Hampton History Museum Soiree

This evening the boyfriend and I are hosting a fundraiser/soiree for the Hampton History Museum at our house. We are basically only providing the venue with everything else - iincluding catering - provided. Not that the event doesn't entail a lot of work. If the boyfriend, a/k/a "Martha Stewart" is going to do something, it must be perfect. In this case, the house and yard must look utterly immaculate with nothing out of place. Thus, we spent about six hours today cutting the grass, edging, dead heading roses - in short the works - to make sure the place looks its best (hence why I have not done many posts today). He even closed the flood gate on the tidal creek behind the house to keep the creek at high tide level for the maximum view in the back yard.

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It is a worthy cause and, in fact, Hampton is the oldest continuously settled English community in the United States. As an Indian village called Kecoughtan, it had been visited by the first English colonists before they sailed up the James River to settle in Jamestown. In 1610 the construction of Fort Henry and Fort Charles at the mouth of Hampton Creek marked the beginnings of Hampton, and 2010 will be the 400 anniversary of the city's founding. There is a great deal of history in the city that is often overlooked and some magnificent homes that still survive in various historic neighborhoods such as Old Wythe where we live. The photo above is of a home up the street from us as it looked in 1916. The house is still there and the gorgeous porches have just been lovingly restored.

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Here are a few other interesting facts about my new hometown that are pretty unique: The first free public schools in the United States were founded in Hampton by Benjamin Syms and Thomas Eaton and are commemorated in the Syms-Eaton Museum. Hampton is the site of Hampton University, established in 1868 to educate freed slaves, and Thomas Nelson Community College. St. John's Episcopal parish was founded in 1610, making it the oldest in the country. Fort Monroe - which is being turned over to the City of Hampton by the federal government - dates from 1819. For a long period during the American Civil War the fort was the only Union outpost in the Confederacy. The famous battle between the first ironclad battleships, the Monitor and the Merrimac, was fought just offshore (just offshore from down the street from our home since our street runs along Hampton Roads harbor).

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It should be a fun evening and a good networking opportunity as well. We enjoy entertaining and a number of our LGBT friends will be attending as well - including our friend who rehabbed our house after disrepair and a dubious history, including drug dealing and the making of porno films before the neighbor saw a revival. As they say, if you want first class urban renewal, get the gays to move in. We have about ten gay owned homes on the street.

Saturday Male Beauty

Fighting Anti-Gay Bias in Virginia

The Washington Posts has to relevant columns/stories concerning the race for Virginia governor from the perspective of gay rights and the Christianist views of Taliban Bob McDonnell's alma mater. In an editorial column, the Post notes that both candidates' views have evolved in the area of gay equality, but that Creigh Mr. Deeds has done so much more convincingly that 's more convincingly than Taliban Bob McDonnell. As I have mentioned before, in this area the Deeds campaign has begun to reach out to the LGBT community and this past Thursday a representative from the Deeds campaign attended the HRBOR Third Thursday networking event in an effort to connect with the LGBT and LGBT friendly business community. In contrast, McDonnell who has known me for 15 years, worked on my campaign when I ran for office in 1994, and knows that I am active in the LGBT community has made ZERO outreach efforts to the LGBT community. Nor has his campaign picked up the phone and called me despite my invitations to McDonnell to attend LGBT events. Why? Because I am sure that his puppeteers at Regent University and The Family Foundation have forbidden it - just as they will control his approach to gays if he is elected governor. First, some highlights from the Post's editorial:

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ROBERT F. McDonnell, the Republican candidate for governor in Virginia, says his erstwhile view that homosexuality is, like drug abuse, an evil that "government must restrain, punish, and deter" has changed since he wrote that in his now-notorious dissertation 20 years ago. State Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic candidate, has referred to himself as a "work in progress" on issues pertaining to sexual orientation. . .

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Both men profess to have evolved when it comes to issues regarding sexual orientation, as many Americans have. . . . However, a closer examination of their records suggests that Mr. Deeds's evolution is the more comprehensive. By contrast, Mr. McDonnell's shift, if there is a shift at all, has been modest and relatively recent. Although he says he opposes bias on grounds of sexual orientation, he will not commit to backing legislation that would expand the state's nondiscrimination policy to cover gay individuals.

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As a lawmaker representing Virginia Beach for 14 years, Mr. McDonnell consistently opposed legislation backed by the gay community. He voted against a bill, strongly supported by business groups, to let employers offer benefits to their employees' unmarried partners, gay or straight. He voted to screen prospective parents for "voluntary homosexual activity" before they could adopt a child. He voted for the Marriage Affirmation Act, which prohibits Virginia law from recognizing out-of-state civil unions. He voted to amend Virginia's constitution to prohibit civil unions as well as same-sex marriages.

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As attorney general in 2006, Mr. McDonnell rendered an opinion saying Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) had acted unconstitutionally by issuing an executive order expanding Virginia's nondiscrimination policy to ban bias against gays in state hiring and employment; that power, he said, was the legislature's, not the executive's. On similar grounds, he argued that local governments could not include sexual orientation in their nondiscrimination policies. Several jurisdictions, including Alexandria, Charlottesville and Williamsburg, ignored him.

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Mr. Deeds's record, confined to his votes in the state Senate, is more limited. However, his voting history has been generally more favorable to gay rights, including backing bills in recent years to allow local governments to extend health coverage to partners of their gay employees. In 2005, he supported the bill, which Mr. McDonnell opposed, to let businesses grant benefits to employees' unmarried partners, gay and straight. And following Mr. McDonnell's opinion, as attorney general, opposing Mr. Kaine's nondiscrimination policy, Mr. Deeds was a patron of legislation to ban bias based on sexual orientation in state employment. That bill failed but remains a top priority of gay rights groups that reasonably seek to codify Mr. Kaine's nondiscrimination policy. Their other legislative priority -- allowing businesses to offer benefits to workers' gay and straight partners -- is equally sensible. Both would stand a better chance of enactment with Mr. Deeds in the governor's office.

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The other Post piece looks at the continuing mind set at Pat Robertson's Regent University where McDonnell received his law degree. Little has changed at Regent despite the efforts of students and faculty to claim otherwise - just as I believe little has actually changed in Taliban Bob's real views. The school continues to require adherence to an extreme right statement of faith by students and faculty and employees that leaves no support for gays or gay equality under the civil laws. And truth be told, I suspect that a majority of area residents wish Regent was not located here since it gives the entire region a bad reputation for being the home base of religious wingnuts. Here are some story highlights:

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At Regent, a 70-acre campus of red-brick, white-columned buildings arranged around a huge wooden cross and a perpetual flame, some students and faculty have reacted to the flap about McDonnell's thesis with a dismissive shrug. But to others at the 31-year-old school, the controversy adds to their worry that the wider world looks askance at Regent's mission -- to churn out Christian leaders and change agents -- because of Robertson's inflammatory rhetoric and the school's founding as part of his Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN).

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"We were pigeonholed as an extension of CBN," said Carlos Campo, Regent's vice president for academic affairs. "We have not drifted from that vision . . . Students and faculty agree that Regent, which has about 1,700 undergraduates and 3,200 graduate students, is mostly conservative or Republican -- the school's Democrats and Independents club has 10 members -- but they also contend that many students are more socially moderate than outsiders would imagine.

Friday Male Beauty

FREE Buses to the National Equality March!

For readers in the New York City Area, Broadway Impact sent me a message indicating that due to the receipt of some sponsors, the organization will be providing FREE round trip bus tickets for those wishing to attend the National Equality March in Washington, D.C., on October 11, 2009. Broadway Impact is a community of actors, directors, stage managers, fans and producers, united by the simple belief that anyone who wants to should be able to get married. The group was co-founded by Gavin Creel, one of the lead actors in the Broadway musical Hair. Here are some highlights on the bus tickets:

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We are VERY excited to announce that we are organizing FREE buses to the National Equality March in Washington D.C on October 11th! Thanks to the incredible Broadway Community including our sponsors, Sutton Foster, Audra McDonald, Producer David Stone, The Broadway Cast of Memphis, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Broadway.com, and Co-Founder of Broadway Impact, Gavin Creel for leading the way in this movement.

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The special roundtrip bus tickets can be picked up in person at Vlada Lounge (331 West 51st Street) every night through October 7th from 6pm to Midnight. Instructions on how to reserve tickets online as well as ways to "Sponsor an Equality Bus" are available, along with additional information, at www.broadwayimpact.com.

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The National Equality March will take place on Oct. 11th on the National Mall in Washington D.C. and is demanding equal protection for LGBT citizens in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states. We hope to see you all on the bus!

Lutheran Dissidents Mull a Separate Future

Sadly, some within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ("ELCA") continue to froth at the mouth and have conniptions over the ELCA's recent decision to allowed partnered gay clergy and to provide recognition and support for same sex couples, although marriage is reserved for heterosexual couples. It continues to amaze me that these folks hold a few Bible passages that arguable condemn homosexuality to be sacrosanct while many others - such as the ban on divorce stated in the Gospels - are completely ignored. These Bible literalists are certainly disingenuous when it comes to demanding compliance with Scripture. I guess a literal application is fine when your ox is not being gored, but as soon as these folks have it impact them personally, they throw literalism out the window. Why does the word hypocrisy spring to mind? Here are some highlights from Beliefnet:

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The dilemma for conservatives in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America could be summed up in the familiar refrain from The Clash's punk-rock tune: "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" The answer seems to be: Yes -- and no. Many conservatives are deeply unhappy that the ELCA, the nation's largest Lutheran denomination, voted in August to lift its ban on noncelibate gay and lesbian clergy. The 4.8 million-member church also voted to allow congregations to "recognize, support and hold publicly accountable life-long, monogamous, same-gender relationships."

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Conservatives say the ELCA's confessions -- or statements of faith -- clearly call for fidelity to Scripture, which clearly condemns homosexuality. So, next week (Sept. 25-26), a conservative network of clergy and lay Lutherans plans to gather and hatch plans to "reconfigure" Lutheranism in North America.

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The leaders of Lutheran CORE (Coalition for Reform) are not encouraging fellow believers to bolt from the ELCA for a more conservative denomination, but neither do they want to remain part of one that has "fallen into heresy," they say. Thus, CORE is laying plans for a "free-standing synod" that would include current members of the ELCA along with others that have exited, or plan to exit, from the denomination.

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"There are lots of congregations that are going to leave, lots of traditionalist congregations that are going to stay, and lots that have already left," said Ryan Schwarz of Washington, a member of CORE's steering committee. "We want to create a churchly structure that gathers all those categories." About 1,200 people have registered for CORE's summit in Indianapolis, according to organizers. Participants at the Indiana meeting are expected to draft bylaws for their new organization, develop fiscal plans and begin reaching out to other "compatible" denominations.
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The free-standing synod, should the idea be accepted, would hire and train its own clergy, redirect donations from ELCA headquarters to CORE, plant churches and support missionaries, Chavez said. Some members will disassociate from their local (geographic) synods and stop participating in the ELCA's biennial assemblies. But others who are part of conservative synods that are not expected to hire gay and lesbian clergy may choose to remain part of the ELCA, he added.
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There is some precedent for a free-standing synod; one of the ELCA's synods is home to Lutherans of Slovakian descent, not regional like the other 64. There was similar talk of creating a free-standing synod about a decade ago, when the ELCA approved a full communion agreement with the Episcopal Church, said the Rev. Michael Cooper-White, dean of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. The issue at that time was differing views on the authority of bishops, he added.

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For now, they are taking a "wait and see" approach to the new synod, said ELCA spokesman John Brooks, and still consider CORE members part of the national church. "We're interested in seeing how a free-standing synod takes shape, it's really hard to know," he said. "We've had groups formed within the ELCA gathered around certain topics or issues as long as the church has been around. We're hoping that people will recognize that (the ELCA) is much more than one topic, one issue, one decision."

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Meanwhile, some conservative Lutherans think a free-standing synod plan doesn't go far enough. Robert Benne, director of the Center for Religion and Society at ELCA-affiliated Roanoke College in Virginia, said conservatives should strike out on their own.

Six More U.S. Venues Cancel On 'Kill Gays' Artist

While the NORVA Theater in Norfolk, Virginia, has yet to do the right thing and and cancel Buju Banton's scheduled appearance on September 25, 2009, additional venues in other cities have cancel appearances of the "kill gays" performer. GLBTLive is planning a protest against Banton's appearance at the NORVA which will hopefully generate some Media coverage not flattering to the NORVA if it persists in providing a venue to hate speech such as Banton's. I will be at the NORVA tonight to support Margaret Cho and will have literature with me condemning Banton's appearance. The owners of the NORVA have always been known to be out to make a buck, but I doubt the theater would host a performer who advocated the murder of blacks or Jews. Here are some highlights from On Top Magazine on other cancellations:

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Amid increasingly boisterous protests from gay rights groups, six additional tour dates by controversial Jamaican reggae artist Buju Banton have been canceled, whittling down his U.S. tour considerably. Last month, gay activists managed to shut down six shows. Cancellations at four House of Blues venues joined scrapped appearances in San Francisco, at the Regency Ballroom, and Los Angeles, at Club Nokia. The tour's first performance at the Trocadero Theater in Philadelphia was greeted with a loud protest last week.

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“We condemn this hate speech and his call to violence against gays and lesbians, and we also condemn the exploitation of our community in song for profit,” said Thom Cardwell, a board member of the Gittings Trust, a Philadelphia-based gay rights group.

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Banton's 1992 hit Boom Bye Bye advocates for the murder of gay men by shooting them in the head with a submachine gun and pouring acid on them to “burn him up bad like an old tire wheel.” Banton has dismissed the controversy, saying he penned the lyrics when he was “a child” of 15. But the thirty-six-year-old reggae artists has never repudiated the lyrics and continues to perform the song.

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In Salt Lake City, pressure from gay activists closed down a scheduled October 8 performance at Urban Lounge, a downtown venue. “When initially scheduling the Buju Banton event, we were unaware of his hateful anti-gay message,” Will Sartain, co-owner of the club, said in a statement. “Upon further review, Urban Lounge has decided to cancel the event. We strive for peace and understanding in our community. We support the rights of all. We have made this decision on moral grounds.”

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Will the NORVA do the right thing and cancel Banton's appearance? Time will tell.

Thursday Male Beauty

Is Creigh Deeds Getting the Message ?

I have complained numerous times about my frustration with the failure of the statewide Democrat ticket in Virginia, and Creigh Deeds in particular, to reach out to various communities within the Democrat tent. This is especially true of the LGBT community which to my knowledge has seen almost no outreach whatsoever. Finally, some Deeds staffers have begun some weekly outreach to the LGBT community in Hampton Roads (although so far not to the LGBT business community), but this should have begun immediately after the primary election, not months later. The problem with all three Democrat candidates doesn't appear limited to the Hampton Roads area as evidenced by a story from Northern Virginia, a must win area for any Democrat who hopes to be elected. While Bob McDonnell's thesis has energized some, much more excitement and enthusiasm needs to be generated by all three Democrat candidates. Here are some highlights:

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Alexandria is Brian Moran territory, and everybody knows it. During this summer’s gubernatorial primary, city voters overwhelmingly supported their hometown candidate — the younger brother of a former mayor and longtime congressman. Perhaps that’s why some say Creigh Deeds’ campaign for governor has been having a hard time gaining traction in the city. Or perhaps it’s because the campaign has been slow to reach out to local elected officials."For some reason, there seems to have been a lack of sensitivity to Northern Virginia," said Mayor Bill Euille, who has yet to be asked for a formal endorsement. "But that’s being resolved."

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ALEXANDRIA DEMOCRATS say the strategy session at the mayor’s house over the weekend was a step forward in terms of the campaign reaching out to local elected officials and party regulars. But even if the Deeds organization is listening, that doesn’t mean campaign officials are taking the advice. Some Democrats have expressed criticism of the campaign’s strategic decision to wait until the final weeks before Election Day to roll out paid campaign communications such as television advertising and direct mail solicitations.

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They say that the Deeds campaign is certain to win in Alexandria, and that the turnout in Northern Virginia could be critical to the outcome of the election. Many Democrats point to Bob McDonnell’s 360-vote margin of victory over Deeds in the 2005 attorney general race as an indication of how close the race is likely to be — and of how important get-out-the-vote operations are likely to be in Northern Virginia.

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Despite his post election failures to deliver on campaign promises, Barack Obama DID reach out to ALL of the communities under the Democrat tent and the three statewide candidates need to do so as well. And they need to get into high gear immediately. They cannot depend on votes solely because they are not the extremist slate fielded by the GOP.

Teen Birth Rates Highest in Most Religious States

Yet another study indicates that the efforts of the professional Christians and conservative Christians do nothing to lower teen pregnancy rates and that abstinence only sex education obviously doesn't work. Indeed, the higher the supposed religiosity of a state, the higher the teen pregnancy rate. In some ways the findings make sense: ignorance and a refusal to deal with real world reality and objective facts result in teens who do not make use of birth control opportunities and marry far earlier than in states with higher levels of education and progressive views. Bible Spice Palin's own daughter is a case in point. One has to wonder when the Christianists will accept the fact that teens WILL have sex before marriage and that effective birth control education is a must. Here are some highlights from MSNBC:
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U.S. states whose residents have more conservative religious beliefs on average tend to have higher rates of teenagers giving birth, a new study suggests. The relationship could be due to the fact that communities with such religious beliefs (a literal interpretation of the Bible, for instance) may frown upon contraception, researchers say. If that same culture isn't successfully discouraging teen sex, the pregnancy and birth rates rise. Mississippi topped the list for conservative religious beliefs and teen birth rates.

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Joseph Strayhorn of Drexel University College of Medicine and University of Pittsburgh offers a speculation of the most probable explanation: "We conjecture that religious communities in the U.S. are more successful in discouraging the use of contraception among their teenagers than they are in discouraging sexual intercourse itself."

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Strayhorn compiled data from various data sets. The religiosity information came from a sample of nearly 36,000 participants who were part of the U.S. Religious Landscapes Survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life conducted in 2007, while the teen birth and abortion statistics came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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For religiosity, the researchers averaged the percentage of respondents who agreed with conservative responses to eight statements, including: ''There is only one way to interpret the teachings of my religion," and ''Scripture should be taken literally, word for word." They found a strong correlation between statewide conservative religiousness and statewide teen birth rate even when they accounted for income and abortion rates.

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And guess which states have the lowest teen pregnancy rates: Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire - states with gay marriage.

Anti-Gay Bill Circulating In Uganda

Like many nations in Africa Uganda has many problems that need attention and coordinated efforts between the country's government and liberal outside agencies that can provide needed services and funding. Abject poverty is one such problem. All too typically, however, the national government and Christian extremists within the country are focused on demonizing gays and working on punitive anti-gay legislation. Actions that will only give the country a bad name and likely discourage some sources of aid to look to different countries in which to concentrate their efforts. Just as in backwards areas of the USA - e.g., Southwest Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, etc. - this type of governmental action only makes Uganda LESS attractive for foreign investment and activities that will promote education and jobs. This, of course is fine with Christianist religious leaders because an ignorant populace is key to their continued power and control. It is truly a sick situation and personally, other than a pro-gay organization, I would not give even a dime to an organization that would spend my money in Uganda. Here are highlights from Box Turtle Bulletin:

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Uganda appears to be inching closer to “strengthening” its already draconian anti-gay laws which already provide for a possible life sentence for those convicted of homosexuality. A draft of the proposed bill obtained by Box Turtle Bulletin indicates that Ugandan lawmakers intend to go much further.

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In a draft dated April 20, 2009 and being circulated surreptitiously, the proposed bill creates an offense of “aggravated homosexuality” and provides for the death penalty under specific circumstances. It also provides for at least five years imprisonment (and no apparent maximum) for advocating on behalf of LGBT people. This extends not just to activists and organizations, but to individuals as well, including bloggers or anyone else using the internet or mobile phones — as well as anyone who makes a donation or offers a safe refuge for LGBT people. Furthermore, if anyone is “aware of the commission of any offense under this Act” and fails to report it to the police, they will be liable of up to six months imprisonment.

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The accompanying memorandum calls on the Uganda government to withdraw from any international obligations or treaties which the government interprests as running counter to the country’s anti-gay policies.

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In July, Uganda’s Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity James Nsaba Buturo confirmed their intention to eliminate free speech for and on behalf of LGBT people. Meanwhile, a full-fledged public vigilante campaign was released on Uganda’s gay community, leading to several reports of arrests and reports.

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A full copy of the proposed bill can be found at Box Turtle Bulletin. Candidly, the country is going to Hell in a hand basket and the anti-gay jihad appears to be yet one more way for the national government to distract people from its failed rule. Likewise, the Christianist extremist once again are using LGBT lives to further their own goals and thirst for power. I find it all sickening.

Operation Rescue Reportedly Needs Money, Close to Shutting Down

According to the wingnut news site CNSNews.com Operation Rescue, founded by pro-life extremist Randall Terry, is close to running out of money and shutting down. Could it just perhaps be because would be donors do not want to be associated with an organization whose founder and former leader has never denounced the murder of abortion providers and who has in fact comp licitly condoned the actions of the murders? The most recent example is the murder of Dr. George Tiller and Terry's extremist remarks at the time. While most folks do not know that Terry and Operation Rescue have parted ways some years back. Like it or not, Randall Terry - who is also an extreme homophobe - continues to be the face associated with Operation Rescue. The other irony is, of course, that due to their opposition to contraception, birth control and sex ed education, groups like Operation Rescue actually cause the number of abortions in the USA to fail to fall to rates similar to those in Europe where there are comprehensive sex education and birth control projects. Here are some story highlights:

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Wichita, Kan. (AP) - Operation Rescue, one of the nation's highest-profile groups in the anti-abortion movement, has told its supporters it is facing a "major financial crisis" and is very close to shutting down unless emergency help arrives soon. The group's president, Troy Newman, blamed the economic downturn for its money woes in a desperate plea e-mailed Monday night to donors. But the Wichita-based organization has also been under attack from both fringe anti-abortion militants and abortion rights supporters since the May 31 shooting death of Dr. George Tiller.

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Tiller's killing has also been a public relations nightmare for the group - despite its public condemnation of the slaying - since the name and phone number of the group's senior policy adviser was found in Roeder's car when he was arrested. A television crew zoomed in on the scrawled note inside the car in images that made their way to the Internet.

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The Internal Revenue Service revoked Operation Rescue's tax-exempt status in 2006 for prohibited political activity during the 2004 election. That means donations to the group are no longer deductible on taxes. Newman has said the IRS revocation did not affect donations. Meanwhile, other groups in the abortion fray have not noticed a similar decline in contributions.

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"They have publicly denounced his murder, yet they move their headquarters to Wichita and spend years harassing and trying to put him out of business," Saporta said. "And people involved with Operation Rescue had also been in communication with Scott Roeder so their hands aren't necessarily 100 percent clean in this scenario." Abortion rights supporters contend some of Operation Rescue's activities contribute to the atmosphere that encourage people like Roeder to take the law into their hands.

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Operation Rescue's fundraising letter hinted at a secret project it hoped to launch in the next 30 days that would be a "new phase in the pro-life fight." But while the group's fundraising efforts are often tied to some new anti-abortion activity, its latest letter had an unprecedented tone of desperation.

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Sometimes people and organizations reap what they sow and Operation Rescue has historically taken extreme positions and engaged in over the top actions that have now apparently come back to haunt it. I will not shed a tear if the organization shuts down.

More Wednesday Male Beauty

Another Lawsuit Targets Christian Right Founder of Blackwater

Erik Prince - the Christianist founder of Blackwater USA - has been hit with another lawsuit arising out of the gratuitous murder of innocent Iraqi civilians by his Blackwater mercenaries. Personally, it could not happen to a better person. Prince's parents have been long time sponsors and donors to far right organizations that demonize gays and his mother made a major six figure contribution to the supporters of Proposition 8. If the claims set out in the lawsuit prove true, they demonstrate that despite his professed Christian beliefs, Prince (and many like him) are actually heartless, despicable bigots and monsters who kill others for sport. I continue to be shocked by the Christianist mindset that views non-Christians as little more than animals. WWJD? I hope the allegations of the lawsuit prove to be true and that Prince's mercenary operation is ultimately shut down. Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot:

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Yet another civil lawsuit accuses Blackwater guards of driving through the streets of Baghdad randomly shooting innocent Iraqis. The latest case accuses Blackwater founder Erik Prince of personally directing murders from a 24-hour remote monitoring "war room" at the private military company's Moyock, N.C., headquarters.

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Prince "personally directed and permitted a heavily-armed private army... to roam the streets of Baghdad killing innocent civilians," alleges the suit, filed by four Iraqi citizens. Prince was well aware that his men, including top executives, "viewed shooting innocent Iraqis as sport," the suit says. In fact, "those who killed and wounded innocent Iraqis tended to rise higher in Mr. Prince's organization than those who abided by the rule of law." Prince's top executives openly discussed "laying Hajjis out on cardboard" and "bragged about their collective role in killing those of the Islamic faith," the suit alleges.

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On more than one occasion, the suit says, Prince's men went "night hunting" in helicopters after 10 p.m. over the streets of Baghdad, wearing night goggles, killing at random. The lawsuit says Prince caused murders to occur on at least 11 occasions, including one and perhaps more in the United States. The suit describes one case in which a young man, not identified in the court papers, died after photographing Anna Bundy, a Blackwater executive, packaging illegal weaponry outfitted with silencers for shipment to Iraq.

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The latest suit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, is the sixth civil case brought against Prince and his company, now known as Xe, by the Washington law firm Burke O'Neil on behalf of more than 60 Iraqis or their estates. Many of them were injured or killed two years ago today - Sept. 16, 2007 - in Baghdad's Nisoor Square in a shooting incident that left 17 Iraqis dead and ultimately led to the loss of Blackwater's diplomatic security contract.

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In one episode described in those papers, one of the five defendants, Evan Liberty, allegedly drove through Baghdad on Sept. 9, 2007, a week before the Nisoor Square incident, randomly shooting Iraqis through the porthole of an armored vehicle.

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By all accounts, Prince and his Blackwater henchmen are nasty individuals who truly give Christians and Americans a bad name. If the allegations are true, I hope Prince eventually will do prison time.

Broadway Impact's New Ad Supporting the National Equality March

A national effort is truly needed to secure federal legislation protecting LGBT Americans from discrimination (which is based on religion ultimately). One's rights as an American citizen should not be dependent upon which state in which one happens to reside. The current second class status of LGBT Americans in most states makes a mockery of the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution .

Wednesday Male Beauty

More Big Name Endorsers for the National Equality March

Towleroad has a new post concerning the growing support for the National Equality March from members of the entertainment industry and some religious leaders. I hope the excitement about the march will grow and that people will make an effort to be in Washington on October 10-11, 2009, to help draw attention to the plight of LGBT Americans who continue to be treated equally under the U.S. Constitution and who are routinely discriminated against based on religious grounds - discrimination that has no place under the civil laws. Here are highlights from Towleroad:

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The National Equality March seeks equal protection in all matters governed by law in all 50 states. Oscar-winning producer Bruce Cohen praised the entertainment industry for coming forward in support of the March, "We are thrilled to have this impressive, ever-growing group of extraordinarily talented entertainment industry luminaries from stage, screen, television and the arts endorsing the march. As the demand for full LGBT Federal rights grows in all corners of the country, adding the support of these wonderful LGBT and straight friends of ours will continue to broaden the impact of what is being planned for October 11th in our nation's Capitol."

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Here are the new endorsers of the March:
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ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY ENDORSEMENTS
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Calpernia Addams, author, actor and musician
Jane Anderson, Emmy Award-winning screenwriter, playwright and director
Paris Barclay, Emmy Award-winning director
Annette Bening, Oscar-nominated actor
Greg Berlanti, writer, producer and director
David Dean Bottrell, screenwriter
The Rev. Canon Malcolm Boyd, author and Episcopal priest
Victor Bumbalo, actor and playwright
Ilene Chaiken, creator, writer, and executive producer, “The L Word”
Wilson Cruz, actor
Dana Delaney, Emmy Award-winning actor
Ronald Dennis, actor, dancer, and singer
Melissa Etheridge, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and musician
Joely Fisher, actor
Carrie Fisher, actor, screenwriter and novelist
James Franco, Golden Globe Award-winning actor
David Marshall Grant, Tony Award-nominated actor
Ellen Greene, Tony Award-nominated actor
Trebor Healy, poet and novelist
Helen Hunt, Academy Award-winning actor
Dave Koz, Grammy Award-nominated musician
Susan Krebs, jazz vocalist
Swoosie Kurtz, Emmy Award-winning actor
Chad Lowe, Emmy Award-winning actor
Camryn Manheim, Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award-nominated actor
Ewan McGregor, Golden Globe Award-nominated actor
Sir Ian McKellen, Tony Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated actor
Julianne Moore, Academy Award and Golden Globe Award-nominated actor
Max Mutchnick, Emmy Award-winning producer
Kathy Najimy, actor
Ken Page, actor and cabaret singer
Peter Paige, actor, “Queer as Folk”
Pauley Perrette, actor and civil rights activist
Felice Picano, PEN Award-winning writer
David Hyde Pierce, Emmy Award and Tony Award-winning actor
David O. Russell, director
Meg Ryan, actor
Eduardo Santiago, author
Mark Thompson, author and gay activist
Marisa Tomei, Academy Award-winning actor
Liz Torres, Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award-nominated actor
Gus Van Sant, Academy Award-nominated director, “Milk”
Ann Walker, actor
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FAITH LEADERS
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Rev. Samuel Chu, Interim Executive Director of California Faith for Equality
Rabbi Mark Diamond, Exec. Vice President of the Southern California Board of Rabbis
Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus, President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis
Rabbi Denise Eger, President of Pacific Association of Former Rabbis
Rabbi Dr. David Ellenson, President of Hebrew Union College
Rabbi Steven A. Fox, Exec. Vice President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis
Rabbi Steven B. Jacobs, Chair of the Progressive Jewish Foundation
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, Senior Rabbi of Congregation Beth Simchat Torah,
NYCBishop Eugene Robinson, Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire
Rev. Susan Russell, President of Integrity
Rev. Neil G. Thomas, Chair of California Faith for Equality and Sr. Pastor MCC
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform of Judaism

Message to GOP: Major Employers and Chamber of Commerce Support Gay Partnership Rights

One fact that the wingnuts in Virginia - and that includes GOP candidates Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell and Ken "I'm a Nutcase" Cuccinelli - is that employers FAVOR diversity and equal treatment of LGBT employees. While the theocrats and teabaggers who comprise the base of the GOP hate everyone who is not white and an adherent to their style of intolerant Christianity, that world view is increasingly unattractive to the business community and is becoming a larger deterrent to businesses seeking to relocate. Northern Virginia has suffered less that the rest of the state for the simple reason that Washington, D.C., and its far more liberal and accepting laws is in close proximity. The most backward areas of the state - which generally also have the highest unemployment - are those areas that embrace the Christian Taliban mindset of Bob McDonnell and his mentors, Pat Robertson and The Family Foundation. What is happening in Washington State ought to make voters seeking new jobs and employers wake up. Here some highlights from The Stranger.com:

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In the footsteps of five large companies that issued a statement yesterday, the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce came out today in favor of approving Referendum 71, thereby upholding the domestic partnership bill.

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“This law is about the rights and responsibilities of adults in committed relationships raising families, running businesses and owning property. Diversity and inclusiveness in the workplace, and in our state as a whole, are core values in our business community,” Chamber chair Tayloe Washburn said in a statement. “We must protect and enhance them if we want to attract, retain and grow the talented workforce needed to stay competitive in the global economy. Supporting the Approve R-71 campaign sends the right message about the economic environment we have and want. ”

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The five big corporations that are supporting the upholding of domestic partnership in the face of Christianist efforts to overturn the law are major players. If these are the types of employers Virginia wants to attract outside of places other than Northern Virginia, Virginians and the Virginia General Assembly need to wake up. Here's more on the five corporations:

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In a move that's certain to draw fire from religious conservatives, five companies have come out gunning for Washington voters to approve Referendum 71, thereby upholding the domestic-partnership bill passed by the legislature this year. The Boeing Company, Microsoft Corporation, Nike, Puget Sound Energy, RealNetworks and Vulcan Inc issued an enlightened statement today, saying that they "respect and support employees with diverse backgrounds" and that "Overturning this law would undo years of equal rights progress made in Washington state. We do not believe that this step backward would be in the best interest for the future of our state."

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Meanwhile, Bob McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli seek to take Virginia socially back to the 1950's or even the 19th century. Is this really going to attract progressive and dynamic business? I think not. To help defeat this backward looking mindset was one of the reasons I helped found HRBOR, Virginia's only gay and gay friendly chamber of commerce and NGLCC affiliate.

Italy Grapples with Catholic Priest Sex Abuse

Up until now, the vast majority of reporting on the sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic clergy has been centered in English speaking nations like the USA, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Now the sex abuse bomb has landed in Italy right in the Vatican's own back yard. For far too long the Church has welded too much power and been given far too much deference by both the Italian government and the general population. Hopefully, (1) more victims will come forth and (2) the coverage of sex abuse claims will continue and will in the process convince Italians that the Church is a corrupt institution that needs to be pushed out of its position of influence. God forbid - Italians might demand the much needed house cleaning of the hierarchy. The Church hierarchy has ruined so many lives and it is beyond time that the bishops and cardinals - and yes Popes - be held accountable. The Washington Post has a story on this developing situation in Italy. Here are some highlights:

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VERONA, Italy -- It happened night after night, the deaf man said, sometimes in the priest's bedroom, sometimes in the bathroom, even in the confessional. When he was a young boy at a Catholic-run institute for the deaf, Alessandro Vantini said, priests sodomized him so relentlessly he came to feel "as if I were dead." This year, he and dozens of other former students did something highly unusual for Italy: They went public with claims they were forced to perform sex acts with priests.

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For decades, a culture of silence has surrounded priest abuse in Italy, where surveys show the church is considered one of the country's most respected institutions. Now, in the Vatican's backyard, a movement to air and root out abusive priests is slowly and fitfully taking hold.

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The numbers in Italy are still a mere trickle compared to the hundreds of cases in the court systems of the United States and Ireland. And according to the AP tally, the Italian church has so far had to pay only a few hundred thousand euros (dollars) in civil damages to the victims, compared to $2.6 billion in abuse-related costs for the American diocese or euro1.1 billion ($1.5 billion) due to victims in Ireland. However, the numbers still stand out in a country where reports of clerical sex abuse were virtually unknown a decade ago.

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The implications of priest abuse loom large in Italy: with its 50,850 priests in a nation of 60 million, Italy counts more priests than all of South America or Africa. . . . The Italian cases follow much the same pattern as the U.S. and Irish scandals: Italian prelates often preyed on poor, physically or mentally disabled, or drug-addicted youths entrusted to their care. The deaf students' speech impairments, for example, made the priests' admonition "never to tell" all the more easy to enforce.

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Breaking the conspiracy of silence, 67 former students from Verona's Antonio Provolo institute for the deaf signed a statement alleging that sexual abuse, pedophilia and corporal punishment occurred at the school from the 1950s to the 1980s at the hands of priests and brothers of the Congregation for the Company of Mary.

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In his declaration, Bisoli also accused Verona's late bishop, Monsignor Giuseppe Carraro - who is being considered for beatification - of molesting him on five separate occasions while he was a student at Provolo, which he attended from age 9 to 15. A diocesan probe cleared Carraro of sex abuse. But the investigation interviewed none of the alleged victims, limiting testimony to surviving members of the Congregation, other school personnel and their affiliates, and documentation from the Congregation and Verona diocese. The late bishop's beatification process was suspended pending the investigation, but is now going ahead to the Vatican's saint-making office.

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Advocates, however, says the diocese's investigation was fatally flawed because it didn't interview the alleged victims and only people with links to the school who may have something to hide. "If they had wanted to shed full light on it, they wouldn't have only heard from priests and lay brothers, but from the deaf as well," said Marco Lodi Rizzini, a spokesman for the victims.

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In 2002, when the abuse scandal was erupting in the United States, the No. 2 official in the Italian Bishops' Conference, Monsignor Giuseppe Betori, was quoted as saying clerical sex abuse was so limited in Italy that the conference leadership hadn't even discussed the matter.

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It seems to be the same thing seen time and time again in the USA and Ireland: the abusers are protected by their superiors and the victims are ignored as if they are worth nothing. The same old " a few bad apples" bullshit excuse that was given out in the Boston Archdiocese as all Hell broke loose in 2002. I hope that Italian citizens and the government do not accept these lies that are the Church's standard mantra. There is no sorrow on the part of the hierarchy except that they've been caught yet again.

More Tuesday Male Beauty

The Racial Demonization of the President

I realize I have written before about the racism that lies barely beneath the surface at all times within today's Republican Party and which is increasingly boiling over into open view. I believe that it is relevant for several reasons: (1) it shows how far this nation has to go in terms of racial peace, (2) it shows the venomous hate that is now so much of a prominent part of the mindset of a once great national political party, and (3) the effort to make one "other" and "scary" is remarkably similar to what the Christianists and their allies do to LGBT citizens. Clearly, the racial slurs and dehumanizing tactics of the birthers and teabaggers must be countered and those in the GOP leadership who allow such disgusting conduct to persist need to be called out and castigated as well. Joan Walsh at Salon has a good column today that looks at this vile phenomenon and the backwater areas of the country where it thrives the most:

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When South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson screamed "You lie!" at President Obama Wednesday night, he dragged the paranoia and anti-Obama contempt that marked so many August "town hells" into the chambers of Congress. . . . Of course Obama never had the support of whites like Joe Wilson, a solid son of the South who served as an aide to segregationist Strom Thurmond and who publicly doubted and derided Thurmond's biracial daughter, Essie Mae, when she went public about her dad's identity. Obama lost South Carolina to John McCain handily, just as he lost most of the rest of the region.

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I started thinking opponents were blackening Obama back in July, after the racial drama of the Sotomayor hearings, when poor oppressed Caucasians like Sens. Jeff Sessions, Tom Coburn and Lindsey Graham made it sound like it was open season on white guys.

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Birthers and Deathers (who tended to be the same people) were focused on marginalizing Obama as scary, "the other." Race was central to their fears, from the Birthers' obsession with Obama's literal origins as the product of miscegenation; to the Deathers and the Town Hellers' insistence that healthcare reform was, in Glenn Beck's idiotic formulation, Obama's idea of "reparations" for slavery. The cries of "socialism" were just another way to mark him as "other," scary and foreign. Watching scenes of shrieking, sobbing people pleading to "take our country back," it was hard not to ask, From who? The president who got a larger share of the vote than Ronald Reagan in 1980 or George Bush in 2000? What exactly is it that makes this particular commander in chief an interloper?

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Finally, when Republicans began objecting to Obama's speaking to schoolkids last week, you couldn't ignore the racism: Listening to some parents' expressing actual fear of having Obama beamed into their kids' classrooms, it was hard to imagine such hysteria being inspired by a white president. It would never happen.

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And while I think race, and racism, have played a role in the angry yelling of the Birthers and Deathers, and in the despicable contempt Wilson showed the president in Congress last week, I think most of the president's troubles with white voters have to do with political doubt his enemies have sown about his programs -- after Obama, in my opinion, was too slow to push his own clear proposals, especially for healthcare.

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Obama may never get a larger share of the white vote than he got last November (which was good enough, after all, for a comfortable win). But if he compromises with the Republicans who are out to get him, he risks losing the support of the multiracial base that put him in the White House. Sticking to his (metaphorical) guns is both good policy, and good politics.

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I do agree with Walsh that Obama needs to push forward much more forcefully on healthcare and other "change" agenda items on which he campaigned. In the meanwhile, blacks, gays, Jews, Hispanics, and other cultural and/or religious minorities need to realize that ALL of us are seen as enemies by the birther and teabagging set. Therefore we need to support policies that help us all rather than allow the far right and false Christians to divide us.

Straight Spouses - the Other Victims of "Ex-gay" Lies - Advocate for Gay Marriage

On a number of occasions I have commented upon the fact that besides victimizing gays, the professional Christian set and "ex-gays for pay" also victimize straight spouses. These straight individuals might well have avoided marrying gays in the first place but for the lies and false information these "Christians" and "ex-gays" disseminate, thereby causing many gays to marry in the hope that they will be able to change. When one reviews the websites of the ex-gay "ministries," nowhere is mention ever made to straight spouses who may be harmed by marriages that are ultimately doomed to fail. Instead, all one sees is the opposite sex spouse and/or children offered up as "poof" that the gay spouse is "cured." Finally, some straight spouses who have been married to gays are stepping forth and advocating for same sex marriage and increased acceptance of gays in general so that others do not share their fate of a failed marriage. Here are some highlights from 365gay.com:

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Wah Cheong, a lifelong Republican and the soon-to-be divorced father of two teenage boys, sometimes surprises his co-workers and neighbors in a relatively conservative community outside San Francisco when he says he supports same-sex marriage. “Here is my situation,” the 47-year-old chemical engineer tells them when the hot-button topic comes up. “If gays and lesbians were more accepted, I wouldn’t have married a closeted lesbian."

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Of all the constituency groups that advocate allowing gay couples to wed, none is perhaps more counterintuitive than the heterosexual spouses of gay men and lesbians. Yet as the issue plays out in the nation’s courtrooms and statehouses, some of the wives and husbands who learned that their partner was attracted to other women or men are making their voices known in the often-polarized debate.

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“We are the unacknowledged victims of the victims of homophobia,” said Amity Pierce Buxton, the founder of the Straight Spouse Network, a New Jersey-based support and advocacy group with 52 U.S. chapters. “When gays and lesbians feel they have to get married to be accepted and to have kids, that hurts not only gays and lesbians, but straight spouses and kids.”

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To be sure, not all mates who discover they are in what has become known as “mixed-orientation marriages” are so sanguine. Cheong, who was married for more than 17 years when his wife told him she thought she was a lesbian, said he knows other straight spouses who voted for California’s same-sex marriage ban “out of spite for their ex’s, nothing else.” Regardless of where they are on the acceptance scale, each spouse can pinpoint devastating moments of discovery or disclosure that rendered their marital relationships unrecognizable, if not shattered.

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Spires’ ex-wife, Sue Spires, says she regrets having hurt Randy but does not completely understand why, 13 years later, he feels a need to talk about the end of their marriage, which produced two sons. But she agrees with him that if same-sex relationships had been more accepted when they were young, she would have had a relationship with a woman.

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Sadly, the damage done to both gay spouses and straight spouses - not to mention their children - means nothing to the professional Christians who seek money and/or political agendas through the dissemination of the ex-gay myth. Similarly, this damage apparently means nothing to ex-gays for pay either who ultimately care only about themselves and are in my view little better than prostitutes. It is a very sick phenomenon that victimizes both gays and the straights they marry.