Equality Forum gives sneak peek of LGBT History Month honorees

October is LGBT History Month. The following is a sneak peek at those who have been chosen for spotlights, including a controversial pick. Can you guess who it is? Visit www.lgbthistorymonth.com for more information.

Why gays and lesbians should pity Bryan Fischer while denouncing him

Bryan Fischer

Last week, gay activist Michelangelo Signorile conducted an interview with homophobic firebrand Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association.

Fischer is infamous for negative comments about the gay community and anyone else who doesn't fit his idea of normalcy.

One portion of the interview came across as sad to me and I will tell you why after featuring it:

Regarding his frequently railing against gay men and making unsubstantiated connections to pedophilia, Fischer bristled when it was pointed out to him that every major medical and mental health group, such as the American Psychological Association, rejects such a connection.

“I disagree with the assessment that there’s no solid social science research behind the connection between homosexuality and pedophilia,” he countered, without referring to any studies specifically on homosexuality and pedophilia. “I believe the research is strong. I believe it is impeccable.”

Fischer then began to quote from this year's controversial Mark Regnerus study on gay-parenting, which was recently determined to be severely flawed in an audit by the very journal that published it. When that was pointed out him, he scoffed that “political pressure” caused the journal to criticize the study.

“That’s a homosexual act,” he said in describing a male pedophile molesting a male child, though studies have refuted any connection between homosexuality and pedophilia and social scientists note that most pedophiles do not have an adult sexual orientation and will often choose either gender in children they molest. “Because it’s a sexual act with someone of the same gender -- there’s no escaping that.”

Asked why he demonizes male homosexuality as dangerous because gay men are at high risk for HIV but rarely mentions lesbians, who are perhaps the lowest risk group for HIV infection (and thus it would negate his claims that homosexuality is medically risky and dangerous), Fisher claimed "lesbian behavior” is associated with medical risks too.

“Well, if you look at the Gay and Lesbian Medial Association web site,” he said. “This is the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association -- not an arm of the [Family Research Council] or [the American Family Association] or the vast right-wing conspiracy -- they identify ten specific medical risks for women who are engaged in lesbian behavior. And one of them is breast cancer and gynecological cancer. And this is the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association -- that’s not me saying that. That’s the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association saying that.”

But as renowned breast cancer specialist Dr. Susan Love has pointed out, "This has nothing to do with being a lesbian per se. Rather, it stems from the idea that lesbians are more likely to have some of the known risk factors for breast cancer: late first pregnancy or no pregnancy and obesity." When it was explained to Fischer that a possible higher incidence in breast cancer among lesbians may have to do with the fact that some studies suggest a higher incidence of breast cancer among women who do not breast feed, and that many lesbians do not have children (and thus straight women who don’t have children or don't breast feed might have an equally higher incidence of breast cancer), Fischer dismisses the fact that a possible higher incidence would have nothing to do with sexual orientation itself.

“Right, but nevertheless, the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association says, ‘Look, here are the risks, medical risks among lesbians that are higher than the general population,'" he repeated. "So I’m willing to take their word for it.”

The irony of Fischer citing the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association to cite anything regarding the gay and lesbian community is enormous.

As it is, he is not the first member of the religious right to cite the GMLA as an inaccurate way to demonize the lgbt orientation.

Two years ago, the Family Research Council's Peter Sprigg used the organization's work to attack the gay community even to the point of deliberately omitting parts of that work which placed the blame on homophobia for negative health behavior in the gay community.

While Fischer isn't as egregiously deceptive as Sprigg, he is just as stubborn. He claims that he is willing to take the GMLA's word on lesbian health, but I doubt he would take the following observations from GMLA  about the lesbian population as truth:

Depression/Anxiety
Lesbians may experience chronic stress from discrimination. This stress is worse for women who need to hide their orientation as well as for lesbians who have lost important emotional support because of their orientation. Living with this stress can cause depression and anxiety.

Substance Use
Lesbians may use drugs more often than heterosexual women. This can be due to stress from homophobia, sexism, and/or discrimination. Lesbians need support to find healthy ways to cope and reduce stress.

If confronted with these facts, how long would it take for Fischer to denounce the GLMA? Probably within seconds. And that's why we should pity Fischer.

He's not an intelligent person. Bryan Fischer is just a silly old man with a radio show, an extreme bastardization of the Andy Warhol saying that in the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.

Fischer is stubborn even to the point of putting his fingers in his ears and making loud noises when confronted with the the truth about his inaccurate claims. He's a regular Grandpa Simpson on crack.

Of course this isn't to say that we should totally ignore Fischer. It's to say that Fischer doesn't deserve the anger he elicits from the gay community. What he deserves is mockery, pity, and whenever necessary, scapegoating.

Instead of blowing our tops at him, the gay community would be wise to point him out as one of the real faces of the religious right; a face of fear, bigotry, and lies which cannot be covered up by a plastic mask of religious piety.

Chuck Norris: 'Vote or Obama will GET YOU!'

I'm feeling extremely snarky tonight because of my desire to dropkick some sorry twink who claimed that "not many people are interested in the work that I do," i.e. my blog.

But to have slugged him would have been counterproductive and would have broken my nails, so I am going to take it out on my old friend, Chuck Norris.

I gave Chuck Norris hell earlier this year because of a lying column he wrote which defended foreign countries that persecute gays.

This video he made with his second wife,Gena O'Kelley, belongs in the comedy section of youtube.

In it, the two are talking sounding the old, broken down, overused claim of "our country is at a tipping point and will be destroyed if we don't make the right choices."

Now the two doesn't go into detail about what freedoms will be taken away, nor do they implicitly accuse Obama of being the one who will take the freedoms away.

But you just know what they are implying.

There is more hysteria in this video than in a Friday cliffhanger of Young and the Restless:

Wayne Besen has a fiery debate with anti-gay activist

Truth Wins Out's Wayne Besen recently had a debate on the David Pakman show with anti-gay activist Michael Brown.

I think Wayne did rather well. The debate was over skype and his nervousness showed, but he definitely came with his A-game.

Brown, per usual, came with his "aw shucks" facade:

KNOW Your LGBT History - William 'Billy' Haines and Jimmy Shields

We all know about the openly gay actors of today like Neil Patrick Harris, Jim Parsons, Chris Colfer, etc.

But what about the openly gay actors who came before them? Yes, there were some openly gay actors - AND directors - in Hollywood at a time in which the lgbtq community wasn't as out of the closet as we are now.

Today, I want to focus on William "Billy" Haines, who gave up his career instead of staying in the closet, and the love of his life, Jimmy Shields:

Charles William "Billy" Haines was an American film actor and interior designer. He was a star of the silent era until the 1930s, when Haines' career was cut short by MGM Studios due to his refusal to deny his homosexuality. Haines never returned to film and instead started a successful interior design business with his life partner and was supported by friends in Hollywood.

Haines and his partner, Jimmy Shields, began a successful dual career as interior designers and antique dealers. Among their early clients were friends such as Joan Crawford, Gloria Swanson, Carole Lombard, Marion Davies and George Cukor. Their lives were disrupted in 1936 when members of the Ku Klux Klan dragged the two men from their home and beat them, because a neighbor had accused the two of propositioning his son. Crawford, along with other stars such as Claudette Colbert, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Kay Francis, and Charles Boyer urged the men to report this to the police. Marion Davies asked her lover William Randolph Hearst to use his influence to ensure the neighbors were prosecuted to the full extent of the law, but ultimately Haines and Shields chose not to report the incident.

The couple finally settled into the Hollywood community in Brentwood, and their business prospered until their retirement in the early 1970s, except for a brief interruption when Haines served in World War II. Their long list of clients included Betsy Bloomingdale, Ronald and Nancy Reagan when Reagan was governor of California, and Walter and Leonore Annenberg with their 240-acre (0.97 km2) estate "Sunnylands."

Haines and Shields remained together until Haines' death. Joan Crawford described them as "the happiest married couple in Hollywood."

Haines died from lung cancer in Santa Monica, California at the age of 73, a week short of his 74th birthday, which was on the new year of 1974. Soon afterward, Shields, who suffered from what many believe to be Alzheimer's Disease, put on Haines' pajamas, took an overdose of pills, and crawled into their bed to die. They were interred side by side in Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery.

It's been said that Shields left a short suicide note. It read:

"It's no good without Billy."

So the next time someone tells you about how gays and lesbians don't believe in the concept of  love, remember Billy and Jimmy.


Past Know Your LGBT History posts:

Religous right - the 49ers are wrong for helping bullied gay children

 Editor's note - The midday news briefs will be preempted because I have a doctor's appointment. I'm going to see if I can get some of those meds that Clint Eastwood was obviously on last night.

Recently, the San Francisco 49ers made a video speaking out against the bullying of gay teens.

You just KNEW someone from the religious right was going to speak negatively about it:

Larry Jacobs, managing director of the World Congress of Families, tells OneNewsNow why he has a problem with this.

"The problem with the 'It Gets Better' campaign is that it, again, is special rights -- singling out a particular group that is no more harmed than any other groups, and really singling them out for special attention and special rights, special things that should also be shared with lots of other people that are being bullied," he contends. "It really is, again, another example of money and resources being given to a special class, a group of people, and discriminating against many others who are being bullied."

Jacobs seems to want folks to engage in a game of pitting categories of bullied youths against one another.  I refuse to be defensive. In making the video, the 49ers weren't placing gay teens above any other bullied group.

That's like saying when you give money to fight breast cancer, you are saying that people suffering from other forms of cancer don't matter. It's an argument that doesn't wash.

The way I see it is this -  the bullying of children for any reason is a problem and whatever anyone can do to combat this problem - however large or small - should  be applauded, encouraged, and complimented.

That being said, if Jacobs feels that attention should be paid to other victims of bullying, then perhaps he get his organization to do something on their behalf.

That is if he can pull himself away from attacking the 49ers and bullied gay youth.

BTW here is the video that Jacobs is speaking of:

Hate group spokesman claims gays are responsible for Hurricane Issac

Don't be shocked by this courtesy of Right-Wing Watch:

American Family Association's Buster Wilson, who is the general manager of their radio network, is blaming Hurricane Isaac on the city of New Orleans for hosting Southern Decadence, the annual LGBT festival. Wilson joins other pastors in linking the festival to natural disasters which hit New Orleans in the past:

It shouldn't suprise anyone that the American Family Association has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.