More Monday Male Beauty

GOP Anti-Gay Screed Attacking Ralph Northam - AN UPDATE

Last Thursday I wrote about a vile anti-gay flyer (set out above) that had been distributed across Senator Ralph Northam's district. Among other things, the flyer accused Northam of "advancing the Homosexual/Gay lifestyle." Over the weekend, I connected some of the dots connecting the flyer to past bigotry displayed by Ben Loyola's campaign management group and anti-gay Congressman Scott Rigell - an individual who proudly highlighted his endorsement by hate group leader Lou Sheldon.

Now, coverage of the anti-gay bigotry that is rife within the Republican Party of Virginia has hit the national LGBT blogosphere at both Towleroad and Joe My God. The rest of the world needs to know the cesspool like nature of the Republican Party in Virginia. The anti-gay bigotry demonstrated in Northam's district is not unique. Here in Hampton, incumbent senator Mamie Locke is being challenged by an equally foaming at the mouth homophobe.

I truly hope that EVERY Virginia reader will get out tomorrow and vote Democrat so that these foul merchants of hate and bigotry do not win control of the Virginia Senate. If we think things are bad now, they will get markedly worse if the GOP takes the Virginia Senate.

Do Gays Really Boost Property Values?

Friends and I frequently joke that if you want to raise property values and spur gentrification, then get the gays and lesbians to move into the neighborhood. We also have been documented as being a good measure of the attractiveness a city to the so-called "creative class." These stereotypes hold true in many areas even in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, particularly in Norfolk's Ghent area which has transformed itself form borderline slum a number of years ago to one of the most sought after areas replete with shops, restaurants and arts venues. The stereotype even extends to our neighborhood in Hampton which for the most part - sadly, we do have a few reactionary, bigoted residents - is gay friendly and has seen LGBT homeowners make major upgrades to properties. The same phenomenon has even been seen in Cape Charles on Virginia's Eastern Shore. Now a study has conformed the positive influence that gays have on property values. At least in liberal, open minded neighborhoods. In areas favored by conservative bigots, we don't work the same magic. Here are highlights from the Vancouver Sun on some of the new study findings:

A controversial new study suggests that in neighbourhoods where extreme conservatism prevails, the presence of one more same-sex couple for every 1,000 households is linked to a one per cent drop in housing prices. In liberal neighbourhoods, by contrast, researchers find the associated effect of gays and lesbians on housing prices to be positive.

The study, which appears in the Journal of Urban Economics, draws data from more than 20,000 home sales, and controls for such mitigating factors as access to amenities, racial homogeneity, education, income, housing characteristics and quality of nearby schools.

"Gays and lesbians feel that they're not welcome in certain areas," says Susane Leguizamon, a professor of economics at Tulane University. "This study suggests it's not just a feeling; people are responding to the presence of gays and lesbians in the ways we'd expect."

Leguizamon suggests cohabitating same-sex couples are actually quite visible to their neighbours, and thus can have an effect on what people will pay to come or go — much the same way ethnicity has been shown to do in other studies.

She and co-author David Christafore used voting outcomes of the U.S. Defense of Marriage Act to classify neighbourhood values (the Act stated that marriage could only be entered into by a man and a woman), and called on census data to determine the number of same-sex couples in the area.

Affirming previous research, their analysis showed that sexual diversity was positively correlated with housing prices in most neighbourhoods — and most significantly in very liberal areas, dubbed "gaybourhoods."

In communities with high levels of conservatism, however, greater concentrations of same-sex couples was linked with lower housing prices.

Importantly, however, research led by Richard Florida at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management has consistently shown that higher concentrations of gay people are linked with economic prosperity, innovation and creativity within a region.

Will Republicans Continue to Try to Destroy the Economy?

With elections here in Virginia tomorrow being influenced by economic matters driven at the national level, it drives me to distraction that those who complain that the Democrats haven't gotten anything done are totally blind to the fact that the real blame lies with Congressional Republicans who would rather have the country go into a full depression rather than do anything that might be perceived as allowing Barack Obama to have a successful measure. Unfortunately, things will probably get force as the Congressional Republicans continue to throw millions of Americans under the bus in their quest for partisan victory. Even more disgusting is that their Christianist supporters are perfectly fine with ignoring the Gospel dictates to feed the hungry, cloth the naked and to care for the poor. The New York Times looks at this travesty in an editorial. Here are highlights:

High unemployment and low job growth, which have plagued the economy all through the current “recovery,” hurt both consumer spending and economic growth. But don’t count on government to do the obvious and urgent thing — intervene to create jobs.

Tragically, the more entrenched the jobs shortage becomes, the more paralyzed Congress becomes, with Republicans committed to doing nothing in the hopes that the faltering economy will cost President Obama his job in 2012. Last week, for instance, Senate Republicans filibustered a $60 billion proposal by Mr. Obama to create jobs by repairing and upgrading the nation’s deteriorating infrastructure. They were outraged that the bill would have been paid for by a 0.7 percent surtax on people making more than $1 million.

Things may be about to get worse.
Federal unemployment benefits, which generally kick in after 26 weeks of state-provided benefits, are scheduled to expire at the end of the year. That would be a disaster for many of the estimated 3.5 million Americans who get by on extended benefits — an average of $295 a week. It would also be a blow to the economy. . . . Unfortunately, given Republicans’ demonstrated willingness to ignore human needs and economic logic, it is more likely than not that jobless benefits will be a major battle in the months ahead.

There are no plausible arguments against an extension — in fact, Congress has never let federal benefits expire when the unemployment rate was higher than 7.2 percent. But there are many specious arguments, chief among them that providing benefits reduces the incentive to get a new job. The evidence says otherwise.

Unemployment benefits are the first line of defense against ruin from job loss that is beyond an individual’s control. . . . . They clearly need to be extended, though we have no illusion that it will happen without a fight.

Monday Morning Male Beauty

Older Gays - The Fear of Coming Out

A new study in Ireland yields results that I suspect apply in many of the so-called "red states" in the United States - fear on the part of older gays to "come out." Indeed, many remain basically in the closet and forgo meaningful relationships because of their fear of rejection by friends, neighbors or family. It's a sad situation and I've met a number of men in the Hampton Roads area who cannot overcome the fear factor. They are reduced to chatting online and maybe an occasional lunch or dinner out with people, but the rest of the time their lives are in the closet. I've known a couple who were interested in me, but the last thing I wanted to do after my difficult coming out journey was to get involved with someone where I'd be the "dirty secret" and hidden from most of aspects of their lives. It may sound harsh, but if your family will not accept you for who you are, perhaps you are better off without them. I'd also add that family members who will not accept one for being gay - usually out of THEIR own embarrassment rather than real concern for the gay relative - give new meaning to the word selfish in my opinion. Yes, fear of rejection is strong - I've known it myself - but remaining in the closet is forfeiting much of one's life. Here are highlights from the Irish Times on the findings:

MORE THAN one-third of older gay people fear they will be rejected by friends and family if they disclose their sexual orientation, new research shows.

The findings – part of the first major study into the experiences of gay people over 55 in Ireland – highlight ongoing challenges faced by those who feel they cannot live openly in society.

Most went through their adolescence and early adulthood without disclosing their sexuality.

While most respondents are comfortable with their identity, 28 per cent are not out to any neighbours and 10 per cent are not out to any of their close family members.

The study shows that while coming out gave individuals greater freedom, it also includes varying consequences ranging from acceptance, to denial to complete rejection. Some 26 per cent of respondents had been married and faced major difficulties making the decision to come out to their spouse and children.

There is also significant isolation among older gay people. Some 46 per cent of older gay people live alone, compared to just 15 per cent among the general over-55 population.

One case study cited in the article hit home with me since there was a long period I could not even "come out " to myself:

CASE STUDY: "I COULDN'T COME OUT, EVEN TO MYSELF"

EDDIE PARSONS is 66. As a young man he was a member of a religious order for a few years, before he left to marry a girl with whom he fell madly in love. He went on to father two children. Then, just a couple of years ago, he revealed he was gay.

“Sometimes you have to go to extremes before you change yourself,” says Parsons. “I had always felt I was hiding something. I was scared. I couldn’t come out, even to myself. I was trapped. I had to conform to the image I had created, but it was destroying me.”

He had been an English and art teacher for 20 years, but ended up losing his job as a result of depression. His relationship with his wife was fraying badly. After feeling suicidal, he went into hospital. That’s when his life turned around.

His marriage was annulled, which was extremely painful for both of them. But the reaction of friends was almost completely positive. His children were supportive and accepted his sexuality.

All in all, he feels he has blossomed over the past few years. “I now feel I can be myself in a safe way in society. My children are so glad that I’m no longer depressed. That’s so important for them. I’m genuinely happy. Sometimes I wonder, ‘how long is this going to continue?’ ”

“Coming out takes courage, because there can be negative effects. But often they are only in our own heads. For me, all I can say is it’s been a very positive experience.”

DNC Faith OutReach Director Throws Gays Under the Bus

I swear that there are days that it seems like the Three Stooges are running the White House and the DNC. In a political climate when one would think that the DNC would want to re-solidify the support LGBT community as a part of the Democratic base, instead things are done that seem aimed at alienating LGBT Americans instead. A case in point, the new head of the DNC Faith Out Reach director. In what would seem to be yet another attempt to kiss the bigoted asses of conservative Christians - who will not be voting Democratic regardless of what the DNC may do - the appointee to the position, Derrick Hawkins, is engaging in gyrations claiming that he does not support and never has supported same sex marriage. Never mind that much of the country has reached a tipping point on the issue. Hawkins would rather act as if LGBT Americans are the lepers the Christianists want to paint us to be. This is precisely the type of bullshit that is leaving Virginia Democrats apathetic even in the face of a real threat of severe religious extremism should the GOP win control of the Virginia Senate. The Democrat "gang that can't shoot straight" time and time again gives the impression that they are either (i) so hapless and spineless or (ii) so willing to surrender that it makes no difference as to which party is in charge. A disgusted John Aravosis vents at America Blog Gay. Here are highlights:

We reported recently that the DNC's new faith outreach director, Rev. Derrick Harkins, had signed a pledge in favor of same-sex marriage in 2009, only to state his adamant opposition to marriage equality earlier this year

[R]ather than get back to those of us reporting on this, and back to the gay community itself, and explain what's going on, the DNC decided to clarify things to Billy Graham's magazine. (That should tell you something.) They explained to Billy Graham's magazine that Harkins's name on the pro- marriage equality statement was a mistake, he supposedly never put his name on it.

Well, that's convenient. And sounds awfully familiar. Remember the runaround we're still getting from the White House on President Obama having signed two different questionnaires in 1996 affirming his support for marriage equality? Yet another signed statement that no one knows where it came from.

The Democrats are masters when it comes to alienating their base and then wondering why they lose elections.

"Personhood" for Embryo Agenda is Theocracy

I've often noted that opposing civil equality for LGBT citizens is only the tip of the iceberg of the Christianist agenda and that also targeted over the longer term are making all abortions illegal, outlawing most forms of contraception, returning mandatory Christian prayer to public schools, and outlawing science based sex education. Many scoff at the notion, but Mississippi may soon demonstrate through its "personhood" for embryo legislation that the objective of criminalizing abortion and many forms of contraception is for real. And if Mississippi is successful and the Republicans take control of the Virginia Senate, person hood for embryos could become reality in Virginia as soon as next years session of the General Assembly. Sadly, most people do not grasp just how relentless and uncaring for the rights of other the theocrats are in fact. We are not dealing with rational or nice people. A column in Religion Dispatches looks at the theocratic agenda the "personhood" agenda represents. Here are highlights:

Mississippi Initiative 26, the “personhood” amendment on the November 8th ballot, is not only dangerous for women’s health and lives—it is dangerous for our democracy. While not recognized as such, it is an openly theocratic endeavor. We should be talking about theocracy because this amendment is not just being fielded in Mississippi—it has been introduced in at least six other states, with more to come.

We know the harm that Initiative 26 would do by effectively ending access to reproductive health care in Mississippi—including banning all abortions, with no exceptions for rape or incest or the life of the woman; some forms of contraception; and in vitro fertilization. Not to mention the frightening possibility that doctors would not be able to provide life-saving medical treatment to a pregnant woman, for example, in the case of an ectopic pregnancy. We should also be aware that this amendment would enact in law a specific religious view about “personhood”

I call this campaign “theocratic” as a Baptist minister who holds all human life to be sacred. But issues around human life are not as simple as the “personhood” proponents believe. . . . .

It is no secret that personal religious views motivate the “personhood” campaign. The group organizing the Mississippi initiative, Personhood USA, defines itself on its website as a Christian ministry. . . . Mississippi’s largest Christian denomination, the Mississippi Baptist Convention>, is backing the personhood proposal through its lobbying arm, the Christian Action Commission.

[I]n the fashion of those who are determined to embed their religious views in law, there is no acknowledgement that there are other, equally valid views. Because there are a variety of views on such a basic question as “the beginning of life,” the constitution guarantees that decisions about contraception and abortion will be protected by law. And that is where the matter should rest.

As I have said before, the Christianists and their political whores in the Republican Party are a clear and present danger to religious freedom for all and for constitutional government in America. They need to be stopped before it is too late.

Gourmet Marshmallows from Kitty Lee Thomas Sweets

I've written before about my niece who left the world of corporate banking in New York City to seek a career pursuing her real love: cooking and baking. A love she seems to inherited from my late sister who always seemed most happy when baking cakes or pies or making some other delectable sweet. Happily, my niece continues to get some much deserved media coverage Here website is here), this time in Sweet Finds that has a review of her gourmet marshmallows. Here are some highlights from the write up:

Just two years ago, Kristin Lee Godburn left a fast-paced job in investment baking to put on a kitchen apron. After attending the French Culinary Institute, she honed her baking chops while working with the cupcake folks of Robicelli's in Brooklyn, and then launched her sweets company Kitty Lee Thomas.

She makes cookies and other treats, but we're here to talk about marshmallows. She has quite the eclectic marshmallow menu, including flavors like Toasted Coconut, S'mores, Rocky Road, and Fluffernut. They're fancied-up marshmallows that serve as desserts on their own.

The Cookies 'n' Cream version starts with a homemade vanilla bean marshmallow that's covered in chocolate cookie crumbs and dipped in dark chocolate. The cocoa content is high and the marshmallow has a satisfying, rich flavor. The cookie crumbs are finely ground so one bite sends down a prodigious shower of cookie crumbs—don't try to nibble these secretly, because the cookie-crumb trail will give you away.

Available online, or at several locations in New York.

Sunday Male Beauty

Local Republican Connections to Anti-Gay Extremists

Click image to enlarge.

On Thursday I wrote about a nasty flyer that was being circulated by unknown parties attacking Senator Ralph Northam and claiming he was advancing the "Homosexual/Gay lifestyle." The flyer went on to lay out incredibly nasty lies about LGBT individuals. While I'm not aware that the flyer has been directly tracked back to the campaign staff of Northam's challenger, Ben Loyola, there are some disturbing connections that appear to underscore just how anti-gay many within the local Virginia GOP party structure have become. Tidewater Campaign Solutions, a/k/a TCS Consulting ("TCS"), is working for Ben Loyola's campaign. TCS also worked for far right 2nd District Congressman Scott Rigell's campaign. As noted before, Rigell was personally endorsed by Lou Sheldon, the founder of Traditional Values Coalition - a Southern Poverty Law Center registered anti-gay hate group. Even after Sheldon's hate group ties came out, Rigell never disavowed Sheldon's endorsement.

As the above screen shot reveals, TCS also worked for Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition - an organization that promotes an decidedly far right Christian extremist agenda. Interestingly enough, after the anti-Northam flyer became an issue, TCS scrubbed references to Faith and Freedom Coalition from it's website. A mere coincidence that the reference vanished that very day? And is it any surprise that the Faith and Freedom Coalition has endorsed Loyola?

The other interesting "coincidence" is that they anti-gay vitriol in the flyers seems to directly track some of the foul anti-gay propaganda on Traditional Values Coalition's website. Here's a sampling:

Exposed: Homosexual Child Molesters
Date: June 16, 2011
Homosexuals claim that “heterosexuals” molest most children but statistics show that homosexuals molest at far higher rates than do hetero... READ ARTICLE

Exposed: NAMBLA And Homosexual Activism
Date: June 16, 2011
Pedophiles And Homosexual Activists Push For Total Sexual Liberation In August, 2003, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the state of ... READ ARTICLE

Exposed: The Myth That Psychiatry Has Proven That Homosexual Behavior Is Normal
Date: June 16, 2011
In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed homosexuality as a mental disorder from the APA's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders (DSM-II). This decision was a significant vict... READ ARTICLE

You get the drift. Yet miraculously - just like the TCS reference to the Faith and Freedom Coalition - when one clicks on the "Read Article" link,, the reports are no longer available. Yet another coincidence?

A number of local Republicans refuse to open their eyes as to what is happening to a once respectable political party that actually supported the U.S. Constitution and believed in the separation of church and state. As Andrew Sullivan has argued a number of times, the GOP is now a sectarian party. Those who continue to vote for GOP candidates, like it or not, are supporting those who want to subvert freedom of religion. They can cite supposed support for limited government, etc., by they are supporting those who want a Christian theocracy.

Growing GOP Extremism at the State Level

The growing insanity of the Republican Party at the national level - e.g, that Michele Bachmann could even launch a presidential campaign that was taken seriously - is frightening enough. But in some ways even more frightening things are developing at the state level. Mississippi's legislation to grant embryo's person hood status so as to criminalize abortion and even some types of contraception is one such example (its no coincidence as Bob Felton notes that Mississippi high school graduates have an average composite ACT score of 18.81 — the lowest in the country) that might actually become law. Another case of batshitery comes from Alabama - another state not exactly known for embracing modernity and civil rights for all - where the state is challenging the right of the United States Justice Department to investigate possible civil rights abuses connected to Alabama's anti-immigrant immigration law in a manner reminiscent of George Wallace back in the battles over desegregation. The New York Times editorial looks at this disturbing mindset and these are some highlights:

Surely Alabama’s attorney general, Luther Strange, did not mean to summon the memory of Gov. George Wallace when he picked a fight with the Department of Justice last week over the state’s new immigration law.

Surely no law-enforcement official of his stature would have responded to a fact-gathering request by challenging the federal government’s “legal authority” to investigate reports of civil rights abuses. Could there be an attorney general in the South — or anywhere — who is not acutely aware, and mindful, of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?

The federal inquiry was prompted by the state’s new immigration law, which took effect in September, part of which requires schools to check the immigration status of schoolchildren and their parents. The Justice Department has already sued Alabama over the law, the nation’s cruelest collection of immigration enforcement schemes and punishments. After receiving reports that students were being harassed and bullied, and that frightened parents were keeping children out of school, the department asked 39 school superintendents for data on student absences and withdrawals since the school year began.

Instead of acknowledging that the Supreme Court has upheld every child’s right to a public education regardless of immigration status, and that the new law requires schools to collect the information that the government was seeking, Mr. Strange sent Thomas Perez, head of the Civil Rights Division, an ultimatum. . . . . “Your letter does not state your legal authority to demand the information or to compel its production. If you have such legal authority, please provide it to me by noon Central Standard Time on Friday, November 4, 2011. Otherwise, I will assume that you have none and will proceed accordingly.”


Mr. Perez’s reply, sent Friday, was to the point. He cited Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Equal Educational Opportunities Act. He also reminded Mr. Strange of an array of other laws that federal agencies would be considering when investigating possible violations in Alabama: the Fair Housing Act, the Safe Streets Act, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, “among others.”

The law’s architects and supporters proclaim that their goal is to catastrophically disrupt the lives of illegal immigrants and their families. With reports of harassment and panic, and of a mass exodus of immigrants fleeing the state, the potential for civil rights abuses is acutely obvious.

That Alabama’s attorney general would not welcome a federal inquiry, but bristle instead, with an implicit appeal to state’s rights — with all the defiant history of intolerance and minority oppression those words suggest — says volumes. All Americans should feel ashamed.

No doubt some readers will accuse me of beating up Republicans while giving Democrats a free pass. I make no claim that Democrats are perfect or that the Democratic Party doesn't have problems too. However, the increasing level of hate, incivility and desire to turn the clock back to less than honorable periods in this nation's history seems to derive increasingly solely from the GOP and its Christianist/Tea Party base. They would turn American into something very ugly if they could have their way.

A Catfight Between Peter LaBarbera and Warren Throckmorton

Over the years I've had e-mail correspondence and debates with both Peter LaBarbera and Warren Throckmorton. In my opinion, LaBarbera is a pathological liar who is bizarrely obsessed with male homosexuality. He engages in his so-called "undercover research" by attending raunchy gay leather events (which has earned him the moniker "Porno Pete") and disingenuously claims to not be aware of the debunking of the "experts" such as Paul Cameron even though they were discredited as much as a quarter of a century ago (I have an e-mail where he professes such ignorance). Nowadays, LaBarbera remains as anti-gay obsessed and dishonest as ever. In contrast, Throckmorton (pictured at right) - who unlike LaBarbera actually holds relevant training and a degree in the mental health realm - has evolved and changed his views on the changeability of sexual orientation as medical and mental health knowledge on sexual orientation has progressed. This evolution and acceptance of objective truth and fact amounts to heresy in LaBarbera's bizarre anti-gay world. Throckmorton responds to LaBarbera's attacks on his blog. Here are some highlights:

Yesterday, the information arm of the American Family Association, OneNewsNow published an article about my views on change of sexual orientation. The information on the matter came from Peter LaBarbera who said: “But in the last few years, he’s basically become a pro-gay advocate who discredits the idea of change for most homosexuals,” LaBarbera explains. . . . . So effectively, Warren Throckmorton has become a very useful advocate for the homosexual side because he can claim to be an evangelical and yet he’s undermining scriptural truth.” . . . . Christians know people can leave the lifestyle, and that through Christ, many thousands have. So he says Throckmorton’s message — that change is near impossible — is contrary to Christian thinking.

As I understand this argument, I am wrong to claim to be an evangelical because I believe that categorical change in sexual attractions, especially for men, is rare. In addition such a belief is in itself “pro-homosexual advocacy.” . . . . Here we have a test of orthodoxy – something that must be believed in order to be considered a Christian. . . . in the new orthodoxy of some in the Christian right, one must believe certain things about gays in order to be consider a Christian.

LaBarbera conflates behavior and inclination. He says I don’t think people can “leave the lifestyle” because I think categorical change of sexual attractions is rare and complex. While his description of behavior change is crude and stereotypical, I disagree with his assessment of me. I do believe that people change their behavior. They do so for a variety of reasons but in the context of this controversy, some do in order to seek conformity to their religious beliefs.

However, gay and bisexual people who change their behavior infrequently lose their same-sex attractions, no matter how earnestly they pray. . . . . My critics can keep on criticizing but they have not been able to address the evidence which does not cut in their favor.

If I need to apologize for something, it is that I misled evangelicals for several years on the matter of sexual orientation. I did not intend to do so. When I made the documentary I Do Exist, I really believed the stories told. I know the people making the video did as well.

I now think the culture war is a significant stumbling block for the church. . . . Who knows, maybe I will shift my views in different ways in the future. However, I hope it will be in response to evidence, not in order to fit into a man made definition of orthodoxy. In the mean time, I invite critics to simply deal with the evidence.

Kudos to Warren for accepting the facts and evidence as opposed to embracing lies and ignorance. Surprisingly, MARK YARHOUSE of Regent University comes to Throckmorton's defense in a comment on Warren's post:

I share your concern about conflating behavior change with change of orientation and then treating a commitment to change of orientation as a test for orthodoxy. . . . . it would seem that heightened expectations for categorical change increases the risk for disappointment, resentment, and shame for those who do not experience as many gains as they had hoped.

It is noteworthy that both Throckmorton and Yarhouse are moderating their past views that gays could "change." I suspect that in part it's due to advances in knowledge about sexual orientation. And also because they realize that if they persist in support for reparative therapy their licenses as clinicians could one day be on the line.

Endorsements for Tuesday's Virginia Elections

Being an LGBT Virginian is never an easy experience given the current legal climate in the state where LGBT citizens continue to be targets for firing at will by the "godly Christian" folk, our relationships receive zero recognition (indeed, any recognition is banned by state constitutional amendment) , LGBT students remain open game for homophobic bullies, and only a small handful of localities allow for domestic partnership benefits. Some might ask how things could things get worse? GOP control of the Virginia Senate is how. Currently, the most draconian Christianist efforts - such as a person hood status of embryos and pro-gay bullying "anti-bully" legislation such as what was just enacted in Michigan are but two examples - have been thwarted by Democrat control of the Virginia Senate. If that control is lost, there's literally no telling what batshitery will be enacted. Especially anti-gay batshitery. More details on the "GOP agenda" appear after the endorsements.

Former GOP friends complain that I'm a single issue voter - i.e., LGBT issues - but in a state where the civil laws treat you with contempt and most of the current crop of GOP candidates would like to see homosexuality re-criminalized, it becomes rather difficult to over look the anti-gay vitriol that is every present in the GOP agenda in Virginia. EVERY race counts. Here are those who I believe must be supported by the votes of rational, non-bigoted voters on Tuesday. Of equal importance is the fact that making Virginia more backward and reactionary is NOT going to bring the economic growth the GOP claims to desire. If anything, it will have the opposite effect and likely accelerate the exodus of the young college educated class to larger and more progressive areas.

VIRGINIA SENATE 2ND DISTRICT - MAMIE LOCKE. This is my home district. Incumbent Democrat, Mamie Locke has not sent the world on fire during her time in the Senate. But sometimes that's a good thing if the alternative is a crazed Christianist agenda such as that of her challenger Tom Harmon who is guaranteed to be a water carrier for the worse anti-gay, white supremacist elements of the GOP such as Ken Cuccinelli and Del. Bob Marshall. Locke has been a patron on legislation that would give LGBT Virginians anti-discrimination protections. In contrast, Harmon has been endorsed by a veritable who's who of gay haters in Virginia. Given the contrast, MAMIE LOCKE needs to be re-elected.

VIRGINIA SENATE 6TH DISTRICT - RALPH NORTHAM. Incumbent Ralph Northam is both intelligent and as a physician brings to the Virginia Senate one of the lone voices that speaks with actual knowledge on medical issues unlike those in the GOP who look to The Family Foundation for their directions on abortion and a host of other issues. His challenger, Ben Loyola like Tom Harmon has been endorsed by a who's who of the most hateful influences in Virginia and as previously noted his supporters appear to behind a toxic flyer attacking Northam for acknowledging the LGBT Virginians are citizens and worthy of consideration. (More on this issue to come). As in the 2nd District, unless one is a self-loathing closet case, no LGBT voter should be even remotely contemplating a vote for Loyola. We do not need the Christian Taliban mindset strengthened in the Virginia Senate and, therefore, RALPH NORTHAM needs to be re-elected.

HOUSE OF DELEGATES 93RD District - ROBIN ABBOTT. Give the GOP stranglehold on the House of Delegates, it has been difficult for Democrat members to get legislation passed. Anything remotely progressive has been killed by the Christianist/Tea Party minded GOP majority. While Abbott's challenger, Mike Watson is not perhaps as extreme as Harmon and Loyola (extreme, of course, being a relative term with members of the Republican Party of Virginia), his presence in the House of Delegates will only compound the problem of dragging Virginia into the 21st century. Thus, for this reason, if nothing else, ROBIN ABBOTT needs to be returned to the House of Delegates.

HOUSE OF DELEGATES 21ND DISTRICT - ADRIANNE BENNETT. I've known the GOP incumbent, Ron Villanueva for many years. On a personal level, he's not a bad person. At the same time, he's not what one would call a "bright light" and he has proven that he will faithfully vote however Taliban Bob McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli tell him to vote. And when he's not listening to them, he takes his directives from Victoria Cobb at The Family Foundation. One of Ron's few positives is that he opposes lifting the state ban on uranium mining which could well contaminate Virginia Beach's water supply. Bennett likewise opposes lifting the ban. In addition, she is bright, energetic and understands that dragging Virginia backward in time is not the way to generate jobs or attract new businesses and industries. She also opposes the agenda of the Christian Taliban centered at The Family Foundation. Virginia needs ADRIANNE BENNETT in the House of Delegates.

WHAT A GOP CONTROLLED VIRGINIA SENATE COULD MEAN. The Virginian Pilot looks at what GOP control of the Virginia Senate might mean. Here are some highlights:

Bills to ease restrictions on guns, expand the death penalty, limit abortion, restrict illegal immigrants' access to higher education, and affirm the state's anti-union labor law are among those a GOP-run Senate might treat more kindly.

"If the governor has complete control of the legislature, I think you'll see a dramatically different Bob McDonnell," Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Brian Moran argues. He predicts abortion rights will be curtailed, environmental protections gutted, and government health, public safety and education funding slashed.

What other Republican ideas could advance under that circumstance? . . . . to extend legal rights to fetuses; to grant civil immunity to homeowners who kill intruders; and to give tax credits to businesses that support private school scholarships.

It's not a pretty picture by any calculation - unless, of course, one wants to wipe out the concept of the separation of church and state and allow polluters to run amok.

More Saturday Male Beauty

Microsoft and Other Leading Companies Say DOMA Hurts Business

There is no way around the reality that the Defense of Marriage Act, a/k/a DOMA is all about religious based discrimination. Something supposedly illegal when engaged in by the federal or state governments under the United States Constitution. But unfortunately, in this country far right Christians continue to be afforded special rights and those who don't conform to far right religious beliefs pay a price, with LGBT citizens being particularly punished for their nonconformity. Now, in the ongoing challenges to DOMA in the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, 70 corporations have filed an amicus brief attacking DOMA and arguing that it is bad for businesses (a full list of the companies can be seen here). The GOP claims to be the pro-business party, but it is safe to assume this message from businesses will fall on deaf ears as Republican elected officials continue to have their noses so far up the asses of Christianist that it's a wonder they do not suffocate. Here are some highlights fro The Advocate on the court filing:

Top U.S. companies including Google, Microsoft, and Starbucks took the unusual step on Thursday of legally documenting their opposition to the Defense of Marriage Act.

A brief filed in court comes from 70 businesses and organizations that want their voice heard on the constitutionality of DOMA, which bans same-sex marriage from being recognized federally and stops couples married in states such as Massachusetts from having their weddings recognized in less accepting places such as Alabama.

The companies paint the law as an overburdening government regulation that should be repealed.

Their brief points out that the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives is defending DOMA in court on the notion that it imposes "a uniform rule" on whose marriage is recognized. "The perspective of the American employer who must implement DOMA is very different," the companies state. "Employers are obliged to treat one employee spouse differently from another, when each is married, and each marriage is equally lawful."

The companies say DOMA "forces" them "to investigate the gender of the spouses of our lawfully married employees and then to single out those employees with a same-sex spouse." For example, HIPPA laws usually consider marriage a "qualifying event" that automatically enrolls a spouse in an employee's health insurance. Companies now spend time and money weeding out any gay employees who get married.

Companies complain that when a same-sex couple legally marries, it requires them "to maintain two sets of books." That's because the couple is considered married under state law but not married under federal law. "The double entries ripple through human resources, payroll, and benefits administration," they write.

"The burden on the small employer is especially onerous," the companies point out. Small businesses can't afford to hire consultants, and "such burdens, standing alone, might chill a smaller employer from employing an otherwise qualified employee because she happens to be married to a same-sex spouse."

Ricky Martin Granted Spanish Citizenship

It's sad when Americans have to seek citizenship in other nations in order to have full civil legal rights. Yet that appears what Singer Ricky Martin has done in order to legally marry his partner. I can fully understand the feeling and have not infrequently pondered leaving the USA since I am not a full citizen in America. Indeed, in Virginia, I'm not even a 2nd class citizen given Virginia's virulently anti-gay legal climate. As I have less than jokingly noted before, pet owners have far more legal recognition afforded to their relationships with their pets than same sex couples do with their partners even if they have been together for many decades. The United States is truly falsely advertised as a nation of equality and a nation offering freedom from religious persecution. But back to Ricky Martin. It seems that the Spanish government has sought to help the performer realize his dream of a legal marriage. Even though because of DOMA it will be treated as a nonentity. Here are some highlights from Pink News:

Puerto Rican pop singer Ricky Martin was given Spanish citizenship today, the country’s government said. The star, who came out in 2009 reportedly wants to take advantage of Spain’s gay marriage laws.

Spokesman Jose Blanco told a news conference that ministers had agreed to grant him a “letter of naturalization”, issued in special circumstances, because of his “personal and professional links with Spain”.

Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that Martin sought citizenship in order to marry boyfriend Carlos Gonzalez Abella, with whom he is bringing up his twin three-year-old sons.

Appearing on the Larry King show last year, he had said: “I would get married… There are many countries around the world where same-sex marriage is a right. Not in Puerto Rico, unfortunately. And not in many states in America.

“Yes, we could go to Spain and get married. We can go to Argentina and get married. But why do we have to go somewhere else? Why can’t I do it in my country where the laws are – you know, protecting me?”

He added: “I can go to Spain. I have many friends in Spain. And get married. And make it very beautiful and symbolic. But… I [can't] do it in the backyard of my house. I want to have that option. I don’t want to be a second class citizen anymore. I pay my taxes. Why can’t I have that right?”

Second class citizen gets old especially when the only true justification for it is so that nasty bigots can feel better about themselves and feel free to look down on others whether it be to feel a sense of power, privilege, or ignore the fact that in truth they are the ones who are morally inferior. Were circumstances different, I would never have returned to the USA after our recent trip to Europe.

Ireland Closes Its Vatican Embassy

In other positive Catholic Church news, Ireland has closed its embassy at the Vatican in yet another indication of the well deserved free fall the Church is experiencing in Ireland. Would that more nations would do so and eliminate the farce that Vatican City is a nation. Once the Catholic Church cannot hide behind this ridiculous myth and the associated claim of sovereign immunity, it would be far easier to hold high clerics - such as Benedict XVI - legally liable for their misdeeds and horrific malfeasance. Not surprisingly, the Vatican and the hierarchy in Ireland - including Cardinal Brady at right - have their panties in a major wad and are whining that the Irish government is ignoring the Church's deep history in that country. Of course, they leave the history that includes the work houses, the Madeline laundries and the rampant sexual abuse of children and youths. Here are highlights from The Guardian on the Church's hissy fit:

The leader of Ireland's Catholics has criticised the republic's government for closing its embassy to Vatican City.

Cardinal Sean Brady expressed his "profound disappointment" over the move, which comes after diplomatic clashes this year between the Fine Gael-Labour coalition and the Holy See over the Vatican's handling of the clerical child sex abuse scandals in Ireland.

"This decision seems to show little regard for the important role played by the Holy See in international relations and of the historic ties between the Irish people and the Holy See over many centuries," the cardinal said on Friday.

The Irish foreign minister and deputy prime minister, Eamon Gilmore, said the decision followed a review of overseas missions which gave "particular attention to the economic return from bilateral missions".

He said that while the embassy to the Holy See was one of Ireland's oldest missions, it yielded no economic return, and that Ireland's interests could be sufficiently represented by a non-resident ambassador.

The prestigious Villa Spada is the most valuable property owned by the diplomatic service. The Vatican was among the first states with which the newly independent Irish Free State established full diplomatic relations in the 1920s.

Catholic Advisr Who Said the Devil Makes Gays Resigns

Apparently at times even the Roman Catholic Church realizes that it has crossed the line in its anti-gay jihad. While the Church hasn't recanted its hateful position that gays are "inherently disordered" and "inclined toward evil," the batshitery recently published in the The Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston Archdiocese went to far and not only was the column written by Daniel Avila, an adviser to the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference (pictured at left). As the New York Times is reporting, Avila has resigned from his position and some are suggesting that the resignation may not have been voluntary. Of course, throwing Avila under the bus does nothing to negate the Church's rejection of modern science and its all out war against legal recognition of same sex relationships. Here are some highlights from the Times piece:

The author of a newspaper column suggesting that the devil may be responsible for homosexuality has resigned from his job with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. A spokeswoman for the bishops said on Friday that the writer, Daniel Avila, offered to step down and that his resignation had been accepted.

The Washington Post had more details such as this:

Avila, a lawyer, had been associate director of policy and research at the Massachusetts Catholic Conference for 14 years before joining the Washington-based USCCB. Gay rights groups had called for Avila’s ouster. “I think it’s appropriate that he has resigned,” said Marianne Duddy-Burke executive director of DignityUSA, which advocates for gays and lesbians in the Catholic Church.

“I would hope that the bishops will follow it up with some significant action of repentance to demonstrate that they understand the harm that he has done to LGBT people and our families.”

Saturday Morning Male Beauty

Arthur Sales on right.

Virginia GOP Favored to Win State Senate

If the dreary weather wasn't enough to make for a Saturday morning funk, predictions on Tuesday's elections here in Virginia would be enough on their own to instill a major funk and near fear. Especially, if one is a rational, thinking citizen and even more so if one is black, gay, Hispanic, non-Christian. Basically a member of any one of the list of minority groups the GOP base would like to exile from the Old Dominion. If the GOP wins control of the Virginia Senate, there will be no stopping the extremism that will run wild in Richmond. I cringe to think at the celebrations at The Family Foundation if the Democrats in the Senate can no longer stop the worst of the Christianist agenda so loved by Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell and Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli. Victoria Cobb will be so excited she'll likely wet herself. So much for passage of any remotely LGBT favorable legislation. And the efforts to disenfranchise blacks and other minorities will likely accelerate under the false mantra of preventing "voter fraud." A piece in the Washington Post looks at the sad state of affairs. Here's a sampling:

We might need to reconsider the now-conventional view that the Northern Virginia suburbs are a bulwark against the extreme conservatism embraced in rural areas and elsewhere in the state. I say that in light of the recent news that the Loudoun County GOP sent out a Halloween e-mail depicting President Obama as a zombie with a bullet hole in his forehead.

In a newly created Senate district in western Loudoun and Prince William counties, even Democrats concede that outspoken conservative Dick Black will probably prevail.

A former delegate, Black is best known for sending plastic models of fetuses to legislators before an abortion vote. Of his career highlights, however, my personal favorite was his “nightie” explanation of why a husband couldn’t be convicted of raping his wife.

“I do not know how on earth you can validly get a conviction of a husband-wife rape where they are living together, sleeping in the same bed, she’s in a nightie, and so forth,” he said in a General Assembly debate on a spousal rape bill.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. . . . . Democrats also were optimistic because they thought they’d be able to beat some of the hard-line conservative Republicans who won primaries with tea party support.

Today, the GOP is confident of picking up enough seats to win control of the Senate, and it hopes to end up with at least a 23 to 17 majority. Democrats sound increasingly despondent and acknowledge that they’ll have to sweep all the close races to retain their sway. A Republican victory would give the party complete dominance in Richmond.

The GOP has surged ahead mainly because Virginia independents have turned decisively against Democrats in general since 2009, according to politicians and strategists for both parties. That results from unhappiness with the slow economy and high public spending, mainly by the federal government. It drives Democrats crazy that they’re suffering at the state level for the party’s problems in Washington.

One of the reasons I am so harsh with Obama is because his spinelessness and failure to use his pulpit to denounce the GOP is a major factor in the negative political trends in Virginia. I realize that state and national party issues should not be linked, but sadly too many Virginians are too stupid to realize that they will ultimately be voting against their own best interest, And for us LGBT Virginia, it will be increasingly impossible to move forward toward full citizenship except through court battles.

The GOP's Real View of Blacks

One of the things that drives me to distraction is the manner in which black Americans continue to allow themselves to be played by the white Christianists and the decidedly non-big tent Republican Party. Even when clear indicators of the actual disdain - id not open contempt - for black citizens is visible, many blacks, especially within the black pastor ranks continue to willingly play the role of water carriers for those who in their hearts hate them and merely seek to use them to accomplish white Christianist/conservative goals. The image above accurately reflects, in my opinion, the real mindset of the Christianists and the GOP. Anyone who claims otherwise is a liar. Even during the years that I was involved in a far less toxic Republican Party than the one that exists today, there was a steady racism that bubbled up from some within the party. It's only become far worse nowadays with the GOP increasingly defined by who it hates. Colbert King has a column in the Washington Post that looks at this reality. Here are some highlights:

Oh, what a “loverly” time we are having in post-racial America. Except when the outrageous holy of holies of the American conservative movement elect to have their say, as happens often, most recently with right-wing oracles Ann Coulter and Pat Buchanan.

It fell to Coulter, a successful author, columnist and Fox News contributor, to drive home the point that, notwithstanding what African Americans might think of the 14th Amendment and the Emancipation Proclamation, we remain the property of white America.

Coulter would apparently have those of us of color believe that it matters not what we think or where we stand on the political spectrum but that, when it comes to the relationship of blacks to white folks, we still are theirs.

Speaking of our place in America, MSNBC contributor, author and former Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan reminds us in his just-released book, “Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?,” of what black folks have been missing. I never knew we had it so good.

Writing about the segregation era, Buchanan observes, “Back then, black and white lived apart, went to different schools and churches, played on different playgrounds, and went to different restaurants, bars, theaters, and soda fountains. But we shared a country and a culture. We were one nation. We were Americans.”

Gosh, I didn’t know that. Buchanan and I grew up in the same segregated Washington, D.C. I don’t recall black folks having much of a say in the decision to live “apart.” The situation about which Buchanan speaks so wistfully was, to my recollection, a racial apartheid arrangement strictly of white people’s making.

Buchanan’s latest screed to white Christian America’s decline (he’s written on this theme before, and it apparently sells) cites reasons for the deterioration. “Racial diversity,” he writes, is a major contributor to the country’s downfall. His book is peppered with gripes.

Ah, our post-racial America. A country where racism and anti-Semitism have no place . . . except on mainstream television networks’ talk shows, with coast-to-coast audiences who love to hear Coulter and Buchanan talk like that.

It goes without saying that we in the LGBT community are similarly viewed as either vermin or a threat to white Christian America. Why can't more people see this?

Friday Morning Male Beauty

Georgia Arrainment Shows Danger of Far Right Domestic Terrorists

No one can forget the carnage that hit Norway when a far right wacko went on a bombing and shooting spree earlier this year. While those events were thousands of miles away, events in Georgia back in June indicate that similar far right terrorist threats are alive and well in America. Indeed, but for the FBI's success in arresting a group of would be terrorists, who knows what the death toll might have been. The proposed terror attackers (one is pictured at right) have been documented to have been regurgitating the usual extremist bile that passes for reasoned discourse in far right and all too many GOP circles. Atlanta and other major cities were intended targets as were federal officials. It is truly frightening just how deranged many on the far right have become. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution looks at the chilling plot that was fortunately derailed. Here are some highlights:

It was June 9, and Frederick Thomas believed he was meeting with a dealer in black market weapons at a Lavonia restaurant, according to FBI affidavits. . . . . Neither Thomas nor his colleague, 67-year-old Dan "Cobra" Roberts, knew the arms dealer was an undercover informant for the FBI.

A story grew clearer Wednesday through federal affidavits, interviews and court statements accusing Thomas, Roberts and two other men -- Ray H. Adams, 65, and Samuel J. Crump, 68 -- of planning to unleash the toxic agent ricin across Atlanta and other major U.S. cities, bomb federal buildings and take innocent lives. Documents say the men intended to launch their plot within a year.

It was a plan based on a novel by Mike Vanderboegh, a former militia leader and blogger, that detailed killing Justice Department attorneys, Thomas said, according to the FBI affidavits.

FBI documents allege that beginning in March and as recently as last week, the men -- whom federal officials have not identified as part of a larger militia -- met at their homes and North Georgia restaurants. Some had made trips to Atlanta federal buildings to conduct reconnaissance. The affidavits describe Thomas and Roberts as working to obtain explosive devices and silencers, while Adams and Crump seemed largely tasked with developing ricin, a toxin that can be fatal if inhaled or ingested, from easily obtained castor beans.

Documents allege that Crump planned to disperse the ricin in various U.S. cities including Atlanta, Newark, N.J., and Washington. In Atlanta, the documents said, the plan was to unleash the powdery substance on I-285, I-75 and U.S. 41.

These people are scary. What's even more scary is that there are many more of them out there being motivated by the hate speech of the far right (e.g., Rush Limbaugh) and the Christian Right.

Oligrachy, American Style

The caption for this post is the title of a new column in the New York Times by Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman. As he has been doing for quite some time, Krugman focuses on the sad fact that the so-called American dream is becoming increasingly out of reach of most Americans as the nation quickly heads towards wealth disparities once found in banana republics and autocratic monarchies. The good news is that some folks seem to be finally waking up to this reality. Meanwhile, the oligarchy of the 1% of the population ranking in most of the advantages offered by the country tries to distort to distort the real picture. Heaven forbid that average people figure out that the 1% is living like Marie Antoinette (at left) and Louis XVI while the rest of us increasingly struggle to make ends meet. Here are some column highlights:

Inequality is back in the news, largely thanks to Occupy Wall Street, but with an assist from the Congressional Budget Office. And you know what that means: It’s time to roll out the obfuscators!

Pundits try to put a more benign face on the phenomenon, claiming that it’s not really the wealthy few versus the rest, it’s the educated versus the less educated.

So what you need to know is that all of these claims are basically attempts to obscure the stark reality: We have a society in which money is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few people, and in which that concentration of income and wealth threatens to make us a democracy in name only.

The budget office laid out some of that stark reality in a recent report, which documented a sharp decline in the share of total income going to lower- and middle-income Americans. We still like to think of ourselves as a middle-class country. But with the bottom 80 percent of households now receiving less than half of total income, that’s a vision increasingly at odds with reality.

In response, the usual suspects have rolled out some familiar arguments: the data are flawed (they aren’t); the rich are an ever-changing group (not so); and so on. . . . . It’s a nice story, and a lot less disturbing than the picture of a nation in which a much smaller group of rich people is becoming increasingly dominant. But it’s not true.

[T]hese days workers with a college degree but no further degrees are less likely to get workplace health coverage than workers with only a high school degree were in 1979.


So who is getting the big gains? A very small, wealthy minority. The budget office report tells us that essentially all of the upward redistribution of income away from the bottom 80 percent has gone to the highest-income 1 percent of Americans.

[W]hy does this growing concentration of income and wealth in a few hands matter? Part of the answer is that rising inequality has meant a nation in which most families don’t share fully in economic growth. Another part of the answer is that once you realize just how much richer the rich have become, the argument that higher taxes on high incomes should be part of any long-run budget deal becomes a lot more compelling.

The larger answer, however, is that extreme concentration of income is incompatible with real democracy. Can anyone seriously deny that our political system is being warped by the influence of big money, and that the warping is getting worse as the wealth of a few grows ever larger?

As I noted yesterday, the America of my childhood and youth is gone and now much of "Old Europe" offers more social mobility than America.

More Thursday Male Beauty

Brazilian "Ex-Gay" Comes Out

Recently the leader of an Australian "ex-gay" leader came out and admitted that the "cure" ministries run by anti-gay Christianists are a fraud and that "change" is not possible. Now, an "ex-gay" leader in Brazil has followed suit and come out. Worse yet, he concedes that there were same sex relationships even within the "ministry." As has been documented over and over again, the only :change" that occurs is one of behavior with ones true sexual orientation suppressed and denied. Basic underlying sexual orientation is immutable. It's a truth that the Christofascists do not want to accept. But it doesn't make it any less the truth. I truly wish that licensing bodies would start yanking the licenses of and/or closing loop holes used by quacks who continue to peddle the reparative therapy myth - think "Marcia" Bachmann. Here are highlights on Sergio Viula's belated acceptance of himself and the truth via Flying Teapot:

Founder of group that ‘heals homosexuals’ reveals: “Nobody quit being gay, there were relationships even within the group”. Nothing better than an example to rebuke the supposed efficiency of treatments to convert sexual orientation, which claim that gay people can “go” straight. The English and philosophy teacher, also a theologian, Sergio Viula, 42, born and resident in Rio de Janeiro, was one of the founders of the Movement for the Healthy Sexuality (MOSES), an evangelical NGO which helps people interested in quitting homosexuality. He got married, had two children and saw by himself the very methods of ‘sexual re-orientation’. In an exclusive interview, Sergio talked to me and showed that methods to change sexual orientation are useless, causing pain and suffering to those who are willing to go through any of them.

How was the process of “becoming ex-gay”?

- In fact, ex-gays don’t exist – it’s pure self-suggestion. I started going to church and noticed that homosexuals didn’t know how to deal with their ‘difficulties’, due to lack of orientation by their leaders, so I decided to found the Movement for the Healthy Sexuality (MOSES), with João Luiz Santolin and Liane França. That was when I started saying – at very opportune moments – that I was ex-gay.

Didn’t you ever get convinced that you had become ex-gay? Did you ever know that you were deceiving yourself?

- Today I know that I was deceiving myself. But back then, I thought that every sentiment or attraction was a mere case of ‘temptation’ and that it could be overcome with prayer and dedication to god.

Nobody really quit being gay. There were relationships even within the group, between an activity and another, they would always find time for that. Can you figure out how much suffering to myself and to all of those who have already worked or been influenced by this kind of ‘ministry’? That’s enraging! And there are people repeating that stupid discourse until today.

Religious conversion which does not admit and CELEBRATES your homosexuality does not deserve your time and talent. If you want to attend a church, search for one which is mature enough to even question the validity of its own religious statements. But, preferably, live your life without relying on existential braces whatever they are.

Michigan Legislature Passes Pro Anti-Gay Bullying Bill

With gay teen suicides at near epidemic levels - including here in Virginia - one would think that any even remotely responsible legislator (not to mention anyone with a shred of compassion in them) would not vote for legislation that will basically lay out a blue print for bullying and bashing LGBT students. Yet that's exactly what the Republicans in the Michigan legislature just did. The law - called "Matt's Safe School Law" and named after Matt Eppling, an East Lansing 14-year-old who committed suicide after being bullied by classmates in 2002 - includes a section noting it doesn't abridge First Amendment free speech rights or prohibit expression of religious or moral viewpoints. Which is exactly the green light demanded by Christofascists who want the right to make life a living Hell for LGBT students who don't conform to Christianist religious views. Here are highlights from the Detroit News, including a lament by Matt Eppling about the gross defects in the law named after his son:

The Michigan Senate passed an anti-bullying bill Wednesday over strong objections from Democrats and even the father of the bullying victim after whom the bill is named.

"Matt's Safe School Law" passed 26-11 with all Democrats voting against it. The bill is named for Matt Eppling, an East Lansing 14-year-old who committed suicide after being bullied by classmates in 2002.

The law includes a section noting it doesn't abridge First Amendment free speech rights or prohibit expression of religious or moral viewpoints — a provision Democrats fear could be used to justify harassment of gay, lesbian or transgender students.

"I am ashamed that this could be Michigan's bill on anti-bullying when in fact it is a 'bullying is OK in Michigan law,'" Kevin Eppling, Matt's father, whose letter was read by Sen. Glenn Anderson during Wednesday's session.

The Republican Party has truly become something sick and evil. Democrat State Senator Gretchen Whitmer did not bite her tongue and ripped the Senate Republicans a new one. She accurately noted that the law was gutted so heavily that it actually creates, as Whitmer notes in her speech, "a blueprint for bullying." Here's a clip of Whitmer letting loose on the GOP:



Why am I no longer a Republican? This type of vile bullshit. Not to mention the crap engaged in by GOP candidate Ben Loyola's staff.

Is Ben Loyola's Campaign Behind the Anti-Gay Screed Attacking Ralph Northam?

Click image to enlarge.

The race for Virginia's 6th Senatorial district is apparently getting very nasty in a major way and is all too common, LGBT citizens are the Republican candidates favorite boogie man. The incumbent, Senator Ralph Northam - a physician and a Vietnam medical corps veteran - has worked for 4 years to address the needs of ALL of his constituents, including LGBT Virginians, while his opponent, Ben Loyola, could best be described as Kool-Aid drinking extremist endorsed by the most hateful politicians in Virginia (e.g., Ken Cuccinelli and of course, Scott Rigell who himself was endorsed by an anti-gay hate group) and the Tea Party. Not surprisingly, Loyola's website blathers about his "family values" and support for marriage. Indeed, Loyola states proudly that he "believes that marriage is a sacred institution reserved by God to only exist between one man and one woman."

Thus, it's not surprising that just days before the election next Tuesday a mysterious anti-gay flyer - see the image above - filled with lies and discredited allegations (indeed, it looks like the source of the "facts" were Paul Cameron and Peter LaBarbera) has shown up at homes across the 6th District that attacks Ralph Northam for recognizing that LGBT Virginians are entitled to the same civil rights as other Virginians. Those close to the Northam campaign have stated that Northam's office is "about to tie it to his [Loyola's] staff" and described the flyer as "despicable." Of course it is despicable. But sadly, this is what is the norm in today's Republican Party, especially here in the backwater called Virginia.

Naturally, Loyola's office is feigning ignorance and pretends to be shocked by the flyer. Even though Loyola likely believes every lie in the flyer. Loyola and those like him are the reason I left the Republican Party years ago. Truth, honor, integrity and even a shred of decency and the Republican Party are now mutually exclusive.

I sincerely hope that every voter in the 6th senatorial district or who has friends and family members who live in the district will get out next Tuesday and vote for Ralph Northam and send Loyola back into political obscurity.