I am totally speechless

First of all, my prayers go out to all of those who got caught up in that madness at Virginia Tech. It's hideous that someone with problems chooses to take out his frustrations on innocent people rather than be man enough to handle his business.

When nothing else can be said, all one can do is pray.

Deep breath

Tomorrow is the National Day of Silence and I am sure that the anti-gay industry will be working to distort this crucial day.

Today, however, some seemed to have gone overboard with their hysteria. Hence this lovely piece of madness to my upper left.

A while back when anti-gay industry pundit Guy Adams (remember him) actually accused gays of having sex with infants, it was the first time that the antics of that bunch left me totally shocked and speechless. Up until that time, I thought I had seen it all. When the brouhaha Adams was taking place, I thought his comment was the ultimate of all audacity of these so-called Christians.

Leave it to Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition to prove me wrong.

Lou, like all members of the anti-gay industry, are scared that lgbts will be added to national hate crimes legislation. To combat this, they have created a huge media campaign tells lies about hate crimes legislation.

According to them, if lgbts are added, then Christians will be jailed for speaking out against homosexuals. So some enterprising member of the Traditional Values Coalition emphasized that point by claiming that Jesus and his disciples would have been penalized because of hate crimes protection.

The point of course is a lie and it proves that the anti-gay industry has lost its damned mind.

Desperation can bring out the best in some folks. Luckily for us, it also brings out the worst.

I have noticed that the anti-gay industry has tried to give the hate crimes law a banner name so that they can rally the troops behind it. I have heard several different names, including:

The Drag Queen Bill, The Hate Free Speech Bill, and (my favorite), the Jail Grandma Bill.

That last one was thought of by Janet Folger whose group (Faith2Action) seems to be intent on exploiting the Repent America situation to claim that adding lgbts to hate crimes legislation will lead to the jailing of Christians for merely speaking out against homosexuality.

Helping Folger are two members of Repent America who happen to be grandmothers. These women are filming commercials in which they claim that they were arrested for merely "sharing Gospel of Jesus Christ."

What they don't tell you is that apparently their defintion of "sharing the Gospel" included trying to openly and verbally disrupt a gay pride festival:

Repent America doesn’t mention that a federal court later found that the women “insulted individual attendees, blocked access to vendors, and disobeyed direct orders from the police, who were trying to preserve order and keep the peace.” The police arrested the protesters only after “their presence disrupted public order.” Unlike the organizers of OutFest, Repent America leaders failed to obtain a permit from the city. The city and the police gave the women great leeway, but they still overstepped the bounds of peaceful protest.

For the true story that Folger and her group won't tell you about Repent America, go here.

In addition, to get the true story on hate crimes legislation, go here.

I would laugh about how desperate the anti-gay industry is getting regarding hate crimes legislation. They aren't even trying to hide their lies. They are going full tilt in the public arena with distortions so bad that when attention is focused on hate crimes legislation, they will be discovered and hopefully embarrassed at the depths they have stooped to.

But I can't laugh at them. I firmly believe that somewhere in that vast empire of lies is someone who knows that they are peddling lies. I firmly believe that though that person feels sick in the pit of his or her stomach over what is going on.

I would like to think that it is Janet Folger. She is so out in the open with her distortions that something in the back of her mind has to be asking her what in the hell is she doing.

Or it could be one of the grandmothers featured in Folger's commercials. In their heart, they know that their arrest was not the result of the so-called gay agenda but their actions. How do they feel about lying in order to "further the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

I don' think that it is Lou Sheldon. That man is so far gone that the angel from "It's A Wonderful Life" can't rescue his integrity or soul.

But I think someone in that camp has to be disturbed with how these so-called Christians are behaving. I just he or she would step out.

Pollen and Don Imus (you just knew it was coming)

I hate this weather. The wind is aggravating my allergies, so subsequently, I am stuck in bed in a really bad mood.

But two things I want to talk about:

When the anti-gay industry is fully exposed, it will be not be because of one person. It will be due to the efforts of a myriad of people and blogs who are continuously working to expose their lies and tactics.

Some of us may be considered major players, some may be considered minor players, and many of us will be considered as bench warmers. But all of us are important. Please let's not wrap ourselves in embracing "prominence" that we forget the hard workers on the grassroots level.

Enough said about that.

The Don Imus situation has been all over the place and as always, many truths are being left out.

There seems to be the drumbeat of columnists and commentators who are attacking the black community for our supposed double standard regarding racial remarks. Leading this drumbeat is columnist Cal Thomas.

Thomas, who has to "answer for Santino" for his helping to spread anti-gay propaganda in the early 90s (I haven't forgotten it, Thomas) is echoing many who claim that we black people give racial slurs a pass when some of us are saying them.

But this is not necessarily true.

As it is, Jesse Jackson has criticized how many of us use slurs to refer to ourselves. Al Sharpton has also. So has Minister Louis Farrakhan and other black leaders. I have. Many in my community, including politicians and pastors have.

The thing is that you don't hear about it because the powers that be don't warrant it as important. Sure, when Bill Cosby took some of us to task for low expectations, that got a lot of play, but only to pit Cosby against other black leaders.

The only reason the Don Imus situation has gotten any attention at all is because Imus is a white man who got caught with his foot in his mouth. And look at all of the folks rushing to defend him.

Please notice that on almost every show talking about Imus, there are no black commentators already employed. Where are the ones on Fox News other than Juan Williams. We all know how much power he has as opposed to a panel of white folks. And where is the black commentator on MSNBC or the other programs?

For that matter, just how many issues indigenous to solely the black community get discussed on these programs?

If this was the case, then folks would know that racial slurs used in the black community is not a case of a double standard, but one that has been grounds for a wide discussion. Many black people have spoken out against it. You don't hear about it because the powers that be don't think of it as important enough. And when it does get air time, who do they choose to speak for our community? Someone like Larry Elder.

And to put it nicely, Larry Elder is the type of black man who would criticize events like Black History Month but turn around and give other events like St. Patrick's Day a free pass.

Let's face facts. Brit Hume, Michelle Malkin, Bill O'Reilly, and the rest of the moneyed media don't care about black people. They don't care about issues that affect us. They have taken this Don Imus situation and created an argument about a "double standard" that is not only false but dangerously simplistic when it comes to understanding the concerns and complexities of the black community.

They merely dipped their toes in the water then expect everyone to think of them as an expert.

The Don Imus controversy is yet another example of a lazy, biased media. And it makes me fear for this country when our news gatherers get paid so much for doing so little.

The religious right uses Paul Cameron's work? No kidding!

I got my second batch of corrections today! I get to look at it one more time before sending it in. Slowly but surely, my book is becoming a reality.

But on the national scene:

It seems that our pal Paul Cameron's past is finally catching up with him.

From Pam Spaulding comes this item:

John Aravosis over at Americablog has an excellent post documenting some of our favorite organizations' alliance and support of junk scientist Paul Cameron.

The American Family Association, Family Research Council, Traditional Values Coalition and Concerned Women for America have been proponents of Cameron's work because it "validates" their anti-gay agenda. The tactic is simple -- cite the false and misleading "science" often enough, both in print and on the air, and if they make it sound credible, no one will question it. The Southern Poverty Law Center has named Cameron's Colorado Springs-based Family Research Institute as an active hate group.

Pam and John are two excellent bloggers, probably considered two of the top progressive bloggers in the country. Therefore, the fact that they are mentioning Cameron is, to me, a big deal.

It indicates that there seems to be a small groundswell concentrated on Cameron's data.

What the hell took everyone so long?

I'm sorry but I don't go for this patting each other on the back for the ability to nail Cameron on his lies. There should be no congratulations for a group of people who are finally getting down to doing what they should have been accomplishing in the first place.

Furthermore, I got news for everyone before they lose themselves in euphoria over exposing Cameron.

You all are only half done.

Cameron's data just barely scratches the surface when it comes to anti-gay industry lies. When they don't cite Cameron, they either copy his bad methodology or distort legitimate studies to quantify his theories.

So let's not celebrate right away. The war isn't over yet.

Hot adoption mess in Georgia

With all else going on, let's not forget how the anti-gay industry tries to hinder us from starting families and protecting our families.

I ran across this situation in Georgia and if it is true, we need to raise some holy hell:

Georgia judge halts lesbian adoptionWilkinson County jurist orders child taken from home, put in foster care

Days away from her seventh birthday, a little girl named Emma Rose is currently trapped in Georgia’s foster care system, unable to reunite with the woman who has been her mother for almost a year — all because the mother is a lesbian.

The prospective adoptive mother, Elizabeth Hadaway, was also sentenced to 10 days in jail earlier this month by a Wilkinson County Superior Court judge who refused to grant the adoption in part because “the child will have a long-term exposure to the homosexual parent’s lifestyle.”

Check out this link for more on this article.

It's relatively easy for the anti-gay industry to make our lives a living hell if they are helped by those who are supposed to protect our interests.

Kudos and boy do I miss Robert Knight!!!

Nothing too much to report today.

That situation about my corrections has been taken care of. The check is in the mail and by the end of this week, I should have the new galleys to my book. Then I can decide what to send out as an excerpt.

But extreme kudos to Jim Burroway of Box Turtle Bulletin, my online buddy at Kevin's Space and others who wrote the Eastern Psychological Association for answers about Paul Cameron and his claim to have presented a paper at their convention. It was this alleged paper from which Cameron was sending out a new batch of lies on the lgbt community.

The following is what I think is the most important portion of the response:

The submission by Dr. Cameron indicated that there was a possibility that the prevalence of homosexuals in the population had been overestimated by previous techniques. Data were presented, reportedly using a broader defined sample than that used by government agencies, which indicated that the prevalence of homosexuality in the population was smaller than had been previously suggested. The submission by Dr. Cameron was for a poster presentation, and it was accepted as a poster, not as a paper or address. Whatever the Camerons ultimately presented, occurred in an hour-long “poster session” among approximately 70 posters.

There was nothing in the materials submitted by the author for review by EPA that indicated that the work could, or would, be informative with respect to the longevity of homosexuals.

To read the entire letter, go here.

On that note, I bet the Concerned Women for America misses its former guru of all things anti-gay, Robert Knight.

Apparently under the auspices of the new ring general of anti-gaydom, Matt Barber, the group seems to have made a faux pas.

In attempt to criticize hate crimes legislation, the group actually made the case for it. Go here to see what I am talking about.

Thanks Matt! Keep up the good work!

Let’s not forget about the imps

Paul Cameron has yet another study out. This time, he claims that there has been a conspiracy to suppress studies that puts the gay community in an bad light.

But let’s move past him for a second. We need to keep focus on just how dangerous Cameron’s lies actually are.

No matter how many times he has been debunked, Cameron has an audience willing to believe his lies and pass them along. And those in that camp are also willing to repeat Cameron’s lies in front of school boards and legislative bodies.

Some of these folks are absolutely deluded; convinced that the only reason why Cameron has been rebuked is because his data is correct and the so-called Gay Mafia will do anything to suppress it They believe this despite the fact that there has been and continues to be a mountain of evidence against Cameron.

And then there are others who are very aware of Cameron’s history and the lack of credibility his data contains.

But they use it anyway because of a Machiavellian mindset. They seem to think that in the long run, defaming homosexuality and lgbts by use of bad studies (i.e. lies) are not necessarily a bad thing because the lies are being done for a good or Christian purpose.

A part of me feels sorry for those with the former notion. Those who have the latter notion (and there are many) are the ones we should focus our efforts on.

Indeed Paul Cameron had a belief that homosexuality is sick in a physical and mental sense even before he began defaming the community. For this reason, he manipulated and distorted legitimate data and statistics to quantify this theory.

While those in the anti-gay industry present a danger when they cite his work, they present more of a danger when they have the mindsets that led Cameron to do what he did to our community.

This leads them to find other works to distort.

My book covers many of these examples, so let me give out a few. I have not linked these examples to a site because

A. I have to give you some degree of curiousity so that you will buy my book and

B. Many of these examples are things that I personally researched and discovered.

But trust me when I say that these examples and more are covered with detail and proof in my book:

Gay men have a short life span due to disease and reckless living - When not citing Cameron’s studies to quanitfy this lie, the anti-gay industry will distort the findings of a 1997 Oxford study. However, they always omit the fact that in 2001, the original authors of the study said that their work was being distorted. They said the original study was speaking of a purely hypothetical outcome that is no longer applicable.

Gay men molest children at a higher rate than heterosexuals - When not citing Cameron’s studies, the anti-gay industry will repeat his theory that if a man molests a young boy, then that man is gay. Legitimate studies have all said this is not the case.

Lesbians engage in reckless behavior like drug addiction and alcoholism - When not citing Cameron’s studies, the anti-gay industry will cite convenience sample studies, or studies not indicative of the entire community. One such study was by Dr. Joanne Hall. Despite the fact that Dr. Hall’s study looked at only 35 lesbians and that she had written letters complaining about the distortion of her work, the Family Research Council and other groups still use it.

Gay men are promiscuous - When not citing Cameron’s studies, the anti-gay industry will use out-of-date books that only looks a part of the gay population. One book they cite is Homosexualities by Alan Bell and Martin Weinberg. Homosexualities looked at the gay community in San Francisco in the early 1970s. The authors even say that their book cannot be thought of to represent the entire gay community. A point of fact about Homosexualities is that it was produced by the Kinsey Institute, the organization that many in the anti-gay industry claims uses bad methodology. Apparently the Kinsey Institute can’t be so bad to them if they use its work to defame lgbts.

As I said before, I go into more detail about these examples in my book.

But my main point is that while exposing Cameron for his bad research, let’s not forget that the anti-gay industry has copied his shoddy tactics. We need to call them out on that.

Cameron shouldn’t get all the blame.

One step forward, one step back - My book slowly progresses

It’s been a crazy weekend.

For starters, my computer went to Jesus yet again. It wouldn’t have been so bad had I been able to save the information for my book ad, new press release, and questionnaire form to disk before it happened.

So to combat any further problems, I looked into getting a laptop. Unfortunately the cost of it destroyed the budget I set aside for the corrections of my book, so that left me in a serious funk.
However, with a little prayer and elbow grease, I have come to a solution to my problem. If all works out as it should, I will still be able to afford the edits to my book This process is what I get for being independent.

One good thing is that my press release has been running at several places, leading to nice articles and requests for interviews, not to mention requests to be placed on my mailing list.
While I sweated the problems this weekend, I compounded the error by watching a VH-1 marathon of some weird reality show called Flavor of Love.

The silliness of the show just underscores the sad state of hypocrisy of my African-American community when it comes to lgbt issue.

Donnie McClurkin, D.L. Foster, T.D. Jakes, and the rest of them don’t say anything about a show that portrays black men as bufoons and black women as loud, uneducated, slutty, hair-pulling, bizarre named (i.e Krazy, Bootz, Buckeey, Nibblz, Deelishis) hoochies but these same charlatans will pull open that Bible to criticize us.

And the same so-and-sos who enjoy ignorant shows like this will be the same ones who claim that "their faith" teaches that homosexuality is a sin.

Meanwhile, historically black colleges will do their best to keep us underground or invisible.

I guess Jesus had an exemption for bed-hopping, horse hair, yukk-mouth gold teeth brothers and sisters who can butt-clap and bitch slap.

Pass the Courvoisier!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously though, as many of you know, the National Day of Silence will take place next week. Our friends in the anti-gay industry will do their best to disrupt and lie about the purpose of this day. I’m guessing that our friend Peter at Americans for Truth (in name only), Linda Harvey (Mission America), and the rest have something interesting in the works.

Keep one eye open because you know they going to act like fools. Already they are claiming a huge increase in the participants of their anti-gay event, Day of Truth. My guess is that they have the "we are winning" press release already written.

Wayne Besen at www.truthwinsout.org is already on their case.

Lastly, a HUGE shoutout to an online buddy, Jim Burroway of Box Turtle Bulletin, for an excellent analysis on Paul Cameron and his latest set of lies.

I try to do my bit when it comes to exposing Cameron’s lies but Burroway goes the extra mile, giving sufficient detail as to how Cameron deceives and exploits people of faith. His latest piece, Paul Cameron’s Footprint" is yet another triumph.

Just one thing, Jim. Save some for the rest of us.

And speaking of Paul Cameron, I would like to point out something very positive about us as a blogging community. Since he came out with the new batch of nonsense about the supposed gay life span, Cameron’s lack of credibility has been spotlighted not just by bloggers on their own sites but on the sites where his lies are usually repeated and believed as truth.

Bloggers posted responses on so-called pro-family and "Christian" web pages detailing the paper trail behind Cameron’s nonsense. We were adroit, to the point, and not begging for "tolerance." We all said "Cameron is lying about us and here is the proof. Deal with it."

We should do that more often.