Continued Homophobia in the Legal Profession

ENDA appears to be going nowhere this year and as a result LGBT employees in a majority of states - including ever backwards Virginia - will continue to have no employment non-discrimination protections. That includes LGBT attorneys and paralegals who either cannot get hired by law firms in the first place or who must live in fear in the professional closet so as to not be fired from their jobs. While this post will focus on Virginia, the problem identified occurs all over the country where states do not protect LGBT citizens from employment discrimination. As I have noted before, I was forced from a large law local firm in 2004 because I was gay - true, they tried to dress it up as something else, but one did not need to be a NASA scientist to know what was going on - and I have a good friend who experienced a similar fate when his sexual orientation was discovered at another prominent local law firm.

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The major disconnect in this wide spread picture is that most prominent law schools require interviewing employers as a condition to recruiting on campus to abide by employment non-discrimination policies that bar discrimination based on sexual orientation. In Virginia, the leading law schools, The University of Virginia School of Law (my alma mater), The College of William & Mary School of Law, The Washington & Lee University School of Law, and The University of Richmond School of Law all have such policies (click on the school to view its respective policy). Research has shown that Virginia’s mega law firms – Williams Mullen, P.C., McGuire Woods, L.L.P., and Hunton & Williams - actually have such policies in place at their firms, as does Leclair Ryan. Yet, the majority of Virginia law firms that conduct on campus interviews do NOT actually have official non-discrimintation policies that comply with the law school mandated non-discrimination policies. In fact, two local law firms - Wolcott Rivers Gates and Willcox & Savage, P.C. - have fired LGBT staff due to their sexual orientation.

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Of the other locally based law firms, one - Kaufman & Canoles, P.C. - has a nondiscrimination policy that on its face excludes sexual orientation. The rest as well as some in other parts of Virginia have non discernible non-discrimination policy whatsoever: Vandeventer Black, L.L.P., Watt Tieder Hoffar & Fitzgerald LLP, Taylor & Walker, P.C., Christian & Barton, P.C., Hirschler Fleischer, P.C., and Huff, Poole & Mahoney, P.C (Taliban Bob McDonnell's former firm). Obviously, something is seriously wrong with this picture if these firms are allowed to recruit on campus at leading laws apparently giving a wink and a nod to the law schools' non-discrimination policies. As a result, I sent the following letter to the deans of four of Virginia's top law schools asking how and why this situation exists in light of their law school's respective non-discrimination policies:

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VIA E-MAIL AND U. S. MAIL
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Paul G. Mahoney, Dean - pmahoney@virginia.edu
University of Virginia School of Law
580 Massie Road
Charlottesville, Virginia 22903-1738
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Davison M. Douglas, Dean - dmdoug@wm.edu
William and Mary School of Law
P.O. Box 8795
Williamsburg, Virginia 23187-8795
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Rodney A. Smolla, Dean - smollar@wlu.edu
Washington and Lee University
School of Law
Sydney Lewis Hall
Lexington, Virginia 24450
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John G. Douglass, Dean - jdougla2@richmond.edu
University of Richmond School of Law
28 Westhampton Way
University of Richmond, Virginia 23173
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Re: Employer Recruiting Non-Discrimination Policy
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Gentlemen:
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To introduce myself, I am an attorney (UVA Law 1977) admitted to the Virginia, Alabama, and Texas bars. To my knowledge, I am one of only two (2) publicly and professionally “out” LGBT attorneys in the Hampton Roads area – a region with a population of approximately 1.5 million residents. I am also a contributor to LGBT/political blogs. Because of my extensive involvement in the Hampton Roads LGBT community, I believe I can safely say that none of the large local law firms have any “out” attorneys. A few have LGBT attorneys who live in the closet if you will and live in fear of being fired should their sexual orientation become known.
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As the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (“ENDA”) continues to languish in the U.S. Congress, LGBT Virginians continue to have no legal employment protections against being terminated from employment or not hired in the first place due to their sexual orientation. This situation is not unique to Virginia and holds true in many other states. Each of your law schools have put in place policies that require recruiting law firms and corporations to agree to adhere to a non-discrimination policy that bars employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. For this I and others in the LGBT community applaud your institutions.
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Unfortunately, there is a major disconnect it seems when it comes to law firms actually adhering to the non-discrimination policies required by your institutions. Research has shown that while Virginia’s mega law firms – Williams Mullen, P.C., McGuire Woods, L.L.P., and Hunton & Williams - actually have such policies in place at their firms, the majority of law firms do not. Instead, they either have a policy that does not include sexual orientation – e.g., Kaufman & Canoles, P.C. – or have no stated policy that I can identify: Willcox & Savage, P.C., Vandeventer Black, L.L.P., Watt Tieder Hoffar & Fitzgerald LLP, Wolcott Rivers Gates, P.C., Taylor & Walker, P.C., Christian & Barton, P.C., Hirschler Fleischer, P.C., and Huff, Poole & Mahoney, P.C. To make matters worse, two of the named firms - Willcox & Savage, P.C and Wolcott Rivers Gates, P.C – have in the past forced LGBT individuals from those firms because of their sexual orientation.
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I am writing you for two reasons. First, I would like your reactions to the manner in which the majority of Virginia’s law firms seem to fail to follow through on their supposed agreement to abide by your institutions’ nondiscrimination policies. Second, I would like your thoughts on what your institutions can do to actually enforce your respective policies. For example, should law firms be required to have formal non-discrimination policies in place in order to interview on campus? Will there be real consequences for firms that fire attorneys and staff based on sexual orientation?
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I plan on doing a story on this issue that will be both published on some blogs as well as circulated to other writers at news outlets, bloggers and activists. I look forward to your responses. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
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Sincerely,
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If and when I receive responses from these law schools I will post one or more updates. Meanwhile, I would encourage others to contact other prominent law schools and ask how/why they allow homophobic law firms to recruit on campus notwithstanding the law school's employment non-discrimination policies for would be employers.

Saturday Male Beauty

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Twelve Men Face Execution for Sodomy in Iran

The horrors in Iran continue, especially for gays and those alleged to be gay. Applying a ridiculous rule of proof called ‘the knowledge of the judge’ - which basically allows a homophobic judge to find whatever he wants regardless of lack of evidence - and closed trials, gays are railroaded to death sentences. The perverted theocracy in Iran truly needs to be over thrown and it would be wonderful divine justice if in the process some of the sadistic and foul rulers were to experience some of the torture and brutality they so cavalierly inflict on others. Gay City News has a lengthy story on both gays organizing on universities in Iran and the fraudulent kangaroo trials use to condemn young men - a number of whom are in their teens - to death sentences. That religion is a terrible source of evil, one need only look at Iran and other nations where religion is one and the same with the civil laws. It makes one mindful that we in the USA need to speak out against such travesties and also understand what this nation could become if the Christianist ever fully had their way. The full story deserves a read, although it may sicken you. Here are some highlights:

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Ten young Iranian men, including eight teenagers, are currently awaiting execution for sodomy, and two more are being re-tried on the same capital charge. And, in an exclusive interview with Gay City News, an Iranian student gay rights activist confirmed for the first time the existence of queer organizing on multiple university campuses throughout Iran.
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The information about the ten youths currently under sentence of death for sodomy (lavaat in Persian) was released on November 25 in a joint appeal by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), the Iranian Queer Organization (IRQO), and COC of the Netherlands, the world’s oldest LGBT rights group, founded in 1946. The three organizations called on Western countries “with significant diplomatic and economic ties to Iran, including Germany, France, Canada, as well as the European Union, to pursue diplomatic efforts to cease these executions.”
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It is extremely difficult to obtain information about death penalty cases involving homosexuality under today’s repressive theocratic regime in the Islamic Republic of Iran, where the press is heavily censored and journalists, regime critics, and human rights advocates are routinely persecuted and arrested and where the subject of same-sex relations is officially considered a political and religious taboo. Defendants in sodomy cases are denied open trials. Last month, Human Rigths Watch, basing its finding on an Iranian newspaper report, told of the execution of two men for sodomy.
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Hesam Misaghi, a 21-year-old leading member of CHRR’s Queer Committee, speaking through a translator by telephone from Isfahan, Iran’s third largest city, told Gay City News that this committee had been established some five months ago. The establishment of the Queer Committee by CHRR “is the sign of a new cultural awareness, because a new generation of Iranians no longer share the reactionary views of the regime with regard to sexual minorities,” said Misaghi, who courageously insisted on using his real name for the interview with this reporter. He added that “while an important part of those with this new attitude are secular, there is even a new generation of conservative Muslims who want to recognize queer rights.” Most of CHRR’s activists are in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, and a number of them have been arrested and harassed by security forces for their human rights work.
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The joint statement on those facing the death penalty for sodomy by IGLHRC, IRQO, and COC noted, “In most cases, the Court convicts the defendants of sodomy charges solely on the basis of ‘the knowledge of the judge.’ According to the Iranian law, when there is not enough evidence to convict a defendant of a sexual crime, the judge may use his knowledge, in a deductive process based on the evidence that already exists, to determine whether the crime took place or not. Unfortunately, the excessive use of this principle means that rather than paying attention to evidence, the judge often sentences defendants to death based on his speculations. A number of prominent legal and religious scholars believe that such a broad application of the ‘the knowledge of the judge’ to issue death penalty for sexual crimes is in violation of the letter and the spirit of Sharia law.”
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A prominent Iranian human rights lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaii, who represented the four defendants, believes his clients were framed. In a post to his blog, he said that following a fistfight between his clients and a group of four young men who trespassed and damaged land owned by Hamidi’s father, the police intervened and arrested his clients, accusing them of gang rape. When his clients declared their innocence, the police officials subjected them to three days of beatings and torture, trying to force a confession from at least one of them. Failing that, the police referred the case to the court as a sodomy rape case.
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Tahmasebi explained that it was often very difficult for defendants in sodomy cases to find competent lawyers. “Because of the social stigma attached to sodomy cases, many lawyers are not willing to take on such cases because of fears of accusations that they might be gay themselves,” she told Gay City News. “And because of this same social shame, families often do not contact lawyers to defend the accused, so as a last resort the court assigns a lawyer pro bono, who often does not get the case until the day of the trial. So most of these sodomy cases are badly defended.”
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That means, Thamasebi added, that “the only real chance left for the defendant is international human rights pressure and protest against the application of the death penalty — but often this occurs so late that the window of opportunity to prevent these executions is very small.”
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Over the course of history, I suspect that religion has caused more needless and unjust deaths than almost any other cause. It makes me feel physically sick.

Coming Out Later in Life: Complex But Not Unusual

We attended a holiday party last night hosted by a gay couple, each of whom had been previously married to women and each of whom had one or more children. In fact, I know many guys - and women too - who married and finally figured out later in life that they were not heterosexual and their marriages ended. Sadly, the majority had nasty divorces and few remain on good terms with the former spouses. One of the hosts who is certainly NOT the norm says he and his former wife are still friends. Something I would have preferred myself, but which did not come to pass not of my choice. CNN has a story that looks at this trend of people coming out later in life - something I suspect we we see more and more as people realize that "ex-gay" programs are bogus snake oil and that sexual orientation is pretty much set at birth despite however much one may try to deny it to themselves and the rest of the world. As the CNN article notes, coming out in mid-life is a complex process but truly not all that unusual - even though during the process one may feel as if no one else has ever experienced the difficult journey. It is important to understand that many have made the journey and that you are not some lone freak. Here are some highlights:

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Marrying someone of the opposite sex, but coming out as gay or lesbian later in life is not uncommon, therapists say. A prominent example is actress Meredith Baxter, 62, who had been married to men three times but recently announced that she has been dating women for the past seven years. The thought of being gay "had never crossed my mind," before seven years ago, she told People magazine earlier this month.
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Women, more often than men, report having these awakenings later in life, said Chris Kraft, clinical director at the Johns Hopkins Sexual Behaviors Consultation Unit. Males who decide to adopt a gay lifestyle late in adulthood generally have known about their orientation since their school years but do not want to risk telling others, he said.
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It's hard to say what it means to "not know" that you are gay until late in adulthood, said Gail Wyatt, sex therapist and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. But she and Kraft both know of people who simply did not know how to interpret their feelings of attraction for many years.
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Generally, sexual orientation becomes apparent to a person in adolescence, and to boys slightly earlier than girls, experts say. But sometimes the feelings of arousal and excitement that come from members of the same sex, even from casual sexual encounters, may feel more like "risk taking," and don't prompt a person to embrace a new sexual identity, Wyatt said. "They may have kids and families, a life that they would have to change, and many people don't want to have to make that kind of change," she said.
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Science has not homed in on a single cause for homosexuality, but research has found various genetic associations in males. Studies have found that having older brothers increases a man's likelihood of being gay, as well as that the arrangement of a mother's genes could impact whether her son is gay. A study on identical male twins found that if one twin was gay, the other had a 50 percent likelihood of also being gay.
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Divorce isn't always the solution for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered who are in heterosexual marriages, therapists said. Some couples choose to stay together because they don't want to disrupt their children's lives. But others separate and successfully begin new lives, Kraft said.
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For someone who has decided to date members of the same gender, there's a whole process of socialization that has to be learned -- a lot of people don't know how to establish a same-sex relationship, Wyatt said. "Just like the first date, the first kiss -- it's still a first," she said. "There is learning that has to take place, and certainly learning in a safe way so that disease does not get transmitted, so that people get tested, all of those things have to come into any kind of relationship today."
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One of the other party attendees has come out fairly recently and is going through a divorce nightmare and - as the article notes - is experiencing the whole new socialization process in transitioning to a different life. It truly takes time and one needs to have patience and realize that getting to where they want to be, especially if it involves a special committed relationship, takes work and does not happen overnight. n understanding therapist is a must and if you are not happy with the first one or two you see, keep on looking for that right fit.

More Friday Male Beauty

Catholic Sexual Abuse Scandals - A Worldwide Overview

Canada.com is carrying a Reuters story that provides a brief summary of the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals. It is noteworthy how few of the high Church officials have resigned or received any punishment. Pope Benedict XVI claims "outrage" over the scandals, yet no one has been fired or forced to resign, so his outrage seems more a case of crocodile tears rather than any real remorse. Or is the outrage mere over the fact that the Church hierarchy has been exposed as a moral cesspool? Here's the overview - one cannot help but wonder why anyone gives these bitter old queens in dresses the time of day much less their hard earned money:

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IRELAND:
• April 2002, Bishop Brendan Comiskey of Ferns, one of Ireland's best-known clerics, resigned over his handling of charges against a priest of his diocese who committed suicide in 1999 while facing 66 charges of sexual abuse.
• March 2009, Bishop John Magee of Cloyne, under fire for his handling of reports of sexual abuse, quit his daily duties to deal with the inquiry.
• May 2009, The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse issued a harrowing five-volume report that took nine years to compile. It said priests beat and raped children during decades of abuse in Catholic-run institutions.
• Nov. 2009, A government-commissioned inquiry into abuse in Dublin from 1975 to 2004 released on Nov. 26 said church authorities covered up widespread cases of child sexual abuse until the mid-1990s.

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CANADA
• Oct 2009, Bishop Raymond Lahey of Antigonish in Nova Scotia was charged with possession and importation of child pornography. Earlier this year, he had overseen a $13 million settlement with clerical abuse victims in the Antigonish diocese in a case dating back to 1950.
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UNITED STATES
• 2002 — Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law resigned over charges he transferred clerical abusers to other parishes to cover up the scandal.
• June 2002, The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops directed dioceses to investigate all charges of sexual abuse.
• Feb. 2004, Independent researchers commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said a total of 10,667 people accused U.S. priests of child sexual abuse from 1950 through 2002. More than 17 per cent of accusers had siblings who were also allegedly abused. Among accusers, 47 per cent said they had been abused numerous times.
• July 2007, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay $660 million to 500 victims of sexual abuse dating as far back as the 1940s in the largest compensation deal of its kind.
• April 2008, Pope Benedict met victims of sexual abuse by priests during his visit to the United States in an effort to heal the scars. The U.S. Church has paid some $2 billion in settlements to victims since the scandal first broke in 1992.
• Oct. 2009, The diocese of Wilmington, Delaware filed for bankruptcy protection. It later agreed to provide documents to alleged sex abuse victims to postpone the start of about 80 civil cases. Since 2002, the Wilmington diocese has settled eight cases for an average of about $780,000 each.

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AUSTRALIA
• July 2008, On a visit to Australia, Pope Benedict apologized for sexual abuse by clergy, condemning it as "evil" and saying abusers should be brought to justice. At that time there had been 107 convictions for sexual abuse in the Catholic Church there.
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AUSTRIA
• July 2004, Austrian News magazine Profil ran pictures of priests kissing and groping seminarians at a Roman Catholic seminary in the St. Poelten diocese.
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BRITAIN
• July 2000, London Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor acknowledged making a mistake in a previous post in the 1980s by allowing a paedophile priest to continue working. The priest was jailed in 1997 for abusing nine boys over a 20-year period.
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MEXICO
• March 2009, Pope Benedict ordered a probe of the Legion of Christ priestly order whose founder was discovered to be a sexual molester with at least one child with a mistress. In 2006, Pope Benedict told the founder, Father Marcial Maciel, to retire to a life of "prayer and penitence." Maciel died in 2008.

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Sources: Reuters/United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

The Fruits of Religious Based Insanity

HIV/AIDS is principally a HETEROSEXUAL disease in Africa, yet the Roman Catholic Church and many evangelical Christian groups oppose birth control and/or safe sex education. The map set out above - Each square equals 10,000 people - shows the fruits of such religious based insanity. Equally insane is the focus of some African governments on homosexuals instead of much more pressing issues such as AIDS, decent education and economic issues. It truly boggles the mind. I hope Papa Ratzi is pleased with the needless deaths he and his policies are causing.

Friday Male Beauty

Austria Passes Civil Unions

It's amazing - or pehaps shameful depending on one's perspective - how the "Old Europe" so derided by the American far right continues to demonstrate that its nations understand the concept of equality under the civil laws far better than America, the faux land of the free. Rather than being a leader, the USA still allows religion belief to control civil equality in a manner more atune to the Taliban or theocratic regime in Tehran. It is very disturbing and disappointing that America prefers religious based bigotry over civil law equality. Austria - the country where my father's parents emigrated from just prior to World War I - is the latest nation to extend marriage or civil union rights to its citizens. Pink News and Pam's House Blend have more details, Here are some highlights:

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Austria's parliament has approved legalising civil unions in the country. Out of 174 lawmakers present, 110 voted in favour and 64 voted against, Associated Press reports. The law is due to come into force on January 1st. It will provide gay couples with some of the rights and benefits enjoyed by heterosexual couples.
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Austrian civil unions are not equal to marriage, since CU'd couples aren't allowed to adopt or use artificial insemination, and couples have to register in the coat closet rather than the regular registry office. Still, this is a huge and excellent start. We know that these prohibitions will fall away in time.
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Austria joins the following countries in offering civil unions/partnerships: Andorra, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Luxembourg, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Slovenia, Switzerland, Wallis and Futuna, United Kingdom, Uruguay.
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And these countries have full marriage equality: Belgium, Canada, Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden .
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Clearly, the USA's backwardness is becoming embarrassing for those who believe in religious freedom and equality under the civil laws. It is also noteworthy that none of these progressive nations have experience the societal collapse predicted by the Christianists in the USA.

Taliban Bob McDonnell Already Proving He's No Moderate

The soon to be defunct - at least as a regular newspaper - Washington Times is carrying a story on Taliban Bob McDonnell's latest statements that underscore that he's no moderate when it comes to LGBT issues. While he has claimed he doesn't believe that gays should face discrimination, that apparently only holds true during campaigns. First McDonnell announced that he would not renew the executive orders signed by his predecessors Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. Now he's making noises about scuttling Kaine's plan to allow state employees who are members of sex couples to add their partner on the health insurance plan - at the employee's sole expense. Such a plan would incense the Christo-fascists at The Family Foundation (Daddy Dobson's Virginia affiliate that probably loved the Uganda "kill gays" bill), so I suspect that it's safe to say that McDonnell will find some "cost" to the state as a reason to kill the plan. Here are some highlights:

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Republican Gov.-elect Robert F. McDonnell says a proposal by Gov. Tim Kaine that would grant benefits to the partners of gay state employees likely won't survive into his administration if it comes with a price tag.
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The proposal by Mr. Kaine, a Democrat, would extend benefits to any qualified adult living in the home of a state employee. Mr. McDonnell on Tuesday called that public health goal laudable but said he needed to see the regulation and a specific cost analysis. "I don't think we can afford any new state expenditures due to the $3 billion shortfall," Mr. McDonnell said.
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Lawyers for the incoming governor have been looking at the proposal, Mr. McDonnell said, but "concepts are concepts. I want to see the regulation before I can comment any further."
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Mr. McDonnell said he likes the idea that it would be the state extending benefits as opposed to the federal government.
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"I'm certainly supportive of public and private sector insurance-based programs to expand health insurance," he said, noting that it could help a significant number of the 15 percent or 16 percent of uninsured Virginians.
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But the outgoing governor's proposal raises too many questions to determine whether it would be feasible without further analysis, Mr. McDonnell said. He wants to know if there will be a limit on the number of people per house who can be covered, who has to pay, and whether it would expand the cost to the entire state pool of employees.
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Early in his tenure as Attorney General in February 2006, Mr. McDonnell declared Mr. Kaine's Executive Order No. 1 unconstitutional. The order added sexual orientation as a protected class of employment within state government. Mr. McDonnell argued that the governor exceeded his authority by effectively changing the law in an area where the General Assembly had indicated precedence.
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My advice to LGBT citizens contemplating a move to Virginia is simple: DON'T DO IT. And in addition, make sure you let people know that your decision is based on Virginia's anti-gay laws. Hopefully, at some point the business community will grow some balls and take on the Christianists.

More Thursday Male Beauty

Obama Now Polling Almost Even With Huckabee

In what should be a frightening wake up call to all Democrats, a new poll shows that President Obama is polling only slightly ahead of theocratic nut case Mike Huckabee. Obama and the Congressional Democrats truly know how to seize defeat from the jaws of victory. Yes Obama came into office with perhaps unrealistic expectations, but what he and the Democrats in Congress have done - or more accurately, not done - despite holding majorities in both houses of Congress and the White House is beyond distressing. The Democrats simply seem incompetent in terms of governing the country and seem more worried about pleasing the GOP rump than in delivering on campaign promises to those who elected them. Here are some highlights on the new poll numbers from Politico:

In the ninth iteration of Public Policy Polling’s monthly survey looking at how some potential 2012 opponents stack up against Barack Obama the Republican candidates have their strongest performances yet. As he has in all of these polls, Mike Huckabee comes the closest to Obama. He now trails only 46-45, improved from 49-44 in November. Huckabee does the best of the Republican hopefuls with independents, trailing just 49-41.

Obama has no one but himself to blame for this state of affairs. He has lied to the Democrat base and failed to deliver on the "change" he promised. I am beginning to wonder whether or not the Democrats will continue to hold both houses of Congress after the 2010 elects. They have done nothing to indicate that they deserve control.

Anti-Gay and Anti-Modernity Bishop to Head Milwaukee Diocese

In follow up to a prior post on the continuing land mines that are exploding against the Catholic Church hierarchy, a reader sent me a link to a story in the Wisconsin Gazette that focuses on the new head of the Catholic Diocese of Milwaukee. The new Archbishop, Jerome Listecki, seems symptomatic of the overall problem with the Church hierarchy: the members are living in a false past and refuse to face the fact that times changes and that the Church's Medieval mindset needs to change. Listecki has opposed reforms in laws dealing with the sexual abuse of minors, opposes gay marriage, opposes birth control and stem cell research and seems as ignorant and closed minded as Pope Benedict XVI. Given that Benedict selected Listecki, it should come as no surprise I suppose. Milwaukee's new backward thinking Archbishop who just happens to appear to like to treat predator priests with kid gloves. The good news is that Listecki will probable drive even more thinking Catholics from the Church. Here are some highlights:

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MILWAUKEE — The Vatican has named Bishop Jerome Listecki, an activist against child-abuse reform legislation, same-sex marriage, reproductive freedom and stem-cell research, as the new archbishop of Milwaukee. A retired military man, Listecki currently heads the Diocese of La Crosse. In January, he will succeed Timothy Dolan, who was made archbishop of New York.
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Listecki has been more outspoken on political issues than Dolan. He criticized U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her interpretation of Catholic teachings on the beginnings of life, and he protested the University of Notre Dame’s decision to honor President Barack Obama. He publicly broke with the Wisconsin Catholic Conference of Bishops to lobby against a bill forcing state hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims.
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Last month Listecki testified before a legislative committee against a proposal to suspend Wisconsin’s civil statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse cases for three years. The bill aims to give legal standing to victims of childhood predators who were prevented from taking their cases to court under past Wisconsin statutes, which were among the nation’s most restrictive.
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Listecki’s record on protecting pedophiles is particularly troubling, Isley said, because La Crosse “holds the national record for clearing priests who have been reported to have sexually assaulted children.” A 2004 study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice found the church had cleared 64 percent of priests in the La Crosse Diocese accused of sexual abuse. That compares with a national clearance rate of about 10 percent, according to a report commissioned by United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
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“Listecki has been asked repeatedly (during his four-years in La Crosse) to explain this record and he’s refused,” Isley said. In addition, Listecki has adopted an official policy of directing childhood victims of clerical abuse to contact him directly, instead of notifying law enforcement.
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Ray Stroik, a retired professor and college administrator who worked on the La Crosse diocese’s justice and peace commission, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that progressives and reformists may be concerned about Listecki’s appointment. “He’s very strong in terms of Catholic identity, basic issues of pro life, gay marriage, stem cell research,” Stroik said. “Yet not doing much on social justice, or global peace.”
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Through June 30, 2009, the archdiocese had paid out $28 million to settle charges related to clergy sexual abuse.

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Stories like this one remind me yet again why I am no longer at member of the Roman Catholic Church. As an institution, its leadership is morally bankrupt and now right criminal in much of its conduct. Yet given the Church's structure, it is impossible to implement reform. All everyday Catholics can do is walk away and take their checkbooks with them. One can only hope these spiritual refugees will find their way to the Episcopal or Lutheran Churches which have the beautiful rites like the Catholic Church but with out the disgusting Church Hierarchy.

Thursday Male Beauty

Christianist and Catholic Poison in Africa

Susan Jacoby has a piece in the Washigton Post that takes a good look at the homophobia and backward medical thinking that has been exported to Africa by both American Christianists and the Vatican. She also looks at the deafening silence of Obama's BFF, Rick Warren in regard to proposals to execute gays in Uganda. In sum, it makes a stunning record of religion as evil. I do try to not be resoundingly anti-religion, but it is difficult at times not to be. Sadly, the rational and "good Christians" if you will are all too silent too much of the time and allow the principal message of Christianity to be one of hate and exclusion. Indeed, as Frank Schaeffer said in his blog post that I quoted yesterday, it seems the field is most often yielded to the modern day Pharisees who the media lacks the guts to expose for the nasty individuals they are in reality. Here are some highlights:

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The bill was introduced in the Uganda legislature in October after a visit by U.S. Christian conservatives who promote therapy to “convert” gays to heterosexuality. Since then, many more liberal Catholic, evangelical, and other Protestant leaders have denounced the bill—including Jim Wallis of Sojourners and Ronald Siders, president of Evangelicals for Social Action. Pastor Rick Warren, however—yes, the Rick Warren who spoke at President Obama’s inauguration—declined to comment when offered the opportunity by Newsweek’s Lisa Miller and NBC’s David Gregory on “Meet the Press.” . . . What can and should be done, by political leaders as well as private groups, to marginalize so-called religious figures who stay silent on such matters?
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The Uganda legislation is important not only because of its particular harshness and moral lunacy (imagine equating living with HIV and same-sex rape!) but because the spread of AIDS in Africa is one of the most serious public health threats in the world. Other countries, such as Nigeria and Rwanda, are also considering new anti-gay laws. There is a particular irony in Rwanda’s consideration of such a law, given that Rwanda is one of the countries whose own women have been victims of mass rape by soldiers and whose soldiers have participated in mass rapes in Congo. How about a law promoting life imprisonment for all men, heterosexual or homosexual, committing rape against either women or men?
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It should be said that the role played by the Vatican and Protestant Christian conservatives in light of the AIDS crisis in Africa has been destructive, in that the religious conservatives’ attacks on condom use—and moral condemnation of homosexuality itself—have provided reinforcement for the most retrograde African attitudes toward gays. Scott Lively, a California-based evangelical preacher and author of the charmingly titled book “The Pink Swastika,” told The Huffington Post that the Ugandan bill went too far but added, “I agree with the general goal.”
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One can only hope that President Obama will have the sense never to invite Rick Warren to appear at any government function again.

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One can also hope that the spineless MSM will cease giving Warren opportunities to pontificate. Warren is a bloated, pompous, hateful ass who needs to be shunned by the media and Obama.

Is Gay Marriage Inevitable?

Ben Smith at Politico has a column that looks at the question posed in the title of this post and the conclusion is basically, yes, gay marriage will one day be more or less universal in the USA. There are no legitimate constitutional reasons to deny equal marriage rights. The sole opposition to the concept boils down to two words: religious discrimination. Fortunately, the older Neanderthal generation is going to die off and the younger generation has a 180 degree different view of gays and gay unions. Unlike the oldest generations, they support it by almost the same percentage that the reactionaries oppose it. As the column notes, even a Republican pollster concedes the inevitable. Yes, LGBT equality saw set backs this year, but time is on our side, Therefore, it is safe to assume that we will see even more hysteria on the part of Christianists who in their hearts know where the trend of history is headed. Sadly, most do not care that their legacy will be to be viewed as the equivalent of the segregationists of the 1950's and 1960's. Here are some highlights:

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The movement to expand marriage to include gays and lesbians has gathered force from the perception that it’s a historic civil rights battle and that its foes are, as advocates often say, on the “wrong side of history.” That’s a message that has animated supporters, silenced opposition — just one New York legislator, for instance, stood up to explain his “no” vote — and generated its own momentum. It has also penetrated broadly into the culture, said Democratic pollster Diane Feldman, whose surveys have found a solid majority of Americans view same-sex marriage as inevitable “and are variously pleased [about] or resigned to that.”
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His argument and that of other gay marriage advocates is fundamentally demographic. “It is a historical inevitability, if for no other reason than the old people will eventually die, and the young people are overwhelmingly in favor of it,” said David Mixner, a veteran gay rights activist.
And a review of recent polling and conversations with political operatives and pollsters on both sides of the issue suggest that same-sex marriage still benefits from deep support among younger voters.

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But polling on the issue suggests that support for same-sex marriage is just part of a bundle of attitudes unlikely to change with age. “There’s a lot of things that go along with support for same-sex marriage — attitudes such as awareness that people are born gay,” said Feldman. Young voters’ “underlying attitudes about gay people and gay rights are very different” from older voters’, she said.
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Many Republican analysts privately agree. “It’s only a matter of time,” said a prominent Republican pollster, who declined to be named for stating a view that runs contrary to those of many of his clients. “Once the dam bursts, which is going to happen, it’s a process that won’t be stopped.”
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So Maggie Gallagher and similar haters - many of whom are enriching themselves in the process - can crow for now. But the day will come when future generations view her and her allies as bigoted monsters. That's certainly not how I would want to be remembered in history books of the future.

HRBOR's December Networking Event is Tomorrow

The last HRBOR business networking event of 2009 is tomorrow at the Generic Theater at the Scope/Chrysler Hall complex in downtown Norfolk. HRBOR events are great ways to market your business and to met LGBT and LGBT friendly professionals and business owners. I and Christianna Flynn first dreamed up the concept of HRBOR in August-December, 2006, with our first called meeting on December 13, 2006. HRBOR's formal launch occured in May, 2007, at the Town Point Club in Norfolk. Since that time, there has been a networking event every month hosted by one or more of HRBOR's members. I hope local readers - both gay and straight - will make a point to attend. More details on tomorrows event are as follows:

DATE: December 10th, 2009
TIME: Early start time: 5:30 PM - 7:30 pm
HOST: Jeannette Rainey: President / General Producer
PLACE: 215 St Pauls Boulevard
Norfolk, VA 23517
757-441-2160
www.generictheater.org


COST: Free to Members, $10.00 for Non-members.
(Non-Member price to increase to $15.00: Jan 2010)


Click here for parking information.

For over 25 years, Generic Theater has been producing innovative plays you won't see anywhere else. We're excited about our new performance space! Every time you see a play the seating configuration may change, allowing directors, designers and actors exciting new choices.

A Tuna Christmas
Jaston Williams, Joe Sears & Ed Howard
Directed by: Christopher Bernhardt
Play Start Time: 7:30 PM
(discounted Tickets for members, family and guests for $5 through HRBOR)
(tickets normally $15 each)

HRBOR's mission statement reads as follows: Hampton Roads Business OutReach (HRBOR) is a broad based coalition of LGBT owned and LGBT supportive businesses and professionals dedicated to the development, growth and advocacy of Hampton Roads and its LGBT community. By promoting an environment in which diversity can flourish, HRBOR is committed to the economic growth and prosperity of our members and our community.

More Wednesday Male Beauty

Frank Schaeffer - A True Christian Message

I wrote recently about Frank Schaeffer's new book that his publicist me as a gift. Today, a reader directed me to a post on Frank Schaeffer's blog that reprimands in no uncertain terms the Christianists who disseminate anti-gay hatred for profit and political purposes. Schaeffer has entitled his post as an "Open Letter From Jesus to 'Christian' America." For those not familiar with Schaeffer, his father and mother were early leaders in the Christian Right - a movement that their son has rejected as a perversion of the Gospel message. I agree with Schaeffer's sentiments and am amazed that more cannot see the anti-gay Christianists for what they are: modern day Pharisees who have missed the forest for the trees and who are marked by who they hate - gays, blacks, immigrants, the list goes on and on - as opposed to for their Christian love and efforts for the poor and rejected. Here are some highlights from Schaeffer's post (the post is amazing given Schaeffer's upbringing and deserves a full read):

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Woe to you American Christians! You say I'm the "son of God" and yet you bully the defenseless in my name. Do you understand the parable of the Good Samaritan?
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Put it another way: Did you miss the point when I said that those who come to me saying "Lord, Lord we followed you and believed correctly" are the very ones that I will cast out of the Kingdom of Heaven, since they did not care for the least of these, the downtrodden, the poor and the oppressed?
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Who do you think will inherit the earth: the wealthy leaders of your giant churches or the downtrodden gays scorned and mocked by society? Who's side do you think God is on: the bullied and outcast or the powerful religious leaders with their false smiles?
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You say you take everything in the Bible seriously and yet you ignore all the many verses about divorce and somehow paper that over because a majority of America buys into divorce now and you don't want to lose your congregations. And half your pastors and religious leaders are divorced and remarried. But you stick it to gay men and women because they are a minority and easy to pick on! Why wax moralistic about one thing you call sin (though I have no problem with divorce per se) and yet stick it to a minority?
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You judgmental holy rollers are like banks always making a mistake in their own favor! Why do religious so-called conservative Americans always pick on the little guy, the disenfranchised, blacks, Hispanics, immigrants, pregnant women, gay people? I'll tell you why! Because you are bullies! You are the Pharisees passing by on the other side of the road, those who are so sure you're saved because of some nonsense that you believe in my name.
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You American Christians utterly defaced the name of Christianity with your racism, your slavery and your bigotry against women. And now you're doing it again in your war against gay men and women and in your war against the poor who have no health care. Some of you even have had it as part of your wicked program to reestablish the Biblical law demanding death to gay people that I clearly showed must be broken by the greater law of love. Well, as you judge so you will be judged. Good luck with that!
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You are like the Pharisees I used to know and who strained out the least gnat of others' so-called misbehavior while turning a blind eye to their own wickedness, hypocrisy and lies. Remember my sayings about taking the beam out of your own eye before removing the speck from your brother's? Quit worrying about gay people and start to worry about your so-called churches, those ash heaps of stinking bigotry and hate.

The Affirmation Declaration

I have previously commented on the far right Christianists' "Manhattan Declaration" whic is a manifesto encouraging wingnut Christians to enage in civil disobedience rather that allow the CIVIL laws to provide for gay rights and other issues that are not consistent with the far right Christianists' religious beliefs. Now, to counter the toxic message of exclusion embodied in the so-called Manhattan Declaration," a group of Christians have drafted the "Affirmation Declaration" that confronts and rejects the bigotry and intolerance of the Christianists and that provides an affirmative Christian message. Here are some highlights from the Affirmation Declaration:
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The Affirmation Declaration is a statement that expresses the convictions of Christians all over the world. It was written in response to the now famous Manhattan Declaration, to correct egregious errors contained in the document, errors that have been preached in the pulpits of many local churches for far too long.
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With the growing notoriety and support for the Manhattan Declaration, our Affirmation Declaration reflects an urgent need to respond to the portion of the Manhattan Declaration dealing with issues related to sexual orientation—specifically, homosexuality and same-sex marriage. We strongly disagree with the contention that same-sex attractions and the oft-resulting romantic activities are immoral.
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We also desire to let the world know that not all Christians are locked in what we believe to be an ancient worldview regarding homosexuality. We want to give people hope—hope to know that God loves them just as they are; hope to know that their gay loved ones are not destined for Hell; hope to know that although some Christian churches will never accept them or their same-sex unions, a great many will.
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I urge you to go to the website and add you signature and name to this declaration. True Christians need to save the name of Christianity from the knuckle draggers of the far right who have turned Christ's Gospel message into a message of hate.

Wednesday Male Beauty

Dark Clouds and Dark Thoughts

It stormed during the night and today is a dark and cloudy day and pouring rain - which reflects my mental outlook. Christmas is still two weeks away, but I wish it had already come and gone. Fortunately, we have a busy social schedule and between a HRBOR board meeting, the networking event Thursday and double booked commitments each day this weekend my time to just sit and contemplate will be limited. At work, it's the usual year end issues - juggling client schedules, addressing issues and delays in commercial closings and dealing with the strain of greatly reduced revenues from the days when real estate was booming.

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Some readers incorrectly think my sadness/depression comes from not fully having accepted my sexual orientation. That is hardly the cas - in fact, I am happy being gay and living openly. I have no issue with being gay and I have a wonderful, loving partner. It's the other crap in life that's the downer, not the least the financial strain stemming from the bad economy and payments that must be made to the former wife and tenant issues of late payments. Lurking behind all of that is the ever present sadness of two of my children having written me off as a result of the divorce wars. It hurts to my core and perhaps more than anything makes me want to make it all stop at times.

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This blog remains a bright spot and lifeline. Readership is up and the blog is climbing in the technorati rankings. I plan on doing some "pot stirring" in terms of the homophobia rampant in the Virginia legal community and will be doing future posts on the disconnect between the non-discrimination policies of Virginia's leading law schools for interviewing firms and the sad reality in the majority of law firms that give a wink and a nod to those policies and than discriminate at will for the most part. Where it will go I do not know, but hopefully it will cause some angst at some of the local large firms. :)

Violent Protests in Iran

Even though what ultimately happens in the continuing struggle against Iran's theocratic government would have profound impact on the Middle East, for the most part the U.S. media has dropped the ball on coverage. The New York Yimes looks at the situation and has he has done consistently, Andrew Sullivan continues to report on happenings in Iran. Should the theocracy be overthrown and a democracy arise, it would reverberate all over the Arab world - even though Iran is by definition and Arab country. The Persian Empire long predates the rise of Islam and many Iranians are aware of their nations glorious, educated past. Yes, Islam is the principal religion, but culturally Iran is far different than other Middle East countries. Here are some highlights from the Times story:

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BEIRUT, Lebanon — Iran’s broadest and most violent protest in months spilled over into a second day on Tuesday, as bloody clashes broke out on university campuses between students chanting antigovernment slogans and the police and Basij militia members.

The clashes took place on campuses in cities across the country, as students and opposition members took advantage of National Student Day to vent their rage despite a lengthy and wide-ranging government effort to forestall them.
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The violence continued Tuesday on the campus of Tehran University, where security forces were using tear gas and arresting students, according to reports and video clips relayed through Twitter and Internet postings. There were protests at large squares near the university as well, witnesses said.
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Monday’s protests showed a striking escalation in direct attacks on the country’s theocratic foundation and not just on the June presidential election, which the opposition has attacked as fraudulent.
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The new violence came as Iran’s chief prosecutor, Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejehi, warned of even harsher measures if the protests did not cease.
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On Monday, protesters burned pictures of Ayatollah Khamenei, and even the father of the 1979 revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. They held up Iranian flags from which the “Allah” emblem, added after the revolution, had been removed.
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The protests were timed to an official holiday commemorating the killing of three students by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi’s forces in 1953. Students have held a central role in the insurrections of Iran’s modern history.
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On Tuesday, the opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi — who was prevented from attending Monday’s demonstrations — had a tense standoff with angry security men who had surrounded his office, according to opposition Web sites.
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[I]t has become unclear how much Mr. Moussavi speaks for the opposition, which includes many who appear to be taking a more radical approach and demanding an end to the theocracy. During Monday’s demonstrations, there were fewer people with clothing or banners in the trademark bright green color of Mr. Moussavi’s presidential campaign. And there were more chants aimed directly at Ayatollah Khamenei — a taboo that has increasingly eroded since the election. In addition to the now common chants of “death to the dictator,” some protesters chanted, “Khamenei knows his time is up” on Monday.

Evangelical Lutheran Leader Suggests Bible not the Final Authority

The Uber-Christians at OneNewsNow - a Christianist faux news website - have their panties in a wad over the statements by the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Mark Hanson. His "sin"? His recognition that the Bible cannot be applied literally and giving room for God to continue further revelations. The obvious truth of the statements are evident to anyone who knows true history and the manner in which the Bible was first compiled and subsequently manipulated by those who prevailed in imposing their spin on the Bible as we know it nowadays. The fact that thinking Lutherans - which excludes the Missouri Synod folks - can recognize the Bible's limitations is one of the things I like about the ELCA as opposed to the mindless, corrupt, power mad approach of the Roman Catholic Church not to mention the Bible thumper crowd. Here are some highlights:

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In a town hall meeting Sunday, Bishop Mark Hanson said, "the understanding we have of homosexuality today does not seem to be reflected at all in the context of the biblical writers." Therefore, he said, Lutherans should consider more modern views on sexual orientation.
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At its churchwide convention in August, the ELCA lifted its ban on partnered gay and lesbian clergy, prompting some traditional congregations to withhold funds and begin forming a separate denomination.
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But Hanson insisted the ELCA can accommodate both views. In his words, "God is still speaking to us." He also suggests that more homosexual-friendly policies may help the denomination grow.
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Obviously, Hanson's statements are heresy to the Christo-fascists even though I believe that they are 100% true. As I have said before, for LGBT Catholics, the ELCA offers a potential church home and is worth checking out.

More Tuesday Male Beauty

Creationism and Racism; Bigotry as a Fundraiser

Two posts that I happened upon look at two issues that I have referenced on many occasions: (1) the Christian Right's use of anti-gay hysteria as a fundraising tool and (2) the latent racism just beneath the surface of professional Christian organizations such as Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council ans similar "pro-family" organizations. The Christianists have truly turned Christianity into a toxic poison and the racial hatred and love of money that lie below the surface need to be exposed. I find it incredibly ironic that the white Christianists routinely co-opt the black clergy into doing their biding even though in reality they despise blacks. The first piece is found at Patrol Magazine and is entitled: Fear Factor - When evangelical organizations use homophobia and political dishonesty to get members to contribute. Here are some highlights:
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If you are still confused about what this has to do with balancing the budget at a Christian institution, welcome to the depressing world of evangelical fundraising. The letter I received, signed by the school’s chancellor, quickly extrapolated that England’s draconian infringements on religious speech will be hopping the Atlantic any day now, necessitating the recipient’s generous donation to Patrick Henry for the training of “scholar-warriors.” It concluded with a repudiation of Western higher education in favor of a more radical system that gives students “a plan of boldness and courage rather than one of secrecy and silence.”
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To make things worse, that was the second letter I read last week that managed through a series of spectacular demagogic acrobatics to hold up encroaching, government-mandated gayness as the impetus for eager donation. Family Research Council president Tony Perkins spammed members with a 6-page letter (PDF) falsely warning that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act would “empower Washington to silence your faith.”
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I hope that a minority of Christians would ever bother to read a Family Research Council action alert. But the shameless political hackery on display in these and other similar evangelical missives is too high-profile and too un-Christian for it not to be addressed thoroughly and publicly.
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First, there is the basic issue of honesty. Advocacy and activism groups exist to raise their particular issue out of the chaos of political discourse, often by labeling opponents and only telling half of the truth. Washington works that way. But the statements of Christian advocacy groups are closely scrutinized by political actors and curious individuals alike, and, if they are to wear the faith badge, must at very least meet minimal standards of honesty. That wouldn’t seem to be so much to ask of an organization that purports to defend a faith that abhors lying.
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More disturbing is the willingness to take a bristling, irrational stance toward homosexuality, an issue that the church—with a few notable exceptions—has already failed to address with any sort of grace. I have resisted the bullying characterization of all gay marriage opponents as bigoted yahoos, but to take a religiously conservative stand on the issue requires almost superhuman amounts of love, humility and nuance. The firebrand tone of these fundraising letters is exactly the opposite; it is openly comfortable with capitalizing financially on unfounded fear of the men and women next door.
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Clearly, the most dishonest people nowadays in terms of never telling the truth are the professional Christians such as Tony Perkins and James Dobson. They would not know the truth if it hit them in the side of their heads. The second piece looks at the correlation between those who believe in creationism and racial bigotry - something I have noted as an undercurrent on "pro-family" organization web sites for years. The column appears at The Sensuous Curmudgeon and follows the "inerrant Biblical reasoning" that supports racism among evangelicals. Here are some highlights (read the full column):

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LIKE most on informed side of The Controversy, your Curmudgeon has spent time debunking lies told about Darwin. See Racism, Eugenics, and Darwin. But we’re getting tired of being on the defensive. Today we’re placing the racism issue exactly where it belongs — in the camp of the creationists. We’re going to beat them over the head with the club they’ve been trying to use on us. We’re going to expose the racism that lurks not far beneath the surface of the typical creationist.
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Any understanding of the creationism-racism topic must begin with William Jennings Bryan, one of the most loathsome creatures in American history — populist, creationist, advocate of the income tax and currency debasement — and a once-dominant figure in American politics. . . . Bryan’s role in the Scopes Trial is well known, and widely applauded by creationists; but they never point out that all through his career, Bryan was supported by the Klan.
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Today’s Social Conservatives, who also label themselves as the family values crowd, tend to be very close to Bryan in their thinking. But they’re rarely so tasteless as to openly endorse Bryan’s racism. Yet we sense it in their insistence on creationism.
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Let the truth be known! Racism is the always-present but never-mentioned motive for rejecting evolution and its corollary of common descent. Deep within every creationist is the secret fear that — gasp! — evolution means we’re related to … them! And you know who they are.

The clear message is conveyed, without a spoken word, that humans evolved from dark-skinned, hairy, wide-nosed creatures with sloped foreheads and jutting jowls. But the skin color, size of the nose and lips, and amount of hair are not supported by science, only assumed by evolution.

The “skin color, size of the nose and lips” — how offensive! If you click over to the Wired article you can see the image Deak created. Imagine how that strikes a creationist who believes in the literal truth of Genesis 1:27, which says: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. The creationist thinks: In His image, yes — but not that image! . . . They may rant and rave about dozens of other debunked issues, but deep down in the guts of the typical creationist lurks the dreaded specter of a family tree showing that he’s related to … them!

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A related corollary is that if Goad created gays in His image, then we are like the Christianists and they are likewise made in our image - a thought that frightens the crap out of them.

Ireland, Once a Catholic Bastion, Promises Civil Unions for Same-Sex Couples

In some ways the timing of the latest explosion of the sexual abuse scandal in Ireland seems Heaven sent - with the Roman Catholic Church almost totally discredited, the passage of comprehensive domestic partner benefits for same sex couples is almost assured. These rights will go a long way towards approximating marriage. Were everyone not stunned in revulsion at the latest report on the rampant sexual abuse of minors in the Diocese of Dublin - not to mention the implication of many members of the current Irish Church hierarchy - I suspect the Church would seek to kill the proposed legislation. Instead, the Church is struggling to retain any respectability and credibility. God seems to work in strange ways. Would that there would be another huge flood of disclosures embarrassing to the Church in the USA. The Christian Science Monitor looks at these strange circumstances that few would have found believable even a decade ago in a new article. Here are some highlights:

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Dublin, Ireland – As the United States engages in a heated debate over gay marriage, European Union countries are rapidly striding toward total recognition of same-sex civil unions, if not marriage. The most recent example is Ireland.Last Thursday saw Ireland become the latest country to edge toward marriage equality for homosexual couples. The Irish parliament read and debated the Civil Partnership Bill 2009, introduced by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern.
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Despite Ireland’s socially conservative image, opposition to the bill is virtually non-existent and will likely pass into law this month with widespread support from opposition parties Fine Gael and Labour as well as the governing coalition of Fianna Fáil and the Green Party. . . . In the US, meanwhile, Maine and New York last month became the 31st and 32nd states, respectively, to vote against same-sex marriage though five states allow it and New Jersey may soon make six.
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The Irish bill would grant same-sex couples rights in relation to domestic violence, residential tenancies, succession, refugee law, pensions, medical care, and equal access to state benefits and immigration.
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Ireland is a less religious country today than at at any point in its history. The Catholic Church, long the lodestone of Irish life, has been hard-hit by seemingly endless revelations about child sex abuse perpetrated by priests – and covered-up by the Church hierarchy with the support of police.
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Ireland’s transformation has been relatively rapid. Condoms were legalized in 1985 and divorce in 1997. Homosexuality ceased to be a criminal offense in 1993 after the country was taken to the European Court of Human Rights by academic David Norris, an openly gay man who is now a senator in the Upper House of Ireland’s parliament.