More Saturday Male Beauty

$166 Million Catholic Church Sexual Abuse Settlement Reached

Even as the Archbishop Dolan of New York City compares same sex relationships to having sex with one's mother and the Vatican condemns the United Nations resolution against the criminalization of homosexuality and equates gay love/sex to incest and pedophilia, the ongoing hemorrhage of money in sex abuse settlements shows where the real moral bankruptcy lies. And it's not with loving and committed same sex couples. Oh no, it's instead within the halls of the Vatican and the bishoprics and cardinal's palaces where the protection of sexual predators was all too typically the norm. In the latest testament to the moral bankruptcy of the falsely pious members of the Catholic Church hierarchy, the Jesuit Order is paying our $166 million to victims in the Pacific Northwest who came forward with allegations of sexual abuse. This large sum is added to the billions of dollars paid out so far around the world. Again, I ask, why does anyone give any deference whatsoever to the monsters who have presided over an international conspiracy to cover up such foul crimes? Here are highlights from KVEW-TV:
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It's one of the largest settlements ever, in the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, more than $166 million. 450 victims in the Pacific Northwest came forward with allegations of sexual abuse against the Jesuit order of the Catholic Church. The St. Mary's Mission School Omak, Washington is the only school where former students alleged abuse.

Katherine mendez was sent to St. Mary's Mission school in Omak when she was 11-years-old. She says one of the priests there, Father John Morse, started abusing her during her very first week there. Mendez says the sexual abuse got worse and happened twice a week for two years.
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Bryan Smith is one of the lawyers in this settlement. He says there were 38 claims by victims against the same priest who allegedly abused Mendez. Smith, "and so the sad reality is that these priests, the problem priests, the ones that were abusing children were sent to live with children where they were helpless." The majority of them are Native American who alleged abuse while attending mission schools set up by the Jesuits on reservations.
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The Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus leaders declined to comment on the settlement, saying they are doing so out of respect for the legal process, and the people involved.
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The settlement also calls for a written apology to the victims. Father John Morse now lives in a retirement community for Jesuits at Gonzaga University in Spokane. He does not face criminal charges, because child abuse victims can only report the crime before they turn 28.

End The Fear - A Guest Post from South Africa

One of the most amazing things about blogging is the way in which it has allowed me to have contact with people literally from all across the globe. I find it exciting and encouraging to find smart, articulate, sensitive and passionate activists from all corners of the world. A case in point is Ernest Oosthuizen, a 23 year old South African who with his partner (they are pictured at left with Ernest on the left) who want to do their part to end homophobia and the toll of needlessly lost and damaged lives that are too often its fruits.
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Here are some of Ernest and his partner's goals in their own words: We are working together in laying the foundation for an organization we would love to see blossom one day. It's been an idea in the making for the past 6 months and we're both very passionate. It's called EndTheFear. . . . Our lofty end goal would be to get Toll-free hotlines and counseling for LGBT teens in South Africa. But as of yet, we're still dreaming big and doing what we can with what we have.
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The following is a guest post written by Ernest. It is followed by a video that he and his partner have put together.
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End The Fear
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Bullying and homophobia stretches far beyond just the direct visible act of the word, and many times goes unnoticed by the people not involved. To the person bullied it’s a constant fear; the undertones in conversations, the smirk and jeering eye contact and that knowledge that at any moment you can become a punch line to a “that’s so gay joke”. It’s the silent abuse.
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Watching the news reports on the vast amount of bullying that goes on, shows something needs to be done. We know above all else that these kids are just the tip of the iceberg. The thing with bullying of this sort is that many times people keep to themselves, hoping not to bring more attention to the issue. So maybe the best way, is to empower the person bullied, saying hang in there, you’re beautiful! There would be nothing sadder than to see another life lost over another’s ignorance and fear.
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To most people, none of this is new; we’ve all lived with this fear. That is the thing all human beings have in common, we fear rejection, we fear ending up alone, so the Darwinian-like instinct in us want to be “normal” and fit in. In every person this fear lingers.
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So what is homophobia to me? It is the ultimate fear of homosexuals- the fear that our existence will bring harm. In truth there is nothing threatening about me. I don’t want to hunt, lock up or impose sanctions on the rights of any “straight” person. My existence has no influence on the goings-on of your daily life. Rationally and logically, homophobia makes no sense. The misconceptions are vast, and it all stems from the stagnant and oppressed views of people stuck in the past.
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How do we end homophobia? How do we end the fear? Homophobia is broken whenever people start thinking for themselves, when people ask: “What is evil about it?” It is the liberation of the mind, and change that comes from within. Informing people, bringing change to their outlook.
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Showing people that there's nothing to fear and bringing self-realization from within is our goal. To end homophobia we must end the fear.
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Saturday Male Beauty

America's Misplaced Priorities

As other nations like China and India modernize, the USA in many ways is allowing its infrastructure to collapse and seems to be discarding the younger generations for whom education spending and other support systems always seem to be the first on the budget chopping block. Yes, we have a high tech military, but in so many areas low tech seems to be the future for all but a select few. The loons of the far right, the Tea Party crowd and the Christianists whine about Obama being a Marxist and internal threats from Muslims and others who are not white conservative Christians, and yet it is they themselves who are slowly destroying the nation and turning the promise of Constitution into a fraud. They view the lives of others who they depict as "other" as worthless and increasingly we are seeing freedoms promised by the Constitution increasingly delivered more abroad than at home. Bob Herbert has a timely column in the New York Times that looks at this sad circumstance. Here are some highlights:

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So here we are pouring shiploads of cash into yet another war, this time in Libya, while simultaneously demolishing school budgets, closing libraries, laying off teachers and police officers, and generally letting the bottom fall out of the quality of life here at home.
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Welcome to America in the second decade of the 21st century. An army of long-term unemployed workers is spread across the land, the human fallout from the Great Recession and long years of misguided economic policies. Optimism is in short supply. The few jobs now being created too often pay a pittance, not nearly enough to pry open the doors to a middle-class standard of living.
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Limitless greed, unrestrained corporate power and a ferocious addiction to foreign oil have led us to an era of perpetual war and economic decline. Young people today are staring at a future in which they will be less well off than their elders, a reversal of fortune that should send a shudder through everyone.
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The U.S. has not just misplaced its priorities. . . . it has lost its way entirely. Nearly 14 million Americans are jobless and the outlook for many of them is grim. Since there is just one job available for every five individuals looking for work, four of the five are out of luck. Instead of a land of opportunity, the U.S. is increasingly becoming a place of limited expectations.
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There is plenty of economic activity in the U.S., and plenty of wealth. But like greedy children, the folks at the top are seizing virtually all the marbles. Income and wealth inequality in the U.S. have reached stages that would make the third world blush. As the Economic Policy Institute has reported, the richest 10 percent of Americans received an unconscionable 100 percent of the average income growth in the years 2000 to 2007.
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Americans behave as if this is somehow normal or acceptable. It shouldn’t be, and didn’t used to be. . . . The current maldistribution of wealth is also scandalous. In 2009, the richest 5 percent claimed 63.5 percent of the nation’s wealth. The overwhelming majority, the bottom 80 percent, collectively held just 12.8 percent.
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Despite profits of $14.2 billion — $5.1 billion from its operations in the United States — General Electric did not have to pay any U.S. taxes last year.
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Overwhelming imbalances in wealth and income inevitably result in enormous imbalances of political power. So the corporations and the very wealthy continue to do well. The employment crisis never gets addressed. The wars never end. And nation-building never gets a foothold here at home. New ideas and new leadership have seldom been more urgently needed.

Quote of the Day - America's Version of Sharia Law

The following comment by a reader struck a real chord with me and does a wonderful job of describing the dangers and injustice done by affording conservative Christianity special privileges. It goes to the very essence of why the Founding Fathers wanted no established religion and why those such as Jefferson believed that NO ONE'S civil rights should be dependent upon adherence to a particular sectarian belief system. Yet shockingly, this vision of the brilliant minds of the Founding Fathers is flouted daily by the likes of GOP members of Congress - e.g., Randy Forbes - and pandering politicians such as the trice married, serial adulterer Newt Gingrich. As the reader notes, the parallels with Sharia Law are remarkable, yet this bigots fail to see it. Here's the comment.

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Personally I'm tired of my life and well being being dependent upon a particular religious text that I do not follow or believe in. I don't care what the bible says, or what people say the bible says, on homosexuality or anything else.

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Why must I, as a non-Christian, be forced to live by the tenets of a faith that I do not follow? Why can't Christians grasp the fact that not everyone believes what they believe? Why must those of us who do not follow any of the Abrahamic religions be forced to live by their religious laws?

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And yet these same people, in their conspiratorial delusions, rail against the concept of Sharia Law being imposed on them but fail to see the similarities in their instance on "biblical law" being made the law of the land.

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My life, well being, and existence should not have to hang on the ever changing interpretation of a particular religion's understanding of their sacred text. Nobody's should.

Dining Out for Life - April 28, 2011

The boyfriend (Barry) and I will be ambassadors again this year for ACCESS AIDS Care's Dining Out for Life effort. We will be hosting at Brent's in downtown Hampton on Queens Way starting at 6:00 P.M. and hope readers on the Peninsula will join us. Brent's will be donating 25% of the evening proceeds to ACCESS AIDS Care and offers amazing food (made from scratch with Japanese, Cajun, French, Italian and Low Country influences), a great atmosphere and past years' the event has been a lot of fun as well. If you cannot join us at Brent's, then check out one of the other 65+ restaurants that are participating. For those not familiar with ACCESS AIDS Care, here's some information:

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ACCESS AIDS Care provides programs and services to individuals and families impacted by HIV/AIDS in Hampton Roads. The mission of ACCESS AIDS Care is to promote the dignity and wellness of adults, families, youth and children affected by HIV/AIDS through quality support and prevention services so they may live healthy lives. The services that are provided can be found here.

Friday Male Beauty

Harvard Theologian Attacks Gay Activists Rather than Christian Hate Merchants

Earlier in the week I wrote a post addressing the failure of "good" Christians to speak up and combat the hate and lies issuing daily from far right Christians against LGBT individuals. Indeed, I likened them in some ways to the "Good Germans" during the Nazi regime who chose to close their eyes to what they either knew or suspected was being done to eradicate Jews in Europe. A cross posting of the post on The Bilerico Project generated dozens of comments.
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Like it or not, religion - and in the USA that principally means Christianity - is THE underlying source for homophobia, anti-gay laws, and on occasion deadly violence against LGBT people. Many do not want to accept this hard truth. Refusing to accept that reality and speak out LOUDLY against the hate filled "Christians," however, and failing to demand equal media time to counter the hate, doesn't solve the problem. Neither does attacking LGBT activists who call out the source of the hate - namely the Bible. Bible apologists are, in my view, disingenuous and in truth aiding the cause of people like Fred Phelps. Bryan Fischer, Tony Perkins and Maggie Gallagher who wave about the Bible during their hate filled rants. Yet this is precisely what Mark D. Jordan of Harvard Divinity School (pictured above) does in a piece at Religion Dispatches. His particular target is John Aravosis, but his whining is broad enough to include myself and many other activists.
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Jordan prefers those who have quietly "labored strenuously over recent decades to change received readings of the Bible" forgetting the fact that most out in the general public have never heard of him or other academic types or their "labors." Quiet labors such as those Jordan lauds are fine and good, but LGBT people are still being regularly murdered, fired from their jobs and undergoing daily discrimination because of the Bible. And this sad truth dictates that at times those willing to use brickbats and loudly condemn the haters and the fount of such hate are a necessity. I would argue that the younger generations - who seem increasingly inclined to walk away from religious affiliation and hold a negative view of "Christians" - are hearing the message of those like Aravosis far more than that of ivory tower academics like Jordan.
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Yes, we need the academics, but we need the street fighters as well. who daily expose the viciousness and hate that are too often synonymous with Christian belief. Jordan has directed his criticism in the wrong directions. I would also suggest that Jordan spend more time tracking what those who I call Christianists are saying and doing. If he did, he'd know that there ARE those in the Southern Baptist Convention and elsewhere who really would like to see gays criminalized and imprisoned if not executed. He'd also realize that patience is in short supply when one lives in a homophobic state like Virginia, has been fired for being gay or has experienced a police harassment simply for being gay. Here's a sampling of Jordan's whining:
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The news item is both grisly and depressingly familiar: a young man is accused of killing an older man for making sexual advances. The weapon was a sock filled with stones; the young man told police that he had been instructed in prayer to apply the Old Testament punishment of stoning.
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Unfortunately the story didn’t stop there. John Aravosis, political blogger and publicist for gay causes, is perhaps best known for leading a boycott against Dr. Laura; or else for outing a conservative “journalist” as a gay porn star. In a recent post, Aravosis says first that “the Bible does say to kill gays,” then quotes a string of alternate (and admittedly “wrong”) biblical translations before reiterating that they are “quite clear about the need to murder gay people,” only to conclude that “Christians do nothing about it, other than quote it against us in order to take away our civil rights.”
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But then let me ask the obvious question: Who gains when a gay activist endorses the most homophobic of marginal interpretations of the Bible after half a century of gay or gay-friendly efforts to establish better readings? . . . . The horrifying prescription of Leviticus 20:13 (and its correlate, 18:22) are not directed against classes of persons, but against acts committed by Israelite males (and males only). Moreover, it’s a matter of lively dispute even among fierce textual literalists exactly which acts are intended.
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Does Aravosis really want to persuade members of the Southern Baptist Convention, say, that a strict interpretation of Leviticus requires them to advocate the death penalty for same-sex acts? It’s more likely that Aravosis is preaching to his own choir; that is, to political liberals who identify as LGBTQ, or their staunch allies. What effect will this post have on them? It can only confirm the view that queer political progress depends on a strict secularism—after all, Christians only quote their violent Bible “to take away our civil rights.” We politically awake queers would be so much better off, the post implies, if only we could get rid of that hateful book and those who still read it.
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I am tempted to ask Aravosis whether what he counts as progress in gay politics (say, around Don’t Ask Don’t Tell) owes more to the liberationists or to their homophile predecessors. . . . . I recall the long line of Christian writers, pastors, and congregants who have labored strenuously over recent decades to change received readings of the Bible, to enlist the churches in support of legal reforms, to open church hierarchies and church rituals to LGBT people. They understood, as Aravosis may not, that no effort at public persuasion could forestall every violent misuse of the Bible or any other sacred text.
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While it cannot issue guarantees, the patient work of undoing Christian homophobia is still worthwhile—if not for bloggers like Aravosis, then for the sake of public debate in a country where Christianity still wields considerable power. And not least for the sake of queer believers who still find themselves caught between the dogma of homophobic churches and the dogma of versions of gay politics.

Quote of the Day

To the arrogant reader who professes to know God's will by saying God doesn't make one gay and that it's choice: I would suggest God doesn't make you judgmental, hypocritical, spiteful or just plain mean. It's your choice as well, honey.
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A comment in a letter to the editor in the Charleston Gazette responding to an opponent of LGBT friendly legislation.

More Thursday Male Beauty

Virginia Thomas Increases Financial Ties to Right Wing Organizations

I have addressed the inappropriate activities of Virginia Thomas - wife of the (in my view) ethically challenger Justice Clarence Thomas - on several occasions. Now, Virginia Thomas has taken a job at The Daily Caller as a "reporter." It's yet another vehicle by which Thomas and her husband become more and more clamped to the teet of right wing organizations. A Google search suggests that Thomas makes in the neighbor hood of $213,00 a year. With his wife pulling at least that much - or likely more - from right wing organizations, is it even a credible argument that Justice Thomas can remain unbiased and objective on issues being championed those who by his wife's (and his) meal ticket? Frankly, Thomas has always been a lousy justice and now with his compromised objectivity it is time either (1) for him to resign from the Supreme Court, or (2) for Virginia Thomas to retire from far right politics and return to the hearth and home. They cannot have it both ways. Here are highlights from Talking Points Memo:
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Ginni Thomas, the tea party leader, health care reform foe, and controversial wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, will join The Daily Caller as a reporter.
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She's no stranger to the Caller either -- it's where she took refuge when her most recent scandal aired out in the press. In 2010, it was revealed that she'd telephoned Anita Hill -- the woman who accused her husband of sexual harassment during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing back in 1991 -- to ask for an apology. Shortly after that episode was publicized, she stepped down from her job as head of the organization Liberty Central, which boasts of assisting grassroots clients with governmental affairs, but isn't a registered lobbying firm.
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After leaving Liberty Central, Thomas set up Liberty Consulting, which billed itself as an advocacy firm, but there were no records of Thomas having registered as a lobbyist. The website for Liberty Consulting was down as of Tuesday morning. She was also touting herself as an "ambassador" to the incoming Republican freshman class. To escape the media storm, Thomas took shelter at the Caller.

Alaska Wingnut Wants Sex Outside Marriage Made Illegal

I and others have said before that the Christianist jihad against LGBT citizens is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the true Christianist agenda. Much much more would be criminalized if they had their way and inflicted a theocracy on the nation. Contraception would illegal, so would premarital sex and anything comprising "sodomy" under the far right definition. Now one nut job in Alaska - an appointee of Governor Sean Parnell to the panel that nominates state judges - has come out in the open and testified that he would like to see Alaskans prosecuted for having sex outside of marriage. The loon is Don Haase (pictured above left). Oh, an did I mention that he has held a leadership role in Eagle Forum Alaska? It certainly explains his batshit crazy insanity. Here are some highlights from Anchorage Daily News:
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Gov. Sean Parnell's appointee for the panel that nominates state judges testified Wednesday that he would like to see Alaskans prosecuted for having sex outside of marriage.
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The candidate, Don Haase of Valdez, also admitted under questioning by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that his official resume failed to disclose his leadership role in Eagle Forum Alaska, which advocates for social conservative issues. He most recently was president of the organization, but resigned when he learned of his nomination, he said.
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By the time the hearing on Haase ended -- there was some 40 minutes of questioning by the panel's three Democrats, some questions suggesting that Haase had attempted to scrub clean a record of extreme beliefs -- his nomination may turn on an issue of geography, not personal values.
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Haase would replace a member from Ketchikan, whose departure leaves the council without a public representative from Southeast Alaska's First Judicial District. Valdez is in the third district, headquartered in Anchorage. The state constitution mandates that council appointments be considered by "area representation." That has been interpreted to mean one public member from each of the state's three most populous judicial districts, . . .
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Haase -- pronounced "hays" -- has done electrical and mechanical design work at the trans-Alaska pipeline terminal in Valdez since 2000, first working for Veco, then for CH2M Hill. . . . . His resume listed such extracurricular activities as his roles in producing and starring in local plays for tourists and being a member of the Valdez Snowmachine Club.
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One blog post on the Eagle Forum Alaska site praised efforts at criminalizing adultery in Michigan, and Paskvan asked Haase if he thought it should be a felony in Alaska.
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"I don't see that that would rise to the level of a felony," Haase said.
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Paskvan: "Do you believe it should be a crime?"
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Haase: "Yeah, I think it's very harmful to have extramarital affairs. It's harmful to children, it's harmful to the spouse who entered a legally binding agreement to marry the person that's cheating on them."
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Haase said he opposed judicial activism, and cited the U.S. Supreme Court's decision legalizing abortion in Roe v. Wade as an example. In his campaign for state House last year, Haase made his opposition to abortion a central theme. Abortion is also a prominent theme on the Eagle Forum Alaska blog.
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One has to wonder how Governor Parnell came up with Haase as a nominee. He's clearly unqualified in terms of selecting judicial appointees - not to mention a religious extremist nut. I wonder if Haase is one of Sarah Palin's know nothing crowd?

The Vatican Has Lost American Catholics

The chart above relates to a post earlier in the week about the majority of American Catholics supporting the recognition of same sex relationships via either civil unions or marriage. It is also interesting in that the chart reflects that only 38% of American Catholics go to mass every week. 62% no longer participate in weekly mass. Interestingly, enough, even in the weekly attendance crowd 64% believe that there should be legal recognition of same sex relations. I suspect that as the sex abuse scandals continue to explode - as is currently occurring in Philadelphia - the Vatican's anti-gay position will further erode.

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It's ironic that Benedict XVI wanted to restore Catholicism, yet on his watch it is being severely damaged, if not destroyed as in Ireland, by Benedict and his fellow "princes of the Church" through their deliberate abetting and protecting sexual predators. Somehow, I suspect that Christ must be smiling at the demise of the power of these evil old men.

Thursday Male Beauty

Man Fired from LDS Church For Refusing to Give Up Gay Friends

Apparently, some in the Mormon Church did not want the Roman Catholic Church to hog all the much deserved media coverage on the issue of firing folks for being gay or too gay friendly. It seems a Salt Lake City stake fired Drew Call (pictured at right), age 32, a returned missionary who is gay from a position in the church’s printing department because he refused to abandon his gay friends as a condition for renewal of his temple recommend. Fortunately, Call surreptitiously made an audio recording of one of the meetings in March so the Mormon Church cannot deny or try to spin what really occurred. The Salt Lake City Weekly has coverage on this case of religious based bigotry. I love it how bigots think they have a license to discriminate against others but don't like it when they get justly berated for their bigotry. Here are some story highlights:
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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ official policy is to accept gay people as members of the church so long as they take what is, in essence, a vow of chastity. But one Salt Lake City man, a church employee for more than a decade, is surprised and angered that he lost his temple recommend—a prerequisite for employment in the church—after he refused to give up his gay friends and was fired.
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“I want people to know that [the LDS Church] is targeting people unfairly,” Call says. “I do believe they wronged me.” Hoping to avoid the situation he now faces, Call had been looking for a new job for more than a year anyway. In this tough economy, however, it’s been difficult. The divorced father of two wanted to stay in the church’s good graces long enough that he could resign with dignity and financial security. The recording makes clear that Call’s association with gay people was the problem.
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Call served a mission in Massachusetts from 1997 to 1999 and got married at 24 to a high school classmate even though he wasn’t attracted to women. Raised in Layton, he wanted children and felt being gay was evil. “I thought getting married would fix it and this tendency to like men would go away, but it never did,” he says.
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In April 2009, he filed for divorce. . . . . In April 2010, the already-strained relationship with his parents grew more painful when they were told—not by Call—that he was gay. They were not accepting of it. He felt shunned at church and was still unsure if rumors were spreading about his sexuality or if it was just that he was divorced. His job was in jeopardy because of his small, secret steps toward living openly as a gay man. His only strong allies with whom he could be totally honest during a painful divorce, crisis of faith and job insecurity were his gay friends, many of whom had had similar experiences. “I had no idea how many great people are in the gay community,” he says. “I have better friends than I’ve ever had in my life and I’m happier.”
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To receive or maintain a temple recommend, Mormons must answer certain standardized questions. The stake president says on the recording that the question Call could not answer honestly asks, “do you support, affiliate with or agree with any group or individuals whose teaching or practices are contrary to or opposed to those accepted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?” The stake president goes on to say that that question applies to Call’s gay friends “because of the moral decay that is going in the world and that’s part of it. The church opposes the relationship between a man and a man and a woman and a woman, and you’re associating with those individuals. I don’t know how to get around that.”
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“So what are you going to do?” Call asked. “You’re going to have to look for a job,” the stake president replied.
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Its noteworthy that the stake president apparently would have preferred that Call remain in a sham marriage - note how the straight spouse NEVER gets any consideration - and abandon honest, genuine people in order to remain amongst the modern day Pharisees of the LDS.

Elizabeth Taylor - Death of a Legend

There have been countless tributes and columns written about the death of Elizabeth Taylor yesterday. I will not try to out do them, but felt it appropriate to post a few thoughts and reflections. Taylor was a legendary actress and won two best actress Oscars in the course of making over 50 films. Yes, she had an often turbulent love life and multiple marriages. On one issue, however, she stood out even more: her willingness to use her fame and star power for a cause she truly believed in even when it was not popular in the 1980's. The cause, was HIV/AIDS research and treatment and one news clipped noted that she had helped raise over $120 million. Not only did she help found amfAR, but she also had her own foundation as well.

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As for her film's, it is hard to pick a favorite. As a history major, I always liked her in Cleopatra which wasn't a box office success, yet was pretty accurate to history, especially for Hollywood in that era. I also remember A Place in the Sun in which she stared with Montgomery Cliff because the movie was based on a real incident that happened on Big Moose Lake in the Adirondack Mountains not too far from our summer home.
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And politically, for a while she was a definite presence in Virginia as former U.S. Senator John Warner's wife. While I was no longer in Virginia Beach at the time, she even attended a Warner fundraiser at a home down the street from my parent's long time home.
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She will be missed and it's outrageous that the Westboro Baptist Church says that it will demonstrate at her funeral because she was "queen of the fag hags." One can hope the funeral will be on private property so that the false Christians and bigots from Westboro can be arrested for trespass charges. Then again, Westboro deserves credit for demonstrating time and time again the ugly face of Christianity as practiced by gay hating denominations of which it is one of many.

More Wednesday Male Beauty

Germany Poised to Increase Statute of Limitations Ten Fold for Lawsuits Against Catholic Priests

As noted in recent posts, the Catholic Church hierarchy has continued its anti-gay jihad and even oppose the newly adopted U.N. resolution opposing the criminalization of homosexuality and same sex relations, a problem that is wide spread in Middle Eastern nations and certainly parts of Africa and in a number of Caribbean nations. Now, perhaps in a case of Divine justice, Germany's cabinet has approved legislation that extends the statute of limitations to take legal action in civil cases for sexual abuse from three to 30 years after a victim's 21st birthday. Given the ongoing explosion of sex abuse allegations in Europe and Germany in particular, it is safe to assume that the Catholic Church and a number of "princes of the Church" may well be hit with a wave of lawsuits. Personally, I hope that such is the case and that in the course of such lawsuits, the abject moral bankruptcy of the Church hierarchy becomes unmistakable even to the worse Church apologists. Here are highlights from Duetsche Welle:
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Germany's cabinet approved legislation on Wednesday that extends the statute of limitations to take legal action in civil cases from three to 30 years after a victim's 21st birthday. The legislation is expected to pass in parliament later this year.
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The government was prompted to change the current limitation by last year's Catholic Church sex scandal, in which German clerics were accused of over 50 sexual abuse cases in the 1970s and '80s. Victims had little chance of pursuing such cases in court due to the three-year limit to take legal action.
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People who were victims of sex crimes as children or teenagers will not be required to pay for a lawyer. In the event that their perpetrators are convicted, victims will receive detailed information on their sentencing, such as parole status.
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According to the government's commissioner on sexual abuse, Christine Bergmann, her department has received over 10,000 calls and letters from victims since April 2010 and is still receiving 50 complaints daily. The former family minister is set to present a final report in May, in which she will propose material compensation for abuse victims.
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With luck, the Catholic Church will deservedly become as discredited as it now is in Ireland which was once a bastion of Catholicism. And who will bear the responsibility for the Church's ruin? Benedict XVI and other high clergy who chose to protect sexual predators and monsters rather than children and youths.

Focus On the Rainbow Editor in Auto Accident

One of the first blogger friends I made when I first launched this blog in earnest back in April, 2007, was Lyndon Evans, editor of Focus on the Rainbow and a contributor to Pam's House Blend. Sadly, Lyndon was in a car accident Friday night/Saturday morning. He had an allergic reaction and passed out while driving and struck another car, then a pole, then a tree. Lyndon has had successful surgery and is doing relatively well and I hope to get to talk to him by telephone tomorrow evening.

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I hope readers will keep Lyndon in their thoughts and prayers. He's been a consistent true friend to me through the tough times: horrible divorce, break up with the ex-boyfriend and my suicide attempt back in late September, 2009. He has a heart of gold and I wish him a speedy recovery.
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Lyndon, you mean a lot to many of us. Please know that we love you.
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NOTE: I will provide an update once I talk to Lyndon directly.

God Had a Wife Who Was Edited Out of the Bible

As many readers have no doubt figured out long before now, I have little use for Christianists who rant that the Bible is God's inerrant word. Logic, science and ever so inconvenient archaeological history dictate more and more each day that the truth is that Biblical literacy is the crutch for those who choose ignorance by choice and those who are so psychologically warped and/or fragile that they cannot countenance any uncertainty in their lives. That' said, I'm not an atheist or an opponent of the Gospel message. I simply cannot stand those who peddle lies and/or voluntarily opt for ignorance. But to get to the point of this post, a British theologian has come forward with a premise that the earliest Israelites worshiped not just one male deity but also a female deity that has been hypothesized to have been Yahweh's wife. Brace yourself from the shrieks of denial from the "inerrant Bible" beaters. Here are highlights from the International Business Times:
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The Judeo-Christian God may have been married, according to a British theologian, who says the Almighty, also known as 'Yahweh', had a wife - a goddess named 'Asherah'. Francesca Stavrakopoulou of the University of Exeter is throwing new light on the theory, suggesting that God had a wife who was edited out of the Bible.
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In 1967, historian Raphael Patai mentioned that the ancient Israelites worshiped both Yahweh and Asherah, according to Discovery News. . . . "Archaeological evidence as well as details in the Bible, indicate not just that he was one of several worshipped in ancient Israel, but that he was also coupled with a goddess, who was worshipped in his temple in Jerusalem," Stavrakopoulou says.
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Stavrakopoulou says the Almighty's wife was presented as a deity in Israel, who sat alongside him. "After years of research specialising in the history and religion of Israel, however, I have come to a colourful and what could seem - to some - uncomfortable conclusion: that God had a wife," Stavrakopoulou says.
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The goddess Asherah was worshipped in Yahweh's temple in Jerusalem. In the Book Of Kings, it says that a statue of Asherah was housed in the temple and that female temple personnel wove ritual textiles for her, she says.
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Despite numerous references to Asherah worship in the Bible, there wasn't enough evidence to link her explicitly with the high god of ancient Israel, Yahweh. Until, that is, the discovery of a remarkable ceramic inscription in the Sinai desert. "The inscription is a petition for a blessing," Stavrakopoulou says. "Crucially, the inscription asks for a blessing from 'Yahweh and his Asherah.' Here was evidence that presented Yahweh and Asherah as a divine pair. And now a handful of similar inscriptions have since been found, all of which help to strengthen the case that the God of the Bible once had a wife."
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J. Edward Wright, president of The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies and The Albright Institute for Archaeological Research, supported Stavrakopoulou's findings, saying several Hebrew inscriptions mention "Yahweh and his Asherah".
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"Mentions of the goddess Asherah in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) are rare and have been heavily edited by the ancient authors who gathered the texts together." "The ancient Israelites were polytheists," Brody [Aaron Brody, director of the Bade Museum] told Discovery News.

Wednesday Male Beauty

White House and State Department Press Releases on U.N. Resolution on Gay Rights

In sharp juxtaposition to the statement of the Vatican noted in a post yesterday where the Vatican argues that nations be allowed to regulate same sex sexual relations - you know, just like they do with incest and pedophilia - the White House and United States Department of State each released a statement that makes the case of why gay rights are human rights. As noted, the Vatican statement also portrayed homophobes and those who denigrate and advocate criminalization of LGBT citizens as victims of intolerance. Here's the text of the State Department press release:

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THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
___________________________________________________________________________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 22, 2011 Statement by the Press Secretary on Ending Violence Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
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President Obama believes that advancing the human rights of minorities and the marginalized is a fundamental American value. The President was pleased to announce during his trip to Brazil that he and President Rousseff agreed to promote respect for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals through the establishment of a special rapporteur on LGBT issues at the Organization of American States. This special rapporteur will be the first of its kind in the international system.
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Over the past months our diplomats have been engaged in frank, and at times difficult, conversations about the human rights of LGBT persons with governments from around world. This morning, at the United Nations Human Rights Council, some 85 countries joined the United States in reaffirming our joint commitment to end acts of violence and human rights abuses on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The President is proud of the work we have done to build international consensus on this critical issue and is committed to continuing our determined efforts to advance the human rights of all people, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
__________________________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release March 22, 2011 2011/450 STATEMENT BY SECRETARY CLINTON
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Human Rights Council Statement on Ending Violence Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
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Today, 85 countries from every region of the world joined together in a historic moment to state clearly that human rights apply to everyone, no matter who they are or whom they love.
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The United States, along with Colombia and Slovenia, took a leading role on this statement along with over 30 cosponsors. Countries around the world participated including many that had never supported such efforts. And we hope that even more countries will step up, sign on to the statement and signal their support for universal human rights.
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This statement is an example of America’s commitment to human rights through dialogue, open discussion and frank conversation with countries we don’t always agree with on every issue. In Geneva, our conversations about the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals with countries where sexual orientation is not only stigmatized, but criminalized, are helping to advance a broader and deeper global dialogue about these issues.
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As I said last June, gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights. We will continue to promote human rights around the world for all people who are marginalized and discriminated against because of sexual orientation or gender identity. And we will not rest until every man, woman and child is able to live up to his or her potential free from persecution or discrimination of any kind.
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I applaud the State Department position and also note that IF the morally bankrupt Vatican truly supported human rights - and not just special protections for sexual predator priests and those who cover up their crimes - it would be on board with the State Department position. That it refuses to do so speaks volumes.

Did a Virginia B&B Reject a Gay Couple?

It sounds like a B&B in Fairfax County is trying to fast talk and fast dance itself out of a PR nightmare now claiming that the refusal to take the reservation of a gay couple was some sort of mistake made during "policy transition." In an update to a Washington Blade story, Donna Stafford, an owner of Stafford House, told the Washington Blade that the bed and breakfast has changed its policy and will no longer bar anyone from making a reservation. She also pointed out that under Virginia's Neanderthal laws, by rejecting the gay couple's request for a reservation, Stafford House had been within the letter of all relevant state and local housing laws. In Virginia, gays are the new blacks and can still legally be turned away from housing, hotel accommodations and fired at will because of the religious prejudice of bigoted employers. I hope people - both gay and straight - see through the ruse of the Stafford House is attempting and mark it as an establishment to be avoided like the plague. Here are highlights from the original Blade story:
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A legally married gay man claims that a Virginia bed and breakfast denied him and his spouse a reservation for a room because they are of the same gender.
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Russell Williams, 56, of Hanover, Pa., said his spouse, David Schaefer, 54, tried to make reservations in late February at Stafford House in Fairfax, Va., as part of a trip for the wedding of their nephew. However, they say they were denied a room over the phone on the basis of their relationship.
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Virginia has no LGBT-specific non-discrimination law, nor one that protects same-sex couples against discrimination in public accommodations. Williams said facing this discrimination reminded him of the mistreatment that racial minorities in the United States once faced in similar situations. “The first thing that popped into my head was now I knew how black people felt 50 years ago,” Williams said. “It was bizarre. David felt the same way.”
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Virginia State Del. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria), the only openly gay member of the General Assembly and a candidate for a Virginia State Senate seat, called the alleged discrimination faced by Williams and Schaefer “an embarrassment to Virginia.”
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Fred Sainz, vice president of communications for the Human Rights Campaign, also expressed frustration that no legal protections exist to protect LGBT people from discrimination in public accommodations.
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“These kinds of things should not be happening in this day and age, and the frustrating part is that they happen all too frequently in areas all across our country,” Sainz said. “It’s even more frustrating when they happen right across from the nation’s capital — in a city that is virtually within walking distance of the nation’s capital.”
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Virginia has much natural beauty and amazing historical points of interests for travelers. Sadly, it remains a state best avoided by LGBT tourists because there is no guarantee that one won't be treated like a dog - or worse - and it's all perfectly legal. As I have argued many times, the LGBT community needs to punish anti-gay states and take their travel dollar elsewhere. When the boyfriend and I vacation, it is NOT in Virginia.

More Bad News For Housing

Although many continue to hope that the economy is beginning to turn around, the news on the residential housing front suggests otherwise. Sales are at a 9 year low and foreclosures continue to drive prices downward and encourage the timid to wait out the market to see how low it will go. Savvy investors are picking up incredible deals as the banks holding bank owned property prove to be as incompetent in post foreclosure matters as they were in making loans to the unqualified in the bubble days of the market. Until housing recovers, there will be no real economic recovery. Sadly, as is the case with the long term unemployed, neither the White House or Congress seems to care. Here are highlights from Financial Feed:
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February sales and prices of formerly owned U.S. homes plunged 9.6% monthly with 4.88 million units at an annual rate, the lowest in 9 years, said the National Association of Realtors. The decline was the largest since July and an indication that recovery for the housing market is still unlikely. IHS Global Insight senior economist Chris Christopher said it is still a very depressed housing market.
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Additionally, tight credit conditions and home appraisals that did not meet agreed selling prices affected sales said NAR. Excess homes and too many foreclosures hamper recovery in the housing industry which helped bring the U.S. economy towards the worst slump since the 1930’s.
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The below-market value foreclosure and short sales represent 39% of February dealings from last month’s 37%. Cash purchases on the other hand made up a record 33% of February sales. NAR said new home prices are 45% more expensive that existing home prices.

More Tuesday Male Beauty

Apple Appears to have Pulled Exodus iPhone Application

UPDATED: As the tweet above confirms, Apple apparently decided being in bed with an anti-gay propaganda affiliate of the Christian Right that pushes therapies condemned by the American Psychological Association and other legitimate mental health and medical experts was bad for business.

No company announcement seems to have been released, but it looks as if Apple has realized it made a huge mistake getting involved with Exodus International - an organization that attempts to "cure" gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. The move may have been triggered by the fact that more than 144,000 people have reportedly signed a petition started by Truth Wins Out demanding that Apple remove the offensive iPhone app launched by Exodus International. As Wayne Besen noted, "This is not a question of free speech, but stopping a virulently anti-gay organization from peddling false speech at the expense of vulnerable LGBT youth."

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As more details are available, this post will be updated.

Investigation Confirms Chick-Fil-A's Deep Ties to Anti-Gay Causes

I have written before about Chick-Fil-A and questions about its support for anti-gay organizations. Trying to avoid a PR disaster, Chick-Fil-A president and COO Dan Cathy released a statement denying that Chick-Fil-A's donation was an endorsement of traditional marriage, arguing that Chick-Fil-A has "no agenda against anyone," and that the company would not "champion any political agendas" relating to marriages or families.
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Now, a new investigation has revealed that Chick-Fil-A's involvement in supporting anti-gay groups - including registered hate groups - and possible religious based discrimination in its hiring practices is far worse than originally thought. It also suggests that Cathy, like most Christianists, is a liar. It seems impossible to believe that Cathy didn't know where Chick-Fil-A's donations were going.
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If one is going to spend their money at Chick-Fil-A, you might as well send a donation directly to NOM, FRC, FOTF or some other organization that regularly denigrates LGBT citizens and strives to deprive us of civil rights. Sure, Chick-Fil-A is free to do want it wants with its money. But why on earth would any LGBT individual or LGBT ally want to spend a dime at Chick-Fil-A? I hope readers will make a point to drive past the Chick-Fil-A the next time they're looking for fast food. Better yet, urge your friends and family members to do so likewise. It's very simple. If Chick-Fil-A wants to exercise its freedom to finance hate and intolerance, then other Americans can exercise their right to boycott the backers of religious based hatred such as Chick-Fil-A. Equality Matters has details on the investigation findings. Here are highlights:
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KEY FINDINGS:
1. Chick-Fil-A Charitable Arm Winshape: Over $1.1M Given To Anti-Gay Groups
2. Chick-Fil-A Reportedly Favors Married Employees, Investigates Their Personal Lives
3. Chick-Fil-A's Partnership With Focus On The Family
4. Chick-Fil-A's Sponsorship Of Anti-Gay Hate Group Affiliate
5. WinShape's "Traditional Marriage" Activities
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$631,600 to National Christian Foundation. The National Christian Foundation is a grant-making foundation that has made "hundreds of grants" to anti-gay groups like Focus on the Family, Family Life, and the Family Research Council, according to the Philanthropy Roundtable's publication "Reviving Marriage In America: Strategies for Donors." NCF allows donors to direct their donations and has experienced a surge in interest among donors in funding marriage-related giving. [Philanthropy Roundtable, accessed 2/8/11].
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Chick-Fil-A's Employment Practices Are Hostile Towards "Sinful" Candidates. Chick-fil-A requires potential franchise operators to disclose their marital status, number of dependents, and involvement in social, church, and other organizations. Employees may be fired for engaging in "sinful" behavior, and Truett Cathy has said he aims to hire workers who are married
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Chick-Fil-A's Partnership With Focus On The Family. From October to November of 2005, Chick-fil-A partnered with Focus on the Family and Digital Praise Inc. to give away free interactive CDs of Focus on the Family's radio program Adventures in Odyssey, . . . Focus on the Family is notoriously anti-gay, promoting the theory that gays and lesbians can change their sexual orientation and arguing that homosexuality "violates God's intentional design for gender and sexuality."
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Sponsorship Of Anti-Gay Hate Group Affiliate. Since 2008, Chick-fil-A has been a sponsor of All Pro Dad, a program created by the Tampa-based organization Family First, also known as the "Florida Family Council." The Florida Family Council is an affiliate of the American Family Association, which has been designated as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The Vatican Again Equates Same Sex Relationships with Incest and Pedophilia

The hypocrisy of the bitter old men in dresses at the Vatican truly knows no limits. As the Obama administration in my view has belatedly gotten behind a United Nations resolution that would call on all nations to decriminalize homosexuality, the Vatican has published a statement by Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, Permanent Representative of the Holy See to the United Nations that states that nations DO have a right to regulate sexual behaviors - including those involving intimacy between individuals of the same sex. Indeed, the statement says that regulating gay behavior is no different than enacting laws to forbid sexual behaviors such as pedophilia and incest. This from an institution that has engaged in a world wide conspiracy to abet and cover up the rape and molestations of many tens of thousands of children and youth. Pardon, me but it's well past time that the Vatican was not only booted from the United Nations but also made the subject of Interpol investigations. Adding insult to injury, the statement goes on to play the victim card and whine about the supposed persecution of those who endeavor to insert their religious beliefs into the secular laws and deprive others of civil rights. Once again, we see an example of how these hate merchants want a license to vilify and persecute others, but they can't stand a little bit of their own medicine. As always, these falsely self-righteous folks want special rights. Here's a sampling of the Vatican's disingenuous drivel:
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[F]or the purposes of human rights law, there is a critical difference between feelings and thoughts, on the one hand, and behaviour, on the other. A state should never punish a person, or deprive a person of the enjoyment of any human right, based just on the person’s feelings and thoughts, including sexual thoughts and feelings. But states can, and must, regulate behaviours, including various sexual behaviours. Throughout the world, there is a consensus between societies that certain kinds of sexual behaviours must be forbidden by law. Paedophilia and incest are two examples.
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Human sexuality, like any voluntary activity, possesses a moral dimension : it is an activity which puts the individual will at the service of a finality; it is not an “identity”. In other words, it comes from the action and not from the being, even though some tendencies or “sexual orientations” may have deep roots in the personality.
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People are being attacked for taking positions that do not support sexual behaviour between people of the same sex. When they express their moral beliefs or beliefs about human nature, which may also be expressions of religious convictions, or state opinions about scientific claims, they are stigmatised, and worse -- they are vilified, and prosecuted. . . . these attacks are violations of fundamental human rights, and cannot be justified under any circumstances.
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The Vatican statement also whines about the need for a moral dimension in sexual relationships. As if morality was ever a concern as bishops, cardinals and Benedict XVI himself covered up for and protected sexual predators. Or even now as dioceses seek to hide assets and avoid paying well deserved money damage judgments to sexual abuse victims. Nothing is more immoral that the Vatican and the so-called "princes of the Church."