Know Your LGBT History - James Baldwin

Words can't do James Baldwin proper justice, so I hope that these two videos can. I especially like the second one. It's why he is one of my role models:







Past Know Your LGBT History posts:

'Will Virginia discriminate against gay taxpayers?' and other Friday midday news briefs

Opponents of Marriage Equality in Washington Gear Up for Ballot Referendum Before It's Even Law: VIDEO - Well we knew this would happen. And check out the list of organizations behind this mess. The usual cast of "characters."

Virginia House To Approve Anti-Gay Adoption Bill - This will probably end up in the courts. If you don't want to abide by the rules regarding non-discrimination, then don't take the money. It doesn't matter if you are a religious organization. "Faith-based" adoption agencies want to take gay taxpayers' dollars while telling them "you are too evil for us to allow you to adopt children."

‘Ex-Gay’ Conference To Be Debunked in Atlanta on Feb. 16 - Awesome!

Sit-Ins for Stacey - The smallest violin in the galaxy plays for "poor" Stacey Campfield

NOM's clumsy heavy hand finds its next 'they' - and NOM lies AGAIN.

Parents angry at 'ex-gay' group for pushing false information to children

As if our lgbtq children don't have enough to deal with:

Flyer On Gay Choice Stirs Controversy: MyFoxDC.com

I did note a silver lining to this story. As the video noted, it was a parent who complained and other parents were not happy either:

Karen Yount-Merrell, a licensed, clinical social worker, got one of the flyers when her son came home with his report card from Einstein High School.

"I don't like it," Yount-Merrell declared. "Everything in this flyer make its sound like the goal is to be [an] EX-gay, [or an EX]-lesbian. It is not embracing of a different orientation. It reiterates a societal view that there's something 'wrong' with you, if you're not in the norm. If you aren't heterosexual. And teenagers have a hard enough time dealing with who they are and feeling good about themselves."

The video also notes how those pushing the flyer are also pushing that "we just want tolerance for our point of view" hogwash argument:

Supporters of the flyer say their literature simply calls for "tolerance" of a different viewpoint on homosexuality.

"If people were to actually read the content of the flyer that we're distributing, they will see there is nothing in here that is insulting or even critical of homosexuals,” said PFOX board member Peter Sprigg. “All it is telling kids [is] that you don't have to be gay if you don't want to be."

And therein lies the heart of the deception. Sprigg says that the flyer is not insulting or critical of gays, but then he implies that there is something wrong with being gay with his statement "you don't have to be gay if you don't want to be."

Also please note the fact that the parent in the video has expertise as a licensed, clinical social worker. Sprigg has no expertise other being anointed as an "expert" by his organization, the Family Research Council. As demonstrated by his flawed testimony in Maryland this week, he doesn't deserve that title.

Furthermore, please don't be fooled by Sprigg's false show of innocence. As Right Wing Watch points out:

The PFOX board [pdf] is also composed of some of the most stringently anti-gay voices in politics today, including Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel, who claims gay youth are more likely to commit suicide because they intuitively know homosexuality “is wrong and immoral;” Robert Knight of the American Civil Rights Union, who thinks there is a conspiracy among gay Hill staffers to control Congress; Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, who has called for gays to be deported from the U.S., and of course, Greg Quinlan, who was once married to a fellow “ex-gay” woman until she divorced him. As Amanda Hess of the Washington City Paper notes, very few people serving on the PFOX board are actually “ex-gays,” but that hasn’t stopped them from promoting dangerous “ex-gay” reparative therapy to children.

Right Wing Watch also notes that this is not simply an issue of  PFOX as a group with a "differing point of view."  PFOX is a group which peddles dangerous lies:

. . . the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Association of Social Workers and the American Psychiatric Association all deny the effectiveness, safety and ethics of reparative therapy. While Religious Right groups have sued for the right to distribute literature in Montgomery County schools, like the PFOX flyer which propagates discredited and harmful misinformation about sexual orientation and gender identity, they have also sought to deny this right to groups they disagree with.

'Diaper pastor can't shut his mouth' and other Thursday afternoon news briefs

This is a day in which so much stuff happened that I won't be focusing on one thing. So for the first time in a long time, I am going to do an afternoon news brief post:

Court Of Appeals: Prop 8 Tapes To Remain Under Seal - Not surprising and while some on our side are upset over it, I'm not. We need to push the question just what are these folks afraid of ? For Pete's sake, the pro-Prop 8 side only had two witnesses and they sucked to high heaven. One - David Blankenhorn - even accidentally made our argument for us.

NC’s deranged fundie, Rev. Patrick Wooden: Glee and Tyler Perry’s Madea promote ‘gay perversion’ - "Diaper pastor" Patrick Wooden just can't stop talking and "Porno Pete" LaBarbera just can't stop posting the conversation. Rumor control has it that during the interview, Wooden made very ugly pointed comments about fellow blogger and mentor of mine, Pam Spaulding. Apparently Wooden said Pam "needs to find a good man to rock her world." How ironic that some of us feel the same about Wooden and LaBarbera.

Assembly panel advances marriage bill - Good news out of New Jersey but it got crazy for a while. Well what do you expect when someone claims that there “more ex-gays than gays.”

Audio: 'There are more ex-gays than gays -- that's just a fact' - More on that silly comment.

OMG: New Hampshire Republicans may not vote to repeal marriage!! - Looks like NOM may lose in New Jersey. It looks good for us.

One Town's War on Gay Teens - Last but certainly not least, Rolling Stone magazine does an excellent job examining the awful situation for lgbtq youth at Minnesota's Anoka-Hennepin School District.

'Anti-gay groups abusing campaign finance laws in Minnesota' and other Thursday midday news briefs

Anti-Gay Groups Abuse Campaign Finance Loophole To Shield Donors In Minnesota - You mean the National Organization for Marriage is engaging in the abuse of campaign finance laws? Don't you have to follow laws in order to abuse them?

Minnesota Hate Group Lists Major Donations From Catholic Church & NOM - Speaking of which, if monies I was giving to a church went to this mess, I would raise some serious hell.

Anti-Gay Group Calls For Boycott Of JC Penny Over Ellen DeGeneres Partnership - Cause apparently this will make children gay? I wouldn't be surprised if they pushed that argument.

The Power of Telling Our Stories Demonstrated: Washington’s Senate Ignored NOM’s Threats and Passed the Marriage Equality Bill - The perfect antidote to homophobic mess not only with marriage equality but in every situation.

NOM gets blasted on its blog for lying about military chaplains

This is good.

Recently, the National Organization for Marriage's president, Brian Brown, put up the following on the group's blog:

Last April, the Navy issued new "sensitivity training" guidelines that required Navy chaplains to perform same-sex marriages. Thanks to leadership from Congressmen Tim Huelskamp and Todd Akin, the Navy backed down and rescinded the guidelines.

Of course this is a lie. The letter actually said chaplains can choose to perform these marriages. They are not required to.
This deliberate lie was noticed by several bloggers. Rob Tisiani of Box Turtle Bulletin said the following:

This falsehood is now up on NOM’s blog, where I’m banned from commenting. I invite you — ask you, beg you, beseech you — to go there and point out the truth to NOM’s readers. They won’t believe it (they might not even get to see it!), but that doesn’t matter: there’s something to be said for telling the truth just for the sake of telling the truth.

I am also barred so I couldn't respond. NOM  consistently bars commentators from its blog who make it a point to challenge the group on its lies, even if the challenges are done in a respectful manner. However apparently a lot of folks who aren't barred took it upon themselves to tell NOM  that Brown's claim is a deliberate lie. Some of the comments are as follows:

Brian - Perhaps you should show us this REQUIREMENT for chaplains to perform same sex weddings. No pastor has every been required to do so and you know it. While gay marriage never made it into the 10 commandments, I'm pretty sure lying did. How do you reconcile this?

"Required" is not a synonym for "allowed."

NOM caught lying again, at this point it's redundant.

Liar Liar Liar they are NOT required to perform them there is a moral exemption clause in the general order.

I think the policy should be that Brian Brown should get his facts straight. That's a joke--I know I'm not answering your question. Seriously though, this type of flagrant inaccuracy is unacceptable at any level, especially for the president of a national organization. NOM supporters, you should demand the truth. After all, you're the ones giving away money.

Interestingly enough, one of the few comments in support of Brown's post doesn't exactly help NOM's sweetness and light image:

I called and made another donation to NOM. We ask a lot of our military, having to worry about someone staring at their backsides should not be one of them.

I guess you can't be shocked when trash attracts trash.  If you feel inclined, go to NOM's blog post and remind the organization that lies in the name of God are still lies.

Breaking - Washington State senate passes marriage equality bill!!

The Washington state Senate just made history by passing a law allowing same-sex couples to marry by a vote of 28-21 in the Senate after a long session in which opponents tried to undermine the vote with several bills, many which failed, including one to allow business to discriminate against same-sex couples and another to put it up for a vote in November.

The bill now goes to the House where it is guaranteed to pass.

This is an excellent victory. But the game isn't over yet even after the governor signs it. No doubt opponents will start a petition drive to repeal this law.

And we still have the situations in New Hampshire and Maryland to deal with.

In New Hampshire, the legislature there may vote to repeal its marriage equality law. The governor there said he would veto this bill and there may or may not be enough votes to override the veto there.

In Maryland, there is another attempt to pass a law for marriage equality and just like last year when the attempt failed, the vote will be close.

Still for now, let's rejoice in this. Slowly but surely the arc of justice does bend our way.

For more in-depth details from the Associated Press, go here.