SC senator doubles down on homophobia, adds a little Obama bashing

Lee Bright

SC State Sen (and Lindsey Graham's primary opponent for US Senate) Lee Bright isn't backing away from the crazy which has caused him to be embroiled in a war over state colleges and universities over lgbt issues.

He seems to be embracing it, with a little Obama bashing on the side. According to Right Wing Watch:

Speaking on Washington Watch with Josh Duggar, the TLC reality TV star who also serves as executive director of the Family Research Council’s campaign arm, Bright said GOP leaders like Speaker John Boehner should have the “courage” of al-Assad and Russian president Vladimir Putin. He also promised to fight to “take back” the “educational establishment” from the “homosexual agenda” before it “indoctrinates” the “next generation.” 

Transcript: 

 Republicans need to learn to start playing offense and quit playing so much defense. You look at, of course I hate to use examples, you look at Assad and you look at Putin, when people stand up to Obama, you see that he backs up and his lines in the sand become erased. If [Speaker] Boehner had the courage that Putin and Assad had, we’d be living in a different America, but we don’t have the leadership and we’ve got to continue to try to get folks to Washington that are going to take the fight to the liberal agenda. One thing I didn’t mention earlier, you were talking about things going around the state, we’ve got the homosexual agenda on the full march in our institutions of higher ed and we’ve gone from education to indoctrination, so we are in a fight — they have seized the educational establishment and we’ve got to take that back and we’ve got to get folks involved in that or otherwise that’s our next generation.

I never thought that there would be a candidate for Senate who would make me actually root for Lindsey Graham.

Former Congressman Barney Frank likes his copy of 'How They See Us'

On Monday night, former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank was in Columbia, SC attending a fundraiser for SC Equality. I was able to give him a copy of my booklet, How They See Us: Unmasking the Religious Right War on Gay America. He enjoyed reading it and took a copy with him when he departed.

How They See Us: Unmasking the Religious Right War on Gay America has reached over 900,000 readers (direct and embedded). To read it or get your free copy, go here.

If that site is giving you problems, you can read or download it here directly from adobe acrobat.

Let's go for one million!

'What does today's victory at the Supreme Court mean for the lgbt community?' & other Monday midday news briefs

BREAKING: Supreme Court won’t hear anti-gay photographer case - By now, a vast majority of the lgbt community knows of and is celebrating this critical victory but I figure what the heck. Still post it. 

What To Make Of The Supreme Court’s Decision Not To Hear That Anti-Gay Photographer’s Case - Extensive commentary and details about today's victory by Think Progress.

 SC lawmaker accuses college of 'recruiting' students to be gay - I know what you are thinking. Why am I featuring this post again when it was the featured story on my blog this morning. Because I don't want you to miss it. It's THAT important.  

Elaine Donnelly, professional military discrimination advocate: Trans soldiers want to serve so military can pay for surgery - Oh good grief. Give it up, Elaine and show some dignity in defeat.  

Dear Andrew Sullivan, 'Left-Liberal Intolerance' Did Not Bring Down Mozilla's CEO - A very important post because of the next one.  

BarbWire: 'Al-'Gay'Da' And 'Lezbollah' Terrorists Brought Down Mozilla CEO - Don't you just love the way homophobes think of the cutest insulting names for the lgbt community and then cry foul when they are called homophobes?

SC lawmaker accuses college of 'recruiting' students to be gay

Sen. Mike Fair

The controversy over South Carolina colleges, gay issues, and the ire of state legislators at colleges for even talking about gays issues show no sign of slowing down.

Earlier this year the House took away $70,000 collectively from the College of Charleston and the University of South Carolina Upstate. The amount adds up to the how much the two colleges spent on the gay-themed books. The legislators claimed that the books, Fun Home and Out Loud: The Best of Rainbow Radio doesn't represent SC community value and were pornographic.

Then it was announced that USC Upstate could face further cuts because the school is hosting a symposium on gay topics that at one point included a lecture titled, “How to be a lesbian in 10 days or less.”

This lecture is a one-woman show by Leigh Hendrix which dealt with coming out. It is considered to be a comical and satirical lecture, but due to the provocative title, some right-wing and anti-gay blogs got a hold of the story and made various inaccurate comments about students "being taught how to be gay."

USC Upstate canceled the lecture because of the controversy this was causing.

However, some lawmakers are still furious over the books and lecture and took it upon themselves to castigate not only USC Upstate but also the lgbt community. One in particular, Sen. Mike Fair, claimed that university students are being "recruited" to be gay:

"It's just not normal and then you glorify, or it seems to me, that the promotion at USC is glorification of same sex orientation,” said Republican state Sen. Mike Fair.

Fair said the school took what he calls questionable behavior even further when it booked the show "How to Become a Lesbian in 10 Days or Less."

“That's not an explanation of 'I was born this way.’  It's recruiting,” said Fair.

So there it is. I wondered how long this controversy would go on before one of our legislators would play the "gays are trying to recruit" card.

Seriously though, I don't think it takes a genius to tell that, in spite of all of his negative comments, Fair has seen the lecture. I also doubt he read any of the books he is all up in arms about. And that goes double for other legislators (in particular Rep. Garry Smith, Sen. Lee Bright, and Sen. Kelvin Bryant) who have run to the media voicing negative comments and making threats.

And to me, the above asinine comment he made about recruiting isn't the worse remark made about this controversy. Fair and many of the other legislators I mentioned complained  on several occasions that the universities are wasting the taxpayer's money by focusing on lgbt issues.

Perhaps a group of SC lgbts should write these legislators asking just where is the "lgbt-exempt" line on our state tax forms.

The legislators represent a sad mindset which is the crux of this entire nonsense.

Lgbts are in loving relationships, we pay taxes, we raise children, we are the important linchpin of many South Carolina families.

But when folks like Fair are pressed to talk about us, they seem to be compelled to perform an insulting psychological dissection on who we are.

 To folks like him, the other legislators making a fuss about the colleges, and the right-wing blogs, our sexual orientations disqualify us from being treated fair and equally. Our sexual orientations also frees them to lie about us, bear false witness against us, or treat us like less than taxpaying citizens of this state. Instead, they treat lgbt South Carolinians like clay by molding us into the false images they conjure up about us in accordance to their so-called religious beliefs.

Our families, loving relationships, our close friendships, and even the respect due to us because we also pay taxes are replaced with images of pathetic sinners out to cause chaos and "recruit"  because we supposedly hate values and morality.

And God forbid that we want to talk about issues which affect us like every other group in South Carolina does. God forbid colleges and universities have classes and assignments which acknowledge us. To these holier-than-thou folks, that's akin children playing the Bloody Mary game in front of a bathroom mirror. To them, that's akin to us supposedly shoving our lifestyles down their throats.

It's what I've been saying throughout this mess from the start. Folks like Fair, Bright, Smith, etc want to erase our lives. They don't want to be reminded of who we actually are as people because they seem to think that their inaccurate images should be the beginning or ending of the matter.

But they should remember two things.

Some of those zeros in their legislative paychecks came from us.

And we know how to vote.

Related posts:

South Carolina legislators declare war on state colleges over gay issues 

Are SC legislators harming state universities on behalf on anti-gay groups?

South Carolina legislators declare war on state colleges over gay issues

Sen. Lee Bright

First my state legislators  in SC "penalize" colleges over gay-themed books. Now comes this.

From The State:

The University of South Carolina Upstate could have its budget cut again for another gay-themed program on the Spartanburg campus.

The school is hosting a symposium on gay topics that at one point included a lecture titled, “How to be a lesbian in 10 days or less.” The event comes a month after the House of Representatives cut $17,142 from USC Upstate’s budget for assigning freshmen to read an essay book on coming out gay in the South.

At least three state senators said Friday they are upset about USC Upstate’s gay-themed programming. They vow to not only keep the House’s cut but also slash more from the school’s budget next year.

“If they’ve got extra money sitting around to promote perversion, obviously they’ve got more money than they really need,” said S.C. Sen. Kevin Bryant, an Anderson Republican who sits on the Senate budget-writing committee.

That's danger with some people. They tend to talk before they know all of the facts . . . or even after they are aware of all of the facts. The State also says:

USC Upstate’s Bodies of Knowledge Symposium, slated for next Thursday and Friday, focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other sexual orientation issues and has stirred a typically conservative section of the state.

The college – which hosts a national conference on child abuse and an undergraduate research symposium highlighting students’ work – did not intend to stir controversy with the symposium, school officials said.

The theme is “an optional opportunity (for students) to explore some of these topics which they probably would not get to in a class or in another type of organized workshop,” Toth said.

Much of the outcry was over the planned performance by Leigh Hendrix of “How to be a lesbian in 10 days or less,” a comical story about coming out as gay.

But some people took it as an instructive performance, instead of a comedy, USC Upstate spokeswoman Tammy Whaley said.

 The event was cut after community and political uproar.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/04/04/3368501/usc-upstate-facing-more-cuts-over.html#storylink=cpy

This nonsense is the latest salvo against state universities by SC legislators over lgbt issues. Recently, the House took away $70,000 collectively from the College of Charleston and the University of South Carolina Upstate. The amount adds up to the how much the two colleges spent on the gay-themed books. The legislators claimed that the books, Fun Home and Out Loud: The Best of Rainbow Radio doesn't represent SC community value and were pornographic.

But there is something else in particular you should know about the latest attack on the University of South Carolina Upstate. One of the main legislators running to the press voicing so-called outrage about this and issuing threats is Sen. Lee Bright of Spartanburg. He is also running for the U.S. Senate in a primary against Sen. Lindsey Graham. I guess Obamacare is out as a hot button issue for Bright, seeing that Graham just unveiled his "I'm going to stop Obamacare commercial." As nauseating as it is, it certainly beats the "I tried to find out the truth in Benghazi" commercials Sen. Graham was running.

So obviously with no other recourse, Bright seems to be going for the time-honored tradition of attacking the lgbt community in an election year. I think I liked him better when he was raffling off an AR-15 as a part of his campaign.

How nice it is that, in spite of all of the changes going on with regards to the acceptance of the lgbt community, there is still a place in this country where legislators seeking public office can still use us as scapegoats. I guess to Bright it definitely beats voicing concern over genuine issues.

A good friend of mine put it best:

"Election year. Yep, time to censor books, attack gay people, and foam at the mouth."

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/04/04/3368501/usc-upstate-facing-more-cuts-over.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/04/04/3368501/usc-upstate-facing-more-cuts-over.html#storylink=cpy

'South Carolina gay community makes history' and other Friday midday news briefs

House Sub-committee hears testimony on (H.4025) The Workplace Fairness Act - Not bad! For the first time in history, the South Carolina legislature heard testimony in favor of protecting lgbts from workplace discrimination. It will NOT be the last time. 

 
Right-Wing Pundits Call Gay Rights Advocates 'Rainbowshirts,' 'Terrorists' And 'The New Nazis' - Meanwhile, anti-gay groups and spokespeople are acting the fool. For folks obsessed with how supposedly nasty sodomy is, they tend to show their collective asses a lot.  

Was the gay community right to target Mozilla’s Brendan Eich? - No doubt, you have heard of this controversy involving the former head of Mozilla. I say hell yes. Now the opposition says we didn't show tolerance. I say we showed the same tolerance they showed when they demanded that the head of World Vision be fired for the decision of hiring married gays.  

Robert Oscar Lopez is angry that GLAAD gives a spotlight to his words - Why that's awful! Poor Robert! (WE NEED A BIGGER SPOTLIGHT!)  

Pat Buchanan: God Is On Putin's Side, While "The West Is Gomorrah" - Pat Buchanan. A racist who doesn't like lgbts. THAT'S original.

Mississippi Gov signs 'religious liberty' bill, FRC shows up at signing ceremony

When I say that the anti-gay right is like a monster in one of those horror movies, I was not kidding. If lgbts defeat them in one area - in this case, Arizona - they just spring up in another.

From Talking Points Memo:

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed a bill Thursday that supporters say will assure unfettered practice of religion without government interference but that opponents worry could lead to state-sanctioned discrimination against gays and lesbians.

The bill, called the Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act, will become law July 1. It also will add "In God We Trust" to the state seal.

An early version of the bill, considered weeks ago, was similar to one Arizona's Republican governor, Jan Brewer, vetoed after business groups said it could hurt that state's economy. Supporters say the finalMississippi bill bears little resemblance to the failed Arizona measure.

Outside the state Capitol on Thursday, more than 75 gay-rights supporters protested against the bill. Jeff White of Waveland, a founder of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Lesbian and Gay Community Center, said as someone who is gay and Jewish, he worries such a new law could make him more vulnerable to unfair treatment.

"It's the first time in my life that I've actually considered moving out of Mississippi," said White, 32. "It made me physically ill the past few days, realizing what they're trying to do."

It gets worse.  Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council was present when Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed that awful bill. In fact he was invited to the signing ceremony. Thanks to Jeremy Hooper at Goodasyou.org for the awesome graphic below. It serves to remind folks just who supports this awful bill so we are not fooled as to what it's actually about: