Saturday Male Beauty

Obama DOJ Files DOMA Defense in First Circuit Cases

Meanwhile, as LGBT Americans face threats from the GOP, our "fierce advocate's" Department of Justice continues to defend laws that keep LGBT citizens second class citizens. Yes, Obama got DADT repeal legislation passed, but now it seems we are back to the same old crap: lots of lip service and actions that tell a far different story. There are those who will disabuse me for saying so, but I still don;t trust Obama as far as I could throw an aircraft carrier. To me, actions speak louder than mealy mouthed words and precedents exist where Obama could relent in his defense of DOMA, a law that wrote religious based discrimination into the federal laws. To me. it's yet another example of the special rights given to Christians - or should we say conservative Christians whose rights always seem to trump those of all other citizens. I am OVER IT! Chris Geidner looks at Obama's latest bullshit at MetroWeekly. Here are highlights:
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[T]he Department of Justice filed its defense of the Defense of Marriage Act in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in a single filing for both Gill v. Office of Personnel Management and Massachusetts v. United States. This past July, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Tauro ruled that Section Three of DOMA -- which sets a federal definition for "marriage" and spouse" -- is unconstitutional.
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The government announced in October 2010 that it planned to appeal the rulings. the government asserts three reasons to justify DOMA's continued validity:
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1. Congress Could Have Rationally Concluded That DOMA Promotes A Legitimate Interest in Preserving a National Status Quo at the Federal Level While States Engage in a Period of Evaluation of and Experience with Opening Marriage to Same-Sex Couples.
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2. Congress Could Reasonably Conclude That DOMA Serves a Legitimate Federal Interest in Uniform Application of Federal Law Within and Across States During a Period When Important State Laws Differ.
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3. Congress Could Reasonably Have Believed That by Maintaining the Status Quo, DOMA Serves the General Federal Interest of Respecting Policy Development among the States While Preserving the Authority of Each Sovereign to Choose its Own Course.
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Although each is slightly different, these three "rationales" do read like different shades of the same argument, which is more or less that DOMA made sense -- or, is rational -- because the states hadn't reached a uniform decision. In addition, the government argues that -- contrary to the trial court decision in the Massachusetts case -- DOMA does not violate either the Spending Clause or the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution.
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The DOJ can parse words and do whatever disingenuous verbal somersaults it wants. In the end DOMA is based on one thing and one thing only- anti-gay prejudice that stems 100% from increasingly antiquated religious belief. As such, it is a violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution.

Bigoted Ass GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter Seeks to Block ‘Don’t Ask’ Repeal

Words do not convey how fed up I am with either religiously motivated GOP bigots or GOP elected officials who want to prostitute themselves to Christianists in a manner that would shame a tawdry whore using LGBT citizens as their constant whipping boy. No sooner has the DADT repeal law been signed onto the books than Rep. Duncan Hunter (pictured at right) vows to take steps to introduce legislation aimed at torpedoing repeal of DADT. One can only hope that the Democrats will have sufficient spine - always a big hope - to block any such bill. Moreover, hopefully, younger voters will be increasingly alienated by the GOP's rank homophobia and pandering to uber-Christians, thus setting the stage long term for the much needed death of the GOP as a viable political parties. Yes, anti-gay old folks turn out and vote, but they are literally a dying breed. Hunter's actions are symptomatic of the GOP's total rejection of any long terms plan - it's all about the next election cycle and who cares if the country goes down the toilet in the longer term. The other explanation, of course given Hunter's vociferous opposition to DADT repeal is that he's another Ed Schrock who uses anti-gay pandering to Christianists to disguise his own gay sex longings. Chris Johnson at the Washington Blade has a story on Hunter's servile pandering to the ultra-far right. Here are highlights:
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An opponent of ”Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal in the U.S. House intends to introduce legislation that would effectively block implementation of an end to the military’s gay ban. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) . . . plans to introduce legislation that would expand the certification requirement for enacting “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal.
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Under current law, which President Obama signed on Dec. 22, repeal would take effect 60 days after the president, the defense secretary and the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify that the U.S. military is ready for open service.
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Hunter’s proposed legislation would expand this certification responsibility to the military service chiefs: the chief of naval operations, the Marine Corps commandant, the Army chief of staff and the Air Force chief of staff.
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Passage of the legislation would likely block repeal from happening because many service chiefs have testifed before Congress that they oppose “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal at this time. Most prominent among them is Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos, who in December told reporters that an end to the military’s gay ban would cause a distraction that could “cost Marines’ lives.”
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Hunter has been among the most vocal opponents of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal in the U.S. House. In December, he vehemently spoke out against ending the military’s gay ban as the chamber debated a repeal measure.
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During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in December, some service chiefs — including Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey – testified that they didn’t feel the need to have the responsibility of issuing certification for repeal because Defense Secretary Robert Gates would adequately represent their voice going forward. “I am very comfortable with my ability to provide input to Secretary Gates and to the Chairman that will be listened to and considered,” Casey said. “So you could put it in there, but I don’t think it’s necessary.”
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Casey added that he thinks an expansion of the certification requirement would undercut the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986, which set up the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as the principal military adviser to the president.

More Friday Male

Scott Lively’s Coffee Shop Manager A Convicted Child Molester

My, my - seeing hypocrisy and idiocy exposed can be so much fun. I recently wrote about Scott Lively's activities in Massachusetts where he is peddling his warped version of Christianity to the gullible through among other things a coffee shop. It turns out that Mr. Lively obviously did not do a background check on the manager he hired for the shop (pictured to the right in the photo) who turns out to be a sex offender who violated an 11 year old girl. Rather that denigrating gays across the globe, Mr. Lively would do well to clean his own cesspool like house. The hypocrisy of it all is just too sweet to pass up and it further demonstrates the hazard Lively poses to society given his blind obsession against law abiding LGBT citizens while it turns out he's harboring a sex offender on his own payroll. Ohm, and note that Lively's already back on the anti-gay speaking circuit. I wonder if the Boston Globe regrets its recent puff piece on Lively now. Box Turtle Bulletin has coverage and here are some highlights:
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Anti-gay extremist Scott Lively, who travels the world to preach that the international gay cabal is recruiting young children into homosexuality through child molestation, hired a convicted child molester as manager of his Springfield, MA coffee house. The manager, Michael J. Frediani, 38, who lived in an apartment above the coffee house was arrested this morning by Springfield police for failing to register as a Level 2 sex offender.
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In New York, Frediani was convicted of sexual abuse in the first degree and aggravated sexual abuse in the second degree in 1996. The charge relates to an arrest by police in Canandaigua, N.Y., in 1995 in which the victim was an 11-year-old girl. The description of the offense was “deviate sexual intercourse.”
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New York determined that Frediani was a level 3 sex offender under that state’s classification which indicates that Frediani is considered most likely to reoffend again. Lively says he didn’t know about Frediani’s past, and didn’t appear too concerned about it:
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Frediani had told Lively that he had a “rough past before he became a Christian,” Lively said, adding that he did not know any specifics and that he saw no need for a criminal background check. . . . He [Lively] warns everyone that they should keep gay people away from their children, but just anybody can hang out with the local teens at Lively’s coffee shop. Yeah. Good thinking.
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Oh, and that bit about Lively turning over a new leaf and no longer being interested in anti-gay activism? I was skeptical. ”‘Let’s see where we are, say, a year from now,” I wrote. Well… Lively said he continues to serve as a conference speaker around the world on the topic of homosexuality, but “it has nothing to do with the ministry in Springfield.” That wasn’t even a full week.

Friday Male Beauty

John Paul II, Protector of Sexual Predators, to Be Beatified

In yet another shocking example of just how morally bankrupt the Roman Catholic Church has become, the Vatican has announced that Pope John Paul II is to be beatified on May 1, 2011. It's more than a little troubling to me that a man who knowingly and consciously - and the same holds for the current Pope - protected and enabled those who sexually abused children and youths should be venerated much less beatified. What's next, a serial rapist or violent murderer being beatified? It's disgusting and yet another reason why I left the Catholic Church so as to not feel dirty and morally defective by association. The move may seem reasonable within the bubble of the Vatican where objective reality seems to hold no sway. But among intelligent, rational individuals how does one justify remaining a part of such a tainted institution? Like it or not, a portion of every dollar given to the general collections in every parish ends up in Rome and supporting such morally reprehensible actions. Here are highlights from the New York Times:
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VATICAN CITY (AP) — The pope on Friday approved a miracle attributed to Pope John Paul II's intercession and set May 1 as the date for his beatification, an event that will be a major morale boost for a church reeling from a wave of violence against Christians and fallout from the clerical sexual abuse scandal.
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Pope Benedict XVI declared in a decree that a French nun's recovery from Parkinson's disease was miraculous, the last step needed for the beloved pontiff's beatification.
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The May 1 ceremony, to be celebrated by Benedict himself, is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to Rome to honor one of the most popular popes of all time. A second miracle is needed for John Paul to be made a saint.
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Last year, there were some questions about whether Marie-Simon-Pierre's original diagnosis was correct. But in a statement Friday, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints said Vatican-appointed doctors had "scrupulously" studied the case and determined that her cure had no scientific explanation.
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John Paul was adored by Catholics, but he did not escape scrutiny, since many of the thousands of sexual abuse cases that emerged last year concerned crimes or cover-ups that occurred under his watch. Vatican officials have said there was nothing in John Paul's record that called into question his path to beatification.
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The true miracle would be for the Church hierarchy to purge itself of those responsible for aiding and abetting Child molesters and child rapists. But since that would mean Benedict XVI's abdication, it's a safe bet that it will never happen, thus proving the seemingly irreversible moral decline of the Church where power, money and control are the true gods.

Ireland Recognises Foreign Gay Marriage and Partnerships

It is interesting - and saddening as well - to watch as more and more nations of the world recognize same sex relationships either in the form of full marriage or in some form of civil union or domestic partnership. Meanwhile, the United States remains in the sway of Neanderthals who subvert the U.S. Constitution and make a mockery of the false promise of freedom of religion. Sadly, only those who conform to a falsely claimed "biblical" form of marriage are given legal equality. Unfortunately, it seems part and parcel with the increased embrace of ignorance and anti-modernity that can be seen in calls for treating creationism under the guise of intelligent design taught as science and the regression of society back toward segregation and intolerance. Driving this slide backwards are the Christianists and their GOP and Tea Party allies who will prostitute themselves to the basest elements in order to hold political power. In contrast, Ireland is now going to recognize foreign gay marriages and domestic partnerships as it prepares to grant Irish same sex couples partnership rights. It's an example of a nation once thought backwards leaping ahead of America and the power of the Catholic Church rightly dying out. Here are highlights from Pink News:
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Gay couples living in Ireland who have married or had a civil partnership abroad will be recognised as civil partners from today. The change is part of Ireland’s new civil partnership laws, which give gay couples almost all the rights of marriage.
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However, couples who wed in countries where gay marriage is legal will find their unions downgraded to civil partnerships. And some unions, such as French PACS, will not be recognised because they are deemed not to offer as many rights as Irish marriages or civil partnerships.
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Unions from 27 countries or states will be recognised; 17 of which currently give gay couples the right to marry. Couples will be automatically considered as civil partners and will not need to register.
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Brian Sheehan of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network said: “Same-sex couples who have already celebrated their relationships and made formal commitments to each other by having a civil marriage or civil partnership in another country will today have those relationships recognised in Ireland. This recognition will provide significant protections for these couples.” The first Irish civil partnership ceremonies will take place in early April.
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With both of my parents now gone, the question will be whether the boyfriend and I remain in the U.S. once his elderly parents have passed on. In my view, the USA is a nation in severe decline and which instead of embracing the future is too often either sliding back towards old prejudices or refusing to treat all of its citizens as equals. Added to the mix is a wealth disparity that would shock many in what were once viewed as banana republics.

More Thursday Male Beauty

Republican North Carolina School Board Abolishes Integration Policy

We already knew that the Gop and its Tea Party branch were anti-gay given the preponderance of Christianists in both groups. Now, the GOP backed by Tea Party factions which has taken control of the Wake Forest County school board seem Hell bent to prove that they are outright racists as well. While a federal lawsuit has been filed challenging the move, in the interim the new GOP majority has voted to abolish busing for racial integration. Frankly, I am not surprised given the undercurrent of racism that I have long discerned in the typically lily white "pro-family" and "Christian" organizations that have made an industry out of denigrating gays, Muslims, and anyone else that doesn't fit their "white bread" and fundamentalist evangelical religious views. In fact, I'd go so far as to venture that when a group or individual describes itself/themselves as "conservative Christian," the safest approach is to assume that beneath the surface, they are anti-black, anti-Semitic, anti-gay, anti-Hispanic and certainly anti-Muslim. Indeed, they probably are against government assistance for the poor, the hungry and the homeless since these folks have flushed Christ's Gospel message down the toilet. Here are highlights from the Washington Post on this example of naked prejudice:
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The sprawling Wake County School District has long been a rarity. Some of its best, most diverse schools are in the poorest sections of this capital city. And its suburban schools, rather than being exclusive enclaves, include children whose parents cannot afford a house in the neighborhood.
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But over the past year, a new majority-Republican school board backed by national tea party conservatives has set the district on a strikingly different course. Pledging to "say no to the social engineers!" it has abolished the policy behind one of the nation's most celebrated integration efforts.
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And as the board moves toward a system in which students attend neighborhood schools, some members are embracing the provocative idea that concentrating poor children, who are usually minorities, in a few schools could have merits - logic that critics are blasting as a 21st-century case for segregation.
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The situation unfolding here in some ways represents a first foray of tea party conservatives into the business of shaping a public school system, and it has made Wake County the center of a fierce debate over the principle first enshrined in the Supreme Court's 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education: that diversity and quality education go hand in hand.
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But critics accuse the new board of pursuing an ideological agenda aimed at nothing less than sounding the official death knell of government-sponsored integration in one of the last places to promote it. Without a diversity policy in place, they say, the county will inevitably slip into the pattern that defines most districts across the country, where schools in well-off neighborhoods are decent and those in poor, usually minority neighborhoods struggle.
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The NAACP has filed a civil rights complaint arguing that 700 initial student transfers the new board approved have already increased racial segregation, violating laws that prohibit the use of federal funding for discriminatory purposes. In recent weeks, federal education officials visited the county, the first step toward a possible investigation.
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[T]he GOP fielded the victorious bloc of school board candidates who railed against "forced busing." The nation's largest tea party organizers, Americans for Prosperity - on whose national board Pope sits - cast the old school board members as arrogant "leftists." Two libertarian think tanks, which Pope funds almost exclusively, have deployed experts on TV and radio.
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Many local leaders see another irony in the possible balkanization of the county's schools at a time when society is becoming more interconnected than ever. "People want schools that mirror their neighborhood, but the bigger picture is my kid in the suburbs is connected to kids in Raleigh," said the Rev. Earl Johnson, pastor of Martin Street Baptist Church in downtown Raleigh. "We're trying to connect to the world but we're separating locally? There is something wrong."

Clinton: Middle East Faces Disaster Without Reform

As the forces of anti-modernity and religious repression continue to hold sway across the Middle East, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has issued a frank and all too accurate assessment of where the Islamic nations are headed without reform, and an end to corrupt and repressive regimes, and a religious elite who are are determined to stamp out opportunities for a more democratic and progressive future. Worse yet, given the constraints on outlets for advancement and opportunity for the exploding number of young citizens, all too many may opt for radicalism that could topple the existing regimes and spread instability across the globe. Insisting on an adherence to knowledge a millennium out of date is a disaster waiting to happen - both in the Middle East and in pockets of religious extremists across the world, including the Christo-fascist elements in the USA. These forces base their politics on religious derived hate and division rather than cooperation and mutual advancement. It's yet another example of religion being a great force for evil in the world. Here are highlights from Huffington Post on Clinton's analysis:
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Wrapping up a four-nation tour of U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf with unusually blunt remarks to a regional development conference in the Qatari capital of Doha, Clinton said economic and political space must be opened up for the Arab world's exploding youth population, women and minorities.
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Without that, respect for human rights, improved business climates and an end to pervasive corruption, she said young people and others will increasingly turn to radicalism and violence that will bleed outside the region, threatening not only Middle Eastern stability and security but the rest of the world.
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Those who cling to the status quo may be able to hold back the full impact of their countries' problems for a little while, but not forever," Clinton said. "If leaders don't offer a positive vision and give young people meaningful ways to contribute, others will fill the vacuum." "Extremist elements, terrorist groups and others who would prey on desperation and poverty are already out there appealing for allegiance and competing for influence," she said. "This is a critical moment and this is a test of leadership for all of us."

But the limits of Clinton's message were clear in Yemen, a fragile, politically closed and impoverished nation that is a critical U.S. ally in the war on terrorism. She said civil society in Yemen is viewed with deep suspicion by the government.
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"There is not the level of cooperation that there needs to be to improve the lives of the Yemeni people and put Yemen on a firmer foundation going forward," she said.
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Developments in Yemen appeared to underscore that concern. A day after Clinton met Yemeni opposition leaders at the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, authorities in Yemen announced Wednesday that citizens must get prior approval before entering a foreign embassy. Yemen's official news agency Saba said the conditions were security precautions and part of efforts to fight terrorism and to preserve the embassies' security.
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It is sad to see backward monarchies and religious zealots continue to put power and control over the true well being of their people. Sooner or later, the lid will blow off and violence will sweep away these forces of reactionary thought and culture. Unfortunately, many innocent people will die in the conflagration. History has shown us this model time and time again, be it the Ancien Regime in France, Tsarist Russia and other nations.

Thursday Male Beauty

"Awakening 2011" - A Gathering Where the GOP Mingles with Hate Groups

Click Image to Enlarge

I consistently view Liberty University as a foul boil on Virginia's backside that needs to be lanced and exposed for the evil force that it is. In keeping with its other anti-gay and anti-democracy efforts, Liberty University will be gathering a coven of theocrats and haters to its "Awakening 2011" where GOP elected officials will prostitute themselves to the vilest of theocrats and the leaders of active hate groups. The roster of loons who will be present and in the hater category the only thing missing is an appearance by the Grand Wizard of the KKK and Sarah Palin. Right Wing Watch has the following to say about this gathering:
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Last year, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli joined dozens of Religious Right leaders for an event called "Awakening 2010," organized by the Freedom Federation and hosted at Liberty University, where Cindy Jacobs declared that "the Bible is the government of the people, by the people, for the people," while Matt Barber and Andrea Lafferty claimed that passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act would allow those working at the Veteran's Administration to freely molest disable veterans.
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In April, the Freedom Federation will host its second annual "Awakening" conference entitled "Raising Our Voices: Equipping and Empowering a New Revolution" which organizer hope will feature a mix of right-wing activists like Lou Engle, Tony Perkins, Mat Staver, Frank Gaffney, Wendy Wright, David Barton, and Gary Bauer with Republican leaders like Cuccinelli, Michele Bachmann, Marco Rubio, Alan West, Mike Pence, Newt Gingrich, and Mike Huckabee.
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Not surprisingly, I suspect that more violence inducing rhetoric and hate inducing demagoguery will fill the air at this anti-liberty event.

Sarah Palin - An Ignorant and Self Centered Ass

In the aftermath of the Tucson mass shooting over the weekend, Sarah "It's All About Me" Palin has again proven that she's an utter ignorant ass and unfit for any public office. Having started a wave of anti-government and anti-immigrant/minority hatred during the 2008 campaign, Palin has continued to use violent rhetoric and images of guns and "taking out" those who are not "real Americans," Palin uses the disingenuous claim that she was only talking about "votes" as the weapons of her lobotomized followers. I guess I was hallucinating when I saw all those photos of her with guns and heard the statements of "lock and load." Worse yet, she now has tried to paint herself as a victim of unfair attack and equated her critics as akin to anti-Semites that spread lies against Jews. The woman deserves a severe public horse whipping. If anyone is consistently irresponsible, it is Palin herself. Moreover, if Palin represents the face of the GOP, then that party has become something horrible indeed. The Washington Post looks at Palin's untethered lunacy. Here are some highlights:
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[A]fter four days of near silence, the timing guaranteed that Palin would be written into the story line of President Obama's visit to comfort grief-stricken Tucson after a massacre there. But if the statement that Palin put out Wednesday was designed to tamp down the criticism of her incendiary style of politics, it turned out to have the opposite effect.
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Within minutes of the video and its accompanying Facebook post going viral on the Internet, all of that was subsumed by a new furor over Palin's choice of two words to describe her critics in the media: "blood libel."
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Her statement Wednesday brought yet another visceral response, though this time, it was one Palin did not necessarily intend or expect. "Journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn," Palin said in the video. "That is reprehensible."
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Blood libel is the centuries-old anti-Semitic myth that Jews use the blood of Christian children for rituals such as baking unleavened bread during Passover. It was used to justify persecution of Jews.
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Although Palin has often been at the center of political storms over the two-and-a-half years since she emerged on the national scene, her allies say the onslaught she has faced since the Tucson shootings has shaken her like none before. Palin officials confirmed a report by ABC News that Palin has received an unprecedented number of death threats since Saturday's shootings and has been in conversations with security officials about the matter. They declined to provide further details.
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"Whatever explanation she could give to use such a loaded term, the truth is she shouldn't have," Neusner said. "She doesn't have to turn the other cheek; she was, in fact, maligned in a gross and unfair way. But she could have said everything she said without that phrase. "When people are trying to be leaders," he added, "they need to attract supporters, not repel them."

Athlete Ally Launced by Wrestling Star Hudson Taylor

As numerous stories have told, the world of athletics remains a world fraught with homophobia where sports stars feel pressured to remain closeted for fear of the negative consequences on their careers. It's a sick situation that holds true in many professions, especially in red states where attorneys, accountants, doctors and many others remain in the closet to avoid firing and social ostracism. But these professions to not have the public adulation so often reserved for sports heroes. Now, champion collegiate wrestler, and now coach at Columbia University, Hudson Taylor (pictured at right) is trying to end this situation. Although straight himself, Taylor has launched Athlete Ally which has a goal of ending homophobia in sports. Its a worthy goal not only for those already in the sports world but even more so that LGBT youth can someday see gays prominently represented in that world and lending role models to younger generations. Here's how Athlete Ally describes itself:
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ATHLETEALLY.COM was created by HUDSON TAYLOR as a resource to encourage athletes, coaches, parents, fans and other members of the sports community to respect all individuals involved in sports, regardless of perceived or actual sexual-orientation or gender identity or expression.
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The site goes on to ask that people sign a pledge to end homophobia in sports so that competitors can be valued for the skill and ability and not merely on the basis of sexual orientation. Here's the motivation behind the pledge:

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ATHLETE ALLY PLEDGE: “I created the Pledge so that we, as an athletic community, can take proactive steps to end homophobia in sports. When we inspire entire teams and athletic departments to commit to a new standard of athletic integrity, we will change the environment in locker rooms and on playing fields. Adding your name to the growing list of supporters is the first step to make a difference.”
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A resounding "Thank You" goes out to Hudson Taylor.

More Wednesday Male Beauty

Brace Yourself for a Maggie Gallagher/NOM Hissy Fit

The ever vile and always self-enriching Maggie Gallagher and her parasitic minions at the National Organization for Marriage ("NOM") have been gearing up to try to push for a repeal of New Hampshire's law allowing same sex marriage. One big problem, albeit it a surprising one - the New Hampshire GOP is not listing gay marriage repeal as an agenda item for the coming year. Thus, Miss Maggie and the Christofascists will likely be spinning their wheels and better yet, burning up money that will not be available to spread hatred in other states. I can't wait to hear Gallagher's fuming and ranting at the GOP's obstruction of her anti-gay jihad. The Boston Globe has details on this development. Here are some highlights:
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CONCORD, N.H.—House Republicans have decided not to pursue a repeal of New Hampshire's gay marriage law this year and plan instead to focus their energy on finding ways to improve the state's financial footing.
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House Republican Leader D.J. Bettencourt confirmed to The Associated Press on Wednesday that jobs and the economy will be the top priorities on the House GOP agenda to be announced Thursday, which the GOP will use as its policymaking scorecard for the next two years. "The social issues must take a back seat," said Bettencourt, R-Salem.
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He said there was widespread agreement that social issues would have to come later. That leaves open the possibility that Republican leaders will postpone action on repealing gay marriage until next year, a non-budget year. The House can do that by having committees retain bills. Bettencourt would not say if leaders plan to do that.
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He said issues like gay marriage were not the primary reasons voters replaced the Democratic majority in the House with a Republican one, he said. "We cannot allow ourselves ... where we campaigned on one set of issues and governed on another set of issues," he said. The exclusion of the controversial issue comes a week after House Republican leaders battled criticism they were not focusing on the issues that voters sent them to Concord to deal with: the state budget, spending reductions and jobs.
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The good news is two fold - no repeal attempt this year and we will have another year for the cycling out of older anti-gay voters. As public opinion trends toward majority support of gay marriage, the GOP will have to increasingly think twice about repealing the state's marriage law.

NC State Rep. Larry Brown: Those Perverts Deserve It

I took note yesterday how the Commonwealth of Virginia was freezing its AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) and conjectured that perhaps the Virginia GOP's real motivation was a desire that gays simply die off. Never mind that a huge segment of HIV+ individuals are African-Americans or members of other minority groups. Well, across the border in North Carolina state Rep. Larry Brown (R-Forsyth), who is pictured at left, has pretty much confirmed that my analysis of the thinking behind the ADAP freeze - at least insofar as it applies to gays. And I suspect other minorities that Mr. Brown and his GOP brethren dislike. The Winston-Salem Journal has coverage of Brown's naked bigotry and prejudice. Here are some highlights of Brown's batshitery:
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State Rep. Larry Brown said during a discussion of his legislative goals for the year that the government should not spend money to treat adults with HIV or AIDS who "caused it by the way they live."
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He began by discussing his support for a constitutional amendment limiting marriage to a union between one man and one woman, which would forestall any efforts to allow same-sex marriage.

He went on to say he thinks the government shouldn't spend money to treat HIV among people "living in perverted lifestyles." "I'm not opposed to helping a child born with HIV or something, but I don't condone spending taxpayers' money to help people living in perverted lifestyles," said Brown, who ran unopposed in the November election to win a fourth term.
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Brown wouldn't say Tuesday what he considers perverted, but did say that adults who get HIV through sexual behavior or drugs would be among those who should not be treated at government expense.
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Katherine Foster, the president of AIDS Care Service in Winston-Salem, called Brown's remarks "fiscally and socially irresponsible." She said the remarks highlight "his ignorance on this major public-health issue."
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"What Representative Brown can't seem to get through his mind is that HIV disease … affects individuals regardless of age, race and sexual orientation," Foster said. "Without funding for HIV, the disease is at risk for reaching pandemic levels, just as it has in countries that do not provide government funding for HIV-AIDS."
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Of course, given the track record of anti-gay members of the GOP, one has to wonder when Brown will be picked up for soliciting gay sex in a park or some rest room somewhere.

The Fruits of Ex-Gay "Ministries"

I often slam ex-gay "ministries" and their snake-oil merchant advocates such as James Dobson, Peter LaBarbera and a host of other money grubbing liars. One of the things that infuriates me the most - other than the fact that they are peddling the scientifically refuted lie that gays can "change" - is that they care ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for the straight spouses and the children of gays who marry and live to see the entire "straight world" house of cards collapse. These individuals and "ministries" continue to disseminate the lie that gays can marry and be something other than what God made them to be. My own life, marriage, divorce and the emotional carnage it engendered for all involved is a testament to the damage that arises from trying to be straight when one is not. And I am likely only one of millions of LGBT individuals who married and tried to live the lie. Our motivations often were totally pure. But the damage done to others is not lessened by our good intentions. I came across a blog (warning NSFW) today that, in responding to a reader's question, had a good description of the outcome of following the hate, monetarily and politically motivated ex-gay lies. Here are some highlights:
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While I don't regret some of the decisions I've made, because they brought me two great things in my life - my kids - I do regret that I am somewhat stuck in the life I've created. Yea, I could "come out of the closet" or reveal my indiscretions to my family and kids, but that would defeat what I think is more important, and that is the stability of my kids lives. I've decided to sacrifice my happiness for that of my kids.
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But, if I knew then what I know now, that this "thing", this "feeling" wouldn't go away, and would cause me such inner conflict, then I think I would probably preferred to have not gotten married or to have married someone who I could be totally honest with about my sexuality. That would be ideal.
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Did I have feelings about men? Yes. Should I have gotten married? uh, probably not. . . . My point is, I would never suggest or encourage someone to be like me. It's not ideal. It's not fun. It's not healthy, and ultimately..it's not good
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It is a sad summary of many, many lives. It truly sickens me that so many lies are damaged because of the religious based bigotry, greed or political cynicism (or a mixture of all three) that motivates the continued lies of the ex-gay industry. One can only hope that in time the APA and regulatory agencies will in time stamp out all efforts at reparative therapy and to make people other than as they were born to be.

Memorial Service for My Mother

As promised previously, I am providing an update on the memorial service for my late mother. The memorial service will be held on January 29, at 11:00 AM at First Lutheran Church, 1301 Colley Avenue, Norfolk, Virginia 23517 (located in the Ghent section of Norfolk). Following the service, a reception will follow for those wishing more time with family members attending the service.

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I sincerely want to thank all of my blog readers and friends who have been so amazingly supportive. Your post comments, e-mails - and the sweet card from Dave in Pensacola have all meant a great deal to me.

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As noted before, friends and readers are welcomed to make a donation in memory/honor of my mother, Marion Hibben Phelps Hamar to a charity of their choice. One charity that I might suggest is Hospice House of the Piedmont (pictured above) where my mother spent her last few days. Contact information is as follows:

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Hospice of the Piedmont

675 Peter Jefferson Parkway, Suite 300

Charlottesville, VA 22911

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If anyone does decide to make a donation, include my mother's name and use my name and office address as the point of notification. Donations can be made online here.

Wednesday Male Beauty

Chick-Fil-A Tries to Explain Away Its Bigotry

Personally, I stopped patronizing Chick-Fil-A years ago when I discovered that its founder was a right wing Christian who funded anti-gay organizations and religious based bigotry. In my view, there are much more deserving establishments where I can spend my money where some of my funds will not end up being used against me. Now the company finds itself in a controversy after supposedly a franchisee teamed up with the anti-gay Pennsylvania Family Institute to sponsor an anti-gay marriage event. The dodging and weaving on the latest controversy is disingenuous and the latest efforts of Dan Cathy, president and COO of Chick-Fil-A, to explain away the company's institutionalized anti-gay bigotry on the company's Facebook page needs to be ignored. As Towleroad, Joe My God, and Good As You have noted, Chick-Fil-A's WinShape foundation is partnering with NOM's Ruth Institute.In addition, Chick-Fil-A has partnered with other "pro-family" groups on the so-called "The Marriage CoMission," an event that gathers anti-gay leaders from cities around the USA each year at for a retreat at the WinShape foundation's headquarters to brainstorm on methods to strengthen their anti-gay movement. Jeremy Hooper says this about NOM's Ruth Institute:
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The Ruth Institute is a spinoff project of the National Organization For Marriage. The group is all about opposing gay marriage, with a particular focus on young people. You might know Ruth's visible head, Jennifer Roback Morse, who we've featured on here a number of times. She's also the one who caught national headlines recently when she talked about wearing a rainbow scarf (that wasn't really rainbow) to the Prop 8 trial as a way of reclaiming the rainbow from the gay rights movement.
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Bottom lien: avoid Chick-Fil_a and encourage your friends and family to do so as well until such time as the company stops supporting discrimination and the denial of equal civil rights to all Americans.

Saskatchewan's Top Court Strikes Down Christianist Special Rights Bill

In a ruling that will no doubt have the prostitute-like mouth pieces of Christianist and professional Christian groups hyperventilating and using as a tool in their anti-gay fundraising campaigns, the the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal said "no" to proposed laws that would have allowed Saskatchewan marriage commissioners to opt out of uniting same-sex couples on religious grounds. The court correctly held that, if one is a public official, then one must perform the attendant public functions for all citizens, not just those who subscribed to one's own personal religious prejudices. Stated differently, if you want to be on the government payroll, then you do your job and you do not get to pick and choose who you will or will ot perform governmental duties for. Obviously, had the law been upheld, bigots could randomly refuse to perform their duties for anyone they did not like - e'g, Muslims, other non-Christians, and of course gays. I applaud the court's ruling denying Christianist special rights. The Regina Leader-Post has coverage and here are some highlights:
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REGINA — In giving a resounding "no" to proposed laws that would have allowed Saskatchewan marriage commissioners to opt out of uniting same-sex couples on religious grounds, the province's top court was very clear about the potential impact of such legislation.
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"It would be a significant step backward if, having won the difficult fight for the right to same-sex civil marriages, gay and lesbian couples could be shunned by the very people charged by the province with solemnizing such unions," Justice Robert Richards said, authoring Monday's majority decision for the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal.
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Justice Gene Anne Smith, writing a second decision for the court, noted the argument put forward by the religious commissioners could be claimed by those who sell marriage licenses or rent halls for weddings.
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[T]he five-member court was unanimous in rejecting both of the government's proposed laws: One allowing all marriage commissioners to refuse to perform civil marriage ceremonies which are contrary to their religious beliefs; and another granting the exemption only to those commissioners who held office when gay marriage was legalized in November 2004.
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Richards said both of the proposals would offend the Charter by violating equality rights of gay and lesbian individuals. "This violation would not be reasonable and justifiable," Richards said in a 43-page decision, with Chief Justice John Klebuc and Justice Ralph Ottenbreit concurring.
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Richards said the effect of the laws would be akin to a government officer telling a person, "I won't help you because you are black — or Asian or First Nations — but someone else will."
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"The decision confirms that people have their religious beliefs, and they may entertain that — there's complete freedom of religious beliefs," said Robertson in an interview. "It's only when your conduct, on doing something, might have an effect on somebody else, which has a discriminatory effect on them." Robertson also noted the decision applies only to marriage commissioners — 372 public servants performing civil ceremonies — and not religious clergy.

More Tuesday Male Beauty

Virginia Freezes AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP)

Virginia has once again has shown that it places little value on the health of its citizens. Besides ranking 30th in spending on mental health care , 48th in per capital health care expenditures, 46th in per capita Medicare expenditures, Virginia has now frozen it's AIDS Drug Assistance Program, thus leaving a significant number of those requiring drugs to manage their health condition in the lurch and facing the prospect of being unable to afford much needed medications. The GOP controlled House of Delegates and the Governor brag about Virginia being a "low tax state," but there is a decided cost to not investing in the state's citizens - not to mention its fraying transportation system. Perhaps the GOP elected officials do not care if some "faggots" have increased health care problems - even though the problem in the Norfolk region where I serve on the Ryan White Committee extends to many besides the gay community, including the African American community. But, then again, given the racism of many in the Virginia GOP, perhaps the African-American community is viewed as "undesirable" as well. Here are highlights from The Bilerico Project:
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Virginia announced that they're freezing enrollment in the state's ADAP program, a move that'll keep most people to be diagnosed with HIV/AIDS from being added to the medication program and will move a bunch of people already in the program to waiting lists:
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An estimated 760 of the Virginia patients with more stable immune systems will transition from the state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program to a waiting list in the next few months because they don't meet the scaled-back eligibility requirements. Another 400 new clients a year who would have qualified will also be placed on the waiting list, according to estimates.
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State officials say that these people will be able to get their medications paid through other programs, like Medicaid and assistance from drug companies. If they meet the eligibility requirements of those other programs, of course.
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All this while the federal government should be spending more for the sake of the economy but refuses to do so at a level commiserate with the problem, mainly for ideological reasons. So instead we get a deal that will increase unemployment benefits for a few months, lauded as "stimulative," while states tighten their belts and effectively counteract federal stimulus.
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I continually baffled as to why the USA puts so little value on the health and lives of its citizens compared to other industrialized nations. Especially since the USA as opposed to Europe, for example, has so many self-proclaimed church going Christians who, if they believe the Gospel message ought to be concerned about the sick and the poor. Oops, I forgot - it's many of the conservative Christians who want health care funding cuts and health care reform repealed. Talk about actions not conforming to lip service beliefs.

Two Gay Heroes Thwart Assassinations 35 Years Apart

Last month I wrote about Oliver Sipple, a gay Marine who save Gerald Ford from an assassination attempt. Now, in the wake of the mass shooting in Tucson, another gay individual is being lauded for his actions in the face of an assassination attempt, namely 20 year old Daniel Hernandez. At the time of Sipple's heroic action, he was outed and his life seemed to spiral downward. This time around, even Tony Perkins at FRC - although perhaps unwittingly and subject to a possible retraction - spoke well of Hernandez. The Los Angeles Times looks at the contrasting treatment of these two gay individuals. While Christianists fight any reference to the contributions of LGBT citizens in school curriculum, these individuals demonstrate why the larger public needs to learn a complete, LGBT inclusive history. Here are some story highlights:
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A 20-year-old congressional college intern with only five days on the job saved Gabrielle Giffords’ life. Daniel Hernandez ran toward the sound of gunshots. He pressed Safeway workers’ aprons against the congresswoman’s head wound to stanch the bleeding, and lifted her and held her upright so she wouldn’t drown in her own blood. Photos show him evidently covering her hands with his as he walked alongside her as she was carried off on a stretcher.
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Daniel Hernandez is gay, a member of Tucson’s city commission on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues. I bring this up not only because gay websites are talking it up, but because it reminds me of another gay man who thwarted an assassination attempt -- but in a very different time and cultural climate.

Oliver Sipple was in a crowd outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco more than 35 years ago, on Sept. 22, 1975, as President Gerald Ford was leaving the hotel. . . . Outside the San Francisco hotel, a woman named Sara Jane Moore was standing next to Sipple. She raised a .38-caliber pistol and aimed it at the president. She evidently got off one shot at Ford, and missed, before Sipple, a former Marine, grabbed her arm and took her down.
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By taking the action he did, the courts found, Sipple, and thus his sexual orientation, had become news. Sipple’s mother never spoke to him again, and Sipple died in 1989.
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Daniel Hernandez wasn’t even born when Oliver Sipple died. His heroism, too, is incontestable -- and this time, his sexuality is apparently uncontroversial, which may be one of the few hopeful things to come out of these murders and attempted murders. At least we won’t add character assassination to the actual ones.

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The reality is that LGBT citizens are found in every walk of life and time and time again we play just as important of roles and engage in acts of heroism. It's past time that society got this message and moved on from prejudice and homophobia.

The "Nice" Free Pass Given to Haters and Bigots

Blogger friend Jeremy Hooper at Good As You has a post that raises an issue that needs more discussion. It's an issue that I hear all too often - frankly sometimes to the point of near nausea. What is it? It's the excuse that so and so was "nice" when I interviewed him/her or that "they seemed like a nice person" even though I disagree with his/her politics. Thus, people who promote racial hatred, anti-gay hatred and other foul are given a pass on their foul agenda because they act "nice" to often ignorant and/or gullible members of the media. An example? Virginia's Del. Bob Marshall who some reporters have described as "nice in person." The free pass generated by this phenomenon also extends to at times to members of organizations and/or institutions that are responsible for heinous deeds - e.g., the Catholic Church and the sex abuse scandal - who are not held accountable for the misdeeds that they tacitly support. Jeremy goes on to show the ridiculousness of the "nice" excuse:
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"So what" if the president of the National Organization For Marriage has me over for coffee? Even if freshly ground and perfectly French pressed, does that change the fact that he wants to legally divorce me under the civil law that governs our shared nation?
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"So what" if the socially conservative member of Congress welcomes me into his or her office with a warm smile? Even if we share a nice laugh, does that alter the text of the bill wherein he or she called for my banning?
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"So what" if Focus on the Family's outreach person engages in genuine, off-the-record conversations about the ups and downs of this "culture war"? Even if we share both respect and confidences, does that free the mental anguish from the kids who are daily subjected to FoTF's "ex-gay" teachings?
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"So what" if that company that's financing the anti-equality movement was good to your stepbrother's uncle's roommate who worked for them in college?
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Yes, my vote is with firmly with Jeremy. Being "nice" in an often off the record, non-public setting does not give one a pass for hateful and vicious conduct towards entire classes of people. An extreme, but telling example of the bogus nature of the "nice excuse" comes from more than 60 years ago: Adolf Hitler. Yes, Hitler was described as "nice" and "charming" by some who met him and by his staff. This from his maid at Berchtesgaden, Hitler's mountain retreat in Bavaria:
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"He was a charming man, someone who was only ever nice to me, a great boss to work for. You can say what you like, but he was a good man to us,"
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Or there's Hitler's nurse at the bunker during the Reich's final days:
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Hitler shook hands with all the people he hadn't greeted before. After that he talked to us regularly. "His authority was extraordinary. He was always polite and charming. There was really nothing to object to."

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The next time you hear an anti-gay bigot or racists described as "nice," remember that some of histories greatest monsters could be "nice" in informal occasions even as they pressed an agenda of genocide.

Tuesday Male Beauty

Gay Marriage Isn't Revolutionary No Matter What the Christianists Claim

A short while back, I noted that the true biblical model for marriage would seem to be polygamy - an inconvenient fact ignored by the Christianists and professional Christian set who shill anti-gay hatred to make a buck of of the ignorant and uneducated. Truth be told, marriage isn't a God ordained institution, but rather a man-made institution aimed at controlling property and family members. Now an article in the Washington Post makes the case for same sex marriage being anything but revolutionary. Rather, its a logical next step given a changing society and increased scientific knowledge about sexual orientation and its immutable nature. The article once again demonstrates that an accurate knowledge of history and science is the biggest danger to the Christianists' agenda. Here are highlights from the well reasoned article:
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Opponents of same-sex marriage worry that allowing two men or two women to wed would radically transform a time-honored institution. But they're way too late on that front. Marriage has already been radically transformed - in a way that makes gay marriage not only inevitable, as Vice President Biden described it in an interview late last year, but also quite logical.
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We are near the end of a two-stage revolution in the social understanding and legal definition of marriage. This revolution has overturned the most traditional functions of the institution: to reinforce differences in wealth and power and to establish distinct and unequal roles for men and women under the law.
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For millennia, marriage was about property and power rather than love. Parents arranged their children's unions to expand the family labor force, gain well-connected in-laws and seal business deals. Sometimes, to consolidate inheritances, parents prevented their younger children from marrying at all. For many people, marriage was an unavoidable duty. For others, it was a privilege, not a right. Often, servants, slaves and paupers were forbidden to wed.
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But a little more than two centuries ago, people began to believe that they had a right to choose their partners on the basis of love rather than having their marriages arranged to suit the interests of parents or the state. . . . Adopting love as the basis for marriage meant other changes, too, especially greater acceptance of the idea that men and women had a fundamental right to marry, even to people of whom their parents - and society - disapproved.
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Over the ages, marriage enforced an unequal division of labor, wealth and power between men and women. Traditional English and American law gave the husband sole control over all property that his wife brought to their marriage and any income she earned during it. Husbands had the legal right - and the duty - to impose their will by force.
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Well into the 1970s, marriage was still legally defined as a union that assigned differing marital rights and obligations according to gender. The husband was responsible for supporting the family financially, but he also got to decide what constituted an adequate level of support, how to dispose of certain kinds of property and where the family would live.
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Over time, people came to view marriage as a relationship between two individuals who were free to organize their partnership and their parenting on the basis of their personal inclinations rather than pre-assigned gender roles. Today, as Judge Vaughn Walker noted in his decision striking down California's Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage, "gender no longer forms an essential part of marriage; marriage under law is a union of equals."
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The spread of gender-neutral attitudes about heterosexual marriage has also undercut support for limiting marriage to a man and a woman. Although well-financed campaigns against same-sex marriage still generate victories on Election Day, hard-core opposition has steadily eroded. In October, the Pew Research Center reported that for the first time in its 15 years of polling, less than half the public opposed same-sex marriage. That poll also found that 42 percent actively supported it - still less than a majority, but a new high. Two other national polls have found that a small majority of Americans endorse same-sex marriage.
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[T]raditional marriage has already been destroyed, and the process began long before anyone even dreamed of legalizing same-sex marriage. . . . . If gay marriage is legally recognized in this country, it will have little impact on the institution of marriage. In fact, the growing acceptance of same-sex marriage - an indication that it's not just the president's views that are "evolving" - is a symptom, rather than a cause, of the profound revolutions in marriage that have already taken place.

Leader Of Anti-Gay Anglican Church Fired For Surfing Porn On Church Computer

Yet another case of anti-gay Christian hypocrisy has reared its head - a leader of Truro Church in Fairfax County, Virginia which left the Episcopal Church over its acceptance of Gene Robinson as a bishop, has been terminated due to his surfing porn on the church's computer. Meanwhile, Truro Church, now affiliated with far right anti-gay factions of the Anglican Church based in Africa, is locked in litigation over the ownership of its historic church property. It's but one more example of the more the Christo-fascists scream about gays, the more likely it is they have their own sexual obsessions that they are indulging. Lezgetreal has coverage and here are some highlights:
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Reverend Marshall Brown was the associate rector at Truro Church, which broke away from the Anglican Communion back in 2003 after Gene Robinson was elected Bishop in New Hampshire. He was the associate rector until he got fired for repeatedly using a church computer to surf for pornography. In fact, Truro Church’s clergy helped to lead fourteen Virginia Parishes in breaking away from the Episcopal Church after Bishop V. Gene Robinson was elected to his post. He was the first openly gay Bishop in the Anglican Communion.
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In 2005, Truro Church arranged for Brown to receive treatment for an internet addiction.
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He was removed last month for accessing “websites that would be considered pornography,” according to Truro Executive Director Warren Thrasher. Minns has known Brown since seminary, and is now launching an investigation into what happened and whether or not Brown should be stripped of his priestly credentials. Minns said “Part of my thing now is to dig deeper. I was assured [in 2005] that he had a program for whatever he needed not to be addicted, and it was no longer a problem. I don’t know now, based on what’s happened, how much I can trust those assurances.”

On 19 December, church leaders held a meeting to talk to members about the firing. The parishioners were told to direct any questions from outsiders to the church leadership. Some did answer questions without wanting their names known for fear of being ostracized, according to the Washington Post. Some said that they were concerned that the addiction was kept quiet for years without anyone being told about it.

More Monday Male Beauty

Lover of Murdered Journalist: I'm Not Gay; Multilated Victim to Rid Homosexual Demons

It will be instructive to see what further information comes out with respect to the brutal murder of Carlos Castro, a Portuguese journalist and gay rights activist, by his model boy friend who is claiming to police that he's not gay. As is his mother. Even more bizarre is the statement by the apparent murderer to police that he had committed the murder and mutilation to rid the victim of the "demon" of homosexuality. Be it the outcome of religious brainwashing, self-loathing or just an excuse made by a violent gigolo, the story is truly bizarre. Towleroad, The Advocate and New York Daily News all have coverage. Here are highlights from the Daily News:
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A male model confessed Sunday to killing a gay journalist in a Times Square hotel - and gave cops a twisted explanation of why he sexually mutilated his victim, sources said. Renato Seabra, 20, told cops he used a corkscrew to sever 65-year-old Carlos Castro's genitals as a way to cure the older man of his homosexuality, the police sources said.
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Seabra and Castro came to New York from their native Portugal and by all accounts were a couple - but Seabra appears unable to admit that, police sources said. "He said he did it to get rid of [Castro's] homosexual demons," one of the police sources said.

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Police believe the two men had dated for several months, even though Seabra's family insisted the tanned hunk is straight. "My son was not Carlos Castro's lover," Seabra's mother, Odília Pereirinha, told a Portuguese TV station. "From the beginning, he never hid his sexuality, which is heterosexual."
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Seabra's claim to fame was as a pretty boy contestant on a top model reality show.
The duo were staying at the InterContinental Hotel since Dec. 29 and hit the town together often, dining and drinking at fancy restaurants, friends said. Whatever the nature of their relationship, this much is certain, cops say: Seabra brutalized his victim and left him to die in a pool of blood. Detectives briefly questioned Seabra on Sunday at the Bellevue Hospital psychiatric ward, where he is in police custody, the sources said.