Files on Priest Sex Abuse to Be Opened

In what cannot be good news for the Roman Catholic Church, the Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that thousands of pages of documents from sexual-abuse lawsuits filed against priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport that had been kept sealed for more than a decade must be made public. It will be interesting to see what information the files disclose about recently retired Cardinal Egan of New York who for a while headed up the Diocese of Bridgeport after he had served as one of Cardinal Law's henchmen in the Archdiocese of Boston. Like so many members of the hierarchy, Egan fought tooth and claw to keep church records out of the court cases. As the saying goes, if one has nothing to hide, they don't act as they do. I suspect there is much that will rightly inflame public opinion against the morally bankrupt Church. Here are some story highlights from the New York Times:

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Connecticut’s highest court ruled on Friday that thousands of pages of documents from sexual-abuse lawsuits filed against priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport that had been kept sealed for more than a decade must be made public. The 4-to-1 decision by the State Supreme Court was the latest milestone in a seven-year legal fight between the Diocese of Bridgeport and four newspapers: The New York Times, The Hartford Courant, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post.

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The documents include depositions by victims, priests and leaders of the Bridgeport Diocese, which was overseen between 1988 and 2000 by Bishop Edward M. Egan, who later became the archbishop of New York. Cardinal Egan retired last month, after nine years in New York.

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Under Bishop Egan’s leadership, the Bridgeport Diocese mounted a vigorous defense against the victims’ claims. His defense theory, reported widely at the time, was that the diocese was not liable because diocesan priests were not employees of the diocese but private contractors.

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Barbara Blaine, president of SNAP, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, which has been highly critical of the way the church handled accusations against predator priests, applauded the decision. In a statement, she said, “This much remains unchanged in the church: no matter what the cost, bishops will fight tooth and nail to the bitter end to keep hidden evidence that they ignored and concealed devastating child felonies.”

Saturday Male Beauty

Michael Rogers and Kirby Dick on The View for OUTRAGE

While there are those who disagree with "outing" closeted politicians, I agree with Mike Rogers that when a closeted politician is actively voting for legislation that harms others in the gay community at they same time that they are themselves cruising for gay sex on the sly, they are a hypocrite and deserve to be outed. I have no use for those who would legislate aspects of my private life while wanting to keep their own "private." Former Congressman Ed Schrock is a case in point and his reprehensible hypocrisy combined with the GOP's anti-gay agenda is why I gave Mike Rogers information and put him on Schrock's trail. Hopefully, Mike will continue to expose more hypocrites like Schrock and Larry Craig.

Why the New York GOP Should Embrace Gay Marriage

While I'm still not totally sure of her motives, Meghan McCain continues to be saying all the right things about gay marriage and I'm sure she is causing the Christianists base of the GOP to have conniption fits. With children of her age bracket of my own, most have gay friends and they are turned off by the non-stop anti-gay jihad of the GOP. Thus, I suspect Meghan McCain sees the hand writing on the wall that as the old guard of the GOP extreme far right die off, the younger voters replacing them will see gay marriage as a litmus test as to whether or not they can be Republicans and feel forced to vote Democrat. McCain has a column in the New York Daily News where she expounds on this topic. Oddly enough, some of her statements sound like those of Andrew Sullivan. Here are some highlights:

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In Open Letter to New York Republicans:

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As I read the news about the recent advances of marriage equality across our country, I think it is easy for many to get distracted by the politics and rhetoric on this issue and lose sight of what is really at its heart: the equality of freedom.

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No matter how politically charged the discussions about marriage equality may get, the question is really a simple one: Do the rights and privileges we offer citizens include everyone in our country, or only some of us?

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I believe that allowing gays and lesbians the freedom to marry is an idea whose time has come. Though my opinion is no doubt influenced by my family's public role in political life, I still approach this from personal experience, as I think most people do. For me, this is about treating all of my friends, and all of our brothers, sisters, children and grandchildren the same as I want to be treated. Equality under the law and personal freedoms are what make America the greatest country in the world, and they are core values that I hold as a Republican.

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Gays and lesbians are a vital part of our communities. They are doctors, teachers, firefighters, emergency personnel and neighbors. In this way, marriage equality is also about supporting good citizens and strengthening our communities. When a committed gay couple seeks to declare their love for one another and get married, the whole community benefits from the added stability and strength of that family. On top of that, we don't give up anything by sharing responsibilities and protections with those whom we love. That's why I support marriage equality.

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I believe marriage equality will soon come to New York. My hope is that Republican senators will offer their support and make the difference to pass the marriage bill. By voting for the marriage bill, they will make a strong statement about supporting New York families, strengthening New York communities and demonstrating that equality and fairness are fundamental values of New York Republicans. It will leave a legacy that will make us all proud.

Friday Male Beauty

Limited Weekend Posting

On the eve of the holiday weekend, I find things in mind rending turmoil, most of it driven by the self-centered vengeful former wife who seems to know no limits as to her willingness to manipulate and harm my children in her quest to harm me. While she seeks to blame all on me - as has been the pattern for over decades now at this point - the real source of all the nastiness ind the tearing apart of my children is actually her utterly lack of caring for anyone but herself (even though she is a master posing that such is not the case) combined with her inability to understand that objective reality isn't whatever she wants it to be. Unfortunately, the f*cked up legal system in this state is so biased against gays that it is beyond difficult to get anyone to look at what's really going on here. Add to that the young - and in my opinion - utterly unscrupulous attorney the ex-wife has retained who is willing to aid and abet the misuse of the court system and it's a real cluster f*ck.

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I am going to try to regroup over the weekend and if blogging seems to helps me get my head back on straight, then there will be posts, if not, then I will pick back up next week some time. The irony is that by nature, I am the one who by nature tries to make others happy, often to my own detriment, yet it is the selfish shrew that the system rewards. Throughout this nightmare, the boyfriend, as always, stands by me and is a treasure. I'm not sure what he sees in me, but I'd be lost without him.

Thursday Male Beauty

Bob McDonnell and Ed Schrock's Double Life

The State Convention of the Republican Party of Virginia will be held on May 29-30, 2009 at the Richmond Convention Center, in Richmond, Virginia. Among its purposes is nominating a Republican candidate for Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General . Seeking the nomination for Governor is Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell. Hopefully, delegates will ask themselves before voting whether or not McDonnell has the honest and integrity to receive the nomination and whether or not McDonnell has always been honest with his constituents. The reality is that he has not. Take the issue of closeted former GOP Congressman Ed Schrock. McDonnell had credible information that Schrock was leading a double life and chose to ignore it for the sake of expediency or indifference - I don't know which. The following is the text of an e-mail sent to McDonnell in January, 2004 (Schrock was outed in August 2004), as some Virginia Republicans were contemplating reviving Virginia's sodomy statute in the aftermath of Lawrence v. Texas:

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rmcdonnell@hpmlaw.com; Del_Drake@house.state.va.us; Del_Purkey@house.state.va.us; Del_Tata@house.state.va.us; Del_Wardrup@house.state.va.us; Victoria@familyfoundation.org

Subject: Virginia Eyes New (and Unconstitutional) Sodomy Law

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I find it amazing that according to members of the GOP such as Delegate David Albo (R-Fairfax) think they are above the rulings of the United States Supreme Court. I guess it is more important to kiss the butt of The Family Foundation and its spokeswoman, Victoria Cobb, and Pat Robertson and Jerry Fallwell, than cease in supporting unconstitutional legislation. Will the GOP seek to have this new law, if enacted, enforced against Congressman Ed Schrock?

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In the Norfolk/Virginia Beach gay community it is an apparently very open secret that the Congressman likes to meet men for "unnatural acts" as defined by the Virginia statute. From what I am told, the Congressman's cell phone records fully corroborate his use of Mega Phone, a gay telephone "hook up" service, for his clandestine gay trysts. Given the GOP's homophobic agenda, I suspect it's only a matter of time until Schrock has witnesses willing to testify against him. Obviously, Congressman Schrock's signing on as a sponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment was most disingenuous.

http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/01/011404virginiaSodomy.htm

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The first e-mail address is that of McDonnell at his former law firm. Virginia GOP continued it's anti-gay jihad and while the revival of the sodomy statute went nowhere, the Virginia Code was amended to bar same sex marriages, civil unions and any form of domestic partnerships and any contracts seeking to approximate a family relationship.

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And Bob McDonnell? He and his compatriots did nothing about Schrock. The result? The information McDonnell ignored was forwarded to Mike Rogers and the rest is history. Do social conservatives in the RPV want someone like McDonnell as their standard bearer? We will find out on May 30, 2009.

The Time for Full Equality is NOW!

On May 15-17, 2009 in Dallas, Texas twenty-four thinkers, activists, and donors - including fellow LGBT bloggers Pam Spaulding and Lane Hudson who I met in December at the LGBT Blogger Summit and Lisa Turner, president of The Turner Group, Ltd., in Virginia Beach - gathered to discuss the immediate need for full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender people in the United States. Collectively we prepared The Dallas Principles. The preamble to the eight (8) principles reads as follows:

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President Obama and Congress pledged to lead America in a new direction that included civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. We now sit at a great moment in our history that inspires the nation to return to its highest ideals and greatest promise. We face a historic opportunity to obtain our full civil rights; this is the moment for change. No delay. No excuses.

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Nearly forty years ago, a diverse group of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people stood up to injustice at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. In doing so, they submitted themselves to bodily harm and criminal prosecution. Their demand was simple -- equal protection under the law.

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Still today, full civil rights has eluded the same community that rioted forty years ago. Instead, untold sums of resources have been spent to divide our nation and turn our lives into a political football.

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At several junctures in American history, the stars have aligned to deliver the promise of equal protection under the law to those previously denied. At this unique time in history, our nation must once again exercise the great tradition of making its people equal.

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Justice has too long been delayed. A clear path toward full civil equality for the LGBT community is overdue and must come now.

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Using fear and misunderstanding to justify discrimination is no longer acceptable in this nation. Those content with the way things are will be judged harshly by history. Those who do not actively advance these ideals or offer excuses will be judged just as harshly. Those who attempt to divide our community or to delay and deny action on civil equality, waiting for the right moment to arrive, will be held accountable.

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We reject the idea that honoring the founding principles of our country is controversial. We believe in the inherent human dignity of all people. No longer will we submit our children, our family, our friends and ourselves as a political tool for any Party or ideology. A new day has arrived.

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As for the principles themselves - which I fully endorse and believe should be self-evident if one truly believes in the United States Constitution - read as follows:

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1. Full civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals must be enacted now. Delay and excuses are no longer acceptable.

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2. We will not leave any part of our community behind.
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3. Separate is never equal.

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4. Religious beliefs are not a basis upon which to affirm or deny civil rights.
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5. The establishment and guardianship of full civil rights is a non-partisan issue.
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6. Individual involvement and grassroots action are paramount to success and must be encouraged.
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7. Success is measured by the civil rights we all achieve, not by words, access or money raised.
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8. Those who seek our support are expected to commit to these principles.

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I applaud the work of this group and those who would like to endorse these principles can do so here.

More Wednesday Male Beauty

Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse Report

As expected the report released today by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse on institutions run by Catholic congregations and orders is horrifying and paints a truly terrible picture of the Roman Catholic Church - which was well aware of the widespread sexual and physical abuse of children and chose to cover it up and protect their own. Sadly, I suspect that if a similar commission and investigation of Church run facilities in other countries were conducted the results would be similarly shocking. Truth be told, the Catholic Church hierarchy is an evil institution that cares nothing for the lives of children but everything about power, money and appearances. I hope this report puts the final nail in the coffin of the Church's influence in Ireland. Here are some highlights from the Irish Times:

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THOUSANDS OF children suffered physical and sexual abuse over several decades in residential institutions run by religious congregations, the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse has found.

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The report published yesterday describes how children lived in “a climate of fear” in the institutions and finds that “sexual abuse was endemic in boys’ institutions”. Cases of sexual abuse were hidden by the congregations that ran the institutions and offenders were transferred to other locations where they were free to abuse again, the report says.

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Eight chapters in the report are devoted to the Christian Brothers, the largest provider of residential care for boys in the State. More allegations were made against the Christian Brothers than all other male orders combined.

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The commission, which was set up in 1999, investigated industrial schools, reformatories, orphanages, institutions for children with disabilities and ordinary day schools. It heard evidence covering the period from 1914 to the present but the bulk of its work addressed the period from the early 1930s to the early 1970s.

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Accounts of abuse given in relation to 216 institutions are detailed in the report, which runs to nearly 3,000 pages. More than 800 priests, brothers, nuns and lay people were implicated. The final cost of the commission may be over €100 million.

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The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse is separate from the Residential Institutions Redress Board, which has received some 15,000 applications. It is expected the total cost of awards by the board will exceed €1 billion, of which €128 million has been contributed by 18 religious congregations.

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Another article in the Irish Times went on to state as follows:

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[T]the abject failure by most of the congregations to accept any responsibility for the abuse has been identified repeatedly by the commission. In this respect, its findings are targeted directly at the current leadership within these organisations. Again in the case of the Christian Brothers, the report draws a pointed distinction between the evidence of contrition given by many individual Brothers who had worked in the industrial schools, and the attitude of blanket denial coming from those who are currently in charge of the congregation.

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The commission describes a range of problems encountered when dealing with the Christian Brothers: assertions “known to be incorrect or misleading”; relevant facts omitted; and a policy of denying that a Brother was ever in an institution where “a complainant had got a name even slightly wrong”.

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This asks important questions of us as a society: are we simply to sweep this under the carpet, to conveniently agree that everything is much better today? Or should we instead look to change a system where so much of the educational and care provision for our children is farmed out to organisations who are unaccountable and now proven to have a long track record of abuse and cover-up?

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[W]hat the Ryan commission report has done with great thoroughness is to give us a compelling vision of the hell to which so many children were consigned. It is up to ourselves as a society to demand from Government a series of guarantees, constitutional in part, to ensure that it is never again repeated.

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What is sad that I an so many others allowed thoroughly the morally bankrupt Roman Catholic Church to brainwash us, fill us with self-hate, and denigrate us - all the while as the Church covered up massive amounts of sexual abuse of children and other cruelty and violence against children. When will more people wake up to the evils of this institution and begin to demand full accountability?

Was Dick Cheney A Client of Jeane Palfrey’s Escort Service?

Previously, I noted that I would be publishing a guest post by Montgomery Sibley, former attorney for Deborah Jeane Palfrey and author of a new book, "Why Just Her: The Judicial Lynching of the D.C. Madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey," that looks at the judicial system which drove her to commit suicide - something I can relate to given my current circumstances. More on the book can be found here. Here's Montgomery's guest post which gives you a flavor for the book:

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This is a question that I have been asked many times. Jeane didn’t know the answer as she never met her D.C. clients as she lived in California and never asked for their real names – unless they were paying by check. Only a few bright men – “Shock and Awe” Harlan Ullman among them – were so clever as to pay the escorts by personal check.
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However, we has strong information that Cheney was a client and thus actively pursued that information by subpoena. For if we could prove that vice-president of the United States was a client, I did think any jury would convict Jeane. On May 7, 2007, I wrote a memo to Jeane’s criminal counsel, Preston Burton stating:
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I had lunch with Wayne today. Basically, he has it from three sources, one Pentagon and two CIA, all of which he considers reliable, that [Vice President Dick] Cheney was a client of the service when he was CEO of Halliburton. . . .Additionally, Bush’s transition team took over the offices of Halliburton in Arlington and hence that number may also be at issue. Last, Ken Starr’s wife, Alice, was the PR person for the landlord. Hence, all those numbers could be quite interesting. Wayne’s take is that GWB wants to oust Cheney, who apparently has many enemies including Karl Rove, in order to put a new VP in place in time to bask in the power of the Presidency during the next presidential election. All this is part of the CIA and Pentagon payback for the last six years of Cheney. Who knows?
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We did confirm later that while C.E.O. of Halliburton, Cheney lived in a townhouse owned by Halliburton at 6613 Madison of McLean Drive, McLean, VA 22101, making him a neighbor of the CIA. Run the address on Google Maps and you will see this address was a few short blocks from CIA headquarters and, thus, subject to CIA CCTV surveillance for security purposes. Hence, I issued a subpoena to the CIA for this information about Cheney.
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Of course, the administration was not going to allow me to get that sort of information from the CIA and in short order the judge who authorized the CIA subpoena was removed from the case. Shortly thereafter, so was I. At the criminal trial, this issue was never raised and Jeane was convicted. For more on this issue, please see the YouTube video.
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Thus to answer the question of whether Dick Cheney was a client, I have to say we may never know because I believe he made damn sure that information would never surface.
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As an attorney who has practiced law for well over 30 years, I have zero faith in the honesty or integrity of the country's judicial system - particularly if the target is someone like Jeane in a business considered immoral - or when the target is an openly gay individual.

Vallejo Schools to Pay $25,000 to Lesbian Teen

The problem of teachers and school administrators bringing their own anti-gay religious bigotry into the schools continues to be a problem and it sets the stage where nothing significant is done to stop anti-gay bullying and harassment. Fortunately, the ACLU has won an out of court victory that may be a wake up call to some school divisions that to date only give lip service to opposing anti-gay bullying. Under the agreement, the Vallejo City Unified School District will pay $25,000 to a lesbian student and modify its policies to better protect LGBT students. Here are some highlights from the Napa Times Herald:

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A lesbian student's complaint that teachers harassed her over her sexual orientation has led to a Vallejo school district agreement to pay her $25,000 and revamp anti-discrimination policies, it was announced Monday. The agreement between the Vallejo City Unified School District and the American Civil Liberties Union was reached without litigation, said ACLU attorney Elizabeth Gill.

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The student, Rochelle Hamilton, now 16, was a sophomore at Jesse Bethel High School in the fall of 2007, when teachers allegedly verbally harassed her and forced her to attend a counseling session for gay students. Gill said the counselor tried to discourage Hamilton and other students in the session from being gay.

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The alleged harassment included a staff member telling Hamilton she was "ungodly" and "going to hell" as she embraced her then-girlfriend. The alleged comments transformed the "social butterfly" into a teenager on the verge of suicide, Hamilton's mother Cheri said Monday.

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According to a letter dated Jan. 17, 2008 from the ACLU to Bull, staff members made comments to the girl such as, "Remember, you're a girl, not a boy," and, "You can get HIV/AIDS from being gay and messing with females."

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Cheri Hamilton said she wrote several letters to the district, but officials did not respond satisfactorily. Bull said the district is working to improve its complaint reporting procedures. Gill said even though the district has not admitted liability, the fact that officials agreed to the settlement should say something about their culpability. "Yes, I believe that these instances happened," Gill said of the alleged harassment by school officials.

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Hamilton said she hopes other kids will see her standing up for herself and be inspired to do the same, including pushing the district to hold up to its end of the agreement. If the district defaults on the legally binding agreement, the ACLU will sue, Gill said.

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One thing that always strikes me is the meanness and viciousness of self-proclaimed Christians in their treatment of LGBT individuals. Do they really think Christ would endorse their behavior that often makes the Pharisees of the Bible seem kind and altruistic? Why is it that so many "godly Christians" are the strongest argument for NOT being a Christian?

Wednesday Male Beauty

Gay Marriage Slow to Draw an Opposition in N.Y.

In a sign that perhaps most citizens - outside, of course, the circle of professional Christians and similar demagogues who make a comfortable living off of peddling anti-gay hatred - are not threatened by gay marriage and/or are more concerned about real day to day issues in the economy, etc., the New York Times reports that the Christianists are not succeeding in rallying a cry opposing same sex marriage in the Empire State. Yes, New York City is bastion of liberalism in relative terms, but when a newspaper like the Syracuse Post Standard endorses gay marriage as I noted some weeks back, a sea change appears to be occurring. How long it will take the change to sweep into more reactionary states like Virginia where Bible beaters still hold too much sway is yet to be seen. Here are some highlights from the Times:

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ALBANY — Assemblyman Dov Hikind of Brooklyn was feeling distressed. The State Assembly had just voted to legalize same-sex marriage, after gay rights groups flooded the Legislature with visits, phone calls and e-mail messages. Where, he wanted to know, was the other side? “Wake up! Where are you?” Mr. Hikind, an outspoken opponent of gay marriage, said in an interview. “It’s the bottom of the ninth, two outs, and you’re losing — big time.”

As the Legislature considers whether to make New York the next state to legalize same-sex marriage, social conservatives have been largely missing from the debate in Albany. The interest groups working to legalize marriage for gay couples have been laying the groundwork for more than four years, . . .

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Their opponents, who are just beginning to organize, say they feel outgunned and underfinanced.
The difficulties in New York echo those that conservatives have faced throughout the Northeast. Over the last six weeks, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire have all moved to allow gay couples to wed.

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The region has been challenging for opponents of same-sex marriage, in part, because the measures are being decided by state legislatures — not voter referendums where the opponents’ ability to motivate large numbers of voters, rather than influence institutional players, has been an advantage.

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The state’s Roman Catholic bishops have been somewhat distracted, too, having focused their lobbying energies this session on defeating a bill that would extend the statute of limitations for victims of sexual abuse to bring civil claims, and have appeared unprepared for the battle over marriage.

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And the state does not have the large numbers of evangelical Christians and Mormons that have helped fuel movements to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples in other states, like California. . . . The State Assembly passed Gov. David A. Paterson’s bill to give same-sex couples the right to wed by a vote of 89 to 52 last week, and gay rights advocates are pushing for a vote in the closely divided Senate before the Legislature adjourns at the end of June.

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Still, there have been stirrings since the Assembly passed the marriage bill. Hispanic churches organized a rally outside Mr. Paterson’s office in Midtown Manhattan on Sunday that drew thousands of people. The phone solicitations by the National Organization for Marriage are focusing on districts where opponents believe senators’ positions can be influenced. Residents who oppose same-sex marriage are being asked to donate money or contact their senator.

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Obviously, adding New York to the list of states allowing same sex marriage would be huge. I hope and pray that New Yorkers continue to reject the message of hate and division promoted by those like Maggie Gallagher - who will need to get a real job if gay marriage goes nationwide - and homophobic churches.

Fossil Find Provides "Missing Link"

Personally, I have no issue with the fact that I and my fellow humans descended over the millennia from primates. Nor do I find the concept irreconcilable with the Bible since I don't presume to want to control God/the Creator in a rigid box formed by mankind's limited knowledge and understanding of the universe as written down more than 2,000 years ago in the Bible. But Christianists - now that's a whole different matter! Their weak faith and delusional need to cling to a limited checklist of beliefs seems to increasing run head long into the brick wall of growing scientific knowledge. Thus, I'm sure the creationists will be having vapors and whining and grumbling over the news that perhaps the so-called "missing link" has been found thereby bringing closer the day that their house of cards belief system collapses entirely. Here are highlights from the London Times on this new discovery:

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A missing link in human evolution may have been filled by a remarkable fossil that could be the common ancestor of all apes and monkeys, including our own species. Darwinius masillae, a small lemur-like creature that lived 47 million years ago, illuminates a critical chapter in the human story when the primate family tree split into two branches, one of which led ultimately to us.

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Sir David Attenborough, who will present Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor: The Link, a BBC documentary on the discovery on BBC One on Tuesday at 9pm, said: “This little creature is going to show us our connection with the rest of all mammals. The link they would have said until now is missing, is no longer missing.”

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The almost complete skeleton, which is missing only a part of one leg, was unearthed in 1983, in the Messel Pit near Darmstadt, Germany. Its significance had not been noticed before because the fossil was split into two parts. The pieces have now been reunited by a team led by Jørn Hurum, of the University of Oslo Natural History Museum. The first analysis is published in the journal Public Library of Science One. As well as the bones, the fossil preserves soft features of the animal such as fur, and even its last meal: it was a herbivore that ate fruit, seeds and leaves.

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Another one of the religious writers that I like and who has a number of books that helped me recover from my Catholic brainwashing is John Shelby Spong. One of his books, "Why Christianity Must Change" looks at precisely the issue of how a strict adherence to increasingly documented scientific untruths will ultimately kill Christianity. The discovery of this "missing link" is yet another step down that path. The irony is that the fundamentalists who want to protect Christianity are actually the ones hastening its demise.

More Tuesday Male Beauty

Divorce Wars Redux

My attorney - who is representing me pro bono - met with the former wife's attorney today in an attempt to find a way to forge an agreement that would avoid the on-going nightmare of homophobic court hearings which are putting me on the edge of either committing myself to a mental institution or doing something far more drastic. While I question the opposing attorneys ethics in handling a case that is ultimately without merit and based on vindictiveness, revenge and harassment, the ultimate problem likely rests with the former wife for whom financial reality was always what she wanted it to be as opposed to objective fact. Funny that she thinks she knows more than the trustee in my Chapter 11 case and other judges who have reviewed my financial records and concluded that I do not have the financial resourse that she thinks exist in her fanatacies. Of course, the other possibility is that she WANTS to push me to suicide. Of course, should that happen, the laugh will be on her since she will end up collecting nothing.

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I am not sure where this is all heading, but due to the boyfriend's concerns I am going back into therapy tomorrow - which will just further decrease moneys available to pay the former wife - and I will hopefully gain some more options in the event I go into another free fall melt down like over the weekend. Meanwhile, if I find I will not be able to complete my book, I will be doing a number of posts that I will program to post over a period of time (thanks to the magic of Blogger) should I be unable to post daily any longer. I do plan on some bombshells such as:

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Details on a trip to Washington, D.C., in the summer of 1976 by the former wife - one of her then roommates helped with the costs - that figured significantly in causing me to feel that I had to marry her given my then foolish religious beliefs.

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The details - and perhaps the actual text - of a January 13, 2004 e-mail to GOP candidate for Governor of Virginia, Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell, former Congresswoman Thelma Drake and others in the Virginia Beach GOP establishment (and Victoria Cobb at the Family Foundation) concerning former Congressman Ed Schrock and his Mega Phone "habit."

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Information on a compromising video of former "Ex-gay" poster boy Michael Johnston acting anything but "cured" which continues to be held for safe keeping by me.

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Regardless of what happens to me, I do plan on stirring the pot and doing my best to expose liars and hypocrites.

Finding A New Christian Faith

As I have mentioned in prior posts about overcoming one's internalized homophobia, if you have been raised in a gay-hating religious denomination (such as the Roman Catholic Church), it is essential that you (1) leave that denomination, and (2) educate yourself on the truth about the Bible and the fact that it is NOT the inerrant word of God. This latter endeavor requires that one read and study legitimate books and articles on the history of the Bible and discover that a number of books of the Bible are likely forgeries and that politics and power struggles shaped the final form of the Christian Bible far more than any alleged interaction by the Holy Spirit. One of the many authors whose works I read in my educational process were books by Bart Ehrman . CNN has a new article that looks at Erhman and his works - which are most definitely not on the approved reading list of Kool-Aid drinking Christianists. Here are some highlights from the CNN article:

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Just so you know, Bart Ehrman says he's not the anti-Christ. He says he's not trying to destroy your faith. He's not trying to bash the Bible. And, though his mother no longer talks to him about religion, Ehrman says some of his best friends are Christian. Ehrman, a best-selling author and a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is a biblical sleuth whose investigations make some people very angry.
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In Ehrman's latest book, "Jesus, Interrupted," he concludes: Doctrines such as the divinity of Jesus and heaven and hell are not based on anything Jesus or his earlier followers said. At least 19 of the 27 books in the New Testament are forgeries. Believing the Bible is infallible is not a condition for being a Christian.

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Ehrman's claims have found an audience, and controversy. . . Yet Ehrman's popularity also may be due to a larger trend. The books of people like Elaine Pagels, author of "The Gnostic Gospels," and Dan Brown, author of "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons," resonate with people who believe there are parts of the Bible that the church left on history's editing floor. Some scholarly critics say Ehrman is saying nothing new.

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Ehrman says that no one accepts everything in the Bible. Everyone picks and chooses . He cites some New Testament's references to the role of women in church as an example. . . . Ehrman backs his arguments with a deep knowledge of the culture and history of the New Testament world. He's written 20 books on early Christianity and is an authority on ancient manuscripts used to translate the Bible.

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His claims, though, take on some of Christianity's most sacred tenets, like the resurrection of Jesus. Ehrman says he doesn't think the resurrection took place. There's no proof Jesus physically rose from the dead, and the resurrection stories contradict one another, he says.

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Ehrman once had a different attitude toward the Bible. . . . . But Ehrman says he began to develop doubts about the infallibility of the Bible after attending Princeton Theological Seminary to become a college Bible professor. . . . Ehrman says he later became an agnostic because he couldn't find the answer to another question: How could there be a God when there is so much suffering in the world? An agnostic is one who disclaims any knowledge of God, but does not deny the possibility of God's existence. Today, Ehrman describes himself as a "happy agnostic."

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Whether it's his family, critics or students, Ehrman says he has a better handle on why he is so threatening to so many people -- some Christians worry they will make the same decision he has. "I changed my mind," he says. "My students find me more dangerous that way. I really do know what they're talking about when they stake out an evangelical position." He says he doesn't believe the followers of Jesus saw their master bodily rise from the dead, but something else.

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I still consider myself a Christian, but I hardly believe that Bible is inerrant. Any serious student of history who understands the history of the early Christian period and the Roman Empire cannot help but realize that the compilation of the Bible was based on far more that strict theology: politics and power struggles within the Empire and the early Church likely had more influence than an honest focus on Christ and his actual teachings. I highly recommend Erhman's books.

Tuesday Male Beauty

GOP Support Plummeting

One almost has to find great humor in the self-inflicted GOP death spiral. As people flee the party, the Rush Limbaughs and other extremists who seem to be the principal mouthpieces of the party continue the mantra that the party is not conservative - dare we say reactionary - enough. And as a result, the mass exodus continues. Naturally, the driving force behind the lunacy are the members of the Christianist base - like The Family Foundation Kool-Aid drinkers here in Virginia - who care nothing for rational thought or objective reality. Here are some highlights from a new Gallup study (reflected in the charts above):

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Only frequent churchgoers show no decline in support since 2001

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The decline in Republican Party affiliation among Americans in recent years is well documented, but a Gallup analysis now shows that this movement away from the GOP has occurred among nearly every major demographic subgroup. Since the first year of George W. Bush's presidency in 2001, the Republican Party has maintained its support only among frequent churchgoers, with conservatives and senior citizens showing minimal decline.

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The losses are substantial among college graduates, which have shown a decline in GOP support of 10 points. (The losses are even greater -- 13 points -- among the subset of college graduates with postgraduate educations.)

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By the end of 2008, the party had its worst positioning against the Democrats in nearly two decades.

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After college graduates, the next steepest decline in support for the GOP was among the 29 and under age bracket. The GOP is repelling those it needs to attract in order to have a future. We hope the downward trend continues and with it the poisonous influence of the Christianist far right.

Irish Catholics Brace for Release of Abuse Report

The influence of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland has plummeted - and rightly so - over the last few years as reports of sexual abuse by priests and workhouse horrors have swept the headlines. Now, a new report is due for release tomorrow and the Church may receive yet another near knockout blow to what little reputation it has left in a country that once was a bastion of Catholicism. As the Sydney Morning Herald reports, the expectations are that the report by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse is anticipated to be devastating, possibly implicating 500 priests in the diocese of Dublin alone. Here are some story highlights:

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HUNDREDS of Catholic priests are expected to be implicated in child abuse in Ireland when a long-awaited report is published this week. The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse has spent nine years looking into allegations, some of which date back more than 60 years, from thousands of former residents of state schools and orphanages. It is due to report tomorrow, and the commission will publish a second report, on how the church handled sex abuse complaints, in July. It is thought about 500 priests in the diocese of Dublin alone have been implicated.

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Many thousands of children sent to institutions suffered at the hands of religious orders such as the Christian Brothers and Sisters of Mercy. Most of the children were born to unmarried mothers or came from large, impoverished families that could not afford to keep them. . . . At Easter the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, warned churchgoers that when published the report would "shock us all". "It is likely that thousands of children or young people across Ireland were abused by priests in the period under investigation, . . .

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In 2003 the government offered compensation to victims of institutionalised child abuse. It was expected to cost $1.5 billion. The estimated bill was based on just 10,000 of the 150,000 victims coming forward. If all survivors claimed, the Republic could face a bill of about $22 billion.

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In the second report the church is likely to face heavy criticism for trying to cover up abuse when it emerged. In some instances the church simply moved abusive priests from parish to parish to avoid scandal.

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Given the Church's horrible history of abuse, cover up and unbelievable hypocrisy one has to wonder why anyone continues to listen to the bleating of its hierarchy. In any other institution there would have been wholesale firings and forced resignations of those in charge who had failed so miserably on their watch. But not so in the Roman Catholic Church. It is an ugly, ugly situation and I am pleased that the Church in Ireland has rightly lost much of its ability to hide its dirty linen. If anyone is "inherently disordered," I'd say its the Church hierarchy.

More Monday Male Beauty

The Boyfreind

I tease him frequently and affectionately call him "Martha Stewart" because of his amazing cooking, house keeping and design skills, but the boyfriend is a true treasure. He truly rates as one of the sweetest, kindest, and most compassionate individuals I have ever known. I came across some lyrics to an old song from the movie Footloose that aptly describe him even though he protests that he is nothing special. I disagree. Here are the words that I found descriptive of him:

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I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life
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I am a very lucky man - the boyfriend is truly an amazing guy and I think he greatly depreciates how unique and wonderful he is. I just wanted to tell the world that I love him and I think that he's very, very special. He holds my hand trough good times and bad and he means more to me than he will likely ever know.

Thoughts of a Gay Parent

The boyfriend and I spent a wonderful evening having dinner with my two daughters tonight in honor of my oldest daughter's birthday - she turned 27 last week - and once again I could not help but believe that all the pain and suffering of being in the closet for so many years was worth it in order to have my wonderful children. My son lives in the Pacific Northwest now, so he has not had the opportunity to spend as much time with the boyfriend as my girls have, but I am blessed that they seem to love him and he loves all three of them very much.

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We met at a Mexican restaurant near the Lesner Bridge in Virginia Beach just a few miles east of the the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel near my parent's former neighborhood of Bay Lake Pines (the photo above is of a sunrise over the bridge tunnel as it heads across the Bay from Virginia Beach) . A combination of great conversation, good food and some excellent margaritas made for a great time. While my coming out later in life was not something easy for my children to deal with in many ways, I truly believe that they can now see that I am a far happier person and more loving father than I was during the years I was wracked with self-hate and trying so desperately to convince myself that I wasn't really gay. I wasted so much energy and missed so many opportunities to be a better father because I was so wrapped up in tying to "change" rather than simply be who God made me to be. I hope that if they learn nothing else from me it is that they must live their own lives to be who they are and not what they perceive others to want them to be.

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God made each of us to be a unique gift and we need to stop living to please others and instead live to our full potential as unique God given gifts to the world. Would that more people - especially alleged Christians - would not second guess God's creative genius and sense of diversity. I thank God for my children, the boy friend and the gift of being gay.

Monday Male Beauty

Onward Christian Soldiers - Bush's Daily Briefings

GQ of all publications has published a series of top secret daily intelligence briefings from Donald Rumsfeld's office at the Pentagon for the Chimperator a/k/a President George W. Bush early in the Iraq war. What is both startling and frightening is that all are adorned with militaristic Bible verses perhaps further proving that for 8 years the USA was headed by a delusional religious nutcase. Bob Felton aptly describes it over at Civil Commotion:
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I don’t suppose we’ll ever really know how much this sort of thing influenced Bush’s thinking but, increasingly, the more we learn the more he appears to have been out of touch with reality, believed himself invested by God with a great work, and certain that everything would come right in the end so long as he held inflexibly to the cosmic instructions given him.
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I urge readers to watch the GQ slide show here and to ponder long and hard whether we can survive more of this kind of lunacy in our elected officials and political policies. Remember too that this is the mindset that controls the opponents of gay rights and candidates like Bob McDonnell who are able to grasp objective reality because of their extreme religious beliefs. I am not anti-religion per se, but at some point some connection with reality is required. Obviously, George W. , the leadership of the Christian Right, and the GOP base do not have that much needed connection with reality.

Brian Moran for Governor

The Richmond Times Dispatch has a article out this morning that provides a great profile on Brian Moran, one of the three candidates for the Democrat nomination for Governor. I have met Brian twice and had great conversations with him and I truly believe that he is the candidate that Virginia needs as opposed to Terry McAuliffe who strikes me as a modern day carpetbagger with ZERO previous experience in Virginia politics or Creigh Deeds who is too far right of center to convince me that he's in a position to carry the must win areas of Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads. The boyfriend is so taken with Moran that we have a yard sign out in front of the house and he is wearing a Moran campaign button every day to his salon. One thing that strikes me about Moran - besides his ability to see LGBT Virginians as regular everyday citizens - is that he comes from a background that allows him to know what life is like for the common citizen and that he has not forgotten where he came from. Here are some highlights:

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The reserved Moran -- known for studious qualities -- doesn't suck the air from a room like McAuliffe. While Deeds speaks in a native Virginia drawl, Moran delivers his decades-spent-fighting-for-Virginians speech in a hard-edged Boston accent. Moran says he has been working for Virginians for 20 years, from Arlington County, where he served as a prosecutor, to the halls of the state Capitol.

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It was him -- not the others -- who in 2004 sat with Republicans in a 24-hour diner to draft a budget reform compromise on a paper napkin over beers, he says. "I do believe that we are on the right track," in Virginia "and we need somebody that's been there and can lead us," Moran said this week. "I truly believe I have that ability."

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"What you have with Brian Moran is a knowledgeable, competent legislator who has won the respect of his peers in Richmond," said Steve Farnsworth, political scientist at George Mason University. "I describe him more as a workhorse and less of a show horse. In modern media-dominated politics, people seem to be drawn to show horses more than workhorses. And show horses with money -- that is a second advantage."

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Moran started working at 14, bagging groceries near his home in Natick, Mass., a suburb west of Boston, where he lived with his parents and six siblings. He lived there until moving away to the University of Massachusetts, where he briefly played football. By the end of his junior year, cancer had tightened its grip on his father, and Moran moved home to help. He never returned to the university, instead putting himself through the local Framingham State College and later Catholic University law school working jobs on a construction site, at a gas station, in a bar, and as a subcommittee aide on Capitol Hill.

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One misfortune in particular has stuck with Brian and his oldest brother. The way Jim Moran tells it, their father was a loyal, hardworking employee for a beer distributor. That was, until one day, when the company was bought out. Their father was shown the door and the family's station wagon -- his company car -- was towed out of the driveway. "These people who came in didn't have loyalty to the company or the product or anything else," Jim Moran said. "They just wanted to make a quick buck."

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[W]hen the candidate steps out at events, he often talks about lessons from his childhood. He says nursing his father gave him perspective on elder care. And he'll never forget the day the family car was hauled away. "Whether voters decide I'm the best candidate or not, I'm going to put myself out there. I really want to take Virginia to the next step building on where we've come," he said. "I think because of my upbringing I am truly empathetic with what people are going through."

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I believe that Brian has a compelling personal story and that he has the best vision for Virginia. I also believe that he would represent the best candidate to defeat Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell in November. Virginia cannot afford to have a puppet of Pat Robertson and The Family Foundation in the Governor's office.

More Sunday Male Beauty

Sunday Evening Reflections

Today finished on a much brighter note than this morning began after a wearisome ordeal in the Sentara Norfolk General ER for nearly four hours and my contemplation of checking into the psych ward. After sleeping in and a slow day - particularly in light of the all day pouring rain - the boyfriend and I drove up to Kingsmill on the James River near Williamsburg for dinner at the home of one of his long time clients who I will refer to as KA. KA is but one of the boyfriend's affluent, educated clients who treat the two of us literally as part of her family never batting an eye over the fact that we are a gay couple. Moreover, neither do any members of her family or her friends - which tonight included one of her dear friends (and her boyfriend) visiting the USA from north of Brisbane, Australia. Also included were two of KA's young grandsons who welcomed the boyfriend and me as if there was nothing more natural than a gay couple joining in the family gathering.

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It was a lovely evening and we departed with invitations to visit Australia and wherever KA's son who is with the State Department may next be assigned. KA is a gracious and elegant woman and it has been such an honor to get to know her as well as other such wonderful women from the boyfriend's client base. They and their families give me hope for the future.

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In fact, I was again struck by the fact that there are increasingly two Virginias: the educated, tolerant, non-Christian fundamentalist and gay accepting Virginia vs. the typically largely less educated, religiously intolerant and fanatic, and homophobic Virginia. Obviously, if the state wants to prosper financially and attract progressive businesses, the former rather than the latter is the Virginia of the future. Bob McDonnell, bigoted homophobic judges of all races and the Pat Robertsons and Jerry Falwells represent a Virginia which hopefully will soon cease to exist. For too long the color of one's skin, one's religious faith or one's sexual orientation has dictated whether or not one receives full civil rights and equality under the law in Virginia. Ironically, it is something that one would think black judges would understand better than anyone, yet in practice such is not the case - at least from the black judges I have encountered first hand. Instead of being unbiased and tolerant of gays, these judges are as bigoted against LGBT Virginians as the segregationists of years back were against blacks. It is truly bizarre that those who should know the evils of discrimination more than anyone are in practice the most discriminatory themselves when it comes to mistreating Gay and lesbian Virginians.