Morse - gays want to convert the workplace using 'their agenda'

Part of me adores Jennifer Morse of NOM's Ruth Institute. Whereas Maggie Gallagher tried to be slick regarding NOM's homophobia, Morse refuses to play such games. She has let her homophobic "freak flag" fly, so to speak, thereby exposing NOM's true angle. Case in point, why she feels lgbt-inclusive nondiscrimination laws are a bad idea:

 

MORSE: Once a person is in the workplace, then they use their position of authority to steer the whole organization towards the larger objectives of the gay lobby which is not limited to making their company and their employer as successful as possible in the marketplace. You know? They’ve got other objectives that they’re working towards and they’re using their positions of authority inside companies to do that. And I think that’s the pattern, and I think that’s, in a sense, the story, for people to see that. And of course for an employer to say “well, gosh, I don’t want you to work for me anymore because the objectives of the gay lobby are not my objectives and you’re taking up a lot of corporate time pressuring us internally to steer us towards the gay lobby, and that doesn’t really do anything for me, and so I want to fire you because of that or I don’t want to promote you because of that because I don’t think you’re really working hand in glove with the overall objectives of this company,” I think they’d have a hard time firing somebody on that basis because of the anti-discrimination law. Or certainly it would be tricky to fire somebody. So I think people need to kind of understand that there’s more at stake than anti-discrimination policy. That those kinds of statutes, those kinds of laws, that kind of case law and so on, it seems like it’s innocent enough, actually carries with it, in its wake, more than people may realize. [emphasis added]

Apparently, Morse has been watching too much Star Trek and thereby has the lgbt community mistaken for the Borg, a community of marauding aliens led by a hive mind.

Members of the lgbt community are not attempting to get nondiscrimination laws passed so that we can easily spread the supposed "gay agenda" in the workplace. It's so that we can work freely unencumbered by the possible ignorance of our fellow employees.

Family Research Council wants YOU to pay for its anti-gay lies

I have just received an email from the Family Research Council announcing a new initiative (the Marriage Preservation Initiative) and its purpose is to raise over $200,000 to expand FRC's research, flood Capitol Hill with ads, and put a bunch of ads on the Internet and major newspapers.

Supposedly the purpose of these ads it to spell out a message of doom should the Supreme Court overturn Prop 8 and DOMA.

In its email, FRC gave an indication of the kinds of claims they will make.  Allow me to list the claims and refute them:

• Will the federal government now tell pastors what they can and cannot preach from the pulpit so it conforms to approved government speech? Didn't FRC say the same thing about lgbt-inclusive hate crimes legislation, i.e. that the government will tell pastors what to preach. NO such thing took place after lgbt-inclusive hate crimes legislation was passed. 

• Will pastors who preach against same-sex "marriage" and homosexual behavior be prosecuted for hate speech? On the risk of repeating myself, didn't FRC claim that lgbt-inclusive hate crimes legislation would lead to pastors being arrested in the pulpits for declaring homosexuality to be a sin? No such incident took place after lgbt-inclusive hate crimes legislation was passed. 

 

• Will churches that refuse to host same-sex "weddings" lose their tax exemptions? No church will be forced to host same-sex weddings. Period.

And FRC lists other portents of doom. Allow me to correct those also:

• The military will have to provide "married" housing to same-sex couples at taxpayer expense. Oh this is terrible because you know, gays and lesbians are exempt from paying taxes. That was sarcasm, folks. 

•  Christian adoption agencies will be forced to place children with same-sex couples or close their doors. Sorry but this situation has less to do with marriage equality and a lot to do with Christian adoption agencies taking taxpayer money and feeling that they still have the right to discriminate. 

•  Christian-owned companies and even para-church ministries will be coerced to extend married benefits to same-sex couples. What the heck are "para-church ministries? But more importantly, notice the semantics here.  "Christian-owned companies" doesn't necessarily mean churches, but restaurants, apartment complexes, and as we have seen, bakeries and flower shops owned by folks who call themselves Christians. If you allow secular businesses to discriminate based on their religious beliefs, you are unleashing a huge dragon who will probably end up biting FRC in the ass. 

•  And children who won't affirm the legitimacy of the homosexual "lifestyle" choice will be forced to undergo psychological counseling. For the life of me, I don't know what the hell FRC is talking about here.

So basically, the Family Research Council wants your money to help it spread a bunch of lies about marriage equality and the lgbt community in general.

'Gay man confronts homophobia, earns applause and respect' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Gay Man Confronts Homophobic Subway Preacher, Train Crowd Applauds (VIDEO) - If the homophobia in the world ever depresses you, take a look at this video. A gay man confronts a homophobic subway preacher and earns the applause of other passengers. And I love his hat, by the way.  

Music Producer Clive Davis Comes Out As Bisexual - In case you haven't heard, legendary music impresario Clive Davis has come out of the closet. Welcome to the open family, Clive. Now I've got this cousin . . . .  

A Trans Man’s First Year As A NYC Public School Teacher - Fascinating article. We need more things like this and less of those "bathroom lies" the religious right likes to peddle.

 Do not be deceived—tomorrow's anti-#ILequality lobby day is all about 'rescuing homosexuals' - And who will rescue from those who are attempting to rescue us?

Video exposes religious right's talent for anti-gay misdirection, omission

This hideously bad video is by former Family Research Council intern Anna Maria Hoffman and she wants us to "stop the hate" of those who support so-called traditional marriage. Though it was excruciating to watch, especially the couple of seconds (Girlfriend can't sing. Not a lick!), her attempt to outline the point of view of those on her side of the marriage equality argument actually helps us.

Not because of what she says, via bad cue card reading, but because of her tone, how she misdirects the argument, and what she omits.

1. Tone - Ms. Hoffman whines about that those on her side of the argument are unfairly attacked, yet she makes it seem that those of who support marriage equality are doing it because it's a "trendy" thing to do. To the vast majority of us, gaining marriage equality is not like going to the new club or attempting a new dance. We have a desire to affirm our love and see our families protected as all Americans do.

2. Misdirects - Hoffman lists an entire set of reasons why so-called traditional marriage is in danger such as the rate of divorce and households without a father. However, none of the reasons she lists has anything to do with gays and lesbians getting married. Nor does she say how allowing gays and lesbians to get married would exacerbate these problems.

3. Omission - Finally, Hoffman seems to be taking a page from the Maggie Gallagher book of "Whine about being called bigots to cover up how bigoted our tactics are." She goes on a spiel about how unfair it is that those like her are labeled as "bigots" simply because they support so-called traditional marriage. Is she serious? Was Hoffman asleep during her entire tenure at the Family Research Council?  Hoffman seems to conveniently omit the many, many times her organization has demonized gays, labeled us as the "dangerous other," and expressed desires that we be either deported from the country or put in jail. And that doesn't even begin to cover the cherry-picked studies the Family Research Council uses against us.

Hoffman is unfortunately indicative of religious right group employees and spokespeople. They want to claim victimhood for being called bigots while at the same time spewing their bigotry.

You simply cannot have it both ways.

Hat tip to Jeremy Hooper.

13th researcher cries foul over anti-gay distortions of his work

We've heard this song before and I wish someone besides a few of us would pick up on the tune. 

From Truth Wins Out comes this piece of news:

In what has become a disturbing pattern, a top researcher has accused Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, the co-founder of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), of grossly distorting his work to advance NARTH’s discredited view that gay and lesbians people are mentally ill.

Dr. Allan Schore, a leading psychotherapist and neuropsychologist, is the latest NARTH victim to have his research deliberately misused and politicized. This is particularly alarming because NARTH is the primary organization trying to use the courts in California to strike down a new law prohibiting reparative therapy for minors.

NARTH is not a scientific organization, but a disreputable public relations campaign that twists legitimate research in an effort stigmatize the LGBT community. NARTH members, including Joseph Nicolosi, are ethically challenged and should not be taken seriously by the courts or society.

According to Truth Wins Out, Nicolosi implied that he had a working relationship with Schore. However,  when Dominic Davies, of the London-based organization Pink Therapy investigated, he found this implication to be false:

Throughout the text,” said Davies, “Nicolosi claims homosexuality as an Attachment Disorder and distorts and misattributes Schore’s work in Attachment Theory in support of his spurious argument.” Davies contacted Schore to clarify his relationship with Nicolosi. In their correspondence, the scientist made clear that he was “deeply disturbed” that he was misquoted by Nicolosi and said that “there is absolutely no neuropsychological research evidence that homosexuality is a disorder.” He further stated that Nicolosi is “grafting my shame and attachment models on to gender identity disorders, something I have never even written about.”

Here is the thing which bothers me about this. This discovery was made last week and other than a mention in Think Progress, it was totally ignored - just like the majority of other times in which physicians and researchers have complained about the distortion of their work by the religious right.

And when I say totally ignored, I am not pointing fingers at the mainstream media. My accusations are at the lgbt media and the community at large.

Religious right groups and affiliate organizations have a long history of distorting scientific research and we have the complaints to prove it, but what have we done to publicize these complaints?

Not a damn thing.

 Instead, some of us roll our eyes and yawn as if we are being subjected to something which bores us immensely. And our media and leaders ignore these revelations because apparently they aren't "positive news."

Meanwhile, groups like the National Organization for Marriage or the Family Research Council are able to take anecdotal situations involving bakers who refuse to make wedding cakes for lgbt couples, or elected officials who get into trouble for placing their beliefs above their job duties and get maximum media coverage which allows them to push their inaccurate point of view to the public

And why is that? Because they know the power of good press and don't shirk away from exploiting, if you will, any and all situations to make their point of view seem plausible.

In contrast, the lgbt community seems to be so jaded that we will not recognize a chance to publicize when the religious right is blatantly lying.
 
It all leads me to realize one thing -  the main reason why the religious right continue to lie about the lgbt community and to deliberately distort science is because we let them by keeping silent.

Related posts:

How They See Us: Unmasking the Religious Right War on Gay America (pgs. 8-10)

'Thousands come to Minnesota State House to support marriage equality' and other Friday midday news briefs

Look: Thousands Flood Minnesota (Yes, Minnesota) State House To Support Gay Marriage - Unlike NOM, our supporters don't have to lie about OUR numbers.  

Neil Clark Warren, eHarmony Founder, Says Gay Marriage 'Damaged His Company' - Mr. Warren trashes gays, but it was the "Christians" whom he had to bodyguards to protect himself from when his company changed its policy.  

Illinois' leading purveyor of gay marriage myths now pushing offensive infertility claims - And our opponents wonder why they are losing . . .  

Virginia Legislator Kills Employment Protections Because Anti-LGBT Discrimination ‘Doesn’t Exist’ - And of course he is wrong.

Porno Pete LaBarbera upset over full frontal male nudity

LaBarbera

I haven't picked on Porno Pete LaBarbera for a while and I think he is feeling lonely.

On his Americans for Truth webpage, he is on a new crusade. Apparently he is upset that the Huffington Post ran a spotlight on male full frontal scenes in movies in its Gay Voices section.

Now in all honest, I was initially put off by the feature, but then I came to the understanding that there a is a good cultural discussion which can arise from it. For years, motion pictures had no problem showing female frontal nudity and now things seem to be balancing out. What gives? Are some male actors less afraid to show off their possible "shortcomings?" It's an interesting thing to talk about when it comes to gender and power.

However, LaBarbera refused to become so enlightened. To him, it's a part of the gay conspiracy:

The HuffPo video reminds us of one salient point in the national debate over homosexuality: “gay” guys like to see other men nude, and lesbians like to see women nude. Thus, the perversion of homosexuality turns seemingly “safe” places like gym showers, dorms and collective military showers into potential leering zones for those beset with aberrant sexual desires. (At many colleges, students are forbidden  under “nondiscrimination” codes from demanding a new roommate because they don’t want to room with a homosexual.) Thus the privacy of sexually normal people is violated.

I'm going to ignore that crack about "normal people."  I just want to know how many times did LaBarbera have to "look" at the video in question for him to fully register his "shock."