'Anti-gay KY clerk appeals to SCOTUS' & other Thur midday news briefs

Kim Davis

Anti-Gay Kentucky Clerk Defies Court For Third Time, Appeals To SCOTUS - Most specifically, her lawyers at the anti-gay Liberty Counsel will be appeal to SCOTUS. I have no idea what SCOTUS will do, but I am baffled by the Liberty Counsel's actions in this entire situation. First of all, with anti-gay groups uniquely talented at choosing people who can stand as symbols for their positions, choosing this woman is an abysmal decision. We aren't talking about a private business where there could be a bit of leverage here. We are talking about a government official who will not do her job and has made it clear that it's not about her "religious liberty" per se, but the fact that marriage equality shouldn't exist. In the public arena, Davis is not popular because of that fact. People tend to get angry at public officials not wanting to do their jobs. Right now, I think Kim Davis and the Liberty Counsel has the potential to wreck the anti-gay talking point of religious liberty before they can really get anything from it. 

A Lesbian Officer Maligned in Ted Cruz’s Religious Liberty Ad Tells Her Side of the Story - About time that this old anecdote is destroyed. It's been exploited by several groups, including the Family Research Council in several letters asking for donations.  

Same-sex documentary banned in Australian schools - This is what the anti-gay right in America wants to accomplish here - to deliberately omit our families.  

Watch Bernie Slam Republicans For ‘Family Values’ Hypocrisy: You Know What They REALLY Mean - It's about time SOMEBODY did.

Denver Lawmaker Posts Screenshots Of Racist Threatening Hate Mail After Criticizing Chick-Fil-A - Letters from folks claiming to be Christians. Nauseating.

Anti-gay clerk fails again in court, other anti-gay clerk says he will die fighting marriage equality

Kim Davis loses again

Word has come down that anti-gay Rowan County Kentucky clerk Kim Davis has lost another round in her refusal to give marriage licenses to gay couples.:

According to the AP:

A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling ordering a Kentucky county clerk to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
  
Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis objects to issuing same-sex marriage licenses for religious reasons. She stopped issuing marriage licenses the day after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned state bans on same-sex marriage.
  
Two gay couples and two straight couples sued her. A U.S. district judge ordered Davis to issue the marriage licenses, but later delayed his order so that Davis could have time to appeal to the 6th circuit. Wednesday, the appeals court denied Davis' request for a stay.
  
An attorney for Davis said he was disappointed in the ruling and that Davis could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. He said he did not know how Davis would react to the ruling.

I know how she is going to react. She is probably sewing her martyr dress. She has start doing her complete job on Monday and I have a feeling girlfriend won't do it.

Casey Davis (no relation) .

Meanwhile, another Kentucky clerk, Casey County clerk Casey Davis (no relation to Kim) just went full fledged drama queen over his refusal to give out marriage licenses to gay couples.

According to Right Wing Watch:

On Monday, Casey County Clerk Casey Davis (no relation) appeared on Huntington, West Virginia’s “The Tom Roten Morning Show” to discuss how he similarly plans to defy the courts if ordered to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples … even to the point of death.

Please ignore your eagerness to make fun of the man's accent. Just be spellbound at his ignorance.

No one fought and died for you to refuse to do your job, my friend. And for God's sakes, NO ONE wants you to lose your life over this matter.

Davis (the Mr.) illustrates the truth about this present so-called idea of religious liberty. Without any prodding, he is already channeling Joan of Arc, Anne Boleyn, all of the Hugenots and various martyrs throughout history.

All gay couples want is for him and Ms. Davis to abide by our LAWFUL right be married or step aside so that someone else can do it.

So PLEASE stop with the phony histronics and do the right thing. It's not about you clerks. It's about US, the gay folks who fought and won the right to marry fair and square.

'Chris Christie bucks GOP 'religious liberty' talking point' & other Wed midday news briefs

Editor's note - There's just no word for this morning's madness. My prayers go out to all involved, especially the family  and friends of the victims. When things like this happen, there is always one thing I am reminded of:

Let's try to get some news briefs going:

Chris Christie

 Watch: Surprise gay marriage proposal at church receives standing ovation - Amid the ugliness, there is still beauty in the world and one shred of beauty is always the sign that we haven't completely gone off the deep end.

 Chris Christie Bucks Party, Opposes Using ‘Religious Liberty’ To Justify Anti-LGBT Discrimination - I'm impressed. Christie shows a momentary sign of gumption. 

 Ted Cruz Encourages Gay Florists To Turn Away Evangelicals - While Ted Cruz continues to go down crazy train. Can you imagine a host of businesses turning away customers for discriminatory reasons? Just madness.

 Pentagon poised to end trans ban in May - Of next year that is. Still, it's progress.

 The New York Times' Stumbling, Problematic Transgender Coverage - The media anti-lgbt boogie. You take two steps forward and they draaaaag you back one (apologies to "Willona" from "Good Times")

Family Research Council still fighting marriage equality via lies & distortions

Family Research Council can't stop lying about marriage equality

Editor's note - The most effective and tiring techniques of anti-gay propaganda is repetition. No matter how many times something they cite has been refuted, anti-gay groups and personalities will repeat the citation. A perfect example of this is a Family Research Council "paper"entitled Ten Arguments From Social Science Against Same Sex Marriage, which the organization claims is "trending" on its webpage. I am reposting the 2011 refutation of this monstrosity because knocking down anti-gay distortions is like cooking oatmeal. Every time a lump reappears, you beat it down:

In the piece, Family Research Council is basing the argument against gay marriage on the claim that "children need both a mother and a father."

FRC makes the claim that lesbians household "raising children without a father" is wrong because according to them:

Among other things, we know that fathers excel in reducing antisocial behavior and delinquency in boys and sexual activity in girls.

And gay households "raising children without a mother" is wrong because:

fathers exercise a unique social and biological influence on their children. For instance, a recent study of father absence on girls found that girls who grew up apart from their biological father were much more likely to experience early puberty and a teen pregnancy than girls who spent their entire childhood in an intact family.

However, very little (if any at all) of the literature/studies FRC cites to make these conclusions have anything to do with same-sex households.

When the organization does address the studies involving same-sex households, it throws out an insulting addendum:

A number of leading professional associations have asserted that there are "no differences" between children raised by homosexuals and those raised by heterosexuals. But the research in this area is quite preliminary; most of the studies are done by advocates and most suffer from serious methodological problems. Sociologist Steven Nock of the University of Virginia, who is agnostic on the issue of same-sex civil marriage, offered this review of the literature on gay parenting as an expert witness for a Canadian court considering legalization of same-sex civil marriage:

Through this analysis I draw my conclusions that 1) all of the articles I reviewed contained at least one fatal flaw of design or execution; and 2) not a single one of those studies was conducted according to general accepted standards of scientific research.

This is not exactly the kind of social scientific evidence you would want to launch a major family experiment.

There is a huge problem with FRC citing Nock's testimony. He gave it in 2001. Since that time, there have been numerous other studies , as well as personal stories from children in same-sex households which back up the conclusion that same-sex households are a perfectly fine place to raise children.

Also, Nock's testimony was rejected by other researchers. (*see below)

'Houston anti-gay group exploiting transgender community to defeat pro-lgbt ordinance' & other Tue midday news briefs

 

Anti-gay group in Houston seeking to scare people by ignoring THIS reality.

Opponents Of Houston’s LGBT Protections Call Trans Women ‘Filthy, Disgusting, And Unsafe’ - Will exploiting the lies about the transgender community in Houston yield success? I hope not! But to even talk about it takes time away from what the pro-lgbt ordinance in Houston actually does. So if folks want to dip in the war, let's get a way to yank them out. Like so: 

Debunking The Big Myth About Transgender-Inclusive Bathrooms - An old article which bears repeating, along with the much needed graphic (see graphic above) 

 Campus Pride launches national #LGBTQNotSin Campaign - AMEN! I am so tired with anti-gay evangelicals bogarting the argument in regards to faith and religion.  

NOM Funneled Millions To Fight Maine Marriage Equality, But Had Only One Big Donor From The State - If you didn't hear about this, you have been in a cave somewhere. There is a term in theatre called "striking the set." That's when the play is over and folks being removing scenery. NOM, your play is over and we are coming to strike your set. 

 The Way This Dad Reacted When His Son Chose A Doll For A Gift Is Priceless - He gets MY vote for "Father of the Year"  

Cruz: 'Liberal Fascism' Seeks 'To Persecute, To Punish, To Fine' Any Christian Who Opposes Gay Marriage - Get a grip, Teddy. You have the right to oppose marriage equality, but you do NOT have the right to create policies, laws, or engage in actions which will create a system of "anti-gay segregation." You must still treat us as human beings and taxpayers. Deal with it.

A simple, more direct phrase to label 'religious liberty'

You've probably seen the tweet. Still, it's worth repeating because it's worth remembering:

Why call it #religiousliberty when u know u actually mean "anti-gay segregation?" - http://t.co/ekhANAN85Q pic.twitter.com/LsmJbeDAxp

— Holy Bullies (@holybullies) August 24, 2015

'Anti-gay clerk honored for her homophobia' & other Mon midday news briefs

Kim Davis and how the right is using her to play us for fools.

John Oliver rips into anti-LGBT baker and urges Congress to pass national Equality Act - THANK YOU John Oliver for putting things in an uncomplicated, albeit vulgar, manner. 

Thousands rally for clerks denying gay marriage licenses - I am VERY reluctant to put this news brief in about Kim Davis. Why? Because my lgbt brothers and sisters (particularly my brothers) tend to respond in vulgar misogynistic matters. Listen, what this woman is doing is WRONG and you are correct be angry at her AND those who support her actions. We fought fair and square for marriage equality and won, period. But making fun of your opponent's physical appearance, her personal life, location, economics, etc WILL NOT win us this war. The fact of the matter is that Kim Davis is a PAWN. You really don't think that her course of action just popped into her head by itself, do you? She has, as well as folks like the Klein bakery and other phony religious liberty martyrs, have been manipulated and led by organizations who are using them to undermine lgbt equality. And part of that undermining is to get us so angry that we act like juveniles on the playground rather than adults who should secure what we fairly won. How do we win this? We recognize the difference between the pawns and the puppet masters (the Family Research Council, the Liberty Counsel, the American Family Association, etc.). Then we educate ourselves and EACH OTHER on WHY what Davis is doing is wrong. Most of all, we repeat constantly the fact that gay couples are the ones being discriminated against and deprived, not government officials like Kim Davis who doesn't want to do her job but expect to get paid for it.  And not those who want to bring back segregation, albeit on the basis of sexual orientation.  In this case, the lgbt community is NOT using our righteous indignation in the right manner and it's high time that we stop pussyfooting around and do it.

 On Republicans and their “religious liberty” - And reading this piece is a step in the right direction.

 The 4 Biggest Myths About Transgender Kids Used To Justify Denying Them Health Care - Pay attention. This is about our children.

 Is Ted Cruz Winning The Christian Nation Primary? - Another reason we should recognize the puppet masters. We got a demagogue on our behinds.

What they don't tell you about what religious liberty will lead to

I despise putting such claptrap on my blog but I am a firm believer of studying the opposition in order to win the war.

With that in mind, let's take a look at a recent "Stand for Religious Liberty" video brought to you by presidential candidate Ted Cruz and the business owners in the spotlight for refusing to cater to lgbt customers. Hear them spin their nonsense:



Don't be fooled by their platitudes of love and innocence. No matter how they phrase it, at the end, we are still talking about the following:

Hat tip to Towleroad.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Josh Duggar owes the lgbt community an apology

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LaBarbera

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

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

The video is hilarious, but definitely NSFW:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘Religious liberty’ argument reignites interest in homophobic propaganda

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Alvin McEwen

Email: charlekenghis@aol.com

Text message: 803-447-4874

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

 

‘Religious liberty’ argument reignites interest in homophobic propaganda

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The following are various other tweets sent out by McEwen:

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

SC Pride attacked by ministers who want to stereotype the festival

Supposed Christian ministers are attempting to smear SC Pride.

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

From WISTV:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'Anti-gay right angry at T.D. Jakes' & other Tue. midday news briefs

T.D. Jakes

Editor's note - Tomorrow morning, I will be posting some exciting news about my booklet, How They See Us: Unmasking the Religious Right War on Gay America.  Because of the new fight over lgbt equality vs. so-called religious liberty, there has been a huge spike in readership. Look for the press release!

Religious Right Freaks Out About TD Jakes Comments on Gay Rights, Church-State Separation - This is rich! Bishop T.D. Jakes says that it is possible that the black church and the lgbt community can co-exist as well as other comments on the separation of church and state and the self-appointed right-wing Christian moral squad has come after him screaming "apostasy!" It could be worse. At any other time in world history, these folks would have been screaming "heresy" and already had Jakes fitted for the stake they would use to burn him.  This is not to defend Jakes, but rather to point out the hypocrisy of those who claim that we lgbts are attempting to force "our way of life" on other Americans.

 Michael Sam, the First Openly Gay NFL Player, Leaves Football - Only good thoughts flowing from me to Michael Sam. We owe him a debt of gratitude for his bravery because it's not easy being a pioneer. I hope he gets his stuff together and returns to the sport he loves.

 Republican National Committee Endorses Anti-Gay Discrimination - And we are surprised because . . .? A fight is on and it's going to take more than shouting in the streets and calling people vulgar names on Facebook. AND I just LOVE a good fight!  

Church Kicks Out LGBT Catholic Groups During Papal Visit - Ain't that a . . .
 
What It Is Like Having an LGBT Parent: Let's Get the Facts Straight - Wonderful blog post by a young lady defending her father!