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.

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

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

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

California Supreme Court: Break Away Parish Cannot Take Church Property

Legal battles are raging in various parts of the country between break away Episcopal parishes that are attempting to take with them church properties owned by dioceses of the national Episcopal Church. Unlike lower court rulings in Fairfax, Virginia that have relied on a Civil War era statute - that in true pro-discrimination Virginia tradition was enacted to allow pro-slavery Baptist churches to take church properties from the anti-slavery national denomination - to find for renegade parishes, the California Supreme Court has correctly ruled (as have courts in other states) against break away parishes. Candidly, I hope the Virginia appellate courts will reverse the lower court rulings and find the bigoted Civil War statute is not a proper basis for allowing the break away parishes to effectively steal millions of dollars of real estate. It is ironic that Virginia, which was a leader in the fight for liberty in the birth of the USA now more often than not supports discrimination rather than equality and liberty. Here are some highlights from the Los Angeles Times:

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Rebellious congregations that part ways with their denominations may lose their church buildings and property as a result, the California Supreme Court said Monday in a unanimous ruling. The state high court decision came in a case involving the Episcopal Church, but lawyers said it would apply to other denominations as well.

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Several Protestant denominations, including United Methodists and Presbyterians, have faced upheaval over gay rights issues. Monday's ruling, along with similar victories that the church leadership has won in other states, is expected to dampen enthusiasm for such separations.

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In a decision written by Justice Ming W. Chin, the court said the property of St. James Anglican Church in Newport Beach was owned by the national church, not the congregation. The congregation split away after the national church consecrated a gay man, V. Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003."When it disaffiliated from the general church, the local church did not have the right to take the church property with it," Chin wrote for the court.

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The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles applauded the ruling even as he held out an olive branch to St. James and other parishes sued by his office The Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno said the diocese was "overjoyed" and predicted that the ruling would encourage disgruntled congregations to remain united with their mother churches.

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Because the ruling could affect other denominations as well, several churches joined the Episcopal hierarchy in arguing against the Newport Beach congregation. They included United Methodists, Presbyterians and Seventh-day Adventists."The other denominations who were with us were very pleased," Bruno said.

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Eric Sohlgren, an Irvine attorney who represented All Saints and St. James, said the ruling might deter congregations from joining national denominations in the first place. . . . Asked if the loss of a church and its property might make parishioners reluctant to break from a denomination, Sohlgren said, "I think people of faith make decisions about which church to attend based on theology and doctrine of that church." But he added, "It will certainly create an issue for them to think about."

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St. James was one of about 100 Episcopal parishes that broke off relations with the national church after Robinson's ordination. Disputes over the real estate landed in courts across the country, and most ruled for the church hierarchy.

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Even though Monday's ruling only affects California, the court is influential nationally.The issue is playing out in several states, including Virginia, where a judge last month backed the property claims of 11 breakaway parishes. That ruling is under appeal.

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The Rev. Ian T. Douglas, a professor of mission and world Christianity at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., said the decision probably would have a chilling effect on parishes elsewhere in the country that have left the Episcopal Church in recent years amid doctrinal disputes."The fact that the highest level of court ruled in favor of the Episcopal Church sends a message that it's going to be an uphill battle to try to withdraw properties from the church," Douglas said.

Fairfax County Schools reject Wingnut Anti-gay Books

As further proof that the anti-gay Christianist organizations never give up on trying to disseminate false and slanderous information about gays (particularly to impressionable youth), the Washington Post is reporting about the failed efforts of a Focus on the Family initiative to have anti-gay books placed in public school libraries. Fortunately, the Fairfax County, Virginia, school system said, "no thank you" on the basis that the offered materials were not supported by peer review approved publications. This tactic of Focus on the Family is similar to PFOX's efforts to secure equal time in schools to give out false information on homosexuality being a "choice" and "treatable." The truth, of course, is that reputable and legitimate medical and mental health associations have condemned PFOX's bogus information. As I have remarked time and time again, the willingness of these allegedly "Godly Christians" to lie again and again is amazing. The truth really means nothing to them. Here are some story highlights:

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During a week that librarians nationwide are highlighting banned books, conservative Christian students and parents showcased their own collection outside a Fairfax County high school yesterday -- a collection they say was banned by the librarians themselves.

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More than 40 students, many wearing black T-shirts stamped with the words "Closing Books Shuts Out Ideas," said they tried to donate more than 100 books about homosexuality to more than a dozen high school libraries in the past year. The initiative, organized by Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family, was intended to add a conservative Christian perspective to shelves that the students said are stocked with "pro-gay" books.

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Most of the books were turned down after school librarians said they did not meet school system standards. Titles include "Marriage on Trial: The Case Against Same-Sex Marriage and Parenting" and "Someone I Love Is Gay," which argues that homosexuality is not "a hopeless condition."

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Fairfax County's policy on library book selection says "the collection should support the diverse interests, needs and viewpoints of the school community." But library officials said donated and purchased books alike are evaluated by the same standards, including two positive reviews from professionally recognized journals. None of the donated titles met that standard.

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Focus on the Family selected and supplied the books. The teenagers assembled yesterday did not say they had read any of them. Other groups are launching similar campaigns to get books challenging homosexuality on library shelves. Virginia-based Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays maintains a list of titles and encourages its members to donate them to libraries.