More Saturday Male Beauty

The Christian Right Continues to Disseminate Paul Cameron's Discredited Lies

It will soon be thirty (30) years since the American Psychological Association revoked Paul Cameron's membership because of his ethical violations (Cameron is pictured at right). Later, in 1986, the American Sociological Association passed a resolution condemning his "research" work - because it was fraudulent and falsified. And those in the leadership of Christian Right/anti-gay hate groups cannot help but be well aware of the thoroughly discredited nature of Cameron's anti-gay propaganda. Yet they continue to quote from it and disseminate it to the ignorant and uninformed in an obvious effort to breed hatred and contempt towards LGBT individuals. It's amazing how those in the Christian Right and individuals like Maggie Gallagher believes that they somehow have a special dispensation from abiding by the Commandment against lying and bearing false witness. Brady's Notes & Scribbles has a piece on Cameron's extremely vile "Medical Consequences of What Homosexuals Do" which is still in wide circulation. In the instance that prompted the reference post, the brochure was being disseminated at an information counter at a local Christian school in Reno, Nevada and is likely made available in many other venues. Here are some highlights on this toxic piece of propaganda:
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I never expected to find out that “Medical Consequences of What Homosexuals Do” is not only still in print, but widely, and I do mean widely used and quoted. . . . His “research” and “facts” are still being told over and over and used as proof by other “Christian family” groups and churches . . .
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A further simple google search for only 2010 lead me to a vast number of sites and organizations that post, quote, link and publish in full Mr. Cameron’s work and deem it as scholarly and scientific. These groups include: pro-family groups in multitudes of countries, ProLifeBlog, The Road to Emmaus, countless churches in many denominations in the US and worldwide, Aryan Nation/White Supremacist groups, people running for political offices in the US, Life & Liberty Ministries, BibleBelievers.com, and American Family Association, The Family Research Council, the Illinois Family Association, Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, Concerned Women for America and Coral Ridge Ministries.
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[I]t is extremely important to bust these myths wide open. Here at home, in places like Uganda and in places where Mr. Cameron has and is spreading his poison. As you read it, remember, this is being presented as scientific fact today.
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The tract is broken down into sections:
•Oral sex and the “fact” that almost all homosexuals “verge on consuming raw human blood”. Delightful, Paul.
•Rectal sex with carrots, bottles and even gerbils. Yup, gerbils. I even heard Mr. Cameron say it in a talk in a 2010 video.
•Fecal sex. Hey, did you know that 80% of gays “admit” to ingesting “medically significant accounts
•The medical consequences of homosexual sex and the effects on lifespan. Did you know less than 2% of gay men make it to “old age”? And they are 116 times more likely to be murdered and 18 times more likely to die in car accidents. Could I possibly make this stuff up?
•The “gay legacy” of AIDS will destroy most gay people.
•The “biological swap meet” of saliva, urine, feces, blood across country borders will be exported by this “drunken and high” uber-traveling population.
•Watch out for “the pattern of infection” of not only HIV/AIDS, but scarlet fever too (which, by the way, is not a sexually transmitted disease.)
•“Genuine compassion” must be shown to this group of people who are “troubled people engaging in dangerous activities”.
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This is dangerous stuff. This divides families and churches, this alienates people, this kills others, this poisons the minds of those that think they are “protecting the family”. This is utter deception and demonization and completely non-Christian.
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Un-Christian is an understatement. Cameron and those who peddle his trash as "science" are despicable hate merchants. They make a very strong argument for walking away from Christianity if they now embody what it represents. I'm 100% with Anne Rice on that point.

Berlusconi Sex Scandal Embarrassing for Vatican

Personally, I find it hysterically funny that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi - a sycophant of the Vatican - has been indicted for having sex with an underage prostitute. The indictment underscores the fact that Berlusconi is of about the same level of moral bankruptcy as the current occupant of the throne of St. Peter. Berlusconi has happily pushed the Vatican's anti-modernity agenda and done all he can to frustrate sexual freedom for Italians, both gay and straight. Meanwhile, Berlusconi's personal conduct has been akin to a nasty old satyr and has made a mockery of the Vatican's supposed rules regarding sexual conduct. Berlusconi and the Vatican truly deserve one another and the fact that Berlusconi's morals are pretty much in the gutter clearly corresponds with those of the child rapist protectors within the Vatican's walls. A post at Huffington Post explores the well deserved embarrassment accruing to the Vatican Here are highlights:
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Berlusconi's stands against euthanasia, living wills, in-vitro fertilization and domestic partnerships have put his country in line with Catholic teaching, and out of sync with all other major countries in the region, including traditionally Catholic Spain. His government has also granted large financial subsidies to Catholic schools, and expanded tax breaks for church-owned businesses.
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Yet in Berlusconi's increasingly public personal life, the billionaire businessman-turned-politician is not exactly a model of Catholic values. After months of ever more graphic reports of wild parties and sex with young women, including several alleged prostitutes, a judge on Tuesday (Feb. 15) ruled that Berlusconi must face trial on April 6 on charges of paying for sex with a minor and obstruction of justice.
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Catholic bishops have several strong reasons to refrain from openly criticizing Berlusconi now. The most obvious is that the church needs the cooperation of his center-right government to pursue its legislative agenda.
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Another factor inhibiting Italian church leaders in the Berlusconi matter, Franco said, may be last year's controversies over clergy sex abuse in several European and Latin American countries, which undermined the church's moral authority in the eyes of many critics.
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Still, the pressure on church leaders to break with the prime minister may grow too strong to resist. An anti-Berlusconi demonstration by hundreds of thousands of Italian women on Sunday (Feb. 13) won the endorsement of the editor of the Italian bishops' official newspaper; one of the most prominent speakers at the rally in Rome was a 70-year-old nun who is also an activist against sex trafficking.
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Berlusconi bears a striking resemblance to the American GOP hypocrites who laud "family values" yet then commit adultery, troll for gay sex, vote for policies that undermine the finances of working families, and gay bash for politic points.

Julian Bond: Maryland Must End Marriage Discrimination

I had the pleasure of meeting Julian Bond at the National Equality March (unfortunately, the boyfriend screwed up and accidentally deleted the photos that I had taken with Bond) and I enjoyed his remarks at the March. Now, Bond has written an op-ed in the Baltimore Sun as to why Maryland needs to approve same sex marriage and end marriage discrimination. As noted many times before on this blog, civil law marriage in no manner changes the restrictions for church marriages that various denominations may choose to uphold. Those Christianists and opportunistic political whores like Maggie Gallagher and many in the GOP - local Congressman Randy Forbes included - who claim otherwise are liars. The only thing that civil law same sex marriage takes away from the hate merchants is the ability to use the CIVIL laws to punish gays for their nonconformity with Christianist religious beliefs. I am glad that Bond is speaking out because all too often black citizens are co opted to do the anti-gay dirty work of Christianists who hold black Americans in nearly as low regard as LGBT citizens. Here are highlights from the op-ed piece:
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As a civil right activist, I have spent my life fighting to make ours a more just and fair society. That's why I urge the Maryland General Assembly to support marriage equality and pass the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act. I firmly believe that this is a matter of civil rights, equal protection and equality. Civil rights are positive legal prerogatives — the right to equal treatment before the law. These are rights shared by everyone; there is no one in the United States who does not — or should not — share in enjoying these rights. Discrimination is wrong no matter who the victim is. We cannot move toward full human rights protection and opportunity without confronting — and ending — homophobia. For it is homophobia that is at the root of denying the freedom to marry to gays and lesbians. As my late neighbor and friend, Coretta Scott King, said in 1998:
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"Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood."
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Three years ago we celebrated the 40th anniversary of a case aptly called Loving v. Virginia, which struck down anti-miscegenation laws and, many years later, allowed my wife, Pam, and me to marry in the state that declares "Virginia is for lovers." Then, as now, proponents of marriage-as-is invoked "God's plan." The trial judge who sentenced the Lovings said that when God created the races: "He placed them on separate continents. … The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix." God seems to have made room in his plan for interracial marriage. He will no doubt do the same for same-sex marriage.
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Standing for the freedom to marry is about supporting all families, but I would be remiss without highlighting the impact that this inequality has on black same-sex couples, who statistically are already economically disadvantaged compared to their straight sisters and brothers. . . . The lack of marriage rights negatively affects black same-sex couples because they are also more likely to work in the public sector, relying on health insurance that is often only afforded to married couples.
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Furthermore, I firmly believe that marriage strengthens communities. Allowing more couples the opportunity to marry will strengthen the communities — and families — that most need it.

Saturday Male Beauty

The GOP's War on Unions and Fiscal Common Sense

I continue to shake my head and ask myself WTF has happened to the GOP. A political party that once upon a time had some integrity and decency. Of course, I know the answer: the hate filled Christian Right and the Tea Party crowd have staged a coup and the few moderate and sane Republican lack the guts to stand for integrity and decency. As a result, we see the open war on unions - a force that did much to create the middle class that now finds itself under assault and financial decline - a vote to defund Planned Parenthood that will do more to cause more unwanted pregnancies and thus abortions rather than fewer abortions, and cuts to programs that provide the already pathetic social safety net in this country. Meanwhile, a bill to cut government support of NASCAR has been killed. As noted before on this blog, what the GOP base supports in politics and what it claims to profess in terms of the Gospel message are increasingly light years apart. Greed, self-centeredness and hostility to many other groups of humans are now the principle hallmarks of the Christian Right and the GOP.

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Going back to the Planned Parenthood for a moment, the GOP tools of the Christian Right say anti-abortion Christians should not have to fund contraception and other things they oppose on religious grounds. Never mind that these same people are perfectly fine with forcing gays to pay taxes to the government yet allowing the very same government to fire gays at will because we don't subscribe to Christianist religious views. It's the Christianists who continue to demand special rights even as they say its others who are doing so. The term disingenuous liars is what best applies to these false Christians. As the New York Times notes, here's what would be killed in funding cuts and the actual INCREASED cost that will fall on society:
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Planned Parenthood offers family planning, H.I.V. counseling, treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, cancer screening and other services as well as abortions, mainly to low-income women.
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For every dollar spent on contraception for low-income women, the government saves four dollars in medical costs within the next year by averting unwanted pregnancies, said Ms. Cohen of the Guttmacher Institute.
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That's right - it'll cost four times as much if these services go away. And that's only in terms of unwanted pregnancies. Factoring cancer prevention and other services the figure mushrooms - and that's without putting nay human cost into the equation.
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On the union busting mission of the GOP and the manner in which it will hopefully backfire, here are highlights from the New York Times:
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The unrest in Wisconsin this week over Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to cut the bargaining rights and benefits of public workers is spreading to other states.
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Already, protests erupted in Ohio this week, where another newly elected Republican governor, John Kasich, has been seeking to take away collective bargaining rights from unions. In Tennessee, a law that would abolish collective bargaining rights for teachers passed a State Senate committee this week despite teachers’ objections. Indiana is weighing proposals to weaken unions.
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The images from Wisconsin — with its protests, shutdown of some public services and missing Democratic senators, who fled the state to block a vote — evoked the Middle East more than the Midwest. The parallels raise the inevitable question: Is Wisconsin the Tunisia of collective bargaining rights?
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But Wisconsin is also proving to be a catalyst for Democrats and labor leaders, as they take heart from the way thousands of workers have rallied to the cause. With the falling popularity of unions in recent years, some union leaders see the attempt to take away bargaining powers as an effort that could shift the question from whether public-sector workers are overpaid to whether they should have the right to negotiate contracts at all.
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To that end, unions and Democrats are preparing their own post-Wisconsin campaigns in a number of states against what President Obama called “an assault on unions” in a television interview this week.

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I shudder to think what the USA will become if the Christianists and today's GOP are not defeated. It will certainly become a country in which I will not want to live.

Will Iran Follow Egypt's Path?

Within not too many weeks, all of the old views on the Middle East seem to have been turned on their head as entrenched regimes in Tunisia and Egypt have been overthrown and now turmoil and demonstrations have moved on to other countries. Obviously, one key to autocrats retaining power is the the willingness of the military to fire on and kill citizen protesters. Once that willingness dissolves be it in Tsarist Russia, Egypt or elsewhere , the autocrats are in serious trouble. News out of Iran raises an interesting specter of a growing unwillingness of the Revolutionary Guard to shoot and kill protesters. Without the effective threat and use of deadly force, one has to wonder what may happen. Here are some highlights from The Telegraph:
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Senior officers in Iran's Revolutionary Guards have written a letter to their commanding officer demanding assurances that they will not be required to open fire on anti-government demonstrators.
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Following the recent violence that occurred during anti-government protests in Egypt, the officers argue that it is against the principles of Shi'ite Islamic law to use violence against their own people.
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In a suggestion of a major split within the Islamic Republic's ruling hierarchy over its handling of anti-government protests, the letter has been circulated widely throughout the ranks of the Revolutionary Guards, the body responsible for defending religious system.
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During the violent anti-government demonstrations that followed the disputed presidential election in June 2009, which saw President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad elected to serve a second four-year term, the government relied heavily on the Basij to suppress the protests over fears that it could not rely on certain Guards units.

But in the letter, which is signed by senior officers commanding Guards units in Tehran, Qom, Isfahan and Tabriz, they urge Major Gen Jafari to "use your authority over the Basij to order them to leave their truncheons at home next time." It goes on to state unequivocally, "We promise our people that we will not shoot nor beat our brothers who are seeking to express legitimate protest against the policies and conduct of their leader."
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Western diplomats, who have also seen the letter and confirm its authenticity, say it has now been passed to Mr Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's Supreme Ruler, although no official response has been forthcoming.
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It goes without saying that I would very much like to see the current theocracy overthrown.

Why Exposing Hyprocritical "Family Values" Politicians is Necessary

Once again some in the LGBT blogosphere are whining and having a cow over the call to expose hypocrites among the anti-gay, "family values" politician class who wrap themselves in the banner of "family values," oppose LGBT equality at ever turn and yet are cheating on their wives, seeking gay sex on the side, are twice or thrice divorced even as they whine about the "sanctity of marriage," or engaging in other behaviors that show the lie of their pretended piousness. And these are the same folks who shamelessly pander to the likes of the AFA and Bryan Fischer (who recently confirmed that he DOES really believe that gays should be placed in concentration camps), Tony Perkins and FRC, the ever self-enriching Maggie Gallagher, et. al, and repeat their nasty lies of anti-gay hate groups. Bil Browning - a fellow Bilerico writer - has made a call for dirt on such hypocrites in the Indiana legislature in response to an anti-gay marriage measure. Some - perhaps motivated for personal grudges - are calling this heinous muckraking and similar derogatory things.

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I call it playing hard ball and making the personal lives of our enemies the subject of public discussion just as they do to the lives of LGBT citizens every time they pander to the Christianists, vote for anti-gay measures and engage in other conduct that helps maintain an atmosphere where homophobia is rampant and where suicide still seems the best option to far too many gay teens. Here in Virginia, "family values" Republicans have killed EVERY gay friendly measure in this year's legislative session. Many of these elected officials - while kissing the ass of Daddy Dobson's affiliate, The Family Foundation - describe gays as a menace to society, disease ridden and other truly horrible things. They have no qualms about slandering me, the boyfriend and countless other LGBT Virginians solely to win points and votes. If my life, my love and my partner and friends are going to be used as political footballs, then I say what goes around comes around and our enemies have placed a bulls eye on their own backs and made themselves targets for exposure it they aren't living the family values life they claim to worship.

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This is an issue I feel very strong about and I've warned politicians in the past that there will be a price to pay for disingenuous pandering to anti-gay forces - former Congressman Ed Schrock (pictured above) being the most high profile example. For those who don't remember, Schrock had the second most anti-gay voting record in Congress yet was soliciting gay sex on the side in the Hampton Roads area. When I confronted Schrock (he called me on his cell from the House floor), his chief staffer threatened me with serious consequences, but ultimately Mike Rogers and others nailed Schrock and he dropped out of his re-election campaign. Others who are anti-gay and not living the "family values" life they claim to support deserve similar exposure. You make my life, my relationships, and my civil equality and issue for craven political gain and I WILL do my best to come after you. That message needs to be made to echo loud and clear in every state in this country.

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I repeat a statement I made the other day: anyone with any information on anti-gay politicians in Virginia that exposes them as hypocrites, adulterers, on the down low, or anything else not in accordance with their"family values" political posturing, bring it to me and, if substantiated, and I promise I will get it to those who can help expose the bastards and hopefully end their political careers.

Friday Male Beauty

The Importance of Straight Allies Speaking Out

The 2011 "Out in the Park" pride celebration in Hampton Roads is finally moving to a premier venue - Norfolk's Town Point Park on the downtown Norfolk waterfront - after years of being relegated to the off the beaten path hinterland in Chesapeake. The new venue is vastly increasing the costs of the event and the pressure to put on a truly first class event given the high visibility of the event. In order to insure a great event, rather than being sponsored solely by Hampton Roads Pride, this years event will also be sponsored by HRBOR, Equality Virginia, and AltDaily, an alternative online news and opinion publication. In response to questions as to why AltDaily became involved, Jesse Scaccia, the publisher and editor-in-chief, wrote an amazing op-ed piece that explains why he as a straight man has decided to become involved and join the push for LGBT equality. The piece is entitled "Why I Care About GLBT Rights" and I hope Jesse's call will lead others to realize that when we fail to oppose the message of the Christian Right and other merchants of hate and division, we all lose out. Here are some column highlights (I recommend a read of the full well written and moving column):
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I’ve been part of the team that championed for this year’s Out in the Park to be moved from Chesapeake to the more prominent Town Point Park. I will be a part of the fundraising and organization leading up to the event right up until when the night of June 5th is over.
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I’ve been asked—and it’s impossible for me to not ask myself—why I care so much about this cause that doesn’t necessarily directly affect me. I’m not gay, nor am I bisexual. The simple answer would be to quote Martin Luther King Jr. and say that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” While I do believe that, my answer is deeper, and steeped in more personal history, than that.
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As a Jew, it is impossible for me not to have sympathy for another group oppressed for nothing more than the way they were born. Sympathy is nothing without action. That is one reason I’m a part of Out in the Park.
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So I know something about what it’s like to be discriminated because of my sexuality, even if the ‘accusations’ were false. I know how impotent this kind of discrimination can make a person feel. How wronged. I get how confusing it can be, to know you’re a good person with a lot to give and a lot to add, but to be turned away because you didn’t fit the part they want you to play.
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I want to live in a society where it literally does not matter what choices a person makes when it comes to who they love. For that kind of society to be actualized, people like me need to come out and say that physical contact with someone of your own sex is not implicitly gross. It is not wrong. It is not immoral. It’s okay, really. To some people—people I love dearly—it is how God intended them to live. That, to me, is an immutable fact.
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I’m part of Out in the Park because the GLBT community needs straight allies, and I want them to know they can count on me. See, the destiny of Right is not manifest. Right must be fought for. It dies—it shrivels like a heart cut off from blood—in the absence of the fight.
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For to live, one’s soul must be without fear. And oh, dear lord knows, there are far too many of our brothers and sisters who are so afraid. Our brothers and sisters in the closet live in fear, but also their oppressors, whose hatred is based on ignorance and fear of a world where their version of Manhood does not automatically plop them to the top of the social schemata.
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I know that I am making my path harder in this Southern military town full of Pat Robertson and his followers. I welcome that harder path. Because hard is good. The fight is what sets us free.

Navy Chief in Anti-gay Hazing Case to Retire with Full Pay

As readers may recall, Senior Chief Petty Officer Michael Toussaint (pictured at left), now based in Virginia Beach, was the ring leader in anti-gay hazing and other serious abuses at a military working-dog kennel in Bahrain. A female subordinate, Petty Officer 1st Class Jennifer Valdivia, committed suicide in the aftermath and Joseph Rocha left the Navy after being outed in the wake of the controversy. So what punishment is the Navy giving to Toussaint? Retirement with an honorable discharge at his current grade level and full retirement pay. Indeed, other than not being allowed to reinlist, Toussant is receiving NO PUNISHMENT. This situation is a frightening indictment of how little the Navy cares about anti-gay and sexually inappropriate behavior by officers and others who hold sway over subordinate service members. The Virginian Pilot has coverage on this disgusting situation and here are some highlights:
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A Navy senior chief petty officer censured over hazing and other serious abuses that allegedly took place under his leadership at a military working-dog kennel in Bahrain will retire with an honorable discharge and without a reduction in pay grade, the Navy said Thursday.
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A 2007 command-level investigation, conducted after Toussaint left, documented more than 90 instances of hazing and abuse of junior personnel. Sailors told investigators that, among other things, they were hog-tied to chairs, instructed to act like dogs, ordered to simulate homosexual oral sex on tape, and forced to eat dog biscuits and get inside dirty kennels. No significant disciplinary actions resulted from that investigation.
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While the statement made no mention of it, Toussaint's lawyer, Cmdr. Aaron Rugh, said the service also has decided to rescind a letter of censure - the Navy's harshest form of administrative action - that was issued against Toussaint in 2009. The Navy will replace it with a "slimmed down" letter, Rugh said.
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The Navy was careful to point out that the pay grade review board was not tasked with determining Toussaint's innocence or guilt, and that its decisions are supposed to be based on the totality of a sailor's career.
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It must be nice to have a career where heinous misconduct has no consequences - something most of us wouldn't know about. Indeed, one almost has to wonder whether or not Toussaint has some dirty pictures of some senior brass stashed as an "insurance policy."

Thursday Male Beauty

Political Outings Threatened in Indiana After GOP Super DOMA Vote

Yesterday, in the wake of the passage of a marriage discrimination amendment by the Indiana House of Representatives, Bilerico Project editor Bil Browning called for the outing of hypocritical GOP representatives as a political pay back for the GOP's willingness to write discrimination into that state's laws as its members prostitute themselves to the Christian Right. Some argue that "outing" is never proper. I, however, cast my vote with Bil and agree that hypocrites and adulterers in the GOP need to be exposed and hopefully driven from office. They have no qualms interfering in LGBT lives, so pay back is only fair. Indeed, it was the Virginia GOP's anti-gay jihad that started in early 2004 that led me to turn Mike Rogers onto former Congressman Ed Schrock. Oh,and while never fully documented, rumors of "playing for both teams" have long circulated around former Congressman Virgil Goode and former Attorney General Jerry Kilgore to name a few others. Here are highlights of what Bil had to say and in my view what he asks should be the norm in every state where GOP hypocrites play at damaging LGBT lives:
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I"m sick and tired of hypocritical Hoosier legislators who think that our personal lives are any of their business. Do I intrude on who they're sleeping with? I didn't, but I'm going to start now. We need to show them that unnecessary intrusion into other people's relationships is not only unwelcome but unwarranted. We need to burn their hand so they won't touch the stove again.
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[I]t's time to put out the same call I made in 2007 that helped to kill attempts to amend the constitution until now. Last time we found out that Senator Brandt Hershman, one of the sponsors of the amendment and right-to-life darling, had forced his wife to have an abortion in 1997 before he filed for divorce one week later. I also found an anti-gay legislator who was shtupping a male hairdresser while his wife died of a long-term illness.
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Tell me the stories that will embarrass those conservative bigots - Democrats and Republican - that are backing a constitutional ban on our formalized relationships. Send me gossip about who's a philanderer, a kink fiend, a drug addict, a porn addict, or had a divorce, an abortion or even a stay in rehab. Ask your friends and family for the dirt. Look it up on the internet. Sniff out a lead and send it my way.
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I specifically want to learn more about the alleged blowjob one of our married legislative leaders got caught receiving from a staffer in the Statehouse parking lot. I also want to know more about the single Senator who got all of his money after a rich non-related older man died and left it all to him. Rumor has it that there's a handful of legislators who are in the closet and have been spotted visiting the Unicorn Club's strippers and the gay baths. Several southern legislators supposedly have a fondness for blow.
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Do you know who they are? Will you tell me? E-mail me and I'll blow the whistle.
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For Virginia readers I would ask that you do the same as Bil asks be done in Indiana. Hypocrites need to be exposed and taken down. Pass whatever you may know along and I'll put it to good use.

Hampton Roads Loses General Assembly Representation

Click image to enlarge

With its image of "old, slow and not too bright" image highlighted by a Brookings Institute study last year, the Hampton Roads area of Virginia is not growing at the rate of the generally more liberal and progressive regions of Northern Virginia. As a result, Hampton Roads will likely lose representation in the House of Delegates with Pauls Miller - a progressive delegate - likely to have her district targeted for dissolution. As Blue Virginia notes:
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Overall, on the macro level, we see a shift in power northward to Northern Virginia exurbs. The effects of this on such diverse issues such as transportation and education funding to health care and social issues will impact state politics for years to come.

Hawaii Eyes Gay Tourism for Civil Unions Ceremonies

Virginia claims to be for lovers, but the tourism slogan is an out right lie because only straight, preferably ultra-conservative lovers are truly welcome. For all others, the "Closed" sign might as well be posted on all tourism portals for anyone not fitting the "family" mold favored by GOP's Christo-fascist puppeteers at The Family Foundation. The cretins in the GOP controlled House of Delegates just don't get it that bigotry and backwardness are not things that will attract upscale tourists. So while the House has voted to keep LGBT Virginians worse than third class citizens - and gained much negative publicity for Virginia in the process - it has voted to throw funds at stalled tourism projects in places like the quasi-police state Virginia Beach oceanfront which over all caters to a non-affluent, working class and blue collar low budget travel market segment. Hawaii in contrast gets the real message and is gearing up for marketing to the LGBT tourist who will soon be able to have a civil union ceremony while visiting that state. An article in the Virginian Pilot looks at how progressive Hawaii looks to cash in on the enhanced equality soon to be granted to LGBT individuals. Here are some highlights:
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HONOLULU (AP) -- For years, the Rev. Fay Hovey has held romantic ceremonies on the sand for gay partners who want to pledge their love in Hawaii. The couples take photos and memories with them, but they lack a legal and binding recognition of their relationship. That will change when same-sex civil unions soon become law in the Rainbow State.
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The culturally diverse islands - with their swaying palm trees, picturesque sunsets and wind-swept sands - are already a welcoming place for gay tourists, including some who seek informal partnership ceremonies.
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With civil unions, those ceremonies would come with a certificate that's valid in other states with civil unions or same-sex marriage, depending on their local laws. Five states and the District of Columbia permit same-sex marriage.
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Hawaii, known as one of the nation's premier locations for destination weddings and honeymoons, also will allow gay couples to get civil unions even if they don't come from states with compatible laws. This could provide a boost to the tourism-dependent islands that are trying to recover from the recession
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"It will certainly drive more tourism and bring more people to us," said Michael Waddell, general manager for the Maui Sunseeker, a resort catering to gay clientele. "They come here because they can be comfortable and they can be themselves." The Maui Sunseeker is expanding from 17 to 30 rooms by the end of the year, which will help it accommodate new visitors, he said.
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"We don't discriminate. We're known for having tolerance and mutual respect for all," said Mike McCartney, president for the Hawaii Tourism Authority. "Our natural beauty, people and spirit create and environment for romance."
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In contrast, Virginia openly discriminates against gays and, depending what part of the state one is in, many other segments of society. The lesson to be learned? Spend your hard earned money in states that grant equalit to all and take the time to let your own state know why you're taking your dollars elsewhere.

More Wednesday Male Beauty

Reminder - HRBOR Third Thursday Tomorrow

Hampton Roads Business Outreach will hold its February Third Thursday event tomorrow evening. The event is sponsored by RBC Bank and will take place at 37th & Zen located between Old Dominion University and Ghent. After the HRBOR event, hit the special showing of I Love You Phillip Morris at the Naro Theater in Ghent at 8:30 PM (all proceeds from the movie go to Hampton Roads Pride and the Out in the Park Festival). Here are details on the HRBOR event.

February's Third Thursday will be hosted by Kathleen Nicholas of RBC Bank (USA) at 37th and Zen Restaurant and Lounge in Norfolk.

Kathleen Nicholas Banking Center Manager RBC Bank (USA)

Pacific Avenue Office T.

757-892-2261 F. 757-892-2265

3012 Pacific Ave Virginia Beach, VA 23451

Who: Hampton Roads Business Outreach

What: Third Thursday Business Net-working Event

Where: 37th and Zen Restaurant & Lounge

When: Thursday, February 17, 2011 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM

Hawaii Civil Unions Bill Awaits Governor's Signature

Today the Hawaii Senate followed the action of the House and voted to approve civil unions legislation that will afford same sex couples virtually all of the rights of civil law marriage. Now the bill heads to the Governor' office where Governor Neil Abercrombie has said he will sign the measure into law - unlike his hypocritical, twice divorced Republican predecessor who vetoed similar legislation lat year. Hopefully, the Maryland legislature will soon follow suit and bring full marriage to the other side of the Potomac. Here are highlights from the Honolulu Star Advertiser on today's events:
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The Hawaii Senate took its final step in clearing the way to grant same-sex couples virtually the same rights and privileges of traditional marriage, giving approval today to a bill legalizing civil unions. Senate Bill 232 was approved by a 18-5 vote.
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It now goes to Gov. Neil Abercrombie, who supports civil unions and has promised to sign the bill into law. "I have always believed that civil unions respect our diversity, protect people's privacy, and reinforce our core values of equality and aloha," Abercrombie said in a statement after the vote.
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Hawaii becomes the seventh state to grant civil unions to same-sex couples without authorizing marriage itself. Five states and Washington, D.C., permit same-sex marriage.
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"Today is a momentous day," said Sen. Clayton Hee. "There is no denying that by this action Hawaii takes a significant step towards true equality." Senate Bill 232 allows all couples -- same-sex and heterosexual -- to enter into a civil union, a legal status with all the rights, benefits, protections and responsibilities as traditional marriage.
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Twelve states now grant their LGBT citizens some form of basic equality to all their citizens. Meanwhile backwaters like Virginia give way to religious extremists and bigotry and give their best and brightest good reason to head to more progressive states. And yet Hampton Roads wonders why it has a brain drain and a net loss of college graduates.

More Bullsh*t From William Donohue

As noted in prior posts on this blog, the Catholic League is actually a roughly three person operation that nets William Donohue a well into the six figures annual income. Not bad for what's basically a front organization for a non-existent membership. Now, Donohue is trumpeting that "liberal" churches are losing membership within the USA while "conservative churches" such as the Roman Catholic Church are gaining members. Donohue conveniently ignores the fact that without the Hispanic immigrant influx - a group of people Donohue's gay hating conservative allies would deport in a heart beat - the Catholic Church would be DOWN in membership numbers. Oh, and what about the 1 in 3 individuals raised as Catholics who have left the Church as reported by the Pew Form and the Barna Group? As is the norm for Donohue, he cherry picks data and the true facts are irrelevant. Here's what the Pew Form recently found:
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While nearly one-in-three Americans (31%) were raised in the Catholic faith, today fewer than one-in-four (24%) describe themselves as Catholic. These losses would have been even more pronounced were it not for the offsetting impact of immigration. The Landscape Survey finds that among the foreign-born adult population, Catholics outnumber Protestants by nearly a two-to-one margin.
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Major changes in the makeup of American Catholicism also loom on the horizon. Latinos, who already account for roughly one-in-three adult Catholics overall, may account for an even larger share of U.S. Catholics in the future. For while Latinos represent roughly one-in-eight U.S. Catholics age 70 and older (12%), they account for nearly half of all Catholics ages 18-29 (45%).

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Commonweal similarly reported statistics that ought to have the Vatican trembling - not that the current crop of bitter old men in dresses seem to be getting the message:
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[O]ne out of every three adult Americans who were raised Catholic have left the church. If these ex-Catholics were to form a single church, they would constitute the second largest church in the nation. . . . . Thomas Reese, SJ, the former editor of America, recently described this loss of one-third of those raised Catholic as “a disaster.” He added, “You wonder if the bishops have noticed.”
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“Catholicism,” the Pew study found, “has lost more people to other religions or to no religion at all than any other single religious group.”
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Catholics becoming unaffiliated stressed disagreement with church teachings, both general teachings and church positions on specific issues like abortion, homosexuality, and treatment of women, and to a lesser extent clerical celibacy. In open-ended questioning, they also stressed hypocrisy and other moral and spiritual failures of church leaders and fellow Catholics.
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The track record is that as populations become more educated and socially assimilated, their church affiliation drops. With the Catholic Church increasingly seeing growth only in newly arrived Hispanic populations, the long term prospects are exactly the the opposite of what Donohue would have Kool-Aid drinking Catholics believe.

Wednesday Male Beauty

California Supreme Court to Consider Prop 8 Question

UPDATED: Today the California Supreme Court unanimously agreed to cosider the standing issue certified to it from the 9th Circuit and oral arguments will take place sometime before September. Here are new highlights from the Los Angeles Times:
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The California Supreme Court decided Wednesday to determine whether the sponsors of Proposition 8 have special authority to defend the anti-gay marriage initiative in court. The state high court, meeting in closed session, agreed to a request by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to determine the status California law gives initiative sponsors.
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The court was unanimous in deciding to accept the case. The court's order set an expedited briefing schedule to permit a hearing by "as early as September." The court must rule on a case 90 days after oral argument.
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Both conservative and liberal groups are expected to urge the California court to rule that backers of ballot measures have authority, or “standing,” to defend them. Such a ruling would pave the way for a 9th Circuit decision on Proposition 8’s constitutionality, which likely would go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and have national impact.
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The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals certified a question to the California Supreme Court to determine whether Proposition 8’s sponsors have legal authority to defend the ballot measure under California law. Under previous federal court rulings, the precedent would seem to be that the answer to the question is a firm no. Thus, unless the California Supreme Court finds a state law basis for standing, the 9th Circuit may well turn down the appeal by the private interest supporters of Proposition 8. Obviously, this blog hopes that the California Supreme court likewise finds a lack of standing. The Los Angeles Times has a story that indicates that the California Supreme Court is about to take up the question on this issue. Here are highlights:
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The California Supreme Court will decide Wednesday whether to plunge back into the legal battle over same-sex marriage.
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Depending on the court’s ruling, the 9th Circuit could either dismiss the Proposition 8 appeal on procedural grounds -- limiting the case’s effect to California -- or rule on federal constitutional questions that would affect same-sex marriage throughout the country.
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California state officials refused to appeal the ruling. Now the 9th Circuit must determine whether Proposition 8’s sponsors, ProtectMarriage.com, have legal standing to challenge the trial court's decision.
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I'll write more on this issue as facts develop.

Lawsuit Says Military Is Rife With Sexual Abuse

Elaine Donnelly and other rabid anti-gay professional Christians and faux experts would have the public believe that allowing gays in the military would undermine good order and open the door for sexual misconduct. It's a lie, of course - like just about everything that comes out of the mouths of the Christianists. Worse yet, it ignores the fact that sexual misconduct by straight service members is already rampant and the fact the the good old boys in charge like to turn a blind eye to the ongoing misconduct. Apparently, especially when women are the victims of sexual abuse. Now, a lawsuit has been filed seeking redress of the outrages that have been permitted which one would hope would expose those in the senior brass who have turned a blind eye to misconduct under a "boys will be boys" mindset. From some of the male chauvinist military brass I've encountered locally, the claims of the lawsuit ring true. It's long past time that the macho cowboy mindset of those in command be reined in. Here are highlights from the New York Times:

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WASHINGTON — A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday accuses the Department of Defense of allowing a military culture that fails to prevent rape and sexual assault, and of mishandling cases that were brought to its attention, thus violating the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights.
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The suit — brought by 2 men and 15 women, both veterans and active-duty service members — specifically claims that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and his predecessor, Donald H. Rumsfeld, “ran institutions in which perpetrators were promoted and where military personnel openly mocked and flouted the modest Congressionally mandated institutional reforms."
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There was severe maltreatment in these cases, and there was no accountability whatsoever. And soldiers in general who make any type of complaint in the military are subject to retaliation and have no means of defending themselves.”
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The plaintiffs’ stories in the complaint include accounts of a soldier stripping naked and dancing on a table during a break in a class on preventing sexual assault, physical and verbal harassment, and the rape of a woman by two men who videotaped the assault and circulated it to the woman’s colleagues.
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Though the suit, which was filed in Federal District Court in Virginia, seeks monetary damages, those involved with the case said their goal was an overhaul of the military’s judicial system regarding rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment. “You should not have to be subjected to being raped or sexually assaulted because you volunteered to serve this nation,” said Susan L. Burke, the plaintiffs’ lead lawyer.
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Don't expect a word out of the mouths of the gay haters in defense of women. Ms. Donnelly would no doubt claim that women asked for assault by joining the military in the first place.

Hungary Sending a "Gays Not Wanted" Message

While more and more nations and cities seem to want to welcome the pink tourism dollar (for God's sake, even generally reactionary Richmond, Virginia has launched a LGBT tourism page), the nation of Hungary seems hell bent to chase away gays. Not only has a pride event been banned in Budapest for the lame excuse of traffic disruption, but anti-gay legislation seems to be advancing even in the face of what would appear to be an open violation of European Union requirements concerning equality for all citizens. Indeed. one would think that NOM or FRC were guiding legislative policy in the country. With plenty of LGBT friendly nations to visit in Europe, Hungary would seem to be a country to avoid when planning one's itinerary. Here are some highlights from Pink Paper on the backward slide that seems to be occurring:
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Police in Budapest banned the 2011 lesbian and gay Pride March, yesterday – because it would hinder the flow of traffic. The event, scheduled for 18 June, is considered the highlight of the gay calendar. Now, ILGA-Europe claim the decision is a clear breach of the right of freedom and assembly.
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Peaceful LGBTI Pride Marches have taken place in Budapest for several years. However, during the last few years the participants of Budapest Pride March experienced attacks by nationalist and right wing extremists.
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The European Court of Human Rights made it clear that gay people are equally entitled to the right to peaceful assembly and expression and that the state and the police have a positive obligation to protect queer public events from violent attacks by the opponents.
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The ban on Pride March adds to our concerns with the deteriorating situation for LGBTI in Hungary. Currently there is a proposal to amend the country’s Constitution to limit the scope of marriage to one man and one woman with the effect of banning the possibility of a future opening of marriage to same-sex couples.
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Moreover, a draft media law is currently being revised after heavy criticism from the EU aimed to prevent among other things same-sex affections in the media. We believe that represents dangerous signal not only to gay people in Hungary, but also across the EU. We call upon EU institutions and member states to remind Hungary of its duties and about the EU fundamental principles of equality, non-discrimination and respect for human rights for all.”

More Tuesday Male Beauty

GOP Controlled Committee Kills Bill to Prohibit Discrimination Against Gays

The last hope for work place protections for LGBT Virginians employed by state agencies and departments died this evening with a vote by the Republican-controlled House General Laws subcommittee. While I could not attend the hearing before the committee, I did submit evidence through Equality Virginia for consideration by subcommittee members. It saddens me greatly that for at least another year LGBT Virginians can be fired at will by the state itself under Virginia's bigoted laws. No doubt Victoria Cobb and her fellow hate merchants at The Family Foundation had an orgasm when they learned of the results of the vote. With ENDA dead in Congress for the foreseeable future, lawsuits based on federal equal protection and related arguments are the only option for those unfortunate enough to live in Virginia and work for state agencies. My best advice to LGBT Virginians, of course, is to leave Virginia if at all possible. The Virginian Pilot has these brief highlights:
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A House subcommittee has killed a bill to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in state hiring. Democratic Sen. Donald McEachin's bill passed out of the Senate last week, but was killed by a Republican-controlled House General Laws subcommittee Tuesday.
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The panel also killed another McEachin proposal that would have allowed the State Department of Human Resources to examine extending health benefits to same-sex partners.
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Gov. Bob McDonnell became the first governor in years to omit gays from an executive order banning workplace discrimination last year. He later said he would not tolerate any discrimination in state government. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has declared that there is no legal grounds for protecting gays until the General Assembly enacts such a law.
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Seriously, in the eyes of Virginia Republicans farm animals and household pets hold a higher place under the law than LGBT citizens.

AFA and Iowa Family Policy Center Back Peddling After Showing True Face

In recent posts we've seen Bryan Fischer of AFA insulting Native Americans - and many others, gays included, naturally - during his latest cases of verbal diarrhea and general batshitery. Then, we seen the Iowa Family Policy Center and its affiliates maintaining that gays are a public health threat more dangerous than second hand cigarette smoke. Now, having shown their real faces and the unvarnished hate that is the driving force of their toxic form of Christianity, both AFA and Iowa Family Policy Center are frantically back peddling in the hope of disguising their real nature once again. Personally, I hope there will be a backlash against their fully unmasked bigotryand that those witnessing these insincere efforts will see through the smoke screens. In the Case of AFA, Right Wing Watch looks at AFA's effort to distance itself from Fischer. Here are some highlights:
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As we noted yesterday, the American Family Association has pulled Bryan Fischer's recent blog post asserting that Native American's were "morally disqualified" from exercising control over North America and that Europeans were justified in taking it by force.
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So far, the AFA has not offered any statement on why it did so and all we have gotten is Fischer's side as he claims it was taken down because people are just "not mature" enough to handle the truth and was becoming a distraction because the Left was just too "dim-witted" to understand that Fischer was speaking only for himself and not for the organization.
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Now, as Warren Throckmorton reports, a representative of the AFA showed up in the comments to a Throckmorton post on Crosswalk about Fischer's piece to reject Fischer's bigotry and claim that his views do not represent the AFA:
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Bryan Fischer’s blog runs on the AFA website. His blog does not speak for AFA. His statements about Native Americans were wrong and disturbing. I am posting this as an individual, but provide my job description to illustrate that Bryan’s views were not those of AFA as a whole.
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Patrick Vaughn
General Counsel
American Family Association, Inc.
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Should these disavowals be believed? Of course not. Fischer is still on the AFA payroll and is promoted by AFA. A transparent claim that he doesn't represent AFA's views simple doesn't wash. And in the case of Iowa Family Policy Center, the excuses are even more lame as the implausible statement is passed around that it was all a mistake and that the anti-gay health contagion line should have been taken down two years ago. The Iowa Independent looks at this outright lie. Here are highlights:
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A link to a seminar series that presents homosexuality and its “second-hand effects” as a public health threat has been removed from the website of The Family Leader.

Julie Summa, director of marketing and public outreach for The Family Leader, said the seminar series has not been offered for around two years. However, up until Tuesday, a link to the seminar’s website was made available to anyone who signed up for e-mail updates
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When asked by The Iowa Independent why, if the series has not been offered for two years, it continues to be advertised on The Family Leader’s website, Summa said it was a mistake.
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The seminar series, which is advertised as exposing the “public health crisis of same-sex activity,” was first discovered by the “Good As You” blog, but garnered headlines when it was brought up by reporters at a press conference organized by The Family Leader with former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
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IFPC argued that gay marriage was more dangerous than smoking.

“The Iowa Legislature outlawed smoking [in some public places] in an effort to improve health and reduce the medical costs that are often passed on to the state,” Hurley said at that time. “The second-hand impacts of certain homosexual acts are arguably more destructive, and potentially more costly to society than smoking.”
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Days later the IFPC published information in its blog entitled: “What’s Worse — Smoking or Sodomy?”

South Dakota GOP Back Bill Invites Murder of Abortion Providers

For the record, I am not an advocate of using abortion in lieu of responsible contraception and sexual activity. However, a bill currently pending in the South Dakota legislature has taken opposition to abortion to a frightening level and might well set the stage for the more untethered elements of the Christian Right to start literally murdering abortion providers and others. It's yet another example of the lengths that the GOP will go to prostitute itself to the most extreme and hate filled elements of religious extremists within the GOP party base. Moreover, it's a prime example of the fact that the "godly Christians" of the far right are anything but loving and/or Christian. Indeed, they look more like an American version of the Taliban willing to kill and destroy any and all who do not conform to their religious views. Here are highlights from Mother Jones on this development:
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A law under consideration in South Dakota would expand the definition of "justifiable homicide" to include killings that are intended to prevent harm to a fetus—a move that could make it legal to kill doctors who perform abortions. The Republican-backed legislation, House Bill 1171, has passed out of committee on a nine-to-three party-line vote, and is expected to face a floor vote in the state's GOP-dominated House of Representatives soon.
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The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Phil Jensen, a committed foe of abortion rights, alters the state's legal definition of justifiable homicide by adding language stating that a homicide is permissible if committed by a person "while resisting an attempt to harm" that person's unborn child or the unborn child of that person's spouse, partner, parent, or child. If the bill passes, it could in theory allow a woman's father, mother, son, daughter, or husband to kill anyone who tried to provide that woman an abortion—even if she wanted one.
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"The bill in South Dakota is an invitation to murder abortion providers," says Vicki Saporta, the president of the National Abortion Federation, the professional association of abortion providers. Since 1993, eight doctors have been assassinated at the hands of anti-abortion extremists, and another 17 have been the victims of murder attempts. Some of the perpetrators of those crimes have tried to use the justifiable homicide defense at their trials.
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Sara Rosenbaum, a law professor at George Washington University who frequently testifies before Congress about abortion legislation, says the bill is legally dubious. "It takes my breath away," she says in an email to Mother Jones. "Constitutionally, a state cannot make it a crime to perform a constitutionally lawful act."
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The South Dakota legislature has twice tried to ban abortion outright, but voters rejected the ban at the polls in 2006 and 2008, by a 12-point margin both times. Conservative lawmakers have since been looking to limit access any other way possible.

Washington Post: Maryland Senate Likely to Aprrove Gay Marriage

While I don't like to count chickens before they hatch - or in this case, until a vote has actually been taken - the Washington Post is reporting that a majority of members of the Maryland Senate have indicated that they will vote for passage of same sex marriage legislation now pending in that chamber. If Maryland grants marriage equality to all of its citizens, it will underscore the dichotomy between reactionary Virginia on the south side of the Potomac and progressive Maryland and Maryland to the north. It will also up the ante in the recruitment of progressive businesses which will find it more difficult to convince LGBT and LGBT friendly employees to want to take jobs in Virginia where the Christianists and Virginia Republicans want to take the state back to the 1950's or earlier in time. It may also accelerate the "brain drain" being experienced by Hampton Roads and southwestern Virginia where college graduates increasingly do not return home after college. Bigotry and backwardness carry a real price. Not surprisingly, the child rapist protecting Catholic Church is against the marriage legislation. Here are highlights from the Post story:

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A majority of Maryland's state senators have said publicly that they will vote to legalize same-sex marriages, greatly increasing the odds that the highest-profile social legislation being considered by the General Assembly will pass in coming weeks.

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In interviews Monday, two more senators said they intended to vote for the bill, increasing the number who have made such commitments to 24 - the bare majority needed for passage in the 47-member Senate - according to an ongoing Washington Post tally.

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If the bill clears the Senate, it would move to the House - traditionally the more liberal of the two chambers on social policy. Sponsors say they are confident they can secure a majority there. Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) has said he would sign the bill. Maryland would join five other states and the District in allowing same-sex marriages.

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The Post's tally is not a guarantee of the bill's passage when it reaches the Senate floor, probably next week. Several senators, including Klausmeier, have publicly agonized over their positions in recent days. Opponents also have threatened a filibuster in an attempt to kill the legislation.

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The General Assembly may not have the final word on the issue: If the bill passes, opponents of the legislation have said they would take advantage of a provision in Maryland law that allows citizens to petition approved legislation to the ballot. If successful, that would put the law on hold pending a statewide vote in November 2012.

Tuesday Male Beauty

Teaching Kids About Gay Marriage - The False Bogey Man

One of the goals of public schools ought to be teaching children about the real world and how to cope with a rapidly changing society. That's not to say instruction shouldn't be age appropriate, but pretending that things and entire classes of people do not exist is not going to help children as they mature. Yet erasing LGBT people from view is precisely what the National Organization for marriage ("NOM") and other similar anti-gay organizations want to do. Like it or not, more and more gays are living out and proud and many more of us are parenting children of all ages. Children WILL learn about gays and gay relationships via the Internet, watching the local news or even glancing through newspapers and magazines. Or by way of knowing other children with same sex parents. This is simple real world reality. Nonetheless, the false bogey man used time and time again by NOM and its hate merchant allies is that allowing gays to legally marry will lead to five year olds learning about gay sex. Of course, such is story lines are lie - as is most of the filth self-enriching professional Christians disseminate. Queerty looks at this disingenuous phenomenon and here are some highlights:
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Continuing its strategy of scaring families into thinking same-sex marriage will lead to the recruitment of their children into the homosexual lifestyle, the National Organization for Marriage has been mailing out brochures to Rhode Island voters claiming "Imposing same-sex marriage has consequences," consequences that allegedly include, "Massachusetts’ public schools teach kids as young as kindergartners about gay marriage. Parents have no legal right to object!"
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So what if schools are telling children about gay marriages? And that they're legal in some states, and illegal and others. And that they're the unions of two loving people. Teachers are not telling students AND THEN THE TWO MEN FUCK EACH OTHER IN THE ASSHOLE, the same way they aren't teaching "kids as young as kindergartners" that mommy spreads her legs for daddy's third leg.
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[W]e could only hope NOM is right: that teachers and administrators feel comfortable enough about same-sex marriage to relay to kids that, hey, yeah, this is something that's happening out there, and it's perfectly okay. It's not enough to say NOM's claims are unfounded. It's time to say the only reasonable way to move forward is to normalize same-sex marriage in the eyes of kids, at least as much as they see opposite-sex marriage as de rigueur.
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We'll be a lot further along when we show that kids really don't have a problem with gay couples, even married ones, and there is nothing to be scared of.