Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

Friday, April 02, 2010

Know Your LGBT History - Sylvester

No negative portrayals today - only a spotlight on one of my idols/heroes, the late Sylvester James.

For an in depth look at Sylvester's life, go here for the Black History Month spotlight I posted on him.

But to enjoy his music of his television appearances, check out any of the clips below. Sylvester was way ahead of the pack on talent, style, and pride. In the 70s where it was difficult for lgbts to stand up for themselves (to say nothing of lgbts of color), Sylvester was THE MAN. By the way he carried himself, he unashamedly said, "This is me. This is who I am not for your pity or laughter but because I am a child of God blessed with His gifts."

We need more black folks like Sylvester.

The following is favorite clip - Sylvester on American Bandstand with his back up singers Martha Wash and Izora Rhodes who were known then as Two Tons of Fun. We all know them as the Weather Girls, singers of the anthem "It's Raining Men." Rhodes passed years later but Wash continued to persevere, singing on the hits "Everybody Sweat," "Everybody, Everybody," and "Strike It Up":

Ugandan anti-gay bill supporter spouts discredited Paul Cameron data and other Friday midday news briefs

Molotov Mitchell Responds To HuffPo (Sort Of) -- And Still Can't Stop Misleading - A supporter of the Ugandan anti-gay bill spouts discredited Paul Cameron statistics. Why oh why am I not suprised?

Houston Mayor Annise Parker Issued Sweeping Non-Discrimination Order This Week - Just the thing to get the religious right upset. And I thought today was going to be a bad day.

Census Form Question Stirs Controversy - And you just know it's about us lgbts.

Gay marriage issue affects Calif. GOP Senate race - Where is Maggie Gallagher and the National Organization of Marriage getting all of this money?

Expert: Donohue's claim that most abusive priests are gay is "unwarranted" - Ignore Bill Donohue's lying rhetoric my #!$

High schoolers use the power of love to chase away hate group

When Fred Phelp's hateful Westboro church came to Columbia, we had a great time making fun of their ignorance.

The students of Gunn High School in Palo Alto, CA used a different, but very inspiring method to stand up to the group. This is just too cool:

Hat tip to AmericablogGay.

Thursday, April 01, 2010

Newsbusters's accusation of 'religion bashing' deserves rebuke

The site Newsbusters tries very hard to be a conservative version of the popular Media Matters. The site would do better to be compared to a member of the Olympic gymnastics team because of the way it twists and manipulates logic in unbelievable angles in efforts to either defend right-wing wrongs or make the case that those of us on the left are a bunch of mean bullies.

The newest column tries to make the case that the Huffington Post is creating a religion blog whose aim is to bash Christians. The writer of the piece, Carolyn Plocher, gives a few examples of writings on the Huffington Post as proof.

And one of the examples is a recent piece I wrote:

Other articles attempted to paint Christians as intolerant radicals by hyping abstract stories about individuals, such as Janet Porter, the president and founder of Faith2Action, praying for the "Christian takeover" of the media. Alvin McEwen wrote he'd be "remiss" if he didn't point out that Porter said this prayer "in front of a huge multitude during one of those dreary we have to save American values from the forces of secular evil conferences which religious right organizations seem to hold more often than World Wrestling Entertainment hosts wrestling pay-per-views."

For the record, I was not aware that the Huffington Post was considering creating a religious blog and regardless, my piece was not a part of that. Furthermore, I don't think I need to paint Porter or anyone who supports her as an "intolerant radicals." Seems to me when someone prays to God to take something away from someone else and give it to them, I don't necessarily think that person can be described as following the Golden Rule.

But for the sake of conversation, you be the judge on whether or not Porter and those who support her (and coached her loudly during this prayer) come across as "intolerant radicals:"

What galls me is the fact that someone actually thinks this sort of madness needs to be defended and that somehow calling attention to what Porter did during a huge event attended by other noted religious right dignitaries - hardly "abstract" - is somehow bashing Christianity.

If Porter's arrogance is considered a form of Christianity which needs protection from criticism, then we have serious problems with the concept of Christianity in America.

And that was not rhetorical statement because I do believe in fact that we have a serious problem with some who consider themselves Christians in this country.

Through my piece on Porter, I was pointing this out. I was not bashing Christianity but the bastardization of Christianity by Porter and the rest of the religious right, i.e. the ugly way in which they pervert God's message of love for the sake of cliques and grubby human concepts of conquest. Generally, when people go about the business of conquest, they don't do it in honest ways. This is definitely seen in how the religious right has demonized the gay and lesbian community through the use of stereotypes, junk science, and anecdotes taken out of context.

Whenever I hear Porter or anyone on the evangelical right go on about "winning the nation for Christ," I always cringe. Seems to me that if God had enough power to create Heaven and Earth, he can win America all by himself. He certainly doesn't need help from me, the Huffington Post, and certainly not Janet Porter or Newsbusters. And he definitely doesn't need help from conference halls full of people motivated through phony fear stories of prison camps, their children being "homosexualized," or visions of "their right to pray being taken away."

But the thing is that some on the evangelical right can't seem to grasp that fact. They also can't seem to grasp the concept of humility and respect for a higher power. They have replaced the image of God with one of themselves. In their world, not forcing others to pray publicly the way they want is "persecution" and having to acknowledge the simple fact that America is a diverse (not Christian) nation ranks with being fed to lions or being crucified.

To hear them talk, Jesus apparently said "pick up your cross and follow me and I will give you a nice car, a nice house, 2.5 children, and a Republican president and Legislature every four years."

Strangest thing though, that passage doesn't appear in any Bible I have read.

But if that implication is how some people want to define Christianity, then more power to them. However, they shouldn't whine or infer persecution when someone else calls attention to the fallacies in that definition.

Bisexual pro wrestler, President Obama and DADT, and other Thursday midday news briefs

Video: By 'the record,' Molotov must mean those outdated round things that have little public support - Calling out cowards who support the Ugandan anti-gay bill but won't talk about what it actually says as far as the death penalty for gays and lesbians.

Sinead O’Connor v. Bill Donohue on the Catholic Child Rape Scandals - Remember when people gave Sinead O'Connor hell for tearing up the picture of the Pope on Saturday Night Live? To paraphrase rapper Kool Mo Dee, how ya like her now?

News video: Is Obama backtracking on DADT? - I support President Obama but sometimes I swear he does things to intentionally drive folks on the left and right crazy so he can sit back and watch the carnage.

Hurley: Iowa Gay Marriage Anniversary A Celebration Of 'Eternal Death' - Yes, the eternal death of loneliness and ignorance.

Pro wrestling's first openly bisexual wrestler hits the air this Monday - Even though this was publicly known after the wrestler, Orlando Jordan, had left the WWE, the climate of the entire thing should be very interesting.

Let the child be 'a single lady' if he wants to

I couldn't resist posting this. Apparently while driving in the car, a family put the Beyonce song "All the Single Ladies."

When the three-year-old boy joined his sisters in singing it, his father told him that he wasn't a single lady, thereby totally destroying the little guy.

But it does have a happy ending. The father apologized and this morning, they were on CBS's This Morning where the little boy - who is sooo cute - was humming the song. Also the father said he now lets the boy sing the song all he wants to.

No mean comments, folks. But it does remind me of when I was a child and I would hear a good song by a female and took it upon myself (because of peer pressure) to substitute feminine pronouns for the masculine ones so it would seem that I was talking about my "girlfriend" rather than my "boyfriend."

Ain't it a drag when silly little fears like that ruin a good experience like singing a fun song?

Why just offend gays when you can offend Irish people too?

Geez Bill Donohue. Claiming that "Like the Irish and alcoholism, "there's a connection between homosexuality and sexual abuse of minors," is no way to defend the Pope and the Vatican against the charges of knowledge of sexual abuse.

This interview just defies description.

partial transcript courtesy of ThinkProgress

SANCHEZ: Well, let me just stop you right there, because immediately as you say that, there are people watching this show, and I can hear them saying this, Bill Donohue, shame on you. Are you saying all gays are pedophiles?

DONOHUE: As I said in the ad, which I wrote, most gay priests are not molesters, but most of the molesters have been gay. And I also said, that there’s no such thing as a — that homosexuality does not cause predatory behavior. Let me give you a quick example. I’m Irish. Everybody who has half a brain knows that the Irish have a bigger problem with alcoholism than the Italians or the Chinese, for example. Does that mean because you’re an Irishman, therefore, you are driven to become an alcoholic? Of course, not.

What it means, though, if your group is overrepresented in a particular problem area, you ought to explore it. Yes, there’s a connection between Irish and alcoholism, and, yes, there’s a connection between homosexuality and sexual abuse of minors.

Related posts:

With defenders like Bill Donohue and the Catholic League, the Pope is in trouble