Thursday news briefs
I know everyone is chomping at the bit regarding the Proposition 8 court hearing today, but I thought I would provide a little bit of other news . . .
Where Did You Get Them? - First comes love, then comes marriage (despite the religious right), then comes somebody in a baby carriage.
Christian Pro-Family Organizations Labeled "Hate Groups" - The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission (it's always amusing to me how the folks on the other side give themselves these "titles") are urging folks to sign a petition against the Southern Poverty Law Center for naming various anti-gay groups as official hate groups. Interestingly enough, while the C.A.D.C. are outraged about these groups being labeled, they never get around to giving out their names. And I don't think that was a typo. If you want to see the groups, go here.
If the C.A.D.C. considers Paul Cameron's group (the Family Research Institute) and Mass Resistance as "pro-family" organizations then they have a very screwed-up concept of the word "pro-family."
Hat tip to Rightwing Watch .
Rush Limbaugh’s Top Anti-Gay Quotes - Everyone is beating up on Rush and I wanna get my shots in. Seriously this is from a new addition to my links and blogroll - The New Civil Rights Movement.
IL school hosts homosexual dance - Apparently according to phony gay expert Laurie Higgins, holding a school dance for gay youth and their allies is a political act. I wonder how she feels about humming a Judy Garland song? This article is interesting in that in the comment section, a lot of responders give Higgins hell. I couldn't believe it when I saw it.
Hat tip to Openly Gay.
And now for something completely different . . .
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: And the Desert Shall Blossom - This is a long link so watch it at your leisure. When I told a friend about this, he said that maybe I see a gay connection in things that do not have them.
But bear with me when I explain the premise - two old prospectors who live out in the middle of nowhere are in danger of being forced into a retirement home by the town council unless they can prove that they are self-sufficient. Now you may disagree but I still say that despite the fact that this episode took place in the 1950s, one can infer that the two men are in a relationship.
Look at the episode and see for yourself.
Don't worry - it has a happy ending.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
HRC gets in the game of exposing the religious right
For years, myself and other bloggers have been doing what we can to expose the lies of the religious right.
Now the Human Rights Campaign is going full tilt in the game:
On the day the California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the NCLR/ACLU lawsuits to overturn Prop 8, HRC will launch EndTheLies.org, a new website to call out the lies spread by right wingers to stop the LGBT movement’s push for equality.
As we gear up to fight for passage of our legislative agenda in Congress, EndTheLies.org will feature an “interactive wall” of anti-LGBT crusaders (i.e. the AFA, Sally Kern, and George W. Bush) and will provide ways for visitors to take action against their efforts. Users will also be able to nominate their own candidates for the wall.
Here’s two examples of how EndTheLies.org will combat some of the favorite fibs by the right wing:
Lie: If hate crimes laws are passed, pastors will be prosecuted for preaching what the Bible says about homosexuality.
Truth: Pastors will not be held liable for hate crimes based on preaching anti-gay sermons. The First Amendment protects a preacher from being charged as an accessory to a hate crime simply because of their speech. The Matthew Shepard Act only punishes violent crimes, not a person’s speech, beliefs or thoughts. In fact, the legislation contains language specifically protecting free speech.
Lie: Legislation that will provide employment protection based on sexual orientation or gender identity will force churches to hire homosexuals.
Truth: Federal employment non-discrimination legislation is sensitive to religious organizations and their fundamental beliefs and tenets, and includes a broad exemption for these groups, including churches, religious schools and other faith entities.
For too long, anti-LGBT right wingers have won battles against our community by telling lies about our lives and families – and then excite fear and hysteria all the way to victory. It’s past time for us to aggressively go head-to-head with their tactics – and to call them out for their hypocrisy.
It's good that HRC is taking a role in breaking down the intentional inaccuracies that are geared to poison the minds of people of faith and Americans in general against the lgbt community.
While some may ask what took so long, I say that it's about time. I also say that before we get all judgmental, the lgbt community should give the site time to grow and focus.
And above all, we should give HRC's effort all of our utmost support.
For years, myself and other bloggers have been doing what we can to expose the lies of the religious right.
Now the Human Rights Campaign is going full tilt in the game:
On the day the California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the NCLR/ACLU lawsuits to overturn Prop 8, HRC will launch EndTheLies.org, a new website to call out the lies spread by right wingers to stop the LGBT movement’s push for equality.
As we gear up to fight for passage of our legislative agenda in Congress, EndTheLies.org will feature an “interactive wall” of anti-LGBT crusaders (i.e. the AFA, Sally Kern, and George W. Bush) and will provide ways for visitors to take action against their efforts. Users will also be able to nominate their own candidates for the wall.
Here’s two examples of how EndTheLies.org will combat some of the favorite fibs by the right wing:
Lie: If hate crimes laws are passed, pastors will be prosecuted for preaching what the Bible says about homosexuality.
Truth: Pastors will not be held liable for hate crimes based on preaching anti-gay sermons. The First Amendment protects a preacher from being charged as an accessory to a hate crime simply because of their speech. The Matthew Shepard Act only punishes violent crimes, not a person’s speech, beliefs or thoughts. In fact, the legislation contains language specifically protecting free speech.
Lie: Legislation that will provide employment protection based on sexual orientation or gender identity will force churches to hire homosexuals.
Truth: Federal employment non-discrimination legislation is sensitive to religious organizations and their fundamental beliefs and tenets, and includes a broad exemption for these groups, including churches, religious schools and other faith entities.
For too long, anti-LGBT right wingers have won battles against our community by telling lies about our lives and families – and then excite fear and hysteria all the way to victory. It’s past time for us to aggressively go head-to-head with their tactics – and to call them out for their hypocrisy.
It's good that HRC is taking a role in breaking down the intentional inaccuracies that are geared to poison the minds of people of faith and Americans in general against the lgbt community.
While some may ask what took so long, I say that it's about time. I also say that before we get all judgmental, the lgbt community should give the site time to grow and focus.
And above all, we should give HRC's effort all of our utmost support.
Proposition 8 plea to my lgbt brothers and sisters - show a little forethought and restraint
Today, California courts will be hearing a challenge to Proposition 8 - the law the banned gay marriage in California.
Since that monstrosity passed in November, the lgbt communty has tossed and struggled with why it passed, what it means for our community, and how do we go on.
So today will be interesting.
But I have a plea to my lgbt brothers and sisters.
If the courts give us what we want, please show some forethought. The other side will be galvanized in huge number, like they were when the sodomy laws were stricken. While there may be a need to celebrate, we should remember that a victory is not the end of the entire thing, but another avenue that could take us down a bad road if we don't have the presence of mind to control the argument.
But what if the courts don't give us what we want. That concerns me more.
Last year when Proposition 8 passed, some of us got so angry that we forgot ourselves. We allowed our private prejudices and inner demons to come out and control our actions.
And we allowed ourselves to be played.
One thing I hated last year was how the gay community was unfairly cast as overly violent racist aggressors who wrote nasty threatening things on blogs, sent threatening letters to Mormons and beat up old women.
But we helped further that image by playing into the hands of the opposition. We gave them plenty of ammunition as they scoured blogs looking for negative reactions to the vote and looked at video protests seeking to twist the smallest thing into evidence of a gay insurrection.
Yes I know that we get angry over the lies of the religious right, but there is no excuse for being so angry that you allow yourself to become a pawn in your own dehumanization.
So let me advise this - despite what happens today (regardless of what the prognosticators say the court will rule before its 90 day window), remember that this is not over. And the actions that you may choose to take will always have either positive or negative repercussions.
If you feel yourself getting angry over the lies and such, channel that anger into something more productive than writing an ugly note on a blog. Volunteer for a local political or service group. Organize your friends together.
And above all, get educated. That's the one thing we don't do enough as a community.
The struggle for self-determination isn't supposed to be easy, but there is no excuse for making it more difficult.
Today, California courts will be hearing a challenge to Proposition 8 - the law the banned gay marriage in California.
Since that monstrosity passed in November, the lgbt communty has tossed and struggled with why it passed, what it means for our community, and how do we go on.
So today will be interesting.
But I have a plea to my lgbt brothers and sisters.
If the courts give us what we want, please show some forethought. The other side will be galvanized in huge number, like they were when the sodomy laws were stricken. While there may be a need to celebrate, we should remember that a victory is not the end of the entire thing, but another avenue that could take us down a bad road if we don't have the presence of mind to control the argument.
But what if the courts don't give us what we want. That concerns me more.
Last year when Proposition 8 passed, some of us got so angry that we forgot ourselves. We allowed our private prejudices and inner demons to come out and control our actions.
And we allowed ourselves to be played.
One thing I hated last year was how the gay community was unfairly cast as overly violent racist aggressors who wrote nasty threatening things on blogs, sent threatening letters to Mormons and beat up old women.
But we helped further that image by playing into the hands of the opposition. We gave them plenty of ammunition as they scoured blogs looking for negative reactions to the vote and looked at video protests seeking to twist the smallest thing into evidence of a gay insurrection.
Yes I know that we get angry over the lies of the religious right, but there is no excuse for being so angry that you allow yourself to become a pawn in your own dehumanization.
So let me advise this - despite what happens today (regardless of what the prognosticators say the court will rule before its 90 day window), remember that this is not over. And the actions that you may choose to take will always have either positive or negative repercussions.
If you feel yourself getting angry over the lies and such, channel that anger into something more productive than writing an ugly note on a blog. Volunteer for a local political or service group. Organize your friends together.
And above all, get educated. That's the one thing we don't do enough as a community.
The struggle for self-determination isn't supposed to be easy, but there is no excuse for making it more difficult.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Congratulations Mass Resistance - you hateful folks deserve your honor
For the second consecutive year, the Southern Povery Law Center has designated Massachusetts anti-gay group Mass Resistance as a hate group.
It couldn't have happened to a better bunch.
From the Southern Poverty Law Center:
Anti-gay groups are organizations that go beyond mere disagreement with homosexuality by subjecting gays and lesbians to campaigns of personal vilification.
Mass Resistance is in good company. Apparently Paul Cameron's group, the Family Research Institute, is included in SPLC's listing of anti-gay hate groups.
Now if you think that Mass Resistance gave a speech about their designation thanking the usual - God, their parents, and their supporters - think again.
In a way true to the form that led them to receive such designation, Mass Resistance claims that SPLC's honor is part of "the plan" put forth by the gay community in the book After the Ball:
It's a common theme of the left, going back to the Saul Alinsky tactics in the 1930s, to demonize your enemies if they become effective. This was adopted by the homosexual movement. In their classic manifesto After the Ball, Marshall Kirk & Hunter Masden advised activists to compare people with traditional values to the Ku Klux Klan (which lynched blacks).
That annoying and inaccurate claim has been popping up steadily this year.
In truth, Mass Resistance has done more than enough to deserve the designation given to them by SPLC, including the following:
At a recent MassResistance Banquet, the guest speaker was Scott Lively, the author of the book The Pink Swastika which alleges that gay men were not particularly persecuted under the German Nazi regime, and that homosexual men were especially prevalent in the ranks of German Nazism, and were in large part, the motivators of the Jewish Holocaust.
In an interview with the Daily Show, Camenker said that if he was given enough time he could "connect the dots" to same sex marriage in Massachusetts for the rise in homelessness and crime rates and the poor air quality.
MassResistance protested a Macys store in Boston because they believed Macys was dressing transgendered mannequins in their windows. MassResistance went so far as to roam the Macys and photograph what they considered "normal" mannequins and then compared the photos on their website.
On the MassResistance blog, the group stated that children learn about sex from hearing noises outside of their parents locked door: "And sometimes the bedroom door is locked and he hears noises. This is a child's normal introduction to sex. It is simply put before him in the context of normal, healthy family activities."
Even former Governor Romney, who is not an ally of the Marriage Equality movement issued a press release exposing Brian Camenker and this group MassResistance.
And let's not forget its lead role in the David Parker debacle.
Hat tip to Mass Resistance Watch for providing this list.
For the second consecutive year, the Southern Povery Law Center has designated Massachusetts anti-gay group Mass Resistance as a hate group.
It couldn't have happened to a better bunch.
From the Southern Poverty Law Center:
Anti-gay groups are organizations that go beyond mere disagreement with homosexuality by subjecting gays and lesbians to campaigns of personal vilification.
Mass Resistance is in good company. Apparently Paul Cameron's group, the Family Research Institute, is included in SPLC's listing of anti-gay hate groups.
Now if you think that Mass Resistance gave a speech about their designation thanking the usual - God, their parents, and their supporters - think again.
In a way true to the form that led them to receive such designation, Mass Resistance claims that SPLC's honor is part of "the plan" put forth by the gay community in the book After the Ball:
It's a common theme of the left, going back to the Saul Alinsky tactics in the 1930s, to demonize your enemies if they become effective. This was adopted by the homosexual movement. In their classic manifesto After the Ball, Marshall Kirk & Hunter Masden advised activists to compare people with traditional values to the Ku Klux Klan (which lynched blacks).
That annoying and inaccurate claim has been popping up steadily this year.
In truth, Mass Resistance has done more than enough to deserve the designation given to them by SPLC, including the following:
At a recent MassResistance Banquet, the guest speaker was Scott Lively, the author of the book The Pink Swastika which alleges that gay men were not particularly persecuted under the German Nazi regime, and that homosexual men were especially prevalent in the ranks of German Nazism, and were in large part, the motivators of the Jewish Holocaust.
In an interview with the Daily Show, Camenker said that if he was given enough time he could "connect the dots" to same sex marriage in Massachusetts for the rise in homelessness and crime rates and the poor air quality.
MassResistance protested a Macys store in Boston because they believed Macys was dressing transgendered mannequins in their windows. MassResistance went so far as to roam the Macys and photograph what they considered "normal" mannequins and then compared the photos on their website.
On the MassResistance blog, the group stated that children learn about sex from hearing noises outside of their parents locked door: "And sometimes the bedroom door is locked and he hears noises. This is a child's normal introduction to sex. It is simply put before him in the context of normal, healthy family activities."
Even former Governor Romney, who is not an ally of the Marriage Equality movement issued a press release exposing Brian Camenker and this group MassResistance.
And let's not forget its lead role in the David Parker debacle.
Hat tip to Mass Resistance Watch for providing this list.
Dumb comment courtesy of One News Now
I try to talk about only religious right organizations and how they deceive people of faith with their lies.
But sometimes I see something that makes me think that some of these folks want to walk down the primrose path of deception.
A comment arising from a One News Now article, Christians in medical field face 'conscience' challenge, is a perfect example of this.
The article is a slanted view of President Obama's decision to rescind a sloppy overreaching regulation regarding physicians' personal beliefs when treating their patients. Supporters of the regulation claim that it's to prevent doctors from being forced to perform abortions if they are personally opposed to abortions.
The regulation is sloppy because it is too broad, dealing with more than abortion and dealing with more than physicians. It even covers people cleaning medical equipment.
Naturally One News Now provides slanted coverage and naturally many of its commentators are angry at President Obama's decision.
But one comment in particular caught my eye. The person was responding to another comment asking what would be done if your doctor was a Jehovah's Witness and refused to give a blood tranfusion. This is the response:
If I needed a blood transfusion and went to a doctor who was a Jehovah's Witness, I wouldn't ask him to change his beliefs...I would simply choose a different doctor. That's the beauty of living in a free society. You have the right to choose, AND you have freedom from tyranny. Forcing someone to do something against their will is the epitome of tyranny.
My question is if you are in the position to need a blood tranfusion, how can you "choose" a different doctor?
I try to talk about only religious right organizations and how they deceive people of faith with their lies.
But sometimes I see something that makes me think that some of these folks want to walk down the primrose path of deception.
A comment arising from a One News Now article, Christians in medical field face 'conscience' challenge, is a perfect example of this.
The article is a slanted view of President Obama's decision to rescind a sloppy overreaching regulation regarding physicians' personal beliefs when treating their patients. Supporters of the regulation claim that it's to prevent doctors from being forced to perform abortions if they are personally opposed to abortions.
The regulation is sloppy because it is too broad, dealing with more than abortion and dealing with more than physicians. It even covers people cleaning medical equipment.
Naturally One News Now provides slanted coverage and naturally many of its commentators are angry at President Obama's decision.
But one comment in particular caught my eye. The person was responding to another comment asking what would be done if your doctor was a Jehovah's Witness and refused to give a blood tranfusion. This is the response:
If I needed a blood transfusion and went to a doctor who was a Jehovah's Witness, I wouldn't ask him to change his beliefs...I would simply choose a different doctor. That's the beauty of living in a free society. You have the right to choose, AND you have freedom from tyranny. Forcing someone to do something against their will is the epitome of tyranny.
My question is if you are in the position to need a blood tranfusion, how can you "choose" a different doctor?
Come on, Peter. You know you miss Paul Cameron
Yesterday, I showed a comment that our friend Peter LaBarbera made about focusing on the supposed unhealthy aspect of being gay:
"I think they (young conservatives) feel that they have to do something for these gay unions. We have to bring it back to the behavior, the unhealthiness of the behavior, but also the entire gay agenda . . . " - Young conservatives misled on homosexual issue
Today in a humorously bad piece, MSM=Disease, he follows the same vein.
What makes the piece so bad is how he dances around the issue. He waxes about bathhouses and "queer ideology," and makes a veiled comment about the "extraordinary health risks of homosexual behavior" (without saying what these extraordinary health risks are. And here I was hoping he would dare to cite 'gay bowel syndrome.')
He also unleashes this howler:
This colossal public health disaster is the direct result of GLBT organizing and political clout which, ironically, helps perpetuate the suffering of homosexual men. If the public health powers that be could somehow manage to cut through the politically correct cow manure, they might ask themselves why this link between homo-sexual behavior (or, as Prof. Rob Gagnon calls it, homosex) and disease is being downplayed or ignored while other similarly obvious connections (e.g., smoking and lung disease) are dealt with forthrightly, resulting in no-nonsense prevention methods that discourage or ban unhealthy conduct (e.g., public media campaigns against smoking and laws banning smoking).
Sorry, but there is nothing backing up LaBarbera's inferrence that being gay directly leads to disease (as in the case of smoking and lung disease) Nor is his claim that organizing and growing political clout leads to disease in the gay community correct.
What LaBarbera will not tell you is that there are many studies which say homophobia leads to negative behaviors in gays, particularly our youth. And these negative behaviors can lead to diseases.
If anything, political organizing has led the way in stopping homophobia and negative behavior in gays, particularly our youth, thereby putting a damper on diseases.
But it's just like Peter to try and turn the truth on its head.
I bet he really misses the ability to cite Paul Cameron now.
Yesterday, I showed a comment that our friend Peter LaBarbera made about focusing on the supposed unhealthy aspect of being gay:
"I think they (young conservatives) feel that they have to do something for these gay unions. We have to bring it back to the behavior, the unhealthiness of the behavior, but also the entire gay agenda . . . " - Young conservatives misled on homosexual issue
Today in a humorously bad piece, MSM=Disease, he follows the same vein.
What makes the piece so bad is how he dances around the issue. He waxes about bathhouses and "queer ideology," and makes a veiled comment about the "extraordinary health risks of homosexual behavior" (without saying what these extraordinary health risks are. And here I was hoping he would dare to cite 'gay bowel syndrome.')
He also unleashes this howler:
This colossal public health disaster is the direct result of GLBT organizing and political clout which, ironically, helps perpetuate the suffering of homosexual men. If the public health powers that be could somehow manage to cut through the politically correct cow manure, they might ask themselves why this link between homo-sexual behavior (or, as Prof. Rob Gagnon calls it, homosex) and disease is being downplayed or ignored while other similarly obvious connections (e.g., smoking and lung disease) are dealt with forthrightly, resulting in no-nonsense prevention methods that discourage or ban unhealthy conduct (e.g., public media campaigns against smoking and laws banning smoking).
Sorry, but there is nothing backing up LaBarbera's inferrence that being gay directly leads to disease (as in the case of smoking and lung disease) Nor is his claim that organizing and growing political clout leads to disease in the gay community correct.
What LaBarbera will not tell you is that there are many studies which say homophobia leads to negative behaviors in gays, particularly our youth. And these negative behaviors can lead to diseases.
If anything, political organizing has led the way in stopping homophobia and negative behavior in gays, particularly our youth, thereby putting a damper on diseases.
But it's just like Peter to try and turn the truth on its head.
I bet he really misses the ability to cite Paul Cameron now.
The Mormon Church is at it again
this is from Box Turtle Bulletin
EXCLUSIVE: Mormon Machine Cranking Up Against Illinois Civil Unions Bill
The Illinois House will begin considering another Civil Unions bill this week. Introduced by Rep. Greg Harris on February 20, HB 2234 has been assigned to the Youth and Family Committee, which will hold a hearing on Thursday. We’ve received word that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has engaged its private communications network to bombard state legislators with phone calls in opposition to the bill.
The Mormon Church maintains a private internet social-networking service in lieu of individual churches having their own Internet web sites. This allows the church to oversee the information that is made available to members and nonmembers. It also allows the church to maintain private information that is only made available to church members.
Among the many capabilities the web site has for members who are authorized to log in is the ability to send private email to other church members in the same ward. It also allows a ward bishop to send a blanket email to all members of his ward, and it allows a stake president to send a blanket email to all members of his stake.
But this is key: no individual member can send a blanket email to all members of his ward without it first going through his or her bishop. The same is true at the stake level, where the stake president would have to first authorize the message. So when a church member receives a broadcast message, he or she can be assured that it has the blessing, so to speak, of the bishop or stake president.
In a private email sent out to LDS members of at least one ward in Illinois, church members are being encouraged to call their representative to voice their opposition to the bill, which would provide same-sex couples with recognition and limited protections under Illinois law. But the official LDS-sanctioned email to members is loaded with much of the same misinformation that was present in the campaign against California’s Proposition 8.
More at Box Turtle Bulletin
this is from Box Turtle Bulletin
EXCLUSIVE: Mormon Machine Cranking Up Against Illinois Civil Unions Bill
The Illinois House will begin considering another Civil Unions bill this week. Introduced by Rep. Greg Harris on February 20, HB 2234 has been assigned to the Youth and Family Committee, which will hold a hearing on Thursday. We’ve received word that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has engaged its private communications network to bombard state legislators with phone calls in opposition to the bill.
The Mormon Church maintains a private internet social-networking service in lieu of individual churches having their own Internet web sites. This allows the church to oversee the information that is made available to members and nonmembers. It also allows the church to maintain private information that is only made available to church members.
Among the many capabilities the web site has for members who are authorized to log in is the ability to send private email to other church members in the same ward. It also allows a ward bishop to send a blanket email to all members of his ward, and it allows a stake president to send a blanket email to all members of his stake.
But this is key: no individual member can send a blanket email to all members of his ward without it first going through his or her bishop. The same is true at the stake level, where the stake president would have to first authorize the message. So when a church member receives a broadcast message, he or she can be assured that it has the blessing, so to speak, of the bishop or stake president.
In a private email sent out to LDS members of at least one ward in Illinois, church members are being encouraged to call their representative to voice their opposition to the bill, which would provide same-sex couples with recognition and limited protections under Illinois law. But the official LDS-sanctioned email to members is loaded with much of the same misinformation that was present in the campaign against California’s Proposition 8.
More at Box Turtle Bulletin
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