NOM continues to fight Maine campaign finance laws

I would like to thank everyone who helped me pass along the petition today. We got over 300 signatures. Now 2200 more to go. And until we reach that point, the petition will be posted on my blog for anyone wishing to add their signature.

Don't be fooled by the National Organization for Marriage's constant hype that its winning. Behind the scenes, the noose of truth is slowly but surely tightening around its neck.

According to the Washington Independent, NOM is continuing to fight a disclosure lawsuit it lost in Maine in 2009:

Anti-marriage-equality advocates have a spotless record when it comes to helping prevent voter approval of state laws allowing same-sex marriage: 31 out of 31. Two years ago, Maine had the opportunity to become the first state to break this trend, but voters repealed the Legislature’s May 2009 law in a People’s Veto by a small margin (53 percent vs. 47 percent).

Fast-forward to today, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is still involved in an ongoing-but-stalled investigation and lawsuit with the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics & Election Practices over whether or not the group broke state law when it contributed money to the 2009 “Yes on 1” campaign run largely by the Stand for Marriage Maine Political Action Committee (SMM).

Thanks to 2012 GOP presidential contender Fred Karger, NOM found itself embroiled in a battle with the state with possible violations of Maine campaign laws.   The Washington Independent article is highly thorough as to the hoops NOM has jumped through in order to skirt these laws. It is an excellent read.

One thing is clear - NOM can run as long as it wants, but it can't hide. If there is any evidence of lawbreaking on behalf of the organization, it will be discovered.

And you can count on this blog - as well as countless others - to trumpet the discovery on hilltops

Should gays be banned from teaching? and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Editor's note - Please sign the petition asking Congress to question/scrutinize anti-gay testimony at its hearings.

Now on to news briefs:

PHOTOS: Anti-LGBT Literature Widely Distributed At Right-Wing ALEC Conference - A perfect reason why religious right groups are liars and why it is so hard to refute them. They push the refutation aside. What it will take is a huge public embarrassment to get them to reform - something that I am very much for.

Related post - And wouldn't you know it, one of the pieces of literature is filled with errors.

Harvey: Gays And Lesbians Should Be Banned From Teaching - As nauseating as she is, Linda Harvey is actually an accidental ally of our community. She is naked homophobia defined. None of that "love the sinner but hate the sin" jazz for her. She HATES gay people.

Photo: First glimpse of 'Values Bus', crude views that are driving it - The motley cast of characters from NOM's 'Values Bus' tour.

First Openly Gay Black Major League Baseball Player’s Story Premieres Nationwide - Glenn Burke's story needs to be told.

Sign the Petition and get Congress to call out false anti-gay testimony

Change.org|Start an Online Petition »

In June of this year during a Congressional hearing on the Defense of Marriage Act, Sen. Al Franken exposed Focus on the Family’s Tom Minnery's attempt to inaccurately cite a study to defame same-sex households.

Earlier this year during another Congressional hearing on DOMA, National Organization for Marriage’s Maggie Gallagher committed the same distortion – i.e. inaccurately citing a study to defame same-sex households. Gallagher’s group (NOM) has also been called out twice by the Pulitzer Prize winning site Politifact for inaccurate negative statements it has made about the gay community.

The Family Research Council was declared as an official anti-gay hate group last year by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its tendency to spread propaganda about the gay community such as gays molest children at a high level and same-sex households harm children.

However, the head of the Family Research Council - Tony Perkins - is frequently called as a Congressional witness on many occasions from discussing issues of gay equality to the selection of Supreme Court judges.

In addition, there are at least 11 incidents of legitimate researchers and physicians complaining that morality groups such as Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council have specifically and intentionally distorted their work to demonize the gay community.

While there is a need for levity and  a desire for all sides of issues involving the gay community to be heard, the constant calling upon of these “morality groups” for Congressional testimony in spite of their irregularities mentioned does present a problem in terms resolving the issues of the gay community in a fair manner.

Therefore we, the undersigned, ask that if ever these groups are called before Congress again, their testimony be given the highest level of scrutiny because said testimony could fraudulent.

I decided to forgo a press release and let what I've written speak for itself. But allow me to elucidate further. Last year, the Southern Poverty Law Center broke down the lies of the religious right and how they demonize the gay community. Before SPLC's expose, the last time there was a thorough article about the religious right was in 1999 by Rolling Stone magazine. Both exposes (Rolling Stone's and SPLC's) featured almost the same cast of characters and the same accusations of lies. That means that in over 10 years time, the religious right has not altered the lies it tells about the gay community. And this is simply because the gay community has not confronted these so-called morality groups on the level that we should. The purpose of this petition is to garner attention and start a much needed confrontation with religious right groups. Their lies permeate so many aspects of our lives, from our right to marry, to our right to raise families, to our right to freely live with dignity and self-esteem.

Tony Perkins demonstrates the lie of Rick Perry's prayer rally

Watch this video attack on the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) by the Family Research Council. And then allow me to tell you the full story:



Sounds shocking, don't it? Well it's a damn lie. From Media Matters comes the real story:

In a May 19, 2005, article, The Boston Globe reported:

Fenway Community Health officials yesterday said they left about 10 copies of the ''Little Black Book" on an informational table they rented at a conference sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network of Boston. The annual event, held on April 30 at Brookline High School, was aimed at high school students, educators, counselors, administrators, and parents.
The ''Little Black Book," produced by the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, is targeted at 18-and-older gay men, according to the committee. The book uses vivid descriptions and colloquial terms to describe the ways HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases can be prevented and spread.

A Fenway Community Health employee brought the pamphlets along with other materials and put them on the table by mistake, said Chris Viveiros, a spokesman for Fenway Community Health.

''Fenway Community Health regrets accidentally making available a small number of copies of the Little Black Book, an HIV-prevention publication for gay and bisexual men over the age of 18, at an event where young people were present," said Dr. Stephen Boswell, Fenway Community Health's president and CEO.

Furthermore:

 From the Globe article:

Sean Haley, executive director of the education network (GLSEN), which sponsored the conference, added: ''We have very clear policies that sexually explicit material of any kind will not be made available at the conference. Had I seen the book, I would have asked them to put it away."

At the start of the event, Haley said, network officials scanned each of the 10 tables it had rented, for $35 apiece, to outside groups. He said nobody saw the pamphlet at the time. ''We're just going to have to be more rigorous in our review of materials," he said.

Haley said that about 500 people attended the conference, roughly half of them students. He said only ''a handful" were younger than high-school aged.

On May 18, 2005, WHDH 7News Boston's Sean Hennessey reported that Brookline Superintendent of Schools William H. Lupini says that "none of his students, he believes, took the [Fenway] book home."

So why is this important? Because 1:08 of the following footage in which Perkins is praying for America's repentance:



Seems to me that a man who will bear false witness has no call to pray for anyone else's repentance but his own.

NOM accidentally demonstrates how it manipulates polls and other Monday midday news briefs

Santorum Compares Marriage Equality To Slavery, Confuses Stephen Douglas And Frederick Douglass - Wow! Rick Santorum is a dumb ass.

Bachmann Attended Anti-Gay Sermon, Watched Ex-Gay Video - You simply HAVE to see the video she watched. I can't help but to wonder whether or not it was satire.

Perkins Tries And Fails To Downplay The Extreme Views Of 'The Response' Organizers - Pull up a chair and grab a bowl of popcorn before reading this one.

Poll: Tiny number of New Jerseyans support NOM's true agenda - This is hilarious. NOM accidentally demonstrates how it manipulates the spin against marriage equality.

Marriage is much more stable in states that legalize same-sex relationships - Well I knew that. lol

The two things you shouldn't like about Michele Bachmann - her face

U.S. Representative and presidential candidate Michele Bachmann seems to be "stomping with the big dogs" these days. Recently, she had cover story featured on her in Newsweek magazine. Between you and me though, I think she and her followers are going to be angry at the photo. What is she looking at?

But now Bachmann seems to be tempering off on certain issues. Several sources report that she is allegedly sliding away from the subject of gay marriage, which is strange seeing that her opposition to it helped propel her in the spotlight:

From the Concord Monitor:

“Bachmann cut off an interview last week as she was being asked a question about gay marriage and emphasized that she is focused on rebuilding the economy and repealing federal health care reform.

“I’m not involved in light, frivolous matters,” she said. “I’m not involved in fringe or side issues. I’m involved in serious issues.”

If Bachmann thinks the subject of gay marriage is so frivolous then why did she sign two anti-gay marriage pledges - the recent one being from the National Organization for Marriage.

And why is she participating in a bus tour with NOM across Iowa?

And I haven't even touched her audacity to declare her husband's fraudulent "ex-gay" clinic to be off-limits. Bachmann based this on the notion that "she, and not her husband, is running for president."

It's funny that this notion  of "family members being off limits" didn't keep her from slamming First Lady Michele Obama during the 2008 campaign

There is no other way to put it.

Bachmann is a lying, manipulative individual whose behavior reflects the worse of American politics. Throughout history, America has been lucky to have statesmen and women represent us in the White House and Congress. Folks like Dwight Eisenhower, Franklin Roosevelt, Ted Kennedy, Bella Abzug,  Jack Kemp, Shirley Chisolm, and Barbara Jordan.

And then we've also had loudmouth, egocentric demagogues not caring who they hurt or what levels of hypocrisy they've stooped to. We've had individuals feeding off of anger and fear  and shoveling resentment into the minds of voters with the expediency of a laborer shoveling coal into a furnace to stave off the chill of a wintery day.We've had folks who will lie in our faces while aware of the fact that we know that they are lying, but hoping that the phony sincerity in their voices or their eyes will mesmerize us from the truth.

Michele Bachmann not only fits the latter category, but she sets new heights.

Or rather, lower depths.

Bachmann is a colossal joke, but if the American people continue to propel her career forward, the joke will be on us.

Rick Perry's prayer rally a failed hot mess of hypocrisy

Luckily I was away at a family reunion - celebrating actual love - so I missed Perry's hot mess of a rally. But according Right Wing Watch made videos of certain scenes. And they just kill me. How in the world can some of these people dare to pray to God for deliverance for the nation while ignoring their own sins?

People like Tony Perkins of the hate group the Family Research Council, pseudo historian David Barton who had made a career out of not only verbally bashing the gay community but also manipulating history to suit his beliefs, and Don Wildmon, head of another anti-gay hate group the American Family Association.

If you ever want to get an idea as to why Christianity is getting a bad reputation in this country, these folks are the culprits:



But there is some good news coming out of this. Box Turtle Bulletin says that rally was a failure in three regards:

Houston’s Reliant Stadium hold 71,000 people, but according to officials with Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s “The Response” prayer rally, about 30,000 people showed up. That should mean that the stadium would be half full. Doesn’t look like it to me. Failure #1.


Perry also sent invitations to every governor in the nation to attend his rally. The only one to show up was Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback. Gov. Rick Scott of Florida made a video that was played in the stadium. Only two others out of at least forty-nine — that’s failure #2.

The American Family Association’s Tim Wildmon addressed criticisms of the wholesale obliteration of the lines between church and state as represented by a religious revival organized by a political executive by saying “no political candidates will be speaking.” Candidate, perhaps not — although please, does anyone not believe Perry is running for president — but the criticism stems from two current, elected governors speaking from the stage with another one phoning it in. These aren’t just candidates. They are current office-holders sworn to uphold the Constitution. Failure #3.

Who's going to protect America from Rick Perry's 'prayer warriors'

The main thing about Rick Perry's prayer rally today, it definitely proves the adage that sometimes "up is down" and "black is white." This is a partial list which I got from Right-Wing Watch highlighting the participants of the rally. To put it mildly, these folks are a grotesque hodgepodge of demagogues and ultra religious maniacs so fanatical that they would probably turn the legendary anti-Semite and Islamophobe Tomas de Torquemada into an aetheist. And it definitely makes one want to ask the question -  why are these folks concerned with our souls when they definitely don't care for their own:

The American Family Association

The American Family Association is the driving force behind The Response. Founded by the Rev. Don Wildmon in 1977, the organization is based is best known for its various boycott campaigns, promotion of art censorship, and political advocacy against women’s rights and LGBT equality. The organization also controls the vast American Family Radio and an online news service, in addition to sponsoring various conferences frequented by Republican leaders, including the Values Voter Summit and Rediscovering God in America. The AFA today is led by Tim Wildmon, Don’s son, and its chief spokesperson is Bryan Fischer, the Director of Issues Analysis for Government and Public Policy and host of its flagship radio show Focal Point. Fischer routinely expresses support for some of the most bigoted and shocking ideas found in the Religious Right today. He has:

• held gays responsible for the Holocaust and likened them to domestic terrorists and Nazis who are intent on committing “virtual genocide” against the military, and asserts that “homosexuals should be disqualified from public office”;
• said “we have feminized the Medal of Honor” by awarding it to a soldier who saved his fellow combatants rather than killing enemies;
• demanded all immigrants “convert to Christianity” and renounce their religions;
• asserted that Muslims have “no fundamental First Amendment claims” and should be banned from building mosques and deported from the US, adding that Muslims are inherently stupid as a result of inbreeding;

International House of Prayer

The Response’s leadership team includes five senior staff members of the International House of Prayer (IHOP), a large, highly political Pentecostal organization built on preparing participants for the return of Jesus Christ. In a recent video, IHOP encouraged supporters to pray for Jews to convert to Christianity in order to bring about the Second Coming. IHOP is closely associated with Lou Engle, a Religious Right leader whose anti-gay, anti-choice extremism hasn’t stopped him from hobnobbing with Republican leaders including Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann and Mike Huckabee.
Engle has a long history of pushing extreme right-wing views and advocating for a conservative theocracy in America. Engle:

• is a proponent of “Seven Mountains” dominionism, a movement that seeks to have Christians take control of all aspects of American life, including government, business, entertainment and the media;supports the criminalization of homosexuality;
• claimed that universities with LGBT anti-discrimination measures are teaching students to “accept the mark of the beast”;

FRC's Tony Perkins reduced to an unconvincing grin on Hardball

Last night, Family Research Council head Tony Perkins debated Barry Lynn of the Americans for Separation of Church & State last night on Hardball and got hammered. The two were debating Texas Governor Rick Perry's prayer event (happening today) and its strange cast of characters.

The last time  Perkins was on Hardball, he was debating the Southern Poverty Law Center's Mark Potok on being named as an anti-gay hate group. Some of us got angry because we felt Chris Matthews, the host of Hardball, was too concillatory to Perkins.

I personally didn't believe that. I felt Matthews was overcompensating because he had covertly showed a degree of contempt to Perkins during the interview.

It wasn't the case this time as Matthews actually checked Perkins for trying to take the role of moderator away from him. Lynn, meanwhile, caught Perkins in a host of inconsistencies. Perkins tried the same modus operandi on Lynn that he attempted on Potok (i.e. accusing Lynn of "not doing his homework" and playing the victim.) Lynn, however, wasn't having any of it. By the time the debate was over, all Perkins could do was grin in that too familiar phony manner which many of us have come to expect from him.

All in all, it was an excellent segment.

Related post - Perry's prayer event will put Christianity's worst on display

Hat tip to Back 2 Stonewall.

Know Your LGBT History - Starsky and Hutch

An announcement - In celebration of the fifth anniversary of Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, I will be having a Know Your LGBT History marathon of six posts on a Saturday in September. These posts will feature the good, bad, and ugly portrayals of the gay community in movies and television. Some will piss you off, others will make you cheer. But they will all be new entries. More info later. For now, tell me what you think of the idea.

Starsky and Hutch was a popular cop drama in the 1970s starring David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser as two unorthodox policemen fighting crime in California. Antonio Fargas also starred and stole the show a lot of times with his character of HuggyBear.

I think it's safe to say that Starsky and Hutch, while popular during the four seasons it was on (1975-1979) wasn't necessarily groundbreaking.

However, the action was awesome, the chemistry between Soul and Glaser was tight, and the plots were original.

Such as the plot to the episode Death in a Different Place. In this episode, a policeman an old friend of Starsky's is found murdered in a sleazy motel. As they investigate the crime, Starsky and Hutch find out that the man was involved in gay relationships. And the question has to be did that have anything to do with his murder?

Careful about what you think so far. The episodes takes many twists and terms, showing both infuriating ignorance about the gay community and some of the characters are sleazy as hell. However the episode does show a bit of sensitivity - particularly with the murdered man's wife who knew of his encounters but loved him anyway.

So was Starky's friend murdered because he was gay? Find out for yourself via this mini version of the episode. And just in case you are wondering, yes that is legendary drag queen Charles Pierce featured in this episode:

From Crackle: Death In a Different Place

Past Know Your LGBT Posts:

Homophobia in the black community claiming victims and other Friday midday news briefs

CDC Finds New HIV Infection Rate in Young Gay Blacks Alarming-Again - Homophobia in the black community is claiming victims.

PROFILE: The Outlandish Beliefs Of Rick Perry’s Prayer Rally Endorsers - All of that insanity in one place. Ugh.

Last Known “Pink Triangle” Holocaust Survivor Dies - I wish I had known this great man.

Scott Lively: Marriage Equality is “Sign Of The End Times” - No. A sign of end times would be you in a relationship with Porno Pete.

NOM's Values Bus Tour will spread 'Santorum' and general homophobia

It has been announced that the National Organization for Marriage is teaming up with several organizations and noted individuals in a bus tour across Iowa next week.

Supposedly, the Values Bus Tour will cover 1,305 miles in four days with events in 22 cities. The tour will pass through 47 of Iowa's 99 counties.

However, based on the participants, I am curious to know just what values is NOM pushing.

A member of the tour will be Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council. FRC has been named as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center because its tendency to spread junk science and propaganda about the gay community, such as the inaccurate notions that homosexuality is linked to pedophilia or how gays have a short lifespan.

Perkins, in particular, when he is not distorting legitimate studies or comparing gays to terrorists, busies himself pretending to not understand why SPLC called out his group.

Also participating:

Former Minnesota governor and current presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty. Pawlenty, believe it or not, used to be an ally of the gay community. That, of course, was before he found it more advantageous to rail about "cross-dressing school teachers" and veto bills which would allow surviving same sex partners from recovering damages in the case of wrongful deaths and execute their deceased partners' funeral wishes.

U.S. Rep. Steve King, who once said that allowing gay marriage would turn Iowa into the "Gay Marriage Mecca," a comment which he did not mean  in a positive manner. King also said that gays wouldn't face problems of discrimination if they would just not "project" their homosexuality. When King is not talking smack about gays, he has some interesting comments about African-Americans. Last year, he accused President Obama of unfairly "favoring" African-Americans.  Later that same year, he labeled government settlements given to black and Native American farmers who suffered decades of discrimination as "slavery reparations."

One wonders how King's participation will play to African-Americans whom NOM always seeks out in its endeavours against marriage equality.

Former Pennsylvania  and another current presidential candidate Senator Rick Santorum (check out the link to his last name), will also be on the bus tour. Santorum has based his career on being on a warpath against the gay community - including same-sex households. However, for some reason, the idea of marriage equality seems to really drive him nuts, as the following quotes prove:

“This is an issue just like 9-11, we didn't decide we wanted to fight the war on terrorism because we wanted to. It was brought to us. And if not now, when? When the supreme courts in all the other states have succumbed to the Massachusetts version of the law?"

"[The] right to privacy…doesn't exist in my opinion in the United States Constitution."

“[I have] a problem with homosexual acts, as I would with what I would consider to be acts outside of traditional heterosexual relationships . . . if the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual [gay] sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery.”

And the piece de resistance in NOM's bus tour - U.S. Rep and current presidential candidate Michele Bachmann. What can be said about Michele Bachmann that hasn't been already uttered? One could talk about her husband's fraudulent clinic's attempts to "cure" homosexuality. Or how, in 2005, she viewed a gay pride parade while hiding behind the bushes (maybe she thought gays would give her cooties or that the music blaring would cause her feet to do a bad "white girl dance" on their own accord). Then there was that 2004 comment connecting gays to Satan. Or these various other homophobic comments:

"You have a teacher talking about his gayness. (The elementary school student) goes home then and says “Mom! What’s gayness? We had a teacher talking about this today.” The mother says “Well, that’s when a man likes other men, and they don’t like girls.” The boy’s eight. He’s thinking, “Hmm. I don’t like girls. I like boys. Maybe I’m gay.” And you think, “Oh, that’s, that’s way out there. The kid isn’t gonna think that.” Are you kidding? That happens all the time. You don’t think that this is intentional, the message that’s being given to these kids? That’s child abuse.”

“This is a very serious matter, because it is our children who are the prize for this community, they are specifically targeting our children.”

“Don’t misunderstand. I am not here bashing people who are homosexuals, who are lesbians, who are bisexual, who are transgender. We need to have profound compassion for people who are dealing with the very real issue of sexual dysfunction in their life and sexual identity disorders.”  

All in all, NOM's "Values Bus"  tour ought to be interesting in a nauseatingly sort of way. And I know that there are many in the lgbtq community hoping for some type of  "Road to Damascus" conversion by some of the attendants or at the very least, a complete bus break down in the middle of lonely road in the blazing heat  or even better - in the dead of night (i.e. a recreation of the horror movie Jeepers Creepers 2).

It's aint gonna happen, folks. But if former NOM member Louis Marinelli's accusations are accurate, there should be a lot of expensive steak dinners and perhaps some gambling on this tour.

I wonder what Gallagher, King, Santorum, and Bachmann look like trying to "make it the hard way."

It's not a good idea for Armstrong Williams to criticize homosexuality

Armstrong Williams

I could hardly believe it when I read about this unbelievable degree of audacity coming from conservative columnist Armstrong Williams:

People naturally chafe under rules and customs that limit their choices. We all want immediate gratification. But moral wisdom teaches us restraint. The essential choices we call virtues were distilled over centuries of trial and error – from the time when homo-sapiens were not even aware of the biological processes of reproduction, through the Roman times when polygamy was the norm. Homosexuality was ultimately shunned because of its effects upon the social structure, when, in ancient Greece men's passion for boys became a distraction that weakened the state from within. It is interesting to note that among meditations of the Roman ruler and philosopher Marcus Aurelius is a passage praising his father for overcoming his love of boys.

Williams was commenting on a favorite issue for so many conservatives, i.e. the so-called destruction of American morality. His column is a rambling piece of nonsense which manages to criticize Islam, Rupert Murdoch, Jesse Jackson, the media, Catholic priests, and of course homosexuality.

What strikes me as blatant audacity by Williams is the fact that he would actually have the nerve to criticize homosexuality seeing that he was sued in 1997  for sexual harassment by his male trainer, Stephen Gregory:

Gregory alleges in a suit filed a year ago that Williams repeatedly kissed him on the mouth, grabbed his buttocks and genitals, and climbed into bed with him on business trips. After rebuffing Williams, Gregory charges, the talk- show host retaliated by docking his pay and ultimately firing him.

Gregory went into more details as to the alleged incidents in a 1997 edition of Washington City Paper:

According to Gregory's complaint, Williams became more and more affectionate during these hotel stays and at work. Though he can't remember exactly when, Gregory alleges that Williams began to touch him more often—pats on the shoulder, gentle hugs, slaps on the butt—in the middle part of 1995. "It felt strange, but it was very subtle at first," Gregory says. "I just tried to ignore it; like, 'Oh, that's just him.'"

But it got worse, according to Gregory. After their workouts at the Y, Gregory would drive Williams to work. He says Williams would often rest his hand on Gregory's knee during these short drives.

Williams was allegedly even more aggressive when traveling. In the summer of 1995, according to the lawsuit, Williams tried to climb into bed with Gregory one night when they were staying at the Drake Hotel in New York. It was the first of "numerous occasions" in 1995 and early '96 when Williams did so, Gregory says.

The article, by the way, is a serious barn burner which not only talks about Williams but other DC notables.

Of course Williams denied all charges, but later settled out of court. Why? According to political journalist Doug Ireland, Gregory allegedly produces affidavits from other men who supposedly Williams had, shall we say, shown interest in.

And it gets more interesting. David Brock, openly gay former conservative journalist and founder of Media Matters,  made a claim about Williams in his book Blinded by the Right. Brock said that:

Williams once made a pass at him in Williams' apartment, allegedly asking Brock if he was "dominant or submissive in bed."

Please bear in mind that I am not outright calling Williams gay because I don't know. These things I mentioned, however, are facts.  And they are facts which Williams probably should have kept in mind before making the comments he did about homosexuality.

He should have known that someone reading his column would resurrect them.


Hat tip to Right-Wing Watch.

Truth Wins Out exposes another phony ex-gay activist and other Thursday midday news briefs

TWO Special Report: Meet Janet Boynes, The Bachmann Family’s ‘Ex-Gay’ Minister - Pay attention wannabe gay activists. THIS is how you take the fight to the religious right. Truth Wins Out reveals the schizophrenic world of lies of yet another "ex-gay" minister with unapologetic accuracy.

Bachmann, Romney, Santorum Promise "Presidential Commission To Investigate Harassment Of Traditional Marriage Supporters" - Of course it were about signing a pledge to protect the gay community from harassment, these folks would claim that "it's not needed."

Citing new research, psychology group supports gay marriage - Not bad, APA.

Obama Administration Gives States More Money For AIDS Drug Funding - While I am not happy with everything President Obama does, I sometimes wonder why some of our progressive leaders feel the need to bury positive news. I heard about this from very few progressive sites. They must have been busy with their "Obama is the devil" bitchfest.

Same-sex households skyrocket in Illinois - That ought to piss off NOM.

New York Times Publishes Glowing Tribute To Anti-Gay Hate Group - What the hell is the New York Times smoking?

Home Depot marches in a gay pride parade. Oh the horror!

For the longest time, Home Depot has been attacked by the religious right for its support of the the lgbtq community. And now, thanks to a video pilfered from someone else, the American Family Association has obtained "stunning footage" of the organization's float in the recent San Francisco gay pride parade:



Someone hide the children (sarcasm alert).

Hat tip to Jeremy Hooper

Related post - Home Depot attacked for supporting THE GAYS

A little comedy courtesy of the Family Research Council

I am so glad that I receive daily emails from the Family Research Council because the organization is always good for at least a laugh. For example, take its defense of the American Family Association today:

Just yesterday, a homosexual group vilified the Governor (Sam Brownback of Kansas) for speaking at Gov. Rick Perry's "Response" prayer event in Houston this weekend. The Kansas Equality Coalition blasted Brownback for appearing at an event sponsored by American Family Association, which they describe--not as extreme--but "barbaric." We've partnered with AFA for years, and I can tell you that nothing the organization has ever done could be characterized as such. If spreading the gospel, defending family values, and protecting marriage is "barbaric," then Gov. Brownback has plenty of reasons to join the rally. Obviously, the misguided people at Kansas Equality could use the prayer!

Are they kidding? Check out AFA's definition of  spreading the gospel, defending family values, and protecting marriage via the words of one of its spokespeople, Bryan Fischer:



Of course it's not surprising that the Family Research Council has a warped view of morality, seeing that the organization itself isn't exactly the bastion of morality it claims to be.

I think it's safe to say that the Family Research Council defending the AFA against charges of barbarism is akin to Freddy Krueger defending Jason Voorhees against charges of being bloodthirsty.

Rep. Allen West's wife makes him look like a homophobic hypocrite and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Rep. Allen West's Wife Joins Husband In Attacking Gays - Seems to me that you don't talk about how your husband loves his gay relative who serves in the military in response to the pushback of comments he made about how gays will hurt the military. In her attempt to defend her husband, Rep. West's wife makes him look like a hypocrite and makes herself look like a clueless so-and-so.

The animus fueling NY's 'Let The People Vote' team: Gays seek to 'soothe troubled conscience', push 'sexual deviancy' - Apparently NOM's allies believe that if you "love" someone, you call them "sexual deviant."

Top Five Homophobic Statements From Boehner’s DOMA Briefs - Oh this is going to be an interesting case. I am keeping an eye out for Clement's "proof."


Journalists Must Stop ‘Rightwashing’ Reality - I love that term "rightwashing." I am going to use it more.

Perkins Will Lead The Response In Prayer - May my life not become so bad that I need the leader of an anti-gay hate group to pray for me. 

Did Koch Group Team Up With Religious Right to Suppress Wisconsin Vote? - Is a pea green? Could James Brown get down?

Family Research Council shows hypocrisy with attack on Biden

No matter what the subject is, one can always count on the Family Research Council to show itself as a hypocritical organization.

In this case, it is the recent controversy involving the debt ceiling. The following came from an FRC email:

It was the deficit of diplomacy in the Vice President's office that did. Yesterday, during a closed door meeting with Democrats, Biden (who is no stranger to public embarrassment) reportedly accused the Tea Party of acting "like terrorists" in the debt debate.

 . . . For months, liberals have been using labels to marginalize groups that threaten their radical agenda. This unfortunate incident is just an extension of that "define and destroy" mentality. As FRC witnessed first-hand, the Left will try to silence anyone it deems effective. After last November, liberals are desperate to marginalize the Tea Party like they tried to marginalize FRC by calling us a "hate group." While the tactic may snag headlines, it won't win elections. In fact, this is exactly the kind of elementary school name-calling that the public is fed up with. It's the kind of discourse, as pointed out in this week's Pew poll, that Americans find "ridiculous," "disgusting," "stupid," and "lousy."

First of all, for FRC is criticize Biden for comparing the Republicans to terrorist is the height of irony seeing that FRC head Tony Perkins compared the gay community to terrorists in April. He did this in response to the law firm King & Spalding dropping its defense of the Defense of Marriage Act:

This has moved from cultural terrorism to corporate terrorism. That's what this is. Now, back in the 80's and early 90's I worked with the state department in anti-terrorism and we trained about fifty different countries in defending against terrorism, and it's, at its base, what terrorism is, it's a strike against the general populace simply to spread fear and intimidation so that they can disrupt and destabilize the system of government. That's what the homosexuals are doing here to the legal system.

And now the Pew Research Group can count themselves as one of the groups whose work has been distorted by religious right groups like FRC.

The statement by FRC: It's the kind of discourse, as pointed out in this week's Pew poll, that Americans find "ridiculous," "disgusting," "stupid," and "lousy. is inaccurate.

According to the study,  the responses had to do with how the public felt about the budget negotiations as a whole.

Also, I found it hilarious that yet again FRC took the time to make yet another attempted swipe at the Southern Poverty Law Center for designating it as a hate group while at the same time engaging in the slight of hand distortions and propaganda techniques which led SPLC to give it that designation in the first place.

Apparently FRC seems to think that it owns the exclusive rights to not only the words "values," "morality," and "family," but also to the word "terrorists."

NOM whining that Al Franken 'ambushed' Tom Minnery

Over two weeks after an incident in which a Focus on the Family spokesperson was busted during a Congressional hearing for distorting a study, the National Organization for Marriage is trying to sneak in a defense of that spokesperson.

On July 20 during a Congressional hearing on the Defense of Marriage Act, Sen. Al Franken called out FOF's Tom Minnery for misrepresenting a study on families to make the case that children do better in a heterosexual household as opposed to a same-sex household.

It was a two minute exchange which was played constantly over the blogsphere. And while some members of the religious right tried weakly to defend Minnery, the gist that Franken had caught him lying was unshakeable.

Now, NOM has something to say about that. Or rather the organization linked to a piece written by a woman named Carrie Daklin of Minnesota Public Radio.

The entire point of Daklin's piece was not focused on whether or not Minnery had tried to deceive, but rather the ridiculous point that Franken was mean to Minnery:

I have testified in a trial. It is not fun, it is not exciting. It is stressful. You are out of your element. Your adversary is salivating to get you to say something he can spin, some little something he can magnify out of proportion and use to his advantage. As an experienced paralegal I knew this when I testified, and I was in hyper-vigilant mode because I knew it. Imagine what it is like for someone who has no knowledge of the courtroom.

I have no knowledge of congressional hearings. I have never been to one. I can only hope that if I did have to testify before the Senate, whoever was questioning me would be kind, would recognize that this was his sandbox, not mine, and that, as a representative of our country, he would not embarrass me for his own purposes.

Sadly, when Tom Minnery testified, that was not the kind of treatment he received from Al Franken.

Where is my violin?

This was a serious hearing about a subject which affects millions of Americans. Minnery was offering testimony which was supposed to accurate. But his testimony was not accurate and Franken called him out on it.

If Daklin is truly concerned with how Minnery was treated, I suggest that she contact him expressing the wish that he get his ducks in the proper row should there be a next time he is called to testify in front of Congress.

As for NOM, is anyone really surprised that the organization weighed in on the issue when it thought people had forgotten about it and that it gave a weak defense of Minnery designed to craftily change the subject.

Apparently those leaving comments on this blog post are also in on the act. One commentator, in an attempt to prove Franken wrong, actually cited a Politico article on the matter. Of course she omitted the portion of the article in which the original author of the study said that Franken was actually correct.

Equality Matters puts the entire thing in the correct perspective:

It makes sense that NOM would focus on Franken’s style and not the substance of his argument; the group is no stranger to manipulating and misrepresenting studies in order to claim that gays and lesbians aren’t capable of being effective parents. In fact, NOM chairwoman Maggie Gallagher did just that, under oath, during Congress’ last hearing concerning the Defense of Marriage Act. 

This is a trend with groups like NOM and others in the anti-gay movement. As Judith Stacey, Professor of Sociology and Gender and Sexuality at New York University wrote in 2004:

According to the child protection discourse that Professor Wardle, Maggie Gallagher, and others deploy, social science research demonstrates that legalizing same-sex marriage poses dangers to children and families… In particular, claims that research establishes the superiority of the married heterosexual-couple family and that children need a mother and a father conflate and confuse research findings on four distinct variables - the sexual orientation, gender, number, and the marital status of parents… Unfortunately, opponents of same-sex marriage, like Maggie Gallagher and Professor Wardle, and even some advocates, draw selectively, indiscriminately, and inappropriately from research findings about all four variables to address questions the studies were not designed to, and are not able, to illuminate. [University School of Quinnipiac Law Review, via Lexis, 2004, emphasis added]

UPDATE - Now the American Family Association - via its phony news service One News Now - is continuing to push the false narrative that Franken "was mean" to Minnery.  It's interesting that both this phony news article and Daklin's piece emphasizes the fact that Franken is a former comedian while de-emphasizing the simple fact that Franken was correct about Minnery's fraudulent testimony.

 Related post: Tom Minnery's lies are commonplace in religious right data

SC newspaper prints interracial gay wedding announcement and other Tuesday midday news briefs

South Carolina Paper Prints Interracial Gay Wedding Announcement - Oh this ought to be good.

Related - announcement in question from The State newspaper


Porno Pete Updates Tax Status - Part 2 of the "Porno Pete's group loses tax exempt status" controversy. Apparently until yesterday, his site was still saying that donations were tax-deductible. Shame, shame, shame.

AFA rips, reuploads, reinterprets video as if it's their own; feign surprise if you wish - American Family Association breaks commandment number seven to beat up on the gay community again.

Rep. West Angry Over Being Dropped From Speaking Gig, Calls Planned LGBT Boycott ‘Intolerable’ - Translation: How dare the gay community call me out for picking on them! Who do they think they are? Human beings?
  
American Conservative Union bars GOProud from co-sponsoring 2012 CPAC - Well so many people are telling GoProud "we told you so," so I won't.