Analyzing and refuting the inaccuracies lodged against the lgbt community by religious conservative organizations. Lies in the name of God are still lies.
Check out this nonsense from the Alliance Defense Fund against marriage equality.
Notice how it's long on awful portents of doom about marriage equality but short on actual facts that these claims are true.
Like the following:
This radical social revolution demands courts redefine law, fabricate same-sex “marriage,” and opens the legal door for polygamy, polyamory, bestiality, and child “marriage,” among other disturbing changes.
Pedophilia and bestiality again? The Alliance Defense Fund must be taking their cues from the Minnesota Family Council.
Note to the National Organization for Marriage - refer to this brochure please. I double dare ya.
In a recent entry on its blog, the National Organization for Marriage posted an item about Bronx Assemblyman Michael Benedetto calling for both sides of the argument over marriage equality to tone down the rhetoric:
Bronx Assemblyman Michael Benedetto, who supports legal gay marriage, sort of inserted himself as a referee, issuing a statement about the tone of the argument between Diaz and advocates:
"The state legislature has been presented with an important and historic issue and whenever topics of such import fall before the house a civil and rational dialogue is required. Unfortunately, in the discourse between the Senator and bill proponents things are getting out of hand. The Senator is entitled to his views and to vocalize his support of those views. His critics are entitled to challenge them and respond to them. However, there is a responsibility that both sides must adhere to: to carry on their discussions in a manner that is respectful to both sides of the debate. Threats of bodily harm, profanity and overly harsh statements do not contribute to the debate and only serve to cheapen the importance of the issue."
That's all well and good but the headline of the item reads - Another Defender of Sen. Rev. Diaz Steps Forward
And of course that headline is misleading. Benedetto is not defending Diaz. He is merely telling both sides of the argument to act in a more mature fashion.
NOM's misleading headline seems to be a part of a plan to canonize Diaz as an "innocent defender of marriage who is being viciously attacked." Of course that's a big lie. Diaz is giving as good as he is getting.
Diaz, probably the most visual and vocal legislator against marriage equality in New York (not for the power he holds, but for the color of his skin, no doubt, i.e. yet another way NOM plays communities against one another) has been allegedly receiving death threats.
While this is not a good thing, Diaz himself is hardly an an innocent.
A recent march against marriage equality - which Diaz led - featured many anti-gay statements including one pastor saying that gays are worth of death and Diaz's wife calling gays an abomination during her speech.
Diaz himself compared homosexuality to being a drug addict in a recent interview on NY1 Spanish-Language Public Affairs Program.
So to make Diaz out to be an innocent is a colossal lie. And to make it seem that a marriage equality supporter is also supporting Diaz, when he is actually telling everyone - Diaz included - to cool it with the hot rhetoric is yet another lie.
But we know how NOM hates to be called liars even when caught in the act.
The National Organization for Marriage has - in its own way - admitted that it erred in a video claiming that a gender identity lesson in an Oakland, CA school was targeted at kindergartners.
Originally in a letter to supporters, NOM's president, Brian Brown said:
Just when you think it can't get any weirder or more disturbing, an Oakland grade school decided to teach kindergartners about multiple genders, under the banner of preventing bullying.
Watch that video. Look at the children's faces. And then look at the activist from a group called "Gender Spectrum" who wants to embed in these children's minds the idea that we all have a right to make up our own gender(s).
But the video (seen below) clearly showed that the students NOM called kindergartners were in fact fourth graders. An announcer on the video also said so.
When NOM's error was exposed, Brown's letter was surreptitiously changed to say:
Just when you think it can't get any weirder or more disturbing, an Oakland public school decided to teach grade-school children about multiple genders, under the banner of preventing bullying.
Watch that video. Look at the children's faces. And then look at the activist from a group called "Gender Spectrum" who wants to embed in these children's minds the idea that we all have a right to make up our own gender(s).
And now a note on the NOM blog entry reads (Correction: The Oakland class in multiple genders was addressed to fourth-graders, not kindergarteners, and this post has been update to correct the error.)
However, the title of the video still said Public School Teaches Kindergartners There Are Multiple Genders Without Parental Consent.
That is until now. You will notice that the title of the video has been changed:
However, NOM still seems to be holding out on the idea that parents were not notified, even though the video said - at 1.45 - that the parents did not have a problem with the lesson AND an article on the Fox News website quoted Oakland Unified School District spokesman Troy Flint saying that parents were given prior notice and in fact, three families opted their children out of the lesson.
I might also point out that the article also quoted a spokesperson for a group opposing the lesson, who also said that three families opted their children out, thus giving more proof that parents knew beforehand of the lesson.
The question here isn't were kindergartners incorporated in these lesson plans but why did NOM feel the need to push this incident to the brinks of hysteria.
Why did NOM feel the need to go the extra mile and bring up false visions of scared and possibly tear-stained kindergartners held captive in classes being taught lessons that could potentially scar them for life?
Why did NOM feel the need to embellish the lessons plans in such a way that not only channeled the "gay recruitment" lies of Anita Bryant, but also the daycare sex abuse hysteria of the 1980s?
As if I have to ask that question.
In spite of Brown's talk of civil and respectable discussion regarding marriage equality, this is the modus operandi of NOM.
The organization does not want a civil discussion on marriage equality and they certainly don't want to talk about the same-sex couples or the same-sex couples with children who are the true center of discussions on marriage equality.
Instead, the organization wants to scare people into opposing marriage equality by pushing phony horror stories of children getting their minds corrupted via a plot by a group of hedonistic monsters out to wreck American values and Christianity.
I think it's safe to say that in this case, it was NOM which got wrecked. And while this embarrassing incident is probably a momentary, very small setback for the group, I sincerely hope folks remember it and file it away for future reference.
Thank you everyone for what you did to make this a very productive week. The anti-NOM talking points went viral and was seen by over 3,000 people. And we still have a long way to go. I want to end today with a positive movie.
I could kick myself for waiting to long to include Torch Song Trilogy in my Know Your LGBT History posts.
Torch Song Trilogy, which was originally a hit Tony-award winning Broadway play (Best Play, Best Actor) which told the story of Jewish drag queen (played by Harvey Firestein) living in New York during the late 1970s/early 1980s. The audience sees his trials and tribulations from losing a lover (Matthew Broderick) to an awful gay bashing, to adopting a child, to his constant struggles with his mother to get her to understand him.
When it was made into a movie in 1988, there were small changes, but the tone of the play stayed the same.
And it is a simple enjoyable movie about self-love and most importantly self-respect.
There are so many good scenes in Torch Song Trilogy. Here are just few of my favorites.
The first one is the musical number done by Firestein and the other drag queens (one being played by the legendary Charles Pierce):
The second one is when Firestein is sparring with his mother (played by Anne Bancroft) at the grave of his father. She can't understand how can Firestein compare the relationship he had with his murdered lover to her marriage. It's a powerful retort he gives her:
And the last one is a collection of scenes between Firestein and Bancroft which should give us all something to think about concerning coming out and trusting people with our lives, especially our parents:
UPDATE - As you can see, NOM has changed the title of the video. For an update on this story, go here.
Last night, I posted an emergency item regarding a letter that National Organization for Marriage Brian Brown posted on NOM's blog. The letter was the typical "we have to do something before the homosexual agenda overcomes us" tripe that folks have come to expect from Brown.
The first item in the letter talked about a recent incident in Oakland, CA where students were taught lessons on gender identity:
Just when you think it can't get any weirder or more disturbing, an Oakland public school decided to teach grade-school children about multiple genders, under the banner of preventing bullying.
Watch that video. Look at the children's faces. And then look at the activist from a group called "Gender Spectrum" who wants to embed in these children's minds the idea that we all have a right to make up our own gender(s).
But when this letter was first posted, Brown originally said:
Just when you think it can't get any weirder or more disturbing, an Oakland grade school decided to teach kindergartners about multiple genders, under the banner of preventing bullying.
Watch that video. Look at the children's faces. And then look at the activist from a group called "Gender Spectrum" who wants to embed in these children's minds the idea that we all have a right to make up our own gender(s).
Not only have the words in Brown's letter have changed, but the video, which was on NOM's blog, is now gone.
And why is that? Because it proves that Brown wasn't originally telling the truth:
At .42 seconds of the video, the announcer says "these fourth graders were told that in nature, things aren't always what they seem."
Now some folks may say "what difference does this make?" It should make a big difference because neither Brown nor NOM acknowledged that the original claim - that these children were kindergartners - was made in error.
Also, the title of the video - Public School Teaches Kindergarteners There Are Multiple Genders Without Parental Consent - has not been changed.
Lastly, that part in the title about the parents not giving consent seems to also be inaccurate.
At 1:45, the announcer said, "the school maintains most parents, teachers, and students had no problem with what was taught."
This statement calls into question the accusation that parents did not consent for their children to be taught these lessons.
A written Fox News story further calls into question that accusation. The article quoted Oakland Unified School District spokesman Troy Flint saying that parents were given prior notice and in fact, three families opted their children out of the lesson.
Either through sloppy work or intentional distortion, NOM exploited a very useful and legal lesson regarding respect and tolerance in an Oakland school to demonize the lgbt community. And now, when caught red-handed, the group is trying to slowly maneuver itself out of the potential hole it's in.
Now I ask you. Can anyone really trust this group to lead a civil and dignified debate on marriage equality in Minnesota or anywhere else for that matter?
