Maggie Gallagher's Sarah Palin problem

The National Organization for Marriage's Maggie Gallagher has a serious Sarah Palin problem.

It's not a complicated thing to figure out. Palin has been going and going for so long that she has gone past simply "trying to get paid" and is actually believing that she is a visionary; that somehow she contributes something to the political spectrum other than being a sideshow performer whose every statement bring either peals of laughter or head-scratching confusion.

In that same manner, Gallagher seems to be approaching the fight against gay marriage. She's starting to believe her own press even when her words reveal her to be an empty vessel.

Witness the post on NOM's webpage about her testimony against marriage equality today in a front Maryland Congressional subcommittee:

Maggie Gallagher, Chairman of the National Organization for Marriage and one of the nation's leading spokespersons for the societal benefits of traditional marriage, today led off the testimony in favor of retaining marriage as a unique institution between a man and a woman in the Maryland Senate Committee on Judicial Proceedings.

Gallagher made a powerful case that marriage is and should always be an institution of great importance to civil society as well as one steeped in religious tradition, because it is the only institution purposely established to connect children to their biological parents and tie those parents to the raising of their children into the responsible future generations of citizens.

Hold your breath, folks. Here comes the statements of the great protector of marriage herself. This is reportedly the summation of what she said:

"Marriage is the union of husband and wife for a reason: these are the only unions that can make new life and connect children in love to their mom and dad. SB 116 doesn't just add more people to marriage, it changes marriage. As so many pro-gay marriage voices testified at this very hearing, gay marriage is grounded in the belief that this view of marriage is like objections to interracial marriage--something that should be discarded in law, culture and society. If Maryland adopts this radical new view of marriage, it will have consequences."

Are you kidding me? This is the summation of her statement against  marriage equality? Doesn't it come across as vapid and perfunctionary, omitting the fact that not all married couples have children, children are born to couples who are not married, lgbt couples are raising children, etc?

Just how does allowing lgbts to marry each other change the definition of marriage? You mean to tell me that on this, blog controlled by Gallagher, that they couldn't drudge a better statement than that?

I hope Gallagher is saying these things just to get the money because I don't think anyone with half a brain could be satisfied with such a statement dripping with ignorant simplicity.

It has to be the mysterious money sources backing NOM which make it so powerful because if the organization ever subsisted solely on rhetoric like Gallagher's, I would be able to prepare my vows in no time.

Ebony magazine includes lesbian couple in 'love issue' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Ebony Magazine Shines Light on Lesbian Couple’s Love - It's ABOUT TIME!

Bob Vander Plaats tries to snuff 'second-hand' fires; puts more kindling under ours - What's worse than a homophobe? A homophobe who tries to backtrack, thus making him a lying homophobe.


7-year-old donates to L.A. G&L Center because 'gay people are not treated equally' - Excellent moment which will not be ruined by the religious right or the "concern trolls."

The Battle Over the Smithsonian and the Right's New Culture Wars - Excellent piece by Michael Keegan, President of People for the American Way.


Exodus Co-Founder: “It was a terrible mistake for Exodus to get involved in politics” - Truer words were never spoken.

Ronald Reagan becomes homophobes' new 'tool' in attacking lgbts

I haven't weighed on the conservative mass inconization of former President Ronald Reagan because to a degree, it's so amusing.

While many on our side of the spectrum have pointed out flaws in Reagan's policies that should make today's conservatives shiver at the notion of making him their hero, as well as pointing out his lack of attention in the early days of the AIDS crisis, those who are "celebrating Reagan's legacy" are consuming themselves with making him less of a person and more of a marketing commodity.

It all reminds me of the the Adult Swim cartoon series, "The Boondocks" when it featured a "what if" episode starring Martin Luther King, Jr. Apparently according to the episode, King wasn't assassinated in 1968 but put into a coma.

What he finds when he wakes up is a world not geared to listen to his nonviolent philosophy but willing to market his image on everything, include fast food place mats.

A constant refrain of King was that he should somehow get some type of licensing over his image.

Somehow, I think if Reagan were alive, he would be asking the same question.

The ad on the left is from a group boycotting the conservative CPAC conference because they resent having a gay group, GOProud, being one of the sponsors.

Apparently their full page ad is a way of bringing Reagan's legacy on board with their crusade.

The irony is that the ad (and you can see a full pdf of it here) doesn't even have any statements from Reagan regarding the lgbt community.

Granted, it's not say that Reagan was the lgbt's community's best friend, so to speak. But the ad, signed by such prominent homophobes as Brian Camenker of Mass Resistance, Robert Knight of the Americans Civil Rights Union, World Net Daily, and Don Wildmon of the American Family Association (i.e. Bryan Fischer) seems to be wanting to exploit Reagan's prominence in the conservative movement while omitting certain incidents which may contradict the ad itself.

Like the 1978 situation regarding the Briggs Amendment in California. The Briggs Amendment would have barred gays and lesbians from teaching in the state's public schools. Reagan came out publicly against the amendment, even writing an editorial to the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner outlining why the Amendment should be defeated. Reagan said in part:

“Whatever else it is, homosexuality is not a contagious disease like the measles. Prevailing scientific opinion is that an individual's sexuality is determined at a very early age and that a child's teachers do not really influence this."

His opposition to the Amendment played a part in its defeat.

So what have we learned here? Nothing about Reagan, really. But more and more about the lack of integrity of those wanting to condemn lgbts to a second class status. And not caring who they exploit to achieve this goal.

Bradlee Dean and Paul Cameron - when disgustingly vile homophobes meet

Today in my news briefs, I posted a news item from People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch regarding the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer and an interview he conducted with Bradlee Dean of the Minnesota ministry, “You Can Run But You Cannot Hide"

Right-Wing Watch describes Dean's ministry as such:

Dean’s You Can Run has found supporters in Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and the unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor Tom Emmer. Emmer’s campaign donated to the Ministry, and Bachmann even prayed to thank God about You Can Run “for how You are going to expand this radio program, how You are going to expand their video program, their publications, how You are going to advance them from 260 schools a year, Lord, to 2,600 schools a year.”

Right Wing Watch noted that Dean and Fischer had a very nauseating time during the interview in which they tried to outdo each other with hideous claims about the lgbt community.

But as I pointed out in that post, Dean had already done the lgbt community one worse earlier last year when he conducted an interview with discredited researcher Paul Cameron. You will remember that Cameron has been dismissed and censured from several medical organizations due to his tendency to fudge his research about lgbts or make up horror stories about us castrating children and wallowing around in feces.

In the post earlier today, I posted one part of the interview between Dean and Cameron. I am now posting this second part, which I think is the most gratuitously homophobic. I couldn't listen to it all. However if you can, good for you for having a strong stomach.

For me, the interview ranks right up there with being strapped down and forced to listen to the rants of racists trying to outdo each other in relating the most evil things they can say about African-Americans:



Of course the difference is that if these @!^&% were talking about black people, Michele Bachmann probably wouldn't be singing the praises of Dean's ministry.

It's definitely something worth thinking about the next time someone in our community talks about "ignoring people like Dean or Cameron" so as to not give them a larger voice of power.

I got news for these snobby individuals who espouses such a belief - it sounds like Dean and Cameron already have that voice.

At the very least,  Dean has the ear of a Congresswoman.

Same-sex families are changing the South for the better

Once I saw this on Goodasyou.org, I just had to steal it for my own site. This is an awesome story. And it's about REAL FAMILIES. That's the difference between the nonsense you hear emanating from groups like NOM. They talk about hypotheticals. THIS is reality:

Latisha Bines and Misty Gray cheered like any other parents at a recent middle school soccer game.

They're the two soccer moms in 13-year-old Darion Bines’ life. The women and all three of Latisha’s children operate as a family. And they've turned to their church for support, suggesting a changing face of the Bible Belt.

Data from the most recent U.S. Census shows that the South has the largest share of gay parents in the country.

“There are more of us coming out,” Bines said. “We’re feeling more comfortable about who we are. I guess it gives us more of a chance than back in the '80s, when you had to stay in the closet because you were ridiculed.”

Bines came out after having three children. She and Misty were joined as life partners in 2010 commitment ceremony. They live in part of the conservative Deep South, where many communities have not been receptive to so-called gay families.

“Gay and lesbian people tend to come out later in life, in those areas, which means they are more likely to have children from a previous relationship earlier in their lives,” said Gary Gates, a demographer with the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law.

Gates analyzed the data from the American Community Survey from 2005-09, which is administered by the Census Bureau. His analysis also showed that across the country, gay parents are more likely to be black or Hispanic than they are to be white.

According to the survey, San Antonio, Texas, leads the country in gay parenting, with 34% of same-sex couples raising children. That's followed by Jacksonville, Florida at 32%.

(Editor's note - I may be wrong here but I have heard that number three is Sumter, SC. Who says South Carolina is backwards in all things!!)

More on the CNN story here.

Michele Bachmann's favorite ministry has a love of rabid homophobia and other Monday midday news briefs

Bachmann’s Favorite Ministry Joins Fischer to Link Gays to the Holocaust - Michele Bachmann's favorite homophobic ministry meets with Bryan Fischer of the AFA. Wouldn't it be nice if homophobes spontaneously combusted when meeting up?


As an added bonus to this clip, check out part 1 (get the barf bag ready) of this interview featuring Bachmann's favorite ministry with an old friend of ours - Paul Cameron:



By the way Bradlee dearest, Paul Cameron was given that label of "most dangerous" over 25 years ago by The Advocate magazine (I own the issue). Things have changed significantly.

WND paints us as WMD; at this point, we can't even muster a courtesy WTF?! - And coming up number two with a nasty bullet is World Net Daily with an extremely homophobic cover story. Seriously you have to see this to believe it.

Shia LaBeouf’s Bar Fight Had Gay Slurs - First of all Shia, you have money, a hot career, and an Emmy. Who cares what some drunken fool in a bar thinks. BUT since you did, at least get a good punch off.

Utah: Bill could protect many religious activities - I'm all for protecting religion to a degree but this bill has some negative side effects for the lgbt community.

A doctor pushing homophobic junk science whines about discrimination

From overseas comes a possibly soon-to-be religious right cause celebre:

Dr Hans-Christian Raabe claimed he had been “sacrificed on the altar of political correctness” but the Home Office said he had been fired because he failed to mention the controversial work in interviews. The Manchester GP is a member of the Maranatha Community, a Christian movement which believes homosexuality can be cured.

He was appointed to the Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) last month, which is an unpaid, three-year post.

The Home Office said he was asked in interviews for the post whether there was anything about his professional or personal history that could cause embarrassment to the government or the advisory panel and did not mention the work.

Dr Raabe is a medical co-ordinator of the Council for Health and Wholeness (CHW), a Christian organisation based within the Maranatha Community.

But the papers he wrote against homosexuality was more than embarrassing, they were inaccurate:

In briefing documents from 2005 written by Dr Raabe for the CHW, homosexuality is described as “destructive” and is associated with disease and drug use.

One states: “The media and the gay movement portray the homosexual lifestyle as happy, healthy and fulfilled. However, the homosexual lifestyle is associated with a large number of very serious physical and emotional health consequences.”

It adds: “A high proportion of homosexual men engage in a destructive lifestyle, for example contracting HIV/Aids or other STIs, and develop addictions to drugs or alcohol. There is a higher burden of depression, [and] attempted or completed suicide among the ‘gay population’.”

Another paper, co-authored by Dr Raabe, claimed: “While the majority of homosexuals are not involved in paedophilia, it is of grave concern that there is a disproportionately greater number of homosexuals among paedophiles and an overlap between the gay movement and the movement to make paedophilia acceptable.”

It also stated: “Despite the impression given by the media, the actual number of homosexuals is quite small. Essentially all surveys show the number of homosexuals to be only 1-3 per cent of the population.”

Raabe's nonsense  in the first paper sounds like it sprang the mind of the Family Research Council's Peter Sprigg.

Sprigg pushed the same opinion about lgbts. However, he came to his conclusion by amplifying research about lgbts and negative behaviors while omitting the part of the research which placed the blame on homophobia for the negative behaviors.

Furthermore, Raabe's attempt to connect homosexuality and pedophilia is an old religious right claim derived from discredited researcher Paul Cameron. However, American Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the American Academy of Child Psychiatrists and the Child Welfare League of America, all say that the homosexuality and pedophilia are not linked.

Raabe's whine about discrimination enforces what's wrong with Christianity today:

“I have been discriminated against because of my opinions and beliefs which are in keeping with the teaching of the major Churches. This sets a dangerous precedent: Are we saying that being a Christian is now a bar to public office?’

He is inaccurate here and badly so. While there is nothing wrong with his personal religious beliefs regarding homosexuality, we aren't talking about religious beliefs but a proliferation of bad information under the guise of Christianity.

It's important that this distinction is made. Unfortunately those of us who speak out against religious right distortions sometimes allow this distinction to slide, thereby making it seem that those who are called to the carpet for spreading lies about the lgbt community are the "victims" of supposed anti-Christian discrimination.

Raabe's case demonstrates just how dangerous this faux pas can be.

Related post:

Here comes possible new victim of the 'radical homosexual agenda'