Tony Perkins joins 'diaper pastor' and AFA in an interview of lies.

According to Right Wing Watch:

On Today’s Issues, American Family Association president Tim Wildmon and Family Research Council president Tony Perkins hosted and praised North Carolina pastor and anti-gay activist Patrick Wooden, the very same pastor who said that gay men “have to wear a diaper or a butt plug just to be able to contain their bowels,” to condemn the Southern Poverty Law Center’s work against anti-gay organizations. Wooden has not only focused on “what happens to the male anus” but also said homosexuality is “wicked, deviant, immoral, self-destructive, anti-human” and should make people “literally gag.”

During the show, Wooden claimed that SPLC, which he recently protested alongside Peter LaBarbera and Matt Barber, was “hijacked” and “infiltrated” by gay rights advocates, and called homosexuality “deviant” and a “death style,” and even claimed that the LGBT community discriminates against African American males.

Perkins accused the SPLC of trying to “silence the debate” over gay rights and Wildmon asserted that the SPLC “switched over” to covering LGBT issues because racism is in “rearview mirror here in our country and we moved beyond that and they had to have something to do,” and labeled the AFA and FRC anti-gay hate groups simply because the two organization “stands for traditional marriage and against homosexual marriage.” However, their stance on marriage equality was not part of the SPLC’s criteria as “not one of them was listed because of their position on same-sex marriage.”

The very fact that Tony Perkins and Tim Wildmon would join with a man who falsely claims that gay men have to wear diapers is enough to prove SPLC's point about their organizations (American Family Association and the Family Research Council) being hate groups a million times over. And Wooden just happens to be one of the leaders in the effort to push awful anti-family, anti-marriage equality amendment in North Carolina.


But don't think that this would stop Perkins any. Apparently he is still popular on MSNBC and CNN.

Honestly, doesn't the media have any standards. If they are going to have Perkins on their shows, the very least they can do is grill him on his comments and his partnerships.

Related post: 16 reasons why the Family Research Council is a hate group

'Gingrich a defender of marriage except his own' and other Thursday midday news briefs

Fox News Hires Gay Rights Activist Sally Kohn As Contributor - Why do I want to act like the Amityville Horror House when speaking to Ms. Kohn - "GET OUT NOW!"

Kickoff of Protect All NC Families campaign to defeat Amendment One (updated) - North Carolina hits the ground running to defeat that awful anti-family, anti-gay amendment.

Despite Publicly Backing One Man-One Woman Marriage, Newt Asked Ex-Wife To ‘Share Me’ With Other Women - If his ex-wife's claim is true, there are SOOOO many things wrong with this, chiefly who in the hell else would want to have sex with Newt Gingrich.

GLAAD Media Awards 2012: Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin, 'Glee,' And 'Dancing With The Stars' Among Nominees - Congratulations to all of the GLAAD award nominees.

Elementary School Climate, Anti-Gay Bullying Examined In New Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network Report - Excellent report by GLSEN.

NC anti-family amendment - just who is ruled by fear and hatred?

In May, North Carolina will be voting on one of those dreary anti-marriage equality amendments (Amendment One).

Those pushing it say that they are not ruled by hate or animus against the gay community. They claim that they merely want to "protect marriage."

Judge for yourself just who is in the right here.

In other words, this (North Carolina pastor Patrick Wooden, one of the chief organizers for the North Carolina amendment to ban same-sex marriage):




vs. this (the families in the middle of this amendment fight):



The choice is yours, North Carolina.

Editor's note - As of now, no supporters of the amendment have made any comment about Wooden's words.

Gay and in a Black Church - another view

I just found this clip and it is hilarious! This is openly gay comedian Sampson performing his show "Don't Make Me Take Off My Earrings" at The DC Arts Center. It's nice to see a gay black man talk about the issue in such a manner. And Sampson isn't lying either:

'Mitt Romney's flip-flops on gay equality' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Maryland Anti-LGBT Groups Object To Transgender Protections As ‘Dangerous’ - You know what they are saying. It's what they always talk about when defaming our transgender brothers and sisters, i.e. bathrooms.

Romney’s meandering voyage on gay rights - In all honesty, Mitt Romney has flipped-flopped on everything else. If he didn't flip-flop on lgbtq equality, I would have felt left out.

COLORADO: Catholic Church Hands Out Pledge Cards Against Civil Unions - The Catholic Church is dooming only itself in this fight.

Chuck Colson's Latest Pathetic Claim that LGBT Rights is Undermining Religious Freedom - Whine, whine, whine!

Create a fun caption for 'Porno Pete's ' bigoted press conference

Today is my birthday, so let's have some fun this morning. The following pictures are from yesterday's ridiculous press conference held by "Porno" Pete LaBarbera and his homophobic merry men at the headquarters of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

As you can tell, the press conference was a colossal bomb, attracting attention only by those of us who live to refute the lies put out by LaBarbera and company.

What I want you to do is put on your thinking caps and create a funny caption for either or both of the pictures.

Don't be too mean or too nasty.

But then again . . .

NC anti-gay marriage amendment supporter claims that gay men need diapers

Reports are coming in that today's press conference by Peter LaBarbera and his merry band of homophobes at the Southern Poverty Law Center headquarters was a bomb.

Which surprises no one.

However, Right Wing Watch uncovered something a bit nauseating but also very telling at the same time. At his press conference, LaBarbera included a bunch of black pastors and was pushing the phony notion that "gay are trying to piggyback off of the civil rights movement."

They were also trying to push the phony notion that SPLC was attacking groups like LaBarbera's because they supposedly stand up for "Christian principles."

Now I ask you, are the following comments by North Carolina pastor Patrick Wooden an example of "Christian principles?" Wooden not only participated in the press conference but also is one of the folks trying to pass an anti-marriage equality amendment in North Carolina.

The comments come from an interview he conducted with LaBarbera before the failed press conference:

Wooden: The God of the Bible made the human sperm, the God of the Bible designed it and it was not designed to be emptied into an area that is filled with feces, there is nothing for it to germinate with, it will most certainly mean the extinction of the human race. My belief is that if the medical community would just step forward and just would share with the American people what happens to the male anus, the problems that homosexuals have with their rectums, the damage that is done, the operations that are needed to sew up their bodies if you will, and how many of the men don’t even give these stitches time to heal before they are back out there practicing that wicked behavior. Some are bleeders, men who are not turned off by ingesting the feces of other men.

. . . If the truth was told, people would literally gag and no one would want to be in a lifestyle like that. Who wants to practice anything that is going to ultimately lead a grown man to about the time he’s in his 40s or 50s, or what not, having to wear a diaper or a butt plug just to be able to contain their bowels?

If you ask me, I don't think SPLC needed to issue a response to LaBarbera's failed press conference. All they have to do is replay Wooden's words. Call them what you want, but to me they epitomize hate. They epitomize ignorance. It's the same type of hate and ignorance which racists used to claim that integration was merely a way for the black man to have his way with white women.

Someone should tell Wooden that lies and exploitation of ignorance are not "Christian principles."

'SPLC smacks down hate group press conference' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Anti-Gay Haters Plan Press Conference Today at SPLC - The Southern Poverty Law Center responds to the anti-gay hate group press conference held today. And the response is a doozy!

The amazing public turnaround of Bernice King on LGBT rights - It's the beginning of something good. And I hope more good comes out of it.
 
Three South Carolina Gay Couples To Protest Marriage Ban - Those are MY PEOPLE who are doing that! I love my lgbtq brothers and sisters from my state.

While Santorum wins Religious Right Support, No Signs of 'Strong Consensus' - Can't these dipsticks decide who dislikes gays more?

Black pastors demean Dr. King's legacy by teaming up with anti-gay hate groups

Peter LaBarbera

It saddens me to report that a group of black pastors have learned nothing from Martin Luther King Jr's message of love.

How else can one explain what a group of them are doing today?

Today, these pastors are teaming up with resident homophobes Peter LaBarbera, Linda Harvey, Matt Barber, and others  to hold a press conference at noon outside the headquarters of the Southern Poverty Law Center to  protest the fact that several religious right groups, including LaBarbera's Americans for Truth, were named by SPLC as hate groups.

According to SPLC:

the SPLC’s listings of these groups is based on their propagation of known falsehoods — claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities — and repeated, groundless name-calling. Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups.

But of course LaBarbera and company will push the false idea that these groups are being attacked because of their supposed Christian beliefs. This is what he had to say about the press conference:

Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans For Truth, which is sponsoring the press event, recently interviewed Pastor Wooden, who said that the SPLC’s gambit of labeling mainstream pro-family groups that oppose homosexual activism as “hate groups” is seriously damaging the SPLC’s credibility. Wooden also debunked the “civil rights” analogy used by “gay” activists, saying it is wrong to compare “my beautiful blackness” with homosexual perversion.

LaBarbera said the SPLC is engaged in a thinly-veiled, one-sided campaign to demonize adherents of traditional Judeo-Christian morality.

Patrick Wooden

How sad. LaBarbera gets a bunch of black pastors who are desperate for publicity to accompany him.  I don't recognize these black pastors, except for one - Dr. Patrick Wooden, pastor, Upper Room Church of God in Christ (COGIC), Raleigh, NC.

This is the same Wooden who said the following in 2004:

"We have to block the use of euphemisms when we talk about homosexuals. They are not gay. We've got to use terms like 'deviant' and 'abomination.' "

 Maybe these pastors are so desperate for publicity that they are not aware of who they are teaming up with, so allow me to give a short overview of their "friends:"

Matt Barber of the Liberty Counsel  who defends countries that persecute lgbts, compares lgbts and progressives in general to idol worshippers and child sacrificers of Biblical times, and made the following ugly comment about gays being allowed to serve openly in the military:

And above all, let's not forget the following comment he made about same-sex relationships:

There is nothing “conservative” about “one man violently cramming his penis into another man’s lower intestine and calling it 'love'”

Bayard Rustin - Gay man in the Civil Rights Movement

Today is the national holiday celebrating the birthday of the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

While he definitely embodied the civil rights movement and the promise this country made about equality better than anyone I ever know, let's not forget those who aided him along the way, particularly the architect and organizer of the 1963 March on Washington as well as one of his personal aides, Bayard Rustin. Rustin was a genius, a man before his time whose gay orientation stood in the way of him getting the recognition he deserved. That is until now.

Of course the irony is that even if Rustin had gotten the recognition he deserved before he died, he probably wouldn't have cared. He was a man devoted to fighting injustice anywhere he saw it:

'LGBTQs of color reflect on MLK Day' and other Monday midday news briefs

NOM's reliably reductive Frank Turek claims = FALSE - To me, it's not just the fact that NOM repeats lies here which is depressing, it's where the organization is repeating the lies. Forbes magazine is highly regarded and highly read. We need to understand that sometimes truth means nothing if you can't get it in an arena to be heard.

Habemus Santorum! - In case you haven't heard, the religious right have picked Rick Santorum as their candidate. Whoop te do.

MLK Day Reflection for LGBTQ Justice in the Black Church - Awesome piece by Rev. Irene Monroe.

Why We Cannot Wait: NBJC Celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day - Another awesome piece by Sharon J. Lettman-Hicks, Executive Director and CEO, National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC)

Gay Straight Alliance Taking Hold In Earlier Grades: Report - This is excellent news!

Faith leaders deliberately mislead about marriage equality

It's bad when religious leaders spread deliberate lies. From the Kansas City Star:

A coalition of almost 40 religious leaders has published an open letter that seeks to recast the battle against same-sex marriage as a fight on behalf of religious freedom.

The religious leaders, predominantly from conservative Christian churches and Orthodox Judaism, say their concern is not that legalizing gay marriage will force their ministers to perform same-sex weddings; they say they doubt that will happen.

Rather, they wrote Thursday, allowing same-sex couples to marry would wind up “forcing or pressuring both individuals and religious organizations — throughout their operations, well beyond religious ceremonies — to treat same-sex sexual conduct as the moral equivalent of marital sexual conduct.”

“There is no doubt that the many people and groups whose moral and religious convictions forbid same-sex sexual conduct will resist the compulsion of the law, and church-state conflicts will result,” they warn in the letter, titled “Marriage and Religious Freedom: Fundamental Goods That Stand or Fall Together.”

The leaders include Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals; New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; and H. David Burton, presiding bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The signers note that religious adoption agencies already have been required to place children with same-sex couples, and religious institutions are being told to provide insurance benefits to gay partners.

So they have abandoned the phony claim of being "forced to officiate over same-sex weddings." That's good I am not familiar with the idea of religious institutions being told to provide insurance benefit for gay partners.

However, I am very familiar - as no doubt many of you are - with the false claim that religious adoption agencies would be required to place children with same-sex couples.

It's always interesting to me that when folks make these claims, they deliberately omit the fact that these religious institutions are receiving tax dollars (which come from gays and lesbians as well as heterosexuals) to provide their services. These religious institutions seem to want the money but don't want to abide by the rules which come with this money.

If these groups want to discriminate with adoption services, then why can't they do it with private funds. As a gay man, I think I have every right to cry foul when my tax dollars are going to an institution who don't think that there is anything wrong with using my money to discriminate against me.

Don't be fooled by this letter. As the article says:

The thrust of the letter is to frame opposition to gay marriage in terms of a battle for religious freedom, an argument that many religious groups believe could gain some traction with the American public, even as Americans increasingly — and perhaps inexorably — grow more accepting of same-sex relationships.

It's not going to work, guys.

The American Family Association lies about Home Depot boycott

Recently the American Family Association claimed that its boycott against Home Depot was working.

AFA was boycotting the company because Home Depot has been very supportive of the lgbtq community, even publicly supporting pride events and providing booths for children during those events.

AFA claimed the following:

AFA spokesman, Randy Sharp says “We’re seeing some movement. It appears that the Home Depot is pulling back from their support of homosexual activism. Over the course of the last three years, we’ve seen a reduction in the number of gay pride events that they’re sponsoring and participating in. However, we want to be cautious.”

I smelled a rat and apparently so did site Back 2 Stonewall. A reader of that blog contacted Home Depot and received this reply:

We have never changed our commitment to diversity and inclusion of all people, and we have no intention of doing so. Nor have we changed our apron policy or the guidelines for our Foundation?s charitable giving.

Sincerely,

Samantha F. DeVaney
The Home Depot Corporate Office
2455 Paces Ferry Rd.
Atlanta, GA. 30339
1-800-553-3199

So the AFA lied. What else is new? Let this be a lesson for our community. When the news broke, many of us were raising hell and were ready to write ugly letters to Home Depot.

The claims about Home Depot came solely from AFA. And knowing the history of the AFA, I wouldn't believe the organization if it told me that it was snowing during a blizzard.

When religious groups make claims, let's verify them before we give them veracity. After all these groups make their money lying about our lives. Of course they are going to lie about other things. When you lie about one thing, lying about other things becomes easy.


Hat tip to Back2Stonewall

NOM's latest 'victims of alleged gay agenda' following familiar script of lies

I knew it.

Sooner or later, the National Organization for Marriage's phony Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance would feature Eunice and Owen Johns, the British couple who were allegedly told that they could not be foster parents because of their Christian beliefs:




NOM's blog even exacerbates the lie by saying the following:

NOM's Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance just released this incredibly moving—and yet chilling—video interviewing Eunice and Owen Johns, a black Pentecostal married couple in Great Britain whose own government told them they were not fit to foster a child unless they were willing to advocate for gay sex.

Of course this is a lie. The Johns were denied the ability to be foster parents because their beliefs could intefere with the welfare of a child, especially if that child was gay or lesbian.

And according to Robert Pigott, BBC News religious affairs correspondent:

The case is likely to be seen as a landmark decision, as senior judges ruled so decisively against any idea that attitudes might be justified purely because they were Christian in origin.

The court discriminated between kinds of Christianity, saying that Christians in general might well make good foster parents, while people with traditionalist Christian views like Mr and Mrs Johns might well not.

Such views, said the judges, might conflict with the welfare of children.

Know Your LGBT History - Michael Jeter

Today, I am announcing a different direction in my Know Your LGBT History segments. I've focused on movie and television portrayals, but now I want to focus on famous lgbtqs throughout history.

In the coming weeks, I will be featuring people who you may know to be lgbtq and a few that you probably didn't. My first person will be one of my favorite actors, the late Michael Jeter. From wikipedia:

Michael Jeter was born in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. His mother, Virginia (née Raines), was a housewife. His father, William Claud Jeter (March 10, 1922 – March 1, 2010),was an optometrist. Jeter had one brother, William, and four sisters, Virginia, Amanda, Emily, and Larie.[2] Jeter was a student at Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) when his interests changed from medicine to acting. He performed in several plays and musicals at the Circuit Theatre and its sister theatre, the Playhouse on the Square, in mid-town Memphis. He left Memphis to further pursue his stage career in Baltimore, Maryland.

His woebegone look, extreme flexibility, and high energy led Tommy Tune to cast him in the off-Broadway play, Cloud 9, and again on Broadway in a memorable role in the musical Grand Hotel, for which he won a Tony Award in 1990. Much of his work specialized in playing eccentric, pretentious, or wimpy characters, as in The Fisher King, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Drop Zone. Occasionally, Jeter was able to stay away from these types of roles for more diverse characters like those he portrayed in Jurassic Park III (where he was killed by a dinosaur), Air Bud, The Green Mile, and Open Range. He won an Emmy award in 1992 for his role in the television sitcom Evening Shade as math teacher and assistant football coach Herman Stiles. In the Evening Shade episode "Chip Off the Old Brick" Brian Keith plays his macho truck driver father, Brick Stiles. He was also a favorite with younger audiences in his role as Mr. Noodle's brother, Mr. Noodle on Sesame Street from 2000 to 2003. The movies The Polar Express and Open Range are dedicated to his memory. He appeared in an episode of Touched By An Angel in 1999 as Gus an Insurance Salesman who arrives in Las Vegas in the episode, 'The Man Upstairs'.

Jeter died of AIDS on March 30, 2003, Jeter was found dead in his Hollywood home at the age of 50. Jeter was HIV positive but had been in good health. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered.

Jeter was my dreamboat and for this post, I am going to feature the memorable speech he made after winning a Tony in which he admitted his past problems with alcohol and drugs, as well as the show stopping performance he did in Grand Hotel:



Past Know Your LGBT History posts:

'Legislator threatens the transgender community with violence' and other Friday midday news briefs

Tennessee Bathroom Bill Sponsor: ‘I Would Stomp A Mudhole’ In A Transgender Person - No he didn't! I don't believe in violence but if I ran across a scene like this, a certain person would get handed his ass. This man's comments is the epitome of all religious right rhetoric about the transgender community.

Today in heavy-handed Fox Nation headlines (*and by heavy-handed, I mean blatant lie) - Fox News deliberately lies in a headline. So what else is new?

READ: NOM 'Marriage Anti-Defamation' project served with removal demand - This was so good that I had to post it again, this time with some background information.


Background info - NOM accused of distorting controversy in Canada


Obama opposes laws ‘designed to take rights away’ - Well good for him!

School Board Moves to Fire Viki Knox, NJ Teacher Who Called Homosexuality a 'Perverted Sin' on Facebook - The comment she made was about her place of employment and it dealt with students. She deserves what she gets.

Phony expert Glenn T. Stanton can't stand up to scrutiny

From time to time, I have the opportunity to go one-on-one with religious right talking heads. When this happens, I am able to ask them certain questions that I feel the media misses.

Today, I bring you Glenn T. Stanton of Focus on the Family.

Last week, I featured a blog post from Think Progress which accused Stanton of  dog whistling a study to denigrate same-sex families. Now the study said nothing about same-sex families and neither did Stanton per se. But the religious right semantics of "children do better with a mother and a father" was clear. Generally when religious right groups feature studies such as these, there are implied negative digs to same-sex family situations. In my post, I also brought up another incident in which he was rebuked by the American Anthropological Association. Needless to say, Stanton wasn't happy about that and wrote about it on his blog:

Getting falsely accused and innuendo’d by gay bloggers is nothing new, but this has been an interesting week. See here, here, and here.  I wasn’t going to respond – the reaction such things deserve. But a friend at National Review Online asked me to respond, so I did.

Here’s my piece on the silly games played regarding this very serious topic.

His piece was a long-winded big piece of nonsense which avoided Think Progress's accusation. I felt the need to write the following back to him:

Oh stop it, Glenn. You weren’t falsely accused. You were called out for being inaccurate. And by the way, I noticed that you didn’t say a word about the rebuke you received from the American Anthropological Association a while back. And while I have your attention, I would like you to address something you wrote a while back called “Why Homosexuality Falls Short of the Ideal.” In that piece, you cited, via third hand, the discredited work of Paul Cameron (I’m sure you have heard of him) and claimed that gays suffer from something called “gay bowel syndrome.” Now you know that term doesn’t exist. It’s things like that which lead us to call you out. Not falsely accuse you, my friend. But call you out for the charlatan that you are.

He did not like that at all and took the time to write me back:

Not sure who I am responding to exactly since there wasn’t a clear name, but I thought you deserved a reply out of personal respect.

I was accused of being dishonest by a number of sites, starting with ThinkProgress. They got it wrong. They made the connection to ss parenting. I didn’t. I was not dishonest. I represented the study honestly and correctly….as well as the larger body of research on how family impacts the educational attainment of children.

And I fully debated the anthropological thing in multi-part exchange with an anthropologist from your fold at Box Turtle a few years ago. I don’t believe he ever proved me wrong, (he would say otherwise, I am sure) nor did he convince me that same-sex or homosexual marriage or parenting has ever been a notable part of the anthropological record of a culture.  There is not good record of it. I believe the AAA ‘s statement about gay families is weak and unfounded. I address that in the exchange.

And I don’t have an article entitled “Why Homosexuality Falls Short of the Ideal” to my knowledge. If you can tell me where it published, then I can dig it up and we can talk. But I don’t find anything like that in my archive or memory.  And I have never quoted Cameron and will not. How do you know I quoted him “third hand”? I would very much like to see that bread-crumb trail.

If gay bowel syndrome or GRID doesn’t exist, what are these article about:

http://www.annemergmed.com/article/S0196-0644%2880%2980310-6/abstract

http://gut.bmj.com/content/26/9/869

http://ukpmc.ac.uk/abstract/MED/578386/reload=0;jsessionid=lt4ZVT2IIVRIDZiVF7eO.86

And I don’t know what I would have written about this, but many of these studies that I found via quick search just now on google scholar indicate the things I know of the malady.

And the term is not used today, and this article from the Wash Blade explains some of the reason why:

http://www.aegis.org/news/wb/2005/WB050411.html

And it is not nice to call people names….like charlatan. If you have problem with my research and/or line of reasoning, lets discuss it. But calling names is just cheap.

And of course I had to answer him back:

Oh Glenn, Glenn, Glenn,

you seem to have this need to justify yourself but when you attempt to do such, you only make it worse.

All of those citations about "gay bowel syndrome" were from the late 70s or early to mid 80s. That was before doctors realized that gay bowel syndrome had nothing to do with the bowels, nor did it only affect gay men, or did it fit the definition of a "syndrome."

And that last link you sent merely confirms what I said, particularly this sentence:

An official with the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention said LGV is not "gay bowel syndrome." The rare chlamydia strain has been around since the 1970s, and may have once been considered among the various diseases doctors loosely referred to as "gay bowel syndrome," according to Jessica Frickey, a spokesperson for the federal health agency.

But it's difficult for the CDC to know -let alone track - which diseases used to be included in "gay bowel syndrome" because the term was so informal and has since gone out of use at the CDC, Frickey said.

Now in terms of Cameron, you did cite him - third hand - in your piece "Why Homosexuality Falls Short of the Ideal." In that piece is the following passage:

HIV is the most notable infection associated with homosexual sex and other promiscuous behaviors, but it is important to realize that this is only part of the problem. Professor Thomas Schmidt, in his excellent study of homosexuality, Straight & Narrow?, explains, "Doctors who work with homosexual men are now trained to look regularly for at least 15 common afflictions apart from HIV/AIDS and we could double or triple the number by taking into account less common problems."

In that book, Straight and Narrow, Schmidt cited Paul Cameron in various places. And one more thing. Schmidt is a theologian, not a credible medical researcher.

Didn't you read his book. If you had, you would have known. Or did you read it anyway and cited the information without caring?

Basically Mr. Stanton, I called you a charlatan because I feel that you are one. You and others like yourself have built a nasty house of cards based on junk science, cherry-picked studies, and outright lies against the lgbtq community. If I were you, I would be prepared to be ready for that house to fall because it will sooner or later.

And for the record, I have a copy of his piece "Why Homosexuality Falls Short of the Ideal" in my files. I didn't indicate that to him in my letter but I found it interesting while he denies writing the piece, he defended the existence of "gay bowel syndrome," a term which figured heavily in the piece.

Needless to say that Stanton didn't write me back. And I really don't blame him. He debates me with archaic medical terms and pretends not to remember writing pieces that he clearly did which used junk science. It was a pitiful performance.

Stanton is the perfect face of phony religious right research.

Conservatives demand that 'ex-gay' therapy, inaccurate health information be taught in schools

The Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota is in the middle of a huge issue regarding its sexual orientation curriculum policy which says that LGBT issues should not be discussed in the district's schools.

And based on the actions of some parents at a recent school district meeting, it's going to be a long slog:

A slew of conservative Christian parents — and even an orthodox rabbi — implored the Anoka-Hennepin School District to purge schools of any mention of homosexuality and demanded that teachers teach about the “ex-homosexual” movement and “gay-related immune deficiency.” One district member even assailed Dan Savage’s It Gets Better campaign as vulgar and accused the popular columnist of teaching children about “three-ways.” Several people testified using little more than versus from the Bible that are often used to demean and degrade the LGBT community.

The controversy in the district is over the sexual orientation curriculum policy also called the “neutrality policy” which says that LGBT issues are not to be discussed in the district’s schools. Six students are suing to eliminate the policy on the grounds that it makes for a hostile school environment and the district announced last month that they are considering scrapping the policy and replacing it with one that deals with “controversial topics” but doesn’t single out LGBT students and issues.

But the Parents Action League, a group of conservative Christians, want the policy to remain.

Brian Lindquist and Mike Skaalerud presented a resolution and list of demands that the Parents Action League wants to the school board to fulfill including incorporating “ex-gay” therapy into the school resources.

And it got uglier:

PAL also uses the term Gay Related Immune Deficiency or GRID. That was the initial name given to AIDS when it was still only a cluster of gay men. It hasn’t been used since 1984 — aside from those in the religious right who have a limited knowledge of epidemiology and biology who use it as a derogatory remark about gay men and HIV.

The Parents Action League has been behind much of the anti-LGBT activity in the district and have been advocating “ex-gay” therapy since it’s founding in 2009.

Barb Anderson has been the spokesperson for the group. She’s also a researcher for the Minnesota Family Council and has accused LGBT advocacy groups of being responsible for bullying and suicides in the district.

At Monday night’s board meeting, she accused the LGBT community of indoctrinating the students of the district.

“On Dec. 25th, on the front page of the Star Tribune, the pro-homosexual media once again held up the St. Paul school district as an example of how the districts should deal with GLBT issues. In St. Paul, the fear of the gay agenda coming into the schools is now a thing of the past. Well, that’s exactly right. There’s no reason to fear it coming in because its so entrenched in their schools that parents have given up all hope of getting it out.”

She said that the “gay agenda” was trying to force Christians into the closet.

She quoted Steve Warren who she called a leader in ACT-UP claiming that his “gay manifesto” from 1987 was the rallying cry for the community. What she didn’t note was the Warren’s article, written under the pseudonym Michael Swift, was satire.

Where do you think these folks got this stuff from? Organizations like the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, etc.

You see that's why it's important for the lgbtq community to start focusing on these groups. They are feeding gullible folks bad info which in part is being used to stymie the progress of our children.

'Religious right can't get rid of discredited researcher' and other Thursday midday news briefs

Family Research Institute: 'Where Gays Cluster, Boys Suffer' - Once upon a time, boys and girls, Paul Cameron was the toast of the religious right. They used his discredited work to prove the case against lgbtq equality until we got savvy enough to point out his myriad of errors. Now the religious right avoid him like the plague. Only he refuses to go away, which is good for us.

Related post: Paul Cameron - why the religious right can't keep him 'in the closet'

Anti-Gay Legal Guns For Hire: How The Right Uses ‘Religious Liberty’ To Fight Discrimination Suits - An excellent piece by Talking Points Memo.

AP: Gay marriage within reach in Wash. Legislature - Sweet!

Native American lesbian elected to Minnesota House - Awesome news coming out of Minnesota.
  
Unmasked! Anti-LGBT Group Behind Girl Scout Cookie Boycott - And THIS, brothers and sisters, is how the religious right astroturfs a protest.

MSNBC's possible dismissal of Pat Buchanan is hypocritical

You must forgive me for not being impressed with the news that MSNBC has allegedly finally been driven to the extremes by columnist Pat Buchanan's racist rhetoric and is seeking to get rid of him.

Don't get me wrong. It's way overdue. Buchanan has gotten away with racist dog whistling for too long and his book, Suicide of a Superpower, with its venomous attack on all of those who don't fit Buchanan's idea of proper American culture - i.e. those who aren't white - is a fitting final straw.

But as I said before, I'm not impressed.

You see, Buchanan is not the only problematic individual to be given somewhat of a home at MSNBC.

According to the site Equality Matters, Family Research Council head Tony Perkins has made 11 appearances on MSNBC news programs. Perkins is the same guy who has said vindictive things about the lgbtq community including:

• Gay Activists Are Intolerant, Hateful, Spiteful Pawns Of The Devil. [Right Wing Watch, 5/3/11]
• Senators Who Vote For DADT Repeal Will Have “The Blood Of Innocent Soldiers On Their Hands.” [Right Wing Watch, 12/16/10]
• "Kids Do Worse In These Same-Sex Households. They’re More Susceptible To Violence.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends Sunday, 4/24/11]
• Gays Are Trying To “Spread Fear And Intimidation So That They Can Disrupt And Destabilize” The Legal System, Like Terrorists. [Good As You, 4/29/11]
• “Research Is Overwhelming” That Gay Men Are More Likely To Molest Children.  [MSNBC, Hardball, 11/29/11]

The stuff Perkins says is no different than the drivel Buchanan spews.

And in addition, his organization, FRC, has been known to either cherry-pick science or refer to junk science in order to smear the lgbtq community. It is for reasons like this that the organization was named as an official anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Of course  Perkins and FRC will claim that they are being victimized for their stance against marriage equality, but this is yet another lie.

SPLC puts it this way:

The FRC often makes false claims about the LGBT community based on discredited research and junk science. The intention is to denigrate LGBT people in its battles against same-sex marriage, hate crimes laws, anti-bullying programs and the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.To make the case that the LGBT community is a threat to American society, FRC employs a number of “policy experts” whose “research” has allowed FRC to be extremely active politically in shaping public debate. Its research fellows and leaders often testify before Congress and appear in the mainstream media. It also works at the grassroots level, conducting outreach to pastors in an effort to “transform the culture.”

In Its Own Words
“Gaining access to children has been a long-term goal of the homosexual movement.”
— Robert Knight, FRC director of cultural studies, and Frank York, 1999

“[Homosexuality] … embodies a deep-seated hatred against true religion.”
— Steven Schwalm, FRC senior writer and analyst, in “Desecrating Corpus Christi,” 1999

“One of the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the ‘prophets of a new sexual order.’”
--1999 FRC pamphlet, Homosexual Activists Work to Normalize Sex with Boys.

But in spite of all of this, Perkins continues to be called upon by the network as a credible analysis of the GOP presidential primary even as recently as yesterday on MSNBC’s Martin Bashir.

Seems to me that if MSNBC wants to be consistent, the standards that the organization is using to dismiss Pat Buchanan should be used against Perkins and FRC.

Or is MSNBC saying that racism is a no-no but homophobia is allowable?

There is a nasty double standard here.

Related post - 16 reasons why the Family Research Council is a hate group