More Saturday Male Beauty

Anti-gay Quotes From the Family Research Council

Even as the gay haters at Family Research Council are shrieking that they have been wrongfully labeled as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, John Aravosis who edits America Blog has reactivated a shortened version of a web page he did some years back that documents the MANY lies and hate driven statements FRC promulgates to create anti-gay hatred. It is worth a read and if one takes the time to read all the quotes, it becomes absolutely clear that FRC is a hate group and its claims of being a Christian organization is merely a smoke screen to hide the organization's main agenda and make it more palatable to politicians and lazy newscasters who never bother to look behind the smoke and mirrors. I wish some major newspapers would do a hard hitting piece on FRC and run lengthy quotes from its poisonous lies so that no sentient person could doubt that SPLC has 100% on the mark. Here are a few samplings from John's work:
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Gays are pedophiles, and want to promote youth promiscuity. "There is a strong undercurrent of pedophilia in the homosexual subculture. Homosexual activists want to promote the flouting of traditional sexual prohibitions at the earliest possible age....they want to encourage a promiscuous society - and the best place to start is with a young and credulous captive audience in the public schools." - Robert Knight, Family Research Council, http://www.frc.org/insight/is93f1hs.html
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Gays hate God. "[Homosexuality] is the opposite of love for God. It is a rebellion against God and God's natural order, and embodies a deep-seated hatred against true religion." - THE ASSAULT ON CHRISTIANS BY THE MILITANT HOMOSEXUAL MOVEMENT, by Steven A. Schwalm, Family Research Council, http://www.frc.org/podium/pd98j2hs.html
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Gays oppose Christianity. "Militant homosexuality is fundamentally opposed to religion, family, and anything that presupposes a natural moral order, a transcendent God, or something else higher than ourselves. The activist homosexual agenda and worldview are fundamentally incompatible with Christianity or any form of true religion, because homosexuality is ultimately narcissism" - THE ASSAULT ON CHRISTIANS BY THE MILITANT HOMOSEXUAL MOVEMENT, by Steven A. Schwalm, Family Research Council, http://www.frc.org/podium/pd98j2hs.html
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Gays are diseased, die early, and are less productive than heterosexuals. "homosexual behavior is extremely unhealthy, contributing to the spread of AIDS, hepatitis A, B and C and other sexually transmitted diseases….A study of more than 6,400 obituaries in homosexual publications reveals that homosexuals typically have far shorter life spans than the general population. Other reports indicate that homosexuals are more likely to have drug and alcohol abuse problems. It is unfair to force businesses to pay the extra insurance expense and lost productivity that inevitably results from homosexual behavior." [Editors note: the source for this "research" is the discredited Dr. Paul Cameron - see below for extensive information about his extreme beliefs] - Robert Knight, Family Research Council, testifying at ENDA Hearings, July 29, 1994 - committee on Labor and Human Resources, US Senate.
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Gays only pretend to oppose pedophilia. "In the United States, homosexual activists are more circumspect about their efforts to gain access to children...homosexual activists publicly disassociate themselves from pedophiles as part of a public relations strategy"- "Homosexual Activists Work to Normalize Sex With Boys," FRC publication, July 1999, http://www.frc.org/misc/bl057.pdf

Gays are 33% of child molesters. "they constitute about a third of child molesters." - "Homosexual Activists Work to Normalize Sex With Boys," FRC publication, July 1999, http://www.frc.org/misc/bl057.pdf
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The examples go on and on and are clearly NOT statements of religious belief or dogma. The sole intent is to malign and denigrate a whole segment of society and to engender hatred. When will the MSM get off its ass and start exposing FRC and its allies for the hate mongers that they are?

Norfolk, Virginia Tackles Rising Sea Levels While Cuccinelli Denies Climate Change

It's not exactly the type of media attention a semi-back water like Norfolk, Virginia desires, but an article on the front page of today's New York Times looks at the increasing problems facing Norfolk as global warming is rising sea levels. At the same time, Virginia's mentally untethered Attorney General, Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli, denies that global warming is a scientific reality and is using lawsuits to harass the scientific community. For Kookinelli (and the majority of his Christianist supporters), reality is what he wants it to be and he never lets objective facts get in the way of his insane, megalomaniac agenda. Of course, Norfolk is not the only Virginia coastal city facing the challenge of rising sea levels - Hampton is another as are virtually all seven of the cities of Hampton Roads. Meanwhile, as noted, Kookinelli wastes time and resources challenging science that collides with his religious based insanity. Here are some story highlights:
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But Norfolk is worse off. Situated just west of the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, it is bordered on three sides by water, including several rivers, like the Lafayette, that are actually long tidal streams that feed into the bay and eventually the ocean.
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Like many other cities, Norfolk was built on filled-in marsh. Now that fill is settling and compacting. In addition, the city is in an area where significant natural sinking of land is occurring. The result is that Norfolk has experienced the highest relative increase in sea level on the East Coast — 14.5 inches since 1930, according to readings by the Sewells Point naval station here.
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The state’s attorney general, Ken T. Cuccinelli II, is trying to prove that a prominent climate scientist engaged in fraud when he was a researcher at the University of Virginia. But the residents of coastal neighborhoods here are less interested in the debate than in the real-time consequences of a rise in sea level.
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“Last month,” she said recently, “there were eight or nine days the tide was so doggone high it was difficult to drive.” Larchmont residents have relentlessly lobbied the city to address the problem, and last summer it broke ground on a project to raise the street around the “u” by 18 inches and to readjust the angle of the storm drains so that when the river rises, the water does not back up into the street. The city will also turn a park at the edge of the river back into wetlands — it is now too saline for lawn grass to grow anyway. The cost for the work on this one short stretch is $1.25 million.
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Norfolk has hired the Dutch firm Fugro to evaluate options like inflatable dams and storm-surge floodgates at the entrances to waterways.
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Others like Mr. Schultz support the construction, even though they think the results will be very temporary indeed. “The fact is that there is not enough engineering to go around to mitigate the rising sea,” he said. “For us, it is the bitter reality of trying to live in a world that is getting warmer and wetter.”

The Real History of Christmas

I am not one to trash the concept of Christmas insofar as it celebrates family togetherness and good cheer and generosity. I do, however, take offense with those who would rewrite the real history of the holiday and try to ignore the real and opportunistic genesis behind it. As we move into the holiday shopping season, without a doubt we will hear the Christianists whining of the need to "keep Christ in Christmas" even though the real history of the winter celebration clearly underscores that its origins were pagan. Yep, the Catholic Church - always opportunistic - deliberately co-opted the season to push its own religious activities just as the Christian resurrection story was a recycling of a theme (a topic for a future post) that had long existed before the first century A.D. Here are some tidbits from History.com:
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The middle of winter has long been a time of celebration around the world. Centuries before the arrival of the man called Jesus, early Europeans celebrated light and birth in the darkest days of winter.
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Beginning in the week leading up to the winter solstice and continuing for a full month, Saturnalia was a hedonistic time, when food and drink were plentiful and the normal Roman social order was turned upside down. For a month, slaves would become masters. Peasants were in command of the city. Business and schools were closed so that everyone could join in the fun.
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Also around the time of the winter solstice, Romans observed Juvenalia, a feast honoring the children of Rome. In addition, members of the upper classes often celebrated the birthday of Mithra, the god of the unconquerable sun, on December 25. It was believed that Mithra, an infant god, was born of a rock. For some Romans, Mithra's birthday was the most sacred day of the year.
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In the early years of Christianity, Easter was the main holiday; the birth of Jesus was not celebrated. In the fourth century, church officials decided to institute the birth of Jesus as a holiday. Unfortunately, the Bible does not mention date for his birth (a fact Puritans later pointed out in order to deny the legitimacy of the celebration). . . . Pope Julius I chose December 25. It is commonly believed that the church chose this date in an effort to adopt and absorb the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival.
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By holding Christmas at the same time as traditional winter solstice festivals, church leaders increased the chances that Christmas would be popularly embraced, but gave up the ability to dictate how it was celebrated. By the Middle Ages, Christianity had, for the most part, replaced pagan religion.
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After the American Revolution, English customs fell out of favor, including Christmas. In fact, Congress was in session on December 25, 1789, the first Christmas under America's new constitution. Christmas wasn't declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870.
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It wasn't until the 19th century that Americans began to embrace Christmas. Americans re-invented Christmas, and changed it from a raucous carnival holiday into a family-centered day of peace and nostalgia.

Saturday Male Beauty

NOM Whines About SPLC Designations

While not itself as yet a registered anti-gay hate group, the folks at the National Organization for Marriage ("NOM") are acting like they have piss in their Cheerios over the SPLC designation of some of NOM's favorite gay hating allies as hate groups. NOM tries to brush off the designations as a "distraction" but in truth, they are a clear signal to NOM that if it persists in disseminating deliberate lies and untruths about LGBT citizens, it too could gain the designation. For the Christianists, nothing is more bothersome than the expectation that they comply with the Commandment against lying and bearing false witness. Indeed, based on Christianist behavior, one would think this particular Commandment did not exist. Maggie Gallagher/Brian Brown even goes so far as to say they're proud of NOM's message - a message of intolerance and the infusion of religion into the civil laws which allegedly are not supposed to establish a particular religious dogma as the official religious belief for the nation. As regular readers know, I place the self-enriching Brian Brown and Ms. Gallagher's level of integrity below that of the most tawdry whore. If they truly believed in their cause, they would not be paying themselves big salaries and shacking down the ignorant for money. Here's some of NOM's bleating over the SPLC designations:
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The Southern Poverty Law Center (SLPC) today included NOM among “18 Anti-Gay Groups and Their Propaganda.” Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, reacts: “This is an absurd distraction emanating from a once-great organization’s real mission---with all the actual hate groups out there, how can Southern Poverty Law Center stoop so low?” said Brown.
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“This report is not an attack on NOM but on the majority of Americans who believe that to make a marriage you need a husband and wife," said Brown. "It is also further proof of what NOM has been saying: today’s gay marriage movement is no longer about tolerance, live or let live—it’s about driving out dissenting voices from the public square.
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Our battle is not with an orientation but a political movement that seeks to use the law to embed a new moral idea: there is no difference between same-sex and opposite sex couples and you’re a hater, bigot and quasi-racist if you disagree. . . . For gay marriage advocates (the majority of whom are not gay) we say: we think you are wrong, and we will fight for our right to vote for marriage in the public square,” added Brown.

Auto Nostalgia - Lost Brands

Perhaps I'm dating myself, but I find it a bit sad to have seen recently the demise of several auto brands that I grew up with: Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Mercury. Especially the last brand since that is what my parents drove throughout my childhood and teens and it was in Mercury models like the 1966 Monterey "breezeway" pictured at left that I learned to drive (the other was a 1968 Colony Park wagon). Amazingly, the 1966 originally sold for about $2900. By today's standards, they were two ton land yachts, but with five children in the family and SUV's not invented, we needed those huge cars. The New York Times has a piece on Mercury's demise and here are some highlights:
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LAST month was the end of the line for yet another American automotive brand. Assembly plants produced the final vehicles to carry the Mercury nameplate, an unceremonious end for a marque that had been introduced in 1939 as an upscale companion for basic Fords — but more recently allowed to atrophy to little more than a selection of lightly modified Ford sedans and S.U.V.’s.
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Still, Mercury leaves behind a history peppered with compelling and even innovative cars that at once conveyed a clear message: based on Fords, but better. Depending on the year and the car, better could have meant any combination of bigger, more stylish, more powerful or more luxurious. Pairing Mercury with the Lincoln franchise after World War II underscored the theme of what is today called entry-level luxury.
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From the mid-1960s, full-size Mercurys adopted Lincoln-influenced designs and ran with Ford’s top engines. On TV, the top cop of the original “Hawaii Five-O” series, Steve McGarrett, cracked crimes in a black ’68 Park Lane.
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In 2003, Mercury revived the Marauder moniker for a performance-tuned Grand Marquis, but sold just 11,000 over two years. By then, the boundary between Ford and Mercury vehicles had all but vanished. That line, though, was still clear when Gary Davis he bought a new 1970 Mercury Marauder X-100, a full-size coupe with a 429 cubic-inch V-8, for $5,100. He still owns it.

Is Religion a Force for Good in the World? The Answer is No, in My View'

In Canada, former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens debated the question of whether or not religion is a force for good in the world. Blair argued that it is while Hitchens - who won the debate based on the audience - argued that it was not. I'd go further and say that all too often, religion is a completely toxic force for downright evil with its most devote followers best identified by their complete intolerance and hatred toward those who do not subscribe to their particular belief system. Indeed, throughout history countless millions have died because of religion. A large 23 nation poll ironically showed Saudi Arabia - where religion is a particularly noxious force - as the nation where the population most said religion was a force for good. Laid back and tolerant Sweden had the lowest percentage of respondents that viewed religion favorably. Yes, there are good people in every religion, but overall, I see the world as a better place without religion or at least where religion is barred from intersecting with the civil laws. Here are highlights from the BBC on the debate and survey:
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Mr Blair, a Catholic convert, said faith was a force for good and it was "futile" to attempt to drive it out. But Mr Hitchens, who is terminally ill with cancer, argued religion forced people into doing terrible things. In a vote after the debate, the audience voted two-to-one in Mr Hitchens' favour.
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Mr Hitchens, who has previously described Christianity, Judaism and Islam as the "real axis of evil", said religion was "a cruel experiment whereby we are created sick and ordered to be well". Humans gained little, and compromised their freedom, by acting like sheep, said Mr Hitchens.
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He said religions created a "celestial dictatorship" which was "greedy for praise from dawn to dusk". He won a laugh from the audience and Mr Blair when he compared such an authority to the North Korean leadership. In the end, the audience seemed more impressed, and perhaps more entertained, by Mr Hitchens, says our correspondent, and he won the debate by a margin of two to one.
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The Ipsos poll, conducted in September, found that Europe was the region most doubtful about the benefits of religion, with just 19% in Sweden agreeing that it was a force for good. At the other end of the scale, in Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, it was seen as a positive force by more than 90% of those questioned.
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Within North America, there was a pronounced divide. In Canada, only 36% agreed with the positive view of religion whereas 64% saw it as a negative force - figures almost exactly the reverse of those in the US.
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I find it noteworthy that far less religious Canada has a better social safety net for its citizens than does the far more religious USA. One would think that if Christians truly practiced what they claim to profess, it should be the exact opposite. This fact alone shows the falsity of the claim that religion is a force for good - especially since in the USA it's the conservative Christians who seem to most oppose government social programs for the poor and less fortunate.

More Friday Male Beauty

Tea Party Loons Target Virginia's 2011 Elections

It's not as if Virginia doesn't already have a disproportionate number of far right politicians and Christofascists - e.g., Taliban Bob McDonnell, Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli, Pat Robertson, The Family Foundation, the nut jobs at Liberty University and Liberty Counsel, the Arlington Group, and a plethora of far right organizations in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. Now, according to the Washington Post, the Tea Party has its sites on Virginia and wants to add a enhanced level of lunacy and untethered craziness to our political landscape. One can only wonder who will be drinking/dispensing more Kool-Aid: the Tea Party or Victoria Cobb and the theocrats at The Family Foundation. Talk about a cluster f*ck. Why the interest in Virginia? We have off year elections and the entire General Assembly will be up for election. It most assuredly will not be pretty, but if the Tea Party puts ups candidates like Christine O'Donnell, it could be a gift to the Democrats. Here are some story highlights:
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[T]ea party activists are working to solidify their movement by pivoting quickly to state and local issues they think will allow them to show that theirs was not a one-time uprising tied to this year's congressional contest. A major focus will be Virginia - one of only four states to hold elections next November. They are also launching a political action committee to recruit, train and fund candidates, and help them drive a legislative agenda during January's General Assembly session.
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Karen Miner Hurd, founder of the Hampton Roads Tea Party, said she and others now recognize the benefits of experience and creating "a candidate farm club and a bench for conservatives out of the grass roots." . . . She said the PAC - called the Virginia Tea Party Alliance - will target Democrats, who hold a narrow majority in the state Senate, as well as "tax-loving Republicans." Leading Republicans in the state Senate have repeatedly joined Democrats on budget issues, often clashing with more conservative members of the GOP who control the House of Delegates.
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Already, a tea party-backed candidate has announced that he plans to challenge the Senate's leading Republican, Thomas K. Norment (James City County), for the GOP nomination. By targeting sitting Republicans, the tea party will probably clash with the GOP establishment in some areas.
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Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple (Arlington), who chairs the Democratic caucus in the state Senate, said the move by the tea party groups will be good for her party.
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Even before the elections, Virginia's activists plan to push an ambitious agenda during January's legislative session. How incumbents vote on the issues will help determine which face tea party challenges in the months ahead. Top on the list is a bill expressing Virginia's support for a federal constitutional amendment to invalidate acts of Congress if two-thirds of state legislatures agree.

Are Gay Rights At A Tipping Point?

I get very discouraged at times with the pace of progress toward fully LGBT legal equality and the day when employment non-discrimination protections will be a nationwide phenomenon. On the other hand, if one looks at where we've come from - just seven years ago sex between same sex couples was a felony in Virginia - then things do look far better. An article in today's Washington Post makes the statement that gay rights are at a tipping point where full equality is inevitable eventually. Given the younger generations' much more gay accepting attitudes, the Post is likely correct. That's not to say that the old guard of gay haters like Tony Perkins, Pope Benedict XVI, the Mormon Church leadership, and parasite-like opportunists like Maggie Gallagher will slink off quietly. Indeed, the shrillness of their hysteria will likely get louder before it begins to fade away. Here are some article highlights:
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Thirty years ago, a vote like the one just decided in this university town [Bowling Green, Ohio] wouldn't have happened; gay-rights activism hadn't taken root across most of America. Thirty years hence, such votes may seem a historical curiosity in a time of equality for gays.
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Right now, though, the gay rights movement is at a tipping point, as epitomized by Bowling Green's divisive referendum on extending anti-discrimination protections to gays. The vote was so close that it took three extra weeks to determine whether the two measures passed.
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Nationally, gay-rights supporters and their conservative opponents are trading victories and setbacks, and the public is deeply divided on same-sex marriage. Could the push for full equality be stalled or reversed? Probably not, if public opinion evolves at its current pace. "All you have to do is look at the demographics and you can see this is as inevitable as anything," said Michael Klarman, a Harvard Law School professor who has studied the civil rights and gay rights movements.
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A Gallup poll earlier this year showed, for the first time, a majority of Americans saying same-sex relations were morally acceptable. Increasing numbers of Americans personally know gays and lesbians, and positive portrayals of them abound on TV and in films. "The more gay-friendly an environment you create, the more people come out as gay," Klarman said. "When people know other people are gay - family, co-workers - they find it harder and harder to dislike them and deny them equal
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An ever-growing number of actors and singers remain popular after coming out of the closet; hit TV shows such as "Glee" and the Emmy-winning "Modern Family" portray gays prominently and empathetically. Openly gay politicians are taking office in ever-wider swaths of America - Nov. 2 victories included the mayoral election in Lexington, Ky., and a legislative seat in North Carolina.
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There's a widely held belief that [DADT] repeal could prove to be a turning point for gay rights comparable to the racial integration of the military after World War II. "That was a stepping stone for a lot of other rights that followed," said Sara Benson, a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law.
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Evangelical Christians - you can tell them it's inevitable and some of them might agree," he said. "But that doesn't mean they will stop fighting."
. . . . dire warnings emerging from the No camp in speeches and fliers - that passing the ordinances might fuel the spread of AIDS or enable men dressed as women to make menacing forays into women's restrooms on the premise that they were transgender.
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Leave it to the modern Pharisee Christians to trot out the same tired lies and derogatory stereotypes time and time again all across the country.

Magistrate Suggests Corrective Rape for Lesbian Soldiers?

Can't you just feel the love flowing from Joe Rehyansky, a part-time magistrate in Hamilton County, Tennessee, and a former assistant district attorney, who would bar gay males from military service but allow lesbian soldiers who could then be "converted" by their straight male compatriots. Yes, it's disgusting by all to typical of the fruits of the message of "loving Christians" like Tony Perkins, Don Wildmon, Maggie Gallagher, et al. The vile suggestion appeared in a column on The Daily Caller which was launched earlier this year by Tucker Carlson. One can only wonder what Mr. Rehyansky thinks about other minorities who fail to live up to his twisted ideas. Here are highlights from Raw Story:
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The conservative news site The Daily Caller has removed part of an article that suggested lesbians be allowed into the US military so that their male colleagues can "convert" them. Critics say the article went as far as to suggest corrective rape for lesbians.
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"Lesbians should be allowed to serve, gay men should not," declared Joe Rehyansky in an article published Monday. Rehyansky, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam, is a part-time magistrate in Hamilton County, Tennessee, and a former assistant district attorney.
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In the original article, Rehyansky concluded that his lesbians-only policy "would get the distaff part of our homosexual population off our collective ‘Broke Back,’ thus giving straight male GIs a fair shot at converting lesbians and bringing them into the mainstream."
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The Daily Caller briefly dropped the article when it began to gain attention, only to put it back online but without the "converting lesbians" comment. The comment has since been republished at other Web sites.

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Firedog Lake also looks at this sick situation.

Friday Male Beauty

Family Research Council Deserves No Apology

More crocodile tears and shrieks of victim hood are emanation from the deliberate and vicious liars at Family Research Council Having followed FRC for over a decade, the anti-gay tirades have always gone well beyond mere statements of faith. The organization has knowingly repeated long discredited "science" - much of it tracing back to Paul Cameron's falsified "studies" - with a goal of depicting LGBT individuals (especially gay men) as diseased, a threat to children, and promiscuous to a point of being a treat to military and work place good order. For this and other things that no one would get away with if directed at blacks, Jews or Hispanics, the Southern Poverty Law Center rightly registered FRC as an anti-gay hate group.

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Tony Perkins is beside himself and demanding an "apology" from SPLC. Why is he so upset? It's all about money and political influence. FRC has raked in big time money for years through its gay bashing and it has paraded itself as a conservative Christian group, which of course, it is not in reality. SPLC has merely had the balls to call FRC out for what it has always been. Perkins is terrified the money spigot may stop and that he may be relegated back to the racists backwaters of Mississippi. Here a snippet of Perkins' disingenuous shrieking and wailing:
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"This is a deliberately timed smear campaign by the SPLC. The Left is losing the debate over ideas and the direction of public policy so all that is left for them is character assassination. It's a sad day in America when we can not, with integrity, have a legitimate discussion over policy issues that are being considered by Congress, legislatures, and the courts without resorting to juvenile tactics of name calling.
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"Family Research Council will continue to champion marriage and family as the foundation of our society and will not acquiesce to those seeking to silence the Judeo-Christian views held by millions of Americans. We call on the Southern Poverty Law Center to apologize for this slanderous attack and attempted character assassination."
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What SPLC needs to do is quote from more of FRC's bogus anti-gay "experts" like Peter Sprigg and Timothy Dailey, neither of whom have any legitimate credentials to make them experts on sexual orientation - theyof course claim sexual orientation is a choice - or social sciences. They are both in short frauds and always have been. Here are a few of the "resources" that FRC offers on the issue of homosexuality. If you doubt my analysis, check them out:
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•The Top Ten Myths of Homosexuality by Peter Sprigg
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•Brochure: Homosexuality in your Child's School
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•Homosexuality Is Not a Civil Right by Peter Sprigg [Brochure]
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•'Hate Crime' Laws: A Phony "Crisis" Intended To Suppress Free Speech by Timothy Dailey, Ph.D.
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•The Other Side of Tolerance - How Homosexual Activism Threatens Liberty by Timothy Dailey, Ph.D. [Brochure]
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•Getting It Straight by Timothy Dailey, Ph.D. and Peter Sprigg [Booklet]

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As these titles suggest, they are much more than mere statements of allegedly good faith held religious beliefs. Their goal is to depict gays a threat to society and to foster hatred. Here are a couple of the "myths" that Herr Sprigg talks about (never mind that legitimate medical and mental health experts disagree with these views):
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Myth No. 2: Sexual orientation can never change. Fact:Thousands of men and women have testified to experiencing a change in their sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual. Research confirms that such change does occur—sometimes spontaneously, and sometimes as a result of therapeutic interventions.
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Myth No. 5: Homosexuals do not experience a higher level of psychological disorders than heterosexuals. Fact:Homosexuals experience considerably higher levels of mental illness and substance abuse than heterosexuals. A detailed review of the research has shown that “no other group of comparable size in society experiences such intense and widespread pathology.
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Myth No. 6: Homosexual conduct is not harmful to one’s physical health. Fact: Both because of high-risk behavior patterns, such as sexual promiscuity, and because of the harm to the body from specific sexual acts, homosexuals are at greater risk than heterosexuals for sexually transmitted diseases and other forms of illness and injury.
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Myth No. 8: Homosexuals are no more likely to molest children than heterosexuals. Fact: Sexual abuse of boys by adult men is many times more common than consensual sex between adult men, and most of those engaging in such molestation identify themselves as homosexual or bisexual.

Newly Named Hate Groups Play the Victim Card

As Alvin McEwen notes at Pam's House Blend, Family Research Council, the American Family Association and Porno Pete's latest racket - I mean organization - are not happy to have been rightfully identified as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Not only will the designation hopefully make them radioactive in the view of GOP politicians, but the designation could hurt them where it really counts - money wise. Obviously, some folks might think twice before giving money to a registered hate group. Hence the victim card that's being played out at Wingnut Daily which, like the newly designated groups, has the dissemination of lies and falsehoods as its principal stock in trade. No one knows how to perpetuate hate and discrimination under the smoke screen of religion that FRC, AFA and Porno Pete. The disingenuous headline of the Wingnut Daily piece reads "Southern Poverty Law Center smears champions of God's sexual morality." Yep, the hate merchants can dish it out but like most liars and bullies, they don't react well to being called out and confronted. From my personal dealings with Robert Knight, I can attest that the man is a deliberate and pathological liar when it comes to LGBT citizens (Robert, I still have your e-mails to back up this statement). Here are highlights from the batshitery at Wingnut Daily (Note that nowhere are SPLC's specific factors challenged or refuted):
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The Southern Poverty Law Center has placed a virtual who's who of pro-family and Christian organizations, including the Family Research Council, the American Family Association and the Traditional Values Coalition, on a list of 13 "hate groups" for opposing the homosexual political agenda.
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"No organization better defines what a hate group is all about than the Southern Poverty Law Center," said Robert Knight, Washington correspondent for Coral Ridge Ministries. "Smearing legitimate groups merely for disagreeing about homosexuality is a very hateful act."
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"Lumping Christian groups in with violent, racist gangs is a form of 'bracketing,' a political tactic described in the gay strategy manual 'After the Ball.' It's guilt by association and it's meant to intimidate," Knight told WND.
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Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups." . . . . Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, contended that SPLC is more focused on advancing a radical political agenda than on combating hatred. . . . "It's the homosexual groups that have violated and invaded churches, vandalized homes and cars, that instigate death threats against people who are simply trying to uphold traditional values," Wright observed.
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I'm not sure what Kool-Aid Ms. Wright is drinking. I haven't seen a single news report on "godly Christians" being beaten and killed as a result of gay rights initiatives - something the direct opposite of what we see among the fruits of the hate fest disseminated by the groups designated by SPLC.

Thursday Male Beauty

Tom Delay Convicted of Money Laundering

Sometimes the wheels of justice move slowly if at all. But in the case of Tom Delay the man is finally reaping the fruits of his arrogance and illegal activities. The irony is, of course, that Delay could go to prison for life, yet many in the GOP are likely doing precisely what he was doing - even Virginia Thomas, a Supreme Court justice's wife, who is receiving large money donations from unknown parties. In short, Delay is likely just the tip of the iceberg. We hear the GOP (and its Christian Right allies) whine about the rule of law and judicial tyranny, but they want to be fully exempt from the law themselves. The hypocrisy is unbelievable. Personally, I hope Delay gets slammed in his sentencing so that just perhaps others may think twice before doing engaging in the same shenanigans that he did. Oh, and WTF was Dancing with the Stars thinking when they had this felon on the show? Here are some highlights from the Washington Post:
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Former House majority leader Tom DeLay, the Texan architect of Republican power in Congress, was convicted Wednesday of illegally plotting to funnel corporate contributions to home-state legislative candidates in 2002.
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A jury in Austin found DeLay guilty of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Punishment for the first ranges from five years to life in prison, but the former congressman from the Houston suburb of Sugar Land could receive probation.
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"This is an abuse of power," the former congressman said outside the courtroom. "It's a miscarriage of justice, and I still maintain that I am innocent. The criminalization of politics undermines our very system, and I am very disappointed in the outcome." The conviction follows years of investigation of DeLay, 63, who came to symbolize the intersection of money and politics in Washington. He made a mission of solidifying the Republican majority in Congress, and his ability to raise campaign cash was part of his power and eventual downfall.
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They said a political action committee that DeLay started in Texas solicited $190,000 from corporate interests and sent it to an arm of the Republican National Committee. They said that group then distributed the money to seven legislative candidates in an effort to skirt Texas law, which forbids corporate contributions to political campaigns.
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"There is nothing wrong with Republicans trying to dominate the political world," prosecutor Beverly Mathews told jurors when the trial opened. "But the means to achieve that gain must be lawful."

One Can Only Hope For This

Are Gay-Rights Court Rulings Spurring Change?

Time magazine and now the conservative Wall Street Journal have articles raising the question of whether or not the recent string of pro-LGBT court rulings are helping or hindering the advancement of gays rights in the public opinion. Personally, I make the case that they ARE spurring change despite the recall of three Iowa Supreme Court justices that the Christianists hold up as evidence to the contrary. Between low voter turn out, huge out of state Christofascist funding against the justices, and virtually no campaigning by the justices to counter the NOM backed out of state based assault, the Iowa results do not tell the real story. Nor do they take into account that often the courts have been well ahead of public opinion on matters of equal rights. For example, when the California Supreme Court struck down bans on interracial marriage in that state, public opinion was more against interracial marriage than is the case now with gay marriage. Ditto for Loving v. Virginia in terms of opinion within Virginia even as late as 1968. Or take the case of Brown v. Board of Education which was anything but supported by public opinion of the time, especially in the South. The courts in my view are supposed to lead - otherwise there would often be no need to protect the rights of minorities under the Constitution. Here are highlights first from Time:
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In the 17 years since Hawaii's Supreme Court issued the first ruling in favor of gay marriage, it has been judges — not lawmakers, and certainly not the voters in 30-odd state referendums banning gay marriage — who have sided with same-sex couples seeking to wed. That's never been clearer than it is now, with three different federal opinions in favor of gay rights that together threaten to end America's long history of legal discrimination against gays.
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[S]ome legal scholars say history suggests that the courts, no matter what they decree, cannot persuade a reluctant public to embrace social change — in fact, they may even polarize the issue. "Ever since Brown v. Board of Education, it's been the underlying view of political liberals that victories in court will give them the social changes they feel are needed, and do it faster [than waiting for change to happen on its own]," Professor Mike Klarman of Harvard Law School tells TIME. "But such rulings have often brought significant political backlashes."
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That doesn't mean the historic gay-rights legal wins of 2010 are doomed to be Pyrrhic victories. It's simply too soon to know whether the courts' decisions will backfire or will help spur change.
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The Wall Street Journal correctly states that Time punted on answering the question. Again, I think in the long run court rulings do accelerate change even if in the short term there is a backlash. Once the power of the law has been stripped from the forces pushing to maintain prejudice and bigotry, the wheels are set in motion for societal views to change. Hence the rising anti-gay hysteria of the Religious Right and hate groups like Family Research Council. They know that such is the case and are desperate to block changes in the law that will take away a powerful argument for their advocacy of LGBT inferiority and anti-gay discrimination. Here's a sampling of what the WSJ had to say:
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The article, not surprisingly, does not answer the question, but it does offer food for thought about the recent trilogy of opinions on gay rights: the July ruling out of Massachusetts declaring the federal Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional; Judge Vaughn Walker’s August ruling overturning Prop 8; and last month’s decision by Virginia Philips to halt Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
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In short, the article posits, Supreme Court opinions, standing alone, can not accomplish significant social change; it takes legislation for that to happen. Judges, of course, are not in the public polling business. They’re generally not encouraged to calibrate their rulings to ensure they are line with the prevailing views of the day. On hot button issues, judges operate in the more rarefied air of deciding whether conduct comports with the Constitution.
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And generally, the Constitution does not support discrimination against minorities whether it be based on claimed religious belief or otherwise. Thus, again, why the Christianists hate the courts.

Happy Thanksgiving!

For readers in the USA I hope each and every one of you has a wonderful Thanksgiving be it with family, friends or other loved ones. The boyfriend and I will have a large chunk of his family over here for dinner this afternoon and then tomorrow we will be getting up with my children during the day as well as some dear friends for dinner. Saturday, we will make a lightning trip to Charlottesville to visit my mother and my sister's family.

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For those in the coming out process in mid-life and possibly divorce, I realize that the holiday season can be very upsetting and depressing as one thinks of what once was in terms of family gatherings versus the current situation where you are still wondering what will be. As painful as the holidays can be in this situation, know that it does get better and even family alienation does not last forever - even if it seems so at the time. Patience is the key - something I often have in short supply.

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I am most thankful this year for my children - I truly am blessed with the relationship I have with my youngest daughter - the boyfriend, and my other loved ones be they family members or friends.

More Wednesday Male Beauty

Dedicated to FRC

Stunning GOP Silence on FRC Hate Group Designation

The Republican Party has long prostituted itself to far right religious extremist groups like Focus on the Family, Concerned Women [Bitches] for America, the American Family Association and, of course white supremacist led Family Research Council ("FRC"). With the recent designation of FRC as a registered hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center ("SPLC"), one would think that there would have been comments of some sort from talking heads of the GOP - either distancing the GOP from FRC or defending it. However, so far, other than a comment sent to Jeremy Hooper from FOTF aligning itself with FRC, the silence has been deafening. How this will play out as time goes by will be interesting and hopefully toxic for Republicans who continue to play shameless whores to FRC and its hate merchants. Talking Points Memo looks at the lay of the land and speculates as to how members of the GOP may have to reconsider how closely they want to embrace the liars and bigots at FRC and AFA - including whether they will opt to not attend the disingenuously named Value Voters Summit hosted by FRC. Here are some highlights:
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The Family Research Council is perhaps the most prominent voice in conservative social politics and the hosts of an annual rite of passage for many Republicans who hope to run for president. And now, FRC is on the same Southern Poverty Law Center list of hate groups as the Ku Klux Klan.
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Labeling the Family Research Council a hate group puts one of Washington's most powerful social issues advocates into the company of groups like the Nation of Islam and the now mostly defunct Aryan Nations in the eyes of the SPLC, which tracks 932 active hate groups in the U.S.

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Groups are labeled hate groups by the SPLC -- which made a name for itself by using civil lawsuits to severely weaken the KKK and other white supremacist groups -- when they "have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics," according to the group's website.
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The Family Research Council did not respond to TPM's repeated requests for comment on the SPLC designation. SPLC Research Director Heidi Beirich told me the FRC is part of a growing list of what the SPLC calls anti-gay groups masking themselves under the guise of conservatism or Christianity. "What this really is is a wholesale defamation attack on gays and lesbians," Beirich said. "Some of the stuff is just as crude if you compare it to, say, the Klan's racism.
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The SPLC designation of the Family Research Council as an anti-gay hate group potentially poses more of a challenge for Republicans. Though many conservatives view the SPLC as a progressive group and therefore no more worthy of respect than, say, ACORN, the SPLC hate group label will almost undoubtedly make it into press reports about future events like the Values Voter Summit.
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As Beirich told me, there is no difference between the FRC and the KKK in the eyes of the SPLC now. . . . I asked her if a Republican choosing to address the FRC convention next year would be making the same choice as one who addressed an Aryan Nation rally. "Yeah," she told me. "What we're saying is these [anti-gay] groups perpetrate hate -- just like those [racist] organizations do."

Obama Still Reported MIA On DADT Repeal

As AmericaBlog and other LGBT news outlets and blogs have reported, the Liar-in-Chief's actions continue to show the lie of his claims to be a "fierce advocate" of LGBT rights - particularly the repeal of DADT. With time of the essence and some question as to whether there will be 60 votes in the Senate to kill any filibuster attempt by John McSenile, one would think that the Liar -in-Chief would be making phone calls to Senators and twisting some arms - that is if he meant a word he's said to LGBT Americans. Actions, however, speak louder than words and Obama's inaction tells all that we need to know. AmericaBlog has launched an effort to pressure Obama to get off his ass and be the advocate he claims to be. To sign the petition to be delivered to the White House, go here. Here are highlights from AmericaBlog's demand that Obama get involved:
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White House spokesman Robert Gibbs recently told reporters that President Obama hasn't made any calls to wavering senators in support of repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell -- which will soon be voted on in the Senate. What's he waiting for?
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At a recent meeting between President Obama and progressive bloggers, Joe Sudbay personally told the president about our widespread disappointment over his failure to fulfill his campaign promises, including repeal of DADT.
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Today, we're asking you to help us show that this sentiment is real by joining our open letter that we'll personally deliver to the White House.
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[W]e need President Obama’s leadership once again -- this is not the time for him to be MIA. He promised to be our fierce advocate. Let's tell him: We need his fierce advocacy now on this issue.

If we don't repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell now, we all lose. It would be a “political disaster” for President Obama, according to The Hill newspaper. LGBT voters know that it could be years before we get another chance at passing anything pro-gay at the federal level. And Democrats learned this past November what happens when they leave their base disillusioned. None of us can afford to miss this window of opportunity.
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Will the Liar-in-Chief act on behalf of LGBT Americans or will he be MIA yet again? I'd like to believe he'll get involved, but his track record to date is abysmal. I'm not holding my breath in hope.

It is Time to Toughen Virginia’s Anti-Bullying Law

The New Jersey legislature has nearly unanimously approved what will be, if signed into law by GOP Governor Christie (something Christie has not committed to do), the nation's toughest anti-bullying law. As noted previously, Virginia's anti-bullying statute is largely a joke - unless one is the victim of bullying. Then it may be a matter of life and death. Just ask Lisa Williams, the mother of Christian Taylor who committed suicide after constant bullying at Grafton High School in nearby York County, Virginia (the bully reportedly responsible for Christian's suicide is pictured at right via his Facebook page). Former House of Delegates member Phil Hamilton (a Republican) has an op-ed piece that takes Virginia to task and advocates for a tough anti-bullying statute much like that adopted by the New Jersey legislature. The main obstacle to such a statue will be FOTF affiliate, The Family Foundation, which is perfectly happy with LGBT students being bullied to death. Here are highlights from Hamilton's op-ed:
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During the 2010 General Assembly session, the House of Delegates’ Courts of Justice Committee failed to consider anti-bullying legislation – HB 744. The legislation would have provided that any person who engages in the bullying, harassment, and intimidation of a student on school property, on a school bus, or at a school-sponsored activity shall be subject to punishment for assault.
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In Virginia, this would make bullying a Class 1 misdemeanor which is punishable by up to twelve months in jail, a $2500 fine, or both. If the bullying resulted in bodily injury or was committed because of one’s race, religious conviction, color or national origin, the person shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony, and the penalty upon conviction shall include a term of confinement of at least six months, 30 days of which shall be a mandatory minimum term of confinement.
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Because physical, psychological, and cyber bullying is a major problem facing elementary, middle, high school, and even college students, the upcoming General Assembly session should take this problem much more seriously than it did in 2010.
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Unfortunately, youth suicide is often the final result for young people who are unable to deal with being bullied. Once a suicide from bullying has occurred, it is learned that reports of the bullying were often ignored by adults and in some cases, school officials.
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In light of Virginia’s weak law in specifically addressing behavior that most people consider bullying, state legislators should seriously consider creating an Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights in state law. Such legislation, modeled after a new proposal being considered in New Jersey, should include the following components:
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ANTI -BULLYING “BILL OF RIGHTS”
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1. Require new teachers and administrators hired in the 2011-12 school year to complete an anti-bullying training program, and mandates all teachers must learn about bullying as part of the suicide prevention training they already complete. School board members would also undergo training.
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2. Discipline school administrators who fail to investigate an incident of bullying.
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3. Include “harassment, intimidation and bullying’’ in the types of conduct that may cause a student to be suspended or expelled.
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4. Mandate school superintendents deliver a report twice a year at an open school board meeting on “all acts of violence, vandalism, harassment, intimidation or bullying.’’ The report would be used to “grade” schools and districts on their efforts to identify and respond to incidents of bullying under a program devised by the state Education Commissioner. The state’s School Report Cards would also include statistics about bullying.
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5. Require school employees to report harassing actions they learn about that take place off school property — and those who don’t could face disciplinary action.

LGBT Tourism Remains Resilient - A Lesson to Be Learned by Unfriendly Destinations

I have written before about the fact that while the recession has slammed many parts of the tourism industry, the LGBT market segment has remained resilient and, if there have been concessions made, it's been in the form of more regional travel in lieu of major trips. A new report by Community Marketing, Inc., ought to be a wake up call to every local tourism and convention bureau and should drive home the fact that advertising to the LGBT market is a wise business move that ought to trump the bigotry of the local Bible beaters. Indeed, not advertising to our community is almost a form of financial malfeasance. LGBT consumers are particularly receptive to targeted advertising and online booking opportunities. Here are highlights from the study which can be found here:

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Gay Men and Lesbian Booking Patterns. Gays and lesbians are primarily booking their travel directly via airline and hotel websites (56%) or through online travel agencies such as Travelocity or Orbitz (34%). Direct booking is significantly more important than web-based travel services, so for travel suppliers, developing relationships with the gay and lesbian community to encourage direct booking through your own website is extremely important. Travel suppliers and destinations having an LGBT “microsite” with dedicated content is a positive motivator for LGBT consumers.

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Recession-Influenced Travel Decreases . . . . Major markets, including New York City, San Francisco and Las Vegas saw only small leisure travel decreases, usually less than 5%, while medium sized cities, destinations that are geographically isolated, and some resort towns saw more significant decreases over 10%, and for some, over 20%.

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Staycations. Staycations were the only travel category to see an increase in 2009. When asked to specify how many regional drive vacations (i.e. including at least one night in a hotel) were taken, 66% indicated taking a longer regional drive vacation of more than two hours; 42% took a regional drive vacation where the drive was two hours or less; 14% took a trip where they stayed in a hotel in their own city. . . . with dedicated promotions this could be a way of filling hotel rooms during slower periods, especially if packaged with other local activities.

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Pride Events are Important. Unaffected by recessionary influences, nearly a quarter of the respondents reported traveling to another city and spending at least one night in a hotel to attend a Pride event; same as previous years. Nationally, Pride events continue to move millions of hotel nights in the Unites States, and Pride remains an important motivator for LGBT travelers under 35.

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Strength of Local Neighborhoods. Further confirming other recent research conducted by CMI, gays and lesbians tend to be especially interested in visiting city neighborhoods and experiencing local, non-chain restaurants. In fact, going to neighborhood restaurants and visiting the gay neighborhood were the top activities enjoyed by gays and lesbians when visiting a destination.

Wednesday Male Beauty

Are We on the Eve of the Next Bank Crisis?

During the height of the real estate bubble, mortgage lenders threw underwriting standards to the wind and made all kinds of irresponsible loans. Worse yet, Wall Street assisted them by packaging toxic loans into "securitized investments" and sold the poisonous investments worldwide, making a financial killing in the process - all the while displaying no apparent concern for the potential consequences when borrowers were unable to pay loans ridiculously above their financial means. Now, based on what one is seeing in foreclosure litigation, the bottom may be about to fall out yet again. Why? Because mortgage lenders attempting to foreclose on properties often don't hold the mortgage note and sometimes the notes cannot even be found due to sloppy transfers of documents. The question is one of whether there will be any real consequences for those on Wall Street who helped create the nightmare. Based on what we've seen so far, likely not and the taxpayer will be the one to get stuck holding the bag yet again. Moreover, until housing recovers, don't expect any real economic recovery. West Law News & Insight has details on the forces in motion that could take down Bank of America and other huge lenders: Here are disturbing highlights:
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An important but little-understood player in the home foreclosure process, the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc., has been buffeted by a growing number of class-action lawsuits and unfavorable court rulings, a Reuters Legal review of Westlaw data shows. In addition, according to three sources, the company is under scrutiny by state attorneys general. The legal onslaught could prove to be a new drag on the still-sputtering U.S. housing market.
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The company, known as MERS, is an electronic registry of more than 66 million mortgage loans. Created in 1995 by major banks to facilitate mortgage securitization, MERS records the transfer of deeds and promissory notes and often acts as a representative, or "nominee," for financial institutions during public auctions of foreclosed properties. Its members include the largest U.S. mortgage providers and servicers.
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Since September, lawyers have filed class-action lawsuits against MERS on behalf of homeowners in Georgia, Florida, New York and Kentucky. The lawsuits allege that MERS did not have legitimate title to the foreclosed properties, so the foreclosures were fraudulent. Besides seeking damages, many of the lawsuits are asking for court orders to vacate all foreclosures in the states where MERS was involved. And in the last six months, judges in at least six states have halted foreclosures because they found that MERS either lacked standing to be an agent for mortgage firms or had improperly transferred ownership rights.
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The legal assault on MERS casts doubt on the ownership rights of countless foreclosed properties. And because foreclosed properties represent such a significant segment of the current housing market -- a full quarter of all homes sold in the U.S. during the second quarter were in foreclosure, according to RealtyTrac -- the broader housing market is exposed. "A lot of people who have bought homes or are looking to buy homes are going to have a lot of problems because of MERS," said Alan White, an associate professor at Valparaiso University School of Law in Indiana who has written extensively about foreclosures.
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In May, Kings County, New York, Supreme Court Judge Arthur Schack ruled that MERS had improperly transferred a mortgage to HSBC, when its own records indicated the party with a right to foreclose was Wells Fargo. MERS creates a "mortgage twilight zone," Schack said, calling arguments that the foreclosure in question was legitimate "incredible, outrageous, ludicrous and disingenuous." He dismissed the foreclosure and ruled that it could not be resubmitted.
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A class-action lawsuit filed Oct. 23 in Fulton County, Ga., claims MERS has no standing to initiate foreclosure proceedings. The lawsuit seeks damages and asks the court to invalidate foreclosures in Georgia where MERS was a party. Class-action complaints filed in federal courts in New York and Florida in September make similar claims.

More Tuesday Male Beauty

Dedicated to Maggie Gallagher

Maggie Gallagher Continues to Enrich Herself Through Anti-Gay Hate

Personally, one of the most obscene, reprehensible, and morally challenged members of the professional Christian set is Maggie Gallagher. The same Maggie Gallagher who is married to a Hindu who she keeps hidden away more securely than the most closeted self-loathing gay. Not content with raking in the dough through NOM and its hate and bigotry peddling affiliates, now Gallagher is about to latch onto the teet of Ave Maria School of Law, a wingnut Roman Catholic law school in Naples, Florida. The law school which will house a so-called called the Center for Research on Marriage, Religion and Public Policy will be headed up by guess who? Maggie, of course, who will further enrich herself with a salary. Jeremy Hooper at Good As You has the details of the hate mistress' latest anti-gay activities. Here are highlights:
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So yet another gig for Maggie that's wholly about exalting personal faith views on marriage and morality in a way that influences shared public policy. The continued goals are [1] to shape young legal minds in a way that further muddies the waters between civil marriage licensing and its optional (even if oft-utilized) religious ceremony component; [2] to make marriage all about reproduction, even though procreation is also a wholly optional component of marriage (one that many same-sex couples also engage in); and [3] to collect a paycheck while doing all this. Maggie's profitable, personal prayers injected into the realms of civil discrimination and unjust division.
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She sees her religion as superseding civil matters that she finds personally conflicting ("to fight against an unjust civil order"). In short: She thinks she knows better,