HUGE win for Houston LGBTs - there will be no referendum

According to LGBTNation, an lgbt-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinance approved by the Houston city council in late May will not be challenged via referendum this November:

Opponents of Houston’s LGBT-inclusive Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) fell short of qualifying for a ballot referendum, Mayor Annise Parker announced Monday afternoon.The petition needed at least 17,269 valid signatures from registered Houston voters to put a repeal of the ordinance before voters in November.

City Attorney David Feldman said Monday the number of valid signatures submitted for the petition came to only 15,247.The group behind the repeal effort submitted more than 5,000 petition pages last month containing approximately 31,000 signatures.

But Feldman said his staff had found many invalid pages, most notably because some of the circulators who collected signatures were not qualified Houston voters, as required by law. In such cases, all the signatures the circulator gathered would be void, Feldman said. Other issues included names on valid pages that did not belong to registered Houston voters, Feldman said, and some signatures were gathered prior to June 3, when the ordinance was published and the petition drive could begin.

The article goes on to say that Parker doesn't think the situation is over. She expects opponents of the ordinance to file a suit against the city's findings with regards to the petition.

'Anti-gay activist wants apology' & other Monday midday news briefs

Marriage Equality Faces A Rough Ride In Court Next Week - Reading this article reminds one of the importance of the long fight. Will it also remind us not to give up and over analyze in the face of possible defeats?

Malevolence Personified - Now that the Ugandan courts have overturned that dreadful anti-gay law, anti-gay activist Scott Lively thinks he is owed an apology. He is owed something but it ain't an apology.  

Anti-LGBT Columnist: Take Children Away From Gay Parents - "I am not going to say what I want to say . . . I am not going to say what I want to say." 

 BarbWire Pundit: 'Cult Of Homosexualism' Will 'Enslave The Entire World' - Sounds like fun to me! lol

Scene from Ugandan court as anti-gay law is overturned

The following video is the scene in Ugandan last week when it overturned that awful anti-gay law. What strikes me is how the supporters of the law are so like the American religious right when they lost in the court battle, i.e. attacking the justices.

'Politifact sizzles Bryan Fischer for anti-gay lies' & other Friday midday news briefs

Politifact sizzles AFA's Bryan Fischer for his anti-gay lies -  When it comes to Bryan Fischer, there should be something lower than a "pants on fire" rating. How about a "bust hell wide open" rating.

Read: Zack Ford smacks back Ryan Anderson's love of tax-subsidized discrimination - When you read this exchange between one our own and anti-gay activist Ryan Anderson, you learn two things - 1. we need to acknowledge those intelligent, on-the-ball lgbt activists who aren't that well-known (yet) and how the anti-gay industry will attempt to manipulate the semantics of an argument. Imagine lgbts implied as being selfish simply because we want to be treated fairly!  

Ben Carson: LGBT-Affirming Pastors Put Their Finger In The Eye Of God - Every time I hear Ben Carson talk in a way which sends shivers of love down the spine of the anti-gay industry, I think of that episode of Scooby Doo where the monster supposedly kidnapped a supporting character and left a message on the walls of his office saying "Do not follow. He is ours now. "

 Federal Judge Knocks Down Remaining Challenge To New Jersey’s Ban On Ex-Gay Therapy - Another one bites the dust (OWWW!) 

 Fed Up With a Lack of Diverse Children's Books, Queer Parents Write Their Own - Kudos to them!

Uganda's anti-gay law struck down by its court

J. Lester Feder of Buzzfeed is now reporting that the anti-gay law passed in Uganda has been struck down by its court.

Uganda’s Constitutional Court struck down the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act on Friday, giving new hope to the country’s embattled LGBT people and human rights activists

. . .  The court struck down the law on procedural grounds, saying it was invalid because there was no quorum in Parliament when the legislation was passed on December 20. (A quorum is the requirement that at least one third of members are present when a vote is held.) The court was ruling on a petition brought by a group of 10 human rights activists, legal scholars, and opposition politicians. The court did not rule on the underlying question of whether anti-LGBT laws violate basic human rights, and so the pre-existing sodomy code, which was imposed when Uganda was a British colony, remains in place. Two men are currently awaiting trial under this provision.

Naturally, the scene in the court was wild. Ugandan public figure and one of the most public proponents of the law, Martin (eat da poo poo) Ssempa was in the middle of much of it:

The courtroom became something of a circus during the three hour recess the judges called before issuing the ruling, according to people in the room. Anti-LGBT activist Pastor Martin Ssempa prayed loudly, and got into arguments with multiple petitioners. Security eventually approached Ssempa to request he sit down.

What comes next? Feder said Ugandan lgbt activists expect some sort of unfortunate retaliation from those who supported the law and they are bracing themselves for it.

He also said:

Human rights activists say they expect politicians like the bill’s sponsor, MP David Bahati, to try to pass it again, but they think the chances he’ll succeed are slim. Re-passing the law would require starting the legislative process from the beginning, including committee hearings and receiving certification of its financial impact from the finance ministry. If the government of President Yoweri Museveni does not want the bill to pass again, the finance ministry could silently kill the bill simply by withholding certification.

Read the story in its entirety courtesy of Buzzfeed.

Will God 'nuke' America for having gay ambassadors?

Dear Vision America's Rick Scarborough,

If God hasn't destroyed America because of slavery, segregation, the stealing of land from Native Americans, the subjugation of women, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Fox News, and Nikki Minaj's upcoming album (I'm just playing with that last one), I think He won't nuke us for having gay ambassadors:

'Former 'ex-gay' leaders unite to help ban 'ex-gay' therapy' & other Thursday midday news briefs

Exclusive: 9 Former Ex-Gay Leaders Join Movement To Ban Gay Conversion Therapy - Can you say "major kick in the ass to the religious right and the 'ex-gay movement," boys and girls? Good. I knew you could. 

Rick Santorum Presents Latest ‘Religious Persecution’ Movie - Because apparently his last one was soooo successful (snark). But seriously I noticed something about these events in which folks push the "persecution" meme. Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that I never hear them tell people to pray to God or not to worry because "God is in control." It's always the push for panic of potential martyrdom for these folks. How odd is it that they are supposed to be fighting for values given to them by the God while at the same time implying that He has abandoned them when they fight for those values.  

Meet the LGBT activists fighting Uganda's anti-gay law - Or as they should be called, some of the bravest people in the world.  

Video: Tony Perkins for politically-driven pastors to test (if not run afoul) tax exempt status - Any church leader who listens to Tony Perkins deserves the disaster they are courting.

How A Hate Group Lost Influence On (Most Of) Cable News - And speaking of Tony Perkins (and the Family Research Council), I am happy to say that I, in an extremely minor way, contributed to this taking place.