Santorum Attacks Gay Parents: Says Dad in Prison is Better Than a Gay Dad

The foul nastiness of Rick Santorum just seems to know no end when it comes to denigrating LGBT citizens and LGBT headed families. Part of me would just love to have a story leak out that he beats his wife, has had and affair or is soliciting blow jobs in rest rooms. The man is just vile. In his latest attack on gays, Santorum made the statement that a child would be better off with a father in prison than he/she would to have a gay father. In the straight part of my life I knew quite a few fathers against whom I'd stack up my parenting record any day. Think Progress reports on this latest effort to dehumanize gays and their families. Here are some highlights:

On the campaign trail, Rick Santorum rarely passes up an opportunity to pontificate on his favorite subject: the evils of gay marriage and parenthood. Speaking at a boarding school in New Hampshire on Friday, Santorum cited an unnamed “anti-poverty expert” to claim that children are better off having a parent in prison who abandoned them than having two same-sex parents.

This wasn’t just a hypothetical to some children in the audience, at least three of whom had gay parents, the Los Angeles Times reports:

For the second time in as many days, Rick Santorum waded into the issue of gay marriage, suggesting it was so important for children to have both a father and mother that an imprisoned father was preferable to a same-sex parent.

Citing the work of one anti-poverty expert, Santorum said, “He found that even fathers in jail who had abandoned their kids were still better than no father at all to have in their children’s lives.”

Allowing gays to marry and raise children, Santorum said, amounts to “robbing children of something they need, they deserve, they have a right to.

It’s unclear to which “anti-poverty” expert Santorum was referring, or what the expert’s study said, but it is clear that Santorum is likely distorting it. He isn’t wrong that numerous studies have highlighted the importance of keeping children connected to parents who may be in prison, but none of them include any actual research on comparisons with same-sex families. They may juxtapose a child having no father (i.e. a single mother) with having a father in jail, but it’s completely invalid to compare an abandoned mother to two committed loving mothers.

Numerous conservative groups regularly attempt this “fatherless” rhetorical trap to make a case against same-sex marriage. . . . . In reality, studies have consistently shown that same-sex couples are just as capable of raising children as opposite-sex couples, and any attempt to suggest otherwise is not only wrong but hurtful to same-sex families and the children they are raising.

As Think Progress also noted, Focus on the Family has sought to support this anti-gay parenting lie by releasing a press release claiming that a new study confirms that gays make inferior parents. Of course, the claim is a lie, but then just about everything coming out of Focus on the Family is untrue and/or totally twisted around to support the organization's long history of anti-gay animus. Here are highlights:

Focus on the Family’s duplicity is not always obvious, but execution of their anti-gay rhetoric is becoming more transparent. In a post yesterday, FOTF’s director of Global Family Formation Studies Glenn T. Stanton boasted that a new study from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business proves that boys benefit behaviorally from having “a home with a mom and a dad.

But though FOTF is clearly trying to use this as evidence against same-sex marriage, the study did not prove anything “against” same-sex parents. The study in question (PDF here) did not, in fact, address same-sex parenting whatsoever, but instead compared children raised by married heterosexual parents to children raised by a single mother. It is one of many “fatherless” studies that conservative groups use to conflate not having a father/having one mother with having two mothers.

If anything, the Booth study supports arguments in favor of marriage equality, because it found that it was neither family structure nor biology that were the direct cause of differences in boys’ behavior, but environmental factors determined by levels of parental input. Stanton’s conclusions reflect nothing found in the actual research data — merely his discriminating ideology.

Stanton and Santorum both prove that the best assumption when it comes to "godly Christians" is that if their lips are moving, it's about 99% likely that they are living. They continue to believe that they have some sort of special exemption from the Commandment that bars lying and bearing false witness.

Anti-Gay Hate Speech Compliments of Princeton University

The far right and Christianists like to depict universities as hot beds of liberalism. Obviously, such is often not the case - especially at church affiliated colleges and universities. Nor at Princeton where a notable merchant of anti-gay hate speech seems to held above the university's policies because - gasp, - he brings in so much right winger money to the university. The professor in question? Robert George, who among other things is a founder of the National Organization for Marriage, an organization not exactly known for truth and voracity. Oh, and did I mention all the campaign finance law violations? Yet, George continues to be given a waiver to peddle hatred and to disseminate fraudulent information. It would be one thing if George was a professor at Regent University or Liberty University. But one would expect better from Princeton. A piece at Pam's House Blend looks at the foul darkness that the university board of trustees continue to turn a blind eye at. Here are some highlights:

The Board of Trustees of Princeton University is routinely allowing Professor Robert George – a kingpin among today’s political gay bashers – to violate Academic Integrity as it is described in the university’s Code of Conduct.

Why does Princeton routinely allow Professor George his violations of academic integrity? Max Blumenthal has reported on George here (another of his George-related articles, A Hoax Exposed at Princeton, can be read here). In an internet message, Blumenthal told me that Professor George is “untouchable” because he “brings the university too much money from right-wing sources.” Readers not yet familiar with the immense harm Professor George inflicts on sexual minorities in the U.S. and elsewhere through his fact-challenged anti-gay hate speech published with the Princeton University name attached to it should be sure to research that topic.

Here, for starters, is a video from an anti-gay hate rally sponsored by a hate group George founded, the so-called National Organization for Marriage. At that hate rally, a preacher yelled through a megaphone at a mob of anti-gay bigots that God says that homosexuals are “worthy to death.”

Academic freedom must not be construed as a right to falsify the documented record in order to stack the deck politically against a minority, (or for any other reason, for that matter). Yet George does precisely that, with alarming frequency. Were similarly fact-challenged, sham scholarship published in a field with lesser perceived “moral” angles – say, in Elizabethan Studies or Physics – the professor, his department and his university would be academic laughing stocks.

Princeton’s Code of Conduct says this about academic integrity: “Academic freedom can flourish only in a community of scholars which recognizes that intellectual integrity, with its accompanying rights and responsibilities, lies at the heart of its mission. Observing basic honesty in one’s work, words, ideas, and actions is a principle to which all members of the community are required to subscribe.” (The bolding is mine).

As Blumenthal reported, Professor George’s James Madison Program at Princeton University is funded mainly by right-wing sources from outside the university. It apparently receives no money from the university’s endowment. On the program’s welcome page, Professor George notes that 1) The Madison program awards a Senior Thesis Prize for excellence in Constitutional Law and Political Thought and 2) the success of the James Madison Program depends on the support of foundations and private individuals who share its commitment in advancing the understanding and appreciation of American ideals and institutions.

Around the country and beyond, anti-gay hate groups cite Robert George’s fact-challenged anti-gay hate speech in association with the Princeton University name because of their perception that the Princeton University name imparts intellectual honor on the anti-gay hate speech. It is past time for Princeton University to stop lending its name to fact-challenged anti-gay hate speech. Professor Robert George’s fact-challenged anti-gay hate speech is being promulgated and used counter to Princeton University’s published requirements for its scholars to observe basic honesty in their work, words, ideas and actions. At this link is a petition you can sign, asking the Princeton University Board of Trustees finally to take a stand against Professor Robert George’s sham scholarship and his anti-gay bigotry.

David Frum - I Was Wrong About Same-Sex Marriage

David Frum (pictured at right), a conservative commentator and sometimes lone voice of reason in contrast to the anti-gay GOP party line, has written another column that is available both on his blog, FrumForum, and CNN which will no doubt cause convulsions and flying spittle amongst the Bible beater set. In the column, Frum recants his one time opposition to same sex marriage and states that "the case against same-sex marriage has been tested against reality" and that "the case has not passed its test." Frum also states that he believe that within the next ten years all "blue states" will legalize gay marriage. No doubt the haters of the GOP base will again label Frum an apostate, but I believe that he is correct - indeed the opponents of marriage equality will one day look as horrific to future generations as the vilest of segregationists from a half century ago. Here are some highlights:
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I was a strong opponent of same-sex marriage. Fourteen years ago, Andrew Sullivan and I forcefully debated the issue at length online (at a time when online debate was a brand new thing).Yet I find myself strangely untroubled by New York state's vote to authorize same-sex marriage -- a vote that probably signals that most of "blue" states will follow within the next 10 years.
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I don't think I'm alone in my reaction either. Most conservatives have reacted with calm -- if not outright approval -- to New York's dramatic decision. Why? The short answer is that the case against same-sex marriage has been tested against reality. The case has not passed its test.
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Since 1997, same-sex marriage has evolved from talk to fact. If people like me had been right, we should have seen the American family become radically more unstable over the subsequent decade and a half. Instead -- while American family stability has continued to deteriorate -- it has deteriorated much more slowly than it did in the 1970s and 1980s before same-sex marriage was ever seriously thought of.
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By the numbers, in fact, the 2000s were the least bad decade for American family stability since the fabled 1950s. And when you take a closer look at the American family, the facts have become even tougher for the anti-gay marriage position. Middle-class families have become somewhat more stable than they used to be.
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By coincidence, I am writing these words on the morning of my own 23rd wedding anniversary. Of all the blessings life has to offer, none equals a happy marriage. If proportionally fewer Americans enjoy that blessing today than did 40 years ago, we're going to have to look for the explanation somewhere other than the Legislature in Albany.

Youth Minister Totally Cleared of Charges

Back on December 17, 2007, I did a post regarding sex abuse allegations against various SBC related individuals. One of the individuals named was 25 year old Clayton Pruett, a youth pastor at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, who was accused of molesting a girl by the girl's mother. It has now turned out that the charges were totally false and Clayton Pruett has been cleared of any wrong doing. Clayton brought this development to my attention and I apologize for any anguish my post may have caused him.

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As regular readers know, I take a hard line with the strongly anti-gay Southern Baptist Convention ("SBC") and Roman Catholic Church both of which persecute gays and meanwhile have a terrible record of covering up if not outright facilitating the sexual abuse of minors. I try to make a point of the hypocrisy and try to expose their dirty linen. The post mentioning Clayton - which has now been edited to remove all references to him - was one of an ongoing series that exposes the misdeeds of the SBC.

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Here are highlights from WHAS-TV 11 about the dismissal of all charges:

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(WHAS11) - Clayton Pruett got a little piece of his life back. . . . Clayton Pruett said, “It feels great it can show everybody what we’ve known all a long.” A signed statement tonight says that sex abuse allegations against a Bullitt county youth pastor were all made up. The mother of the accuser signed that statement today, clearing the name of Pastor Clayton Pruett.

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The mother is Debra Johnson and until recently she was a member of the Bullitt County School Board; she’s been charged with a felony before. She’s now left town and is living in Arkansas. The Bullitt County youth pastor at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church always maintained his innocence and now says he has proof.

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Clayton Pruett said, “It’s been so tough because you don’t escape this you live with it everyday now I feel like I can put it to rest.” This settlement order was filed in court today. In the statement it says Debra Johnson’s complaints to police about Pruett abusing her daughter were false. It also says Johnson regrets having made such statements. It goes on to say Pruett has committed no crime.

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Here's a portion of the note I received from Clayton Pruett for whom I only wish the best and that he can put this terrible experience behind him:

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I wanted to thank you for bringing child abuse to the conscience of people across the nation because it is a horrible crime and needs to have more action to stop those who would take advantage of children in any way. I have a retraction from the mother who had accused me of abusing her child and she states that she in fact lied about the entire thing. It is my hope that you also realize that not everyone who is charged with these horrible crimes are guilty of them. In addition the school has given me back my job as a substitute teacher and as assistant wrestling coach because they found nothing in the complaints filed against me. I would ask that you remove all press concerning this situation because it puts a horrible mark on my life that I do not deserve and I will not stop until my name is without blemish. . . . All I ask is that you please remove this from your site and allow me to have my life back. I have never hurt a child nor would I ever. So please help me get justice for those who would use the system for their benefit instead of protecting our children. Thank you for your time.