Hate Group Role in Bermuda Marriage Repeal; Options to Boycott Bermuda and Cruise Lines

Cunard's Queen Mary 2 is among the ships registered in Bermuda.

One of the often unnoticed efforts of American Christofascists is to export their hate and fear based religious beliefs to less developed nations, especially in Africa where a less educated populace is susceptible to their lies and propaganda. Having lost the war against same sex marriage - at least for now - in America, their focus is on maintaining hate and prejudice abroad.  The Southern Poverty Law Center - the same organization that tracks Neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups - tracts the activities of anti-LGBT groups that disseminate deliberate lies and false propaganda and where appropriate certifies these groups as hate groups.  Among those who have earned the hate group designation is a veritable who's who of "family values" groups to which the Republican Party routinely prostitutes itself (we saw this on Thursday in Virginia in the House of Delegates).  One such hate group is the secretive National Organization for Marriage ("NOM") that has never revealed its principal sources of funding. Now, NOM - always big into self promotion - is claiming responsibility for the propaganda campaign that saw Bermuda rescind same sex marriage.  Here's part of the press release:

NOM played a significant behind-the-scenes role in the tremendous victory in Bermuda. Our team advised pro-marriage supporters there on strategies to preserve marriage and I travelled there twice to meet with activists from Preserve Marriage Bermuda to discuss potential strategies. In 2016, Bermuda conducted a national referendum to advise the Parliament on whether gay ‘marriage’ should be allowed, with 68% of voters resoundingly rejecting same-sex ‘marriage.’

Despite the overwhelming voter rejection of redefining marriage, in 2017 the Bermuda Supreme Court imposed gay ‘marriage’ on the nation. This proved to be a short-lived ruling as the Preserve Marriage Bermuda coalition rallied supporters to demand that marriage be restored.

NOM heartily congratulates the people of Bermuda and the leadership of Preserve Marriage Bermuda. Their efforts are a powerful proof point that the “inevitability” of same-sex ‘marriage is a lie and that the fight for marriage can be won, even when the judicial elite think they can impose their will on a country, as tragically occurred here in the U.S. 

Meanwhile, CNBC is reporting that Bermuda's embrace of bigotry will prove costly to both Bermuda and cruise lines registered in Bermuda - Cunard, P&O, Princess Cruises, etc., - which no find themselves tied to an anti-gay country and susceptible to possible boycotts.  One can only hope that these cruise lines will change their country of registry to one less hostile to LGBT tourists.  Personally, I have always wanted to do a Cunard cruise, but that will not happen as long as Cunard's vessels are registered in an anti-gay country such as Bermuda.  Here are excerpts from the CNBC article:

The decision has put Bermuda tourism and some major cruise lines in a difficult spot. Carnival subsidiaries Cunard and P&O Cruises are both registered in Bermuda. Regardless of where the ships are in the world, they will no longer be allowed to host same-sex marriages. Princess Cruises, also part of Carnival, has ships registered in Bermuda as well. In August, the three Carnival cruise lines said they had started taking bookings for same-sex marriages at sea.

Bermuda hosted 693,000 tourists in 2017, and these visitors spent $431 million. The same-sex marriage ban will force many couples to rethink their travel plans. Bermuda's cruise ship economy grew last year. Bermuda received 161 cruise ship calls, bringing 416,049 passengers, an increase of 4.6 percent, and the government was forecasting more growth this year based on the 2017 numbers.

"Bermuda will have a backlash," Justin Nelson, the president and co-founder of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, wrote in an email. "Countries and travels brands know that LGBT inclusive tourism is big business — and Bermuda is going to suffer painful economic losses because of its decision to turn back the clock on same-sex marriages."

Nelson says more than 80 percent of the American LGBT population has passports, compared to about 40 percent for the rest of the population. He estimates the economic impact of LGBT travel worldwide at more than $100 billion. "Our communities make conscientious decisions based upon who has demonstrated policies that have our backs," Nelson wrote.

The Bermuda Tourism Authority wrote a letter to the Senate in December urging the lawmakers not to pass the repeal. "Same-sex marriage is already the law of our island and to roll that back for what will be seen as a less equal union will cause us serious reputational damage," the letter reads. "It's not only LGBT travelers that care about equal rights based on sexual orientation. Our research indicates many companies, consumers and travelers, including the overwhelming majority of the younger visitors powering Bermuda's growth, care about this issue."

P&O Cruises and Cunard must now grapple with how to appeal to same-sex couples who can no longer get married on their ships. . . . . As long as Bermuda's same-sex marriage ban remains, Bennington and his husband — and likely many other couples like them — said they will travel elsewhere.

Also of note, for those seeking a tropical island vacation but without the bigotry of Bermuda, Rex Wockner's blog provides alternatives where same sex marriage is legal.  Here are excerpts:

Bonaire » Caribbean Sea
Guadeloupe » Caribbean Sea

Martinique » Caribbean Sea
Puerto Rico » Caribbean Sea
Saba » Caribbean Sea
Saint Barthélemy » Caribbean Sea
Saint-Martin » Caribbean Sea
Sint Eustatius » Caribbean Sea
 U.S. Virgin Islands » Caribbean Sea

Christofascists Rally Around New Faux Study on Sexual Orientation and Gender

As noted in a post earlier today, the Christofascists go to all lengths to avoid admitting that their supposedly inerrant Bible is deeply flawed and in many instances simply untrue.  That same refusal to accept science and objective reality flows over into the never ending effort to sustain the myth that sexual orientation is changeable.  Why?  Because, if homosexuality is a natural phenomenon in nature - in God's plan, if  you will - then their one of their major arguments for condemning homosexuality falls apart.  Likewise, the purported prohibitions in Leviticus are exposed for what they are: the efforts of a small fringe demographic to differentiate itself from older, larger and more advanced surrounding cultures where homosexuality was accepted - e.g., the Persian Empire and Hellenistic cultures.  

In keeping with this seemingly never ending effort to embrace ignorance and rejection of scientific and medical knowledge, the Christofascists are hailing a new "study" that claims that sexual orientation is not fixed - and is therefore changeable - and that rejects much of the existent knowledge on transgender individuals.  In the wake of the repudiation of the sham study done by Mark Regnerus, the Christofascists are desperate for something to keep alive their anti-LGBT lies.  Their lifeline?  A "study" by Lawrence Mayer and Paul McHugh published in “The New Atlantis,” a non-peer reviewed journal co-published by right wing organizations (the current co-chairman of one of them is a founder of the National Organization for Marriage).  For those not knowledgeable about the term "peer reviewed," it means that articles and studys have been reviewed and approved by legitimate scholars and experts.  Non-peer reviewed journals are one step above pay to publish journals which will publish almost anything so long as the author pays the going price to have his/her piece published.  Right Wing Watch looks at the near orgasms being experienced by professional gay haters such as NOM's Brian Brown.    Here are highlights from RWW:

Anti-equality organizations are enthusiastically promoting a new study on sexual orientation and gender, hoping it will be new culture war ammunition.

The study by Dr. Lawrence Mayer and Dr. Paul McHugh appears in “The New Atlantis,” a journal co-published by the right-wing Ethics and Public Policy Center and the Center for the Study of Technology and Science, which shares an address with EPPC. The New Atlantis is not a peer-reviewed journal, and has critiqued peer review, widely considered the gold standard in scientific publishing.

Among the authors’ contentions are that the belief that sexual orientation and gender identity are innate or fixed properties is “not supported by scientific evidence.” The study also says that the stress of social stigma is not a sufficient explanation for higher rates of mental health and substance abuse problems in LGBT communities.

Mayer says that McHugh initially approached him to review a monograph he had written and the project expanded from there. The prominent but controversial McHugh is a Catholic in his mid-80s who has described himself as “religiously orthodox, politically liberal, and culturally conservative – a believer in marriage and the Marines, a supporter of institutions and family values.” The new study builds on a body of work that dismisses the notion of transgender identity. TransAdvocate and others challenged McHugh’s “selective reading of transgender medical literature” two years ago, and ThinkProgress critiqued his work in 2015.

Brian Brown at the National Organization for Marriage can hardly contain his excitement about the new study, writing in a letter to supporters, “The importance of this new study cannot be overstated.” He urges people to “help spread the word” to “make sure that this groundbreaking research gains the wide hearing it deserves despite what will surely be a concerted effort by the media to bury its findings.”

Also participating in the roll-out is the Heritage Foundation’s Ryan Anderson, one of the most prominent opponents of marriage equality. Anderson says the study’s findings undermine the Obama administration’s requirement that schools accommodate transgender children as well as the Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling.

Anderson has written a book and spoken widely about how the anti-equality movement should reject and resist the Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling.  Anderson has urged the anti-equality movement to conduct new research (citing  the widely discredited Mark Regnerus study on “family structures”) to create “new insights” that future Supreme Court justices could use as justification for overturning Obergefell.

As readers may recall, the Regnerus "study" was funded by right wing, anti-LGBT organizations and basically picked the conclusion it wanted to reach and doctored the "research" data to achieve that desired result.   Given the authors of this new attack on LGBT individuals, especially Paul McHugh, an ultra-right wing Catholic, I fully expect that dissections of this "study" will similarly tear it to shreds.  Not that the coming repudiation will deter the "godly folk" Christofascists from lying through their teeth.   Other than perhaps Donald Trump, no one lies as often or as viciously as the "godly Christian" crowd. 

Catholic Bishops Back NOM’s Anti-Gay Hate March

I for one have long believed that the National Organization for Marriage ("NOM") is a front for the Roman Catholic Church.  Hence NOM's strenuous efforts to keep the names of its donor secret, particularly the two or three large donors who have basically funded NOM's anti-LGBT jihad.  It is , therefore, no surprise that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is trying to drum up support for NOM's hate march on June 25th.  Here are highlights from Joe Jervis:

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a statement urging Catholics to attend NOM’s anti-LGBT hate march this weekend. They write:

On June 25, 2016, the day before the one year anniversary of the erroneous and unjust Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, a rally and March for Marriage will be held in Washington, D.C. The event is meant to highlight the importance of the unique meaning of marriage to society and the importance of mothers and fathers for children.

Participants will be gathering at the reflecting pool in front of the Capitol building around 11:30 a.m. for the program, and the march to the Supreme Court will begin at 1:00 p.m. Please consider joining the March for Marriage 2016 to witness to the continued importance of authentic marriage!

When you look at the NOM website about the march, it is focused on (i) overturning the Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell which it describes as  "illegitimate and anti-constitutional," (ii) the continued denigration of transgender individuals and support for so-called bathroom bills, (iii) and supporting "freedom, which NOM defines as  special rights for Christofacists who want a license to discriminate against and abuse those who do not subscribe to NOM's hate inspired Bronze Age beliefs.  

The net take away is that the bishops want to keep anti-LGBT animus alive and well and to inspire further horrors against the LGBT community. 

MAINE: NOM Finally Hands Over Donors List and Only SIX Names Are On It

I and many others have long speculated that one reason why the National Organization for Marriage ("NOM") has fought tooth and claw and blatantly violated campaign finance disclosure laws was because did not want it disclosed that rather than being a "broad grass roots movement" it was really a front for a small group of anti-gay extremists.  These suspicions have now been now confirmed in Maine where NOM has been forced to disclose the names of the donors who contributed over $2 million to back NOM's anti-gay campaign.  ONLY SIX donors contributed the money expended. Worse yet for NOM, the vast majority of the money tracks back to a single individual. That's right, SIX donors. And, oh yes, the Knights of Columbus was one of the six donors and spent $140,000 better spent on true charitable works to deprive LGBT individuals their civil legal rights.  It is LONG past time that the K of C lost its tax-exempt status.  Here are highlights from the Bangor Daily News:

The National Organization for Marriage has filed details of its financial activities related to a 2009 effort to repeal Maine’s same-sex marriage law after a more than five-year legal battle over Maine’s campaign finance laws. 

Brian Brown, president and co-founded of the National Organization for Marriage, said by phone Monday that being forced to disclose donors was a “gross injustice” to his organization.

The National Organization for Marriage funneled more than $2 million to a political action committee called Stand for Marriage Maine, which represented about 64 percent of the PAC’s spending on the referendum that repealed a same-sex marriage law enacted by the Legislature and Gov. John Baldacci. Same-sex marriage became law in Maine after voters endorsed it through another referendum in 2012.

The National Organization for Marriage, which has been arguing that Maine’s campaign finance law should not apply to the disclosure of national-level donors, already has paid a record fine to the state of more than $50,000 in the matter. Wayne said Monday the filing appears on initial inspection to satisfy Maine’s campaign finance reporting requirements.

The donor list includes one Mainer and four out-of-state donors who gave the National Organization for Marriage between $50,000 and $750,000 in individual donations.
— Richard Kurtz of Cape Elizabeth, $50,000 on Aug. 5, 2009.
— John Templeton of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, $300,000 on Oct.1, 2009.
— Terrence Caster of San Diego, California, $300,000 on Oct. 9, 2009.
— Knights of Columbus of New Haven, Connecticut, $140,000 on Sept. 4, 2009.
— Sam Fieler of New York City, $750,000 on July 15, 2009, and $500,000 on Oct. 13, 2009.
— There were an additional $5,279 in smaller contributions that were not itemized on the report.

Like everything else that comes out of NOM - and the mouths of Brian Brown and Maggie Gallagher - the claims that NOM is a broad based "grassroots" organization is a lie and utter bullshit.  NOM is a front group for a handful of anti-gay bigots and anti-gay religious organizations like the Mormon Church, K of C, and U.S. Catholic bishops.  When the godly folk's lips are moving, the safest assumption is that they are lying - you will rarely be proved wrong.

Maine Supreme Court: NOM Must Reveal Donors

NOM president Brian Brown

The National Organization for Marriage ("NOM") has gone to great lengths in the form of lawsuits in its attempt to hide the identities of donors to its 2009 Maine referendum campaign to reverse that state’s marriage equality law which raised $2 million.  NOM has claimed continued anonymity is crucial to protect its donors from "harassment or economic reprisals by supporters of gay marriage" and also claimed that the organization’s fund-raising efforts would suffer if donor identities have to be revealed.  Many, however, suspect that NOM's real fear may be that revealing donor identities will reveal that NOM has only a handful of big donors and is not a "grass roots" organization as constantly claimed.  Moreover, the names of some of these donors could cause major repercussions to organizations like the Catholic Church and its front organizations. Now, the Maine Supreme Court has ordered that the donor names need to be revealed.  Here are details from the Portland Press Herald: 

The National Organization for Marriage has lost another round in its attempt to hide the identities of donors to a successful 2009 referendum campaign to reverse Maine’s marriage equality law.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday refused NOM’s request for a stay, which would enable the organization to delay complying with a state ethics board ruling that it must file a report identifying the sources of the $2 million it gave to the referendum drive.

NOM has mounted a relentless legal battle to conceal the names of its donors, saying that they could be subjected to harassment or economic reprisals by supporters of gay marriage, and that the organization’s fund-raising efforts would suffer.

The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices last year imposed a $50,250 fine on NOM, the nation’s largest organization opposed to gay marriage, because it failed to register as a ballot question committee or file campaign activity and donor disclosure reports.

In April, the Maine Superior Court upheld the ethics commission decision to fine NOM and its requirement that the group list its donors. . . . has not filed a campaign finance report containing the names of the donors to the 2009 campaign.

Wayne said the ruling by the state’s highest court means that NOM should file a campaign finance report. Additionally, he said, the court also indicated in its ruling that the organization wouldn’t likely win its appeal.

[T]he ruling stated “The circumstances underlying the Commission’s decision occurred almost six years ago, and the decision has successfully withstood federal and state court challenges during that time. NOM now asks us to decide many of the same issues and has failed to sufficiently show that it has a likelihood of succeeding on the merits. Accordingly, we deny NOM’s motion for a stay pending appeal.” The ethics investigation cited bank statements and campaign literature to show that the organization used its nonprofit status to draw donations earmarked for the Maine referendum – a violation of Maine election law.

Maggie Gallagher Is a Miserable and Sick Person

I've written before about Maggie Gallagher (pictured above), the former president of the National Organization for Marriage, who made a lucrative career out of marketing anti-gay hatred while also demanding that the nation's civil laws match her fear and self-denigrating religious beliefs.  As noted before, Gallagher found herself as an unwed mother in college and she seems to never have gotten over (i) being dumped by the father of her child or (ii) her apparent need to do penance by harming others who do not adhere to her religious beliefs as much as possible.  Indeed, like so many of the Christofascists, Gallagher truly seems to feel good about herself when preaching hate and discrimination against others, gays being perhaps her favorite target.  Gallagher, who likes to see herself as an uber-Catholic, is in an apparent melt-down over the mere possibility that the Catholic Church might relent on its Inquisition type abuse of LGBT people. The Bilerico Project looks at Gallagher's agnst over the possibility that the Church might tone down its anti-gay jihad.  Here are excerpts:

In a breathtakingly myopic and stunningly self-pitying blog post this morning, former NOM president Maggie Gallagher -- one of America's foremost proponents of marriage discrimination -- hinted that reports of a possible softening in the Vatican's tone towards so-called "non-traditional" families have her seriously thinking about leaving the Catholic Church.

Gallagher writes:

I hope to respond intellectually to the synod report. Tears right now are streaming from my face, and it is not about objections to welcoming gay people. There is something more profoundly at stake for me.
Is this me? In the corner?

Just to make it abundantly clear that she's shedding tears of sorrow and not joy, Gallagher closed her post with the video of the R.E.M. song "Losing My Religion."

Wow, folks. I'm not often stunned, but right now I'm absolutely gobsmacked. Whether or not Maggie's telling the truth about her feelings having nothing to do with gay issues (and I suspect she's not being entirely honest here), her reference to the Vatican synod suggests that she's "losing her religion" because the Catholic Church is maybe -- just maaaaybe -- poised to become marginally less malicious and overtly hostile towards gays, divorced people, and unmarried couples.

What a miserable person.

Gallagher epitomizes the Christofascist mindset that seemingly revels in doing harm to others who hold different beliefs and who might just demonstrate the wrongheadedness and sickness of Christofascist religious belief - beliefs based on myths and fairy tales.

HRC Slams NOM's Whining Brian Brown

Like many of the parasites of the Christofascist and professional Christian set, Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage makes a very plush living peddling hate and division.  And, true to form, even as he seeks to export hate and homophobia overseas in light of NOM's losing battle in America, Brown plays the role of the persecuted victim.  It's as if by playing the victim he somehow isn't accountable for the number of damaged lives he leaves in his foul wake.  Recently, Brown whined about being persecuted  in the right wing Washington Times after HRC did an expose on the foul activities of NOM and its Christofascist allies.   Thankfully, HRC hits back at Brown's bullshit and batshitery.  Here are excerpts:

In an opinion piece for The Washington Times, Brian Brown spreads more anti-LGBT hate and venom as an Exporter of Hate.

Last month, Brian Brown, the president and co-founder of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), the leading anti-LGBT equality group in the U.S., was featured in HRC’s Export of Hate report. And to say the least, he’s not happy about it.

Brian Brown and NOM have tried – and failed—to block the national momentum for marriage equality. After losing the fight at nearly every turn, NOM is now taken its mission abroad, and has targeted HRC and other pro-equality groups in the process.

What’s worse is that Brown is proud of being a leader in a movement that could endanger people and families worldwide. He writes, “I am proud to have played some small role in this emerging global movement.”

Since 2012, Brown has publicly supported anti-LGBT movements and traveled to France, Russia, Australia, Spain and Trinidad and Tobago.

Brian Brown is one of many Americans taking the mission of anti-LGBT hate and bigotry abroad. It’s time for American extremists like Brown to be called out for their actions. It is unacceptable to fight against the freedom and liberty of LGBT people worldwide.  Sorry we’re not sorry, Brian Brown. It is time for you, and other exporters of hate, to end the spread of bigotry and lies.

All of us need to call out hate merchants like Brown, NOM, and here in Virginia, The Family Foundation.  These individuals and their organizations need to become outcts and unwelcome in decent society and social circles.  Hatred of others is not a family value or an American value.

Are Anti-Gay Christofascists Unpatriotic/Guilty of Conspiring with Foreign Governments?

Brian Brown in Russia conspiring with anti-gay forces

I have often maintained that the Christofascists ultimately seek to establish a theocracy in America and rewrite - if not overthrow - the U.S. Constitution, they are technically guilty of sedition and/or treason.  Equally disturbing is the willingness of some "godly Christians" to conspire with foreign governments and/or legislators to push for foreign laws at odds with the rights guaranteed by the U. S. Constitution.  Sadly, too many in the media fail to call out the mouth pieces of the Christian Right who would overthrow the First Amendment, if not the entire Constitution, and who willingly deal with foreign governments to further their theocratic agenda. A case in point (and exception to the rule) is when Mike Huckabee said some years ago on Morning Joe, that he thought the U.S. Constitution should be replaced with the Bible as the nation's governing document.   Thankfully, Joe Scarborough challenged Huckabee, but too many "journalists" and news anchors don't do so.  Another example is NOM's Brian Brown working with the Putin regime to pass anti-equality laws. Now, Congressman Adam Schiff has called these foul individuals out for what they are.  FrontiersLA.com has details.  Here are highlights:

[O]n Sunday, he [Congressman Adam Schiff] went so far as to question the patriotism of anti-gay religious leaders such as Brian Brown, the President of the National Organization for Marriage, who seem to place their own ideology over the best interests of America.

Told that Brown had attended a forum in Moscow despite forum sponsors (billionaire Vladimir Yakunin, a senior advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the forum’s funder and parliament member Elena Mizulina) being on the Treasury Department’s list of sanctioned individuals, Schiff said:

“I think it’s awful and whether it’s people going to Russia to help propagate these discriminatory laws that are increasing in places like Russia and East Europe and Africa or whether it’s some of our captains of industry that are going to Moscow and trying to seize of business opportunities like this. It really calls into question their commitment to our country and its ideals. So I think it’s horribly counter-productive and only a further incentive to the belligerent, dangerous, backward policies of Putin and his cronies.”

Schiff’s comments come a day before the Human Rights Campaign released a major expose entitled “Global Advocacy of American Anti-LGBT Extremists Exposed,”  HRC opens the report saying:

There is a network of American extremists who work tirelessly to undercut LGBT people around the world at every turn. They spew venomous rhetoric, outrageous theories, and discredited science. Some claim that LGBT people are responsible for the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, and the spread of HIV/AIDS. Others argue that LGBT people are luring away children, and that acceptance of LGBT people will lead to the destruction of families around the world. Some even suggest that the death penalty could be an appropriate punishment for simply being LGBT.

Last October, Fred Karger of “Rights Equal Rights” wrote Sec. of State John Kerry  and Attorney General Eric Holder asking that they investigate whether  Brown violated the Logan Act, a “federal statute making it a crime for a citizen to confer with foreign governments” against US interests. Karger notes that Brown testified before Russian Duma officials—including a subcommittee chaired by Mizulina, who then helped write the anti-gay propaganda and adoption laws—and asks in Brown did so without prior authorization of the US government.

Schiff thinks the criteria for American investment in other countries should include non-discrimination laws. He said:

I definitely think it should be a factor and if you look at the Millennium Challenge Corporation—it evaluates levels of corruption and whatnot in terms of whether a country is a suitable candidate for investment. I think we also ought to look at their progress towards equality and if they’re moving backward, to me, they’re not a great place for investment. And that might be a good and powerful and yet subtle way to say we’re prioritizing non-discrimination and we’re going to take into consideration anywhere we put our money.

 It is far past time that Christofascist be held to compliance with this nation's laws and that it be made very clear that they are not above the law. 

Adam Schiff

Adam Schiff

The Growing Hysteria and Idiocy of Anti-Gay "Christians"

As the tidal wave of rulings striking down bans on same sex marriage continues, both the extremism and idiocy of the self-anointed protectors of "traditional marriage" continues to increase.  Leading the chorus are many of the same tired, neurotic nutcases who make a living peddling hatred.  Mat Staver, founder of the extreme Liberty Council (and dean of Liberty University's so-called law school) would have his sheep like listeners believe that gay marriage is about to bring the end of Western Civilization.  Here's a sampling of his rant:

Mathew D. Staver, dean of the Liberty University School of Law, said that efforts to change the definition of marriage to include same-sex “marriage” would be like trying to re-define the law of gravity, adding that, if it were tried, it would mark “the beginning of the end of Western civilization.”

“We’ve never been in this situation before,” Staver said in a speech at the American Decency Association 2014 Summer Conference in Grand Rapids, Mich. “We will not be able to escape the coercive nature of this issue. It is cataclysmic in its change-effect. It is, I believe, ultimately the beginning of the end of Western civilization, if we adopt this as a country.”

 Not to be out done, NOM's Brian Brown bizarrely equates same sex marriage as trying to create a dining room set out of two tables:

Suppose you took a table and a chair and together referred to them both as chairs. In that instance, the two things really would be different—and by calling them the same thing, you would have made the term "chair" meaningless.

Calling a table a chair does damage to the meaning of the word "chair"—and it does no service to our understanding of either tables or chairs. It is thus injurious to our wisdom and knowledge on three counts, and reduces our ability to reason at all.

So it goes with marriage. Calling something "marriage" that is not marriage damages our public notion of marriage, in multiple ways. It neither serves society as a whole, nor does it ultimately serve society's members because it reduces their ability to make any reasonable or legal distinctions.

Blogger friend Jeremy Hooper sums up the insanity well:

Unlike nearly half of our states, twenty-nine consecutive courts (and many before that), the federal government, and a growing majority of the American public, Brian Brown has taken upon himself to determine that a civil contract between two loving and committed adults can only be called a marriage if the union has the distribution of penises and vaginas that he finds proper. And now he will use dining furniture to make his point on behalf of the discrimination to which he has pledged his career and legacy

Staver and Brown both need serious mental health interventions.

Anti-Gay Christians Claim Employment Discrimiantio and "Persecution"

Never under estimate the hypocrisy and baldfaced lies of the "godly folk."  After virtually centuries of persecuting - and often murdering gays - these folks are whining and claiming that they are being persecuted and facing employment discrimination because employers don't allow them to bring their anti-gay animus to the workplace.  In their distorted reality, anything that lessens their ability to make life miserable for others is persecution.  Their selfishness and self-centered mindset are both amazing and frightening.  A piece in Slate looks at these disingenuous claims.  Here are highlights:

In America, LGBTQ people face persistent, systemic, widespread employment discrimination. Christians do not. In many states, LGBTQ people have no legal recourse to redress employment discrimination. Christians do—in every state in the country.

Given this set of facts, you might be surprised to see conservative Christians panicking that the country is entering an age of anti-Christian discrimination—they might even use the rather biblical-sounding term, persecution—in the workplace. But panic is precisely what coitus-obsessed anti-gay professor Robert P. George is inciting his conservative brethren to do. In a recent blog post, George described a survey reportedly sent out to JPMorgan Chase bank employees asking them whether they are:

1) A person with disabilities;

2) A person with children with disabilities;

3) A person with a spouse/domestic partner with disabilities;

4) A member of the LGBT community.

5) An ally of the LGBT community, but not personally identifying as LGBT.

Companies send out questionnaires like these all the time for benign and banal reasons: gauging diversity, benefits needs, mentorship programs, and so on. They’re utterly unremarkable and common to many workplaces—especially on Wall Street, a corporate leader in LGBTQ equality. Yet here is George’s apocalyptic interpretation:

The message to all employees is perfectly clear: You are expected to fall into line with the approved and required thinking. Nothing short of assent is acceptable. Silent dissent will no longer be permitted.

Conservative commentators quickly drew from George’s hysterical paranoia to whip up a brief news cycle of outrage. Breitbart's Austin Ruse—who once described gay people as “intrinsically disordered and abnormal”—penned a frenzied rant describing the questionnaire as an “LGBT loyalty test.” The collapsing and hypocritical National Organization for Marriage fundraised off of it, labeling the survey “tactics of intimidation.”
[T]he story plays right into a developing narrative on the far right: LGBTQ people, they insist, are the true oppressors, and conservative Christians an embattled, discriminated-against minority.

This persecution complex—which actually began long before the Brendan Eich controversy—is so asinine that I almost regret wasting space refuting it. But the fear needs a rebuttal, because, daft as it may be, it’s also dangerous. Recasting a tiny, historically despised minority as a covertly powerful conspiracy of puppeteers is a time-honored smear tactic used to vilify Jews and other disfavored demographics. 

Christians, who make up an overwhelming majority of the American populace, face no widespread discrimination in the workplace—instead, some are arguing for their own special right to discriminate against gay people with legal impunity.

Christofascists and GOP Suffer Double Loss in 10th Circuit and Indiana Rulings.

First gay marriage in Indiana

In the wake of its pathetic "March for Marriage" the National organization for Marriage ("NOM") and similar gay haters suffered double losses as the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit upheld the District Court rulings that struck down the gay marriage bans in Utah and Oklahoma (the opinion is here).  Meanwhile, a U.S. District Court struck down the gay marriage ban in Indiana.  The momentum truly seems to be building for either the U.S. Supreme Court to (i)  refuse to hear the almost guaranteed appeal from the 10th Circuit decision and thereby make same sex marriage across the 10th Circuit, or (ii) the take the appeal and strike down gay marriage bans nationwide.  In the wake of the DOMA ruling last year, the rapidly growing support for gay marriage and the plethora of lower court rulings striking down gay marriage bans, it is becoming increasingly hard to believe that the Supreme Court would uphold such bands.   First here are highlights from Think Progress:

In the first federal appellate level consideration of same-sex marriage since the Supreme Court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act last year, the 10th Circuit has agreed with the lower court that Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. In a 2-1 decision, the panel ruled that the Constitution guarantees that “those who wish to marry a person of the same sex are entitled to exercise the same fundamental right as it is recognized by persons who wish to marry a person of the opposite sex.”

The ruling was immediately stayed, recognizing that the Supreme Court had stayed the district court’s original ruling earlier this year.

The majority of the panel rejected the state’s arguments that marriage must be linked to procreation: “Appellants’ assertion that the right to marry is fundamental because it is linked to procreation is further undermined by the fact that individuals have a fundamental right to choose against reproduction.” They were also not persuaded by claims that the inherent definition of marriage demanded unions between a man and a woman, because “nothing logically or physically precludes same-sex couples from marrying, as is amply demonstrated by the fact that many states now permit such marriages.”

“Plaintiffs in this case have convinced us that Amendment 3 violates their fundamental right to marry and to have their marriages recognized,” they wrote. “We may not deny them relief based on a mere preference that their arguments be settled elsewhere. Nor may we defer to majority will in dealing with matters so central to personal autonomy. The protection and exercise of fundamental rights are not matters for opinion polls or the ballot box.”

 Meanwhile, the Indianapolis Star reports on the demise of the Indiana gay marriage ban:

A federal judge struck down Indiana's ban on same-sex marriages Wednesday, leaving state officials, lawmakers, social conservatives, gay rights supporters and legal experts scrambling to sort out exactly what the decision means — and what will happen next.

But for the hundreds of gay and lesbian couples who rushed to courthouses across the state for impromptu weddings, the judge's words meant something simple, yet significant: They could finally be married in Indiana.

The monumental ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Young said Indiana's law that limits marriage to one man and one woman, and that denies recognition of same-sex marriages legally performed in other states, is unconstitutional. It mirrored more than a dozen recent federal court opinions that have struck down same-sex marriage bans in other states.

"In less than a year," Young wrote in his opinion, "every federal district court to consider the issue has reached the same conclusion in thoughtful and thorough opinions — laws prohibiting the celebration and recognition of same-sex marriages are unconstitutional."

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller's staff quickly filed a notice of appeal and an emergency request for a stay of Young's order, which could halt same-sex marriages pending outcome of an appeal. The motion for a stay, according to spokesman Bryan Corbin, which has been granted in other jurisdictions, "is intended to prevent confusion and inconsistency between county clerk's offices regarding license issuance, while the appeal is pending."

But opponents of same-sex marriage viewed the ruling as yet another attack on traditional marriage.

"It's a disappointing but not unexpected ruling," said Curt Smith, president of the Indiana Family Institute. "We are deeply disappointed at the lack of respect for Indiana statute and our legislature. ... It is very distressing to see that marriage licenses are being issued and that presumably marriages will be performed in the near future on couples that are not authorized under state law."

Just minutes after Young's ruling was released, Marion County Clerk Beth White began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples and conducted what was likely the state's first such wedding — the spur-of-the-moment union of Craig Bowen and Jake Miller of Indianapolis.

 The Christofascists are on the wrong side of history just as they were on desegregation and interracial marriage.  One would think that they would learn from history, but when the open embrace of ignorance, hate and bigotry are applauded, I guess that is too much to expect or hope for.

Is It Time for NOM to Shut Down?

NOM's pathetic turnout

I have long suspected that the National Organization for Marriage (is in reality a front group for either a few wealthy anti-gay bigots or the Mormon Church and/or Roman Catholic Church.  This reality would explain NOM's hysteria over refusing to report the names of its donor as required by many state campaign finance laws, including those in Maine where NOM has been found to have violated the law.  Brian Brown and others at NOM who have been making a very nice livelihood peddling anti-gay animus consistently allege that the organization has "broad based" and "numerous financial supporters."  If that is the case, few of these supposed legions of supports showed up for NOM's much ballyhooed "March for Marriage" in Washington, DC.  By all reports, attendance was pathetic despite NOM's promotion of the event, including offering free buses to would be participants.  As The New Civil Rights Movement reports, every news out let that has written about the event has lowered their estimates of the number of attendees in direct opposition to NOM's claim that 10,000 were at the failed event.  Here are some highlights:

[A]lmost all news reports including those from reporters on the ground estimated the number of people at NOM’s anti-gay hate march at 2000. The march, organized by the National Organization For Marriage, was thoroughly panned across most of the media.

World Magazine reported, however, that NOM claimed the number of people at the march was 10,000, as The New Civil Rights Movement pointed out earlier today. And the Deseret News (initially) put the number at 5,000.

Friday evening after a lengthy email conversation with The New Civil Rights Movement and several posts from critics and activists on social media, Kellner and the Deseret News changed their reporting to read “several thousand people present.”

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports the “crowd appeared to number between 1,000 and 2,000; there was no official estimate.”

The Washington Times also reported on how many people attended the march.  “Hundreds.”  “Hundreds march in defense of traditional marriage,” the Washington Times’ headline reads.

[C]learly if the nation’s top-funded and number one organization attacking the rights of the LGBT community and same-sex couples cannot even muster up 5,000 or 10,000 people to come to a rally in Washington, D.C. — even after providing free busses — then clearly America has grown tired of them. NOM’s rhetoric and tactics are so far removed from the mainstream that only 2,000 want to show up to support their cause? The rally will go down in history as evidence they lost the battle for marriage.

Like virtually everything else that NOM puts out, it is clear that the 10,000 attendees claim is a lie.  NOM needs to either shut down or start being honest and admit that it is nothing more than a front group that exists to hide the identity of a few large donors.  The Catholic Church and groups like the Knights of Columbus remain high on my suspect list of the handful of individuals/groups that fund NOM. 

Hate Groups Go Berserk Over Pennsylvania Ruling

As to be expected, leaders of the usual hate groups raced to release spittle flecked statements condemning Judge Jones' ruling as a "usurpation of power" and "contrary to the will of the people" as if minority rights should be put up for decision by a mob like majority.  Amongst all the fluster and theatrics, not a one of these hate merchants offered an explanation as to how same sex marriage in any way caused a diminution in their civil rights or those of their hate and fear motivated followers other than perhaps lessening their ability to inflict their toxic religious on society at large.  Of course, an unspoken reason these people are so hysterical is because gay marriage suggests that their slavish devotion to a handful of Bible passages - even as they ignore countless other passages - is wrong and, therefore, their fantasy world view quickly crumbles.  With the human genome project have proven that Adam and Eve never existed and that The Fall never happened, it would seem that same sex marriage is the least of their worries.  Here is a partial summary of the hate group batshitery:

The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference

The redefinition of marriage enshrines in law a denial of the rights of children to a mother and a father united in marriage. Catholic opposition to same-sex marriage is not a statement about the worth of human beings who experience same-sex attraction, but a statement about the nature of marriage itself."

In light of the Vatican orchestrated sex abuse cover up and Pope Francis' failure to sack any bishops and cardinals involved in the cover ups speaks volumes at the hypocrisy of this statement released via press release.  The bitter old men in dresses in the Church hierarchy simply cannot tolerate gays living their lives as God made them even as the miserable old bastards live closeted lives. 

FRC and KKK Associated Tony Perkins 

"Judge Jones ruling has no basis in Supreme Court precedent, and lacks any foundation in the text of the Constitution, or in the history or traditions of our country. Instead, he substituted his own personal dogmatic ideology as he proclaimed that any recognition of natural marriage should be thrown 'into the ash heap of history.'

What is likely really motivating FRC and Perkins is that when gay marriage bans are soon a thing of the past, a huge fundraising cash cow will be dead.  Heavens forbid that the nasty Perkins be forced to find a rel job.

Brian Brow/National Organization for Marriage 

"Pennsylvania voters have long sought, and been denied, the right to vote on the issue of marriage. This ruling adds insult to injury, as it leaves the citizens of Pennsylvania doubly disenfranchised. Members of the Pennsylvania legislature have been actively working for years to put this matter to the voters, which makes Judge Jones' cavalier decision even more brazen and unjust. The ruling unilaterally makes an end-run around the democratic process and places the capricious will of one man above the desires of millions of citizens.

Like Perkins, Brown is terrified that his nice six figure income from peddling hate will soon go away. 

As for those not motivated by greed like Perkins and Brown, the terror of seeing their artificial world slowly - or maybe quickly - collapse and being forced to confront objective reality is a prime motivation in my view.

Queen of Hate, Maggie Gallagher Admits Marriage Battle is Lost

If one wants to the face of someone who has enriched themselves disseminating hate, look no farther than former head of the National Organization for Marriage ("NOM") - here in Virginia, our mini queen of hate is Victoria Cobb - who drew nice six figure incomes demonizing gays and spreading religious based hatred.  Now, in a recent column, Gallagher laments that the battle against gay marriage is all but lost.  She then, of course, shifts into would be Christian victim role whining that Bible believing Christians will be facing likely persecution for their beliefs.  Here are highlights from Gallagher's lament:

What I am advocating doing is three very big, and very hard things: a) accepting where we are and b) learning from what we did not succeed in so that we can get to c) how do we build anew?

Right now most people who believe in the classic understanding of marriage are in shock, they are awed by the powers now shutting down the debate and by our ineffectualness at responding to these developments.

The version of America we were born into is no more. For the first time in American history being a faithful Christian (or Jew or Muslim) now calls into question in the public square in a new way one’s good citizenship.

The rapid collapse of opposition to gay marriage we are witnessing did not just happen, and it was not inevitable. But it is.

The question now on the table is: will orthodox Christianity (and other traditional faiths), be stigmatized and marginalized as the equivalent of racism in the American public square?  Will Biblical morality be wiped out as an acceptable public position in America?
Or will we regroup, rebuild as a subculture, and survive to become the possibility of a new foundation in the future?

Hiding or pretending is not going to help us, now.  We have to face the truth. 

[Charles] Cooper [who defended Proposition 8] said two things that upset many people on our side: “My views evolve on issues of this kind the same way as other people’s do, and how I view this down the road may not be the way I view it now, or how I viewed it ten years ago,” he said to Jo Becker some months ago.  And when the book became public and the news of his stepdaughter’s wedding came out he told AP:  ““My daughter Ashley’s path in life has led her to happiness with a lovely young woman named Casey, and our family and Casey’s family are looking forward to celebrating their marriage in just a few weeks.”

And here is the thing I take away, and what I want you to take away, from the Charles Cooper story: . . . . There is no line we can draw that pushes gay people “outside” and leaves us free “inside” to be angry, foot-stomping, and morally “pure.”

Next, Brendan Eich and Mozilla. Here we face the fist within the velvet glove—one of the few public instances of what is happening all over America. 

We live in an America in which standing up for Biblical morality (or its common sense moral analog) puts your employment in jeopardy.  How will we respond to the fear this inspires?  Will we recognize we are a subculture now facing a dominant culture and build subculture strategies? 

[T]the first struggle we now face is internal and spiritual:  Will we accept the newly dominant culture’s view of our views—of ourselves—as hateful and bigoted and stand down?   Or will we, first of all in our heart and minds, refuse to accept this external view of ourselves.  Will we stigmatize ourselves or will we force the powerful to do that to us?

Christian conservatives have been doing politics stupidly and on the cheap.   If we keep doing politics this way we will soon not have to do politics at all.   To win a space for us at the American table, we are going to need to invest large amounts of money in new and directly political institution—organizations capable of unelecting those who would shut us out, and those capable of rewarding the courage of those who agree with us.

I have little doubt that Maggie will be at the tough of money that she is saying that the Christofascists need to spend.  She enjoys living the good life without having to have a real, socially productive job.   Like most of the professional Christian crowd, she's little more than a parasite living off of the ignorant and uneducated.