Family Research Council's latest call to anti-gay discrimination would harm children

The Family Research Council has a special request which it sent via email:

In California, Massachusetts, Illinois, and D.C. religious adoption and foster care providers have had their government funding pulled and have been forced to end services, simply because they continue to believe in placing children with a mom and a dad.

That some states have preferred to sever longstanding partnerships with faith-based providers, making children wait longer for adoption rather than allow faith-based providers to continue caring for children, is a sad sign of the times.

This important legislation, sponsored by Congressman Mike Kelly in the House and Senator Mike Enzi in the Senate, will ensure that the interests of children are placed ahead of political correctness. Specifically, this bill will prohibit discrimination against faith-based child welfare service providers by the federal government and by states receiving federal funds for adoption and foster care services.
This bill will ensure that the maximum number of adoption and foster care providers can continue to advocate for children and will ensure that adoptive families can continue to work with a provider which shares their core beliefs.

Please contact your Representative and Senator and urge them to co-sponsor the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act of 2015.

It never ceases to amaze me what levels of which FRC will stoop to push their point of view.  The organization is slyly portraying these religious adoption and foster care providers as victims by playing down the most important part of the controversy.

FRC claims that these agencies are being denied government funds "simply because they continue to believe in placing children with a mom and a dad."

That's sleight of hand way of saying that these agencies are being denied taxpayer monies because they discriminate against same-sex couples.

According to The Slate:

 . . . two congressional Republicans introduced the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act, which they claim is an effort to shield “adoption and foster care providers” from an “anti-faith bias.” This is a charming bit of doublespeak: The act’s real purpose is to nullify state-level laws that require child welfare services to let gay couples adopt children. In some states, religious adoption agencies have closed up shop rather than allow gay couples to adopt or foster children. According to the act’s sponsors, adoption agencies that take a courageous stand against gay adoption deserve federal protection.

 . . .  The Christian right rails on and on about its pro-child policies, insisting that its opposition to gay marriage arises from a concern for children. But if you look behind the patina, you’ll see that it’s conservatives themselves—not gay people or their allies—who are actually harming children. First, the Christian right imposed a harmful stigma on the otherwise healthy children of gay couples; now they’ve now staked the claim that they would rather keep kids in foster care than let them be adopted out to loving gay parents. Conservatives’ crusade for legalized bigotry, it seems, won’t stop at demeaning gay adults. They’ve now placed children directly in their crosshairs, too. 

In other words, it's not about what's best for children. To the Family Research Council, it is about giving gays a figurative kick in the chops . . . again.

Does video back up Ben Carson's claim regarding prisons and homosexuality?

Today Ben Carson ignited a firestorm when during a CNN interview when he claimed that men in prison proves homosexuality to be a "choice."

Carson may be getting mocked intensely for this claim, but I have found video footage may justify his assertion:



For those who haven't figured it out yet, this is what one calls "sarcasm."

 Do you really think I would actually defend anything which comes out of that man's mouth.

Carson is a perfect example of a brilliant man who let conservative adulation go so much to his head that he has transformed into a jackass who constantly brays for attention.

And unfortunately for him, he doesn't recognize his braying as the sounds of a jackass. He thinks they are intelligent thoughts which are verbalized into inspiring words.

Pretty soon, someone is going to have a call another neurosurgeon to fix whatever is in HIS head.

'Ben Carson facing deserved HEAT after insane comment about prison & homosexuality' & other Wednesday midday news briefs

Ben Carson: Being Gay Is 'Absolutely' A Choice, Because Prison (Video) - Due his absolutely INANE statement that prison proves that the lgbt orientation is a choice, I hereby dub Ben Carson as the 'Anti-Matter Obama." 

'Insane': What Experts Say About Dr. Ben Carson's Claim That Prison Turns Men Gay - And apparently I am not alone. I am going to love to read the religious right defend THIS mess.  

LGBT, Mormon groups in Utah to announce compromise anti-discrimination measure - I'll believe it when I see it.

 What You Need to Know About Anti-Trans Bathroom Bills - Laying the smack down on the war against the transgender community.  

Alabama Supreme Court Halts Same-Sex Marriage Without Clear Authority To Do So - In case you haven't heard about this monstrous ruling . . . ugh!

Why does the Family Research Council use bad & cherry-picked science to 'defend marriage?'

Tony Perkins, FRC has no problem using bad info to 'defend marriage'

Editor's note - I wrote this piece a while back on a badly done study, Ten Arguments from Social Science Against Same Sex Marriage on the Family Research Council's webpage. Seeing that the study remains on the group's webpage and is presently "trending," I thought it would be apropo to repost something on it. The purpose is to point out the sleight of hand in which the organization continues to get away with:

Ten Arguments From Social Science Against Same Sex Marriage  supposedly speaks against gay marriage. However, like so many other studies and pieces put out by FRC, there is a number of misdirections.

In the piece, Family Research Council is basing the argument against marriage equality on the claim that "children need both a mother and a father."

FRC makes the claim that lesbians household "raising children without a father" is wrong because according to them:

Among other things, we know that fathers excel in reducing antisocial behavior and delinquency in boys and sexual activity in girls.

And gay households "raising children without a mother" is wrong because:

fathers exercise a unique social and biological influence on their children. For instance, a recent study of father absence on girls found that girls who grew up apart from their biological father were much more likely to experience early puberty and a teen pregnancy than girls who spent their entire childhood in an intact family.

However, very little (if any at all) of the literature/studies FRC cites to make these conclusions have anything to do with same-sex households.

VIDEO: An storm of homophobic ignorance hit Charlotte City Council last night. Here is what we do about it

 Raw Story taped some of the most interesting testimonies from last night's meeting of the Charlotte City Council where the non-discrimination ordinance failed to pass. After viewing it (or if you don't want to, I understand), pan down because I have a serious question:



Now here is the question. This morning, I posted a graphic by Media Matters which refuted the lie about transgender women being restroom and changing room predators. The graphic included comments by officials in several cities which have transgender-inclusive non-discrimination ordinances and all of these folks have said that the meme about "transgender predators" is a lie and there have been no problems in their areas.

If you read this morning's post, did you copy and save the graphic? Did you send it out to friends, family, and folks who you felt needed to know this information? I would sincerely hope that at the very least, you didn't blow it off, assuming that knowledge like that is useless because too many people are willing to believe the stereotype.

Some folks did and I've been a little depressed all day because of it.

 There is no use in fighting for equality if you assume that everyone will believe lies or push you aside.

'Anti-gay activist harass transgender teen for simply using restroom' & other Tuesday midday news briefs

Conservative Activist L.Brent Bozell Predicts That Priests Will Be Arrested for Opposing Gay Marriage - Didn't these folks say the same thing about lgbt-inclusive hate crimes legislation, i.e. that pastors would be arrested in the pulpit for declaring homosexuality to be a sin? And just how many times did THAT happen? 

 Charlotte Kills Pro-LGBT Ordinance Because Bathrooms - Because of the lie that transgender men and women are predators who will attack women and children in bathrooms. As the next news brief proves, predators don't need any laws to do what they do. 

Anti-LGBT activists confront transgender teenager at Charlotte government center bathrooms - All I can say that if I was there . . . never mind. This junk just makes me so upset. It's one thing to attack the family but when that member is a child, I tend to see red BIG TIME.
  
Barber: Gay Marriage Will Be 'The Sledgehammer Used To Crush The Church' - One of these days, I am going to sit down and catalog ALL of the bad predictions anti-gay groups and their people made about the passage of pro-lgbt laws. And y'all KNOW that I will do it. I guess there is one good thing coming from this. It used to be that anti-gay spokespeople would say "exactly" why "homosexuality is harmful." I notice they don't do that anymore. Can it be that we have spooked them with our efforts to call out their specific lies? I like to think so.  

Popular Psychology Magazine Refuses To Ban 'Ex-Gay' Therapy Ads - I guess it will be running lobotomy ads next. 

 Without fanfare, Nebraska lifts ban on gay people being foster parents - Let's end today's news briefs with some good news because EVERY child has a RIGHT to a decent home which will provide them with love and support.

Let's address these anti-transgender bathroom myths head on

Last night, the city of Charlotte, NC failed to pass a non-discrimination ordinance. Unfortunately, had the ordinance passed, it would included exemptions for bathrooms and changing rooms, thereby sending a supremely negative message to our transgender brothers and sisters.

Rather than ruminate over how SOME folks (particularly anti-gay activist Flip Benham) choose to wear a cape and a giant "F" on their chests (I say for "fools" but you can feel free to pick out another word beginning with the letter "f"),  I think it would be better to use this morning's post to push some intense education on this nonsense about the transgender community and bathrooms.

Transgender-inclusive non-discrimination ordinances will NOT lead to predators coming into women's restrooms and bathrooms. In fact, that has never been a problem with other areas which do have transgender-inclusive non-discrimination ordinances.

But you do not have to take my word for it. The following graphic is courtesy of Media Matters:

What happened in Charlotte, unfortunately, has happened before and in other times and other groups of people.

Anita Bryant perpetuated the myth for political purposes that gay men want to "recruit" children. That lie continues to haunt the lgbt community

Racists opposed integration because they said it would lead to black men raping white women

Even now, some folks oppose immigration, claiming that immigrants bring diseases, crime, and in return take jobs away from native-born Americans.

It's sad when some folks appeal to unproven fears to get their points across. And when these folks commit these awful acts in the name of  God, it's even worse.

Related post:

15 Experts Debunk Right-Wing Transgender Bathroom Myth