'Online booklet on nasty anti-gay propaganda nears one million hits' & Thursday midday news briefs

Barney Frank has his free copy. Get your free copy now.

Seeing that we are in the midst of the 4th of July celebrations and its a slow news day, I thought I would push a little self-promotion.

For over a year, I have driven you all crazy and I appreciate your patience and support but now we are almost at the end of one part of a journey.

My online booklet, How They See Us: Unmasking the Religious Right War on Gay America is less than 6,000 hits from reaching 1,000,000. It's a remarkable achievement fueled by all of the support I received from the netroots. Things have changed tremendously since January of last year when I published this booklet. Thanks to the recent Hobby Lobby decision, the anti-gay religious right is gaining traction with their bogus "religious freedom" argument. Of course we know the truth; that their "religious freedom" argument is another tactic in a long line of tactics and arguments going back decades whose goal is the demonization and stigmatization of lgbt individuals in order to deny us our God-granted right to equality.

If you haven't already, read this short, but graphics intensive booklet, which I consider a definitive history on anti-gay propaganda. Download it, and above all, PLEASE share it. Our desire for full equality is noble and true, but we have to deal with crafty enemies who shied their homophobic animus behind Scripture and the claim of "deeply held religious beliefs."  It's a lie and using their own words and images, How They See Us proves it.

You can read an embedded copy of How They See Us printed on the right side of this blog, or  go directly to the Scribd site or to this second site where you can download an adobe acrobat copy.

If you desire to fight back against homophobic lies, then realize that knowledge is the first key. Passing along this knowledge is the second one.

(And just to clear things up, this booklet is free. I don't get a dime for it. I created it because I am tired of talking about lgbt equality on the terms of the religious right. Plus, our community - particularly our young ones - should have something like this)

In other news briefs:

Tony Perkins Says Obama's Push For 'Radical Sexualism' And 'Global Homosexuality' Is Persecuting Christians - So Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council thinks that standing against anti-gay persecution somehow means persecuting Christians. I tell you, the moderate Christians really need to speak up and stop letting folks like Perkins boggart the conversation.

33 Photos That Prove There Is No One Way To Be An American Family - Pay attention, National Organization for Marriage.

Rick Warren Joins Letter Asking Obama For Strong Religious Exemption In LGBT Executive Order - FORGET THAT!!

These Photos Of Two Dads Meeting Their New Baby Will Make You Cry Happy Tears - I couldn't help myself. I had to post this.

Anti-gay extremist inspires AWFUL song, video

A very dear online friend pointed this out to me.

Apparently aside from causing anti-gay violence and awful laws in foreign countries, Scott Lively seems to be offhandedly declaring war on the music industry. From his webpage:

Friends,

You will be blessed by this amazing song “The Rainbow Belongs to God. It was written my friend Johny Noer, a Danish pastor living in the Negev Desert of Israel, and performed by the very talented singer/composer Signe Walsoe.  Johny was an attendee and guest lecturer at my Bible seminar in England last fall and was inspired by my article/strategy “The Rainbow Belongs to God” which I created to encourage the Russians to reclaim the rainbow as a Christian symbol during the Winter Olympics. This beautiful music video is a fruit of our ministry partnership and I encourage you to forward it to your pro-family friends around the world.

Well. Wasn't that putrid on so many levels. Now let me take a guess what the song and video's defenders may say: "This song is about God, it's not about hatred towards anyone."

If you watched even a small part of that video, the following is the antidote:

 

Dennis Prager: Heterosexual AIDS is leftist myth

Prager

I weep for American journalism today where just about every inane opinion is presented without discernment under the guise that it's merely "an opinion." Where talentless twitter trolls, humorless comedy hacks, loudmouth jerks, bloodsucking shrews and lamias from the worst part of a child's nightmares, or all-around-jackasses are the faces we see and the voices we hear. Where good research and writing has been replaced by half-assed punditry by partisans who are grossly fattened off of think tank and wingnut welfare.

From Equality Matters:

Conservative columnist Dennis Prager claimed that “heterosexual AIDS” is a crisis “entirely manufactured by the Left,” continuing his years-long campaign of peddling dangerous and inaccurate AIDS denialism.

Prager’s July 1 syndicated column featured a defense of the Washington Redskins’ name. Prager accused the “American Left” of being preoccupied with “manufactured” controversies and crises, including “heterosexual AIDS”:

The great majority of American Indians understandably just don’t care. Like heterosexual AIDS and so many other crises, this has been entirely manufactured by the Left. Since 1947, there has been a movie theater, the Redskin Theatre (with the same logo as the football team), in Anadarko, Okla., a city whose population is divided evenly between Indians and whites and that calls itself the “Indian Capital of the Nation.” Why, in 67 years, have the Indian populations of Anadarko and Oklahoma not changed this theater’s name? Because the Left hadn’t made it an issue. It’s not an Indian issue; it’s a left-wing issue. [emphasis added]

Prager’s comparison is the latest in his long and bizarre history of falsely asserting that HIV and AIDS aren’t issues for heterosexuals. As Adam Serwer wrote for The American Prospect in 2008, Prager exemplifies a strain of “AIDS denialism” that suggests that “AIDS is a ‘gay’ problem, and so heterosexuals don’t have to worry about it.”

You can read more here if you haven't gotten disgusted yet

'Family Research Council spins deceptive Hobby Lobby poll' & other Wednesday midday news briefs

FRC Finds Majority Side With Hobby Lobby If You Lie To Them - For a supposed Christian organization, the Family Research Council certainly lies A LOT.  

Judge Overturns Kentucky’s Same-Sex Marriage Ban: ‘These Arguments Are Not Those Of Serious People’ - Just in case you haven't heard and I LOVE what the judge said. I've been saying that for the longest time now. 

Video: Man challenging marriage equality in Wisconsin once vowed to burn pro-gay book - No anti-gay animus my foot!  

Scott Lively Upset That John Oliver Quoted Him - Awwww, the poor homophobe!

 Linda Harvey Horrified That Soldiers And Scouts Marched In LGBT Pride Parades - Anything which horrifies Linda Harvey is cool with me.

Religious right movie should be early favorite for bad movie awards

Who in the hell put Rick Santorum in charge of a movie studio, even if its a small one. This trailer is one of his efforts and gives a good reason why all of this junk about "persecution" you hear from supposed Christians like him and the rest of the religious right is going to backfire.

These folks don't believe in nuanced discussions. They are like children who have to get their way all of the time. Any opposition or disagreement with their point of view is automatic grounds for them to start conjuring up images of oppression, death camps, the so-called destruction of liberty, and especially Nazi Germany.

Nazi Germany? REALLY? This corny movie will be out in September.

Anti-gay Catholic bishop under investigation for gay 'sexual misconduct'

Nienstedt

All I can say about this is HOT DAMN:

From The New Civil Rights Movement:

John Nienstedt has a long and dark history of not only opposing marriage equality, but of actively investing a reported $650,000 of the Roman Catholic Church's funds to prevent same-sex couples from marrying. It could easily be said of the nation's most active anti-gay crusaders, he's on a top ten list. Before the 2010 election, the 67-year old Archbishop of Minneapolis and St. Paul spammed 400,000 Minnesota homes with unrequested anti-gay DVDs in a failed attempt to get voters to ban same-sex marriage. Not only did his efforts fail, but lawmakers actually later ushered in marriage equality.

. . . But now, Commonweal Magazine reports that Nienstedt own diocese is investing him for sexual misconduct with other men, including priests, having received ten signed and sworn letters of accusation.

Nienstedt denies the allegations, claiming, “I have never engaged in sexual misconduct and certainly have not made any sexual advances toward anyone." he also artfully spun the charges in a statement, according to the Atlantic Wire. "The allegations do not involve minors or lay members of the faithful, and they do not implicate any kind of illegal or criminal behavior." 

More on the story here

I would like to say - before folks start in on their judgements - that nothing has yet to be proven. But again, HOT DAMN!! And I say this because I've written a few times on Nienstedt and his attacks on the lgbt community. Whatever the case may be, this is going to rock the anti-marriage equality movement.

Related posts:

Catholic Church is overstepping its bounds against marriage equality in Minnesota


Minnesota Archbishop plays politics with Catholic Mass

Bishop tells woman she risks going to hell if she accepts her gay son

'Gasp and swoon! Are drag queens trying to steal black men?' & other Tuesday midday news briefs

How A South Carolina Lesbian Police Chief Got Her Job Back - The controversy involving Crystal Moore in Latta, SC was not only a victory for lgbts, it demonstrated how stereotypes about small towns aren't always true and in the long run, people believe that fair is fair. Zack Ford of ThinkProgress provides an excellent summary of the entire situation. 

Obama To Sign Executive Order Protecting Transgender Federal Employees - Thank you, President Obama!

 Mat Staver 'deeply saddened' California can still recognize and ban junk 'therapy' - The victory overshadowed by yesterday's Hobby Lobby debacle. The smallest violin in the world weeps for Staver.
   
Are Drag Queens Trying To Steal Black Women’s Femininity And Take Our Men? - In its own way, Madamenoire magazine exposes the tribulations that lgbts of color face because our community will not discuss sexual orientation, i.e. so-called experts coming out with an inane theory about sexual orientation and folks actually believing the tripe. Remind me to tell you all about the book  a Nation of Islam author wrote about how to "tell if your man is secretly gay." I have posted on it in the past and would do so again but my insurance can no longer cover that many deaths brought about by too much laughing.