Maine churches fighting marriage equality via the collection plate

Even if this legal, I don't think that it's morally right. It's one thing for church members to vote as their conscience dictates, but when the church itself becomes a tax-exempt political machine, we have problems.

From the NY Daily News:

Scores of Maine churches will pass the collection plate a second time at Sunday services on Father’s Day to kick off a fundraising campaign for the lead opposition group to November’s ballot question asking voters to legalize same-sex marriages.

Between 150 and 200 churches are expected to raise money for the Protect Marriage Maine political action committee, said Carroll Conley Jr., executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine evangelical organization and a member of the PAC. Conley is also trying to drum up support for the Maine campaign from religious leaders from around the country.

It’s unusual, but not unheard of, for churches to take up collections for political causes. Maine’s Catholic diocese says it raised about $80,000 with a designated collection in 2009 in its effort to overturn Maine’s same-sex marriage law, which was passed by the Legislature that year and later rejected by voters. The Catholic Church isn’t actively campaigning this time, instead focusing on teaching parishioners about the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman.

Father’s Day, June 17, seemed an appropriate time to kick off this year’s fundraising campaign because of the day’s focus on family, Conley said. Additional collection-plate offerings at churches are expected in the months ahead.

Read more about the story here

Know Your LGBT History - Bessie Smith

There are so many stories about the life of legendary blues singer Bessie Smith. Let's clear up two. No, her death in an automobile accident was not the result of being denied entry at a white hospital. And yes she was bisexual and, to put it nicely, a bad ass one.

Bessie Smith - (1894-1937):

Bessie Smith was born poor in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Her parents died when she was eight years old and she began singing to support her family at age seven. She sang on street corners with her brother accompanying her on guitar.

Bessie Smith went on to become one of the most successful Black performers of her day. Her album "Downhearted Blues," released in 1923, was the best selling blues record of its time. At the height of her career, she was making $2,000 a week. Quite a sum for those days.

Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey:

At age 17, Bessie Smith met Gertrude "Ma" Rainey and went on the road with her traveling show. Ma Rainey became a mentor to Bessie Smith. There is some speculation that the two were also lovers, but little to back that up.

Bessie Smith and Jack Gee:

Bessie Smith was married to Jack Gee in 1923. Both Jack and Bessie had affairs with women and these affairs caused many fights between the two. There are accounts of Bessie firing a gun at Jack after learning of one of his affairs and of Jack threatening to kiss Bessie after finding her with a woman.

Bessie Smith ended her relationship with Jack Gee in 1929 after she found out he was having an affair with another singer.

Bessie Smith and Lillian Simpson:

Bessie Smith had affairs with various women through out her life. One that we know about is with Lillian Simpson. According to Bessie's niece Ruby, who traveled with her, Bessie Smith had an on and off affair with one of her chorus girls Lillian Simpson in 1926. At one point when Bessie spurned her, Lillian tried to kill herself and ended up in the hospital. The affair eventually ended when Lillian left the tour, afraid of Bessie's husband Jack finding out.

Bessie's Love of Women:

Bessie's husband Jack found out about her affairs with women when he caught her with a woman at a boarding house in Detroit. He threatened to kill her, but she managed to escape with her troupe and back to her train and out of town before he caught up with her.

'Fake historian - homosexuality should be illegal in spite of the Supreme Court' and other Friday midday news briefs

Barton: 'I Don't Care What the Supreme Court Says,' Homosexuality Should be Illegal - You gotta love those  religious right figures. BTW I don't think St. Paul said what David Barton claims. It sounds like a bad translation to me:

 

 And in other news

 Come on people – enough with stoking the black = homophobic meme - Pam Spaulding is right. It's time for that lie to die. 

 No contradiction: I'm black and gay - Meanwhile, L.Z. Granderson, an openly gay African-American columnist drops some more truth.  

Federal Judge Finds DOMA Unconstitutional - Look what just happened to DOMA (again)  

WHOA! Even the SBC is distancing itself from FRC honoree Ron Baity (and Charles Worley and Sean Harris) - You know things are getting weird when the Southern Baptist Convention begins to distance itself from pastors for being too anti-gay.

 Long Island School Inexplicably Suspends Student For Class Project About Bullying - She was reinstated and the suspension has been taken off of her record. But the entire thing is just weird. 

Religious right hypocrisy on gays raising children

Tony Perkins

One thing which was pointed out to me about Tony Perkins's interview yesterday on CNN was when he said:

"There are some same-sex couples that are probably GREAT parents."

It reminds me of the time where Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage said last year :

"there are some gay people who are wonderful parents."

But both of these figures (Perkins and Gallagher) have gone on record implying awful things about gay parenting.

For instance, Gallagher once said “at least polygamy, for all its ugly defects, is an attempt to secure stable mother-father families for children.”

And Perkins claimed his children couldn't be gay because he is "teaching them the rights ways that they are to interact as human beings"

 So which beliefs do Perkins and Gallagher hold?

If Perkins and Gallagher think that gays make good parents, then why do they campaign tooth-and-nail on the distortion that marriage equality would harm children? And why do their organizations imply awful distortions about gays harming children?

It's a matter of simply hypocrisy. But as long as no one pushes the issue, they can get away with it.

If the media won't push the issue, then perhaps it's time that we did.

Tony Perkins has another rough interview

Does anyone remember that comedy movie Airplane and the scene with the hysterical woman? The stewardess kept slapping her to calm her down. Since she was unsuccessful, another stewardess took over. And then another one. Pretty soon, a line forms behind the stewardess of people who will take their turn in attempting to calm down the hysterical woman. One man is wearing boxing gloves. One woman has a tire iron in her hand. Another woman has a gun. And so on and so on.

I was reminded of that scene because of an interview that CNN's Brooke Baldwin conducted with the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins. Now Perkins has been having a rough time recently during news interviews. He was called to the carpet on his anti-gay distortions by CNN's Soledad O'Brien and then was further knocked on his ass on MSNBC's Hardball by Congressman Barney Frank with a little assist from host Christ Matthews.

And now Baldwin seems to want to get a piece of the action. She not only takes Perkins to task but asks him point blank about his homophobia and the fact that he doesn't know any same-sex families. Of course there was room for some improvement. When Perkins goes on a tangent about what his children are taught in schools and such, I wished Baldwin would have reminded him that gay couples have children also. Still seeing Perkins squirm in the morass of his lies was satisfying.

'SPLC blasts NOM for its anti-gay lies' and other Thursday midday news briefs

National Organization for Marriage Continues to Spread Lies About Gays - The Southern Poverty Law Center blasts NOM for its lies about the gay community. Can a "hate group" designation be next? I certainly hope so.

 Welcome End of a Pseudotheory - The New York Times blasts social conservatives for their need to rely on bad studies.

  Air Force Academy Graduates First-Ever Openly Gay Cadets - Awesome!

 APA President-Elect: Ablow’s Comments Are “Misleading,” “Inaccurate,” And “Potentially Harmful” - Fox News's homophobic doctor in residence, Keith Ablow, gets his just desserts from the American Psychiatric Association.

  Underground LGBT Group Shakes Up Conservative Evangelical University - BAM! 

NPR exposes the complex relationship between the Black Church and gays

Rev. Dennis Wiley

When it comes to gays and the black church, NPR just ripped opened the closet door and all of the bones fell out. An excellent piece which needs more exposure:

Fairly or not, African-Americans have become the public face of resistance to same-sex marriage, owing to their religious beliefs and the outspoken opposition of many black pastors.

Yet the presence of gays and lesbians in black churches is common. And the fact that they often hold leadership positions in their congregations is the worst kept secret in black America.

While many black pastors condemn gays and lesbians from the pulpit, the choir lofts behind them often are filled with gay singers and musicians. Some male pastors themselves have been entangled in scandals involving alleged affairs with men.

"Persons who are in the closet serve on the deacon boards, serve in the ministry, serve in every capacity in the church," the Rev. Dennis W. Wiley, pastor of Covenant Baptist United Church of Christ in Maryland, says of black churches. Wiley is a prominent advocate of gay marriage. "I do believe a certain hypocrisy is there."

. . . Some say pastors' hostility cuts hard against the history of how countless black churches have flourished. The virtuosity of gay singers, musicians and composers has been the driving force in developing popular gospel choirs — even chart-topping, Grammy-winning acts — that make money for a church, help expand congregations and raise the profiles of pastors.

It all happens under an unspoken "don't ask, don't tell" custom that allows gay people to be active in the church, though closeted, and churches to reap the benefits of their membership.

Some say the arrangement is not only hypocritical, but exploitative.

"On the one hand, you're nurtured in the choir but you also have to sit through some of those fire and brimstone sermons about homosexuality being an abomination," says E. Patrick Johnson, an openly gay gospel singer and author of Sweet Tea: An Oral History of Black Gay Men of the South.

Read more of Blacks, Gays And The Church: A Complex Relationship

Dear Alveda King, your lie about Bayard Rustin will NOT go unanswered!

Now Alveda King is lying about Bayard Rustin.

Dear Ms. Alveda King,

Bayard Rustin

I have watched your "career" as an "activist" and a "leader" over the years with a mixture of amusement and annoyance. I was amused as to how you were suddenly anointed as a voice for the black community simply because you are Martin Luther King, Jr's niece.

And I was a bit annoyed at your nasty attack on Coretta Scott King two years ago when you implied that you knew MLK's heart better than her because you "had his DNA and she didn't."

However, your recent comments have led me to a state that goes beyond annoyance. Comments you made about the late Bayard Rustin make it necessary that I call you out for your blatant dishonesty.

You said:

"The 21st century homosexual lobby likes to point to the professional relationship between my uncle Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bayard Rustin, his openly homosexual staffer who left the movement at the height of the campaign. Rustin attempted to convince Uncle M. L. that homosexual rights were equal with civil rights. Uncle M. L. did not agree, and would not attach the homosexual agenda to the 20th century civil rights struggles. So Mr. Rustin resigned.

I would like to know where you received your information concerning this claim and until you show this information, I feel safe in calling you out as a boldfaced liar.

According to several sources, most specifically the excellent book Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin by John D'Emilio, Rustin resigned because prominent black leaders, specifically the late Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, had gotten jealous of King's influence and were going to accuse him and the openly gay Rustin of being lovers.

It was some of these same leaders who did not want Rustin to have anything to do with the 1963 March on Washington, but labor leader A. Philip Randolph insisted that Rustin be involved. And as you SHOULD know, this was a good move because Rustin was the architect of that successful march.

Furthermore Rustin began speaking about gay issues in the 1980s at the behest of his partner, Walter Naegle. This was over two decades after MLK's death.

Ms. King, you like to talk about the so-called sin of homosexuality, but let me remind you that the Bible also says something against bearing false witness.

And between me and you, from one African-American to another, I would personally like to know just what constitutes you as a genuine leader in the black community?

To my knowledge, no one has taken the initiative to ask you that question, so I would like to. Do you really think that your relationship to one of the greatest American leaders of the 20th century makes you a leader?

I don't think so. On my father's side of my family, I am a distant cousin to the rapper Lil Bow Wow, but at no time have I rushed to a record company demanding a contract.

Ms. King, it takes more than familial connections to make one a leader. Allow me to school you on the qualities.

A leader sacrifices for others.

A leader does not seek the spotlight.

A leader works his or her fingers to the bone for a cause.

A leader inspires others.

A leader puts him or herself on the line more than once even though success of the cause may not be assured.

Bayard Rustin had all of these qualities. You have none of them. Ever since you have shown your face in the public arena, the only person you seemed to have cared about is yourself. You inspire no one. You do the least amount of work. And worst of all, none of your fame comes from anything you have done, but only due to the fact that you had the good fortune to be related to Martin Luther King, Jr.

If you didn't have this familial relation, no one would care about anything you say.

So please stop lying to yourself as to your status and your impact. You have neither.

And while I detest how you are reaping the benefits of your uncle's hard work, I have nothing to do with it.

BUT I will be damned if I say nothing while you besmirch the name of a man whose hard work put you in your pseudo-prominent situation.

Bayard Rustin was a leader in every sense of the word.

You aren't. And while you may have King's DNA, you are sorely lacking in his integrity or love.

You go and make your money, now.

Consider yourself checked and dismissed.

'40 Faces of Homophobia' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

40 Faces Of Homophobia Around The World - This is a disgusting but necessary photo essay.  People need to see this to get an understanding of what our community has to deal with. If this gets you angry, good. Do something positive with your anger. And the following two examples from the photo essay should give you incentive:

In other news  

Pastor "Beat Gay Kids" Denounces Pastor "Put Them In Concentration Camps" - One bigot denounces another. Would spontaneous combustion be something to wish for here?

 POLL: African American Support For Marriage Equality Is Higher Than General Population - Well that's one myth (black folks are more homophobic than the general population) shot to pieces.

Miranda Salman: Transgender Soccer Player Defies Prejudice Against LGBT Community (VIDEO) - Good for her! 

 American Family Association, Family Research Council Attack Target for Selling 'Pride' T-Shirts - Come on guys! Surely there is a school with a gay/straight alliance you can demonize. This is just ridiculous. 

Gay community - pay attention to Fox News

I've mentioned this slightly and now I am making a full post about it because I feel that it is an important issue.

The gay community needs to keep an eye out for Fox News.

The claim that Fox News is "fair and balanced" is the biggest joke out there, period. The network pushes conservative propaganda even to the point that reporters show their bias by arguing with guests they don't agree with and conducting one-sided interviews with folks whose issues they do agree with.

How Fox News has tried to consistently undermine President Obama will be a widely discussed issue in classrooms for years to come

But the gay community should be forewarned that Fox News also has a negative eye cast upon us.

The blog Equality Matters casts a spotlight on Fox News by how its resident "doctor," Keith Ablow, has demonized the gay community:

Ablow is notorious for peddling the false idea that children might decide to identify as transgender if they see a happy transgender person – like Dancing with the Stars’ Chaz Bono – on television. He’s also suggested that using pink nail polish and having same-sex parents might similarly cause children to abandon their gender identity. He’s been open about his belief that transgender people are suffering from "psychotic delusions" and should be encouraged, through therapy, to identify as their biological sex.

Ablow has also voiced his support for the claim that homosexuality is a product of environmental factors and, as a result, can be changed or reversed. In the past year alone, Ablow has argued that:

• Homosexuality can be caused by environmental factors, including a lack of access to women
• Homosexuality can be caused by "unresolved issues" with important females in adolescence
• Homosexuality is a “lifestyle choice”

And last week, Ablow condemned the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for declassifying Ego-Dystonic Homosexuality (EDH) as a mental illness in 1987. EDH, which was the diagnosis given to people who were distressed by their same-sex attractions, continues to play an important role in the pseudoscientific research produced by modern “ex-gay” groups today.

Ablow has also attacked same-sex parenting by falsely claiming that there is no data to determine the psychological effects to children. Equality Matters points out just how wrong he is.

I might point out that Ablow was a member of Truth4Time, the secret anti-gay Facebook group whose plans to disrupt the gay community was made public earlier this year.

But Ablow is just one problem that the gay community could potentially see with Fox News. As I said before, reporters on the network sometimes conduct extremely soft interviews with media figures.

Imagine Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage or Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council being allowed to spout lies about the gay community, not only unchallenged but also helped along by a person who is supposed to ask them questions designed to get to the bottom of the issue, but instead elects to aid and abet their propaganda.

It's a scary thought indeed. And we need to ask ourselves how close it is to becoming a reality.

Church members support pastor's call to imprison gays behind electrified fence

By now, we all know about Pastor Charles Worley of Providence Road Baptist Church, NC and his sermon advocating imprisoning gays within an electrified fence so that we may die out.

But here is another sad part of the story. Members of his congregation support him:



Mark my words. Gays and lesbians are not the destroyers of Christianity. Some of these folks are doing an excellent job of it themselves and if those Christians who are shocked by this just simply stand aside and say nothing, then they are cowards.

It's easy to get angry at this madness but just remember one thing. The more ignorant people talk about destroying others, the more they destroy themselves. Hang tight brothers and sisters!

Hat tip to Towleroad

NAACP attacked by 'The Vultures' for its support of marriage equality

Alveda King is a sad woman living off her uncle's name.

When the NAACP passed a resolution support marriage equality, I knew that THEY were coming.

By "THEY," I am talking about a group of wannabe black leaders who I like to refer to colloquially as "The Vultures."

These folks claim to lead "big time" organizations with important sounding names. Something like "The High Impact Leadership Coalition" or "Brotherhood for a New Destiny" or "Center for Urban Renewal and Education."

I should tell you right now that these organizations are astroturfed. They don't speak for the black community because a vast majority of us have never heard of them. And why should we? Whenever there needs to be a true voice in the black community addressing issues such as poverty or socio-economic equality, these groups are never around.

They exist only as convenient black faces to be trotted out by conservatives or the religious right when it comes to issues of race. These so-called black leaders don't care about the black community because they are too busy telling some whites what they want to hear about the black community.

That's all they do. That's the only reason why they exist.

And in the case of the NAACP accepting marriage equality, these folks are in rare form. Religious Right Watch covers what several of them had to say:

Stephen Broden, a Republican politician who has said that the violent overthrow of the government should be “on the table,” dubbed the NAACP “irrelevant”:

Stephen Broden, pastor of Fair Park Bible Fellowship in Dallas, notes that the black community is suffering from soaring unemployment, an extraordinarily high rate of abortions, a high school drop out rate among black teenagers that is breathtaking, an exploding rate of single parent households and the decimation of black families.

Yet, Broden says, the NAACP is making statements about same-sex marriage. “The NAACP has proven again to be an irrelevant organization as it relates to issues of survival for the black community,” says Broden who co-authored Life at All Costs with King and Gardner. The book addresses issues such as abortion and homosexuality.

Domestic violence perpetrator turned “pro-family” activist Timothy Johnson called on African Americans to ditch the NAACP and join his own group, the Frederick Douglass Foundation:

"When you recognize that the black community is strongly a Christian-based group of people, conservative in most of the things they believe, the NAACP has gone diabolically the opposite direction of tradition of the black community," he states. "[The NAACP] really is doing this in order to stay relevant and in order to build up their revenues as it relates to what they can get from the gay community."


"... I think those individuals who call themselves Christian or call themselves Jewish who are members of the NAACP should denounce the organization, should cancel their membership, and really look for something else or another organization such as the Frederick Douglas Foundation to be affiliated with," he states.

Religious Right Watch also mentions comments by the "Queen Mother" of the group, Alveda King, Martin Luther King, Jr's niece:

Alveda King, as always, tied the topic to the question of abortion rights and claimed to speak for her uncle and other relatives in claiming that the King family has always opposed the “homosexual agenda”:

"Neither my great-grandfather an NAACP founder, my grandfather Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr. an NAACP leader, my father Rev. A. D. Williams King, nor my uncle Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. embraced the homosexual agenda that the current NAACP is attempting to label as a civil rights agenda," says King, founder of King for America and Pastoral Associate for Priests for Life.

"In the 21st Century, the anti-traditional marriage community is in league with the anti-life community, and together with the NAACP and other sympathizers, they are seeking a world where homosexual marriage and abortion will supposedly set the captives free.”

Alveda King is a sad fraud. Practically her entire career has been reaping off of her famous uncle, a man who lived and died when she was a child. I doubt she knew anything about King. I doubt very much that she is aware that one of King's advisers, Bayard Rustin, was an openly gay man. It was Rustin who not only coordinated the March on Washington, but also introduced King to the idea of non-violent resistance.

 I also seriously doubt she knew what was in King's heart when it came to the gay community. However, we do know what she thought of Coretta Scott King, MLK's wife and the person who did know his heart and was also a very vocal ally of the gay community.

Two years ago, when she was asked about Coretta Scott King's support of the gay community, she made a highly inappropriate comment:

"She (Coretta) was married to him (Martin Luther King, Jr.). I've got his DNA. She doesn't. She didn't. She's passed away."

That comment alone gives a great indication of Alveda King's mindset and lack of integrity.

But generally speaking, anyone using Alveda King or any of these other spokespeople or groups as proof that the black community has turned on the NAACP for the organization's support of marriage equality is lying to their readers.

Neither these groups nor their spokespeople never really cared for the NAACP in the first place.

Because to them, it's all about the spotlight.
 

'Astroturfed group of black pastors attacking Obama over marriage equality' and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Happy Harvey Milk Day everyone!

North Carolina Anti-Gay ‘Electrified Fence’ Pastor Faces National Backlash - Awwww the poor baby. SOCK IT TO HIM!!!!!!!! And I DARE anyone from the religious right to defend this man.


  Harry Jackson: God punishes marriage supporters, NAACP next; you're not taping this, are you? - Harry Jackson, it seems to me that if your words are Godly, you shouldn't worry about whether or not you are being taped.  

Commentary: Pastor Invokes Bible to Attack Obama - Some may call me racist for this but I don't give a crap. Seems to me that if you are taking a picture of a group of black pastors who are supposed to be standing against President's Obama support for marriage equality, then shouldn't the majority of folks be black pastors rather than two blacks pastors already affiliated with the religious right and NOM (William Owens  and Harry Jackson) and people like Tony Perkins? Can you say fraud? BET socks it to them. Not for that point, but still, it's an excellent commentary.

Justice for Maverick! Student Wins Right to Wear Shirt - Score one for the First Amendment!

Home Depot stands up to the American Family Association during shareholders meeting

Sometimes a simple declaration is all one needs to turn aside a bigoted statement.

Home Depot has been on the "shit list" (so to speak) of the religious right, particularly of the American Family Association because of its participation in gay pride parades and its donations to GLAAD, The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

AFA is presently boycotting the company, demanding that Home Depot "stay neutral" in the so-called culture wars. Of course the irony is that if Home Depot was on AFA's side in the argument, the organization would be defending "it's right to participate."

Recently, AFA spokesman Randy Sharp made a statement to Home Depot chairman Frank Blake, Home Depot's board of directors, and its shareholders during the company's annual shareholder meeting.

Blake's answer to Sharp was neither long nor was it drawn out, but it made things clear how Home Depot stands on the matter. Blake's response to Sharp starts at 3:18 and also hear the voice of support of Blake's statement from a self-identified "married lesbian from Massachusetts:"

Crazy North Carolina pastors? Blame the Amendment One vote

It's been said that during an argument, the first person who accuses the other of being a Nazi is automatically the loser. I think whoever said that would make an exception in the case of North Carolina pastor Charles Worley of of Providence Road Baptist Church:

Transcript:

"I figured a way to get rid of all the lesbians and queers, but I couldn't get it passed through Congress. Build a great, big, large fence — 150 or 100 mile long — put all the lesbians in there, fly over and drop some food. Do the same thing for the queers and the homosexuals and have that fence electrified so they can't get out…And you know what, in a few years, they'll die out."

Now the most creative of my lgbt brothers and sisters would accuse this pastor of slyly talking about concentration camps and unfortunately they aren't off the mark.

However, I think the old man thinks too much of himself. For centuries the gay community have withstood violence, hatred, and ignorance wrapped up in a religious package. We have withstood scorn, ridicule, and also disease. I hardly think that the silly plans of a backwoods preacher can bring us down.

But sadly, I don't solely blame Worley for his outrageous comments. I also blame the National Organization for Marriage and its recent successful Amendment One campaign. I've always said that wherever the organization goes, it leaves destroyed communities in the wake of its anti-marriage equality campaigns with people having to make amends with each other for voicing negative opinions about gays that were brought to the forefront.

Now in the case of North Carolina, NOM's sickness has infected several pastors.

Patrick Wooden and a cell phone?

Worley is just one. Let's not forget the diaper pastor Patrick Wooden who, because of NOM's Amendment One campaign, claimed that gays have so much sex that we require stitches and diapers. He later doubled down on that lie and also claimed that gays use cellphones a sexual instruments.

That's Wooden right there on the right at the Amendment One victory party. Doesn't that look like a cell phone in his hand? If it is, I don't want to know where he got it.

And let's not forget about Pastor Sean Harris of the Berean Baptist Church Fayetteville, who advised parents to use violence against their potentially gay children:



What it comes down to is that NOM's campaign against marriage equality made it permissible for some of these folks to let their freak flags fly. But now they can't seem to pull them back down.

North Carolina's gay community will survive the Amendment One vote. But I am seriously worried about some of the state's pastors. If another pastor pulls another outrageous outburst, I'm going to be calling the guys with the white coats.

'The most nauseating picture of anti-gay violence you will ever see' and other Monday midday news briefs

This awful scene is Svyatoslav Sheremet, head of Gay Forum of Ukraine, is beaten as he met with members of the media to inform them that a scheduled gay-pride parade was cancelled. (Anatolii Stepanov, Reuters/Landov)

Kiev Pride Cancelled, Two Beaten - Box Turtle supplied the picture and details of this awful scene. You see this is what the Obama Administration was talking about when it made its stance against anti-gay violence. No matter how the religious right tries to bamboozle the situation, let this picture provide the truth of the situation for you.

NAACP Endorses Marriage Equality - The resolution not only helps gay equality but it also helps the NAACP in that it indicates that the organization is growing in a positive manner to encompass the universal struggle for equality.

 NOM pushes extreme video; pushes away remaining stake in political moderation - The National Organization for Marriage is now embracing a fraudulent video pushed by the Family Research Council. For more information on this fraudulent video, see Family Research Council pushing another video of anti-gay lies 

Civil rights group says school censored students - Rainbow symbols promote gay sex. Who knew?

Will the Family Research Council acknowledge error of using recanted study?

Spitzer

Editor's note -  It's one of those two post mornings. After reading this post (and hopefully tweeting Tony Perkins and/or Peter Sprigg, check out my other post below regarding elected officials attacking the gay community - Why do some American Christians anoint the lazy and ignorant as their 'heroes?'

On Friday, something monumental happened.

Dr. Robert Spitzer announced plans to officially apologize to the gay community for a 2001 study he published which claimed that gays can change their sexual orientation.

This apology is a boon for the gay community and closes the book on a long controversy. I detailed it in my 2007 book Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters:

Robert Spitzer is one of the psychiatrists who was instrumental in getting the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses in the early 1970s.

In 2001, he published a controversial study that seemed to claim that small number of people can change their orientation from gay to heterosexual. In 45-minute individual telephone calls with 143 “ex-gays” and 57 “ex-lesbians,” Spitzer asked them 60 questions dealing with their feelings and behavior before and after they allegedly changed their orientations. They also talked about their strategies, feelings and motives for changing.

Many of these individuals were referred to Spitzer by “ex-gay” groups. When Spitzer’s findings were made public, the anti-gay industry lauded him, making sure to mention that he was one of the principle people who led the American Psychiatric Association’s 1973 decision to remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.

They also made sure to portray him as a martyr of political correctness, making it sound as if some sort of gay Mafia was attempting to suppress his study. Concerned Women for America even sent out a press release claiming that Spitzer’s life and livelihood was being threatened.

The Traditional Values Organization published its own press release of Spitzer’s study. Like other so-called “pro-family” groups, it manipulated the findings without going into detail about how Spitzer came to his conclusion, but making sure to emphasize his support of gay rights.

Over the years, Spitzer has denounced how the religious right used his study for its own agenda. In a 2006 interview with The Los Angeles Times, Spitzer said that he believed that some of those he interviewed for his study may have been either lying to him or themselves. In that same year, he teamed up with Dr. Judith Stacey, Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc and Soulforce, a group that combats “spiritual violence” against the gay and lesbian community, in a press release demanding that Focus on the Family another religious right group, stop distorting research.

Why do some American Christians anoint the lazy and ignorant as their 'heroes?'

Gipson

I am simultaneously amazed and disappointed in how some American Christians choose their heroes these days.

Mississippi state lawmaker and minister Andy Gipson recently cited a Biblical passage that condemns gays to death as his way of speaking against out President Obama's support of marriage equality. And in the face of criticism, he says that he is not backing down.

To put it succinctly, I hate when these incidents happen. A lawmaker says something homophobic while hiding behind the Bible, our community demands an apology, the lawmaker refuses to back down and finally the lawmaker is looked upon by some as a hero for supposedly standing up for Biblical principal.

Gipson is not a hero. He is lazy.

If you want to talk about true heroes of the Christian faith, then let's talk about those who spent their lives fighting injustice like Desmond Tutu or Mother Teresa. Let's talk about those who gave their lives for the sake of equality like Oscar Romero or Maximilian Kolbe.

All Gipson did was to sit on his ass and repeat Biblical verses in an attempt to bash a group of people who, to my knowledge, has never done him any harm a day of his life.

Just when were the requirements of heroism of the American Christian faith reduced to lip service designed to tear people down based on assumptions of sin?

Know Your LGBT History - Josephine Baker

The legendary Ms. Josephine Baker is a perfect example of why I post a "Know Your LGBT segment" on my blog. I try to tell my lgbtq brothers and sisters, particularly the younger folks to not allow ignorant people to get them down, steal their glory, or mar their potential. We all have the potential for greatness and those of us who are lgbtqs can soar just as high, regardless of those who try to weigh us down with their ignorance.

Josephine Baker did in spite of racism and ignorance.

AND she was family, as one of her 12 children attested to:

Baker was bisexual. Her son Jean-Claude Baker and co-author Chris Chase state in Josephine: The Hungry Heart that she was involved in numerous lesbian affairs, both while she was single and married, and mention six of her female lovers by name. Clara Smith, Evelyn Sheppard, Bessie Allison, Ada "Bricktop" Smith, and Mildred Smallwood were all African-American women whom she met while touring on the black performing circuit early in her career. She was also reportedly involved intimately with French writer Colette. Not mentioned, but confirmed since, was her affair with Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Jean-Claude Baker, who interviewed over 2,000 people while writing his book, wrote that affairs with women were not uncommon for his mother throughout her lifetime. He was quoted in one interview as saying:

"She was what today you would call bisexual, and I will tell you why. Forget that I am her son, I am also a historian. You have to put her back into the context of the time in which she lived. In those days, Chorus Girls were abused by the white or black producers and by the leading men if he liked girls. But they could not sleep together because there were not enough hotels to accommodate black people. So they would all stay together, and the girls would develop lady lover friendships, do you understand my English? But wait wait...If one of the girls by preference was gay, she'd be called a bull dyke by the whole cast. So you see, discrimination is everywhere."

Past Know Your LGBT History posts:

'Obama creating much needed discussion about gay issues in the black community' and other Friday midday news briefs

President Obama Is Ending Black America's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy - Good because it is so difficult to have a decent conversation about lgbtq issues in the black community.

 The Obama Effect: Growing Number Of African Americans Come Out For Marriage Equality - The religious right knows this and they are pissed.  

Breaking Down The '31 Out Of 31 States' Talking Point - The religious right is quick to claim that when given the chance to vote on marriage equality, 31 states voted against it. Equality Matters demonstrates why that talking point is simple crap. 

 Video: Lou Dobbs hosts negligent LGBT panel (w/ Ablow, Perkins, and no dissent) - PLEASE pay attention to this, folks. If you thought Chris Matthews was bad when he was lauding over Tony Perkins, then you will absolutely freak over this one. Imagine a network giving anti-gay talking heads the chance to tell their lies with no dissent whatsoever. It's happening on Fox News and it will most likely become worse.  

Obama Administration Implements LGBT-Inclusive Prison Sexual Assault Protections - Good move by the Obama Administration.