'Is NOM distorting another photo?' and other Thursday midday news briefs

NOM photos suggest packed [trucks in front of the Chick-fil-A one] - For a supposedly Christian organization, the National Organization seems to have a problem with being truthful about photos. Check out the link and tell me what you think.  

10-Year-Old Delivers Marriage Equality Speech To New York City Council - Outstanding!  

Will Anti-Gay Actor Kirk Cameron Say Yes To A Lunch Invitation From Bullied LGBT Youth In New Jersey? -If Cameron doesn't meet with these teens, don't be surprised. Folks like Cameron only TALK about their Christianity.  

John Kirkwood on Gay Judges: 'We Were Better Off When the Mafia Ran Illinois' - I'm guessing he means it would give new meaning to the phrase "stick em up!"

 The 20 Openly Gay Athletes Of The 2012 Olympics - During the 1984 Olympics, there were rumors of one gay athlete on the American team (which I knew was Greg Louganis). My, have we come a long way!

Matt Barber - 'How dare Hilary Clinton not talk about gay sex!'

Matt Barber

Editor's note - Today is one of my two post mornings. After reading this piece about the stupidity and homophobia of Matt Barber, pan down for a good laugh with the post NOM's Ruth Institute quietly acknowledges how dumb it is

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton recently addressed the International AIDS Conference in Washington where she said that the United States is committed to creating an AIDS-free generation.

But leave it to Matt Barber of the Liberty Counsel to get angry at Clinton because she didn't use her speech to talk about gay sex:

 "Shame on Hillary Clinton in choosing to ignore the reality that, in the United States, people are primarily infected with AIDS through deviant homosexual behavior," Barber offers. "She has essentially postured with a false air of resolve while cowardly refusing to address the real cause of AIDS in the U.S., and that's homosexual behavior."

He points to the fact that even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been forced to admit that reality.

Of course Barber omits that the CDC actually said

Stigma and homophobia may have a profound impact on the lives of MSM, especially their mental and sexual health. Internalized homophobia may impact men’s ability to make healthy choices, including decisions around sex and substance use. Stigma and homophobia may limit the willingness of MSM to access HIV prevention and care, isolate them from family and community support, and create cultural barriers that inhibit integration into social networks.

Racism, poverty, and lack of access to health care are barriers to HIV prevention services, particularly for MSM from racial or ethnic minority communities. A recent CDC study found a strong link between socioeconomic status and HIV among MSM: prevalence increased as education and income decreased, and awareness of HIV status was higher among MSM with greater education and income

Barber is angry that Clinton didn't do the very thing that the CDC has outlined as a leading factor of HIV/AIDS infections, i.e. the stigmatizing of gay men.

I say good for her.

NOM's Ruth Institute quietly acknowledges how dumb it is

The National Organization for Marriage's Ruth Institute does have a degree of shame.

Yesterday, I wrote a post on how a Facebook group I help to moderate was accused by the organization using Sesame Street characters Ernie and Bert to "recruit" children:

The claim by the Ruth Institute was nonsense and those in the Facebook group got a good laugh over it. As a matter of fact, it was so hilarious that some of us felt that we needed to go to the Ruth Institute Facebook post which made the claim to tell the organization how we appreciate the laugh.

Apparently our thank you's (none of which were threatening or obscene) wasn't appreciated because the post has been taken down.

Shucks. Oh well at least I will have the memories. I am very proud in particular of the message which I left:

"As one of the moderators of the Facebook site you have accused of using Bert and Ernie to seduce children, I have one thing to say to the Ruth Institute - 'y'all stupid.' In addition, if you pardon my French - Y'all need Jesus."

NOM's Ruth Institute - Facebook group using 'Bert and Ernie' to seduce children!!

This is hilarious! The National Organization's Ruth Institute just told a lie on a Facebook group and guess what?

It's a group in which I am one of the moderators.

The Facebook group in question is called I bet this turkey can get more fans than NOM. It is a place where folks post articles and photos regarding the lgbtq community. Many times, the photos are comical views at the religious right and their nonsensical claims.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the following via Equality Matters:

The photo was clearly created to poke fun at the controversy between Chick-Fil-A and Jim Henson's Muppets over comments made by the restaurant's owner in regards to the gay community.

But according to Equality Matters, the Ruth Institute seems to claim that this photo has a more sinister design:

In a July 25 Facebook post, the Ruth Institute linked to an image created by a pro-equality group in response to the recent controversy surrounding The Muppets and Chick-fil-A’s anti-gay politics. The image, which depicts Sesame Street’s Bert and Ernie as a same-sex couple, seemed to anger the Ruth Institute, which sarcastically added “Oh, no we don’t want to seduce your kids! You’re so paranoid and uptight!”

And it gets funnier:

This has to be one of the single most ridiculous things I have EVER read in my life.

Again, the Bert and Ernie graphic had NOTHING to do with any attempt to seduce children and anyone in their right mind would know this.

But then again we are talking about the National Organization for Marriage and its supporters, so those with common sense need not apply.

To my fellow moderators, please don't post any pictures of Batman and Robin nor any pictures of Bugs Bunny in drag.

And please, no pictures of Popeye and Bluto

I cringe to think what we would be accused of next.

'Hate group wants $35 million to 'restore' America' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

NOM’s Ruth Institute Peddles Conspiracy Theories About “Gay Agenda” - Who keeps telling the religious right our secret plans for overthrowing America and having Judy Garland's birthday declared a national holiday? Our secret fearless leaders (the one stroking his Persian cat) will be angry. Just who will he feed to the sharks due to the failure to keep our agenda secret?  

Read: FRC's $35 million plan to 'go on the offense to advance the Christian worldview' - The Family Research Council wants $35 million to 'restore America.' Aw hell, I can do that for low, low price of $19.95. 

Sen. Inhofe: Military Uniforms Inappropriate Because Pride Parades Are ‘Political, Partisan’ - Oh whine, whine, whine!

 One Million Moms Protests Gay-Themed Show It Hasn’t Even Seen Yet - Move along, folks. Crazy religious right group. Nothing to see here, except for the show they are protesting. It sounds promising. 

Chick-Fil-A Recalling Jim Henson Kids' Meal Toys As Partnership Severed Over Anti-Gay Donations - I smell a rat on the part of Chick-Fil-A.  

Conservative Media Attack The Muppets For Founding Company's Chick-Fil-A Rebuke - Keep it up. Don't be surprised if Miss Piggy karates you. I hear she is a black belt. 

Defender of anti-gay parenting study makes HUGE error

Professor Christian Smith makes sad defense of flawed study.

You simply have to hand it to the folks attempting to defend Mark Regnerus' flawed study on gay parenting.

Not necessarily for truth, mind you, but for chutzpah. Regardless of how many times the study has been called out for its faults, these folks continue to hang in there in their attempts to defend it.

But in doing so, they cause more criticism to rain down on it.

Christian Smith, professor of sociology and director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society and the Center for Social Research at the University of Notre Dame, recently wrote a piece in The Chronicle of Higher Education defending Regnerus' work.

In the article, An Academic Auto-da-Fé, Smith claims that Regnerus and his work are being unjustly attacked by progressives:

Whoever said inquisitions and witch hunts were things of the past? A big one is going on now. The sociologist Mark Regnerus, at the University of Texas at Austin, is being smeared in the media and subjected to an inquiry by his university over allegations of scientific misconduct.

Regnerus's offense? His article in the July 2012 issue of Social Science Research reported that adult children of parents who had same-sex romantic relationships, including same-sex couples as parents, have more emotional and social problems than do adult children of heterosexual parents with intact marriages. That's it. Regnerus published ideologically unpopular research results on the contentious matter of same-sex relationships. And now he is being made to pay.

In today's political climate, and particularly in the discipline of sociology—dominated as it is by a progressive orthodoxy—what Regnerus did is unacceptable. It makes him a heretic, a traitor—and so he must be thrown under the bus.

. . . Regnerus has been attacked by sociologists all around the country, including some from his own department. He has been vilified by journalists who obviously (based on what they write) understand little about social-science research. And the journal in which Regnerus published his article has been the target of a pressure campaign.

It's an interesting piece with two flaws - one relatively minor and one which can be seen as major.

Mike Huckabee's 'moral values' include lies about gay community

Huckabee has no problem lying about gays.

As you all know, former Arkansas governor and current radio show host Mike Huckabee has called for a "Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day" to blunt the criticism the restaurant has been receiving for its negative view of lgbtq equality.

One part of Huckabee's statement announcing this day struck me as odd:

Too often, those on the left make corporate statements to show support for same sex marriage, abortion, or profanity, but if Christians affirm traditional values, we're considered homophobic, fundamentalists, hate-mongers, and intolerant.

So Huckabee claims that folks like him are "affirming traditional values."

If we were to take a look at Huckabee's past statements he made about the lgbtq community, we would see that apparently his idea of 'affirming traditional values" is to attack the gay community with lies.

Huckabee has made so many ugly and false statements about the gay community that Media Matters for America was able to catalogue them. Here are just a few:

Huckabee Made Virulent Anti-Gay Comments As A Public Official

As A Public Official, Huckabee Called Homosexuality An "Aberration" And Condemned The Government For Supporting It Along With Pedophilia, Sadomasochism, And Necrophilia. In a 2007 appearance on Meet the Press, Tim Russert asked Huckabee about his assertion in a 1998 book claiming "it is now difficult to keep track of the vast array of publicly endorsed and institutionally supported aberrations -- from homosexuality and pedophilia to sadomasochism and necrophilia." Huckabee responded that "all of these are deviations from what has been considered the traditional concept of sexual behavior." Russert also asked Huckabee about his assertion in 1992 that "I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural and sinful lifestyle." Huckabee responded that "all of us are sinners." [Towelroad.com, 1/2/08]

Huckabee Claimed That Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage Is Like Legalizing Drug Use, Incest, And Polygamy. 

From an April 9, 2010 article concerning an interview Huckabee gave to the College of New Jersey's magazine The Perspective:

He continues to oppose any government recognition of same-sex relationships. Even civil unions are "not necessary," Huckabee said. "I think there's been a real level of being disingenuous on the part of the gay and lesbian community with their goal of civil unions," he alleged, referring to LGBT activists who first claimed that their goal in several states was to enact civil unions, but subsequently launched efforts to implement full marriage rights.

Huckabee went on to draw parallels between homosexuality and other lifestyles that are considered by some to be morally aberrant. "You don't go ahead and accommodate every behavioral pattern that is against the ideal," he said of same-sex marriage. "That would be like saying, well, there are a lot of people who like to use drugs, so let's go ahead and accommodate those who want who use drugs. There are some people who believe in incest, so we should accommodate them. There are people who believe in polygamy, so we should accommodate them." [The Perspective, 4/9/10]

Huckabee Said He Opposes Same-Sex Marriage, In Part, Because Of The "Ick Factor." 

From a June 28, 2010 New Yorker article:

One afternoon in Jerusalem, while Huckabee was eating a chocolate croissant in the lounge of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, I asked him to explain his rationale for opposing gay rights. "I do believe that God created male and female and intended for marriage to be the relationship of the two opposite sexes," he said. "Male and female are biologically compatible to have a relationship. We can get into the ick factor, but the fact is two men in a relationship, two women in a relationship, biologically, that doesn't work the same."

I asked him if he had any arguments that didn't have to do with God or ickiness. "There are some pretty startling studies that show if you want to end poverty it's not education and race, it's monogamous marriage," he said. "Many studies show that children who grow up in a healthy environment where they have both a mother and a father figure have both a healthier outlook and a different perspective from kids who don't have the presence of both." [New Yorker, 6/28/10]

And let's not forget the recent segment of his radio show in which he, while talking to a victim of child molestation, falsely connected homosexuality with pedophilia in an attempt to defend the Boy Scouts' decision to keep gays out.

Seems to me that if bearing false witness is a "value" which Huckabee affirms, then he has bigger problems than gay folks.

And if Chick-Fil-A teams with him, then the restaurant deserves all of the bad press it receives.