'Paris Hilton on tape saying extremely hateful things about gay men' and other Thursday midday news briefs

Paris Hilton Makes Homophobic Comments, Proclaims Most Gay Men 'Probably Have AIDS' - Paris Hilton is on tape saying some NASTY things about gay men in general. Let this be a lesson to our community. Stop falling over vapid celebrities and anointing them as our heroes just because they may pretend to support our causes. Our heroes should be everyday people from our community who rarely get the due they deserve. It is THESE people who deserve the spotlight.

 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' One-Year Repeal Anniversary: 25 Amazing Moments - Remember what the religious right said would happen if DADT was repealed? It's not hard to remember. They said the same things would happen if lgbt-inclusive hate crimes protection was passed. And now they are 0 for 2. The problem is that we have not brought it to anyone's attention. Lesson two for the gay community - when egg is face of the religious right, please broadcast it for the world to know.  

Televangelist Joel Osteen Did Not Choose To Be Straight, But Still Says Homosexuality Is A Choice - Televangelist Joel Osteen caught in a contradiction. Will he pray about it? Doubtful.

 Blackwell: Obama Administration 'An Active Participant' in Labeling Conservatives 'As Haters and Bigots' - I PERSONALLY resent that seeing that I have been an active participant in labeling some conservatives as "bigots and haters." Hey, if the shoe fits.

 Broward County Schools in South Florida First in Nation to Recognize LGBT History Month - Awesome news! 

FRC's Tony Perkins should keep talking about the 'hate group' label

The way Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council is milking that shooting at his organization's headquarters, pretty soon those who are gripped more by paranoia than good sense are going to start to believe that FRC itself was actually behind it.

Ever since the awful incident, Perkins has been exploiting it to attack the Southern Poverty Law Center as supposedly the reason why that demented young man tried to shoot down FRC employees.

Perkins' latest bit of nonsense comes at the right place for such trash, Fox News' online site. The following is a snippet:

 . . . a gay-rights activist entered the building of our organization, Family Research Council (FRC), where he told our operations manager that he objected to our politics and opened fire with a handgun. Our political beliefs reflect our Christian faith. This comes in the context of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) designating FRC a “certified hate group” because of our biblically-based beliefs regarding marriage and human sexuality. We encourage love and respect for all people including those seeking to redefine marriage, and we have made clear we abhor and reject all violence directed against anyone for their sexual behavior.

 . . . This war of words launched by the SPLC as cover for its allied organizations on the left has led to an open assault upon those with whom they disagree. This type of demonizing must stop. FRC’s belief in marriage has prevailed in 32 states where the voters have spoken, is the official position of the Republican Party, and until three months ago was Mr. Obama’s position. If the religious foundation of our convictions makes us a “hate group,” then every other Christian ministry or historically orthodox church could be likewise designated. SPLC’s tactics are intended to intimidate and ultimately silence. Nothing could be more threatening to the future of our republic.

So now FRC is labeling that young man as a "gay rights activist," which is a deliberate attempt to connect his deplorable actions to the gay community at large.

But more importantly - and I don't want to sound gleeful here - Perkins continues to mess himself up. As has been stated numerous times, SPLC did not label FRC as a hate group because of the organization's supposed Christian beliefs or because it does not agree with marriage equality.

FRC is a hate group because it deliberately demonizes and spreads untrue propaganda about gays in order to create an image that the gay community is a detrimental harm to American society.  The way Perkins is messing himself up is thusly - every time he comes out in public with his lies, every time he speaks or publishes an op-ed which misstates the truth about FRC's hate group designation, enterprising bloggers (like yours truly)  produces footage which exposes him to be a liar, like such:



So as much as I hate to say this, keep talking, Tony. And we will keep pumping out the videos.

Maryland online store exploits African-Americans, babies, and slavery to promote homophobia

Remember the tactics of those who defeated the marriage equality bill in Maine in 2009? In case you forget, remember this snippet of the documentary Question 1. It features Marc Mutty, the head of the campaign to stop marriage equality in Maine talking about how the dishonest fear tactics regarding children that his side used:

:

 I bring up this point because there is now a fight regarding a law allowing marriage equality in Maryland. It's up for referendum in November and the folks fighting it are using the same tactics, but with a twist with attention to the Maryland's African-American population:

 According to Jeremy Hooper, this lovely snippet comes from an online store, Jump the Broom for Marriage, which sells all of the anti-marriage equality in Maryland apparel one would need.

Jeremy posted two examples on his blog but I refused to post them on mine. Ugly mess.

One could easily guess that the postcard above is a combination of the National Organization for Marriage's two plans of driving a wedge between the gay and African-American community on the subject of marriage equality and exploiting fear about children and gays espoused by the organization's strategist Frank Schubert (spoiler alert - who has a sister raising a child in a same-sex household).

And it gets worse. In using the name "Jump the Broom," this site also exploits African-American tradition. In the days of slavery, African-Americans could not legally marry so they would have a ceremony in which the couple would signify their commitment to each other.

How much do you want to bet that NOM is behind this online store?

'Chick-Fil-A retreating from anti-gay position, 'girly-men' in the White House?' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

PRESS RELEASE - Chick-fil-A Ceases Anti-gay Donations, Clarifies Stance on Gay Customers & Employees - When this was first pointed out to me, I said that I don't believe it. But looks legit (FOR NOW), plus NOM seems to be backtracking a bit from its support of Chick-Fil-A.  

GOP Congressional Candidate Says Mideast Turmoil Is Because Of ‘Girly Men’ In The White House - Excuse the %^$!@#! out of me!

What Do Student Attendees Have To Say About NOM’s Anti-Gay Summer Conference? - Interesting fallout from Carlos Maza's expose on NOM's anti-gay conference.

 Washington DC 'Transgender And Gender Identity Respect' Campaign Launched - Awesome and groundbreaking!

George Will doesn't know the difference between gay sex and a gay relationship

George Will

George Will, the esteemed Pulitzer Prize winning conservative columnist, has been lauded for his prose on several subjects.

However, in the case of gay equality, he is woefully ignorant.

In a recent piece, he recounts the story of the New Mexico photographer who refused to take pictures of a same-sex wedding. Vanessa Willock successfully sued Elane Photography for refusing to photograph her same-sex wedding.

Now this case has caused a lot of controversy with even some gay advocates thinking that Elane Photography should be allowed to refuse customers.

Naturally, Will is in the corner of Elane Photography and that doesn't bother me. It is this portion near the end of his piece which disturbed me:

The Huguenin case demonstrates how advocates of tolerance become tyrannical. First, a disputed behavior, such as sexual activities between people of the same sex, is declared so personal and intimate that government should have no jurisdiction over it. Then, having won recognition of what Louis Brandeis, a pioneer of the privacy right, called “the right to be let alone,” some who have benefited from this achievement assert a right not to let other people alone. It is the right to coerce anyone who disapproves of the now-protected behavior into acting as though they approve of it, or at least into not acting on their disapproval. So, in the name of tolerance, government declares intolerable individuals such as the Huguenins, who disapprove of a certain behavior but ask only to be let alone in their quiet disapproval. Perhaps advocates of gay rights should begin to restrain the bullies in their ranks. 

So to Will, this case is about Willock "forcing" Elane Photography to recognize her "sexual behavior." It's a conclusion which left me scratching my head and wondering just when did we start talking about sexual intercourse rather than taking pictures of a wedding? As far as I am concerned, that's a huge problem.

 And it's not the only problem. Will epitomizes two concept that so many folks have when it comes to gay equality - concepts that drive me batty:

1. Gays are like whimpering dogs begging heterosexuals to tolerate us or leave us alone. People like Will batter the gay community with that "tolerance" semantic constantly. "You people are always talking about tolerance," they say, "but you can't tolerate that others don't like your lifestyle."  Tolerance is something you give to your dog after he accidentally urinates on the rug because he is your pet and therefore is dependent on you.

Too many folks think of gays as pets, i.e. that our lives are dependent on getting them to accept us. Not necessarily. Our lives are consumed with ordinary things - working, paying taxes, taking care of our families. We just don't want people like Will interrupting our normal flow based upon their ignorance. Nor do we want them to interpret the law in a way which would diminish our rights as Americans.

2. Which brings me to my second point.Why do people like Will conflate so many parts of our lives to a sex act. Willock wanted pictures taken of her wedding, not intercourse with her partner. Will's belief that this is all about "sexual activities" is the heart of so much ignorance about our lives.

Will is a married man so I know that he wouldn't appreciate someone diminishing the relationship between he and his wife to what they may or may not do in the bedroom. But yet, he sees no problem with doing that to gay couples.

I think at the heart this controversy is the fact that the lives of lgbtqs are about more than sex acts. We are talking about relationships and love, the raising of families, and the caring of our loved ones.

The irony is that while folks like Will claim that we can't move past the physical aspects of being gay, it is obvious that they neither can or want to.

Religious right continues to attack murdered ambassador

There seems to be this idea amongst religious right evangelicals that their religious freedoms are in danger. It's a lie, of course.

However, there is a huge number of people who have a serious problem with Christianity and it doesn't have a thing to do with their personal beliefs, i.e. atheism, but rather the actions of some people who call themselves Christians or those who consider themselves spokespeople of the evangelical right.

While they call themselves "Christians" and claim to stand for God, their actions are extremely unsavory.

Yesterday, I blogged about how some conservatives and religious right members were spreading ugly lies about Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was recently murdered due to an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

They were saying that he was openly gay, deliberately sent to Libya by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, and that his corpse was sodomized.

Michelangelo Signorile refuted these lies, but leave it to Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association to repeat them:



The saddest part about Fischer's lie is no matter how many times it will be refuted, he will continue to repeat it.

'House Republican wants to reinstate DADT' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Top House Republican Supports Reinstating ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ If GOP Wins In November - The repeal has been incredibly successful but Rep. Jordan wants to turn it back. Oh sure, he isn't homophobic. Not at all.  

Focus On The Family: There Are ‘A Variety Of Roads Into Homosexuality’ - Any chance that I can steer Nate Torrence, Dov Tiefenbach, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rainn Wilson, Noel Fischer, Rob Kardashian, or Jackie Earle Haley on any of those roads?

 Star Parker Warns Republicans to Speak Out Against Gay Rights or Lose God's Blessing - Forget not giving people good healthcare, not solving our problem with the homeless or hunger in America. Accepting marriage equality will be THE THING which will make God ever so pissed at this country.  

Yunel Escobar Homophobic Eye-Black Message: MLB Investigates Blue Jays SS For Gay Slur (PHOTO) - Oh Good Lord!

  Conversations I Don't Want to Have With My Son - Extremely poignant piece from a supportive mother.