Surprise! The religious right actually don't believe in religious liberty!

UPDATE - I call it hypocrisy but whatever it is, it worked for the anti-gay right. World Vision has reversed its decision.

When World Vision, a Christian ministry, made the recent decision to employ Christians married in gay relationships, I knew the blow back would be hostile amongst religious right groups.

But from how some anti-gay groups are describing this decision, one would think God is going to unleash all of the 10 plagues of Egypt at the same time:

And then:

Last, but certainly not least, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council:

 This isn't neutrality -- it's open rebellion. If we're going to follow Christ, we need to follow Him in every aspect -- including the biblical design for the family. And while there are several areas of Scripture that are open to interpretation, this isn't one of them. "Children," writes The Gospel Coalition's Trevin Wax, "are the ones who suffer when organizations like World Vision, under the guise of neutrality, adopt policies that enshrine a false definition of marriage in the very statement that says no position will be taken.

I have one question. Wasn't World Vision's decision an act of "religious liberty?" Wasn't it an act of a religious body being able to make its own decision without being cajoled, but according to its conscience and deeply held personal beliefs?

So what's with all of the cries of doom and cataclysm? What's with the weeping and gnashing of teeth? Don't get me wrong. I can understand how some folks may disagree with World Vision's decision, but after all of the fuss they created in attempting to enshrine anti-gay discrimination under the banner of "religious liberty," anti-gay groups and spokespeople are coming across as highly hypocritical.

The least they could have done was to say "we don't agree with this but in the spirit of religious liberty, we respect the decision of World Vision."

Instead, we get this talk of Satan, and the "mark of the beast," and inferences of open rebellion against 'God's plan."

Of course that last inference has always been hilarious to me because every time I hear anti-gay personalities speaking it, I take to scanning the Bible. To this day, I have yet to find a passage saying that God has appointed them as his moral squad.

What this ridiculous non-controversy proves is something we always knew. Anti-gay groups don't really believe in religious liberty. They believe in religious liberty for themselves and those who believe as they do, but with that belief comes another belief that their interpretations of Scriptures and the decisions they make in accordance to these interpretations are the only ones which matter.

That has nothing to do with religious liberty but everything to do with being selfish and self-righteous - two very un-Christian qualities to possess.

How to answer an insulting statement on marriage equality

I don't know what program this is, but it sounds like something from Great Britain. At any rate, the older woman claims, in an insulting tone, about how marriage equality will hijack her marriage. While it's easy to allow yourself to get angry when people make statements like this, remember that when folks like Brian Brown says things like this, they want you to get angry so they can play the victim. We should remember that our answers need to be not out of anger, but firmly committed to our relationships and common sense, just like the young lady debating her and a member of the audience:

'Anti-gay reporter meets personality who spooks even HIM' and other Tuesday news briefs

Due to a family funeral today, there will be no midday news briefs. Hopefully these news briefs will tide you over:

Todd Starnes

 Credit Where Due: Todd Starnes Ends Interview With End Times Fanatic Rick Wiles - File this under bizarre. Anti-gay writer Todd Starnes meets another anti-gay personality who scares even HIM. Two amazing things happen during this interview. Starnes abruptly ends the interview and I give him props for the dignity he handles the situation. I suspect that second thing won't be happening any time again soon.

 Fox News Still Uses "Homosexual" To Describe Gay People - Fox News would make cake and ice cream sound vulgar.  

World Vision, One Of Country’s Largest Christian Charities, Will Now Hire Married Gay Christians - Well this ought to be interesting. 

Ellen Page Tweets Response To Message From Anti-Gay Pastor - Sweet!

Why Affirming Bisexuality Is A Public Health Concern - Because bisexuals exist and have to deal with a huge amount of stereotypes, particularly involving promiscuity.

Michigan, Mark Regnerus, and John Boehner prove that the going rate for homophobia is over $4 million

Regnerus

University of Texas (Austin)  professor Mark Regnerus and all of the other so-called experts called by the state of Michigan to defend its ban on marriage equality was humiliated during the judicial overturning of that law but I wouldn't worry about their feelings.

As it turns out, they were all well compensated. According to LGBTQNation:

The state of Michigan says it has spent $40,000 on witnesses who testified as experts at a recent trial on same-sex marriage. The state has paid $39,478.75 to experts, and some additional bills “have not yet been sent in,” Joy Yearout, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Bill Schuette, told The Associated Press.

Let's put Michigan's waste of $40,000 in a larger perspective.

Regnerus had already received $90,000 from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and $695,000 from the Witherspoon Institute to fund his now discredited study on gay parenting.  The study was an attempt to sway the Supreme Court in the DOMA and Prop 8 cases and it failed miserably.

Regnerus continued to say that his work was objective, but according to the Huffington Post and the American Independent:

 . . . documents, recently obtained through public-records requests by The American Independent and published in collaboration with The Huffington Post, show that the Witherspoon Institute recruited a professor from a major university to carry out a study that was designed to manipulate public policy. In communicating with donors about the research project, Witherspoon’s president clearly expected results unfavorable to the gay-marriage movement. The think tank’s efforts paid off. The New Family Structures Study came out just in time for opponents of gay marriage to cite it in multiple federal cases involving marriage equality – including two cases soon to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Speaking of which, Speaker of the House John Boehner spent $2.3 million of taxpayers' money in the failed attempt to defend DOMA. Of course this is the same man who won't help pass a bill giving unemployment benefits to Americans out of work, but that's another "pot of potatoes."

'Anti-gay right turns on Chick-Fil-A' and other Monday midday news briefs

With the news that Chick-Fil-A president Dan Cathy claiming that his company has stepped back from the argument over marriage equality, anti-gay right groups and personalities are turning on him HARD:

Also:

Scott Lively: The Mark Of The Beast Now Looks Like A Chick-Fil-A Sandwich - Well if anyone would know about the "mark of the beast," it's that devil, Scott Lively.

 In other news:

 Read This One Document To Understand What The Christian Right Hopes To Gain From Hobby Lobby - A case you would think has nothing to do with lgbt equality does in fact have something to do with lgbt equality.  

Karen Adell Scot, California Teacher, Comes Out As Transgender - In past cases in which I have seen, having a transgender teacher does not harm children. But the parents freak out like it's the end of the world. I say keep the teacher and let's work on the parents.  

Obama Administration To Take Action In Response To Uganda’s Anti-Gay Law - And hopefully it's an action which will send a message that persecution of any stripe will not be tolerated.

Family Research Council desperate to smear Southern Poverty Law Center

Tony Perkins of FRC

In the midst of the happy news involving Michigan, I would it would be remiss of me to lose myself in the reverie that I forget what's going on in other places.

Most specifically, the Family Research Council - and an ally in Hawaii - is stepping up its program of revenge against the Southern Poverty Law Center.

 In 2010, SPLC named FRC as an anti-gay hate group for consistenly and deliberately launching inaccurate attacks against the lgbt community. Since then, FRC has been bouncing around several ways to answer the charges from claiming that pride to be called a hate group, to complaining that SPLC is attempting to censor them for their so-called Christian values and belief that "marriage is between a man a woman," to falsely linking the group to an awful near massacre at FRC headquarters(in which a deranged young man, Floyd Corkins, attempted to force his way in, shoot FRC employees, and stuff Chick-Fil-A sandwiches down their throats.

Now it would seem that FRC has settled down to one direct path - good old fashioned revenge.

Earlier this month, FRC began pushing a false story that supposedly SPLC was bribing Hawaii's teachers to participate in its Teaching Tolerance workshop. Initially, FRC complained about a stipend given to teachers who participated in the workshop.   However that complaint died when it was discovered that teachers were paid this stipend ($159) because the second day of the workshop was on a Saturday, when they would normally not be at work.

Judge hands Michigan lgbt community a HUGE victory on marriage and against junk science

Regnerus

In striking down the Michigan law against marriage equality, US District Judge Bernard Freeman actually handed the lgbt community two victories. First, from ABC News:

Michigan's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional, a federal judge said Friday as he struck down a law that was widely embraced by voters a decade ago — the latest in a recent series of decisions overturning similar prohibitions across the country.

U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman released his 31-page ruling exactly two weeks after a rare trial that mostly focused on the impact of same-sex parenting on children.

He noted that supporters of same-sex marriage believe the Michigan ban was at least partly the result of animosity toward gays and lesbians.

"Many Michigan residents have religious convictions whose principles govern the conduct of their daily lives and inform their own viewpoints about marriage," Friedman said. "Nonetheless, these views cannot strip other citizens of the guarantees of equal protection under the law."

The decision was filed shortly after 5 p.m. in Detroit, when most county clerk offices were closed. Clerks issue marriage licenses in Michigan.

Attorney General Bill Schuette said he would immediately ask a federal appeals court to freeze Friedman's decision and prevent same-sex couples from marrying while he appeals the case.

Now comes the part which has us wonky lgbts doing the "tootsie roll" while reading our twitter feeds. You will remember that during this trial, University of Texas (Austin) professor Mark Regnerus served as an "expert witness" for the state of Michigan.