Shocker! A child meets his first gay couple . . . and nothing happens!

The talk of the National Organization for Marriage, the Family Research Council, and the rest of that bunch about how the subject of marriage equality will " either confuse children or turn them gay" is a bunch of nonsense which is geared to exploiting people's fears.

I could say this all day until I am red in the face, but I think I will let the following video speak for itself. In it, a young boy meets a gay couple for the first time. Just watch what happens:



There are times when children are more intelligent than adults.

Hat tip to the Huffington Post.

Rick Perry, sex with demons, and other Monday midday news briefs

Opponents Of CA LGBT History Bill: Learning About Gay People Will Turn Kindergarteners Gay - That did it for me. When I learned that Alexander the Great was gay, I began doing my Diana Ross impersonations.

The Company That Rick Perry Keeps: Peter Wagner On Sex With Demons - I'm speechless. Really I am.

Focus staffer tweets about 'noise and nonsense; so here, have some calm clarity - Focus on the Family staffer defends her organization. Good luck on that.

Nobody Pays Attention To Preambles Anyway - About that thing about slavery, Michele Bachmann . . .

New York DA: Clerks Who Refuse To Issue Marriage Licenses To Gay Couples Will Be ‘Subject To Criminal Prosecution’ - I'm all for it. Either do your job or quit. You are representing the state, not yourself. And the state says yea marriage equality.

NOM's declaration against violence rings hollow

Here is an interesting item coming from the National Organization for Marriage's blog:

Some creative minds came up with a poster comparing NOM to the KKK. It's outrageous of course. We wouldn't normally bother to notice such stuff, which is par for the course, but even on the gay blogs circulating it a lot of fair minded people are questioning that kind of over the top rhetoric.

So we point out once again, for the fair minded on either side of this debate: When a man came to a NOM rally with a hateful sign, he was immediately told he wasn't welcome. This is why the photo of the hateful sign is not of a sign being held up at a NOM rally but a sign discarded across the street.

Just to make it crystal clear, we then issued a statement denouncing violence, harassment or threats of violence against any one on any side of the marriage debate, including against gay people and gay marriage supporters.

Which we are happy to reiterate again for our gay readers--we know we have many: We stand with you abhorring any threat to the person and property of gay people, or gay marriage supporters. We hope you do the same for marriage supporters.

But we do it because it's the right thing to do not because anyone demands this of us.

There are good people on both sides of this debate, and we need to have a country where even intense moral disagreements can be aired without violence or threats or incivility.

Forgive me for not being impressed.

Better yet, forgive me for saying that NOM is basically full of it.

We are talking about an organization whose very existence is dependent on making people believe that the gay community (and I speak on a colloquial sense) is a hedonistic army out to supposedly redefine marriage to the detriment of heterosexual relationships.

We are talking about an organization which sends out fliers claiming that gays want to "teach children how to be homosexual," such as the one below:

Or commercials claiming the same thing:



 And I haven't even touched the organization's phony claims of religious persecution.

NOM certainly isn't advocating violence, but with the spreading of these lies, the organization is creating a very hostile atmosphere by exploiting people's fears that their livelihood will be taken away from them, their children will be harmed, and they will be persecuted for their religious beliefs.

Seems to me that if NOM doesn't want people to be violent, the organization should stop giving them a reason to gather up the pitchforks and torches.  

NOM begins astroturfed campaign against marriage equality in NY

NOM president Brian Brown

Under the guise of  "the people have been denied the right to vote," the National Organization for Marriage is launching a campaign to yank marriage equality away from New York.

NOM President Brian Brown sent out this letter:

I've got really exciting news to announce to you this week: a new coalition, a new plan, a rebuilt PAC. And here's the most exciting news: a huge multi-city series of rallies and protest marches taking place across the state of New York to win a vote to protect marriage in New York's constitution!

Let the People Vote!

Save the date: Sunday, July 24, 3 p.m. Go here to get the practical details. And here's the good news: You can show up to let Albany know you've had enough of the corruption, the backroom deals, the lying, the politics as usual. Let the people vote!

Don't forget to send this link to Let the People Vote to your five best friends, the folks you know who are mad enough not to take this from Republicans and other pols lying down!

We at NOM have promised to raise $2 million to help defeat the politicians who've betrayed marriage in 2012.

The good news is that in our first week alone, hundreds of you sent donations adding up to $40,000 to NOM's NY PAC. 

Interesting thing about Brown's letter. While it was extremely sketchy on details of just what NOM's plan will be, he asked for donations at least five times. Talk about your hard sells.

It's always extremely fascinating to me how NOM throws around the hyperbole. In the same letter, Brown labels lone anti-gay marriage Democrat Ruben Diaz as virtuous and heroic in spite of the fact that Diaz acted like a damn fool before the final vote.

But this is what he says about the legislators who voted for marriage equality:

On Sunday July 24 evangelicals, Orthodox Christians, Catholics, and Jews will come together in love all across the state to take back marriage from the politicians who betrayed it.

NOM claims to speak for New Yorkers but the majority of them actually support marriage equality. One would have to ask just who is NOM speaking for. It would seem to me by passing the marriage equality bill, NY legislators did follow the will of the people. 

Yet Brown makes them seem like the Hun army during a day of wanton pillaging.

Granted, Brown will say that "opinion polls don't matter,"   or "the only opinion poll is at the voting booth," or "31 states have voted against gay marriage."

Of course Brown and his fellow NOMbies will omit mentioning the mailers, the robocalls, and  the commercials linking marriage equality to the "indoctrination of children" and the deep pockets NOM uses to filter this mess throughout whichever state they are working at time.

Proving yet again that you can scare people to vote anyway you want, provided you have the money.

However, I really question NOM's intelligence here. NY will start issuing licenses on July 24.  And I am suspecting that a lot of people are going to be getting them.

I don't think that anything resembling an attempt at a referendum would be smart or politically advantageous to anyone pushing it.

Once people get a taste of ambrosia, they don't go back to scraps so easily.

And starting on July 24, there is going to be a lot of ambrosia eaters in NY.

Know Your LGBT History - Rebecca

Rebecca (1940) was a classic film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and is remembered for several reasons.

For one, it was the only one of Hitchcock's movies to win Best Picture (although he didn't win statuette because he didn't produce the movie). For another, it cemented actress Joan Fontaine as mega star actress (between her turns in The Women in 1939 and another Hitchcock movie, Suspicion in 1941 for which she won the Oscar, Fontaine was definitely having some couple of good years).

Lastly, it is remembered for its lesbian subtext of possible unrequited love.

Rebecca tells the the story of the second bride (Fontaine) of a wealthy man (Laurence Olivier) who finds that she has to compete with the memory of his first wife, the deceased Rebecca.

Pushing that competition hard is the maid of the house, Mrs. Danvers (Dame Judith Anderson in absolutely diabolical performance) who seemed to have had a serious cruch on Rebecca.

Although the movie never comes out and says this, it leaves it to audience interpretation throughout many scenes as Mrs. Danvers plays tricks on Fontaine to slowly drive her mad or get her to commit suicide.

But the one scene which stands out is where she shows Fontaine the bedroom of the deceased Rebecca. It's eerie and pitiful at both the same time:



Then things take an ugly turn when we find out that Rebecca was murdered. By whom is not a shock (it wasn't Mrs. Danvers) but the reason why is tells us just what type of person Rebecca was.

Past Know Your LGBT History Posts:

NOM issues statement about anti-gay violence? and other Friday midday news briefs

 Hate Rhetoric? - I NEVER put items from the NOM Blog on my news briefs but this is just weird not to repeat. NOM is issuing a bizarre mea culpa about anti-gay violence. Great. Now if you would only cool it with the homophobic rhetoric (children being "forced" to learn about homosexuality) then I would actually buy what you say.

Fox News’ Obsession With The “Gay Indoctrination” Bogeyman - Pay attention, folks. One-sided attacks featuring members of anti-gay hate groups repeating lies without challenge will definitely be in the lgbtq community's future as long as Fox News has something to say about it.

We don't need LGBT-inclusive education, says person who pushes 'ex-gay'-inclusive 'education' - Candi Cushman, another phony expert.


Texas Gov. (& potential GOP Clown Car occupant) Rick Perry runs with a really batsh*t fundie crowd - And they REALLY want him to run, too.


Archbishop Timothy Dolan: Now That New York Passed Marriage Equality, Polygamy Is Next - Give it up, Mr. Dolan.

CNN spotlights Minnesota parents of gay soldier and their fight for marriage equality

This is a sad and, at the same time, awesome video. It's a tribute to the soldier that his parents are standing up for the rights he gave his life to protect.