Attempt to stop marriage equality in Oklahoma may backfire BIG TIME

When some Oklahoma legislators began pushing a bill which they hoped would prevent marriage equality in the state, I knew it had a loophole.

But I didn't know the loophole was THIS big.

 From Reuters:

A bill overwhelmingly approved this month in the state’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives would allow only judges, retired judges and members of the clergy to issue marriage licenses, cutting county clerks out of the business.

Yet as the measure was making its way to the floor, a rush of same-sex marriage supporters applied to become ministers with the intention of registering as clergy authorized to perform weddings in the state.

“I registered so I could marry same-sex couples. I have the confirmation email. The Oklahoma County Courthouse site is very vague about the paperwork necessary to register,” said Rose Marie of Oklahoma City, who applied for her minister license online in February after the measure was first introduced.

When I first heard of the bill, I thought that gay couples could simply find lgbt-affirming pastors. I never dreamed that the bill could possible create MORE lgbt-affirming pastors.

This inquiring mind wants to know what Oklahoma state legislator, the very anti-gay Sally Kern thinks about this.

Whatever the case may be, I just HOPE this is only the beginning of THIS controversy.  Any retaliation from Kern and company will swiftly move this issue from one of marriage equality to one of religious liberty.

Only they won't be in the position to portray themselves at the victims.

'Anti-gay activist: Ben Carson is "DEAD in my eyes"' & other Thursday midday news briefs

Matt Barber

Barber: 'Ben Carson Is Dead In My Eyes' After Apology For Anti-Gay Comments - Because of his apology for that ridiculous comment using prison as an excuse to claim that homosexuality is a choice, Ben Carson is catching flack big time. Anti-gay spokesman Matt Barber says Carson is "dead in my eyes." Apparently someone besides myself has been watching too many mobster documentaries. 

CBS Shows How Easy It Is To Properly Cover A Transgender News Story - Thank you CBS for showing how easy it is to properly report on transgender issues. All it takes is a little common sense.

  A Spiritual Battle For America's Future: Five Takeaways From The Religious Right's Awakening Conference - In a nutshell, gays want to put Christians in jail, Islam is evil, gays want to put Christians in jail, abortion is evil, gays want to put Christians in jail. Did I mention gays want to put Christian in jail. Now I COULD BE wrong about this but I don't think the Family Research Council attended this conference. If that is the case, how out there do you have to be to not have FRC on board?  

Erick Erickson's Campaign For A Draconian Anti-Gay Law In Georgia - Somebody put a muzzle on this viking. But the article points out a good point which the next news brief will hit on in further detail.  

The Religious Right Operative Who Helped Write Utah’s Nondiscrimination Law - Just how many anti-gay laws past and present have sprung from the board rooms of anti-gay groups. This is not a precedent. Long-time anti-gay activist Robert Knight helped to write the viciously anti-gay DOMA decades ago. 

 Michigan May Allow Adoption Agencies To Refuse Service To Gay Couples - And speaking of one of these anti-gay laws . . . I've been accused at times of being sadomasochistic (because of how I dive headfirst in anti-gay dogma and propaganda for this blog), but even I object to any entity being allowed to freely take my tax dollars while discriminating against me and claiming that "it's for the children."

Bryan Fischer, just stop it! You are a disgrace to bigots and homophobes all over the world!

Bryan Fischer is an embarrassment even to the religious right.

According to Right Wing Watch, the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer made an interesting statement on his radio show:

Bryan Fischer asserts that "43% of homosexuals admit that they've had more than 500 sexual partners in one lifetime." (Editor's note - if you click on the link, Fischer says this at 7:14)

Of course Fischer doesn't say where he got this statistic from, but I am guessing that he got it from the book Homosexualities: A Study of Diversity among Men and Women, which was published by Alan Bell and Martin Weinberg in the late 1970s. (Editor's note - Pan down to Distortion - Homosexuals have a lot of sex partners and their relationships do not last Part 1 in this link)

The two wrote the book from a study they took regarding gay white men in the city of San Francisco earlier that decade. This being the case, certainly the statistic cited by Fischer can't be used to generalize about all gay men. Bell and Weinberg even said the following in Homosexualities:

“. . . given the variety of circumstances which discourage homosexuals from participating in research studies, it is unlikely that any investigator will ever be in a position to say that this or that is true of a given percentage of all homosexuals.

It's not by accident that Fischer didn't reveal his source. But what gets me is his phraseology:

  "43 percent of homosexuals admit that they've had more than 500 sexual partners in one lifetime."

There is something seriously wrong with that phrase. In a lifetime? Wouldn't that mean you have lived your entire life, died, and then was buried?

So how in the hell can you tell anyone how many alleged sexual partners you had?

Can Bryan Fischer raise people from the dead? And if so, isn't it creepy that possibly the first question he would ask that person he brought back to life is not about Heaven or Hell or about angels, but about their sexual behavior before they died?

Naturally, I am speaking strictly tongue-in-cheek here but I think you get the gist.

It's always hilarious how foolish how some folks look when they sink to the depths of homophobia. And the fact that they don't even realize it only make their idiocy much more enjoyable.

'Who will argue for marriage equality in front of SCOTUS?' & other Wednesday midday news briefs

Marriage Equality Advocates Stall On Decision About Who Will Argue At Supreme Court - With it all being assured by the "experts" and others that the Supreme Court will strike down marriage equality bans, now is the unfortunate time for an unseen issue to sneak in and reduce those predictions to rubble. HELLLLLOOOO unseen issue. 

Nation’s Largest Presbyterian Denomination Embraces Inclusive Definition Of Marriage - Was there a change in the "memo" from national headquarters. I thought we were working to "recruit" children and "jail" Christians. 

 When it comes to health care, young gay men are falling through the cracks - Yes they are and it is because of the SAME problems as before, i.e. lack of trust, fear, homophobia. 

 A Mother Comes To Terms With Her Transgender Child - Wonderful article!

This New Film Tells The Stories Of Kids With Same-Sex Parents - "Synthetic children," my a$$!  

Texas Lawmakers May Have Set A Record For The Most Anti-LGBT Bills In The History Of Any State - Relax, folks. It's not supposed to be easy. If you are wanting to wring your hands and weep in fury, save it. Weep later. Fight now.

Why are gays angry at Dolce & Gabbanna? Read this letter and you will know

Lopez

You want to know why the lgbt community is angry at Dolce & Gabbanna's awful words against same-sex families with language about "synthetic children" and "rented uteruses," aside from the fact that they attack our children.

They give the opposition all sorts of fodder to do the same.

The National Organization for Marriage is calling them 'Wonderful Advocates for the True Definitions of Marriage and Family.'

In addition, a group of supposed adult children from same-sex families issued them a "letter of support." And proving that he has neither scruples nor respect for his own people,  Stefano Gabbana thanked these "individuals" for the letter.

But the kicker, the very essence of vile audacity is how one of those who signed that letter, Robert Oscar Lopez, exploited the controversy to attack same-sex families yet again.

Lopez has in the past, said:

 that by siding with the majority to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor failed to connect the dots between same-sex parenting and slavery

claimed "The Gay Movement is an International War on Black People"

insisted same-sex parenting is "creepy gay child abuse masquerading as gay rights"

 directly compared gay parents to slaveowners:

As difficult as it is to believe, his attack on same-sex families today was much worse than any of the above (by way of the blog Goodasyou):

The completely petulant and histrionic response from gay parents like Ryan Murphy to Dolce & Gabbana's comments can give average Americans a small taste of what children in such homes will have to deal with. You can't be a good parent and want to have absolute control over what your kids think and feel, in addition to what the whole world thinks and feels about you and your kids. It's a recipe for emotional abuse of whoever is under your power. Look at the punitive urge, the lust for vengeance, the despotism. That is what I see in Ricky Martin, Jeremy Hooper, Ryan Murphy, and Elton John. These are men who will terrorize human beings if they can, if they are within their striking distance. They acquired children the way they get everything they want in all aspects of their lives: through economic leverage, intimidation, and sheer arrogance. Imagine being a helpless and confused child longing for a mom, and being under the power of a dad who throws out clothing and calls for all-out destruction of anyone who hints that you have lost something by being denied a mom. Imagine not one such man lording over you, but two. This is horrible. These people are disgusting. I hope and pray that Dolce and Gabbana do not capitulate to them. These repulsive tyrants must learn at some point that they are not gods, and they cannot bring the world to their knees.  

That's why we are angry. It takes an absolutely clueless, self-absorbed sort of nastiness to give fodder to those who want to make your own people second-class citizens. And then thank them for the privilege.

Why should Dolce &  Gabbanna care? They are wealthy. They are totally untouched by the fires they have set. They can tune out the voices of the families they have harmed. 

They are clueless so-and-so's who should have at least have the decency to know what is going on in our fight for equality or, at the very least, not post a "thank you" to folks who don't even look at them as worthy of having families.

Here is a little tip for you, Dolce & Gabbanna. To Robert Oscar Lopez, NOM, and the rest of those on the right praising your words, you are undeserving, sinful "fags," just like the of us.

And if you are going to jump headfirst into this so-called culture war, you had better know which side to be on.

Because when they are done praising your words, what do you think they are going to do to you when your backs are turned to them?

'Jon Stewart gives new anti-gay bills the disrespect they clearly deserve' & other Tuesday midday news briefs

Jon Stewart demolishes anti-gay marriage groups: Even Walmart thinks you’re “out there” - I am sooooo going to miss Jon Stewart when he leaves The Daily Show. 

Roy Moore’s son blames his latest drug arrest on liberal plot to ‘destroy’ his family - I wonder what who he blames his other drug arrests on. Uh Roy, you need to leave us lgbts alone and take care of business at home.  

The Rise Of  LGBT Rights Is An Existential Threat To Conservative Religious Groups - In a nutshell, there are a huge number of folks who are proving that the lgbt orientation and religion can be intertwined in a positive way. I love it!  

Florida Proposes "Stand Outside My Loo" Law - For God's sake, why not a "here is your complimentary cup to pee in" law. (Shut up, Alvin. Don't give the opposition ANY ideas).  

Mat Staver: Second American Revolution Needed To Stop Gay Marriage - To paraphrase Mrs. Howell on Gilligan's Island, "what does one wear to a second American Revolution?"

'Take a stand against marriage equality' . . . because all of those other 100s of times were just practice

It's not the fact that the man in the video below, Steven Hotze, president of Conservative Republicans of Texas, is announcing an anti-marriage equality march.

It's the language that he uses which intrigues me:



Partial Transcript:

 It’s time for Christians and conservatives to rise up and take a stand for God’s truth about marriage! We must draw a line in the sand. This is a call to action.

It's a long speech so he goes on and on about "militant homosexuals" and "liberals" while asking people to assemble at the State House.

Actually a rally is rather moot right now when it comes to whether or not Texas will be receiving marriage equality, seeing that the issue will be soon in front of SCOTUS.

But notice the language. Not being trying to be snide or anything, but just how many times have you heard some from the conservative or anti-gay right proclaim that "they have to stand up" or that "they have to draw a line in the sand."

It makes you wonder what the heck do they think they have been doing all of this time.

Hotze is propagating the victimhood meme that lgbts and our "allies" are picking on "Christians" and attempting to move them out of the public square while snatching away their rights to boot.

I personally don't like to see anyone's rights snatched away so I am glad that this idea is false. On the other hand, anyone who believe Hotze's drivel has obviously been having asleep these past years, particularly since 2004 when all of this mess exploded.

Christians like Hotze have hardly been sitting down and quiet. They have drawn so many "lines in the sand" that there is now nothing but gravel. And quite honestly, some of them have been "called to action" so many times that I suggest they take a "toke" to calm themselves down.