Cory Monteith RIP - A Lost Ally

I've held off commenting on the unfortunate death of actor Cory Monteith of "Glee" until the cause was known.   Sadly, like other talented LGBT allies, Monteith died far too early from an accidental drug/alcohol overdose.   Despite my trials and tribulations while in the closet and then during my coming out journey I never resorted to illegal drugs like heroin, but I did use my share of anti-depressants and Xanax.  In fact, one of my failed suicide attempt involved taking a whole bottle of Xanax, so I cannot stand in judgment of anyone.   My thoughts and prayers are with Monteith's family and girl friend Lea Michele.  Queerty looks at Monteith's transition to outspoken LGBT ally.  Here are highlights:

With the news of Cory Monteith’s cause of death, we have another reason to be sad for the young actor’s too brief life and career. We’ve also lost an ally for gay civil rights. 

Before joining the cast of Glee in 2009, the Calgary native knew nothing in particular about gay folks, or musical theater. But he would learn to sing and dance, and go on to become a vocal proponent for gay rights and marriage equality, appearing at the GLAAD Awards, the HRC National Dinner with girlfriend and castmates Lea Michelle, Chris Colfer and Amber Riley, and adding his voice to the Straight But Not Narrow campaign in 2011, an effort to encourage young straight guys to show support for young gay guys.

He spoke eloquently in 2012 about his own gay rights education: “Being aligned with Glee has absolutely made me more aware of it. It’s one of the defining challenges at this point in our human evolution. This is the equivalent human rights struggle for our generation. We’re going to look back 50 years from now and be shocked that this is what we’re having to deal with.”

The article also looks at the untimely deaths of  other LGBT allies: Amber Riley, Amy Winehouse, Anna Nicole Smith, Heath Ledger, John Ritter, Judy Garland, Kurt Cobain, Natasha Richardson, River Phoenix, and Whitney Houston.

Wingnuts: DOMA Ruling Was As Bad As Pearl Harbor

The hysteria from the far right over the DOMA decision earlier this week continues and provides yet further proof that the Christofascists truly do either (i) live in some warped alternate reality or (ii) need serious mental health interventions.   How else to explain the intense need they display to cling to very selective passages of a book written thousands of years ago by ignorant nomads and which biblical scholars agree contains many forgeries and irregularities that make it more then obvious to sentient individuals that it's anything but the inerrant "word of God."  Illustrative of this batshitery is the ranting and whining of Lisa Van Houten of the American Decency Association (yet another "family values" organization aimed at keeping charlatans employed and living the good life while trampling on the freedoms of others).  Right Wing Watch looks at Van Houten's deranged lament:

The American Decency Association’s Lisa Van Houten is warning that the Supreme Court’s DOMA decision “will live in infamy” just like Pearl Harbor. Van Houten claims that pastors will “be prosecuted for preaching” against homosexuality and refusing to perform same-sex weddings, people will be “charged with discrimination” if they don’t “embrace homosexuality,” anti-gay groups will lose their non-profit status, and, worst of all, America will face divine punishment.

As we look back on history there are dates which we now see were crossroads, turning points for nations and cultures. July 4, 1776; June 6, 1944. December 7, 1941; January 22, 1973. Battles fought, decisions made – some establishing goodness and justice, others are dates that “will live in infamy.” 

I believe today, June 26, 2013, is the latter. A date when the United in favor of same sex marriage, and undermined true marriage – one man and one woman – which States Supreme Court ruled was instituted, not by any government, but by God. 

The homosexual agenda cannot and will not abide peaceably alongside the true, biblical institutions of marriage and family as ordained by God. As the homosexual agenda is legitimized – even by the United States Supreme Court - marriage, family, and our religious liberty will be undermined.

Consider the following short list of what may be in our future :

1. Hate crime laws will be increasingly instituted and enforced. Will pastors be prosecuted for preaching what God’s Word says regarding homosexuality and refusing to perform same sex “marriage” ceremonies?

2. Homosexuality will be a protected class by the government. Christian school teachers and administrators, pastors, business owners, etc. could be charged with discrimination if they speak out against or refuse to embrace homosexuality.

3. Organizations such as our own American Decency could easily lose their (c)3 tax-exempt, non-profit status as we continue to call homosexuality what it is - SIN.

4. God will not bless a nation that puts a stamp of approval upon that which he calls an abomination. The evidences of God’s displeasure are evident and becoming more so with each passing day.

Item No. 3 is probably her biggest worry.  That said, one can only assume that Van Houten hasn't read her Bible lately - especially the Old Testament - or else she'd know that POLYGAMY, not one man, one woman is the biblical norm for marriage.  She also needs to read the Commandment against lying and bearing false witness while she's at it.  One has to wonder what these people would do if they had to get real jobs instead of making a living disseminating lies and shaking down the gullible and ignorant.  Van Houten is little more than a con-artist trying to hide behind a veil of respectability.  She and those like her deserve no respect and certainly no deference of any kind.

P.S. Among the things Van Houten's group rants and raves is the depravity of Glee.  And not surprisingly, it has some ties to anti-gay hate group, AFA. 

Lisa Van Houten

Lisa Van Houten

Porno Pete: Tammy Baldwin Election and Glee Portend America's Collapse

There are times I really would like to know what mind altering drugs the talking heads of anti-gay Christofascists groups are consuming.  Some of their insanity is hard to explain other than via drug altered states.  And one of the anti-gay leaders who often takes the prize for insanity is Peter LaBarbera, a/k/a Porno Pete, a self-style "godly Christian" warrior against homosexuality who seems to have no career skills outside of shilling for money from the ignorant and gullible and peddling anti-gay hatred.  In one of his latest eruptions of diarrhea of the mouth, Porno Pete has claimed that Tammy Baldwin's election to the U.S. Senate and the popularity of Glee, the TV show, are indicative of America's impending collapse.  Right Wing Watch captured LaBarbera's latest delusional rant.  He also attributes Mitt Romney's loss to Barack Obama to Romney's failure to be virulently anti-gay.  Here are highlights:

Talk show host Janet Mefferd invited Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality onto her program on Friday to mourn the recent string of electoral victories of openly gay candidates and gay rights measures. While we continued to hear over and over again from conservatives that President Obama’s endorsement of marriage equality greatly undermined his support among minority voters, it turned out that Obama performed just as well—if not better—among minorities. Now, Mefferd and LaBarbera wondered if millions of more white voters would have turned out if only the Romney campaign had promoted his anti-gay stances more vigorously.

Mefferd: .   .   .   . you wonder how many of those white voters who stayed home actually would’ve come out if they would’ve had a candidate who had a backbone on issues that are culturally important to them.

LaBarbera: Let’s talk about the homosexual issue Janet, of course Romney barely, I don’t know in the general election, was it raised at all?

Mefferd: No.

LaBarbera said that he will pray that Senator-elect “Tammy Baldwin leaves the lesbian lifestyle as so many women have,” and lashed out at the media’s treatment of officials like Baldwin as historic milestones, wondering if the media would have similar reports on the “first alcoholic” to win an election. He went on to rail against the Huffington Post for “celebrating homosexuality” and claimed that “homosexuality and abortion” are now “the sacraments of liberalism.”  .  .  .  .  LaBarbera lamented. “America it seems is just falling apart right before our eyes.”

LaBarbera: We’re talking about a sin movement here. Would we be ticking off any other collective group of public representatives who had another sin problem: ‘Say Janet boy did you hear the first alcoholic just got elected in Colorado’? It’s preposterous, the whole movement is preposterous, and we got to retain our thinking as Christians. This is not an achievement. Homosexuality is a problem and the good news is people can overcome it. I hope and pray that one day Tammy Baldwin leaves the lesbian lifestyle as so many women have.  .  .  .  .  it’s not really a minority, it’s about behavior and behavior that can be changed. I’m sorry to offend the homosexual lobby but that’s what it is to us. This is not a great achievement and it’s nothing to be proud of.

Later in the show, Mefferd called the gains of the gay rights movement a “rejection of God” while LaBarbera appeared nostalgic for the days when states had anti-sodomy laws on the books. 

He even said that the kiss between two gay characters on “Glee” was a sign that America is in “big, big trouble.” “When you saw two teenage boys in a romantic set-up kiss, making out, during primetime TV and it didn’t engender mass outrage among Americans, you know we are pretty far gone,” LaBarbera said.

All too typically, LaBarbera went on to depict gays as disease ridden and dangerous and immoral.  Given LaBarbara's decades long obsession with homosexuality, he must be in deep, deep denial and subconsciously be lusting for some hot man on man sex.  It would certainly be consistent with more recent studies that have found the loudest homophobes to in fact be self-loathing closeted gays.