Prayers for Bobby - Update

On Thursday of this past week I did a post about a new TV movie starring Sigorney Weaver that aired tonight on Lifetime based on the true story of Bobby Griffith and his mother, Mary Griffith (pictured at left), an evangelical Christian whose inability to accept her son's homosexuality perhaps helped drive Bobby to commit suicide in 1983. The boyfriend and I watched the movie and it was wonderfully done and extremely powerful. Prayers for Bobby should be mandatory viewing for all parents and pastors. I recommend that readers who missed it tonight watch for it when it is re-broadcast. Moreover, the feelings felt by Bobby in the movie are similar to those many of us have felt during our teen years (and later) as we have tried to reconcile who we are with the hate based message disseminated by so many churches.

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Ultimately, Mary Griffith got the message - but not in time to save her own son - and as the movie shows, she ultimately became a gay rights advocate striving to make sure other LGBT teens and adults do not suffer the shame and fate of her son. Moreover, her message to other parents is to make sure that they do not make the mistakes she made. The Advocate has an article on Mary Griffith that tells more about her activism activities. Here are some highlights from that article:

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Ex-evangelical Christian Mary Griffith overcame the suicide of her son Bobby and became an outspoken advocate for gay rights. . . . . You don’t see a lot of statues commemorating reformed homophobes, but Mary Griffith arguably merits one. An ex-evangelical Christian who, by her own admission, helped shame her gay son, Bobby, into suicide in 1983, she’s spent the rest of her life trying to save other kids from the hurtful lunacy she inflicted on him in the name of God. Her story, known to millions who’ve read Prayers for Bobby -- journalist Leroy Aaron’s unflinching 1995 account -- has inspired a Middle-America-friendly film starring Sigourney Weaver that airs on Lifetime Television January 24.

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“I think the movie comes very close to what happened,” says Griffith, now 74, a disarmingly straightforward woman who’s still atoning for the years she spent “trapped” in robotic bigotry, briskly insisting that Bobby resist Satan the way other moms urge their kids to brush their teeth, while willfully ignoring his collapsing self-esteem.

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“I don’t particularly like to look back. I don’t like who I was,” says Griffith, who still lives in the Walnut Creek, California home in which she raised her three surviving children. “It’s humiliating just to go through the Bible and see the fairy tales I believed. . . . Bobby tried to open her mind by giving her books about homosexuality, Griffith says: “But anything that would uplift Bobby and made me see him as a decent person…was viewed as evil [by her church].” It took his suicide, she says, to make her realize that she’d been using religion to avoid thinking through life’s complexities for herself.

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In a remarkable conversion, this shy and unworldly woman renounced her faith and went on to become the president of an East San Francisco Bay PFLAG chapter, and a nationally known gay activist and speaker, urging other parents to listen to their children, not the Christian Right’s theatrical scare tactics.

New Gay Sex Scandal Swirls Around Haggard and New Life

Why is it that the religious leaders and denominations that insist that they have all the answers in a rote, check off the boxes way are the ones that are constantly plagued by nearly never ending stories of "moral falls" and other episodes illustrating their hypocrisy and total lack of having all the answers. Ted Haggard and New Life Church are a case in point as a new gay sex scandal explodes involving Haggard and efforts by New Life Church to cover it up. Personally, I have no sympathy for Haggard who not only lived a lie but peddled poison making others feel unworthy or unloved by God. Moreover, in this latest scandal New Life Church was involved in the attempted cover up. Here are some highlights from the Colorado Independent:

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Fresh revelations have emerged that disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard had a previously undisclosed sex-for-cash relationship with a young male New Life Church volunteer. An Associated Press report claims that Haggard was involved in an “inappropriate, consensual sexual relationship” that “went on for a long period of time … it wasn’t a one-time act,” according to Brady Boyd, the pastor who succeeded the embattled former leader of the 10,000 member New Life Church in Colorado Springs.

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Boyd told the wire service that a young man in his early 20s approached church leaders about the relationship after Haggard stepped down from his post following news of a gay sex-drug scandal involving Denver male escort Mike Jones. Unlike Jones, however, AP reports “the church reached a legal settlement to pay the man for counseling and college tuition, with one condition being that none of the parties involved discuss the matter publicly.”

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Boyd believes the unnamed man is now talking to the press ahead of an HBO documentary on Haggard that is set to air Jan. 29. “I think what caused this young man to be a bit aggravated was Ted being seen as a victim, when he himself had experienced a great deal of hurt,” Boyd said. “I seriously doubt this man would have come forward if the documentary had not been made.”

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Anticipating further news and media coverage Brady Boyd posted a message on the New Life Website. Here are some highlights:

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In the days ahead, there will be new press reports of allegations made by a man who knew Ted Haggard through his involvement with New Life Church. This man has decided to speak to the media about his alleged relationship with Mr. Haggard. Since these allegations were first brought to our attention, New Life Church leadership has reached out to him with compassion by providing him with pastoral care, professional counseling, and financial assistance. We did this with the hope that he would experience healing and move forward with purpose in his life.

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At that time, he and church leaders agreed that publishing his allegations or our church’s assistance to him would not be in his best interest. This decision was made not as an attempt to conceal wrongdoings, but to protect him from those who would seek to exploit him. His actions now suggest that he has changed his mind.

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I regret that we have to revisit the unpleasant issues of the past, but I am convinced we are on the path of healing and great days are ahead for all of us.

Nazi Pope Rehabilitates Holocaust Denier

Former Hitler Youth and World War II German army member, Nazi Pope Benedict XVI has yet again shown that he is beyond merely insensitive towards Jews in particular in this instance. As regular readers know, I hold Benedict XVI in great disdain - contempt might be a better word, in fact - and view him as a fraud and co-conspirator in the sex abuse scandal cover up. Now, the sinister head of the Roman Catholic Church has rehabilitated traditionalist Bishop Richard Williamson who has made statements denying that gas chambers existed under the Nazi regime and who has claimed that at most 300,000 Jews perished. Here are some highlights from a New York Times article:

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VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict Saturday rehabilitated a traditionalist bishop who denies the Holocaust, despite warnings from Jewish leaders that it would seriously harm Catholic-Jewish relations and foment anti-Semitism. The Vatican said the pope issued a decree lifting the excommunication of four traditionalist bishops who were thrown out of the Roman Catholic Church in 1988 for being ordained without Vatican permission. The four bishops lead the ultra-conservative Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), . . .

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One of the four bishops, the British-born Richard Williamson, has made a number of statements denying the full extent of the Nazi Holocaust of European Jews, as accepted by mainstream historians. In comments to Swedish television broadcast Wednesday, he said "I believe there were no gas chambers" and only up to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, instead of 6 million. . . . Williamson said: "I believe that the historical evidence is hugely against 6 million having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler."

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Asked about Williamson's comments, chief Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said they were "totally extraneous" to the lifting of the excommunications. "This act regards the lifting of the excommunications, period," Lombardi told reporters. "It has nothing to do with the personal opinions of a person, which are open to criticism, but are not pertinent to this decree."

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"For any Catholic clergy to embrace the anti-Semitic Holocaust denier is obscene," said Abe Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League in the United States. "It would be an insult to Catholic-Jewish relations and the memory of the millions of Jews who perished because they were Jews."

HRBOR Gets Some National Exposure

Last week the Daily Press - the newspaper that covers the Hampton-Newport News-Williamsburg area of Hampton Roads - did a story on Hampton Roads Business OutReach's ("HRBOR") January Third Thursday networking event which was hosted in part by the boyfriend. Since the Daily Press is owned by the Chicago Tribune Company, low and behold, a story on HRBOR appeared in today's Chicago Tribune. As a founding director of HRBOR, it makes me proud that work is getting out about HRBOR on a larger scale. Here are highlights from the Tribune's story:

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In the newly released film "Milk," historic footage shows San Francisco police arresting groups of gay men and carting them off to jail.

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It was a very different scenario in Hampton on Thursday night at the Hampton Roads Business OutReach monthly gathering at a downtown wine shop. This time, Mayor Molly Joseph Ward was on hand to welcome this fast-growing association of gay and lesbian business professionals and their supporters to her city.

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From an initial meeting two years ago, the group, which calls itself HRBOR, has grown into more than 150 members on both sides of Hampton Roads. Using social networking and other support strategies, HRBOR is working to strengthen ties among the business community of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered individuals. On the third Thursday of each month, the group gathers to socialize, exchange business cards and learn about anti-discrimination in the workplace and other employment issues affecting the LGBT community.

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"It's still legal to fire someone in the state of Virginia based on their sexual orientation," said board member Cindy Cutler, a loan officer with Countrywide Home Loans. "This is something we're opposed to. "For members who don't feel comfortable being out in their workplace, HRBOR provides a setting where they can be themselves and interact with like-minded professionals, said HRBOR President Shannon Bowman, who owns Khaboom Advertising in Norfolk.

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Hampton Roads Business OutReach — a networking organization of business professionals in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community — meets on the third Thursday of every month at different locations throughout Hampton Roads. More information is available online at www.hrbor.org.

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Among HRBOR's members now are three banks - including RBC Bank which will host the etworking event in February, the Contemporary Arts Center in Virginia Beach, the Peninsula Fine Arts Center in Newport News, and WHRO, the local public broadcasting network. In fact, each month membership grows and local politicians from the city in which the host member is located are now attending.

Friday Male Beauty

Stimulus Plan Meets More GOP Resistance

As I have commented before, the GOP seems Hell bent on driving the nation into another Great Depression not being content with the damage done to date by the thankfully finished regime of the Chimperator. The GOP apparently learned nothing from the administration of Herbert Hoover which had a similar mindset - and disastrous results for the country. Rather than contribute anything positive or proposing constructive programs, the GOP seems focused solely on screwing the Democrats with no cares at all as to the damage their games may cause to the country. Once again, it is hard to believe that the GOP once actually had some positive ideas. In my opinion, the Democrats need to forge ahead without GOP support and when the programs prove effective hang the GOP obstructionist tactics around the necks of the GOP members of Congress. The nation wants Obama and the Democrats to deliver change and they need to do so. Here are some highlights from the Washington Post:

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Just days after taking office vowing to end the political era of "petty grievances," President Obama ran into mounting GOP opposition yesterday to an economic stimulus plan that he had hoped would receive broad bipartisan support. Republicans accused Democrats of abandoning the new president's pledge, ignoring his call for bipartisan comity and shutting them out of the process by writing the $850 billion legislation.

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The first drafts of the plan would result in more spending on favored Democratic agenda items, such as federal funding of the arts, they said, but would do little to stimulate the ailing economy.
The GOP's shrunken numbers, particularly in the Senate, will make it difficult for Republicans to stop the stimulus bill, but the growing GOP doubts mean that Obama's first major initiative could be passed on a largely party-line vote -- little different from the past 16 years of partisan sniping in the Clinton and Bush eras.

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As House panels considered the $850 billion legislation this week, no Republicans from the Appropriations or Ways and Means committees supported it. Pelosi said she would bring the bill to the full House by Wednesday, regardless of whether the Cantor group has met with Obama by then.

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Republicans hold 41 Senate seats, requiring total unity to block the stimulus plan by a filibuster. Democrats and Republicans have said that at least a few GOP senators will probably back the economic recovery plan because the financial crisis has become so grave. But some key Democrats are pushing to add pieces that would result in fewer Republican votes.

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Pelosi and Sen. Richard J. Durbin (Ill.), the No. 2 Democratic leader in the Senate, support including changes to bankruptcy laws that would allow judges to modify loans on primary residences, which they say would help alleviate the housing crisis. Republicans and the banking industry have vehemently opposed this because it might cause mortgage interest rates to rise.
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Obama would not be the first president to promise a bipartisan tone and find a much different attitude on Capitol Hill. Democrats chafed under the iron-fist rule of Republicans for most of 1995 to 2007, during which the toughest tactics were deployed after George W. Bush took office promising to be a "uniter, not a divider."

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Some Democrats said the goal should be passing legislation that deals with the largest financial crisis in 70 years, with or without much Republican support. "If it's passed with 63 votes or 73 votes, history won't remember it," Durbin said.

Sweden and Swedish Lutheran Church to Consider Gay Marriage

Legislation has been presented to the Swedish Parliament that would allow same sex couples to marry either in civil ceremonies or in the Swedish Lutheran Church - a sister church to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA"), my church denomination. We can only hope that the legislation passes and that the Swedish Lutheran Church will embrace same sex couples. In August of this year the ELCA will adopt a new statement on human sexuality which hopefully will be accepting of gay unions even if not affording full marriage rights. Here are some highlights from Google News:

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Sweden may allow homosexuals to wed in the Lutheran Church or civil ceremonies as of May if parliament adopts legislation presented to parliament Wednesday, the prime minister's party said. "The main proposal in the motion is that ... a person's gender will no longer have any bearing on whether they can marry.

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The marriage law and other laws concerning spouses will be rendered gender neutral according to the proposal," a statement from Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's conservative Moderates said. The proposal has wide backing in parliament and is expected to be adopted, though a date has yet to be set for a vote.

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If the new legislation is adopted, Sweden, already a pioneer in giving same-sex couples the right to adopt children, would become the first country in the world to allow gays to marry within a major Church. In 2007, 74 percent of Swedes were members of the Lutheran Church. The Lutheran Church, which was separated from the state in 2000, has since January 2007 offered gays a religious blessing of their union.

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It has previously said it wants the word "marriage" reserved for heterosexual unions, and a Church synod late this year is expected to take a formal decision on Wednesday's proposal. According to the proposal, pastors who do not want to perform a same-sex wedding ceremony would have the right to refuse, something gay rights' activists criticised.

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[T]he three other coalition members, the Moderates, the Liberals and the Centre Party, as well as the opposition Social Democrats, the country's biggest party, are in favour of a gender neutral law and would together garner enough support to adopt the legislation in parliament.

Prayers for Bobby

On Saturday night the Lifetime channel will be airing a new made for TV movie starring Sigorney Weaver which sounds like it will be a "must see" movie. As Variety is reporting, in the film Weaver plays Mary Griffith, a deeply conservative and religious woman who begins to question her opposition to homosexuality after the suicide of her gay son. Like many fundamentalist Christian and far right Catholic parents, Griffith will not accept her son's sexual orientation and her attitudes contribute to her son's suicide due to his inability to accept that he's gay. I suspect that the story is more common than we know since so many suicides are covered up by families and officials. Not surprisingly, Daddy Dobson and his fellow hate merchants who ignore all legitimate medical and mental health knowledge on sexual orientation are none too please about the movie. First, here are highlights from Variety:

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Sigourney Weaver is set to topline and co-produce the Lifetime telepic "Prayers for Bobby" . . . based on the 1995 Leroy Aarons book of the same name that recounts the true story of a family's refusal to accept their son's homosexuality. Russell Mulcahy ("Queer as Folk") directs from a script by Katie Ford ("Miss Congeniality").

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In her first telepic role, Weaver will star as Mary Griffith, a devout Christian who winds up becoming an advocate for gay and lesbian youths after her son is driven into a deep depression by his family's disapproval and attempts to "cure" him of his sexual orientation.

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The truth of what too often happens when parents/families will not accept their LGBT children and reject them or put them through bogus "cure" programs has the Christo-fascists whining and the spittle flying. Here are some examples of the dishonest blather coming from Daddy Dobson's Citizen Link (NOTE: the movie is "controversial" only among the Kool-Aid drinker set and also that in my view, Dobson speaks for anyone but God):

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The Lifetime Channel is airing a controversial new movie this weekend in which conservative Christian parents shoulder the blame after their gay-identified son commits suicide. "Prayers for Bobby," based on a true story from the 1970s, stars Sigourney Weaver. Family advocates are concerned the film tells only half of the story, leaving out the redemptive power of Jesus Christ.

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Louisiana mom Terri Brown can identify with the parents in the movie. For 17 years, she has prayed that her son would find freedom from the homosexual identity. “I can understand a mother’s despair," she said, "especially a Christian mother’s despair. Because we know what the Bible says about homosexuality.

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Jeff Johnston, gender analyst at Focus on the Family, said the movie's message runs contrary to God’s. . . . No matter where the movie lands, Johnston said, people can and do change their sexual orientation — he's living proof.

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I'm sure that Terri Brown has inflicted immeasurable pain on her son all because of her own self-centered, falsely self-righteous views. As for, Jeff Johnston, he's yet another sad "ex-gay for pay" - the only kind of ex-gays ones seems to find, the ones being paid to claim they "changed" in return for a pay check. WWJD?

Thursday Male Beauty

All People are Created Equal Members of One Human Family

"All People are Created Equal Members of One Human Family" are the words that appear on a popular bumper sticker here in Key West and which proclaim the "Official Philosophy of Key West, Florida." Sadly, far too many in this nation fail to embrace that philosophy and prefer to stigmatize and denigrate those who are different. In my view, one of the biggest non-economic problems facing this country is the inability and/or outright refusal of some to understand that their own prejudices and/or religious beliefs have no place in shaping the civil laws or determining which citizens are given rights and which citizens have rights denied to them. This mindset is really what is behind "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and unfortunately, this mindset is held by some in the military who forget that ours is a SECULAR society. A story in PageOneQ looks at the Christianist mindset held by some members of the military which needs to be rooted out and discredited. Here are some highlights:

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BAGHDAD, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Many U.S. troops in Iraq were overjoyed to see President Barack Obama take his oath, but some were unhappy about one thing the Democrat has promised to do: permit gay and lesbian soldiers to serve openly.

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But some of the 140,000 troops still in Iraq almost six years after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein appear uneasy about the prospect. Specialist Joseph Watson, from Texas, was "pretty excited" to see America's first black president sworn in, he said, after watching Obama's inauguration on a big TV screen at the dining hall of Forward Operating Base Prosperity, in Baghdad.

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But the 30-year-old was a lot less excited about Obama's inclination to repeal the ban on gay men and women serving. "Ah, I think that might cause a lot of problems," he said. "It's a big moral issue. It's giving the OK, saying that being gay is alright. Personally, I don't think being gay is OK."

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Specialist Justin Scharan, from Washington State, battled to contain a smirk on his reddening face when asked his view. "I'm Christian, so I really don't believe it's a good thing. But if it happens, there's not much we can do," he said.

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Someone needs to educate these soldiers and remind them that their duty is to defend the USA and its Constitution, NOT intolerant religious beliefs derived from a selective reading of the Bible.

Obama Halts Pending Bush Regulations

In another move that highlights that the eight year nightmare of the Bush/Cheney regime is over, the Obama administration has halted all pending regulations initiated by the Chimperator's regime. Hopefully, this move will stop the implementation of anti-science, Christianist driven, and deregulatory policies. Many people do not realize the damage that bad regulations can work on the legal process and on citizen rights. Especially, when the bureaucrats placed in charge are political appointees who were selected not for competence but rather ideology, a phenomenon all too prevailent under the Chimperator. Here are some highlights from CNN:

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WASHINGTON (CNN)– President Obama has wasted no time handling the Bush administration's unfinished business. White House officials tell CNN Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel sent a memo Tuesday to all agencies and departments of the federal government. The memo halts further consideration of pending regulations throughout the government until a legal and policy review can be conducted by the Obama administration.

Final Tuesday Male Beauty

President Obama - Kool-Aid Drinkers Hope He Fails

While most of the nation is heaving a huge sigh of relief to be rid of Georg W. "I'm a Cretin" Bush, the Kool-Aid drinkers of the loony and Christianist far right are wailing and gnashing teeth as if the end of the world were at hand. The prospect that science, logic, objective facts, and facing reality and a rejection of religious extremism will be the new way of governing the country is terrifying to these folks. One example of the whacked out elements that for now have been relegated to the lunatic fringe comes from Leon Wolf at Redstate. These people supported Bush, torture, a war based on lies and doctored intelligence data, the trampling of Constitutional freedoms, the suspension of habeus corpus, and yet they claim Obama is immoral. Their logic is twisted beyond belief. Here are some highlights from his rant:

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Many sensible centrists and conservatives – even among those who did not vote for Obama – have expressed a willingness to give Obama the benefit of the doubt. They say, for the sake of the country, that they hope that Obama will make a good President. It’s a natural enough sentiment, I guess; people like for the trains to run on time. I will agree with it in this one respect: I hope that he keeps the country safe from a terrorist attack. Beyond that, however, I hope that Barack Obama is a failure as a President.

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Before you recoil in horror that I could express such a sentiment, allow me to remind you what the pleasant face and smooth rhetoric hide in the case of Barack Obama: they hide a morally depraved and crooked man . . . . A man who has gotten to his position of power by climbing the greatest and dirtiest ladder in all of politics.

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You see, what happens when the trains run on time is that people are quicker to forget the moral failures of their elected officials, and their government at large. As we saw in the late 90s, when people are by and large materially prosperous (especially if they are artificially so), they dislike being bothered by those who would point out that their government is populated by the corrupt, the immoral, or the liars. . . . in such an environment, it becomes much easier for a Democratic President and Congress to pass the abominable Freedom of Choice Act, repeal the Hyde Amendment, increase extortionate taxation on order to funnel more corrupt graft to their supporters, and otherwise abuse the trappings of power for immoral means.

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Barack Obama is sure to have a lengthy honeymoon with many people, who will be willing to overlook his essential moral emptiness for as long as it appears that he is doing a competent job of running his Administration. As for me, it is my hope for America that Obama’s moral emptiness will be exposed through his actions for all to see, and in such a way that we will not continue to allow ourselves to sweep it under the rug.

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And as for myself, because I know who Barack Obama is and what he really stands for, I will oppose everything he does, and I will do so from day one. Who among you will join me?

White House Site Updated With Lengthy List Of Commitments To LGBT Rights

Earlier I commented on the changes made to the official White House web site. Here are more highlights on what are described as commitments to the LGBT community under "The Agenda - Civil Rights". These positions represent a sea change from the regime of the Christianist dominated Chimperator and I truly hope that movement occurs on these issues early in the Obama administration.

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"While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It's about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect." -- Barack Obama, June 1, 2007

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Expand Hate Crimes Statutes: In 2004, crimes against LGBT Americans constituted the third-highest category of hate crime reported and made up more than 15 percent of such crimes. President Obama cosponsored legislation that would expand federal jurisdiction to include violent hate crimes perpetrated because of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical disability. As a state senator, President Obama passed tough legislation that made hate crimes and conspiracy to commit them against the law.
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Fight Workplace Discrimination: President Obama supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. While an increasing number of employers have extended benefits to their employees' domestic partners, discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace occurs with no federal legal remedy. The President also sponsored legislation in the Illinois State Senate that would ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

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Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples: President Obama supports full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples. Obama also believes we need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions. These rights and benefits include the right to assist a loved one in times of emergency, the right to equal health insurance and other employment benefits, and property rights.

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Oppose a Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage: President Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2006 which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and prevented judicial extension of marriage-like rights to same-sex or other unmarried couples.

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Repeal Don't Ask-Don't Tell: President Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars replacing troops kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, more than 300 language experts have been fired under this policy, including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. The President will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure it helps accomplish our national defense goals.

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Expand Adoption Rights: President Obama believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation. He thinks that a child will benefit from a healthy and loving home, whether the parents are gay or not.

More Tuesday Male Beauty

Dr. Phil's Poison Pill

While hope for LGBT Americans is on the horizon with the inauguration of the Obama/Biden administration, we need to continue to be vigilant in opposing the poisonous messages that our enemies continue to disseminate. A recent example is the noxious message put out on the Dr. Phil Show which gave a platform to Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Family and Joseph Nicolosi, fraudulent proponents of reparative therapy, who routinely depict transgender individuals as would be sexual predators. Never mind that every legitimate medical and mental health association condemns their claims. Dr. Phil could apparently care less and allowed these disingenuous individuals to peddle their false teachings. My friend Wayne Besen has a new column that takes Dr. Phil to task. Here are some highlights:

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I'm confused as to why people are still "confused" about transgender Americans. For years, they have said that the birth sex on the outside does not match the opposite sex they believe is on the inside. Modern science confirms that sexuality has as much to do with what is inside our heads as what is between our legs. This concept is not rocket science, nor is it difficult to understand. There is nothing homogeneous about our species, and this includes sexuality and gender.

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Unfortunately, talk show hosts are still using this issue for cheap laughs or to boost ratings. The latest example is the annoying and supremely talentless Dr. Phil. The talking (very large) head had an opportunity to educate the public by presenting the latest science. Instead, he shamefully chose sensationalism over professionalism by offering a platform to notorious anti-gay activists who used his show to promote quack theories with no scientific standing. Dr. Phil actually had the nerve to refer to Glenn Stanton, who is affiliated with Focus on the Family, and the laughable Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, as "experts" on gender and homosexuality.

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Dr. Nicolosi is the same "expert" who believes gay men can become more masculine by drinking Gatorade and calling friends "dude." Stanton is tied to Focus on the Family, an organization that has been accused by scientists throughout the world of distorting their work. Of course, none of this mattered to Dr. Phil. Instead of exploring this issue in-depth, "the mouth of the south" sunk to new depths. On the show, he exploited Toni, a loving mother of a transgender child, by ambushing her with the aforementioned disreputable hacks.

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I question why Dr. Phil offered a platform to men so at odds with every respected medical and mental health association in the country? And why didn't Dr. Phil inform viewers that these men were considered fringe religious figures with peculiar views on sexuality?

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Our enemies care nothing for the truth. Instead they cling to religious extremism and the distortion of medical and mental health science. Hopefully, the new administration will usher in an atmosphere where such lies are less welcome. In the meantime, we must be vigilant to continue to tell the truth about our enemies while they tell lies about us.

Inauguration Reflections

After fielding client phone calls and a couple discussions with my firm staff throughout the morning, the boyfriend and I and friends/clients watched the main inaugural ceremonies at the Bourbon Street Pub on Duval Street along with an assortment of gays, lesbian couples and straight couples. It was a moving experience both in terms of what we watched on the TV screens around the establishment and the reactions from members of the crowd. In many ways, it was as if there was a collective sigh of reflief that the long national nightmare of the last eight years was over. As Pam's House Blend has already noted, the White House website has already been reworked and there is an LGBT section in the civil rights directory that speaks to needed protections for LGBT Americans. I can only hope that the Obama administration follows through on these measures and makes the following concept from the inaugural speech a reality:

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The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

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To me the one blight on what was otherwise a wonderful event was the appearance of obese, lying, disingenuous hate merchant Rick Warren. I will never understand Obama's selection of this nasty individual to give the invocation when - if one does his/her homework on Warren - it is obvious that his policies and preaching oppose almost all of the principles enumerated in Obama's speech. Warren deliberately gave an invocation that was exclusively Christian and more or less told non-Christians to go to Hell. It was a most discordant note in an otherwise inclusive event.

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As for Obama's address, the full text of which can be found here, I believe that he gave a very moving speech. Among other things, it was a strong rebuke to the Chimperator in several ways. I found the following passage most telling:

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As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.

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And so, to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more. Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.

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They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use. Our security emanates from the justness of our cause; the force of our example; the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

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Clearly, Obama has the potential to be one of our greatest presidents. I truly hope and pray that he delivers on the hope and inclusiveness that he talked about throughout the campaign. Now, we can only wait and watch and work to hold him accountable to follow through on the principles he enunciated on the campaign trail.

Change at Coral Ridge?

Lost in all the coverage of the inauguration today is a story in the Miami Herald about a leadership change at Fort Lauderdale's Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church which has been a driving force in the anti-gay agenda. Coral Ridge was founded by D. James Kennedy, a homo-hater of the first order and a founder of the "Moral Majority" that lighted the fires of the culture wars and set the stage for the Kool-Aid drinking crowd to begin the take over of the GOP. Coral Ridge under Kennedy was also among the most dishonest "Christian" organizations in terms of disseminating anti-gay lies and promoting the "choice myth." Kennedy continued selling books and videos recounting Michael Johnston's false "cure" claims literally up to the very day that the Southern Voice broke the story about Johnston's conduct in Tidewater Virginia - even though it was know among the the leaders of the anti-gay crowd that Johnston had had a "moral fall." When Kennedy died in 2007, my thoughts were ones of good riddance and that the world was now a better place. Now a grandson of Billy Graham has been selected as the new leader and he has stated that he intended to take Coral Ridge out of politics and the culture wars. One can only hope that such is in fact the case. Here are some story highlights:

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When D. James Kennedy, the influential pastor who pushed conservative politics from the pulpit of Fort Lauderdale's Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, died in 2007, members lost the fiery leadership of the man who built it from a congregation of a few dozen to more than 10,000 with internationally viewed television and radio programs.

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Now, successor William Graham Tullian Tchividjian, 36, grandson of evangelist Billy Graham and head of Margate's relatively small New City Church, is ready to take Coral Ridge in a new direction. . . . he is expected to modernize the thinking of the church over which Kennedy presided for more than five decades and take it back to the basics of teaching the Bible instead of reigniting the culture wars.

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Energetic and easygoing, he will be a stark contrast to the often stiff and formal Kennedy, people familiar with the church say. Kennedy, a notable member of the Moral Majority before its dissolution, rallied against same-sex marriage and evolutionary theory and sought to ``reclaim America for Christ.''

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''The impression out there of Coral Ridge is that they are a church that is stuck in the past and unwilling to change,'' said Tchividjian, a father of three who lives in Coconut Creek. ``This move on their part corrects that assumption.'' . . . 'He is not going to be interested in addressing cultural issues ideologically,' Wood said. ``His interest isn't getting up there and waving the American flag.''

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That may reflect a larger shift as the vanguard of the traditional religious right passes the torch to a new generation for whom the old lines of the culture wars are not as impenetrable as they used to be, say scholars of religion and politics. Many theologically conservative Christians voted for Barack Obama, whose inauguration invocation will be given Tuesday by controversial pastor Rick Warren of California's Saddleback Church, a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage.

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''Polling data has shown that a lot of Americans are not comfortable with politics in the pulpit,'' said Rob Boston of the Washington, D.C.-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State. ``It could be the beginning of a time when people start to look to churches for more traditional reasons, such as fellowship, spirituality and a connection to God.''

Tuesday Male Beauty

Can Obama Succeed and Can He Be Trusted?

Given Barack Obama's recent seeming bi-polar approach to LGBT Americans, I am less confident that he will be a president for ALL Americans than was the case during the campaign. First he's gay supportive and the next moment he's cuddling up to the horrible Rick Warren. For me, one of the biggest questions will be what happens with ENDA, hate crimes legislation, and the repeal of DOMA and Don't Ask Don't Tell. The repeal of the later would have a huge impact on Tidewater Virginia where thousands of gays in the military continue to live in fear that their careers could be ended by allegations by unknown enemies. Obviously, on a larger front, it will be hard for Obama to not be a better president than the Chimperator who I continue to believe will be deemed the worst in the nation's history with hindsight for many reasons, not the least for the perversion of the Constitution. Andrew Sullivan remains upbeat on Obama and I hope he is correct. Here are some of Andrew's thoughts:

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From the shallow brittleness of George W Bush to the supple strength of Obama is a revolution in temperament and style not seen since Jimmy Carter gave way to Ronald Reagan 28 years ago. It signals the kind of administration that now looms before us: a conciliatory, inclusive, pragmatic form of liberalism. It’s a liberalism eager to learn from the insights of conservatives, and it is pioneered by a president-elect shrewd enough to know that generosity of spirit means more leverage and influence, not less.

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We cannot know whether he will succeed, whether partisanship and America’s culture war will slowly eat him up, or whether in government, as he makes decisions with winners and losers, his aura will evaporate. But what we can say is that, so far, he shows every sign of meaning what he said about leaving that divisive, destructive froth behind. Just reading the papers every morning, we see every sign that the gravity of the crisis his predecessor bequeaths him makes this necessary.

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He doesn’t charm like Clinton did and Bush tried to. Unlike both men, but especially Clinton, he appears to have no need to be loved by everyone in the room. He often finds it hard to disguise how tired he feels. He is capable of evoking enormous inspiration, but he has yet to be able to hide it when he is bored. . . . Intellectually, Obama is in Bill Clinton’s league. But what he has over Clinton is emotional intelligence to buttress his grasp of policy.

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What he gets, what he seems to intuit, is how to make others feel as if they are being heard. This is simple enough in theory but hard to pull off consistently in practice. His model is to figure out what another person needs and, if it helps Obama to get what he wants, to provide it.

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Take the economy. Obama’s immediate and most pressing crisis is a global economy teetering on the edge. . . . Obama’s response has been to turn not to ideologues but to the smartest economic team he could find. His Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, was integral to the Bush administration’s response to the crisis; no one doubts that Larry Summers, incoming head of the National Economic Council, is one of the sharpest economic minds on the planet.

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The policy, or what we are beginning to glimpse of it, is just as bipartisan. There will be a big increase in infrastructure projects, aimed at maximal impact on growth. But there will also be tax cuts for the middle class and a bevy of Republican-friendly business tax breaks to maximise the boost to demand.

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In foreign policy, the same pragmatism abounds. Although withdrawal of troops from Iraq will occur, Obama knows all too well that the current lull in sectarian violence is extremely fragile and that the power vacuum left by withdrawal could spark a new civil or regional war. So expect some foot-dragging. On Afghanistan, the president-elect is too shrewd to raise the kind of utopian expectations of democracy invoked so glibly by Bush. He plans to increase troop levels there but is reconciled to the fact that the best that can be hoped for is prevention or eradication of terrorist training camps that could directly hurt Americans.

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Obama also understands that restoring America’s moral standing on the torture question could actually give the US government a little more leeway on detention and rendition. If the world knows that maltreatment won’t happen, some sane, constitutional and legal provisions for detention without charge could be constructed on the British model.

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This blend of pragmatism and realism reminds me in the American context of Eisenhower more than any other recent president. Obama has the unerring instincts of a conciliator and a moderate Tory. But he has the rhetorical skills of a Kennedy or a Churchill. That’s a potent combination.

The Lame Good Bye

Maureen Dowd has another excellent column in the New York Times that rightly trashes the Chimperator and the disaster that he has left as his legacy for the country on so many fronts. The man is an embarrassment and sadly he still he cannot admit his errors. Back before the launch of the ill-conceived Iraq War I e-mailed friends that I thought the war a huge mistake and that I believed the Chimperator's hubris and brain dead type of religious belief would be his downfall and huge risk to the nation. Unfortunately, I was correct and one can only hope that the majority of Americans have learned the lesson to never put an incurious, "born again Christian" in the White House. Here are highlights from Dowd's column:

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As Barack Obama got to town, one of the first things he did was seek the counsel of past presidents, including George Bush senior. As W. was leaving town, one of the last things he did was explain why he never sought the counsel of his father on issues that his father knew intimately, like Iraq and Saddam.

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When W. admits the convoluted nature of his relationship with his father, diminishing a knowledgeable former president to the status of a blankie, you realize that, despite all the cocky swagger we’ve seen, this is not a confident man. That is vividly apparent as we watch W. and Obama share the stage as they pass the battered baton. One seems small and inconsequential, even though he keeps insisting he’s not; the other grows large and impressive, filling Americans with cockeyed hope even as he warns them not to expect too much too soon.

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W.’s parlous presidency, spent trashing the Constitution, the economy and the environment, was bound up, and burdened by, the psychological traits of an asphyxiated and pampered son. . . . W. was immune to doubt and afraid of it. (His fear of doubt led to the cooking of war intelligence.) Obama is delighted by doubt. It’s astonishing that, as banks continue to fail and Americans continue to lose jobs and homes, W. was obtuse enough to go on TV and give a canned ode to can-do-ism. “Good and evil are present in this world,” he reiterated, “and between the two of them there can be no compromise.”

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His decisions have been, for the most part, disastrous. If he’d paid as much attention to facts as fitness, 9/11, Iraq, the drowning of New Orleans, the deterioration in Afghanistan and the financial deregulation orgy could have been prevented. . . . Right now, though, it’s a huge relief to be getting an inquisitive, complicated mind in the White House. W. decided there was no need to be president of the whole country. He could just be president of his base.

Monday Male Beauty

Gene Robinson's Pre-Inaugural Prayer

UPDATED: It now seems that the decision to keep Bishop Robinson's prayer from being broadcast was made by the Presidential Inauguration Committee which has now released a disingenuous statement ausing me to continue to be concerned that gays were played for suckers by Obama:

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"We had always intended and planned for Rt. Rev. Robinson's invocation to be included in the televised portion of yesterday's program. We regret the error in executing this plan – but are gratified that hundreds of thousands of people who gathered on the mall heard his eloquent prayer for our nation that was a fitting start to our event," said PIC communications director Josh Earnest.

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While the Obama team talked up Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson's pre-inaugural appearance at the Lincoln Memorial yesterday, his prayer was sadly apparently not televised unlike the prayer to be given tomorrow by homo-hater Rick Warren. In my view, it is yet another disappointment for LGBT Americans who continue to be denied the full spotlight of full citizens. Fortunately, Robinson's prayer is available as reported by the Union-Leader:

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New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson led hundreds of thousands in prayer at the opening concert of the presidential inauguration at the Lincoln Memorial yesterday, calling on a "God of our many understandings" to bless the country, its people, and its President.

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"Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance, replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger," said Robinson, the nation's first openly gay Episcopal bishop.

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The full text of Bishop Robinson's prayer as for prayers and blessing of precisely what Christianists like Warren lack, including tolerance and an acknowledgment that they do NOT have all the answers. The full text reads as follows:

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Welcome to Washington! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God’s blessing upon our nation and our next president.

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O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will… Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

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Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

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Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

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Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

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Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.

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Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.

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Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.

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And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

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Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.

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Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times. Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

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Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

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Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

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Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

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And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.
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AMEN.

More Gay Bashing from the Vatican - As the Church Runs Out of Priests

It seems that the Vatican and the Nazi Pope just cannot spread enough hate and discrimination against gays. In the latest round of twelfth century thinking we have Monsignor Carlos Simón Vazquez, sub secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family, condemning recognition of gay relationships showing the same mind set that condemned Galileo and others who challenged the Church's antiquated thinking. Meanwhile, the Church rejects the thought of women, married men, and gays as priests even as it finds itself running out of priests in areas such as Tidewater Virginia. One can only hope that as they begin to find themselves in parishes without a full time priest, Virginia Catholics will begin to vote with their feet and migrate towards Episcopal and Lutheran parishes where they will find more or less the same mass service, similar beliefs, but not the hypocrisy and deceit that are now hallmarks of the Catholic clergy headed up by the bitter old queens at the Vatican. First some highlights from the latest press release denigrating gays:

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1. Homosexuality is not a necessary component of society, as is the family. Society is organized around the relationship of the couple that is formed by a man and a woman. . . .Legislators make an anthropological error when they want to socially organize homosexuality.

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2. . . [H]omosexuality does not contribute favorably to the organization of individuals and of society. The exercise of homosexuality does not reflect the truth of friendship. Friendship is inherent to the human condition in that it offers relationships of proximity, help and cooperation, in a courteous and amiable climate. Friendship should be lived chastely.

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3. . . [I]t is contrary to the truth of the human identity and the design of God to live a homosexual experience, a relationship of this type, and even more to attempt to demand same-sex marriage. It is contrary to the true interests of the persons and of the needs of society. It constitutes a transgression of the sense of love as God has revealed to us through the message of Christ. . .

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Nothing like telling LGBT youth that they and their relationships are worthless. Personally, I would argue that Benedict XVI and his minions at the Vatican are the ones who do not "contribute favorably to the organizations of individuals." Meanwhile, in the Diocese of Richmond, priests are becoming more and more of rarity as reported by the Virginian Pilot:

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The tradition of one priest per Catholic parish will pass away at many South Hampton Roads churches under a new five-year diocesan plan for coping with an acute clergy short age. The strategy aims at moving congregants "from a one-pastor-one-parish expectation to building a new model of church, focused on inter parish collaboration," the plan states. It was posted last week on the Diocese of Richmond's Web site.

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The core idea is to cluster parishes across the diocese so that a single priest could serve more than one congregation. The arrangement is already in place among parishes in Portsmouth and in far western Virginia. Hampton Roads is part of the diocese. "There will be places that might not 'have their own parish priest,' and we're trying to get people to go beyond the 'my parish' mind-set," said Beth Neu, who heads the diocese's pastoral planning office. If clustering and priest-sharing spreads, more Catholics face the possibility that their church might have fewer Masses.

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The drop in the number of American Catholic priests started decades ago. The Richmond diocese had 122 active priests last fall to serve 152 parishes, 23 campus ministries, hospitals, prisons and other ministries. The planning report predicted 18 to 22 fewer active priests by 2013.