The Evils of Religion: Athlete Disowned for Being Gay

Emily Scheck

Ironically, a group of us had already planned to see "Boy Erased" today when I came across this article about a young student athlete disowned by her parents for being gay.  Both the Buffalo News and Out Sports have coverage of the nightmare Emily Scheck has experienced since her parents learned she was gay and disowned her.  It is a story only too common for many in the LGBT community where parents cling to Bronze Age myths originating with ignorant herders and reject their own children.  Schenk's parents' claim that they did not want to force her into "conversion therapy" - a thoroughly discredited and dangerous practice often peddled by quacks and charlatans - seem disingenuous.  Thankfully, she found support  from here girlfriend who launched a GoFundMe page and her college community.   Meanwhile, conservative Christianity remains a toxic evil.  Here are excerpts from the Buffalo News story:

Canisius College sophomore Emily Scheck had just moved back onto campus in August as a cross-country and track athlete when her mother came across photos of Scheck and her girlfriend on a photo-sharing social media site.

That's when Scheck's life came crashing down.  Her parents, who had been unaware their daughter was a lesbian, demanded she come home to the Rochester area, give up her partial athletic scholarship to Canisius College, commute to a local college and participate in counseling sessions. When she refused, her parents cut her off.

"I couldn’t even get groceries, initially," said Scheck, 19. "I was just really relying on my roommates and my girlfriend."

What happened next launched her into a public controversy over whether money raised for a student through a GoFundMe page should disqualify that student’s athletic eligibility under NCAA rules.

After three months, a frustrated roommate posted Scheck's story on a GoFundMe page. Money started pouring in. But when the college alerted the NCAA to the GoFundMe page, Scheck's student athlete status and partial scholarship were suddenly in jeopardy.

OutSports first reported Scheck's predicament last week. At that time, the NCAA stated it was "currently reviewing all options" regarding Scheck's situation. The NCAA revised its position Friday after being contacted by The Buffalo News, and said Scheck could keep the money raised through her GoFundMe page as long as Canisius monitors the contributions.

"Emily Scheck can retain her eligibility and continue to receive GoFundMe donations that assist her with living and educational expenses," the NCAA said in a statement.

Her mother sent her a text that read, "Well, I am done with you. As of right now, declare yourself independent. You are on your own. Please don’t contact us or your siblings."

When Scheck asked her mother why she would do this, she said her mother texted back, "Because you disgust me."

Though Scheck owned a car, she said, her parents removed her from their insurance policy. And shortly afterward, her father drove to Buffalo from the Rochester suburb of Webster with Emily's remaining personal belongings, including her birth certificate, stuffed animals, trophies, childhood photos and clothing. He dumped them in her car and removed the license plates. The family asked her to participate in counseling sessions, but he said that did not mean conversion therapy. The family accepts her sexual orientation, he said. Scheck disputes her father's account.

Scheck said her family didn't change their behavior toward her until after the GoFundMe page went up. In the meantime, she said, she struggled to make ends meet, working two part-time jobs and going to cross-country practice every day. She relied on her roommates and girlfriend until she received her first paychecks, she said, and continued to field difficult and upsetting messages from her family. Scheck said she's not ready go home and be part of her family's plans when for months it seemed they didn't want her.  "As long as I stay in Buffalo and I don’t come home, they’ve made it clear that I’m still on my own," she said.

Another case of supposed "Christian love" that in truth is infused with hatred.  Time and time again I find the so-called "unchurched" and agnostics far more likely to exhibit behavior in keeping with Christ's gospel dictates than the self-congratulatory "godly folk."

Roanoke Times Endorses Pat McCrory for Sending Jobs to Virginia

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory who prostituted himself to Right wing Christian by signing HB2 continues to get pummeled for the damage he has done to North Carolina's economy.  Now, the Charlotte Observer reports on how the Roanoke Times of Roanoke, Virginia, endorsed McCrory for all the economic good he has done for Virginia and the Roanoke area in particular.   As I have said many times, bigotry does have its price as does social backwardness - think Gloucester County, Virginia - when communities are vying to attract good paying jobs.  Progressive businesses do not want to locate in areas defined by discrimination.  Here are highlights from the Observer:

From an editorial published Friday in the Roanoke (Va.) Times:

Which candidate would do the most to help our local economy? That’s easy. It’s Pat McCrory, the Republican governor of North Carolina, who’s seeking his second four-year term in the November election. We can point to specific and multiple ways he has helped the economy – our economy. North Carolina panicked and made a spectacle of itself by passing HB2, its so-called “bathroom bill.” In response, various companies and even sports leagues pulled events from the state. Three of those have wound up in Salem — the NCAA Division III men’s and women’s soccer championships, as well as the Division II Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association football championship. That’s money in the bank for us.

McCrory has given Virginia a competitive advantage in economic development, as well. When the University Economic Development Association recently held its national conference in Roanoke, the keynote speaker highlighted a North Carolina program to encourage partnerships between colleges and companies, as a way help recruit technology companies interested in research and development. The speaker hailed it as a model for other states to follow as they try to build a “knowledge economy.” Then the speaker noted that McCrory had cancelled it. The pro-business audience groaned.

On Monday, a data company picked Richmond as the site for a new office, with 730 jobs. Industry officials said it beat out Charlotte specifically because of HB2.

Feel free to argue all you want which presidential candidate would be best, but it’s clear that Virginia would be best served if North Carolina re-elected McCrory.

Charlotte Observer Endorses Roy Cooper for Governor

Less than 35 miles from where I sit is North Carolina, a state that once prided itself of being a state that was business minded and avoided issues that upset the larger business community.  Then, the North Carolina GOP won control of the state legislature and the governor's mansion and insanity set in.  Or more precisely, the North Carolina GOP decided to utterly prostitute itself to the Christofascists, in particular by enacting HB2 that not only attacked restroom use by transgender individuals bit also rolled back many civil rights protections. The irony is that the whole effort which was supposed to have guaranteed Republicans being re-elected this November has blown up in their faces.  Indeed, Gov. Pat McCrory, a incredibly craven individual may lose re-election because of the social and business fallout from HB2.  Now, the Charlotte Observer has endorsed Roy Cooper, McCrory's Democrat opponent despite its decades long history of supporting McCrory in the past. 

Here are editorial highlights:

The Charlotte Observer’s editorial board has endorsed Republican Pat McCrory in every one of his bids for office since 1991. That includes twice for City Council, seven times for mayor and twice for governor. That streak comes to an end today.

McCrory’s term as North Carolina governor is the ultimate illustration of the Peter Principle: that people are promoted based on their past performance and not the abilities needed for the new role and thus rise to the level of their incompetence. McCrory has certainly done that.

Fortunately, voters have a superior option in Democrat Roy Cooper. A Morehead Scholar at UNC, a former Senate majority leader and a four-term attorney general, Cooper has the experience, the intelligence and the policy stances needed to return the state to its stature as a progressive leader in the South.

That stature has been lost under McCrory. While the state’s and nation’s attention has rightfully been focused on HB2 since spring, McCrory’s lack of leadership and wrong-headed policies have been on display since his first year in Raleigh.

Here are four reasons we recommend a vote for Roy Cooper and against Pat McCrory:

1. HB2.
McCrory rushed to sign House Bill 2 on March 23, hours after the House and Senate rammed it through. North Carolina’s reputation has been melting ever since. McCrory adamantly defends the discriminatory measure and dismisses the NCAA, the ACC, scores of business executives and others who have condemned the legislation. It was a hateful and self-defeating bill, and it will be McCrory’s legacy.

Cooper opposes HB2 and says he would work to repeal it.

2. McCrory’s other policies.
McCrory has signed enough bad legislation to fill a library, and his administration has enacted one misguided policy after another. He supported new restrictions on abortion after promising he wouldn’t. He signed what many experts have called the nation’s most restrictive voting laws. He has been soft on his former employer, Duke Energy, after a catastrophic coal ash spill. He has been tepid in raising teacher pay, while cutting teacher assistants and other education spending. He refused to accept billions of dollars from the federal government to provide health insurance to the poor.

Under McCrory, North Carolina was the only state to cut off long-term federal unemployment benefits, the first in the Southeast and maybe the nation to decline federal money to study streams and wetlands and the only one to cut WIC benefits during the federal government shutdown.

Cooper supports the other side of every one of these issues.

3. We need a check on the legislature.McCrory has been spineless before Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speakers Thom Tillis and Tim Moore. Cooper would offer more resistance and, if Democrats pick up a handful of House seats, would use his veto to stop the legislature’s most egregious ideas.

4. Cooper’s integrity, education and experience.McCrory had no state government experience and it has shown. Cooper was a leader in the legislature and then served 16 years as attorney general. He knows the state and its history, and understands its government from different perspectives. He would not have the learning curve McCrory continues to climb.

Cooper has a clear vision of what he wants to accomplish, built largely on investing in public education and creating a well-trained workforce that will feed a growing economy and strengthen the middle class.

Applying the Observer's criteria here in Virginia, it basically comes down to a condemnation of failed GOP policies that have supported religious extremists, trampled on civil rights, and been bad for working Virginians.  Thankfully, we have had a Democrat governor who could veto the worse of the batshitery. 

NCAA Pulls All Tournament and Championship Games from North Carolina

Gov. McCrory with other pro-discrimination Republicans

Republican and Christofascist backed HB2 continues to inflict economic harm on North Carolina and make the state an unacceptable venue for organizations that believe in non-discrimination protections not only for LGBT citizens but also other minorities.  Now, the NCAA has pulled all tournament and championship games from the state for the coming year because of the toxic and unwelcoming message that HB2 embodies.  One can only hope that The Family Foundation's political whores in the Virginia General Assembly are paying attention and getting the message that prostituting themselves to hate merchants is bad for Virginia's economy.  The New York Times looks at this latest blow to North Carolina which needs to be laid directly at the feet of the GOP controlled North Carolina legislature and douche bag Gov. Pat McCrory.  Here are excerpts:

The N.C.A.A., responding to a contentious North Carolina law that curbed anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, will relocate all championship tournament games scheduled to take place in the state over the coming academic year, the organization announced Monday night.

Among the events affected is the Division I men’s basketball tournament, the N.C.A.A.’s most prominent annual event, which had six first- and second-round games scheduled to be played in Greensboro in March.

The announcement followed the N.B.A.’s decision in July to move its 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte but was seen as a particularly substantial blow to officials in North Carolina, where college basketball is central to the state’s culture and pride. North Carolina has hosted more men’s basketball tournament games than any other state, an N.C.A.A. spokesman said.

In a statement explaining the decision by its Board of Governors, which is largely made up of institutional presidents and chancellors, the N.C.A.A. said: “N.C.A.A. championships and events must promote an inclusive atmosphere for all college athletes, coaches, administrators and fans. Current North Carolina state laws make it challenging to guarantee that host communities can help deliver on that commitment.”

The N.C.A.A. has previously expressed support for protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. . . . . And in April, it adopted an anti-discrimination measure for its evaluation of championship hosts.

But Monday’s decision is sure to have real economic ramifications, and it could presage further activism by sports leagues against state or local laws they see as antithetical to their principles or disagreeable to their national fan bases.

“This is an incredible statement from the N.C.A.A.,” said Hudson Taylor, the executive director of Athlete Ally, a nonprofit organization that fights homophobia and transphobia in sports. “I think this is making it clear that any state or city wishing to host N.C.A.A. championships has to protect and respect their L.G.B.T. constituents.”

The North Carolina law, which was signed by Gov. Pat McCrory in March but is still commonly referred to as House Bill 2, nullified local government ordinances establishing anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. But it gained widespread attention for its stipulation requiring people in publicly owned buildings to use restrooms that correspond with the gender listed on their birth certificate.

Although the law’s supporters have moved to frame it as a public safety measure, critics have forcefully described it as bigoted and anachronistic. In a letter in May, the Justice Department asserted that the statute violated federal civil rights law, an accusation state officials loudly resisted.

The N.C.A.A.’s president, Mark Emmert, said in the organization’s statement: “Fairness is about more than the opportunity to participate in college sports, or even compete for championships. We believe in providing a safe and respectful environment at our events.”

But in explaining its decision, the N.C.A.A. emphasized the uniqueness of North Carolina’s situation, noting, for instance, that several cities and five states, including New York, have moved to bar state-sponsored travel to North Carolina. Such a ban could include college athletes and staff members, the N.C.A.A. said.

In addition to men’s basketball, the affected championships are for women’s soccer, women’s golf and women’s lacrosse in Division I; baseball in Division II; and men’s and women’s soccer in Division III.

Swofford added, though, “On a personal note, it’s time for this bill to be repealed as it’s counter to basic human rights.”

With Mr. McCrory embroiled in one of the nation’s closest governor’s races, Democrats quickly used the N.C.A.A.’s announcement to assail Mr. McCrory once more about the law.

If North Carolina Republicans are truly worried about the safety of children and women, they will put in place strict limits on the use of restrooms by members of the clergy - the segment of society that seemingly engages in the most sexual abuse.  Meanwhile, there are ZERO cases of sexual abuse in restrooms by the transgender community.