Does NBC Have a Problem with Gays?

The title to this post is a question that many are asking given NBC News' continued inability to note or reference athletes who are gay throughout its coverage of the 2016 Summer Games.  I and others are not saying that every gay athlete needs to be labeled, but when same sex relationships are hidden away, apparently deliberately, while straight relationships are note, one does begin to wonder what the network's problem is with same sex couples and LGBT athletes.  A piece in Slate looks at NBC's seeming homophobia.  Here are excerpts:

On Monday night, NBC did something that viewers who tune into the Olympics to watch sporting competition have long demanded: They passed over a human-interest story to focus on the action. Apparently, all you have to do to get the network to ignore you is be gay.

NBC’s rare moment of restraint came during its coverage of the men’s synchronized 10-meter platform diving event. As the British team of Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow exited the pool after their third dive, the camera scanned the crowd, alighting briefly on two people wearing bright red Team Daley T-shirts. No attempt was made to identify the pair, who were cheering politely; instead, color commentator Cynthia Potter analyzed a slow-motion replay of the Brits’ three-and-a-half somersaults.

Who were the members of Team Daley? Daley’s mother, Debbie, and his fiancé Dustin Lance Black. That’s right, the screenwriter who won the Academy Award for best original screenplay in 2009 for Milk. Was NBC homophobic not to mention Black’s name? Could the network have resisted lingering over an Oscar-winner affianced to an Olympic medal-winner if the relationship didn’t involve two people of the same sex? Let’s weigh the evidence.

On the “not homophobic” side, we should acknowledge that diving is one of the Olympic sports NBC does well by. Thanks to gravity, it’s a fast-moving event, so the network is able to show most of the dives made by the top four or five contenders. Diving coverage is typically light on soft-focus stories, only pointing out the American divers’ families cheering in the stands. And although Black is American, Daley is not. Besides, all Oscars aren’t alike—a screenwriter is about two steps away from a journalist, for heaven’s sake.

Then again, do you really think they wouldn’t point out a diver’s celebrity fiancée if it were Marion Cotillard, Brie Larson, or another Oscar-winner whose fame level was roughly commensurate with Black’s?

You don’t have to be the kind of person who sees homophobia everywhere to think the commentators were reluctant to bring up a star athlete’s homosexuality, especially as the camera lingered lovingly on the divers’ insanely ripped physiques, their minuscule swim trunks, and their long skin-to-skin hugs of celebration.

I can’t wait to see NBC ignore straight athletes’ family members in the weeks ahead.

Dustin Lance Black: It is Time to Disarm Hate

A week and a half after the traumatic massacre in Orlando, many of us are still finding ourselves ill at ease and perhaps more conscious of the hateful lies that our enemies among the religious extremist ranks disseminate.  Yes, the hate and lies and desperate clinging to writings of ignorant, uneducated herders of 2500+ years ago.  It's amazing that no one - or very few - would seek to have their healthcare governed by such archaic levels of knowledge and lack of education, yet millions of people allow their social beliefs to be governed by such ignorance (or in the case of Muslims, 7th century levels of knowledge).  In a thoughtful essay, Lance Black writes about the need to disarm religious based hate and, similarly, disarm would be terrorists.  Here are highlights from Lance Black's essay:

For the last six months I’ve been in Vancouver filming When We Rise, an ABC miniseries on the history of the LGBT rights movement. That’s what I was doing when I learned that 49 LGBT souls — the majority Latino — had been murdered in Orlando in a gay club, traditionally a place of refuge. That day, we were filming a scene re-creating the 2009 National Equality March on Washington. And so, between takes of Guy Pearce unfurling a massive banner that read “Equality Across America,” we tuned in to learn the names of the sons, daughters, allies, and parents who were ripped from our arms by gunfire and hate.

In so many ways, When We Rise is a testament to how far we’ve come, a tribute to those who have dedicated their lives to bringing us this close to safety and equality. Orlando served as a terrible reminder of just how much more we have left to do. The shock, the hurt, the anger, and the heartbreak left me winded, as were so many other Americans who love our country. It also made it clear to me that if we are ever to overcome homophobia, we must create better understanding of who LGBT people truly are by confronting the three worst culprits of LGBT misinformation: science, the state, and religion.

For too long, science mislabeled homosexuality a disorder, but in 1973 the American Psychiatric Association stopped classifying homosexuality as such. Now, with the support of nearly every medical association, many states are moving to ban the harmful and disproven treatment called “conversion therapy,” which attempts to turn young people straight or cisgender. But there are many other places in our country where kids are still subjected to this practice, which sends a dangerous message that there is something wrong with them, and often causes tremendous harm to those it claims to help.

As for the state, for a generation now the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of gay and lesbian people, overturning laws that criminalized our lives or relegated our love and families to second-class status. President Obama too has taken action to better protect LGBT people. But Congress has failed to pass the Equality Act, which would bring equality to LGBT people in their homes and workplaces nationwide. This failure sends a message that we are not worthy of equal respect or protection in the United States. Combined with the similar failure of local and state officials, it sends a false message of inferiority that gives license to treat LGBT the way the law still does — as subhuman. That is not leadership — that is blood on our elected leaders’ hands.

But it’s religion that continues to be the most active promoter and dangerous purveyor of homophobia, and by this I don’t mean just Muslims, but good old-fashioned American Christians as well. By clinging to the mantra of “Love the sinner but not the sin,” religion sends a message that LGBT people are not only lesser than, but morally corrupt. This judgment is not about love at all. It is hateful and deadly. Mere tolerance can no longer be the aim of religion. The time has come for true understanding and acceptance. It is time for organized religion to discard the outdated and misguided interpretations of God’s will that too often motivate violence and murder. To do otherwise makes our nation’s unaccepting religious leaders complicit in Orlando as well.

We must also act in more immediate ways that will protect not only LGBT people, but all citizens. My LGBT community has experienced the same kind of senseless violence that schoolchildren and their families have experienced, and that communities of color have suffered for generations. If there is one shining light in the darkness of our mourning, it is that we are not alone in this fight, and the time has come for LGBT people to join hands with others who have also suffered and demand gun control now.

Last year, when a religious extremist attacked people at Jerusalem’s Gay Pride parade, it was a tragic event, but because of Israel’s strict gun-control laws, the attacker used a knife instead of an assault rifle. He injured five people and killed one 16-year-old girl. It’s not that he had any less hatred than the Orlando shooter. It’s not that he didn’t try to murder many more. It’s that he couldn’t. He didn’t have the tools to do so. But in America, we give people with bloodlust and hate in their hearts the means to end dozens of lives per minute — and we allow the purchase of such heinous military-grade weapons to remain legal.

It is time for the LGBT community to join into such a coalition again [as Harvey Milk did] and wield our newfound political power in conjunction with groups already engaged in the fight against guns — groups such as the Brady Campaign, Everytown for Gun Safety, and Americans for Responsible Solutions — with parents from Sandy Hook, families from San Bernardino, and communities of color who have suffered similar tragedies for far too long.

It will, unfortunately, be a long road to eradicate the lies and hatred that inspire people to target our brothers and sisters, our children, parents, and our loved ones, but it must be traveled together. As Harvey Milk taught us long ago, in a “coalition of the us’s” we have the political power to disarm hatred. We owe it to the victims of Orlando, of Charleston, of Newtown — and far too many more — to do just that. It is time to disarm hate. 

Finding "Someone who Completely Gets Me"

I have had the pleasure of meeting Dustin Lance Black - or Lance as he calls himself - on three occasions and have found him to be a sweet, thoughtful and unassuming individual.  He is also someone who has been on a mission to bring marriage equality nationwide and was a founding member of the American Foundation for Equal Rights.  Now, Black is engaged to marry Olympian Tom Daley and he has made some touching statements.  The Christofascists seek to denigrate same sex love, but Lance's statements cut through to the beauty of loving same sex relationships.  Here are excerpts from Gay Star News: 

Newly engaged, Oscar winning screenwriter and LGBTI activist Dustin Lance Black is opening up about his feelings for fiance Tom Daley and their relationship.

‘I met someone who completely gets me,’ he tells the podcast Defining Marriage.

‘I definitely know that we’re better for having each other. We dream bigger. Things seem so much more possible together. Two and a half years in and it still feels like every day is a dream.’

The couple announced their engagement with an announcement in a British newspaper last month.

He says of getting married: ‘There’s power in the word, that the word is understood by society and it means that when you say “I’m married” or getting married, it’s a promise you make to the person you love, and I think that promise creates so much. It creates so much potential, and is understood by so many people.’

Black, who won the Academy Award in 2009 for his screenplay for the film Milk, has been deeply involved in the fight for same-sex marriage in the US. He was a founding member of the American Foundation for Equal Rights which successfully fought in the US Supreme Court for marriage equality in California.

He recalls the dreams he said in his speech the night he accepted his Oscar: ‘There’s two things I said: I said full federal equality, and we have that now in terms of marriage; I also said that one day I hoped that I’d be able to fall in love and get married. I never dreamed in that time I would meet somebody and fall in love and get engaged. I just never knew if that was something I’d be able to appreciate in my own lifetime.’

I wish them both much happiness.  I was especially touched by Lance's comments because my husband often describes me to others as "Someone who Completely Gets Him."

Lance Black's Anti-Bullying Coca-Cola Campaign

Here in Virginia, LGBT students have little anti-bullying protections.  Every attempt to enact meaningful protections die in the GOP controlled House of Delegates and school administrators are left free to giving lip service to banning bullying, yet the bullying goes on and on occasion LGBT students find suicide as their only perceived escape.  Would that Coca-Cola would launch a anti-bullying campaign such as the one it has launched in South America with the help of Lance Black of Milk fame and a founder of the American Foundation for Equal Rights which helped win marriage equality for all Americans.  A piece in The Advocate looks at the Coca-Cola campaign that needs to be replicated far and wide.  Here are highlights:

With marriage equality established across the nation, Oscar-winning activist Dustin Lance Black is, once again, taking to the screen to affect change. His upcoming ABC special, When We Rise, is an eight-hour exploration of the interconnectedness of activists from the LGBT, civil rights, women's rights, and peace movements,

Black recently directed a pro-equality commercial for Tylenol, featuring same-sex couples, which was well received in the United States. He's also channeling his energy south of the border, directing a series of three short anti-bullying films for Coca-Cola to be aired across Latin America. One, 'El SMS' (or 'The Text'), revolves around LGBT youth.


Black discussed the project.  On the reaction:

"The campaign in general is doing quite well, but the response in the LGBT community to 'The Text' was remarkable. I heard from one of the heads at the ABC network about how much it moved her. I heard from Cleve Jones, one of the leaders of the LGBT movement, about how much it moved him. And these aren't people I sent it to. They found it, which I find remarkable, since it's in Portuguese on the Internet. For Coca-Cola to take a pro-diversity, pro-equality stance creates a lot of goodwill in the LGBT community. It's heartwarming for the LGBT community to see that a global brand would embrace this community because, let's be honest, there are places in the world that know about Coca-Cola where it is still a death sentence to be gay."

On cynics doubting Coca-Cola's sincerity:

"Some of them are very critical of what the intent of the brand might have been. And I say, 'Yes, their intent was to win a market, and their intent was to sell their product.' My intent was to send the message that diversity is a good thing and LGBT people and their families deserve respect and love. Well, I'm not going to skip an opportunity to send a pro-equality message just because they're selling a product alongside it."

Read the full interview on Adweek.

Tom Daley - Bisexuals Versus Gays

Personally, I was please when Tom Daley came out as apparently a bisexual.  His announcement that he was dating a guy but that he still liked girls wasn't so well received by some in the LGBT community who thought that Daley was copping out and avoiding using the gay word.  I think sexuality is fluid and differs from person to person.  True, there are gay men who will use the bisexual label until they can get comfortable with saying they are gay.  But that doesn't apply to all.  Thus, in answer to the question, are there really bisexuals, I would say yes since attraction is a complicated thing.  There are many straights - especially among the homophobes - who think gays are ready to jump in bed with any other male.  That is clearly not so - there are many men I find decidedly NOT attractive - and each of us has their own particular "type" that they find attractive.  And beyond the physical attributes one finds attractive, there is the essential element of personality and "chemistry."  A piece in the New York Times that I bookmarked some days ago looks at the issue Daley ignited:

“Of course I still fancy girls.”

Those six little words, tossed off like a request to please hold the mustard, were among the most deconstructed in Tom Daley’s YouTube video last month, in which the 19-year-old British Olympic diver announced that he was dating a man. 

Leaning against Union Jack pillows, he continued, “But, I mean, right now I’m dating a guy, and I couldn’t be happier.” Mr. Daley’s message was sweet and simple, and gay rights advocates seemed thrilled to welcome an out-and-proud athlete into their ranks. (The cattier comments came later, when the “guy” was reported by numerous tabloids and blogs to be the screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who is two decades his senior.) 

But the cheers were premature, or at least qualified. Despite the trending Twitter hashtag #TomGayley, Mr. Daley never used the word “gay,” and there was the matter of his still fancying girls. While many commenters embraced the ambiguity (“I don’t care if Tom Daley’s gay or bi or whatever ... He’s still fit,” one tweeted), others raised eyebrows. 

Was it a disclaimer? A cop-out? A ploy to hold on to fans? Was he being greedy, as some joked? Or was he, as the video’s blushing tone suggested, simply caught up in the heady disorientation of first love, a place too intoxicating for labels? 

Whatever the answer, Mr. Daley’s disclosure reignited a fraught conversation within the L.G.B.T. community, having to do with its third letter. Bisexuality, like chronic fatigue syndrome, is often assumed to be imaginary by those on the outside. The stereotypes abound: bisexuals are promiscuous, lying or in denial. They are gay men who can’t yet admit that they are gay, or “lesbians until graduation,” sowing wild oats before they find husbands. 

“The reactions that you’re seeing are classic in terms of people not believing that bisexuality really exists, feeling that it’s a transitional stage or a form of being in the closet,” said Lisa Diamond, a professor at the University of Utah who studies sexual orientation. 

Population-based studies, Dr. Diamond said, indicate that bisexuality is in fact more common than exclusively same-sex attraction, and that female libido is particularly open-ended.

Male bisexuality, by contrast, is more vexed, and much of the skepticism comes from gay men. In the aftermath of Mr. Daley’s announcement, Ann Friedman wrote a post for New York Magazine’s The Cut blog predicting that male bisexuality would become more visible as gender mores evolved. “Traditional definitions of masculinity — which tend to go hand in hand with homophobia — are going through a real shake-up,” Ms. Friedman wrote. “More hetero men are tentatively admitting that they’re turned on by certain sex acts associated with gay men.” 

The gay conservative pundit Andrew Sullivan swiftly countered on his own blog, The Dish, saying, “I suspect, pace Friedman’s dreams, that there will always be far fewer men who transcend traditional sexual categories — because male sexuality is much cruder, simpler and more binary than female.” He called Mr. Daley’s claim about liking girls “a classic bridging mechanism to ease the transition to his real sexual identity. I know because I did it, too.”

Such thinking has irked bisexual advocates, who see bias within gay circles as evidence of “biphobia.” The claim has been lodged repeatedly at the sex columnist Dan Savage. In 2011, the blogger Chris O’Guinn accused Mr. Savage of saying “blatantly hurtful, cruel and insulting things about bisexuals,” including his remark in the documentary “Bi the Way” that “I meet somebody who’s 19 years old who tells me he’s bisexual, and I’m like: ‘Yeah, right, I doubt it. Come back when you’re 29 and we’ll see.’ ”  

[A] follow-up study at Northwestern concluded the opposite: male bisexuality is real. Why the change? Whereas the first study advertised for subjects in gay-oriented publications and included men who identified as gay, straight or bisexual, the second recruited from places catering specifically to bisexuals and selected only those who had seriously dated both men and women. 

Advocates, a touch exasperated, applauded the new results, though some pointed out that physical stimulation is only one ingredient of sexual orientation, which also stems from emotional intimacy.

In Mr. Daley’s case, the difference may be generational. People who have grown up in a more assimilated world may not see the value in labels like “gay” or “bisexual,” when the communities they describe are no longer as marginalized. 

“Among the younger generation, I’ve seen much more openness about bisexuality in both men and women, and often a rejection of all labels,” Dr. Diamond said. “They’re more open to the idea that, ‘Hey, sexuality is complicated, and as long as I know who I want to sleep with it doesn’t matter what I call myself.’ ”

In my own case, it was very hard to get to the point of looking in the mirror and admitting to myself that I was gay.  That said, I clearly knew that it was guys to whom I was really attracted.  Sexuality is complicated and we should not judge others. 

Who Is Tom Daley's Boyfrend?

I try not to be a gossip columnist but this is too good to pass up. E! News is claiming that Tom Daley's as yet unnamed boyfriend is Dustin Lance Black.  Having met and talked with Black three different times, I can say this: he's nice as can be and very easy on the eyes.  Mr. Daley, of course, is very easy on the eyes.   If the report is true, I wish them both much happiness.  Here are snippets from E! News:

Sources exclusively tell E! News that Daley has been dating Dustin Lance Black, the 39-year-old writer who won an Academy Award for his screenplay for Milk, the 2008 biopic about gay rights activist legend Harvey Milk (Sean Penn also won an Oscar for playing Milk in the flick).

Back in October, Daley and Black were spotted together for the first time, grabbing a snack at The Coffee Bean in Hollywood.

Cindy McCain to Appear in Lance Black's Play that Supports Gay Marriage

John McCain is already on the outs with many of the Christofascists and Tea Party crowd in the Republican Party.  Now, this folks will have yet another reason to engage in a spittle fleck rant.  McCain's wife, Cindy will be acting in the play “8” written by Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black which deals with same-sex marriage and prohibitions in Arizona, California and other states.The Phoenix Business Journal notes the play and Cindy McCain's involvement:

Cindy Hensley McCain — the wife of U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and chairwoman of the Hensley & Co. beer distribution company — is slated to appear in a play next month at the Herberger Theater in Phoenix that supports same-sex marriage.

Some other notable Arizona political, media and business names are also in the play “8” which deals with same-sex marriage and prohibitions in Arizona, California and other states. The play gets its name from California’s Proposition 8 gay marriage ban.

John McCain opposes laws allowing gay marriage, while his wife has been a vocal supporter of same-sex marriages.

Hensley is the state’s largest Anheuser-Busch distributor. Mrs. McCain took over as chair and controlling owner of the Phoenix-based company in 2000 after her father, Jim Hensley’s death. She also has commercial real estate holdings in the Valley.

The Republican senator has said in the past that he and his wife, as well as his outspoken daughter Meghan McCain, have differing views on gay marriage. Cindy and Meghan McCain appeared in “No on Prop. 8” advertisements in 2008. The measure was passed by voters but was undone by a federal court. It is one of the same-sex marriage cases recently being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Christofascist commentary should be entertaining.

 

Quote of the Day: Dustin Lance Black on Why Romney is Dangerous

I have had the pleasure to meet Dustin Lance Black three times now and he always comes across as insightful and able to have empathy for others.  Moreover, with family members still living in Virginia he is fully attuned to the vengeance that the Christofascists have taken against gays in Virginia in the form of GOP backed anti-gay legislation and the constant blocking of all laws which would provide non-discrimination protections.  And as a former Mormon, Black has a perhaps unique perspective on the mindset of Mitt Romney who he sees as a danger to all minorities.  Here is the telling quote via Pride Source:

What would a Romney presidency mean for the gay community?

A Romney win is not just dangerous for the gay community but for anyone interested in equality. This is a president who seems to have trouble seeing outside of his own experiences. I don't think this is a man who has demonstrated any kind of empathy or understanding for people who are very, very different. The danger is not that he will get a lot of legislation passed that will hurt gay and lesbian people; the danger is he is likely going to appoint two Supreme Court justices, making this the most conservative court in history. That's what is at stake. And that doesn't just go for gay and lesbian people; that's gay and lesbian people, women, workers - they all are about to see their protections stripped away. He explicitly said he believes these sorts of protections should be allowed to be put up for a vote. I find it absurd and criminal that he would say that minorities should have their rights put up to votes.

Mitt Romney and those of the far right are a clear and present danger to the rights of all minorities who cling to the days where a white majority reserved to itself rights and privileges denied to other Americans.   Equally frightening Romney and his Christianist supporters seem to have open contempt for the concept of religious freedom for anyone other than themselves. 

Dustin Lance Black - An LGBT Call to Activism in Virginia

As I noted in a brief post last night, the boyfriend and I attended Dustin Lance Black's speech for the Old Dominion University Presidential Lecture Series and then a VIP reception following the speech.  To say that Black's speech was moving would be a huge understatement.  In many ways he sought to call on Virginia's LGBT community to mobilize and demand nothing less than full equality and non-discrimination protects.  Do not settle for crumbs he said.  What made the speech even more powerful was his tie to Virginia: his family continues to live in Manassas, Virginia.  Moreover, he had a late brother who was gay and never found peace and self-acceptance/happiness because of Virginia's exceedingly anti-gay legal climate.  As I've noted many times before, currently in Virginia, same sex relationships receive zero recognition (even if couples have legally married in LGBT friendly states), LGBT employees can be fired at will even by state agencies and departments, and we lack other basic non-discrimination protections in housing, adoption rights and other matters.  

The other message that Black was the need to come out and live their lives openly.  Nothing dispels the lies and stereotypes disseminated by our enemies more thoroughly than having family, friends and neighbors see that LGBT individuals and come to the realization that we are just like everyone else.

I've often noted that as other nations advance in granting same sex marriage rights and protections to LGBT citizens, the promise of freedom of religion and equal protection under the law - the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, if you will - supposedly afforded to all Americans becomes more and more of a farce.  Black zeroed in on this reality and challenged all in the audience demand that the the promises and grand words of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights be brought to fulfillment.   While he did not urge a war against religion, he clearly made the case that it is time to end the GOP and Christianist view of America which I often summarize with an image that reads "This is America . . .  founded by white Christians seeking religious liberty . . . where people know their place. Keep it white and Christian."  

I hope to get a transcript or recording of Black's wonderful speech and will share more with readers once I do so.

Dustin Lance Black at ODU

Between a HRBOR board meeting and then attending Dustin Lance Black's talk at Old Dominion University and the reception that followed to benefit ODU Out - more on his amazing and moving talk will follow tomorrow - the evening sped by and I had virtually no time for blogging.  Until tomorrow, here's a photo of the boyfriend and me with Lance as he prefers to be called.  He is an amazing speaker and a totally unassuming guy.  I cannot say enough good things about his speech.  Tomorrow, I will mention why he wants to help foment change in Virginia.

Dustin Lance Black Dares Rick Santorum To Make His Anti-Gay Statements Under Oath

Homophobes and anti-gay Christianists love to recite fraudulent research pumped out by discredited "experts" like Paul Cameron. However, as the trial challenging Proposition 8 revealed, these same anti-gay loud mouths are few and far between when it comes to testifying under oath in a court of law? Why? The answer is easy. Perjury often carries jail time and these anti-gay spokesman suddenly don't want to go on the record and testify when their anti-gay positions can be shown to be little more than homophobic lies and land their pious asses in jail. Given this reality, Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black (who I've been fortunate enough to meet in person at left)) has challenged Rick "Man on Dog" Santorum to repeat his anti-gay batshitery in a court of law and under oath. Somehow I don't think Frothy Mix will be jumping to take up the challenge. Gay.net looks at Dustin's challenge to Santorum. Here are some excerpts:

Writer Dustin Lance Black appeared on What’s Trending last week to discuss the history of his play 8, whihc is based on the Prop. 8 court cases in California.

“I was sitting in the actual courtroom during the actual trial, Black explained. “And what was going on in there was so emotional, it was so revealing. It’s so revealing that all these people, who had said so many things against gay people for so long, had to go in and raise their right hand and swear to tell the truth. And their case fell apart before our eyes.”

When asked what he thought about the GOP presidential candidates’ stance on gay marriage, Black said, “I would love to call them into court and get them to raise their right hand. I think each of them—if they said what they’ve been saying in these debates, they would be perjuring themselves, because there is no proof for what they are saying. There are no facts to back it up. The things they’re saying—the hateful things, the stereotypes, and lies that we’ve heard for generations—fall apart. So I dare Rick Santorum to raise his hand and swear to tell the truth, and say the things he’s been saying about gay people.”

The Oscar-winner was also asked to share his thoughts on the anti-gay comments Kirk Cameron made recently on Piers Morgan's CNN show. Black called them “old-school” and added, “I wanna see [Cameron] having to tell the whole truth, ‘cause he wouldn’t get away with those words.”

FBI Agents Upset Over a Gay J. Edgar

We all knew that the new biopic "J. Edgar," starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was going to be tantamount to peeing in the Cheerios of many at the FBI and elsewhere. Heavens forbid that their icon might have been gay. It's part and parcel with the far too prevalent mindset that one cannot possibly have done something positive such as building the FBI and fostering innovations like crime labs if one is gay. The truth, of course, is that the public stereotype of gays is 100% wrong most of the time even if our Christianist enemies work tirelessly to maintain a derogatory image of gays and other segments of the LGBT community. That's why LGBT individuals' decision to come out and live openly as who they are is such a powerful tool - it shows the lie of the stereotype. The Washington Post looks at the whining of Hoover's admirers within the FBI and out. Not surprisingly, it predominantly older former FBI agents who are most upset. A group that likely supported DADT and believes the lies of Maggie Gallagher. Note the mindset that being gay is about the worse thing one can allege abut a person. Here are some highlights:

“Mr. Hoover was portrayed as an individual who had homosexual tendencies and was a tyrannical monster,” Schwarz said into the camera, as the sun glinted off his FBI cuff links and FBI lapel pin. “That is simply not true.”

Many former FBI agents share Schwartz’s pique with the film’s dropped hints of an abiding love between Hoover and aide Clyde Tolson, who is buried a few grave sites away.

Since “J. Edgar’s” release early this month, hundreds of agents have griped about the film on xgboys, a closed e-mail list for FBI retirees that takes its name from one of Hoover’s pet dogs, which in turn is a play on the old nickname for federal agents, “G-men.”

“I don’t know anyone who’s not extremely upset,” said Bill Branon, a former agent . . . . If it were true, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. But don’t do that to the poor guy when he’s dead and gone.”

Agents younger than 70 or so don’t get it, said Brad Benson, president of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI. “Devotion is probably a good word for my generation and up,” said Benson, 70. “The more recent people can’t understand why all the energy is being devoted to this when our [retirement] benefits are at stake.”

As a technical adviser on the film, former agent Scott Nelson said he also advised the filmmakers it was “gratuitous” to include a scene showing Hoover and Tolson kissing . . . . But Nelson thinks some of his fellow former agents are overreacting.

“It’s a biopic. It’s not a biography,” said Nelson, who now runs his own security firm in California. “That doesn’t mean it’s factual. Agents deal in fact, and they’re offended at the literary license taken by the screenwriter. I know why they’re offended.”

However, Nelson said, the film does not disparage Hoover, and the speculative focus on his personal life was part of dramatic storytelling: “That’s Hollywood.”

In a day and age where the closet doors were nailed tightly shut by closeted gays, I'm sure Hoover - if he was indeed gay - was no exception to that rule. And there's no one more outwardly homophobic than closeted gays. Just look at the GOP's parade of closet cases that have been exposed. I just look forward to the day when being gay isn't deemed something horrible by anyone.

Illuminating California’s Proposition 8 Trial

Dustin Lance Black - who I had the pleasure of meeting at the National Equality March in October 2009 - has a new project that will likely not please the Christofascists who were behind the passage of California's anti-gay Proposition 8. The new effort is a play about the trial conducted in Judge Walker's court and relies on verbatim testimony and statements by participants in the trial. I suspect the play will underscore that the only real arguments made in support of Proposition 8 boil down to anti-gay animus and religious based discrimination - neither of which belong enshrined in the civil laws. The ugly truth about the arguments for Proposition 8 need to have a much wider exposure and hopefully Black's new play that will premiere in September will assist in that endeavor. The New York Times looks at Black's new effort. Here are some highlights:
*
A new play based on the Proposition 8 trial over same-sex marriage in California, written by the Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black (“Milk”), will be performed in a staged reading on Broadway in September and then produced at Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern, the University of Michigan, and elsewhere.
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The play consists mostly of verbatim dialogue and statements from the trial transcript, Mr. Black said, as well as his own observations from sitting in the courtroom most days and interviewing people on both sides of the case. Roughly a dozen people from the trial are portrayed as characters . . .
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[Black] said he became determined to write the play after the United States Supreme Court blocked the trial judge’s plan to broadcast the hearings over the Internet. “One of my hopes about the trial was to get the opposition in court, hands raised swearing to tell the truth, and have the world see the opposition called to account "for going on TV saying gay people harm children, harm families, Mr. Black said. “Since the trial itself wasn’t heard or seen, I wanted to get that story out another way.”
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The reading, on Sept. 19 at the Eugene O’Neill Theater, will have “a cast of top Hollywood names and Broadway’s finest,” a spokesman for the production said, and will be staged by the Tony Award-winning director Joe Mantello. . .
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Broadway Impact, a group that champions same-sex marriage rights, is also helping organize the reading and subsequent productions on campuses. Two leaders of Broadway Impact, the actors Gavin Creel and Rory O’Malley, will return to their alma maters — the University of Michigan and Carnegie Mellon — to hold readings there. Cast members of the Broadway revival of “Hair,” which resumes a national tour in the fall, also plan to do readings in cities where “Hair” will run . . .
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The public needs to know that hate, lies and intolerance are the only basis for Proposition 8. Kudos to Dustin for devising a means to help expose the ugly face of the Christianists.

HRC to Move Into [Desecrate] Harvey Milk's Camera Store

Almost as worthless and disingenuous as the Liar-in-Chief when it comes to the betrayal of rank and file LGBT Americans, in my opinion, are the self-important boot lickers at HRC - e.g., Joe Solomnese - who are more worried about "access" and remaining on the cocktail circuit invite list than advancing the rights of the rest of us. EVERY time I have reached out to HRC for help on a gay rights issue, they have been more worried about "offending" this politician or that politician than about helping a LGBT citizen who was screwed over by the bigoted system. Now, HRC has announced that it will be moving into the location of Harvey Milk's camera store in San Francisco. I view the move as something obscene given HRC's continued spinelessness and unwillingness to hold politicians accountable for their lies and continued bigotry. I'm not the only one outraged. Dustin Lance Black, author of the screen play for the movie Milk had this to say:
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"Harvey Milk spent the last years of his life fighting not only for rights for gays and lesbians across the nation, but also against the idea that the only way to achieve those rights is to lobby the government and financially support so-called 'straight allies'.
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For the HRC leadership, which still advocates a piecemeal, wait-and-see approach to try and co-opt and profit from Harvey's legacy is an outrage."

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HRC sucks up a disproportionate amount of LGBT activism dollars, grossly overpays its leadership, and delivers little or nothing to average LGBT Americans. Donations to HRC ought to be redirected to organizations Lambda Legal and AFER that are actually doing something win equality for LGBT citizens. HRC's main activity seems to be providing political cover for do nothing "allies" such as the current occupant of the White House.

Closeted Former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman: I'm Gay

Wow! Talk about being the last one to know. Most of us had RNC hack Ken Mehlman figured out long ago. In fact, Mike Rogers and John Aravosis called Mehlman out as gay as far back as 2004. It is unfortunate that his self-loathing led him to do so much harm to so many LGBT Americans through his support of the gay hating GOP for the better part of a decade and serving as campaign chair for Chimperator Bush who used anti-gay hatred to win himself re-election in 2004. With Mehlman's announcement, part of me believes that there'd be some divine justice if the Republicans and conservatives reject him and that Democrats and everyone else does the same. The pragmatist in me recognizes that IF Mehlman sincerely wants to get on board in the fight for LGBT equality, then his efforts ought to be accepted.

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For the record, I will admit that I spent many years in the closet myself, but at NO TIME did I actively support anyone who sought to denigrate gays or deny LGBT citizens of full civil rights. The same cannot be said for Mehlman, who now, after being a total Judas to gays, claims that he wants to become an advocate for gay rights. Marc Ambinder has more details at the Atlantic. Here are some highlights.
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Ken Mehlman, President Bush's campaign manager in 2004 and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, has told family and associates that he is gay.
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Mehlman arrived at this conclusion about his identity fairly recently, he said in an interview. He agreed to answer a reporter's questions, he said, because, now in private life, he wants to become an advocate for gay marriage and anticipated that questions would arise about his participation in a late-September fundraiser for the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), the group that supported the legal challenge to California's ballot initiative against gay marriage, Proposition 8.
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Mehlman's leadership positions in the GOP came at a time when the party was stepping up its anti-gay activities -- such as the distribution in West Virginia in 2006 of literature linking homosexuality to atheism, or the less-than-subtle, coded language in the party's platform ("Attempts to redefine marriage in a single state or city could have serious consequences throughout the country..."). Mehlman said at the time that he could not, as an individual Republican, go against the party consensus.
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Mehlman acknowledges that if he had publicly declared his sexuality sooner, he might have played a role in keeping the party from pushing an anti-gay agenda.
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Mehlman is aware that his attempts to justify his past silence will not be adequate for many people. He and his friends say that he is aware that he will no longer control the story about his identity -- which will simultaneously expose old wounds, invite Schadenfruede, and legitimize anger among gay rights activists in both parties who did not hide their sexual orientations.
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He was the subject of an outing campaign by gay rights activist Mike Rogers, starting when Mehlman was Bush's campaign manager. Rogers's crusades against closeted gay Republicans split the organized gay lobby in Washington but were undoubtedly effective: he drove several elected officials, including Virginia Rep. Ed Shrock, from office, pushed out a would-be presidential campaign manager for George Allen well before Allen was set to run, slung rumors about Sen. Larry Craig's sexual orientation well before Craig's incident in a Minneapolis airport bathroom, and even managed to make homosexuality a wedge issue within the party's activist circles.
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Dustin Lance Black, the Academy Award winning writer of "Milk," said, "Ken represents an incredible coup for the American Foundation for Equal Rights. We believe that our mission of equal rights under the law is one that should resonate with every American. As a victorious former presidential campaign manager and head of the Republican Party, Ken has the proven experience and expertise to help us communicate with people across each of the 50 states."

Dustin Lance Black - We Cannot Wait

Dustin Lance Black - Academy Award winner for best screen play for the movie Milk and Board Member, American Foundation for Equal Rights ("AFER") - has a column at Huffington Post that makes the argument as to why NOW is the time to challenge anti-gay marriage amendments like Proposition 8 in the federal courts as opposed to waiting as some professional LGBT activist would have preferred (there certainly has been much back biting and condescension towards Black and others at AFER by some who believe only they should dictate how equality is won). Perhaps I'm biased because I had the opportunity to meet and talk with Dustin Lance Black at the National Equality March back in October. Or maybe I am merely the impatient type by nature who believes that gays have waited long enough to stop being treated as equal citizens. Or maybe it's because as an attorney, I believe the correct legal arguments and reading of the Constitution are on the side of the plaintiffs in Perry. In any event, I support the case going forward and I am thrilled by the legal team representing the plaintiffs. Here are some highlights from Dustin's column:
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Over the past months I have had the pleasure and privilege of meeting the plaintiffs in Perry vs. Schwarzenegger. Their love is true, their families are strong, and to hear their stories is to know they deserve full recognition of their love, both for themselves and for their families. The time has come for the world to meet Kris Perry and Sandra Stier, Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo. Their stories are our stories, ones of finding love with another person, of overcoming adversity, and of the strength and importance of family.
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But now their stories must take a place in history, next to Brown vs. Board of Education and Loving vs. Virginia, in order to confirm what our great Constitution already tells us is true: that separate is not equal, and that all men and women, regardless of skin color or sexual orientation, deserve equality.
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To those who have said, "Wait," I say, Gay and Lesbian people should not be forced to wait years to be treated equally under the law. By straining to avoid our federal Constitutional arguments, we only reinforce the false notion that our arguments lack merit. We reinforce the lies and myths and stereotypes that have been forced upon us for generations. We send a signal that we must not truly believe we are equal. The truth is, we are equal, and our love deserves equal recognition and protection under the law. Truth is on our side, and justice, but time is not.
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We cannot wait. We cannot wait for more children to be born into this country hearing that they are "less than," that this country considers them inferior or second class, that their love is not worth honoring. If we do, how can we ever expect them to contribute, to thrive, or even just to survive? We cannot wait for one more young person to hear this terrible news and take his or her own life, or have it brutally taken from them. Now is the time for this federal challenge.
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To many of us, this challenge sounds like debate and politics, tedium and hard work, but to the young people out there who are afraid, who tune in and hear that we have taken this bold new step, it will sound more like: "You are not less than. You have brothers and sisters, gay and straight, black and brown and white, thousands of us. And your struggle is our struggle, and your fight is our fight, and very soon, we promise you, you will be equal citizens, and you will be free."

Dustin Lance Black Takes on Gay Bashing College

There have been numerous blog posts and news stories about how Hope College in Holland, Michigan, disinvited Dustin Lance Black, Academy Award winning screen writer for the film Milk - who is a sweetheart in person as I know personally from meeting him at the National Equality March - from speaking at the college and from screening Milk. It was yet another case of homophobic Christianists seeking to avoid a real world discussion of the fact that (i) gays DO exist and (ii) that religious based discrimination against LGBT Americans is not acceptable under the U.S. Constitution. Ultimately, a theater in Holland did allow a screening of Milk and Dustin describes his experiences at Daily Beast. What he has to say speaks volumes about why it is important for gays to live openly and help kill the stereotypes that our enemies work so hard to create. Here are some highlights:

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The story said I had been banned from screening Milk and was officially not welcome on Hope College’s campus. The dean of students wasn’t shy about it. He called my brand of “advocacy” hurtful to the student body. Without ever meeting me in person, without so much as a phone call, he had publicly declared me and Milk unholy and unwelcome.
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What had started as a wide-eyed adventure to bring Harvey Milk back to life had taken a darker turn since my Oscar acceptance speech appeared and re-appeared on Oprah, The View, and The O’Reilly Factor. Anti-gay letters, emails, and attacks had begun, and now, here in West Michigan, I had met the same fate as many of my favorite writers: I was banned. Naïveté was gone. My education had begun. Between the apologetic handshakes were glares from unknown locals. The politeness I’d come to admire was lifted up, revealing hidden enmity.
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But let me be clear: I don’t think the town was homophobic. I think they had simply never discussed gay rights openly before, and here I was, an interloper, threatening to thrust this hot-button issue into their community. As the dean kept talking and students began protesting, calls came from journalists in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. I did my best to stay focused, wrap up production, and in the end, decided to move my editing room out of West Michigan.

But that’s not how the story ends. Two weeks ago, in blizzard conditions, a Delta pilot landed on a snowy runway in Grand Rapids, and I drove the half hour from the airport to Holland, watching SUVs slide into ditches in front of me. With five minutes to spare, I arrived at the Park Theater off Main Street, right across from the steeples of Hope College.
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Why had I made the journey back? Because when I decided I needed to set things right with the people of Holland who had been so welcoming, I called that same student who had come up to me in the coffee shop months ago, and we decided not to take “no” for an answer.
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He organized a new group called “Hope Is Ready,” and raised funds from local city leaders who had never taken a stand on gay rights before, but in the face of Hope’s now widely publicized homophobia, decided to put their quiet courtesy aside (most for the first time), and donated time, money, and space to do what Hope wouldn’t: have this conversation.
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The theater sold out in an hour. We booked a second night at a larger venue and it, too, filled up. As the film wrapped up, Harvey called out from the screen: “You gotta give ‘em HOPE. You gotta give ‘em HOPE.” And for the first time, those words meant something very different to me. They meant, as we fight for equality in California and New York, we can’t forget about those kids out there in small-town America, in the Hollands or Hope Colleges. Their lives are too valuable.
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When the lights came up, it became clear the audience was almost entirely students and faculty from Hope College. And it wasn’t just gay people who stood up and told their stories at the Q&A afterward; it was minorities of every kind. And the next morning, for the first time, the dean of Hope College called me. As long as there was no one else around to witness it, he wanted to meet.
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A tall, white-haired man waved to me from under the marquee of another local theater. It had warmed up to 20 degrees. I was shivering; he was braver about the weather. This was the man who had banned my film and lecture, and denounced me to reporters. Now he was responsible for my return. Without him, I likely would have spoken to a handful of students on campus, the event would have gone largely unnoticed, and the long-needed dialogue that had taken place the night before would never have happened. Gay people in Holland had this man to thank.
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What struck me immediately was his referring to me as “you people.” I asked him to clarify, and he hesitantly said, “gay people.” He claimed it was “my people” who had been attacking him since the news broke, though all of the complaints I’d read in the papers had come from straight people in his own community. But I didn’t argue that. Instead, I asked that he get to know gay and lesbian people individually instead of lumping us together, stereotyping.

It became clear the problem here wasn’t gay people or Hollywood people or people from California. The problem was a fear of “other” people, people from different worlds or with different viewpoints. I was reminded of Harvey Milk who claimed the war against homophobia was a war against fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of what is different.

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I commend Dustin for not taking "no" for an answer and pushing the envelop so that some real dialogue could take place. I count myself as lucky to have had the opportunity to meet with this amazing young man. I suspect that we will hear much more from and about him in the future.

Dustan Lance Black on the National Equality March

Besides being an Academy Award winning screen writer Dustan Lance Black has become a somewhat non-stop activist for LGBT equality. I was lucky enough to see him in person last December at the all expense paid LGBT Blogger Summit when attendees had a private screening of the movie "Milk." In an interview with the Windy City Times, Black explains why he supports the National Equality March on October 10-11, 2009, and the importance of LGBT Americans making a visible statement in the nation's capital. I share many of his views and, as I have said before, the boyfriend and I will be attending. Here are some interview highlights:

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Taking a break from writing on a recent Sunday afternoon, the San Antonio, Texas-raised Black discussed the upcoming National Equality March ( scheduled for Oct. 10-11 in Washington, D.C. ) , his experiences touring the country, closeted Hollywood actors and, for the first time, a national LGBT awareness campaign he will launch this Sept.

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Dustin Lance Black: I'm doing anything Cleve [ Jones ] asks me to do—I guess that makes me a humble servant to the march on Washington. It starts with David Mixner calling for a march on Washington a couple of months ago [ on his blog ] . For a serious march. Not a gay Lollapalooza. And Cleve Jones, who has been so incredibly skeptical about having another march, read that piece and believed that now is the time. It's time for two reasons. One is to make our voices heard.

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There have been promises made by the Obama administration while he campaigned, really exciting and specific promises, and he still occasionally talks about them but has done nothing about achieving any of those goals. He's set no dates, he's shown no way forward meaning he's not pressing Congress or demanding or requesting legislation. We need to make our voices heard. The second reason, and the thing I think is so incredibly important, is this march unlike previous marches is an organizing march. We have reached out to LGBT leaders in all 435 congressional districts and where we couldn't find leaders we found people we're trying to teach how to lead and organize and gather a group of LGBT people that is representative of their district and bring them to Washington.

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We will have leaders from all 435 congressional districts represented in the D.C. mall and use that moment as an organizing conference so these people learn about grassroots activism, how to lobby their federal representative back home in their local district, and how to do the door-to-door activism that really does change minds. All of this is because there's a philosophy that you only can achieve full equality through the federal government. All the leaders before us have known that. But we haven't demanded it until now, and if you look at the history of any civil rights movement in this country federal quality is the only way to full equality.

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I think it's incredibly important that Obama is invited to speak. Cleve is the organizer at this point and I know he's negotiating that and in contact with the White House, and if Obama does show up and speak I think that says a lot. And if he doesn't, that also speaks volumes. I'm all for him being given the only VIP invite to speak."

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I've gone to many cities across the country that are either conservative, or like in Columbia, Mo., that's considered a purple area because it flip-flops from red to blue each election. In one of these places I was met with "You A Fag" written on the big wall of the green room. I'm met with that initially but as I get up and speak and begin to relate my story and I ask people from the audience to relate their stories, which is always a part of what I do, you can feel the homophobia melt away. The discomfort turns into laughter and by the end people are coming up and shaking my hand or shaking their friends' or classmates' and starting to have those conversations. I know it sounds corny but having had the chance to travel and speak in every kind of town there is across this country, I feel more than ever that all Americans love LGBT people and those who think they don't simply have not met us yet.

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I'm not in favor of outing people unless they're in a position of power and using that to hurt gay or lesbian people. It's not my mission to go outing people just so they're out, so I'm not going to have a confrontation with any actor who chooses to stay in the closet. That's their personal choice. I wish it was a different choice, I wish they would all come out. But in terms of the more aggressive tactic of outing I would save that for people who are deliberately hurting the gay community and there's a lot of that in Washington.

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I do agree with Black that many outward homophobes simply have not met and come to know LGBT individuals. I know for a fact among my clients that my being openly out and matter of fact about it has changed the views of a number of people who previously would not have seen themselves as gay allies. Coming out and living honestly and openly is perhaps the most effective type of activism any of us can do.

Human Compassion and Decency Versus the Christianists

Towleroad has what purports to be the first online publication of the introduction to MILK: A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF HARVEY MILK by Milk screenwriter and Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black. I found the introduction to be moving. In addition, it also exhibits a sense of compassion and decency towards others. It is the antithesis of the intolerance, cruelty and callousness exhibited everyday in anti-gay attacks launched by self-styled "pro-family" organizations and Christianist "news" sites. I thought the polar opposites in how the "pro-gay" side and and the anti-gay "Christians" look at humanity and the lives of others says a great deal about which is the more morally upright cause. First some highlights from Dustin's introduction:

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I grew up in a very conservative Mormon military household in San Antonio, Texas. I knew from the age of six what people would call me if they ever discovered my “secret.” Faggot. Deviant. Sinner. I’d heard those words ever since I can remember. I knew that I was going to Hell. I was sure God did not love me. It was clear as day that I was “less than” the other kids, and that if anyone ever found out about my little secret, beyond suffering physical harm, I would surely bring great shame to my family.

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So I had two choices: to hide—to go on a Mormon mission, to get married and have a small Mormon family (eight to twelve kids)—or to do what I’d thought about many a time while daydreaming in Texas history class: take my own life.

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[The] moment when I heard Harvey for the first time . . . that was the first time I really knew someone loved me for me. From the grave, over a decade after his assassination, Harvey gave me life. . . he gave me hope. At that very same moment, without knowing it, I became a pawn in a game of political power wrangling that is still shedding blood from DC to Sacramento, El Paso to Altoona.

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Thirty years after Harvey began his fight for GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender) equality, I am still “less than” a heterosexual when it comes to my civil rights in America. If I fall in love with someone in a foreign country, I can’t marry him and bring him home. I can’t be out in the military, there are inheritance rights issues, adoption rights, social security, taxation, immigration, employment, housing, and access to health care rights, social services, and education rights, and on and on. The message to gay and lesbian youth today is that they are still inferior. Today, in 2008, The Gay and Lesbian Task Force reports that a third of all gay youth attempt suicide, that gay youth are four times more likely than straights to try to take their own lives, . . .

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The night after this year’s election, I attended a rally against the passage of Proposition 8, and the speakers onstage were mostly the folks who had waged the failed, closeted “No on 8” campaign. . . . . And yes, those demonstrators on television, and Harvey’s message in theaters, are exceedingly important in the continued fight over Proposition 8, but they are important to me for another, more personal reason. . . because I feel certain there is another kid out there in San Antonio tonight who woke up on November 5, 2008, and heard that gay people had lost their rights in California, that they were still “less than,” and I know all too well the dire solutions that may have flashed through his or her head.

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These photos and the accompanying quotes from my research interviews in this book don’t tell the story of a man born to lead, but of a regular man with many flaws who did what many others wouldn’t . . . he did what his people need to do again today, thirty years later . . . Harvey Milk stood up and fought back.

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And our adversaries? What do they have to say? Nothing kind or caring, that is for certain. An utter disregard for other humans who are different from themselves is instead their hallmark. They care nothing for the pain and suffering of others or the lives they ruin. First an example from Movieguide, a self-proclaimed "family guide to entertainment" in a piece entitled "Hollywood Denounces God and Applauds Pedophilia at the Oscars." Here are a few highlights (be the judge of who displays bigotry):

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The Academy Awards showed its support for sexual perversions last night at its annual Oscar ceremony. . . . The Oscar audience applauded madly when Penn, who won Best Actor for his portrayal of murdered homosexual activist Harvey Milk in the movie MILK, angrily chastised voters in California, including 70% of black voters, for having the gall in last November's elections to support the real definition of marriage.

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The audience also clapped when the winning screenwriter for MILK, Dustin Lance Black, proclaimed his bigotry when he commented, "If Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he would want me to say to all the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told they are less than by the churches, by the government, by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value, and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights, federally, across this great nation of ours. Thank you, God, for Harvey Milk!"

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At the beginning of the show, host Hugh Jackman described the message of MILK as, "It's okay to be gay." Of course, Jesus Christ believes otherwise.

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And then there is commentary entitled "Gay Rights Suffers Well-Deserved Defeat in Idaho," from Renew America concerning the defeat of a bill that would have furnished employment non-discrimination protections to employees in Idaho. Note the standard false recounting of alleged anti-Christian events and the use of the transgender boogie man; Here are highlights:

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This bill — as the following segment will illustrate in full — would have represented a grave threat to constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of association, conscience, speech and religion. . . . It would have spawned a host of lawsuits, including potential lawsuits against any municipality, public concern or private business that would not allow a transgendered individual to use the bathroom or locker room of his choice.

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Sen. LeFavour's attempt to foster religious discrimination under cover of the homosexual rights agenda is losing steam. Last year, she had the official support of the Idaho Human Rights Commission; this year, she did not. Last year, she at least was able to get her bill printed; this year she did not. Let's hope, for the sake of Idaho, that her efforts continue to lose momentum.

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I never cease to be amazed at how those who purport to be the followers of a religious tradition based on a man who described the second great Commandment after love of God to be love of neighbor as yourself are so consumed by hatred and intolerance of others. These folks are not Christians and they are a threat to the civil rights of other citizens.