More Saturday Male Beauty

Selective Feminism

The Washington Post has an op-ed column today that looks at a less than pretty side to feminism - the unequal support that black women seemed to receive from otherwise militant (or at least dedicated) feminists. What prompted the column is the silence of many feminists as Michelle Obama is finding herself subject to all kinds of bashing by minions of the far right who, truth be told, are anti-black as well as anti-anyone else who doesn't look just like them. Were Michelle Obama white, I suspect would have many main stream feminist up in arms and sceaming foul. Sadly, it is one more testament to the distance this nation still needs to cover before we have a society that is colorblind. Here are some highlights:

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Michelle Obama has become an issue in the presidential campaign even though she isn't running for anything. An educated, successful lawyer, devoted wife and caring mother has been labeled "angry" and unpatriotic and snidely referred to as Barack Obama's "baby mama." Democrats, Republicans, independents, everyone should be offended. And this black woman is wondering: Where are Obama's feminist defenders?

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What does Gloria Steinem think? She was out front with her support of Clinton, promoting the importance of a female president. She has even endorsed Barack Obama. What's her reaction now that the knives are out for another strong woman? How about Geraldine Ferraro, the former vice presidential nominee whose racially tinged denunciations of Barack Obama sparked a media firestorm? Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, has said: "We're going to keep watching because we think Michelle Obama will be the recipient of the same kind of attacks that Hillary was." A feminist ray of hope.

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I've long been frustrated, as a black woman and a feminist, with our national conversation. I didn't hear the cause speaking up for women of color or for women who have always worked in blue-collar or service jobs. Choice was not their issue. The woman who employed my educated mother to clean her house never quite saw her as a sister in the struggle for equality.

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But in America, there's seldom a cost for disrespecting black women. I'm waiting for feminists who speak of second-class citizenship and being pushed to the back of the bus to remember the civil rights movement that gave birth to those words. After all, it was a black woman, Rosa Parks, who took her seat up front and pulled others there, too.

The World's Best Places to Live 2008

BusinessWeek has a new ranking of the best cities to live in around the world based upon on 39 key quality-of-life issues. Ranking number 4 this year is perhaps my favorite city in the world all things considered: Vancouver, British Columbia. The setting of the city is physically beauty and it is cosmopolitan and progressive, with a feel that is a mix of an American city and that of a European capital. I loved it, as did my son when I took him there back in 2004. What is amazing (or depressing depending upon one's view) is that the Hampton Roads area of Virginia has a similar population as the greater Vancouver area, but we are so backwards and lacking in progressive thinking. Pat Robertson and the loonies that he panders to definitely are an obstacle to this area's emergence as a first class metropolitan area. Hopefully, in time HRBOR and other progressive organizations can do some good in changing the area's image. Believe me, if I could find a nice Vancouver guy to sweep me off my feet and marry me, I'd relocate in a heart beat. A full listin og cities can be found at the link. Here are a few story highlights:

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What foreign postings are most coveted by expatriate executives? To find out, Mercer Human Resource Consulting, which provides advice to multinational companies on international assignments, has come up with a global ranking of the world's most livable cities based on 39 key quality-of-life issues. They include political stability, currency-exchange regulations, political and media censorship, school quality, housing, the environment and public safety. Mercer . . . considered 215 cities around the globe. Switzerland's main commercial and cultural center, Zurich, topped the list this year, followed by Geneva, and Vancouver and Vienna, which tied for third.

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No. 3: Vancouver, Canada
Mercer score: 107.6

2007 rank: No. 3

GDP: $1.274 trillion (2007 est.)

Population: 33,212,696 (total country);

560,000 (total city)

Life expectancy: 81.16 years

Saturday Male Beauty

He reminds me of my roommate, Rob

Coming Out in Mid-Life - Would I Do It Again?

As happens from time to time with some regularity, this morning I received an e-mail from a married guy who has two children and what sounds like in many ways a good marriage. However, he is coming to realize that - like I did for roughly 37 years - he has been suppressing the fact that he is gay for decades. Now he faces the terrible issue of what should he do. It sounds like he's been honest with his wife who - like mine did initially until she hired the warped Regent Law graduate attorney - is being supportive and still loves him. Obviously, he has fears about what might happen to his world as he knows it and to his children if things spin out of control. Ultimately, how he decides to move forward is a decision he alone will have to make. I can share my experiences (I sent him a lengthy response) and hope that whatever he decides to do that he can avoid some of the worse things I experienced.

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The writer stopped short of asking me if I'd undertake the same decision to come out and move out if I had to do it all over again. In some ways I am glad that he did not ask the question because there is no simple "Yes" or "No" answer. There are many issues and coming to an answer involves weighing so many factors to get to a reasoned decision. Since I indirectly get asked the question regularly, I will try to explain how I get to the answer that, yes, I think I would do it again. I would do a number of things differently the second time around, but I believe that ultimately in order to find some inner peace I would HAVE to come out and find a way to accept myself as a gay man. Despite the financial ruin that coming out has inflicted on me in many ways, the issue comes down to what is the value of not hating yourself and/or wanting to kill yourself every day for who you are. My conclusion is that escaping that burden of self-hate and longing for death is beyond priceless.

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Despite all the good things in my married life - my children being the most wonderful of them - the daily self-hate because of "my secret" and always feeling that death was my only escape took such an immense toll and truly made me a person who was not always that nice to live with. Bottled up self-hate can frequently lead to lashing out at others needlessly or at a minimum turn one into someone moody and sometimes detached. I know I could have been a better father and I hope as time goes by my children forgive my past failings and continue to see that I am a happier and better person now that I am not fighting my secret demons every day. Moreover, as I have said before, I hope they also learn that they must live their lives for themselves and NOT for me or their mother, society or for anyone else. I believe my son is living part of that message in the form of his Appalachian Trail adventure.

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One thing that I would do differently is that I would not stay married and separated for an extended period as I did. It seemed to make sense at the time, but ultimately it postponed all of us in my family from moving on sooner and perhaps more happily. It certainly took a toll on my relationship with my former b/f and I think it delayed my former wife from getting on with her life more quickly. Much of what we were trying to achieve with the extended separation might have been achieved through other means. Hindsight is always 20/20, so I try not to dwell on what might have been if I had proceeded differently.

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The other thing that I would do differently is to make a much harder effort to stay connected with my children from day one of the move out. Looking back, part of the issue was just how fucked up I was at the time and the battle I experienced to fend off a sense of hopelessness as I had to rebuild my entire social network. Seeing nothing but a dark blank page for the future at the time was very scary and distressing. I suspect most of us experience some aspect of that feeling when we decide to come out. I think in my case since I had been entrenched in a carefully constructed outer persona, it was perhaps far more devastating when that construct evaporated. What's done is done now, and I can only try to do my best moving forward. Baeting one's self up over the past accomplishes nothing and I for one have done too much of that in my past.

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As for this morning's e-mailer, I wish him good luck and hope he finds a way to achieve happiness for both himself and his family.

Right Wing Coniptions Over Gay Marriage

Right Wing Watch has a good summary of the disingenuous fuming and pronouncements coming forth amongst the professional Christianist organizations now that gay marriages are legally occuring in California. As I have said many times I find it amazing how these alleged followers of Christ utterly ignore his message of love of neighbor and instead disseminate a non-stop message of hate and disparagement of others. The millions that they spend (i) paying themselves salaries for being full time anti-gay bigots and (ii) seeking to deny gays civil legal rights could be so much better used feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, and working to end injustice. This insane obsession with persecuting gays to me indicates that these folks - not us gays - are the ones with the deep-seated mental health issues. These folks truly need some serious mental health counseling and perhaps drug therapy as well. Here are some highlights:
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Last month, when the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage rights for gays and lesbians, the Right was typically apoplectic, unleashing everything from Nazi metaphors to warnings that the end of the world was near. In the weeks since, it doesn’t seem as if the Right has calmed down much and now that marriages have begun in the state, they have come out in force to rail against it and warn of dire consequences to come.
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While Concerned Women for America announced a Day of Prayer and Fasting in hopes that “our nation will return to the Biblical values on which she was founded,” others such as Biblical Family Advocates screeched that “California has slid off of its foundations into moral anarchy” and accused the court of mandating sin by allowing gays to “sodomize the entire culture”: "It is truly amazing that the homosexual community desired the government to get out of their bedroom and now they use the government to force their bedroom upon the general populace. They will not be satisfied until they have sodomized the entire culture, including the family, schools and even the church which should be a safe haven for children, not hedonistic indoctrination camps."

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Vision America’s Rick Scarborough, another professional homophobe who rakes in money hand over fist through his anti-gay rants and lies had this to say:

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Those who think the judicial assault on marriage won't affect them had better think again. It will impact on everything from adoption to public-school curriculum. Church-based agencies will be forced to place children with same-sex couples or get out of the adoption business. The schools will be required to teach that there's absolutely no difference between a family with a mommy and a daddy and one with two mommies, or two daddies." Scarborough urged the people of California and America to "resist this monumental evil."

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Meanwhile the Klan loving folks over at Family Research Council rant this disingenuous and alarmist ad:

More Friday Male Beauty

Democratic Landslide Coming?

Newsweek has new poll results out that not only look good for Barack Obama, but which also contain figures that suggest that instead of building a permanent GOP majority, Karl Rove and the Chimperator have set the GOP on a collision course for prolonged period of minority status. The Chimperator and Cheney have pretty much f*cked up everything else that they have touched, so it is at least heartwarming to see that this reverse Midas touch extends to hopefully destroyng the power of the Christianist dominated party that the GOP has become. The hubris - and false piety and sanctimoniousness - of Bush and the Christianist base of the GOP has been insufferable. If the GOP suffers massive losses in November, it will personally give me great joy. Perhaps only then will some people wake up and send the Christianist hate merchants like James Dobson back to wander in the political wilderness. Here are some highlights fro Newsweek:

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A new NEWSWEEK Poll shows that he has a substantial double-digit lead, 51 percent to 36 percent, over McCain among registered voters nationwide. . . . The latest numbers on voter dissatisfaction suggest that Obama may enjoy more than one bounce. The new poll finds that only 14 percent of Americans say they are satisfied with the direction of the country. That matches the previous low point on this measure recorded in June 1992, when a brief recession contributed to Bill Clinton's victory over Bush's father, incumbent George H.W. Bush. Overall, voters see Obama as the preferred agent of "change" by a margin of 51 percent to 27 percent. Younger voters, in particular, are more likely to see Obama that way: those 18 to 39 favor the Illinois senator by 66 percent to 27 percent. The two candidates are statistically tied among older voters.

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Obama's current lead also reflects the large party-identification advantage the Democrats now enjoy—55 percent of all voters call themselves Democrats or say they lean toward the party while just 36 percent call themselves Republicans or lean that way. Even as McCain seeks to gain voters by distancing himself from the unpopular Bush and emphasizing his maverick image, he is suffering from the GOP's poor reputation among many voters.

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Obama seems to have built his margin in part by picking up a key slice of Clinton's support, including women. Women voters in the new poll prefer him over McCain by 21 points (54 percent versus 33 percent). Defections to McCain by Hillary Clinton supporters are also down significantly since she dropped out of the race and endorsed the Obama. . . . Obama's personal ratings have improved, as well: 62 percent of voters overall say they have a favorable opinion of him compared to only 26 percent who have an unfavorable opinion. By comparison, McCain's ratings are 49 percent favorable to 37 percent unfavorable, representing a drop from his previous 54 percent favorable rating.

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Obama is trusted more to handle what may prove the biggest issue of the 2008 election--the economy and jobs—by a wide margin (54 percent to 29 percent). He also has a sizable advantage on energy policy, 48 percent to 34 percent,

Increased Offshore Drilling Nonsense

The Chimperator's regime has been trying to roll back environmental protections and open more areas for oil and gas exploration for the last eight years. That has pretty much been Chimpy's entire energy policy, in fact. Not that increased offshore drilling would do anything to relieve the current gasoline price hikes. Bush's only goal is to benefit his fat cat friends in the oil industry. As one who worked in the oil industry (and is not knee jerk anti-oil company) and who was involved in both domestic and overseas exploration and production, I know full well that even a huge new find would in all likelihood not come on line as a serious source of oil and gas for many years - probably ten years or more at a minimum. Despite this fact, now John McCain is jumping on the increased drilling mantra because I suspect he believes that the American public is too uninformed and stupid to understand that promises of more domestic production will do NOTHING to change the current energy situation. In his column tioday in the New York Times, Paul Krugman likewise zeros in on McCain's cynical approach to this issue. Here are some highlights:

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Blaming environmentalists for high energy prices, never mind the evidence, has been a hallmark of the Bush administration. . . . And the administration has spent the last eight years trying to convince Congress that the key to America’s energy security is opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling — even though estimates from the Energy Information Administration suggest that drilling in the refuge would make very little difference to the energy outlook, and the oil companies themselves aren’t especially interested in punching holes in the tundra. But it still comes as a surprise and a disappointment to see John McCain joining that unfortunate tradition.

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The item that made news, however, was Mr. McCain’s call for more offshore drilling. On Tuesday, he made this more explicit, calling for exploration and development of the currently protected outer continental shelf. This was a reversal of his previous position, and it went a long way toward aligning his energy policy with that of the Bush administration. That’s not a good thing.

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So why would Mr. McCain associate himself with these characters? The answer, presumably, is that it’s a cynical political calculation. I’m reasonably sure that Mr. McCain’s advisers realize that offshore drilling would do nothing for current gas prices. But they may believe that the public can be conned. A Rasmussen poll taken before Mr. McCain’s announcement suggests that the public favors expanded offshore drilling, and believes (wrongly) that this would lower gasoline prices.

Friday Male Beauty

An Interesting Juxtaposition

Some times those who have little have a better appreciation of American than thos who come from wealthy and privileged families such as John McCain, the son and grandson of famous admirals.

Religious Debate Rages Over Homosexuality

The Los Angeles Times has an article today that looks at the debate between Christianists and other religious conservatives on the one side and moderates who do not seek to use the Bible and Koran as abasis for demonizing gays. I guess what gets me personally is that Christ had a very much affirming message and in the Gospels ministered to and socialized with those marginalized by the legalistic and santimonious religious leaders of His day. Yet this fact utterly escapes the hate merchant element of today's Christian denominations. Rather than look at this broader message, they seek out isolated passages to condemn gays. Not surprsingly, many of their forebears also used the Bible to justify slavery, segregation and the subordination of women. If one takes the selective passage approach that these less than Christian individuals apply to gays, then using their analysis, slavery should still be permissible today. As would the application of the death penalty to all sorts of ridiculous infractions. Here are some story highlights:

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With same-sex marriage now legal in California, people of faith are renewing a passionate debate over whether homosexuality is sanctioned by God. Christians, Jews and Muslims on both sides of the issue cite the holy writings of their religions. Some note that the Bible depicts man-lying-with-man as an "abomination," while others say it speaks of God's love for all people created in his image. Both sides defend their positions with the zeal of the biblical warriors who inhabit their scriptures.

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"Homosexual intimacy is out of bounds. It's not what God created us for," said Richard Mouw, president of the evangelical Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena.Mouw cites Romans 1 in the New Testament that decries men and women abandoning "natural relations" and men "inflamed with lust for one another" committing "indecent acts with other men" -- behavior that carried death as punishment."Sexuality within the context of marriage is the order of creation," he said.

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Nonsense, says the Rev. Mel White, a former Fuller professor and evangelical author who married his partner of 27 years in a ceremony Wednesday at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena. White calls the Bible a living document that must be understood in its historical context -- a view shared by reform-minded clergy and theologians from other faiths.

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Perhaps the most frequently cited is Leviticus 18:22: "You shall not lie with a man as one lies with a woman: It is an abomination."The passage from the Torah is repeated, with slight variations, in Christian scripture, which, like the Jewish text, orders death for violators. The Koran also denounces homosexuality, in Chapter 7, Verse 81: "For you practice your lust on men in preference to women: You are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds."

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But other clergy criticize what they see as a selective analysis of the texts. Jesus condemned divorce and remarriage, they point out, but that hasn't stopped many Christians from splitting and remarrying. The Old Testament not only denounces adulterers and children who curse their parents, it demands the death penalty for both. It prohibits sex between husbands and wives during menstruation, even though theologians acknowledge the practice occurs without any formal reprimands.

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One small Muslim group voiced objections, calling on the faithful to embrace a more pluralistic view of gays and lesbians."We're not reinventing the faith," Ani Zonneveld, president of Muslims for Progressive Values, which claims about 1,500 members nationwide. "The Koran says that it is a book for all times and all generations. It is not a stagnant text."If Muslims cannot interpret the Koran, she said, "then it is irrelevant to how we live our lives today."

More Thursday Male Beauty

American Medical Association: Stop Discriminating Against Transgender Patients

Raw Story has a story about what one would think would be a common sense issue, namely providing appropriate medical treatment to transgendered individuals. Unfortunately, too many health insurance carriers are always seeking ways to deny coverage for procedures. Now the American Medical Association has stepped into the fray and taken a formal position that treatment should not be denied. While I cannot fully get my head around what it must be like to be transgendered, I guess straights have the same issue with gays. That doesn't mean that all of us should not recive appropriate medical care regardless of our sexual orientations or gender expression. Here are some highlights on the AMA's statements:

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The American Medical Association is calling on health insurers to cooperate with doctors in providing proper care to meet transgender patients' needs. Resolutions 114, 115 and 122 were passed by the AMA's House of Delegates at its annual conference in Chicago, which concludes today. Noting that Gender Identity Disorder is an internationally recognized medical condition, the Delegates highlight the need to combat the emotional pain and physical incongruity associated with gender dysphoria with proper access to mental health services, hormone treatments, and surgical procedures.

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The AMA asserts that when discriminatory financial barriers are placed between the transgender community and proper health care by dismissing treatments as "cosmetic" or "experimental," even when covered for other patients with other recognized medical conditions, more expensive problems can develop as a result, such as depression, substance abuse problems, and stress-related illness. The National Center for Transgender Equality has hailed the resolution.

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"Doctors and patients, not insurance companies, should be making those choices," Keisling [of NTCE] added. "We are so glad that the AMA has taken a leadership role against the rampant discrimination that transgender people have faced for so many years in receiving appropriate medical care and equitable insurance coverage."

Christianist Heterosexuals Make Poor Parents

The self-righteous, sanctimonious talking heads of the Christian Right blabber endlessly about how only one man and one woman can properly raise children and that, in opposing gay adoption and/or narriage, gay parenting deprives a child of a proper home. Based on yet another story where a minor has needlessly died because of the religious fanaticism of the parents, perhaps a more appropriate restriction on parenting would be one that removed children from the custody of their religiously insane parents who would deprive them of necessary medical treatment. The latest story comes out of Oregon where a teenage boy died from a urinary infection that could have been easily treated. Yet another example of the evils of religious extremism. Hopefully, the parents (and ideally, the board members of the "church" involved) will be prosecuted and imprisoned, although imprisonment seems too light of a penalty for needlessly ending a 16 year old's life. Here are highlights from KATU-TV:

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GLADSTONE, Ore. - A 16-year-old boy who, along with his parents, believed in faith healing died as a result of an inflammation in his urinary system that is treatable, a deputy medical examiner said Wednesday. The boy, identified by authorities as Neil Beagley, was suffering from an inflammation in a tube leading from his bladder - the urethra - that made him unable to urinate, according to Dr. Clifford Nelson, a deputy state medical examiner. Beagley filled up with urine, and that eventually ruined his bladder and kidneys and resulted in heart failure, said Nelson, who called it "an absolutely horrible way to die."

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KATU first learned that Beagley was sick back in late March and informed authorities about his condition. The Department of Human Services confirmed they checked on his condition and were assured by Beagley's family that he would be taken care of. . . . It was not clear what transpired between March and this week. Gladstone police said the boy got sick about a week ago and his condition worsened Sunday, causing members of his faith-healing church to gather for prayer rather than take him to a hospital. The boy died Tuesday afternoon surrounded by family members and a board member of the church called authorities.

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Police said the boy and his family are members of the Followers of Christ Church, a highly secretive group in Oregon City that has been practicing a distinct brand of religion since at least the mid-40s after moving to Oregon from Idaho. They believe they are God's chosen children and that God's will can heal those he chooses. In March, Beagley's 15-month-old cousin, Ava Worthington, died at home from bronchial pneumonia and a blood infection. Her parents, Carl and Raylene Worthington, also failed to contact a doctor and are awaiting trial on criminal charges in her death. Beagley was also the brother of Raylene Worthington.

Thursday Male Beauty

Religious Extremism Is Alive and Well

Today's Washington Post has two religion related stories that make for an interesting justaposition. One looks at the intolerant Christianist element within the Anglican Communion which, despite all the much more pressing and important issues facing the world has an unbelieveable obsession with homosexuality. The other story deals with death sentences being imposed for blasphemy in Pakistan, demonstrating the clear and present danger involved in allowing religious beliefs to become intertwined with the civil laws.

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If allowed, the Christianists in the Anglican Communion would no doubt favor giving out death sentences like the Islamic fundies. Personally, I wish the leadership of the western/modern faction in the Anglican Communion - which has all the money - would stop wringing their hands over the issue of "unity" and kick the lunatic fringe to the curb and cut off all funding to the wingnut elements and then wait to see how quickly these groups wither on the vine without ongoing funding from those they condemn for not engaging in anti-gay bigotry. I truly cannot grasp the mindset of those who seem to get their main enjoyment in life from hating others - they must be very emotionally disturbed. What happened to the Gospel message of loving one's neighbor? It should also be note that as I have posted in the past, "man of God" Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria (a homophobe extraordinaire) may have been involved in ordering the massacre of over 600 innocent Muslims. First, here are highlights of the Anglicans:

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Organizers of the Global Anglican Future Conference say they will not formally break with the 77 million-member Anglican family when the meeting ends June 29. Even so, the gathering is a clear challenge to Anglicans who want their fellowship to remain unchanged.

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The summit occurs one month before the Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade meeting of all Anglican bishops, organized by their spiritual leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.
Many of the estimated 280 bishops attending the conservative summit are boycotting Lambeth, mainly because Williams invited bishops from the U.S. Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church of Canada and elsewhere who believe that the Bible permits committed gay relationships.

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The majority of Anglicans now live in developing countries and are scandalized by Northern views of Scripture. The leadership of the conservative summit comes mainly from these provinces. The top organizers are Orombi, along with the archbishops _ called primates _ of the Anglican churches of Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and the Southern Cone based in Argentina. U.S. conservatives, a minority within the Episcopal Church, and British Anglicans also are playing important roles.

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While the conference participants share a theological outlook, they disagree over what they should do next. Some have close relationships with North American and European dioceses, schools and ministries, and gain stature from their ties to a major world church. The communion is the world's third-largest Christian body, behind the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian churches.

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For a view of where mindsets like those of the the GAFCON attendees leads, one has only to take a look at Pakistan where blasphemy is a capital offense. here are highlights on that story:

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A Pakistani judge sentenced a Muslim man to death Wednesday on charges he insulted Islam's Prophet Muhammad, a court official said. Falk Sher, a court administrator, said Judge Shoaib Ahmad Roomi also sentenced the man, Shafeeq Latif, to life in prison and fined him $75,000 on a separate charge of desecrating pages of Islam's holy book, the Quran, in 2006. Latif was accused of making derogatory remarks about Muhammad.

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Under Pakistan's blasphemy laws, anyone who insults Muhammad can be punished by death. Scores of people, including Muslims and minority Christians, are facing trial under the laws, which human rights groups have demanded be abolished.

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"True believers" have sadly turned religion into one of the great force of evil in today's world.

Final Wednesday Male Beauty

Dating Values

Lately, Michael at Gaytwogether - who I will admit I communicate with and find to be a very sweet and thoughtful guy - seems to be doing posts aimed at me and my quest to successfully re-enter the dating world and, hopefully find "Mr. Right" after eleven months of recovering from the end of my last relationship. I am admittedly a bit gun shy of getting involved with someone who might turn out not to be "the one," but I do believe that I am happiest when in a committed relationship. The question is how to (1) attract the type of guy that's right and (2) project a true image of who I am. In a recent post on his blog, Michael has an article by a personal coach that gives some advice and tips. Here are some highlights of what I am trying to do myself based on the article:

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Your first step before you ever set foot into the dating jungle is to have a solid sense of identity—to know who you are and what you’re looking for. Without this knowledge, you’ll likely wander and connect aimlessly with men crowding the dating pool who have little in common with you except being single as well (and sometimes not even that!). . . . And that’s where your values come in!

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They give your life meaning and they are the essence of who you are and what you believe in. They are a core piece of your identity, the filler for your sense of self—your internal nucleus of sorts. Without values, life would feel empty, depressing, and stale. There would be no sense of purpose or motivation.

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Coming-out is an example of the value you place in taking pride of your true self. So in identifying your values, it will be important for you to distinguish between what’s truly something you believe in versus what could potentially be someone else’s expectations of you. Whose voice do you hear? Your own? Mom or Dad? Church?

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The most successful couples in relationships have shared values. Nothing provides the sustenance and glue to a partnership than values; everything else pales in comparison. You and that guy sitting across from you at the coffee shop may be totally attracted to each other (but he’s SO hot!), but if you don’t have comparable visions or philosophies of life, you’ll be setting yourselves up for tons of conflict and disappointment.

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By being yourself, expressing your true sense of self in every word and action, you’re showing the world the canvas of your identity and will increase your odds of attracting other similar guys. And by being true to your values, you will be less prone to molding yourself around a relationship with a man just for the sake of being in one because you’re making conscious decisions to honor your beliefs and what’s important to you to be happy.

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Much of this can also be describes as "to thine own self be true." I want to find a guy who wants and loves me for me and not some role I'm playing to please him. At the same time, I want Mr. Right to be able to be himself and not feel that he has to try to be what he he thinks I want him to be. After all my years in the closet trying to be what others wanted/expected, it is truly liberating and self-affirming to just be me. I suspect that a relationship between two open and honest guys who have a solid sense of who they are and their common values would be equally wonderful.

More Wednesday Male Beauty

Lies, Deceit and Torture - the Bush/Cheney Legacy

Tim Rutten has a column in the Los Angeles Times that evaluated the disaster that has been the Bush/Cheney rogue regime. Not only has the Chimperator been one of the worse - if not THE worse - presidents in the nation's history, but he and Emperor Palpatine Cheney have severely damaged the USA's image and credibity abroad as shown by the chart set out below. These two men and their willing accomplices are a national disgrace and embarrassment and truly need to be held accountable for their lies and the countless thousands of lives lost due to their insanity and hubris. Unlike Rutten, I am in full favor of war crimes investigations and, if the evidence supports it, the imposition of some death penalty verdicts. An example needs to be made that NO ONE, including the president and vice president, are above the law. Here are some highlights from Rutten's column:

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Apart from understanding how and why the Bush/Cheney administration tricked the American people into going to war in Iraq, no question is more urgent than how the White House forced the adoption of torture as state policy of the United States. An investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee, now partly concluded, already has gone a long way toward explaining the decision to place the United States among the world's pariah states.

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In a statement delivered Tuesday, committee Chairman Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said: "Some have suggested that detainee abuses committed by U.S. personnel at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and at Guantanamo were the result of a 'few bad apples' acting on their own. It would be a lot easier to accept if that were true." In fact, Levin said, senior U.S. officials "sought out information on aggressive [interrogation] techniques, twisted the law to create the appearance of their legality and authorized their use against detainees."

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As the Washington Post reported Tuesday, however, documents and e-mails collected by investigators for the Armed Services Committee show that officials working for then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld began their research into waterboarding, stress positions, sensory deprivation and other practices as far back as July 2002, months before military commanders began asking for permission.

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[T]he current Senate investigation has established definitively that the drive to make torture an instrument of U.S. policy originated at the highest levels of the Bush administration -- mainly in the circle that included Cheney, Rumsfeld and Addington. This group had come to Washington determined to implement its theory of "the unitary executive," which holds that presidential powers of all sorts have been dangerously diminished since the Vietnam War. The fact that these guys seem to have defined executive branch power as the ability to hold people in secret and torture them pushes the creepy quotient into areas that probably require psychoanalytic credentials.

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Right-wing -- as opposed to conservative -- commentators already have begun branding the Senate investigation and parallel House inquiries as a witch hunt . . . Part of the hysteria over all this that you see in places like the Wall Street Journal editorial pages stems from an anxiety that congressional inquiries, like that of Levin's committee, will lead to indictments and possibly even war crimes trials for officials who participated in the administration's deliberations over torture and the treatment of prisoners.

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The Bush administration has been wretchedly mistaken in its conception of executive power, deceitful in its push for war with Iraq and appalling in its scheming to make torture an instrument of state power. But a healthy democracy punishes policy mistakes, however egregious, and seeks redress for its societal wounds, however deep, at the ballot box and not in the prisoner's dock. To do otherwise risks the stability of our own electoral politics almost as recklessly as the Bush/Cheney regime has risked our national interests abroad.

German Lutheran Church May Elect Gay Bishop

Depending upon how the final vote turns out, Yahoo News is reporting that the Lutheran Church in Germany may soon elect a gay bishop. Sadly, the un-Christian far right faction within the Church is whining and protesting about that prospect. Obviously, as a Lutheran myself, the more sister churches to the ELCA adopt gay accepting policies, the more pressure there will be on the ELCA to official grant full acceptance to gays as members of all levels of the clergy and as committed couples. Personally, I find it amazing that an allegedly well educated denomination like the ELCA - a few weeks ago I did a post that compared the inverse correlation between the education level of various denominations with their acceptance of biblical literalism where the Lutherans ranked high on education and low on biblical literalism - continues to have an element that refuses to accept modern advances in medical and mental health knowledge. These Neanderthals prefer to cling to the medically and scientifcally ignorant writings of more than 2000 years ago as a basis for hating and denigrating other human beings. Are they so lacking in self-esteem that they need to cling to a sense of being superior or what? Here are some story highlights:

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BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany could elect its first openly gay Lutheran bishop next month, a move conservatives say would alienate many Christians and open divisions in the Church. The July 12 election brings to Germany the question of gay clergy and same-sex unions which has caused rifts in several countries and faiths, including the Anglican community.

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Horst Gorski, a senior cleric from Hamburg, is standing for the post of bishop of Schleswig in northern Germany against Gerhard Ulrich, a senior cleric from the Schleswig area. The incumbent bishop is retiring in September. Gorski is a widely respected theologian and he helped set up a centre for gay and lesbian Lutheran pastors. His open homosexuality angers some Lutheran conservatives who argue his election as bishop would leave many Christians with no spiritual home.

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The election committee is standing by its choice of candidates. "After careful consultation, we have nominated two experienced provosts as candidates who have excelled in their localities and in the region in a variety of ways," said election committee member Bishop Maria Jepsen, the world's first woman Lutheran bishop.

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The Lutheran World Federation, which represents nearly 69 million Christians, says it will not get involved as it has no common line on the question of homosexuality. "This is a pastoral issue that each church individually must deal with," LWF General Secretary Reverend Ishmael Noko told Reuters. "We have no position on this issue at the moment," he said, adding the body, which has 140 churches in 78 countries, has commissioned a study on marriage, family and sexuality.

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Last year the largest U.S. Lutheran body, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), said it would allow homosexual clergy in sexual relationships to serve as pastors.

Wednesday Male Beauty

Red to Blue Race - Glenn Nye for Congress

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is targeting support for Democratic candidates seen as having a very strong chance of defeating incumbent Republicans in its "Red to Blue" program. Locally, Glenn Nye's race against Virginia 2nd District GOP Congresswoman, Thelma Drake, has been added to the Red to Blue program. Having met Glenn several times now and in light of Thelma Drake's unfortunate lock step voting with the Chimperator (she voted against Jim Webb's GI Bill amendments), it is obvious that not only the 2nd Congressional District, but the nation as a whole, will benefit if Glenn is elected to Congress to bring new, right thinking leadership to Congress. While I consider Thelma Drake a friend, the time has come to elect someone else who will lead the country in a new direction and who will support equality for all Americans regardless of their sexual orientation.

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Information about Glenn can be found here and contributions through the Red to Blue program can be made here. Please help support Glenn's campaign.

Republican Racists

The political button above was being sold at the Texas Republican state convention. I guess I truly should not be surprised in light of what I saw happening to the GOP before I submitted my resignation to the Party a number of years back, citing the increasing theocratic insanity of the Party as an obstacle my conscience could not overcome. While my principal objects were based on the merging of fundamentalist Christianity and the Party platform, looking behind the words the real issue was that only white, preferrable fundamentalist Protestant or wingnut Catholics, were truly welcome. As I have noted before, if one reads the rhetoric on most of the Christianist websites, the real message is that blacks, Hispanics, gays, liberals, and non-Christians are NOT welcomed to join the GOP party base.

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One has to ask why the national GOP organization doesn't stop this sh*t. I think the real reason is that the national party has become just as secretly - or perhaps not so secretly - racist as the folks selling this disgusting button. I suspect we can anticipate one truly ugly and nasty campaign cycle as the Christianists and racists pull out all the stops to defeat Obama. The soul of the country is truly at stake in this election. Here's a link to more on the button sales.

More Tuesday Male Beauty

Cardinal Mahony: Church Can't Approve Redefining Marriage

Not surprisingly, among those condemning the gay weddings now occuring in California are Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahony and six of his minions, Auxiliary Bishops Thomas J. Curry, Gabino Zavala, Gerald Wilkerson, Edward Wm. Clark, Alexander Salazar and Oscar A. Solis. Mahony, who acts all sanctimonious and pios is in my opinion anything but. Here is what the Dallas Morning News in its special report on cover ups of sexual abuse of minors by bishops and cardinals (roughly 2/3's were found to be involved in cover ups) had this to say about Mahony and his archdiocese:

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More than 30 current and former archdiocesan priests are under criminal investigation, and the district attorney has said he would call Cardinal Mahony before a grand jury unless he divulges his files on them; he has vowed to cooperate. One of the cases involves the Rev. Michael Stephen Baker, who admitted to the cardinal in 1986 that he had molested boys but was kept on the job, in several parishes, until 2000. The cardinal later approved a confidential $1.3 million settlement with two of Father Baker's victims who say they were abused as recently as 1999. "I offer my sincere, personal apologies for my failure to take firm and decisive action much earlier," Cardinal Mahony recently wrote to the priests he supervises. Father Baker is accused of molesting boys, some as young as 5, from 1976 to 1999.

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In another case, the archdiocese let the Rev. G. Neville Rucker remain in the ministry until this year despite abuse allegations that first surfaced 35 years ago and led to an out-of-court settlement of a 1993 lawsuit. Father Rucker's alleged victims included 9-year-old girls; he has denied wrongdoing.

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In the early 1980s, when he was bishop of Stockton, Calif., Cardinal Mahony moved the Rev. Oliver O'Grady to various parishes. During a civil trial, the cardinal said he didn't know about Father O'Grady's abuse, but his testimony was contradicted by a psychiatrist he had hired to evaluate the priest. Father O'Grady was later sent to prison, and Cardinal Mahony's dealings with him have become the subject of a federal racketeering lawsuit.

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Between this information and the fact that Mahoney's archdiocese went on to enter into a $660 Million settlement with the victims of sexual abuse after vicious rounds of litigation where one prosecutor described Mahony as worse than dealing with an organized crime figure (see MSNBC's coverage), one has to truly wonder why anyone with intelligence and/or shread of integrity would listen to anything Mahony might bleet given his disingenuous track record. It is unfortunate that Channel 9 failed to remind viewers of these facts about Mahoney. Here are some highlights of Mahony's latest pontifications from the KCAL-9 TV:

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LOS ANGELES As same-sex couples throughout California prepare on Monday for the era of gay marriage, Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles and six auxiliary bishops spoke out against the unions, saying the Catholic Church cannot approve of the redefinition of marriage.

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the church cannot approve of redefining marriage, which has a unique place in God's creation, joining a man and a woman in a committed relationship in order to nurture and support the new life for which marriage is intended," the statement says."The meaning of marriage is deeply rooted in history and culture, and has been shaped considerably by Christian tradition. Its meaning is given, not constructed. When marriage is redefined so as to make other relationships equivalent to it, the institution of marriage is devalued and further weakened."

Group Comes Bearing Message of Hate

That's the headline from a story in the Monterey County, California, newspaper, The Herald that looks at the activities of Fred Phelps and his hate merchant church members. One can only hope that Phelps and representatives of his alleged "church" visit as many locales in Califrnia as possible. While it is true that the Christianists will be looking for every opportunity to depict gay and lesbian couples getting married in California as perverts and freaks, Phelps and his clan will do all they can to catch media coverage to stroke their perverse egos. The picture they present is one that most rational conservatives would not want to emulate. Here are some highlights of how this anti-gay group is being depicited in the California media:

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Members of a virulently anti-gay church group from Kansas plan to stage a protest at 1 p.m. on Pacific and East Franklin streets in Monterey today, the church announced. To call the members of the Westboro Baptist Church "controversial" is like calling the South Pole's weather "brisk" — about as a gross an understatement as anyone can come up with.

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In an interview Sunday — one day before the Topeka group was set to picket in Monterey — nary a sentence came out of church attorney Shirley Phelps-Roper's mouth without including the "f-word" — which in this case is a pejorative term for homosexuals. Phelps-Roper is the daughter of the church's founder, Pastor Fred Phelps, who maintains that pretty much all the tragedy that befalls anyone is because of America and its "fag lifestyle of soul-damning, nation-destroying filth."

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Now, the church is coming to the Peninsula to protest "the evil U.S. military at the Presidio of Monterey," the group's fliers declare. "God hates the present-day, sodomite-controlled United States military establishment ... God hates the U.S.A."

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One Monterey Peninsula College student said she and others had debated whether to bring attention to Phelps' group by showing up for a counter-protest. "I know that the counter-protest and the media involvement is giving (the) Rev. Phelps the attention that he craves," said Shelley Kolonics, 20. "But it also just feels completely wrong not to do anything."

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She and others who passed word of mouth about the church's appearance in Monterey plan to show up around 12:30 p.m. today to check in with police. Kolonics said police told her that no more than 25 people can gather in each group at a time. "We may have to rotate," she said. Her informal group is made up of individuals who, she said, felt they had to raise a countering voice to the Phelps' messages of hate. "Our message is basically the opposite of theirs. God doesn't hate our military and God doesn't hate us," she said. "God doesn't hate gays in America."

Tuesday Male Beauty

Gay Couples Are Aware That Voters are Watching

As the gay weddings begin in California, the Los Angeles Times has a story that might be worthwhile reading for gays nationwide. In short, it examines the fact that straight voters are watching the wedding coverage and gay couples need to use some common sense in how they comport themselves. The same goes for gays everywhere and not just in the contaxt of weddings. Personally, I can understand the desire and perhaps even thrill of "in your face behavior" at Pride events and other venues, but sometimes all we do is play directly into the hands since those are precisely the images that the Christianists disseminate in their campaign to depicit all of us as sex crazed perverts. Momentary fun and thrills in inappropriate settings should not be allowed to undermine the hard work and efforts of many gays to demonstrate to the straight world that as gays we are in reality not any different than everyone else and that we are entitled to the same rights. While it is not fair, the reality is that while living openly and proudly, we perhaps DO need to hold ourselves to a higher standard of conduct at times. In my professional life within the local legal community, my goal is to be known as an attorney who happens to be gay as opposed to "the gay attorney." Public images do matter and the concept is something that I wish some local gay oriented establishments could get through their heads. Here are some story highlights:

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The gay and lesbian couples who packed a Hollywood auditorium last week had come seeking information about California's new marriage policies. But they also got some unsolicited advice. Be aware. Images from gay weddings, said Lorri L. Jean, chief executive of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, could be used by opponents in a campaign designed to persuade California voters that gays and lesbians should not have the right to marry. Those getting married, she cautioned, should never lose sight of what they might be supplying to the other side.

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Sitting close to his husband-to-be in the audience, hairstylist Kendall Hamilton nodded and said he knew just what she meant. No "guys showing up in gowns," he said."It's a weird subject," added Hamilton, 39, who plans to wed his partner of five years, Ray Paolantonio. "We want everybody to be free, but the image does matter. . . . They are going to try to make us look like freaks."

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The first legal same-sex marriages in California were performed Monday night, and thousands more gay couples are expected to flood into clerks' offices in the coming weeks to obtain marriage licenses. It's all happening with both sides keenly aware that in less than five months, voters will decide whether to amend the state Constitution to define marriage as being between a man and a woman only. With that in mind, proponents are trying hard to manage what kinds of same-sex marriage images Californians see during this year's so-called Summer of Love.

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[B]oth sides know that the images of some partnerships may be more palatable than others." One of the things that have hurt the gay effort in California is the exhibitionism in San Francisco," which doesn't always play well elsewhere, said political analyst Tony Quinn. . . . With the initiative looming, proponents of same-sex marriage now are taking care to emphasize mainstream unions.

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"One of the things about the gay and lesbian community is we're known for our outrageousness, our flamboyance," said West Hollywood City Councilman John Duran, who is president of the board of directors of Equality California, an organization pushing for same-sex marriage. "But we're under this incredible political pressure not to have those portrayals" right now.

Final Monday Male Beauty

Court Hearing Postponed for Former Catholic Priest

I know it's a shocking concept, but amazingly a Catholic priest from up near the Charlottesville area of Virginia is up on criminal charges that do NOT involve molesting minors. Yes, it's a startling circumstance. Rather, the former pastor - who has already been convicted for funneling funds from two parishes - is up on 13 new charges of embezzlement. Not to sound prejudiced, but it is also telling that the priest in question had been imported from the Philippines due to the severe shortage of priests in the Diocese of Richmond and elsewhere in the USA. God forbid that the Nazi Pope allow honest, competent and sincere married, gay or women priests. Oops - this guy was unbeknown to the Diocese, married too. Here are highights from the Richmond Times Dispatch:

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A former Catholic priest convicted in federal court of defrauding two local churches of hundreds of thousands of dollars was due back in court today on 13 more charges. . . . Rodney L. Rodis, 51, was sentenced in February to five years in federal prison for diverting for personal use money donated to the two county parishes he headed. Rodis was sentenced for mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering -- not for stealing.

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Rodis was sentenced for mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering -- not for stealing. The state charges accuse Rodis of stealing money from Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Bumpass and St. Jude Catholic Church in Mineral while he was pastor. The counts cover thefts from 1995 to 2006. He could face a prison term of up to 260 years if convicted on all charges.

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Authorities later found out that Rodis was married two years before coming to the U.S. from the Philippines, his native country. He was living a double life with his wife and children in Spotsylvania County while pastor of the two churches. Rodis apparently wired the stolen money to the Philippines, where his family purchased property, according to evidence in his federal case. Rodis, who is in federal custody, has been barred from priestly duties and has had his pension cut off. Proceedings to formally defrock him have begun.

New Study: Gay Brains Structured Like Those of the Opposite Sex

Well, it looks like more bad news for the Christianists based on new Swedish research being released just as gay marriage takes off today in California. But then, the Christianists care little for science and research, preferring to live in a fantasy land of their own based on hate and bigotry. Perfessional homophobes and merchants of anti-gay lies Robert Knight and Peter LaBarbera among others will be wetting themselves in spastic aggitation over it all. Obviously, we gays know damn well that our sexual orientation and the gender of the objects of our romantic attraction are not a choice no matter how many lies the likes of Concerned Bitches for America and similar organizations disseminate. This new reseach shows a definite difference in brain structure between gays and the straight members of their gender. Obviously, we do not somehow choose to have different brain characteristics. It will be amusing to see what lengths the Christianists go to avoid recognizing this new knowledge. Here are some highlights from New Scientist:

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Brain scans have provided the most compelling evidence yet that being gay or straight is a biologically fixed trait. The scans reveal that in gay people, key structures of the brain governing emotion, mood, anxiety and aggressiveness resemble those in straight people of the opposite sex. The differences are likely to have been forged in the womb or in early infancy, says Ivanka Savic, who conducted the study at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

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Previous studies have also shown differences in brain architecture and activity between gay and straight people, but most relied on people's responses to sexuality driven cues that could have been learned, such as rating the attractiveness of male or female faces. To get round this, Savic and her colleague, Per Lindström, chose to measure brain parameters likely to have been fixed at birth.

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The results showed that straight men had asymmetric brains, with the right hemisphere slightly larger – and the gay women also had this asymmetry. Gay men, meanwhile, had symmetrical brains like those of straight women. They found that the patterns of connectivity in gay men matched those of straight women, and vice versa (see image, above right). In straight women and gay men, the connections were mainly into regions of the brain that manifest fear as intense anxiety.

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"This study demonstrates that homosexuals of both sexes show strong cross-sex shifts in brain symmetry," says Qazi Rahman, a leading researcher on sexual orientation at Queen Mary college, University of London, UK. "The connectivity differences reported in the amygdala are striking."

More Monday Male Beauty

Gay Marriages Commence Today in California

With the first gay marriages scheduled to begin at 5:01 PM Pacific time today, even the Virginian Pilot is carrying fairly detailed coverage. No doubt the fundies and sheeple over at Regent University are writhing as if possessed by demons at the mere thought of it. I checked a few of the extreme Christianist organization web pages and they are beside themselves and putting out all kinds of deliberately untrue statements (e.g., male dominated Concerned Bitches for Americain, American Family Association, etc.) in order to (i) dupe the ignorant and (ii) use scare tactics to get those checks and credit card donations coming in at a rapid rate. I'm sure the attitude of these "Godly Christians" is why let the truth get in the way when there is a lot of cash to be had. It always amazes me how the disingenuous and down right fraudulent snake oil merchants of the Christian Right have the nerve to call honest, hard working, loving and compassionate gays "sinners" when they themselves demonstrate an utter moral bankruptcy combine with insatiable greed. Here are some story highlights:

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin [pictured above] fell in love at a time when lesbians risked being arrested, fired from their jobs and sent to electroshock treatment. On Monday afternoon, more than a half-century after they became a couple, Lyon and Martin plan to become the first same-sex couples to legally exchange marriage vows in San Francisco and among the first in the state.

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San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom plans to officiate at the private ceremony in his City Hall office before 50 invited guests. He picked Martin, 87, and Lyon, 84, for the front of the line in recognition of their long relationship and their status as pioneers of the gay rights movement. Along with six other women, they founded a San Francisco social club for lesbians in 1955 called the Daughters of Bilitis. Under their leadership, it evolved into the nation's first lesbian advocacy organization. They have the FBI files to prove it.

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The couple, who live in the same San Francisco house they bought in 1956, do not get out much now. Martin needs a wheelchair to get around. Although they plan to briefly greet well-wishers at City Hall after the ceremony, they are having a private reception for friends and family. "It's so endearing because they do seem excited and a little bit nervous," Kendell said. "It's like the classic feelings anyone has as their wedding day approaches."

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Because a few other clerk's offices agreed to stay open until the court's decision becomes final at 5 p.m. PDT, other couples planning late afternoon weddings may already have tied the knot before the mayor pronounces Lyon and Martin "spouses for life." They don't mind. They know they already are. "We get along well," Lyon said. "And we love each other."

Benedict, John Paul II, And Child Abuse

That's the title of a new post by Andrew Sullivan. Like me, Sullivan was raised Roman Catholic and I suspect still feels betrayed by a institution that is harshly anti-gay in its official doctrine, yet which has knowingly aided and abbetted countless sexual predator priests in an effort to maintain its power and the Church's reputation so that the laity will not turn off the vast money spigot. Sadly, as Andrew's post indicates, the cover up went all the way up to John Paul II - who in my view was a fraud and anything but a saint - and the current Nazi Pope, Benedict XVI. Some may ask why is it important that this story be made widely known and these hypocrites exposed? In my view because (1) the Church continues to destroy lives - and not just the lives of gays - every passing day with its bigotry, anti-science positions and false piety, and (2) corruption within an institution like the Roman Catholic Church with all its power must be weeded out with frauds being held accountable whether they be a parish priest or the Pope. Sadly, this enforced accountability has not occurred to anywhere near the level needed. Here are highlights from Andrew's post:

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Until his death earlier this year, Maciel ran a large, far-right Catholic cult called the Legionaries of Christ. The Legionaries and their lay counterpart, Regnum Christi, are very powerful entities in the new Catholicism, given special protection by Pope John Paul II and much favor under his successor. And at the core of the Legionaries, like many religious cults, was a sexual abuse ring designed to please the founder. Secrecy was maintained by indoctrinating many members at a young age, and enforcing vows of silence on all topics related to Maciel. This cult-like stricture is still causing grief and suspicion in many parts of the Catholic world, most recently in the Baltimore archdiocese.

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The reason I bring this up today is because journalist Jason Berry, of the Hartford Courant, has a new and gripping documentary on Maciel and the abusive cult-like practices he pioneered. It's called "Vows Of Silence" and it carefully exposes the appalling facts of the enmeshment of the last two Popes in covering up sexual abuse and protecting a serial predator.

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Maciel's abuse was known to Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI for years, and they did nothing about it. The Maciel case is important because it reveals the current and former Pope to be knowing, conscious protectors of a child abuser and shows how the sick sexual dysfunction at the heart of the Catholic hierarchy was abetted and fomented at the very, very top.

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The trailer for Vow of Silence can be found here. I beleive that the movie should be required viewing for all Catholics to ensure thay realize just what blind allegiance to the Church can facilitate and allow to go unpunished.

Monday Male Beauty