Former Bush aide compares AZ 'religious freedom' law to past laws justifying slavery, war, and murder

Mark my words, if Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signs that awful anti-discriminatory bill, the backlash against Arizona will be immense. Former aide to President George Bush, Matthew Dowd spoke out this morning against the bill and he also had some very harsh words for anti-gay Christians:

“This is one of those problems when people use religion as a way to sort of enforce discriminatory practices,” he continued. “People used religion back in the 1860s when they defended slavery. They used religion to defend slavery. We’ve used religion to go to war. People have criticized Islam because they use religion to fight people and kill people. This is the problem with that [bill].”

Count the minutes before Fox News' Todd Starnes, Tony Perkins, and the rest of the anti-gay right start whining about being victims. Whatever the case may be, I never thought I would see the day when I am cheering on a former aide to President Bush.

Arizona proves it. Anti-gay groups have FINALLY gone too far

I am predicting it. In their zeal to hinder lgbt equality, anti-gay groups and their supporters have finally gone too far. The video above shows a protest in Arizona over the passage of that awful bill which would allow business to discriminate against lgbts on the grounds of "religious liberty." All it needs is Gov. Jan Brewer to sign it.

If she does, expect there to be a rocket-like attempt to push other bills throughout the nation. Granted, there is already a failed attempt going on, but if this particular bill becomes law in Arizona, it will give a sense of momentum to anti-gay groups.

And it will be a false momentum. If that bill becomes law in Arizona, not only will you see a raising of hell by the lgbt community at large to rival anything done in the past, but America in general will finally be able to see anti-gay groups without their masks of religious piety.

This country will finally see the face of hypocrisy that the lgbt community has known about too well. Granted, anti-gay groups will still have their supporters but they won't be able to fool unsuspecting Americans into thinking that they are Christian groups fighting for tradition and morality.

To many Americans, the pushing of Jim Crow-like legislation against the lgbt community will be their introduction to groups like the National Organization for Marriage and the Family Research Council. And these Americans will NOT like what they see.

So proceed at your own risks, guys.  The next move you make may begin your funeral dirges.

Know Your LGBT History - Gerry Studds

From the Huffington Post: 

 . . . if we asked you to name the first openly gay member of Congress, could you? Members of older generations may. But younger people -- including more than a dozen political operatives we tested -- could not. Perhaps that's because this story of coming out was so shrouded in scandal, so drenched in professional embarrassment, that its broader significance may forever be overshadowed.

This is the legacy of Gerry Studds, the long-serving Massachusetts Democrat who was, for those who followed his lead, every bit the historical figure as the first gay athlete, movie star and politician, but is best known as the congressman censured by his own colleagues in 1983 for a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old male congressional page.

"I think that people in politics and especially people like me who are in politics and lived through that will remember him as being a real hero, because he was willing to be first," said Richard Socarides, a longtime Democratic operative who served as an adviser to President Bill Clinton for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. "Even though he was forced into it a little bit by circumstances, I think that people think of him as a hero and someone we look up to and someone who was a trailblazer."

Looking back at Studds' story three decades later, Socarides and others marvel at the circumstances that surrounded it. Certainly, the congressman was chiefly responsible for the drama -- he admitted missteps, though insisted that his relationship with the page was consensual. But the turbulence that accompanied his coming out seems more like a relic of the past. Part of the reason Michael Sam's highly controlled outing portends a smooth breaking of NFL barriers, they argue, is because Studds forged the way. 

Read more about this remarkable Congressman here.

Past Know Your LGBT History Posts:

'Frenchie Davis speaks on schism between blacks & gays ' and other Friday midday news briefs

Michael Dunn verdict and the civil rights schism between blacks and gays - Former American Idol contestant and lgbt of color Frenchie Davis has gotten some in the lgbt community upset recently with her comments about the schism between blacks and gays. I for one support her comments, although I may not agree with the extreme direct way she says them. It's been a problem for a while because while we talk about homophobia in the black community, we also need to talk the inability to see the lgbt identity as a multi-ethnic one rather than one of a "white identity"  and the false impression that white lgbts are exploiting black folks. Unfortunately, the lgbt community plays a part in exacerbating this problem. 

Fox’s Erickson: Businesses That Serve Gay Couples Are “Aiding And Abetting” Sin - Erick Erickson is seen as an influential voice in the Republican Party. That comment wasn't a compliment to the Republican Party.  

Barber: 'There Is Nothing Conservative About Sodomy' - You have to pity someone who calls himself a "Christian" but can only see sexual intercourse when talking about the lgbt community. 

 Arizona House Advances ‘License To Discriminate’ Bill To Governor’s Desk - In case you don't know, Arizona needs to be spanked.

  How Is Discrimination a Religious Freedom? - Preeeeach! 

 Alabama High School Un-Bans Same-Sex Prom Couples After Outcry - Good news for our children!
 
College of Charleston responds to 'Fun Home' book controversy - I smell the Palmetto Family Council's hands all over this mess.

'Religious liberty' argument starts a nasty public feud at Fox News

This nonsense over "religious liberty" is having an interesting effect on Fox News, causing two of the network's personalities to engage in an ugly public twitter feud.

It stems from a column Kirsten Powers wrote earlier this week in the USAToday which showcased the fallacies of the "religious liberty" argument. Her piece elicited some vicious comments from another Fox News personality, Todd Starnes.

Powers answered back, challenging Starnes' assertion:

Starnes continued on his tirade, even making the following  self-effacing comments:

But it ends when Powers zings Starnes, making note of his history for playing face and loose with the truth:

So an unintended but positive consequence of this awful "religious liberty" argument is that it allowed Powers to expose Starnes as a self-righteous bully hiding behind Biblical Scriptures.

Hat tip to Equalitymatters.org
 

'Anti-gay hate group leaders to form 'super hate group'' and other Thursday midday news briefs

LaBarbera & Lively Form New Hate Group - Nauseating as hell. 'Porno Pete' LaBarbera of Americans for Truth and Scott Lively of Defend the Family International will be forming a "supergroup" entitled "the Coalition for Family Values, whose purpose is to unify and coordinate pro-family groups around the United States and the world to more effectively oppose the now-global LGBT agenda." And this group's first order of business to voice support for the Russian anti-lgbt laws and encourage other nations to follow Russia's example. You know, the laws which led to this climate:

 Further explained here:
 

And it's not just about Russia. Remember that Lively is also partly responsible for the homophobic madness in Uganda. He even bragged that he set off a "nuclear bomb in that country. Are you angry? Good. Now what do you do? First of all, tell the story of what's going on.  Make sure it is emblazoned in history. Don't talk about Russia without talking about Uganda or Nigeria, or the Gambia. This is a man-made crisis created by hate and evil and no amount of lies about "morality" and the "family" can bury that fact. That is IF we don't allow it to be buried. 

In other news:  

U.S. Weighs Response To Anti-Gay Bills In Uganda, Nigeria As Activists Say Washington Didn’t Do Enough - Unfortunately, no Washington didn't.

Mark Regnerus Claims Gay Marriage Will Lead Straight Men To Stray, Demand Anal Sex From Women - Mark Regnerus is turning to this century's version of the discredited researcher Paul Cameron who made pretty much the same claim decades ago. I hope that $800,00 Regnerus was paid to sell his integrity was worth it because now, Regnerus' legacy belongs to the lgbt community.  

Arizona Advances Bill Empowering Cult Leaders And Satan Worshipers With A ‘License To Discriminate’ - Ugh!

NOM's 2nd pro-discrimination march to coincide with Civil Rights Act's 50th anniv. - And of course NOM will have "bought-and-paid for" black folks at this march.

SC legislators using the budget to punish colleges for getting students to read about gays

Disclosure alert - one of the books,Out Loud: The Best of Rainbow Radio, has a piece I wrote on the deceptions and propaganda of the religious right. How very appropriate:

Smith

From WIS-TV:

South Carolina legislators want to punish two public colleges for assigning books on homosexuality to freshmen. The House budget-writing committee on Wednesday tentatively approved a spending plan for 2014-15 that would cut $52,000 from the College of Charleston and $17,142 from the University of South Carolina Upstate.

Last summer, the College of Charleston assigned the Alison Bechdel book, "Fun Home," to incoming freshmen. Bechdel's book describes her childhood with a closeted gay father and her own coming out as a lesbian.

USC Upstate assigned "Out Loud: The Best of Rainbow Radio," referring to South Carolina's first gay and lesbian radio show, for a required course for all freshmen, which included lectures and other out-of-classroom activities meant to spark discussions about the book. Social conservatives complained about the colleges' selections.

The proposed reductions in the budget equal what the colleges spent on the programs. Rep. Garry Smith said he made the proposal after college officials refused to give students an option to read something else. Making a point requires impacting colleges' wallets, he said.

"I understand diversity and academic freedom," said Smith, R-Simpsonville. "This is purely promotion of a lifestyle with no academic debate." He said he wouldn't oppose the books if they were part of an elective course, rather than a campus-wide requirement.
 
 . . .  The House Ways and Means Committee defeated by a vote of 13-10 an effort by Republican Rep. B.R. Skelton to restore the money. He argued such retribution is inappropriate.

 . . .  Democratic Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter said legislators have no right pushing their own personal beliefs onto colleges. Such censorship can set a troubling precedent, she said. She warned Republicans who voted against Skelton's amendment that the punishment could negatively affect the state's image and job recruitment efforts.

Since when does a legislator butt in class curriculum? Since when should a legislator use the power of a budget as if he or she is a dictator to demand what teachers should assign students to read based on some false argument of  "academic freedom" and "debate"   which is no doubt defined by said legislator?

And please don't lay that junk on me about "taxpayers' money." The last time I checked, lgbt South Carolinians also pay taxes. Make no mistake about it. This issue has NOTHING to do with forcing students to accept a lifestyle.That phrase is just made up junk propagated to make homophobia sound more palpable.   Nor does this issue have to do with "debate" or "academic freedom."

This issue is about a legislator misusing the power of his office. This issue is about yet another attempt to symbolically emblazon a symbolic scarlet S (as in "sinner") on the persons of lgbts. This issue is about yet another attempt to communicate to lgbts that  no matter who we are or how far we go in life, the self-worth of ourselves and our families (even if our families include children) should be reduced  to the false white-hot fevered, fumbling imaginations of sexual intercourse and misappropriated Biblical verses disguised as legitimate moral concerns.

It's all a bunch of bull.

Way to go, Rep. Smith for allowing the Palmetto State to be embarrassed again!