Analyzing and refuting the inaccuracies lodged against the lgbt community by religious conservative organizations. Lies in the name of God are still lies.
New Atlantis can't make a bad report into a credible study.
Publishers of anti-LGBT ‘special report’ doth protest too much - So true. Zack Ford covers the sad attempts by the publishers to explain away this bad report's mistakes. Though I don't cover it here, I even got several tweets from the publishers of this monstrosity, The New Atlantic.
The American Family Association's fake news source, One News Now, has a clientele which generally takes in everything it says without challenge no matter how false or idiotic it may seem. This is seen by the site's comment's section.
A recent article about James Dobson's support of GOP candidate Donald Trump in spite his comments about sexually assaulting women seems to be causing yet another rebellion. The article said nothing about the new allegations Trump is now facing regarding actual sexual harassment. But the commentators still weren't having it. Some comments are as follows:
“You got to cut him some slack,” Dobson insisted. “He didn’t grow up
like we did.” - So that somehow justifies and gives Trump the ability to
say and act however he chooses? I think not Sir...
Dobson should just admit the real reason: Party outweighs candidate. He
would rather have a womanising buffoon who agrees with his policies than
a competent leader who opposes them, and there is nothing wrong with
that.
Dobson speaks as if Bill Clinton is running for president. He's not. If
Bill was Hillary's brother, or cousin, or a current close colleague,
would people like Dobson and Trump's advisers still be ragging on him?
Why can't Hillary be the object of criticism and not Bill? That's an
intentional distraction to try to pull people away from the main event
which is that Trump is a womanizer, a molester of women (sexual
assault), a guy who talks about grabbing women by the genitals, a bully
who walks into women's dressing rooms claiming ownership of the pageant
as his right to do this... and I believe there will be much more coming
to light. Do you really want such a pervert to be president? If Dobson
hopes that Trump will stand up for traditional marriage, he has a
disappointment coming. Trump is twice divorced and doesn't respect women
so do we really want such a person to lead the way on Biblical marriage
when he is a lousy role model for it?
Dobson says vote for Trump, not because he is good, but because he is
been (in Dobson's opinion) than Hillary. That is moral relativism at
its worst.
---"To my knowledge, Donald Trump has never abused women physically" -- Apparently Mr Dobson lives in an information bubble with triple layer force field shields
I have never trusted Mr Dobson as he has always seemed to justify bad
behavior by conservatives and comdemn all behavior by liberals. He is a
politican before a Christian and has led many people astray.IMO He,
and many Christians politicals, seem more interested in wealth and power
than doing positive things to advance people or the nation.I truly believe he has made many people uncomfortable about walking in faith due to his political activities
James Dobson Continues To Support Trump Because His Comments ‘Don’t Threaten The Future Of This Nation’ - There was a time when this man was praised as a kingmaker of American politics. One of the MVPs of Bush's 2004 election is now our puppet as he continues to support Trump, thereby demonstrating to the world how the anti-lgbt industry never had any integrity. That is if, instead of yawning about it, we "exploit" (yes I said it) this moment. We can be petty.
To call this election a hot mess would be a massive understatement. I won't go into detail about the very recent allegations by four women (and I think the number is growing) that Trump sexually harassed them. But I will talk about an interesting development regarding students at the conservative Liberty University:
Students at Liberty University have issued a statement against
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as young conservatives at
colleges across the state reconsider support for his campaign.A statement issued late Wednesday
by the group Liberty United Against Trump strongly rebuked the
candidate as well as the school’s president, Jerry Falwell Jr., for
defending Trump after he made extremely lewd comments about women in a
2005 video. The students wrote that Falwell’s support for Trump had cast
a stain on the school’s reputation.
“We are Liberty students who
are disappointed with President Falwell’s endorsement and are tired of
being associated with one of the worst presidential candidates in
American history,” the statement said. “Donald Trump does not represent
our values and we want nothing to do with him. … He has made his name by
maligning others and bragging about his sins. Not only is Donald Trump a
bad candidate for president, he is actively promoting the very things
that we as Christians ought to oppose.”
Ironically, this statement came out just as Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. said he stands by Trump in spite of the growing allegations of sexual harassment.
The controversy at Liberty University is a microcosm of the conundrum facing the religious right when it comes to Trump. For years, they have painted lgbts as sexual predators. Recently, they've falsely pinpointed the transgender community with awful "bathroom bills," claiming that they are a risk to children. What are they going to do if it turns out that someone they are supporting turns out to be an actual sexual predator?
Tony Perkins On #Pussygate: Christian Leaders Must Support Trump No Matter How Insane He May Be - From a good friend of mine, Joe Jervis (yes I name dropping) comes this. It is of no surprise but let's not discount the power of repetition. The anti-lgbt religious right has run one of the biggest frauds on America (the fact that they are "religious" or "right") and it's up to us to continue to drill this fact into the heads of Americans with snippets like this . . .
NC Gov. Pat McCrory is practically careening towards disaster in defending his absolutely indefensible HB2 law. I think a moment at last night's gubernatorial debate gives an indication of what I mean.
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said during a debate Tuesday that transgender Olympian Caitlyn Jenner better plan on using the men’s bathroom if she visits the state.
McCrory, continuing his defense of the state’s sweeping anti-LGBT law, blamed “liberals” for “a major change in culture” that forced Republicans to respond with the legislation.
In the private sector in North Carolina, she can go wherever the private
sector wants her to,” McCrory, a Republican, said of Jenner, who as
Bruce Jenner won Olympic gold 40 years ago. “If she’s going to a shower
facility at [University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill] after running
around the track, she’s going to use the men’s shower.”
Granted, Caitlyn Jenner hasn't exactly endeared herself to the lgbt community, but this isn't about her alone per se. Right now, Jenner is symbolic of the danger and undue stress faced by every transgender man and woman who gets exposed to danger because of the willful ignorance of others like McCrory.
People like McCrory push these transphobic laws because they claim they are concerned about safety. But it doesn't look that way to me.
Not necessarily an lgbt issue per se, but then again, yes it is.
Apparently it's Louie Gohmert day on my blog. How in the hell did this man become a Congressional leader?
To paraphrase the below clip. according to Gohmert in an absolutely mind-boggling verbal stream of consciousness, it was Bill Clinton who led Donald Trump to say those awful things about sexually assaulting women. But he should be forgiven because he is a Republican and "religious leader" James Dobson says he is a Christian.
Oh Poor GOP. Y'all can start kissing your asses goodbye.
Louie Gohmert Links Homosexuality To Noah’s Flood- Who else but Louie Gohmert. Before you get blase about this, like everything Gohmert has said over the years, always remember that he is a Congressman with the power to vote on YOUR lives. See why voting matters?
Today is the 28th National Coming Out Day. Rather than any long-winded posts about the importance of coming out, how about a blast from the past?
The following is a clip from the Oprah Winfrey Show which spotlighted the first National Coming Out Day in 1988. The words uttered here by members of the LGBT community are as poignant now as they were back then:
For decades, the anti-lgbt industry have targeted our community with deliberate lies and scientific distortions about our lives. They have painted us as valueless indicators of a society running away from God. But last weekend, all they had to do is make a simple stand against an individual whose comments about women proved that he is pretty much everything they have claimed us of being.
It would seem so easy for them to rebuke him, wouldn't it? Hardly.
“People of faith are voting on issues like who will protect unborn life, defund Planned Parenthood, defend religious liberty and oppose the Iran nuclear deal,” said Ralph Reed, who heads the Faith & Freedom Coalition. “A ten-year-old tape of a private conversation with a talk show host ranks low on their hierarchy of concerns.”
" Hillary Clinton is committed to enacting policies that will erode religious liberty, promote abortion, make our country less safe, and leave our borders unprotected.”
“My personal support for Donald Trump has never been based upon shared values, it is based upon shared concerns about issues such as: justices on the Supreme Court that ignore the constitution, America’s continued vulnerability to Islamic terrorists and the systematic attack on religious liberty that we’ve seen in the last 7 1/2 years.”
"The crude comments made by Donald J. Trump more than 11 years ago cannot be defended. But the godless progressive agenda of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton likewise cannot be defended. I am not endorsing any candidates in this election. I have said it throughout this presidential campaign, and I will say it again—both candidates are flawed. The only hope for the United States is God. Our nation’s many sins have permeated our society, leading us to where we are today. But as Christians we can’t back down from our responsibility to remain engaged in the politics of our nation. On November 8th we will all have a choice to make. The two candidates have very different visions for the future of America. The most important issue of this election is the Supreme Court. That impacts everything. There’s no question, Trump and Clinton scandals might be news for the moment, but who they appoint to the Supreme Court will remake the fabric of our society for our children and our grandchildren, for generations to come."
In all honesty, the fact that these men are seen as faith leaders in the first place is astounding. Ralph Reed was involved in an ugly scandal exploiting Christian mobilization against gambling casinos. The scandal cost him an almost assured win as Lt. Governor of Georgia.
Long before he made a name for himself as a so-called pro-family advocate, Gary Bauer underminedefforts to educate Reagan on the AIDS crisis and efforts to get the
president to address it publicly. He undermined
Surgeon General C. Everett Koop as the crisis swept through the nation.
Perkins has a long history demonizing lgbts from claiming that we are pedophiles to claiming that we are tools of "the enemy."
Graham has praised Russian president Vladimir Putin for his country's persecution of lgbts. Ironically, Graham has been silent about Putin's persecution of Christians.
Why are we shocked that supposed faith leaders like Graham, Bauer, Reed, and Perkins are willing to overlook Trump's comments about sexually assaulting women? The question needs to be how in the hell did these folks become "anointed" as this country's faith leaders in the first place?
I'm sure Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, won't win any applause from folks like Franklin Graham, Tony Perkins, or James Dobson with a recent piece he wrote in The Washington Post.
But he makes a good point in his claim that Donald Trump has wrecked the religious right. Part of it is as follows:
Some of the very people who warned us about moral relativism and
situational ethics now ask us to become moral relativists for the sake
of an election. And when some dissent, they are labeled as liberals or
accused of moral preening or sitting comfortably on the sidelines. The
cynicism and nihilism is horrifying to behold. It is not new, but it is
clearer to see than ever.
There is good news, though, behind all of this,
regardless of how this election turns out. The old-school political
Religious Right establishment wonders why the evangelical next
generation rejects their way. The past year is illustration enough. The
evangelical movement is filled with younger, multiethnic,
gospel-centered Christians. They are defined by a clear theology and a
clear mission — not by the doctrinally vacuous resentment over a lost
regime of nominal, cultural “Christian America.”
The
people who have used the gospel to sell us politically cynical voting
guides have done damage. But they are not replicating themselves in the
next generation.
Put another way, homonationalists are largely white gay people blinded by privilege and actively working against the well-being of the most vulnerable members of our community. These individuals have received their portion of the proverbial pie through recent LGBT victories ― access to rights and capital ― and don’t feel the need to fight against the ideologies of racism, sexism, ableism, classism, xenophobia, transphobia or Islamophobia that are institutionally ingrained into the fabric of America. Homonationalists believe embodying their freedom means working to violate or deactivate the rights of others. Homonationalists are pawns of their own erasure.
Resident Charlotte pastor nut Flip Benham knows who is to blame for the awful unrest which took place in the city after the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott.
And he lets everyone know during his latest unhinged tirade at a Charlotte City Council meeting:
What can I say? The man NEEDS Jesus. Or at least a huge Valium.
Recently on his Facebook page, Franklin Graham took it upon himself to castigate the media about Trump's unreleased tax returns. He claimed that there are more pressing issues they should be concerned about . . . like the transgender community:
The media keeps talking about it, but to be honest with you, nobody gives a rip about Donald J. Trump’s
taxes. What people do care about is their own taxes. And when I read
about the government spending $8.4 million of taxpayers’ money a
year—starting today—for things like gender reassignment and hormone
therapy for military personnel, I’m disgusted! Aren’t you? This is the
kind of immoral garbage President Obama and his administration are
allowing to be put in place in our country. $8.4 million a year—with all
the things our military needs—can you believe that? Things like this
need to be stopped. It just shows you how morally warped our politicians
have become.
Graham has long used his Facebook page as if he was God delivering messages from a high mountain. However, this time he probably should have kept his mouth shut.
According to a recent article by NBC News, Trump used his own charitable foundation to give money to several conservative groups who helped him raise his profile in anticipation for his run for president. The Trump Foundation is already facing scrutiny for a myriad of unethical and possibly illegal activity. On Monday, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman ordered the charity to stop fundraising in the state after reports that it had not submitted to routine audits.
The foundation, which Trump initially financed with his own money
but has been funded by outside donors since 2008, gave $286,000 to
prominent conservative groups that were important players on the road to
the GOP nomination, according to tax filings first reported by RealClearPolitics.
The groups included Iowa's Family Leader, South Carolina Palmetto
Family Council, the American Conservatives Union and Citizens United.
Together, the donations paint a picture of the
wealthy businessman using charity-earmarked money to build relationships
with conservative activists in early voting states. There are laws
prohibiting self-dealing that would bar these kinds of donations if they
were solely for Trump's personal benefit, but there's nothing stopping
Trump from donating to these groups as a charitable act — even if it
does grease the wheels of his presidential bid along the way.
And Franklin Graham:
Though Evangelical Rev. Franklin Graham is not endorsing a
candidate, he was an early ally of Trump — and his charities reaped the
benefits, too. "The more you listen to him, the more you say to yourself, 'You know, maybe the guy's right,'" Graham told ABC News in 2011.
The organization named for his father, the Billy
Graham Evangelical Association, got a $100,000 check a year later in
2012, while Samaritan's Purse, a Christian relief group, got $25,000 the
same year.
Graham should have been more forthcoming with Trump's donations to his groups with the same eagerness he attacks the transgender community. He would still be a nasty demagogue, but at least he wouldn't be a hypocrite.
Trump Is Trying to Turn Gays Against Muslims - The National for Marriage tried to pull this crap with gays and black folks. We didn't fall for it then, I really hope we don't fall for it now. The only reason why Trump wants lgbts to fear Muslim is to take attention away from his cooperation with those who would seek to take our equality away in this country:
So I got this interesting message from someone whom I consider to be an opponent of lgbt equality:
It's great to see the LGBT champions of tolerance and non-discrimination
show such intolerance and discrimination against Christians.
I'm sure a lot of you recognize this as the tired semantic wordplay which goes like this - lgbts are hypocrites because they claim to be tolerant unless you say something they don't agree with, then they try to shut you down.
That argument is the proverbial last refuge of the homophobe, especially in this case when the post at hand which led this anonymous person to send me the message had nothing to do with silencing anyone. The post was about Mike Pence's duplicity in claiming that Indiana's religious liberty law weren't anti-lgbt in spite of him being accompanied by anti-lgbt activists while signing the law. So that's this person's mindset. He or she doesn't see us as tax paying American citizens who deserve equality. He or she thinks the proper way for lgbts to "show tolerance" to those who "disagree" with our supposed lifestyle is to allow ourselves to be discriminated and treated like second class citizens.
Or to put it another way, the following is the video of Don Feder, spokesman of the anti-lgbt World Congress of Families, talking about us in awful terms:
Transcript:
“The problem is this is a way people are living and they’re demanding
that it be respected, they’re demanding that all of society be changed
for their comfort and their convenience,” Feder said. “We’re not saying
that these people have to be persecuted, we’re not saying that you can’t
have compassion for them, of course you can, but you can’t let this be
the role model and you can’t allow Christians and other religious people
to be persecuted because they refuse to go along with this agenda.”
“You know, other people have demanded minority status based on their
religion, based on their race,” he continued. “This is the first group
that demands minority status based on what they do in their bedrooms.
And that’s what makes it so dangerous. And if you look at the United
States, I mean if Africans look seriously at the United States, they
should be horrified at what’s going on.”
What Feder - and that anonymous commentator - proves is that the struggle for lgbt equality is in fact one of entitlement. The religious right - such as Feder, etc.- think that they are entitled to dictate to us the terms of who we are, what we deserve, and what we should have based upon their religious beliefs and hysterically inaccurate notions of our lives.
It will be my pleasure to disappoint these folks and their ridiculous ideas of supremacy as many times as I can.
In anticipation for the upcoming vice presidential debate, the following bears repeating.
I think it's safe to say that no one is fooled about Trump's false gestures to the lgbt community. He claims that he will protect us from foreign countries who would harm us in accordance to their beliefs. Conveniently he doesn't say a word about the American groups who would deny us our rights. In fact, he has aligned himself with them.
But to put it another way, if one wants to garner the truth about how Trump as president would treat the lgbt community, one word says it all - eight.
That's how many times last year his VP pick, Mike Pence, refused to say he is opposed to anti-lgbt discrimination during an interview with George Stephanopoulos. I wonder will the moderator at the upcoming debate between him and Democrat VP pick Tim Kaine ask him about it
At The VP Debate, Mike Pence Should Be Asked About Anti-LGBT "Religious Freedom" Laws - Let's not feast on Donald Trump's errors that we forget about those of his VP pick. In the upcoming vice presidential debate, Pence has a LOT to answer for with regards to his long history of homophobia, particularly the mess he created in Indiana with his "religious freedom" law. Remember his claim that the law had nothing to do with anti-lgbt discrimination in spite of the fact that he was surrounded by statewide anti-lgbt activists when he signed the bill?:
It's that time of the year again when the Equality Forum selects its 31 iconic figures for LGBT History Month:
I've always supported this endeavor and will continue to do so and I have a dream that one day I will included in a future list.
However, there are two choices this year which I must cry foul over.
Granted, Equality Forum's list is always controversial and this year
is no different. Malcolm Forbes was a multi-millionaire and owner of several successful ventures, including Forbes magazine. But he was not an out gay man. Instead, his outing as an alleged gay man generated a lot of controversy.
James Buchanan, the 14th president of the United States, was the subject of many rumors about his sexual orientation. His status as possibly the first and only gay president is can be considered the only reason why he is included in this list.
But honestly speaking, a lot of historians think of him as one of the worst presidents we ever had.
Even before he became president, he supported the various compromises
that made it possible for slavery to spread into the western territories
acquired by the Lousiana Purchase and the Mexican War. (Particularly
hurtful to the cause of restraining slavery's spread was the
Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, for example, allowed settlers to determine
the status of slavery in their proposed state constitutions.) In his inaugural address, the 15th president tacitly encouraged the Supreme Court's forthcoming Dred Scott decision, which ruled that Congress had no power to keep slavery out of the territories. More
damaging to his name, though, was his weak acquiescence before the
secessionist tide—an unwillingness to challenge those states that
declared their intention to withdraw from the Union after Lincoln's
election. Sitting on his hands as the situation spiraled out of control,
Buchanan believed that the Constitution gave him no power to act
against would-be seceders.
My point is if one is to be considered an official "lgbt icon," one should have more on his or her resume than being an lgbt or an alleged lgbt. An icon is one who is idolized because he or she creates a standard to emulate. Being considered one of the worst presidents of the United States or being a deep-in-the-closet millionaire who gets yanked out at the time of his death shouldn't be a standard anyone should want to emulate.
One thing the lgbt community should confront as a stand alone issue is the constant propagation of the lie that we are trying to "recruit" children.
From Anita Bryant in the late 1970s to the marriage equality fights, to the present battle over transgender equality, the religious right has consistently created a horrible image of lgbts luring young boys and girls into a so-called life of homosexual squalor and wanton sex.
It is probably the most successful and enduring lie the religious right has in its arsenal.
The latest incarnation is from wannabe anti-lgbt activist Michael Brown in an column at One News Now:
Do you need to lock your doors and
windows at night because a homosexual predator is coming after your
kids? That is absolutely not what I mean when I say that LGBT activists
are coming for your children.I'm talking about educators and government leaders; I'm talking about
celebrities and judges; I'm talking about people of influence who want
to indoctrinate your children even before they get to school.I'm talking about an all-out war for the minds and hearts of your kids.
. . . I understand what motivates the activists and educators. They want to teach "tolerance" and they want a child who does not
appear to be "gender conforming" to realize that their insides might not
be in harmony with their outsides. But that doesn't make what they're doing right, nor does it make it
helpful. And the best motivation in the world cannot change falsehood
into truth. That being said, it is clear that LGBT activists and their allies
have had ample motivation to change the thinking of Americans, beginning
with our children, and already in 1995, lesbian author Patricia Nell
Warren stated, "Whoever captures the kids owns the future." (Published
in The Advocate, October 3, 1995, p. 80, in the article "Future Shock.")
To put it mildly, Brown is an idiot. His hysterical diatribe omits two facts - that many young children are identifying as lgbts without any prodding from anyone and that same-sex families are raising children. That last point is important to combat the semantics of his argument. Lgbts are not after the children of so-called normal families. We are not outside the box watching heterosexuals raising children. We are raising children ourselves.
However, the sad part of Brown's nonsensical column is that some people will believe it as truth. That's unfortunately to be expected.
Still, the lgbts want to "recruit" children is a lie that the community must aggressively call out. And not before someone likes Brown puts us on the defensive.
