Tuesday Male Beauty

Are Mormons Making Themselves Targets for Discrimination?

Wouldn't it be ironic if the Mormons who are so hell bent to deprive gays the right of civil marriage ultimately discovered that they have set the stage for organized anti-Mormon discrimination? A bit of divine justice perhaps? Well, a story in the San Francisco Chronicle indicates that such might well be the case. To assist in the ability of gays and others who object to a small religious sect working to impose its intolerant religious views on millions of citizens is Mormons For Proposition 8 Donors (http://mormonsfor8.com/) which is endeavoring to identify all Mormons who have contributed to "Yes on 8" and just how much money LDS donors provided to the anti-gay campaign.

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As I have previously posted, Mormons have supplied a hugely disproportionate amount of the funding for the "Yes on 8" campaign. As Mormons for Proposition 8 reports, there are about 770,000 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in California (out of a population of 35 million+ residents)and many, if not most, Mormons have responded to the church leaders’ request for assistance in the LDS anti-gay jihad. If I were a California resident, I for one will seek to avoid giving any business to a Mormon owned business. Better yet, I'd tell them why they are losing my business and suggest that my friends do so likewise. Their rights to freedom of religion end when they begin to take away my civil rights. As for Mormons whining about an anti-Mormon witch hunt, I say: now you know what it feels like. Here are highlights from the Chronicle:

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Christine Alonso's body trembled and her lips quivered as she walked up and spoke to a few of the 50 protesters in front of the Mormon Temple in Oakland on Sunday. "Don't think they're all against you," said Alonso, 27, explaining that she was Mormon and that despite her religious leaders' support of a ballot measure banning same-sex marriage, she was actively opposed. As she walked away, she said, "I'm afraid that a gay or lesbian friend might hear that I'm Mormon and think that I want to tear their marriage apart."

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Alonso's solitary act came as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members are increasingly under fire for their support of Proposition 8, which would take away the right of gays and lesbians to marry. In addition to increased protests, online campaigns seek to identify and embarrass Mormons who support the ballot measure.

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Prop. 8 opponents are increasingly narrowing their focus on Mormons, harnessing technology and open-records laws in their efforts. One Web site run by a Prop. 8 opponent, Mormonsfor8.com, identifies the name and hometown of every Mormon donor. On the Daily Kos, the nation's most popular liberal blog, there is a campaign to use that information to look into the lives of Mormons who financially support Prop. 8.

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Nadine Hansen, who runs Mormonsfor8.com, said the church decided to enter politics and can't excuse itself for the ramifications. "Any group that gets involved in the political arena has to be treated like a political action committee," said Hansen, 61, a Mormon who lives in Cedar City, Utah, and has stopped going to church. "You can't get involved in politics and say, 'Treat me as a church.' "Hansen said she focused on Mormons because she is one. She said Mormons have contacted her to shut the site, saying it was being used by the Daily Kos campaign in a "witch hunt."

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The person who initiated the Daily Kos campaign to look into the lives of Mormon donors is Dante Atkins, an elected delegate to the state Democratic convention who said he's the vice president of the Los Angeles County Young Democrats. Atkins said his goal was to "embarrass the opposition by pointing out and publicizing any contributors they may have." He said focusing on Mormons made sense. "If one religious group is putting close to the majority of the money and the effort into passing this proposition, it is fair to single them out."

Coming Out - But Remaing in the Closet at Work

From time to time I get e-mails from those looking for advice as to how they should proceed with living their lives. It's more than a bit intimidating and leaves me in a situation where I ultimately can only recount my own thoughts and experiences. In the final analysis, each of us must make our own decisions of how we live our lives in the context of the circumstances within which we find ourselves. Lately, I have had e-mails that from individuals who are "out" in most aspects of their lives but find themselves living in fear at work where they remain closeted. What should they do?

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Living in an area with a huge number of military personnel, many of whom are gay or lesbian, I fully understand that there are situations where one cannot be "out at work" without serious risk of losing one's job. Many of the military personnel I know and have known find being closeted at work in the military to be stifling and oppressive. Many find that they limit their social circles to small numbers all of whom they trust implicitly and live very circumscribed lives with their partners always hidden from view except with their small, safe circles. In some other instances, I have known gay servicemembers who have deliberately outed them self in order to get thrown out of the military in order that they can live their lives as normal gay/lesbian individuals. Sadly, until "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is thrown on the trash heap of history, servicemembers will have to determine whether their commands will support them and turn a blind eye towards their personal lives.

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Whichever way one decides to live their life, the most important things is not to let being in the closet at work sour the rest of your life. In particular, you must not allow the situation to interfere with your relationship with your partner. If you allow that to happen, then our/your oppressors are allowed to win. I for one do not like letting bigots win. Somehow a balance must be found where you can compartmentalize your work life from your personal life. Is this an easy task? No - I know from the period I was out myself but still closeted at work.

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In civilian employment situations, much depends upon (1) the state of one's residence and whether or not there are gay friendly employment non-discrimination laws, (2) whether or not there are employment non-discrimination protections at your place of employment, and (3) are your fears of being fired realistic or have you allowed your own paranoia and lingering internalized homophobia to blow things out of proportion. In states like Virginia, the reality is that there are no employment protections afforded to gays unless your employer has corporate diversity policies that include employment protections for LGBT employees. Some large employers do have such protections and, surprisingly, some localities and school divisions have adopted employment protections for LGBT employees even in Virginia. Thus, if you are nervous about the issue, it is important to check out the policies of your employer before coming out at work. If your employer has written employment protection policies in place, even if the ride may be bumpy, coming out discretely at work may be something feasible after all.

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If your employer has no protections in place - as was the case with one of my prior law firms, the decision to come out becomes much harder. In my own case, I ultimately came out and for the most part nobody really seemed to care. Yes, there is always a risk, and sadly, later on when the firm merged with another firm, the issue of having an openly gay partner did become an issue with the other firm and I was ultimately forced out of the merged firm (although the real reason was hidden under other fabricated reasons). My subsequent law firm after that was unconcerned and focused instead on my resume and credentials which exceed those of the other attorneys. Obviously, with my own firm now, I don't have to answer to anyone and have found that most clients' only concern is whether or not I am competent. Yes, I was afraid that some clients would leave, but my fears turned out to be unfounded.

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I'm not sure if any of the foregoing answers some of the recent questions I have received or not. I do think that if I had lived in a state that had employment non-discrimination protections, I would have come out at work earlier. Again, readers must remember that in Virginia, gay sex was a potential felony even in one's own home up until the decision in Lawrence v. Texas. Check out the legal landscape of your home state, investigate your employer's HR policies, and most importantly do NOT allow your workplace situation to destroy or lessen the rest of your life or your ability to find self-acceptance. You cannot allow the haters to win and take that part of your life.

Bloggers Announce Write to Marry Day

My friend, Michael Rogers of PageOneQ and Dana Rudolph of Mombian have invited bloggers around the country will participate in "Write to Marry Day" on October 29, 2008, posting on their blogs in support of marriage equality for same-sex couples and against California's Proposition 8. The event will give bloggers a chance to voice their opposition to Prop 8 and highlight what they may have already done, online or off, to stop the measure. The campaign will also educate California voters of the need to "go all the way" down the ballot to vote on the proposition. Here are highlights from the press release announcing the effort:

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"Bloggers have proven themselves an effective political force," said Mike Rogers, one of the event organizers, who runs the popular site PageOneQ and is Director of the National LGBT Blogger Initiative. "They have already helped raise awareness and money to stop Prop 8. In this last week before the election, they will play a crucial role in motivating others to take action."

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To participate, bloggers should post on their own blogs against Prop 8 on or before October 29, 2008, then visit www.mombian.com to submit the links to their posts. Links to people's own videos on YouTube or other video sites are also accepted.

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All bloggers who are against Prop 8 are welcome to contribute posts, regardless of where they live or whether they are LGBT or not. Mombian will showcase the full list of participants on October 29. All participants who leave a valid e-mail address will be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift certificate to Amazon.com.

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People can track this event by joining the Write to Marry event on Facebook or MySpace, or by following Mombian on Twitter (twitter.com/mombian). For more about the event, visit: www.mombian.com and click the "Write to Marry" banner.

More Monday Male Beauty

More Fruits of the GOP's Toxic Racism

MSNBC has a breaking story about a plot by two Neo-Nazi skinheads to assassinate Barack Obama and kill dozens of other African Americans, perhaps inspired by the racial hatred being disseminated - subtly and not so subtly - by elements of the Republican Party. Apparently, the conspirators planned to shoot 88 black people and decapitate another 14 - the numbers 88 and 14 being symbolic in the white supremacist community - and then cap it all off by assassinating Barack Obama. Such lovely, Christian actions. Are you happy yet John McCain and Sarah Palin? The more that I see of this mindset and the fascism of the Christianists and white supremacists, the more important I believe it is that McCain/Palin be crushed on November 4th. This type of politics and such pandering to hatred must be ended. Here are the highlights available so far from MSNBC:

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WASHINGTON - A plot by two Neo-Nazi skinheads to assassinate Barack Obama and kill dozens of other African Americans has been foiled, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said Monday. Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tenn., and Paul Schlesselman, 18, of West Helena, Ark., were charged Friday with making threats against a presidential candidate, illegal possession of a sawed-off shotgun and conspiracy to rob a gun store.

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Jim Cavanaugh, special agent in charge of the Nashville ATF field office, said the two men sought to go on a national killing spree that included an unnamed African-American school, with Obama as their final target. The two planned to shoot 88 black people and decapitate another 14, he added. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.

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“They said that would be their last, final act — that they would attempt to kill Sen. Obama,” Cavanaugh said. “They didn’t believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying.”

Sarah Palin's War on Science

The caption to this post is from Christopher Hitchens' column over at Slate today. The title to his article, however is only the beginning of the bitch slapping he gives the Republican Party and John McCain for the lunacy of nominating Sarah "Caribou Barbie" Palin for the VP slot on the GOP ticket. I have bashed Palin plenty not because I am anti-woman or anti-religion, but because she's an idiot and crazy religious fanatic who - as is typical of such people - doesn't have the ability to recognize her own gigantic limitations. Oh, and did I mention that she's a pathological liar too?

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Hitchens, like many former supporters of the GOP who are jumping ship and going to vote for Obama, is incensed by how low the GOP has been dragged by the Neanderthals who now principally constitute the party base and by those who would pander to them. He correctly calls the GOP ticket an appalling contempt for knowledge and learning. Here are some column highlights:

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In an election that has been fought on an astoundingly low cultural and intellectual level, . . . it didn't seem possible that things could go any lower or get any dumber. But they did last Friday, when, at a speech in Pittsburgh, Gov. Sarah Palin denounced wasteful expenditure on fruit-fly research, adding for good xenophobic and anti-elitist measure that some of this research took place "in Paris, France" and winding up with a folksy "I kid you not."

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It was in 1933 that Thomas Hunt Morgan won a Nobel Prize for showing that genes are passed on by way of chromosomes. The experimental creature that he employed in the making of this great discovery was the Drosophila melanogaster, or fruit fly. Scientists of various sorts continue to find it a very useful resource, since it can be easily and plentifully "cultured" in a laboratory, has a very short generation time, and displays a great variety of mutation.

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It's especially ridiculous and unfortunate that the governor chose to make such a fool of herself in Pittsburgh, a great city that remade itself after the decline of coal and steel into a center of high-tech medical research. . . . With Palin, however, the contempt for science may be something a little more sinister than the bluff, empty-headed plain-man's philistinism of McCain. We never get a chance to ask her in detail about these things, but she is known to favor the teaching of creationism in schools . . . and so it is at least probable that she believes all creatures from humans to fruit flies were created just as they are now.

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This is what the Republican Party has done to us this year: It has placed within reach of the Oval Office a woman who is a religious fanatic and a proud, boastful ignoramus. Those who despise science and learning are not anti-elitist. They are morally and intellectually slothful people who are secretly envious of the educated and the cultured. And those who prate of spiritual warfare and demons are not just "people of faith" but theocratic bullies. On Nov. 4, anyone who cares for the Constitution has a clear duty to repudiate this wickedness and stupidity.

More Monday Male Beauty

Dedicated to Elsa Prince Broekhuizen

The Blackwater USA Connection To "Yes On 8"

There are many reasons to dislike Proposition 8 and its supporters who in my opinion are Christo-fascists who seek to superimpose their religious views on the CIVIL laws. Laws that should not be controlled by the religious views of one extreme mindset. It turns out that the supporters of Proposition 8 do in fact have fascist like ties in the form of Elsa Prince Broekhuizen, the mother of the Chimperator's favorite private mercenary, Erik Prince, the founder and chairman of Blackwater, USA. Broekhuizen who is a RESIDENT OF HOLLAND, MICHIGAN - has contributed $450,000 to the anti-gay forces in California. For background, Blackwater - whose hired personnel are alleged to have murdered innocent Iraqi citizens last year - is a sinister near neighbor to Norfolk with training facilities and a compound in nearby Moyock, North Carolina. Here are highlights from the Grand Rapids Press concerning the Blackwater related contributions to "Yes on 8":

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Holland resident Elsa Prince Broekhuizen has pumped $450,000 into a Nov. 4 California ballot issue to ban gay marriage. It is one of the largest private donations to that cause. . . . In 2004, Broekhuizen was the top West Michigan contributor to Michigan's anti-gay marriage amendment, adding $75,000 to the cause.

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Broekhuizen, 75, is mother to Betsy DeVos, the former state GOP chair who is married to 2006 GOP gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos, and Erik Prince, founder of private security firm Blackwater Worldwide. She is the widow of the late Holland industrialist Edgar Prince and has remarried. An assistant to Broekhuizen, who asked not to be named, said the issue is "very important to her. It's near and dear to her heart. "She likes to give from her heart and not for public recognition."

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The donations are consistent with numerous contributions to traditional-value causes by the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation. It gave $510,000 from July 2006 to June 2007 to the Family Research Council and $300,000 to Focus on the Family. Both organizations oppose gay marriage, a stance underlined when Focus on the Family founder James Dobson cautioned in 2005 that gay marriage "will bring the destruction of this nation."

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Michigan voters approved a constitutional ban against gay marriage in 2004, with assurances from supporters it would not affect domestic partnerships. But in May, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled the gay marriage ban also prevents governments and state universities from recognizing domestic partnerships to provide health insurance to the partners of gay workers.

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I find it beyond sad that a disgustingly wealthy NON-RESIDENT can and will give so much money in order to attempt to strip California gay and lesbian couples of the right to a CIVIL marriage. Wouldn't the money be better used feeding the hungry and clothing the poor as Christ directed? Oops! I forgot, these people are Christian in name only.

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You can counter her donation, and those of the Mormons and Knights of Columbus here.

Obama Leads by 8 Points in Virginia - Lessons for the GOP

For some years now, the Republican Party in Virginia has largely based it's campaigns on God, guns, racism, homophobia, and tax relief for high income earners. At the state level, the GOP has blocked every proposal to address the state's increasingly dire transportation system needs as part of its mantra of no new taxes. I'm not sure where they expect funding for infrastructure needs to miraculously appear from. Meanwhile, Virginia's demographics are changing - largely liberal Northern has grown immensely and the Hampton Roads region has become less reliable to fall for the GOP's misinformation campaigns. I believe the latest poll showing Obama leading by 8 points is indicative of the changing political landscape in Virginia. The reactionary portions of the state no longer have sufficient voters to out vote the progressive areas of the state.

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A likely victory by Obama in Virginia, coupled with the Democrat capture of retiring U. S. Senator John Warner's seat in the U. S. Senate and possible House seat victories should be a wake up call to the Republican Party of Virginia and Bob McDonnell, the likely GOP candidate for governor next year. McDonnell - who I have know personally for over 14 years - has sold his soul to the Christianist elements of the Virginia GOP. With the defeat of the last two GOP candidates for governor who marketed the same mindset as McDonnell has held to date, it will be interesting to see if McDonnell decides to follow the same losing platform. Somehow I doubt it given the increasing deranged nature of the GOP base both here and around the country. Here are highlights from the Washington Post on Obama's lead in the polls:

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Barack Obama has opened up an eight-point lead over Republican John McCain in Virginia, and the Democrat is entering the final week of the campaign with several core advantages when it comes to turning out his supporters, according to a new Washington Post poll. . . . By wide margins, Virginia voters think that Obama is the candidate who would do more to bring needed change to Washington, who understands the economic challenges people are facing and who is the more honest and trustworthy of the two rivals.

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Obama has opened almost 50 offices, dispatched more than 250 paid staffers and recruited thousands of volunteers to knock on doors and call voters across the state. The poll indicates that Obama's staff and volunteers have made staggering gains in reaching out to Virginia's 5 million registered voters. More than half of all voters surveyed said they have been contacted in person, on the phone or by e-mail or text message about voting for Obama, far more than said so about McCain.

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Seven in 10 Obama supporters said they are "very enthusiastic" about voting for him, an increase from the late September poll. By contrast, 39 percent are that keen on McCain's candidacy, a 6 percentage-point dip over that period. Obama has an almost 2 to 1 advantage over McCain in Northern Virginia, surpassing even the 60 percent mark that Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and Sen. James Webb (D-Va.) racked up in the region during their successful campaigns in 2005 and 2006.

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Palin also is dragging down McCain in Virginia, the poll indicates. Half of Virginia voters now have "strongly" or "somewhat" negative views of the Alaska governor, a 12 percentage-point increase from September.

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Obama holds a 17-point lead in Hampton Roads, a crucial area in Virginia elections, while McCain is narrowly ahead in the Richmond area and in the Shenandoah Valley and southwestern Virginia. Even in those areas, though, Obama is breaking the 40 percent mark.