The hidden story behind the Truth4Time controversy

Just a recap of probably the wildest week on my blog. It began Monday with the following post:

Part 1 - The post that started it all

Secret religious right Facebook group plotting cyber attack on gay community

A little background - I had received some information a while back that there was a secret Facebook group, Truth4Time, comprised of members of the religious right. A member of the group sent me screenshots of members, the venomous things they were saying about the lgbtq community, and also plans they were making, including the following two:

It was these two ideas, coupled with the members of the group which caught my attention and convinced me that someone needed to post something on this.  I was intimidated by this information because I knew it had the potential to be a big story. I told no one about this but one individual who I trusted - and continue to trust - immensely.

I was also concerned about one thing - reprisal. There were private individuals who were involved with this group as well as public figures. So when I finally decided to post on it, my original goal was to focus on the fact that this group existed, that there were plans out there to disrupt the gay community, and that there were some religious right bigwigs as members. But I wasn't going to be so eager to name names. I had another concern also, but I will get into that later.

Needless to say, the story exploded in a way I didn't expect. I had a feeling that the reponse would be huge, but had no idea just how huge it would be.

I got a lot of praise, but I also got a lot of negative feedback. Many were angry that I wasn't revealing names. One particular wannabe activist - who shall be named  the TOAD - claimed that I faked the entire thing to garner attention for my blog.

Then things got interesting.

Part 2 - Michelangelo Signorile comes calling

Legendary gay activist Michelangelo Signorile contacted me to do a radio interview and asked would I be interested in at least two names. At that time, I was thinking "what the hell." I am more comfortable with the idea provided that the folks  I revealed were public figures, rather than private figures.

And the interview was wild. Needless to say, I revealed more than two names, including Oklahoma legislator Sally Kern, Peter LaBarbera, Bradlee Dean, Matt Barber, Scott Lively, Jennifer Morse, Maggie Gallagher, Brian Brown, Phyllis Schafly , and several other religious right public figures:



Phase 3 - The story goes into orbit

The next day, I realize just how much of an effect the interview had when I looked at the Huffington Post and realized that it was the leading article of the Gay Voices section.

That's when folks in the Truth4Time group began to respond.  Small free member, mind you.  I knew that no one like Maggie Gallagher or Bradlee Dean would talk about this group. A supposed Christian radio show host, Stacy Harp spent over 30 minutes of her show declaring me a "nothing" and claiming that I was pushing a bad conspiracy theory. Of course the irony that if I were truly a "nothing" spinning a conspiracy theory, why did she need to spend 30 minutes of her show stating those things was something she conveniently didn't mention.

An administrator of Truth4Time, Michael Brown spun the same talking points in an addendum added to the Huffington Post article - i.e. this was not a big deal, I was misrepresenting the group and its members, the pieces I posted talking about getting pro-gay pages kicked off of Facebook as well as jamming pro-gay pages and bombarding school boards and physicians' offices with inaccurate and negative information about the gay community were mere "suggestions."

He managed to stretch that nonsense in a longer column on the conservative Town Hall where he compared my original post to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the legendary fraudulent document which claimed that members of the Jewish community were plotting to take over the world.

The irony was that very few people - except Brown's supporters - were actually believing his explanation. Many of us lgbtqs have been around the block too many times with the religious right to fall for their explanations when they are trying to pull some nonsense.

The larger irony was that Brown's insistence in talking about the story only generated more interest for it. Gradually, his attempts to quell the story actually led to more people reading and believing my article.

That's not to say that there were some gays who didn't take his side. The TOAD (who I alluded to earlier) went from accusing me of lying about the charges to taking Brown's side. At this point, I should tell you that the TOAD only did what he did because he has a personal grudge against me . . . and a martyr complex the size of the planet of Jupiter.

4. What would I have done differently - Not a thing. You see, the weekend before I published the post, I gave it some heavy thought, AND heavy prayer. I had a lot of trepidations about revealing names for more reasons than the ones list above. When I calmed down mentally and realized that there would be nothing wrong with revealing public names, I was still reticent when it came to private figures.

I'm still not clear whether or not I would have been in the right legally to reveal private names, but I do know what could have happened. There was a lot of anger from this story. What if one of us had recognized one of the names and proceeded to boycott their business, or conduct a writing campaign against them.

Then the story "Radical homosexual activists attack Christians for merely expressing their opinion on Facebook" would have been the talking point of the religious right.

The basic essence of this story - the fact that a secret Facebook group was plotting mischief against the gay community - would have been lost because the religious right is skilled at generating fake crap. When something like this happens, some of us, in the name of righteous indignation, play into the hands of the religious right. And in our "righteous indignation, we forget that we are dealing with moneyed, skilled individuals who can take a pound of mud, peddle it as ice cream, and get a face time in the media who will not call them out for lying.

The possibility that my story could have taken a huge detour in a direction which would work against the lgbtq community was a HUGE concern of mine.

But as it is, God answers prayers. I consider my article a win. The basic gist of my story was not lost or obscured.  The religious right ended up in a rare position of playing defense - rather badly. And it turned out to be a significantly large chink in their armor of lies.

And it was fuuuuuun!

Know Your LGBT History - Venus Xtravaganza

I am featuring a rather sad edition of Know Your LGBT History



From Wikipedia:

Venus Xtravaganza (died 1988) was a transgender American saving up money for sex reassignment surgery while earning a living as a prostitute in New York City. Venus Xtravaganza came to national attention appearing in Jennie Livingston's Paris Is Burning, a 1990 documentary film about New York City ball culture. The story of her life as a transgender person living in New York City and subsequent murder form a story arc within the film. Venus was featured on the original 1990 theatrical release poster in for the film.
Born to an Italian American family, she took the female name Venus in her early teens. As is the tradition of the gay ball culture, she took the name Xtravaganza upon becoming a member of the House of Xtravaganza in 1983. The house, like similar houses, is named in the style of European fashion houses (e.g. House of Chanel) and is an affiliation of young drag queens, transgender and gay youth who have come together around the underground Harlem drag ball scene.

In Paris Is Burning, she says she wanted to be "a spoiled, rich, white girl living in the suburbs." ^[1] She shares a story of her time as a prostitute where one of her clients became enraged upon the discovery that Venus was not a cissexual woman. Venus fled through a window and, fearing for her life, claims to have left the prostitution business as a result, opting instead to work as an escort. On her life as a prostitute, she claims "If you're a married woman living in the suburbs, a regular woman, married to her husband...and she wants him to buy her a washer and dryer set, in order for him to buy that I'm sure she'd have to go to bed with him anyway - for him to get what he wants, for her to get what she wants. So in the long run, it all ends up the same way".

According to her transgender adopted House mother Angie Xtravaganza as told in the film, Venus Xtravaganza was found strangled and stuffed under a bed in a New York hotel room in 1988. Her body was discovered by a stranger four days after her death.

To me Venus was an awesome child with a lot of potential. She made bad choices and those choices subsequently caused her death. But she was led into those choices by an ignorant and uncaring world.

It's something we should all remember. We justifiably get shocked when we hear about our lgbtq brothers and sisters getting beaten up or murdered, but what about those whose spirits are slowly crushed by ugly words, nasty stares, and deliberate isolation? What about those who have the potential to change the world for the better but are never given the chance because of boot of the haters on their necks?

Venus was one and unfortunately she isn't the only one. Let's never forget to encourage each other every now and then.  Give a smile or a kind word to one of your lgbtq sisters you may see passing on the street. It doesn't matter whether you know them or not.

You would be surprised what good it could do.

Past Know Your LGBT History posts:

'15 African-American Clergy Oppose North Carolina's anti-family amendment' and other Friday midday news briefs

Meet The “Legal Experts” Supporting North Carolina’s Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment - Looks like the forces attempting to push that awful Amendment One in North Carolina have been caught lying about their "legal experts." It's not a new tactic. The National Organization for Marriage did it last year when attempting to keep marriage equality from coming to New York.

15 Interfaith African-American Clergy Oppose North Carolina’s Discriminatory Amendment - All of those folks who give the African-American community hell on the subject of marriage equality should pay attention. This is huge.

Maine's 'marriage protectors' fighting publicly; anyone else want popcorn? - Meanwhile, the folks attempting to keep marriage equality out of Maine are engaging in a knock down, dragged out fight . . . with each other.

‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill Sponsor Complains That His Bill Is Misunderstood - This explanation should be epic.

Awesome video makes excellent point about marriage equality and love

This video is from the UK and it makes the point regarding marriage equality better than a thousand words.




It's produced by Produced by the Coalition for Equal Marriage, a British marriage equality advocacy group.

Alright, you all can wipe your eyes now. Or is it just me.

NOM - Same-sex households and their children don't matter

Whether it meant to or not, the National Organization for Marriage just demonstrated how ugly they are when it comes to children living in same-sex households:



This what NOM's blog says about the matter:

Kalley Yanta of the Minnesota Marriage Minute explains why marriage should not be redefined because some same-sex couples are raising children:

"Very few same-sex couples are raising children. According to the Williams Institute, only 22% of same-sex couples are raising children. Many if not most of those couples involve children from a previous heterosexual relationship. The census bureau shows only 0.55% of all U.S. households are households of same-sex couples. Only 0.12% of U.S. households are same-sex couples raising children."

Yanta sums up the coldness of NOM's anti-marriage equality campaign beginning at 1:14 with this statement:

"Why should the definition of marriage that has served us so well be redefined for the 99.88 percent of households in order to accommodate the desires of the 0.12 percent?"

First let's get that question out of the way. Protecting same-sex families in no way redefines the marriages of heterosexual families. Nor does protecting same-sex families cause harm to heterosexual families.

I'm just struck by the basic callousness of Yanta's statement. I refuse to argue whether or not her points are accurate because it is irrelevant. It doesn't matter how many percentages of same-sex families raising children exist in America. Shouldn't these families be treated equally as heterosexual families?

Not according to Yanta and definitely not according to NOM. To hear them, since same-sex families are not as numerous as large as heterosexual families, they don't deserve protection under the law.

To Yanta and NOM, these families and their children don't matter. It's a contradiction of the statements  made by former NOM head Maggie Gallagher during a Congressional hearing last year. Remember when she said that "there are some gay people who are wonderful parents."

So Gallagher thinks that gays make wonderful parents, but according to her organization, they don't deserve protections for their partners and especially their children.

Is this the new Christian ethic in which we value families not by the love and support they give, but by the number of them exist?

It's an ugly thing to ponder, especially when one remembers the Biblical story of the lost sheep. According to the Gospels of Matthew (18:12–14) and Luke (15:3–7), Jesus told a story of a shepherd who left his flock to find one lost sheep because he cared about that one lost sheep as much as he cared about those 99 others.

The shepherd did not say "forget that sheep. It's just one and I have 99 others." No, the shepherd looked for that sheep until he found it.

The point is that we all have value, not by the number of us who may exist, but because we exist, period.

And that's a value which needs to be upheld. It doesn't matter how many same-sex families raising children exists in this country. They count just as much as heterosexual families raising children. And they should be treated with the same amount of fairness because it is the right thing to do.

A truly ethical and Christian organization would know this. But what does NOM know about true Christianity and true ethics?

No matter how much NOM tries to deceive us, the organization's mask seem to always fall off, showing its true ugly face.

'Romney catching hell for flip flops on gay issues' and other Thursday midday news briefs

Ebony finds gay religious Atlantan Darian Aaron - Don't let the National Organization for Marriage and their band of liars fool you. Many African-Americans support lgbtq equality and there are many African-American oriented magazines focusing on our issues. Ebony magazine is one of many.

FRC Slams Romney On Homocon Hire - Uh oh, Romney is in trouble part 1.

Tony Perkins, Gary Bauer Side with Bryan Fischer on Romney's Openly Gay Staffer - Uh oh. Romney is in trouble part 2.

GLAAD notes Romney's support for inclusive scouting (fittingly tying social conservatives' tummies in knots) - And part 3 - Romney once believed that the Boy Scouts should admit gays. That's what you get for being such a blatant flip flopper. But I still ain't a Romney supporter. Remember he did sign that ugly NOM pledge.

Fox’s Starnes Misinforms About Kansas Non-Discrimination Ordinance - Equality Matters catches a Fox pundit in a HUGE lie about a non-discrimination ordinance. And in other news, water is wet.

Attacks on Jay Bakker's family is not a Christian virtue

Jay Bakker

For anyone dumb enough to think that the American Family Association's One News Now is a Christian publication, today's articles should erase that notion.

The fake news publication is on a tear about the gay community. Let's look at two items.

In the article, EEOC's 'gross distortion' of Civil Rights Act, One News Now quotes the Liberty Counsel and Truth4Time member Matt Barber to make gross distortions regarding a recent case in which a transgender woman won a landmark case against discrimination. First the actual story courtesy of ABC news:

A Bay Area woman has won a landmark discrimination case in favor of transgender rights.

Mia Macy applied for a job at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms while she still identified herself as a man.

During the hiring process, Macy revealed that she was transitioning to life as a woman. Days later, the ATF said it eliminated the position. Macy later learned someone else was hired for that job.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled the former police officer had been discriminated because of her gender identity.

"It's important because every person from this point forward falls under that federal protection and that was something that maybe I had a part in," said Macy.

This is what Barber said the case would lead to:

"This ruling basically says that a Bible bookstore owner, for instance, could not turn away a homosexual, cross-dressing man, a man who likes to wear a miniskirt and lipstick -- this would protect that man from being denied a job at a Bible bookstore that holds sincerely held religious beliefs that are opposed to that individual's lifestyle," Barber explains.

That, according to the attorney, is another example of the Obama administration stomping on religious rights and "using the EEOC as his henchman to get the job done."

Barber isn't interested in discussing the case on its merits. He is only interested in inflaming fear by appealing to stereotypes about our transgender brothers and sisters.

But believe it or not, that article is merely a prelude to an attack which I found to be ugly, even for One News Now.

Jay Bakker, son of former televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, is himself an evangelist and, as far as I am concerned, a breath of fresh air from the preachers collecting gobs of money while simultaneously whining about being persecuted.

He is also a supporter of the gay community. He was in North Carolina recently holding a rally against that awful Amendment One. In an article, One News Now quoted Mark Creech, a supporter of Amendment One, to make a low attack on Bakker:

Rev. Mark Creech of the Christian Action League of North Carolina is not surprised by Bakker's "feel-good" stance that requires "no real holiness."

"It's unfortunate that, as a child, he was injured … by a lot of hypocrisy that he witnessed in the church, and I think he was also the innocent victim of forms of unjust religious condemnation that seriously, negatively impacted him and made him vulnerable to acceptance of a false message.

Creech is referring to the PTL scandal which took place over 20 years ago which led Bakker's father to serve time in jail for fraud.

I don't know what's worse - the fact that Creech felt the need to throw that mess up in Bakker's face (he was only a child when it all took place) or the fact that he tries to make his comments seem that of a concerned Christian.

Why was it necessary for Creech to make such a nasty dig at Bakker's family? At his father and his deceased mother (Tammy Faye Messner died of cancer in 2007)?

Bakker's father served his time and has returned to the ministry. His mother became a gay icon after spreading a message of love and self-acceptance. And I might point out that she had more Christian love and charity in one mascaraed eyelash than Creech has in his entire Bible thumping body.

Creech and One News Now epitomizes the phoniness of some American Christians and give adequate reasons why so many folks are abandoning the religion.

Who wants to be associated with such nasty hypocrites?