Pence Lies and Refuses to Utter 'Gay' at World AIDS Day Event

Over the last 20 years or more, a parade of closeted self-loathing gays - almost all Republicans (think Ed Schrock, Larry Craig, Dennis Hastert, etc. - have pushed an anti-gay agenda in the apparent belief that it (i) provides camouflage to the outside world of their inner most thoughts/longings, and (ii) somehow dispels the reality of their true sexual orientation.  All of which brings me to Mike Pence, a man who displays every stereotype of these  disturbed individuals.  Today is World AIDS Day and for the second year in a row, Der Trumpenführer delegated Pence as his representative at the White House's World HIV/AIDS Day event.  Not surprisingly, Pence could not even bring himself to utter the word "gay."  Worse yet, Pence lied profusely about the Trump/Pence regime record on fighting AIDS/HIV.  Rather than bringing a "new and renewed American commitment to the fight against HIV/AIDS here and around the world," the Trump/Pence regime has been slashing funding to AIDS/HIV programs and diverting funding to finance the brutal family separations programs along the Texas border. The Advocate looks at Pence's disingenuous lies:

For the second year in a row, homophobic vice president Mike Pence refused to acknowledge the LGBTQ community in his remarks during the White House's World HIV/AIDS Day event. And as the Democratic National Committee highlighted, Pence also lied repeatedly during his remarks.

Pence — previously faulted with exacerbating an HIV crisis by opposing a needle exchange program when he was Indiana's governor — claimed the Trump administration was doing all it could to battle the scourge of HIV.

"Let me bring greetings from a friend of mine who is a leader committed to the health and well-being of the American people, and has brought new and renewed American commitment to the fight against HIV/AIDS here and around the world," Pence said . . . . "I bring greetings from the 45th President of the United States of America, President Donald Trump."

In fact, Trump repeatedly cut funds for HIV prevention and treatment and diverted money from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program to fund his family separation policy at the U.S./Mexico border. Trump also infamously fired the entire 16-member Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and has yet to restaff the group. Trump has also derailed a national HIV strategy by refusing to appoint anyone to lead the White House Office of National AIDS Policy. Trump also announced a "Deploy or Get Out" rule, which could translate to HIV-positive service members kicked out of the military.

Without irony, Pency also honored the 15th anniversary of PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), which works to address AIDS in developing nations, mostly in Africa. Pence's boss cut funding for PEPFAR; The Daily Beast reported those cuts could lead to the deaths of 300,000 people a year.

DOD Survey on DADT Repeal Has Major Security Flaws

In a bombshell post, John Aravosis of America Blog Gay reveals serious security flaws in the Department of Defenses multi-million dollar homophobic survey on DADT repeal. Without jeopardizing his sources, John indicates that he was able three times to log in and take the DOD survey without difficulty. Apparently, no software picked up the fact that he had take the survey multiple times using the same PIN and from the same computer - something even many minor league newspapers know to do when running online polls. It seems the folks at the Pentagon are not only homophobes, but cretins as well. How many times - and by whom - the survey has been breached isn't clear. One can readily see Elaine Donnelly circulating PINS numbers to her lunatic gay hating friends in an effort to further skew an already flawed survey. John's described experience truly suggests that the survey and its dubious results need to be thrown out based on flawed security. Here are highlights from America Blog Gay:
*
So much for the Defense Department's super secret $4.5 million survey of the troops to ask them how they feel about repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." I, an avowed gay activist, just took the online chat part of the survey - three times in fact. Perhaps DOD should reconsider just how good and informative, and accurate, this survey is. (They also might want to get their money back.)
*
In a nutshell, I was able to get three different PIN numbers to gain access to the online chat part of the survey three times, as three different people. Two of those times I was on the same computer, meaning there are no adequate safeguards to stop people from taking the survey multiple times - hell, I was logged in to the two surveys at the same time. And one of the three times, I was able to have a kid, who isn't military, participate in the survey, answering questions from a real human being (apparently) in a chat room of sorts. My intent - to find out whether or not the survey is secure, whether or not it can be hacked (well, this isn't even hacking). It's not, and it can.
*
Another interesting point: I got my multiple PIN numbers from the same person, who was able to themselves get multiple PIN numbers. Meaning, military people can log in multiple times to get the PIN numbers they need to take the survey, so they, or their non-military friends - or even gay (or anti-gay) activists, can take the survey. I'm also told that DOD civilians can take the survey - with all due respect, who cares what they think? I thought this was about active duty military?
*

The Pentagon is apparently now in full scale damage control and is trying to pretend that the survey itself wasn't breached. Do I buy that line? Not at all. I was warned by an inside source at Westat that the survey questions were homophobic as per Pentagon input and now we find out the whole system may have been swamped by far right homophobes. Remember, these are the same folks that claimed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction before Chimperator Bush's ill fated invasion of that country. Do I trust them? Not at all. DOD and the Pentagon knew in advance the result they wanted on the survey and are apparently doing everything they can to kill DADT repeal with this abortion of a survey. Oh, Jim Webb, are you in on this scheme too?

Oklahoma Race For Governor Reveals Anti-Gay Conspiracy

As Gossip Boy, Good As You, and other blogs are starting to report, Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett wants to be Oklahoma's next governor and it has been revealed that he thinks the way to the governor's office is via a concerted anti-gay jihad, including packing the Metropolitan Library Commission of Oklahoma County with anti-gay extremists. Not surprising, another figure in the conspiracy is nutcase Sally Kern's husband, Steve Kern, pastor of the Olivet Baptist Church. We have always known that anti-gay rhetoric is cynically used by far right candidates to court religious extremist voters, but it is rare that we find such revealing evidence of a plan to dupe and manipulate the fundie voters. Here are highlights from Gossip Boy:

*

A special investigation has revealed Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett has his eyes on the state executive office and is working closely with religious extremists to fill the Metropolitan Library Commission of Oklahoma County with anti-gay members in order to court the fundamentalist vote.

*

Cornett and Steve Kern, pastor of the Olivet Baptist Church and husband to State Rep. Sally Kern, are being accused of teaming up to rid the library system of all gay and lesbian materials, as well as those their church-based philosophies find objectionable. A source close to Cornett alleges, “The Mayor is looking to become Oklahoma’s next governor in 2010. With the conservatism rampant in the state, he feels now is the time to fully side with fundamentalist Christians in order to get their backing. He believes one way of doing that is going on an all-out assault on gay citizens. Even if things are done that would later be overturned in court at a great cost to the City, he will walk away a hero to certain people.”

*

The insider also stated, “The Mayor is aware that Ernest Istook is returning to Oklahoma to join the governor’s race again. Istook has the conservative base locked in, so the Mayor must shake loose Istook supporters if he is to get past the Republican primary. Gays are easy targets for him. He tried to use them in 2006, but it backfired. This round he wants to make it clear he is without a doubt against gay rights.”

*
Gossip Boy received other tips regarding Cornett’s ambitions and the scheme to appease Christian extremists, who sided against him in the 2006 race for 5th District Congress, and began a covert ploy to expose it. A reporter posed as a citizen working with the Mayor to push gay and lesbian literature out of city libraries and contacted Steve Kern.

*

Here's what Steve Kern had to say about gays: We have to get rid of that [information on gays in libraries] and start curing those sinners. It’s past time that this nation stopped placating sin and start putting them in education programs. Courts can force drug offenders into treatment centers and violent people into anger management. There’s no reason our courts can’t do that with homos.

*

The Gossip Boy post deserves a full read because it also looks in detail at the hold the Christianists already have over the Metropolitan Library Commission. The picture that emerges is one that makes it clear that the Oklahoma City area is NOT one in which any remotely progressive business should consider as a relocation option. I shudder to think what it must be like to be gay and live in such a homophobic area of the country.