VA marriage equality victory provides positive repercussions for NC . . . and hopefully a cellphone

Unless you have been living in a cave with your fingers in your ears, you have heard about today's marriage equality victory in Virginia which has repercussions in Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia.

Unfortunately, SC is determined to still defend its marriage equality ban. However not so much North Carolina:

NC AG Cooper says it's time to stop defending state's marriage ban: "There are really no arguments left to be made." pic.twitter.com/0HIQCS8OK1
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) July 28, 2014

Regardless, this is rather sweet particularly when one remembers the depths the opposition stooped to in North Carolina to get the ban passed in 2012. Isn't that right, Pastor Patrick Wooden?

You will remember that during the campaign, Wooden, a NC pastor , claimed that gay men have so much anal sex that we wear diapers. He later made a claim that a gay man had to have a cell phone removed from his rectum.

To make matters worse, on the night that his side won, he was filmed holding a cellphone in triumph:

While of course this battle is far from over, I will give you one guess what Wooden can now do with HIS cellphone.

'NOM wants international anti-gay group' & other Monday midday news briefs

The Rise Of Europe’s Religious Right - The American religious right is making interesting progress in Europe. Amongst the revelations in this article, Brian Brown of NOM is attempting to create an International Organization for Marriage. So just in case stuff starts coming down, don't act as if you weren't told beforehand. 

Texas Children’s Home Fires Employee Just For Being Gay - And it's perfectly legal.

 8 Things Straight People Get Wrong About Gay Men - Just eight?  

Gordon Klingenschmitt Scores An Exclusive Interview With Sen. Mike Lee - Terrible news. Two homophobes close to each other in a room does not cause spontaneous combustion.

BAD ANALOGIES: Gay Marriage is Like 2 + 2 = 5 - Ben Carson, a man who took the Steve Miller song "Take the Money and Run" to heart.

'Gaystapo' is now a Christian term

Bob Eschliman is a former Newton Daily News editor who is suing the publication for violating his Christian beliefs. According to the Huffington Post:

Former Newton Daily News editor Bob Eschliman dumped from his job after a blog post he wrote which criticized what he called "the LGBTQXYZ crowd and the Gaystapo" for trying "to reword the Bible to make their sinful nature 'right with God.'" Jim Romenesko first reported on the blog in April. Eschliman was later suspended with pay, and the newspaper's owner eventually terminated his employment, the Des Moines Register reported.

Allegedly, Eschliman wrote this piece, criticizing a website which rewrites the Bible to make it friendlier to lgbts,  on his own blog. Now this fact will probably spark discussions on free speech and its boundaries.

After his firing, the newspaper following in an editorial:

 . . .  the Newton newspaper published an editorial by Shaw Media President John Rung.
"Last week, he expressed an opinion in his personal blog that in no way reflects the opinion of the Newton Daily News or Shaw Media," Rung wrote. "While he is entitled to his opinion, his public airing of it compromised the reputation of this newspaper and his ability to lead it."

However, the interesting thing to me is how some in the religious right  are bending over backwards to say that Eschliman was fired for "expressing" his Christian beliefs without say exactly what he said. The American Family Association's One News Now, in its version of the story, made mention about Eschliman was a "Christian," and how he was "persecuted," but the publication never talked about his exact words. The framework of the article went about like this:

Eschliman's attorney is Liberty Institute-allied lawyer and former federal prosecutor Mat Whitaker, who tells OneNewsNow the journalist was an "exemplary" employee. "He had won many awards as a journalist and by all accounts he had outstanding performance as an employee," says the attorney. Eschliman ran into a problem, though, after he wrote about his personal religious beliefs on his blog and expressed his belief in traditional marriage. On April 30, he was placed on "indefinite paid suspension" while the company investigated his blog post. A few days later, the journalist was called into his boss's office and immediately fired and escorted from the building. 

The problem I have is this - so some folks set up a webpage making the Bible friendlier to lgbts. Big deal. That's their right, just as others may feel that it was Eschliman's right to slur all lgbts because of it. What's with the ugly language he used and why do some folks say that it was "mere expression" of his Christian beliefs?"

It doesn't make lgbts look as bad or intolerant as it does Christians who have no problem with smearing gays in that manner.

And one more thing. Substitute the word "Jew" or "black" for the group Eschlimann attacked and I hardly think that his firing would be seen as a controversy.

Why is that?

'Bachmann: Gays want to let adults sexually prey on children' & other Friday midday news briefs

Michele Bachmann: Gays Want To Let Adults 'Freely Prey On Little Children Sexually' - And they tell us that when we object to such character assassinations, we aren't showing "tolerance." Modesty precludes me from publicly commenting further, but needless to say, it's a good tirade.

Michael Sam Delivers Perfect Reaction To Tony Dungy’s ‘Distraction’ Claims - The irony about Michael Sam is that all of these folks claiming that he will provide a distraction are the very ones PROVIDING the distraction. Sam is busy practicing his craft.

Super Model Andreja Pejic Comes Out As Transgender - Good for her!!  

Fox’s Erickson Agrees That “The Homosexual Movement Is … Destroying America” - The day I take Christian instruction from an odious, bigoted, chauvinistic twitter troll who lucked into a media gig with Fox News, America IS heading on the road for destruction

Bill Maher speaks basic truth about marriage equality

This is an old clip but talk show host and comedian Bill Maher gives truth about opponents of marriage equality:

Sen. Rubio, speeches are cheap. Let's hear you denounce anti-gay groups like the Family Research Council

Take as much time as you need, Sen. Rubio.

Dear Sen. Marc Rubio,

If you are going to whine about marriage equality supporters being "intolerant," perhaps you need to take a look at those who defend your rhetoric. I have said this twice and now will make the third time. But this time is really special because the Family Research Council is defending your comments:

 The Senator then went where many of his colleagues fear to tread -- the very nature of marriage itself. "The union of one man and one woman is a special relationship that has proven to be of great benefit to our society, our nation and our people, and therefore deserves to be elevated in our laws." However, he said, "there is a growing intolerance ... towards those who continue to support traditional marriage ... and I promise you that even before this speech is over, I will be attacked as a hater, a bigot, or someone who is anti-gay. The intolerance in the name of tolerance is hypocrisy."

Just for the edification of my readers, this is the SAME Family Research Council who has been called an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center  in 2010 for its insistence of spreading hateful lies about the lgbt community:

 Headed since 2003 by former Louisiana State Rep. Tony Perkins, the FRC has been a font of anti-gay propaganda throughout its history. It relies on the work of Robert Knight, who also worked at Concerned Women for America but now is at Coral Ridge Ministries (see above for both), along with that of FRC senior research fellows Tim Dailey (hired in 1999) and Peter Sprigg (2001). Both Dailey and Sprigg have pushed false accusations linking gay men to pedophilia: Sprigg has written that most men who engage in same-sex child molestation “identify themselves as homosexual or bisexual,” and Dailey and Sprigg devoted an entire chapter of their 2004 book Getting It Straight to similar material. The men claimed that “homosexuals are overrepresented in child sex offenses” and similarly asserted that “homosexuals are attracted in inordinate numbers to boys.”

That’s the least of it. In a 1999 publication (Homosexual Behavior and Pedophilia) that has since disappeared from its website, the FRC claimed that “one of the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the ‘prophets’ of a new sexual order,” according to unrefuted research by AMERICAblog.

'Sen Rubio's lie about 'tolerant debates' Part 2' & other Thursday midday news briefs

Sen. Marco Rubio no doubt won the news cycle yesterday with his deceptive whine that those who oppose marriage equality are the so-called victims of intolerance. I really wish folks would look into this man's background to see how much his claim is indicative of the false tone of victimhood of those who make the same claim. It only takes a little googling. For example, according to Right Wing Watch, in November of last year:

The Florida Family Policy Council announced today that it will host Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) at its 2013 Annual Dinner. The FFPC is led by John Stemberger, the anti-gay activist who most recently helped launch a Boy Scouts splinter group that will ban openly gay youth, and the fundraiser will honor Liberty Counsel head Mat Staver.

 Stemberger and Staver are far outside of the mainstream, but with Rubio preparing for a possible presidential run in 2016 he may use this event, much like his speech at the Values Voter Summit, to soothe any doubts about his right-wing credentials. Stemberger previously chaired Florida for Marriage, which spearheaded the campaign to pass a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex unions, and founded the anti-gay Boy Scout alternative Trail Life USA.

Stemberger has a long record of incendiary anti-gay rhetoric. He:

Claimed that being gay is an “artificial, social construct” that is “dangerous.”

Warned that the Boy Scouts will experience widespread sexual abuse as a result of including gay members under the age of eighteen.

Said that people are gay because they think it is “hip” and “cool.”

Alleged that affirming LGBT youth is “tantamount to abuse” and “an abuse to that child.”

And let's not forget Staver:

Mat Staver is the head of the Liberty University School of Law and its legal affiliate, Liberty Counsel, a sponsor of the Values Voter Summit. . . .  At a previous Values Voter Summit, Staver claimed that progressives are using LGBT rights and secular government in order to “ultimately implode America” and that the “agenda of the homosexual movement” is to destroy freedom and western civilization.

Through his role at Liberty Counsel, Staver has:

Argued that President Obama “does not respect America” and wants to intentionally cripple America so he can have global power and create his own personal army of Brownshirts.

Defended Malawi’s law criminalizing homosexuality and said U.S. opposition to criminalization was “immoral.”

Urged schools to prohibit students from holding a “Day of Silence” to protest anti-gay bullying and said teaching LGBT history in schools amounts to “sexual assault.”

Alleged that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act will lead to child molestation, sexual assault, and even death and “harm women and children” if passed. 

The sad thing about all of this is not what was said, it's that the Beltway media will most likely exclude any talk of the circles Rubio runs with in their attempt to gain "access." 

In other news: