, the Navy issued new "sensitivity training" guidelines that required Navy chaplains to perform same-sex marriages. Thanks to leadership from Congressmen Tim Huelskamp and Todd Akin, the Navy backed down and rescinded the guidelines.

Of course this is a lie. The letter actually said chaplains can choose to perform these marriages. They are not required to.
This deliberate lie was noticed by several bloggers. Rob Tisiani of Box Turtle Bulletin said the following:

This falsehood is now up on NOM’s blog, where I’m banned from commenting. I invite you — ask you, beg you, beseech you — to go there and point out the truth to NOM’s readers. They won’t believe it (they might not even get to see it!), but that doesn’t matter: there’s something to be said for telling the truth just for the sake of telling the truth.

I am also barred so I couldn't respond. NOM  consistently bars commentators from its blog who make it a point to challenge the group on its lies, even if the challenges are done in a respectful manner. However apparently a lot of folks who aren't barred took it upon themselves to tell NOM  that Brown's claim is a deliberate lie. Some of the comments are as follows:

Brian - Perhaps you should show us this REQUIREMENT for chaplains to perform same sex weddings. No pastor has every been required to do so and you know it. While gay marriage never made it into the 10 commandments, I'm pretty sure lying did. How do you reconcile this?

"Required" is not a synonym for "allowed."

NOM caught lying again, at this point it's redundant.

Liar Liar Liar they are NOT required to perform them there is a moral exemption clause in the general order.

I think the policy should be that Brian Brown should get his facts straight. That's a joke--I know I'm not answering your question. Seriously though, this type of flagrant inaccuracy is unacceptable at any level, especially for the president of a national organization. NOM supporters, you should demand the truth. After all, you're the ones giving away money.

Interestingly enough, one of the few comments in support of Brown's post doesn't exactly help NOM's sweetness and light image:

I called and made another donation to NOM. We ask a lot of our military, having to worry about someone staring at their backsides should not be one of them.

I guess you can't be shocked when trash attracts trash.  If you feel inclined, go to NOM's blog post and remind the organization that lies in the name of God are still lies.

Breaking - Washington State senate passes marriage equality bill!!

The Washington state Senate just made history by passing a law allowing same-sex couples to marry by a vote of 28-21 in the Senate after a long session in which opponents tried to undermine the vote with several bills, many which failed, including one to allow business to discriminate against same-sex couples and another to put it up for a vote in November.

The bill now goes to the House where it is guaranteed to pass.

This is an excellent victory. But the game isn't over yet even after the governor signs it. No doubt opponents will start a petition drive to repeal this law.

And we still have the situations in New Hampshire and Maryland to deal with.

In New Hampshire, the legislature there may vote to repeal its marriage equality law. The governor there said he would veto this bill and there may or may not be enough votes to override the veto there.

In Maryland, there is another attempt to pass a law for marriage equality and just like last year when the attempt failed, the vote will be close.

Still for now, let's rejoice in this. Slowly but surely the arc of justice does bend our way.

For more in-depth details from the Associated Press, go here.

Awesome anti-bullying commercial to run during the Superbowl

Credit GLSEN (The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) for this awesome commercial that will be run during the Superbowl on Sunday:

'Remember martyred activist David Kato' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Last year around this time, gay Ugandan activist David Kato was brutally murdered. We need to remember this awful incident as well as the fact that our struggle for equality is also that of one for survival:



In other news:

Bullied gay teen's suicide note: Insight on EricJames Borges' tragic death at age 19 - This note will break your heart and the saddest thing? The people who should really be reading the note probably won't and won't care about it.

NOM Promises To "Reward" Anti-Equality Legislators After Accusing Gay Activists Of Buying Votes - It speaks for itself about hypocrisy, don't it?

Macy’s Under Attack for Catalogue Cover Featuring Same-Sex Couple Atop Wedding Cake - Cause you know lgbtqs really don't want to get married (snark)

Stephen Bennett's new lifestyle choice: Coming to a web near you - Professional "ex-gay" Stephen Bennett is back. I guess he misses the money he used to make with this gig.

Cannibalism, Satan, and Drag Queens - Homophobia rots your brain

So many folks testified yesterday for and against marriage equality in Maryland, but without a doubt, this guy wins the prize for . . . somebody please help me out in naming what prize this man gets! He is Minister Leroy Swailes and simply put, he is crazy.

He tries to cite the Bible but is wrong, wrong, wrong in his claims about gays in the Bible.

And I haven't even talked about his strange connection to Satan, the eating of children, dragons, and drag queens.

But he does make a good argument for marriage equality in talking about Washington, D.C.'s economy.

Just listen. His testimony isn't long. Just please listen. But don't listen while eating or drinking anything.

Hat tip to Goodasyou.org

And again, NOM loses another court appeal in Maine

From the Associated Press:

An appeals court on Tuesday upheld the state's campaign disclosure law that requires a national anti-gay-marriage group to release its donor list, but the group plans to take the fight to shield the list to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The decision pertains to ballot question committees in Maine and represents a second defeat for the National Organization for Marriage, which previously lost a challenge to the state's political action committee laws and laws governing independent expenditures and advertising attribution and disclaimers.

The latest appeal focused on part of the law that says groups that raise or spend more than $5,000 to influence elections must register and disclose their donors.

The NOM, which says it was founded in 2007 in response to the "growing need for an organized opposition to same-sex marriage in state legislatures," donated $1.9 million to a political action committee that helped repeal Maine's same-sex marriage law. It said it believes that releasing the donor list would stymie free speech.

"We already know that the homosexual lobby has launched a national campaign of harassment and intimidation against supporters of traditional marriage, so there's a good reason to keep these names confidential," said Indiana lawyer James Bopp Jr., who's representing the NOM.

Mary Bonauto, an attorney with Boston-based Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, said Bopp's claims are an attempt to divert attention from NOM's failure to follow Maine disclosure rules.

NOM has promised to take this case to the Supreme Court. The organization certainly has the money for the process. The problem is it doesn't want to tell anyone where that money is coming from.

Hat tip to Towleroad.