Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Right tries to historically revise Stonewall Riot

Because of President Obama's inaugural speech, the famous Stonewall Riot of 1969 has officially taken its place as one of the great moments in American history.

However, some people have taken it upon themselves to demonize what exactly happened at that bar in 1969 to help spark the modern day gay rights movement even to the point of rewriting history.

Buster Wilson of the American Family Association inaccurately claims that Stonewall was a hotel full of homosexuals who got violent during a police raid (no doubt implying that the police found gays having all sorts of illegal sex):



Then there is Pat Buchanan (who once described AIDS as nature's retribution on gays). Now you would think that he gets it wrong. But (and I fainted when I heard him describe it), he actually kinda gets what Stonewall was right. He was wrong by calling it a barroom brawl, but he was right when he said the police were harassing gays and the gays stuck up for themselves:

 

But in all honesty, describing what happened at Stonewall, including the events which led up to it, belongs to those who were there. I think they should have precedent in telling the story:

 

'AFA cheers on Russia's attempt to criminalize homosexuality' and other Wednesday midday news briefs


AFA Headline Of The Day - From Joe Jervis comes something I saw this morning and it frankly got me nauseated. The American Family Association, via its phony news site One News Now, is cheering on Russia's efforts to "criminalize" homosexuality.  

Sadie, 11-Year-Old Transgender Girl, Writes Essay In Response To Obama's Inauguration Speech - This is so awesome that this child has the courage to not only come out but also to so such a positive thing when so many adults won't even get off their butts.  

Audio: You guys, stop hurting Tony and Tim's feelings. They just want to call you unnatural and deny you of rights—gah!- And THIS post is when I really wish the adage about lightning striking would prove true.  

Sandy Rios Mourns Obama's Inauguration and Equality for Non-Christians - Rios manages to attack Obama, those who practice religions other than Christianity, atheists, gays, and African-Americans all at the same time. Someone give her an award!

How many times can Bryan Fischer mention 'gay sex' during an Obama tirade?

I thought I had seen it all when it comes to members of the religious right using Obama's inauguration speech to reduce gay equality to something stupid about sexual intercourse.

I was wrong:



Bryan Fischer is not a researcher, he is not a medical doctor, nor is he a psychiatrist or a psychologist. Just who in the heck is he to call someone ignorant about homosexuality and the gay community?

And what's with this constant emphasis on the alleged sexual behavior of gay males?

It's like I said yesterday, when ordinary Americans think about gay couples, they generally see this:





But people like Bryan Fischer sees this:




 I'm not a psychiatrist either but if I were, I would probably be able to write a book on Fischer.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Obama's speech gives the religious right 'sodomy on the brain'

You gotta give the religious right credit for one thing - when they get a talking point, they hammer it to death.

To hell with truth. They seek to dominate the conversation by repetition.

With President Obama's mention of gay equality in his inaugural address, several groups are hammering the point home that the mention was not needed because "gays already have civil rights."

Of course this is a dumb point which is easily refutable - that is if lgbt groups such as GLAAD and HRC put out a press release in response (hint, hint, hint, guys)

But in pushing this talking point, several religious right figures can't help but push forward their bigotry. Take former Family Research Council head and religious right journeyman Gary Bauer for example:



And then there is Peter Sprigg from the Family Research Council during an interview this morning on CNN:

"We as social conservatives do not agree with the president’s attempt to link the modern homosexual movement with the women’s rights movement or the civil rights movement for African Americans,” Sprigg said. “The irony is that homosexuals already have all the same civil rights as anyone else.” Sprigg continued to say that "all sexual behavior" is not created equal, nor do "all personal relationships have an equal value to society at large, that serve the same public interests."

Obama didn't say a word about sexual intercourse in his speech.  But while ordinary Americans see the family below, they think "how ordinary and loving."


When people like Peter Sprigg and Gary Bauer look at the above photo, they see this:




Sprigg, Bauer, and those who support their madness can believe what they want, but it doesn't make what they believe as fact. And it certainly doesn't make what they believe a model this nation should follow.

'Tax dollars going to schools which bar gays' and other Tuesday midday news briefs


Backed by State Money, Georgia Scholarships Go to Schools Barring Gays - Uh excuse the @!# out of me!  

Peter Sprigg gets on CNN again; plays the victim—again #glaadcap - Peter Sprigg from the Family Research Council whines that President Obama has made "working together" impossible with yesterday's speech. Why in the hell would the President want to work with an anti-gay hate group?  

LGBT Group Petitions Fox News To Drop Its Transphobic Coverage - A noble pursuit, no doubt. 

Lewiston, Twin Falls, Id. ban sexual identity discrimination - Sweet!!

 Lively: 'True Human Rights Will be Finished' if the Gay Rights Movement Succeeds - That bigot gives me gas.

Brian Brown, NOM pouts over Obama's inauguration speech

Obama's speech yesterday is something else for Brown to cry about.
The National Organization for Marriage and its president, Brian Brown, recently released what I call a whiny statement voicing its anger over President Obama's support of marriage equality in his inauguration speech:

"Gay and lesbian people are already treated equally under the law," Brian Brown responded. "They have the same civil rights as anyone else; they have the right to live as they wish and love whom they choose. What they don’t have is the right to redefine marriage for all of society. In fact, six federal courts have rejected the idea that there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court in a summary decision in 1972. Furthermore, that vast majority of states have codified the commonsense view held for thousands of years that marriage is the union of a man and a woman. The President is profoundly wrong to imply that those who have acted to protect marriage have denied anyone's rights by doing so."

"A presidential inauguration should be a time for the nation to come together; instead President Obama chose to voice his support for a radical agenda advanced by some of his biggest campaign contributors to redefine marriage for everyone. Marriage brings our nation together. The concept of gay ‘marriage’ would have been totally alien to our founding fathers, and the protection and advancement of marriage between one man and one woman will immeasurably serve the common good of this country and further strengthen our Union. 

NOM wants to seem to be forever the victims. At no time did President Obama attack those who do not support marriage equality. Just like Tony Perkins and the FRC did yesterday, Brown and NOM falsely spins his inauguration speech to make it seem that he has declared war on those who oppose marriage equality. How ironic is it that NOM is angry at President Obama, seeing that the organization did all it could to get his opponent Mitt Romney elected.


Monday, January 21, 2013

Family Research Council pouts over Obama's inauguration speech

I guess it's safe to say that some members of the religious right are over any shock they have regarding President Obama linking gay equality with women's equality and the Civil Rights Movement during today's inauguration speech.

On his radio show today, FRC president Tony Perkins and FRC employee Kenneth Blackwell totally misrepresented President Obama's speech to make it seem that he personally called them out as bigots:



This is what President Obama said:

 "We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths -- that all of us are created equal -- is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall... It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law -- for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well."

 At no time did President Obama call out the Family Research Council or the rest of the groups who claim that they are "merely trying to preserve traditional marriage." I personally wouldn't have had a problem if he had because the way I see it, organizations like FRC and personalities like Blackwell and Perkins are in fact bigoted. How much so? Let the evidence speak for itself:



That clip was bad enough, but the following from last year involving Star Wars reveal the mindset of a man and a group obsessed with attacking gays. I hope no one informs Perkins that the seven little dwarfs lived together and shared a bedroom before Snow White showed up:

 

Hat tip to Jeremy Hooper.