'Ashley Madison controversy could place some gay men in danger' & other Fri. midday news briefs

Ashley Madison leak can harm gay men in anti-gay countries

I may get stoned to death for gay sex, says Saudi man outed in Ashley Madison leak - We may be cheering how the Ashley Madison controversy has brought down anti-gay hypocrites, but we fail to note that our people, caught in certain situations, are prey to the controversy. 

Illinois latest to ban ‘ex-gay’ therapy for minors - Niiiice!  

Bad Excuses For Misgendering Transgender Victims Of Violence - Just heaping evil upon sadness. The least the media could do when reporting on these issues is to show respect and do the right thing. No excuses.

  Meet The Amazing Woman Who Created Her Family Of 7 Sons Through Adoption - Folks like this women should have more positive attention AND applause coming their way. 

 Catholic Parish Withdraws Offer To Host LGBT Groups During Pope's Visit - Well thanks for the sour persimmmons, jerk!

Josh Duggar owes the lgbt community an apology

"I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife. I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family, and most of all Jesus and all those who profess faith in Him. I brought hurt and a reproach to my family, close friends and the fans of our show with my actions that happened when I was 14-15 years old, and now I have re-broken their trust. The last few years, while publicly stating I was fighting against immorality in our country, in my heart I had allowed Satan to build a fortress that no one knew about. As I am learning the hard way, we have the freedom to choose to our actions, but we do not get to choose our consequences. I deeply regret all hurt I have caused so many by being such a bad example. I humbly ask for your forgiveness. Please pray for my precious wife Anna and our family during this time." - Josh Duggar

There is no need to rehash the reason why former "culture warrior" Josh Duggar has earmarked his place in history as a punchline. But I will be bitchy about that apology.

Truth be told, Josh Duggar owes the lgbt community an apology.

I don't really care if he watched porn or cheated on his wife. I DO CARE that he did these things while traveling across the country demonzing lgbts.

In between watching porn and possibly diddling women who he wasn't married to, Duggar gave speeches under the auspices of the anti-gay group the Family Research Council in which he attacked gays as enemies of morality who wanted to jail Christians and destroy the family. He aided and abetted the sick lie that transgender men and women are predators who will invade bathrooms and locker rooms with nefarious purposes in mind. And in doing so, he made life difficult for not only adult lgbts like myself but also our lgbt children.  He made it difficult for them to go to school without being bullied and to love themselves without caveats.

On that score alone, he owes another apology specifically to our kids.

Duggar gave excuses for ignorance, hatred, and bigotry against the lgbt community. And he would tell you until he was blue in the face that he did these things in accordance to his faith, i.e. the same faith he betrayed in between spinning his homophobic lies.

Just who is the enemy of morality in this situation?  It's not us in the lgbt community.

The sad thing is that the karmic irony of the situation probably escapes Duggar.  I'm not so naive to think that any apology will be forthcoming.  I'll simply console myself with the knowledge that like every demagogue does sooner or later, Duggar destroyed his own reputation.

But I will also have a degree of solemnity for those he hurt before his much deserved downward spiral.

'Mike Huckabee continues to spin colossal lie about marriage equality ruling' & other Thur midday news briefs

Mike Huckabee obviously thinks that lying for his faith is not a sin.

This delusional primary: Huckabee claims 'same-sex marriage is not the law of the land' - Exact words : "Well, let me correct you. Same-sex marriage is not the law of the land. And let me tell you why. Because the Supreme Court cannot make law. And so I know we say it is, but — let’s be very clear. Let’s go back to the fundamentals of the Constitution. Three branches of government equal to each other. Each has checks and balances with each other. No one branch can just do something and say, to heck with the other two branches. It doesn’t work like that." 

It always amazes me how anti-activists like Huckabee will repeat a lie continuously even though we just KNOW that they aren't dumb enough believe the lie to be truth. It more than amazes me. It drives me to distraction. You just wanna shake some people. For the one millionth time - SCOTUS did NOT create a law with regards to marriage equality. It said that the laws barring marriage equality were unconstitutional! That is the job of SCOTUS, i.e. to declare whether or not laws passed meet constitutional muster.  

National Transgender Survey Could Be A Gamechanger - Could be? It WILL be!

 A Look At The Promiscuity 'Culture War' In The Gay Community - A very GOOD discussion to have in the wake of legalized marriage equality, etc. Unfortunately, it's a war in which I have not been able to take part in (not by choice, mind you.)

 Union University leaves council over same-sex marriage - What's that old saying which is pertinent to this situation? Oh yes - "let the door knob hit ya where the good Lord split ya."

 Kim Davis Files Emergency Motion: Issuing Licenses To Gays Would 'Irreparably' Burden Her Conscience - More on the Kentucky clerk Kim Davis. That woman is getting on the tip top of my last nerve.

'Porno' Peter LaBarbera - 'patron 'saint' of the anti-gay movement

LaBarbera

When it's all said and done, the anti-gay right will be remembered not because they opposed lgbt equality for religious purposes, but because of their personal prejudices and fevered imaginations about gay sex.

And no one will be more remembered on that score than "your friend and mine," Porno Peter LaBarbera. The following video is a "rap" featuring his ruminations about gay sex using his own words and I think it epitomizes him rather well as a man wasting his life following his bizarre obsession.

The video is hilarious, but definitely NSFW:

'Anti-gay right losing battles and their minds' & other Wed midday news briefs

Pat Robertson wants lgbts to call his network. Ain't no way . . .

Editor's note - Several of today's news items spotlights how anti-gay figures are ratcheting up the "crazy" against the lgbt community. The important thing to remember is that these are some of the same folks who crying out for the anti-lgbt "religious freedom" bills because, according to them, gays are trying to destroy so-called traditional values. That's why this morning's post is so important for folks to read and send out:

Pat Robertson: Gays Can Never Be Happy, Call My Network For 'Freedom' From Homosexuality - I admit it. When I was attempting to be comfortable with my gay orientation, I would call Pat Robertson's network. Never mind what I said but to this day, it still amazes me how quickly some people hang up phones.

 Lively: 'The Widespread Acceptance Of Homosexuality By Society Is The Harbinger Of The Wrath Of God' - Scott Lively and "Porno" Pete LaBarbera in one place at the same time AND nothing supernaturally destructive happened? Why not destroy my belief in Santa Claus next?

  'I Was Born That Way': Bryan Fischer Claims He Was Born Christian, Repulsed By Homosexuality - To be "born Christian," one has to be born in the first place. I've always envisioned Bryan Fischer crawling out of something in a deep, stinky swamp.

 Okay, let's not focus completely on the crazy anti-gay right:

 Conservative Christians Are Still Fighting Gay Marriage, But It's An Uphill Battle Against The Courts - Usually I'm not one for "counting chickens before they hatch," but I think folks can forgive me for going "HA! HA! HA!" just this once. 

 Same-Sex Couples Still Cannot Marry In Small Pockets Of The U.S. - Even though we have won, there are still puddles of nonsense we need to stamp out.  

Texas Clerk Gets The Bill For Her 'Religious Freedom' Claim - Deny the rights, give up the money. 

 The White House Just Hired Its First Ever Out Transgender Official- Wonderful milestone. But still more work to do. So much work.

‘Religious liberty’ argument reignites interest in homophobic propaganda

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Alvin McEwen

Email: charlekenghis@aol.com

Text message: 803-447-4874

Tweets such as this are exposing hypocrisy of religious liberty argument.

 

‘Religious liberty’ argument reignites interest in homophobic propaganda

COLUMBIA, SC -- An online booklet on anti-gay propaganda published in 2013 is enjoying a huge resurgence of readership because it exposes the homophobia behind some of the religious right leading voices who claim their positions are based on religion, not animus. And this is taking place at the very time in which these voices are moving to enshrine anti-gay discrimination into the law under the guise of “religious liberty.”

How They See Us: Unmasking the Religious Right War on Gay America was published by lgbt blogger and activist Alvin McEwen in January 2013. It is a short, graphics-intensive booklet which demonstrates how religious right groups distort research, science, and religious beliefs in order to create negative memes about the lgbt community; memes such as gay men molest children at a high level, the lgbt community has a shorter lifespan than heterosexuals, and that homosexuality in general is a lifestyle more dangerous than cigarette smoking.

At the time of its publishing, the booklet found a receptive audience through social media, particularly on Twitter where much of this conversation played out.

Two years later, the audience has become larger and even more receptive due to SCOTUS declaring marriage equality legal. Religious right groups began converting their message from one of blatant anti-gay animus into one of victimhood against a supposedly encroaching gay agenda in attempts to pass “religious liberty” laws which would legalize various forms of anti-lgbt discrimination.

In response to this, McEwen converted snippets of past homophobic statements made by religious right leaders from his booklet into jpegs and sent them out on Twitter along with a link to the booklet. The response has been immediate and remarkable. In less than a month, How They See Us garnered over 7,000 hits.
 
McEwen said his actions were an effort to keep these groups from conveniently omitting their past history of homophobic actions and statements.  He also said he has been receiving various reactions from the tweets but he regards it all as positive. 

“People have expressed either amusement or repulsion, but the vast majority of them have clicked on the link to the booklet and then began retweeting it,” McEwen said. “And that’s the fact which matters the most as far as I’m concerned. The information is getting out on a level it didn’t before.  People want either new information about these groups or reminders of the homophobia they peddle." 

In his booklet, McEwen exposes religious right groups such as the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, and the National Organization for Marriage. One particular group which McEwen focuses briefly on is the Liberty Counsel. The Liberty Counsel has been in the news recently for counseling a Kentucky clerk, Kim Davis, to not give out any marriage licenses to gay couples in spite of the fact that a federal judge ordered her to. The organization would have people to believe that it is solely concerned about Davis’s “religious liberty.” However, unprofessional statements published in McEwen’s booklet - which he also tweeted – by Liberty Counsel member Matt Barber demonstrates how homophobic animus is playing a huge part in the organization’s actions.

McEwen said aside from reminding people about the religious right’s bigotry, awareness of how they stigmatize the lgbt community is important because this stigmatization plays a part in negative lgbt health issues. According to groups such as the Centers for Disease Control, members of the lgbt community do in fact have serious issues with depression, alcoholism, and sexually transmitted diseases. However, the CDC has never said these negative health issues are indicative of being lgbt. Instead, the CDC places the blame on homophobia, societal rejection, and how this causes lgbts to not receive good health care or feel isolated.

“When anti-gay groups and personalities cite CDC data, they emphasize the negative health issues in the lgbt community, but omit that the CDC also said these behaviors are the effects of homophobia and societal rejection,” McEwen said. “By doing this, anti-gay groups add to the aura of stigmatization which create these negative health issues in the first place, which they then exploit to falsely claim that homosexuality is a dangerous lifestyle.  It’s the equivalent of a bully repeatedly striking his or her victim while saying ‘stop hitting yourself’ after each blow.”

How They See: Unmasking the War on Gay America is free and can be accessed directly from Adobe Acrobat by pressing this link.

The following are various other tweets sent out by McEwen:

Alvin McEwen is 44-year-old African-American gay man who resides in Columbia, SC. McEwen's blog, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, and writings have been mentioned by Americablog.com, Goodasyou.org, People for the American Way, PageOneQ.com, MSNBC, The Washington Post, Media Matters for America, Crooksandliars.com, Thinkprogress.org, Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, Newsweek, and Foxnews.com.  He is a two-time GLAAD Media Award nominee, three-time nominee of the Ed Madden Media Advocacy Award from SC Pride, and a 2015 recipient of the Pride Index Esteem Award.

SC Pride attacked by ministers who want to stereotype the festival

Supposed Christian ministers are attempting to smear SC Pride.

I KNEW that this was coming. There have been groups behind the scenes in Columbia, SC either planning to cauyse trouble for the state's lgbt community. Led by former lgbt ally, Councilman Cameron Runyan, these groups have been content to be somewhat hidden. And now, here they are, ready to start trouble

From WISTV:

Top officials for two religious organizations have asked Columbia City Council members to eliminate funding for gay pride activities.

Leaders of the South Carolina Baptist Convention and South Carolina Pastors Alliance appeared Tuesday afternoon at a council work session.

Council members were examining plans to allocate money generated by the city’s accommodations and hospitality tax programs.

The latest draft of those plans identifies 94 potential recipients, ranging from performing arts and theaters to schools, merchants associations, museums and environmental activists. The groups also include the South Carolina Pride Movement. The spending plan recommends $47,500 for SC Pride. Baptist Convention Public Policy spokesman Mark Hendrick told the council he could not in good conscience support “drag queen performances and things like that.”

“It’s very offensive to me and my family,” Hendrick said.

Hendrick’s position was echoed by Mike Gonzales, who serves as executive director of the South Carolina Pastors Alliance, which he says represents more than 500 churches statewide.

Gonzales says his group is “very offended” the city would allocate any money for a gay pride march. “We just want to be very clear that we are opposed to any taxpayer money going to any of these things,” Gonzales told the council.

Hendrick and Gonzales were not scheduled to speak to the meeting.

They were introduced by Councilman Cameron Runyan, who has been heavily criticized for his views by members of the city’s LGBT community.

I doubt these men have ever attended an SC Pride. I have attended several and for their edification, allow me to clarify certain things. SC Pride is a family friendly event which brings a lot of revenue to the city due to the attendance and attention it garners.

It sounds as if these ministers want to stereotype the SC Pride festival as a free-for-all of nudity event complete with, wanton lasciviousness, and immoral behavior. Sorry guys. but that's simply not true. Unless you think celebrating the diversity of South Carolina's lgbt community, complete with, yes ,drag queens, a petting zoo for the children, and lgbt-friendly churches, as wanton lasciviousness and immoral behavior.

The good news is that for now, the whines of these folks will probably fall on deaf ears for now. The bad news is that I have a feeling that this is the opening salvo to an ugly war of lies on South Carolina's lgbt community.