'Tony Perkins angry at Right Wing Watch but fails to refute accusations' & other Friday midday news briefs

Tony Perkins

Tony Perkins is denying he calls for pro-equality judges to be impeached; he's lying and here's empirical proof - "Please proceed, Mr. Perkins." Poor Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. He thinks he has proof that Right Wing Watch distorted his words when it accused him of calling for SCOTUS judges to be impeached. And he continues to figuratively dig his own grave by offering said proof. 

Airbnb Removes Texas Property Listing After Owner Reportedly Rejects Gay Couple - A dimension of the "religious liberty" argument the anti-gay right haven't thought of. They claim that business should have the right to not serve gay couples. Fine, but what if nationwide consortiums and groups designed to steer people to hotels, inns, restaurants, etc decide that they don't want to include you in their guides because of your discriminatory tactics. These things cuts both ways, don't they. Of course businesses shut out of these consortiums and groups can form their own so-called "Christian-friendly" groups. But being widely known as a part of group of businesses coming together because they refuse to serve gays is a stigma sure to backfire. Mercy, I just LOVE AMERICA!!

 Alan Keyes: Gay Marriage Ruling A 'Just Cause For War' - Alan Keyes is easily one of the most pathetic African-American men in the world (yeah, I said it.) He supposedly has all of this intelligence but I wonder if he can point to at least ONE concrete thing he has done with his intelligence to make the world a better place. He depresses the heck out me.  

24 Heartbreaking Struggles From The Transgender Community - This needs to be read and spread. I don't think of the transgender community as victims, but there is nothing wrong with getting REAL about the ignorance one has to deal with.

Video shows anticipation, tension of crowds outside Supreme Court

 As seen by this video, the scene Tuesday outside SCOTUS was a mixture of tension and anticipation, but very peaceful while the justices insides heard oral arguments regarding marriage equality.

Conservatives, anti-gay right need to cool it on the persecution predictions

If there one thing which worries me about the possibility of us receiving 50-state marriage equality at  SCOTUS, it is the reaction to folks who do not support us being married.

I am somewhat concerned, not because I think of them as irrational folks. There are some folks who have very sincere beliefs that marriage equality is wrong and I respect that. I am worried about who some are choosing to believe.

It's one thing to be absolutely ludicrous and make ridiculous claims that God will be angry at America. But it's when these folks start predicting actual persecution and conjuring up images of Christians and pastors being arrested which bothers me. Case in point, Glenn Beck:



Glenn Beck is a demagogue. A moronic idiot who lucked into a media empire, but he has a multitude of followers and while we laugh at his inanity, there are folks who actually believe what he says. And unfortunately, he isn't the only person on the right pushing irresponsible rhetoric regarding the possible SCOTUS decision on marriage equality.

Never mind that these folks have track record for being inaccurate (they made the same claims about lgbt-inclusive hate crimes legislation), it's what they can fool people into believe which matters.

All it takes is one fool and the ignorance of fools is what these folks seem to be counting on.

'Anti-gay right urging 'resistance.' Yaaaawn!' & other Thursday midday news briefs

Anti-Gay Activists Urge 'Resistance' Before Marriage Equality Destroys 'Just About Everything' - I want us to win at SCOTUS with regards to marriage equality because it's the fair and right thing to happen. But .5 percent of me can't help but wanting to see if the religious right has the guts to back up all of this "civil disobedience" and "revolution" junk they have been threatening.  No one is naive, guys. When you talk about "resistance," you mean manipulating your supporting masses to do your dirty work while you, as Redd Foxx  from 'Sanford and Son' puts it - "coordinate things."

How Not To Talk About Bruce Jenner - Or how NOT to talk about any situation with regards to the transgender community.  

Anti-LGBT Groups To Appeal Judge's Ruling Upholding Houston Equal Rights Ordinance - They've lost twice so they obviously want to go for the hat trick.

 Capitol Prayer Service: God Will Punish America For Legalizing Gay Marriage - SAD! Our Congressional leaders are in a position to help this country (BECAUSE they are Congressional leaders), but instead they are attacking marriage equality because they seem to think that God has turned a blind eye to more pressing problems of the human race (war, famine, natural disasters, etc) to focus His attention on marriage equality. 

The Top Arguments for and Against Same-Sex Marriage at the Supreme Court - Break it down for us, Matt Baume.  

Watch This 7-Year-Old Explain How Her Two Moms Had A Baby - "Won't someone think of the children?" Guess what. The children GET it.

NOM makes AWFUL attempt to inflate the numbers of its #March4Marriage failure

Particularly in terms of attendance, NOM's latest March For Marriage (held Saturday) was yet another colossal flop for the group.

However, NOM president, Brian Brown, thinks that he can pull a big con on everyone as evidenced by this tweet:

15,000 Marchers! Here's what the media didn't show you about the #March4Marriage... http://t.co/AvZIDmGhc9
— Brian S. Brown (@briansbrown) April 29, 2015

The tweet links to an article from MRC Newsbusters. a right-wing site which supposedly monitors  "liberal media bias." The article includes a video of the march, but there is absolutely no way anyone can tell the number of participants by viewing the video.

So where did the "15,000 participants" claim come from ? From NOM itself. According to the article:

A marriage march press contact confirmed to MRC Culture through NOM that “approximately 15,000” marchers attended. 

In other words, Brown is implying that an "unbiased" news source confirmed that NOM's March for Marriage had 15,000 participants. However,  the claim isn't coming from the news source. It is coming from Brian Brown and NOM.

This absolute pitiful subterfuge has been a hallmark of NOM's fight against marriage equality. It would be easy to just allow the organization to embarrass itself out of existence.

But to hell with that. Why shouldn't the lgbt community get in on the fun?

'Congressman exploits Baltimore to attack marriage equality' & other Tuesday midday news briefs

GOP Rep. Bill Flores Links Baltimore Riots To Gay Marriage - Some fool exploiting the sad situation in Baltimore to attack marriage equality was to be expected. But the fact that it was a Congressman talking to Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council (who, for all his talking about gays trying to co-opt the civil rights movement, has been silent about Baltimore) is simply sad. 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg eviscerates same-sex marriage opponents in court - Due to her awesome questions and such during yesterday's SCOTUS oral arguments on marriage equality, I called Justice Ginsburg a "bad ass steel armored bullet-proof Earth Mother." After reading this article which goes into more detail about yesterday, I think a better description of her awesomeness is in order.  

Battle For Marriage Equality Unfolds Outside The Supreme Court - Meanwhile, outside the court room, there was a good scene.  

Parents of Transgender Children Fight Bathroom Bills - THIS is how parents are supposed to act. And they should be commended.  

Florida's Trans Bathroom Bill Dies - Whoever said these awful transphobic bills can't be defeated is lying. It takes will, courage, and hard work, but they can be exposed as the fraudulent pieces of trash they are.  

New Website Highlights Businesses That Don’t Want To Serve Gay People - Three words - Family. Research. Council.  

Starnes: Pastors Will Be Charged With Hate Crimes If SCOTUS Legalizes Gay Marriage - Just a blatant lie. I don't care if he is a "commentator," there should be some type of integrity which keeps one from fear mongering in the name of God. No matter how much some "evangelicals" blame lgbts for the negative view some folks have of Christianity, it is people like Starnes who are mostly responsible.

How SCOTUS rules on marriage equality may come down to familiar question, tone

I personally think that this morning, the lgbt community got a welcome, albeit minor, scare at SCOTUS. It should serve a reminder that nothing is a cake walk and we shouldn't celebrate until battles are over and not when they look as if they are over.

Let me also say that after that minor scare, things look good for 50 state marriage equality. All in all, it could boil down to the same thing which tipped the Windsor decision to us - the dignity of same-sex families and our children.

But rather than giving you an expository, I am going to spotlight what I feel were the three best articles which emphasizes the main points of today's oral hearing, particularly the part which may tip the case in our favor:

Supreme Court Mulls How Marriage Equality Will Come About - From the Huffington Post comes a general overview of today's oral session, including how the swing vote the lgbt community is counting on, Justice Anthony Kennedy, gave us a huge scare this morning and how the lawyer defending marriage equality bans actually brought Kennedy back to why he ruled in our favor in Windsor.  

The Lawyer Defending Discrimination In The Supreme Court May Have Just Talked Himself Out Of Victory - From Think Progress, a special look at the exchange which MAY give us 50-state marriage equality while providing emphasis that opponents of marriage equality simply don't have a justifiable argument. 

 Marriage Equality Arguments First Reaction: Ginsburg Strikes, Kennedy Wavers - From Slate comes a wonderful analysis of the day which goes like this - Kennedy is a tough questioner to both sides of the issue, but has genuine concerns about same-sex families, Alito is a complete butthead, and Ginsberg is a bad ass steel armored bullet-proof Earth Mother. 

So what do I think? In one form or another, marriage equality is here to stay. There are serious trepidations and fear by some of the justices of what they claim to be a "redefinition" of the institution. But this fear is going to be measured with (and hopefully outweighed by) giving same-sex families and their children the fairness and dignity of equal marriage. For now, nothing is for sure. But it does look good.