GOP and Teabaggers Return to McCarthyism

I am constantly appalled at how little accurate history most people know. The oft stated saying that "those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it" seems all too true given the current intellectual decline and increasing demagoguery of leaders in the Republican Party and their fantasy world followers among the teabaggers and birthers. How an allegedly educated and developed country can harbor such idiocy is down right scary. It also clearly shows why the far right doesn't like people to be well versed in true history and inconvenient historical facts. If much of what we are hearing coming from the far right sounds familiar it's because the country went through a similar phase back in the 1950's that should never be allowed to occur again. Here is the script these folks are working from:
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People need to wake up to what is happening and reject those who support this type of discourse and character assassination.

Gay Ally Congressman John Lewis at Equality Alabama

I have mentioned before that right out of law school I worked for a large law firm in Mobile, Alabama. In the intervening years since I left Mobile, Alabama has gone from conservative to near bat shit crazy both in terms of homophobia and Christian Right insanity. One only need think of former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore to see the insanity that has become so wide spread. Indeed, Alabama makes Virginia seem almost gay-friendly in comparison. Thus, it was great to read about Congressman Lewis' no holds barred support for LGBT equality at the recent Equality Alabama Gala. My blogger friend Pam Spaulding was at the event and has some great coverage of the event and Lewis' strongly worded message of support. Here are some highlights from her reflections:

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It was an amazing evening with many old and new friends at Equality Alabama's Gala Saturday night. The highlight was keynote speaker Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), who is a native of Troy, Alabama. His played a legendary fearless role in the civil rights struggles of the 60s -- and he is man who believes in LGBT civil equality with equal conviction -- he immediately signed on to DOMA repeal legislation.

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This is significant in a day when there is a clear dearth of support in the religious black community; Lewis has the moral standing that a homophobe in the pulpit like Bishop Harry Jackson can never touch. John Lewis took batons to the head, was beaten to unconsciousness multiple times for equality -- courage and moral conviction that Jackson and his fellow charlatans of bigotry are bereft of.

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But perhaps the most powerful message was to those in the LGBT community who are waiting for equality to come to them -- Lewis charged us to seize the moment, do not accept being told to wait your turn, to demand your rights through your representative, and most of all take personal responsibility -- the message we all heard was loud and clear. Too many LGBTs are in the closet waiting for someone else to do the heavy lifting and LEAD. We are all capable of leading by kicking that closet door open. The main meat of the speech begins around 5:00 -- and you will want to hear it all. The man had the audience spellbound.

[T]here is no excuse for our so-called leaders, our elected representatives who say they are our allies but lack the political spine to do the right thing [who] should watch this speech as required education. But we also noted to one another that even more critical was Lewis's call to you - those of us who rail about what someone else can do to lead or move the ball forward and don't step up, or take even small steps to be interested in determining the fate of your civil rights. Where is the fire in the belly of our movement?

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Will the people who attend the National Equality March really go home and participate in the more mundane but equally important ways to move equality forward with the same level of enthusiasm that motivates and energizes them to go to DC in the first place?

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Moving the movement forward does include small things. On a personally level, at last night's Hampton History Museum soiree - which was a huge success - the boyfriend and I did not hide our relationship in the least as we had some of the main movers and shakers in the city in the house and backyard. Moreover, I did not discern the least bit of rejection of us as a committed gay couple. Being out and comfortable with who you are does make an impact even if ones doesn't believe so. By simple actions we can change hearts and minds.

Coming Out in Mid-Life: Attacks for Being Selfish

Writing this blog I receive e-mails and communications from literally around the world from gays who tried to play by society's rules, married and ultimately could no longer go on trying to be what they were not. These messages come from as far away as Melbourne, Australia to local married gays who are coming out and contact me for advice on divorce counsel. All too sadly, the stories are much the same: vengeful straight spouses and courts all too willing to destroy the gay spouse, children who harbor anger because their world underwent upheaval or who prefer to cling to ever possible past grievance, job losses once their sexual orientation becomes known, and of course allegations that the gay spouse who decides to come out is "selfish" or has decided to "abandon" their family. From my experience and the experiences recounted by others gays who came out in mid-life, I would argue that the selfishness and abandonment is on the part of other family members.

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Which is the more selfish: taking steps to try live your life without constant self-hate and unhappiness (and in my case almost certain suicide) or wanting to condemn someone else to a lifetime of misery and unhappiness so that you will not have your comfortable life disrupted. I would say the later is the more selfish example. As for abandonment, from those I have communicated with, the general storyline is that they were thrown out by the straight spouse - in my own case, I was told to stay in the closet or get out - and then demonized by family members and/or friends who obviously cared nothing for the gay spouse in reality. It is an ugly picture, but one that seems to predominate. I do know of some situations where this pattern did not hold true, but they seem to be a rarity.

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I think all too often family members have no idea - and frequently do not care - what remaining in the closet would do to the gay spouse. In my case, it was not until my last year of college that homosexuality ceased to be classified as a mental illness. As for religious denominations at that time, one was deemed destined straight for Hell in no uncertain terms if you were gay. Why would a person not try to make themselves straight given that societal reality? Yes, there were some who had the strength and courage to buck the system, but far more of us made the ill fated attempt to be what we were told we must be. I would invite those who cite married gays who come out in mid-life to put themselves for a moment in the shoes that many of us wore. Image for a moment what it must have felt like to know in your heart that your were deemed to be mentally ill and just as likely considered a sick pervert and have this secret eating away at you every waking hour. True, mental health knowledge has progressed and being gay is no longer viewed as a form of mental illness. Nonetheless, society and sanctimonious "godly Christians" continues do their utmost to make our lives Hell. Add to that allegations of selfishness by family members and/or claims that one abandoned their family and it becomes clear that coming out in mid-life is not easy (not that coming out is ever easy even today for youths).

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Would I do it over again if I had the choice of turning back time? Yes, I would do it again because I cannot imagine going on living as I was. Would I do some things differently? Most certainly. Was it selfish on my part to come out? I truly do not believe so and I would question the motives and moral decency of those who would condemn someone to stay in the closet mere to protect their own creature comforts and/or comfortable lifestyle.

More Sunday Male Beauty

2009 Virginia Election: A Race in Obama's Shadow

I book marked this article by E.J. Dionne in the Washington Post a few days ago and wanted to discuss it because the topic covered - the way in which President Obama's failure to deliver on campaign promises - continues to be relevant. Indeed, a few days ago when I poke to a campaign worker for one of the Democrat statewide campaigns the field worker was complaining about the constant litany heard from those who had supported Obama yet had seen nothing he promised implemented to date. While the Bob McDonnell thesis set to has enlivened Democrats and some moderates as to the need to shift into high gear to defeat the GOP slate - perhaps the most reactionary and far right in 30 years - Obama's continued failure to exercise forceful leadership and idiotic efforts to appease the GOP remains a significant drag on Virginia's Democrat ticket. If the Democrats are defeated, blame will surely be thrown at Obama by both the GOP - which will cite it as a rejection of Obama's policies - and Democrats who will be questioning themselves as to why they bothered to support Obama. Here are highlights from Dionne's column:

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Will the bitter, smoldering feelings let loose by Washington's health-care fight ricochet across the Potomac River and decide Virginia's race for governor? Will a Republican be able to escape his right-wing record and his incendiary past writings to rebrand himself as a pragmatist?

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Virginia results are typically dissected with the kind of passion that readers bring to sorting through the arcane symbols in Dan Brown's novels. This time, all the symbology, to use one of Brown's favorite words, may be justified. President Obama was the first Democrat to win Virginia's electoral votes since 1964, and his drop in the polls has already influenced the direction of this year's contest.

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As Obama's numbers fell among independents, so did those of R. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic nominee whose chances of victory now depend in part on the president's ability to stabilize his own standing.
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"Right now," said one Democratic adviser, "this is a race between Barack Obama's spending and Bob McDonnell's thesis." Deeds's summer polling doldrums reflected a campaign that was not prepared for battle after its runaway victory in the June Democratic primary. McDonnell, meanwhile, was busily recasting himself as a problem-solver who cared primarily about jobs and economic growth.

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But Deeds (along with just about every other Democrat in the state) was also hurt by Obama's falling popularity among independents worried about federal spending. And rank-and-file Democrats who adored Obama last year were puzzled and demobilized by the president's lack of fight as the health-care debate droned on.

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Deeds wants the debate to focus on Virginia -- above all, the staple issues of roads and schools that powered the victories of Mark Warner, the former governor elected to the U.S. Senate last year, and incumbent Tim Kaine. Deeds also hopes voters will look past McDonnell's new image to the culture warrior whose emphatic social conservatism would make him unacceptable to the state's legions of suburban voters, particularly women.

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Yet there will be no escaping the Obama effect, which will come in three parts. First, Obama's health-care speech last week began a rehabilitation process that is already altering the political mood, to Deeds's advantage. A lethargic Democratic base has flocked to Deeds, pushed by the thesis and a renewed confidence in their president.

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If the Democrat can convince Virginians that McDonnell is no moderate and get them thinking about clogged highways and the public schools they value, he wins. Doing that will be easier if Obama can change the political winds, even just a little.

Bangor Daily News Takes on Stand for Marriage Maine and Catholic Church Lies and Untruths

As was the case in California with Proposition 8, the Roman Catholic Church is taking an active role in seeking to over turn gay marriage in Maine - something I wish the IRS would investigate since 501(c)(3) charities such as churches are NOT supposed to get involved with advocating for specific pieces of legislation. In this effort, the Church is firmly in bed with the Stand for Marriage Maine crowd of homophobes. As is almost always the case with the Catholic Church of late, the Church fathers close their eyes to lies and the dissemination of deliberate falsehoods are part of the Church's efforts to keep gay and lesbian couples second class citizens and to marginalize their families. Meanwhile, of course, the dottering hypocrites within the Church hierarchy ignore the growing rot within their own ranks and do nothing to punish those who enabled or covered up for predator priests. Fortunately, the Bangor Daily News is calling the Stand for Marriage on the dishonest anti-same sex marriage campaign. Here are some highlights on the falsehoods the Stand for Marriage and Catholic Church are pushing in Maine:

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The debate about the Nov. 3 ballot’s Question 1, the effort to repeal Maine’s newly minted same-sex marriage law, will heat up in the coming weeks. Heat is one thing. Falsehoods re another. Opponents of the law are bringing children into the fray, suggesting their innocence would be sullied if the repeal fails. It’s a ploy that has been used effectively before; any candidate for elected office who supports sex education is said to favor handing out condoms to kindergarten children. This time, the claim by repeal proponents is that schools would be forced to teach “gay sex education.” It is baseless and betrays an ignorance about education. The claim was made by the Stand for Marriage Maine group in a recent mass e-mail message soliciting donations.

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The same-sex marriage law does not address anything in state education law. And, further, there are no state mandates to teach sex education, let alone explicit “gay sex education,” as the repeal group’s e-mail stated. Sexuality is discussed in most Maine high schools, and has been for decades, but locally elected school boards oversee those curriculums and parents are able to exempt their children from those discussions.

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So, the question that remains about the repeal proponents is: Are they knowingly misleading people by claiming schools will be forced to teach the details of gay sex, or are they genuinely ignorant that same-sex couples are among us, and that their children are in our schools? Neither speaks well of their argument supporting a yes vote.

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Again, I have to ask why is it apparently just fine for self-proclaimed Christians to lie, cheat and engage in other nasty actions to further their theocratic agenda? In my view, honesty and telling the truth should be among the hallmarks of Christians. Nowadays, lying and dishonesty seem to be the norm.

Anti-Gay Zealots With Self-Claimed Direct Line to God

I always wonder about the mental health issues involved with right wingers who have the hubris to believe that somehow they have a direct communications link to God and that somehow God directs their anti-gay bigotry to accomplish his/her/its goals. Two recent case of this delusional phenomenon are former Miss USA, Carrie Prejean and Arizona Governor, Jan Brewer (pictured at left). In the case of Prejean, having lost her crown for refusing to follow the terms of her contract, she is promoting herself as a darling of the Christianists and just appeared at the objective reality free Family Research Council "Values Voter Summit" in Washington, D.C. According to Prejean, who has become a professional victim of the gay agenda, "I knew God had a plan for me… God chose me for that moment. He knew I was strong enough to get through all the junk that I have been through.” Here some more of Prejean's diarrhea of the mouth via the Los Angeles Times:

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What she went through, she said, was “a vicious storm of attacks,” including being vulgarly insulted by Hilton in an Internet video, and having her parents’ divorce records published by tabloids. She has also had a series of legal tangles with the Miss USA pageant, whose owner, Donald Trump, initially stood by her, as well as the company that owns the Miss California pageant, which she sued after it revoked her crown.

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“Even though I didn’t win the crown that night,” said Prejean, tearing up, “I know the Lord has so much of a bigger crown in heaven for me.”

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As relatively harmless as the delusional and overly self-important Prejean may be, such delusions are far more dangerous when held by public officials. Jan Brewer is a prime example. The good governor just rescinded domestic partnership rights in Arizona basically because these legal rights do not fit with her crazy, discriminatory religious beliefs. One would think that after 8 years of the Chimperator's delusional misrule that people would know better than to elect religious fruitcakes to office (yes, that includes Taliban Bob McDonnell and the utterly insane Ken Cuccinelli here in Virginia). Not so in Arizona. Here are some highlights from Brewer's merger of church and state via the Arizona Daily Star:

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Gov. Jan Brewer said Wednesday that she believes "God has placed me in this powerful position as Arizona's governor" to help the state weather its troubles. In a wide-ranging speech on the role of religion in politics and in her life, Brewer detailed to a group of pastors of the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church how she relies on her faith and in prayer to deal with many of the issues she faces as the state's chief executive.

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Brewer also said there are times when, during a meeting with staffers, one will suggest praying about an issue. "And we stop, and we take that time, and we pray about it," Brewer, a Missouri Synod-Lutheran herself, told the group meeting here. "And it does make a difference."

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Brewer reminded the ministers how she did not seek to become governor but "inherited many, many, many significant challenges that still confront Arizona citizens today" when she got the job after Janet Napolitano quit to take a job as homeland security chief in the Obama administration.

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The Missouri Synod Lutherans are the far right segment of Lutherans who view gays and the separation of church and state with as much disdain as Pat Robertson and similar Christo-fascists who have nothing but contempt for the religious freedoms of other citizens. The ELCA and Missouri Synod are light years apart in their approach to gay Christians.

Sunday Male Beauty

Suspect in 4 Killings Posted Violent Rap Songs

As controversy over Buju Banton's (Banton is pictured at left) scheduled performance this week at the NORVA Theater continues to swirl, news of brutal murders in sleepy Farmville, Virginia, suggest that violent songs about murder and violence can just maybe lead to terrible consequences. Banton can say whatever he wants, but sing about shooting gays and throwing acid on the victims bodies may be all that some deranged folks need to put them over the edge - especially when such performers appear at what are allegedly respectable venues. I continue to hope that the NORVA will see the light and if the venue doesn't, the planned protests at the theater will bring the NORVA some less than flattering media coverage. Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot about a case of song lyrics becoming reality:

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Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III rapped about the thrill of murder in songs he posted on the Internet. Police believe the fantasy lyrics became a gruesome reality in a small Virginia college town. McCroskey, 20, was being held Sunday in the killings of four people who were found at a Longwood University professor's home near campus in Farmville, which is about 50 miles west of Richmond. McCroskey, of Castro Valley, Calif., faces charges of first-degree murder, robbery and grand larceny of an automobile, said Farmville police Capt. Wade Stimpson.

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The aspiring rapper in the underground horrorcore genre, which sets violent lyrics to hip-hop beats, was arrested Saturday at a Richmond airport, where authorities believe he was trying to catch a flight back to California. A day earlier, authorities discovered the bodies in the home of Debra S. Kelley, an associate professor of sociology and criminal justice studies, school spokeswoman Gina Caldwell. Authorities have not released the names of those killed or said how they died. McCroskey recorded songs that spoke of death, murder and mutilation under the name Syko Sam.

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"You're not the first, just to let you know. I've killed many people and I kill them real slow. It's the best feeling, watching their last breath. Stabbing and stabbing till there's nothing left," McCroskey sings in "My Dark Side."

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I am all for free speech, but do we really need such vile garbage being sung on the airwaves? It is beyond sick - just like Banton's songs about murdering gays.

Coming Out At Work - Still A Dangerous Step for Many

I came across an article on coming out at work that was depressing in many ways in terms of the fear in which many LGT citizens live their lives at work. Approximately 29 states provide LGBT citizens with absolutely no employment non-discrimination protections and many employers that claim they do not discriminate in fact do so regularly. A case in point is larger law firms in Virginia: to interview at the state's leading law schools they must agree that they will not discriminate based on sexual orientation in hiring and continued employment decisions. Yet almost none of these large law firms have openly gay and lesbian attorneys and LGBT attorneys that I know at local large law firms live in constant terror of being fired should their sexual orientation become known to senior partners. Obviously, when you live in constant fear on the job, it takes a toll on one's productivity and morale as I know from my own experience before I was forced from a bigoted firm after I came out. Anti-gay discrimination - which is basically sanctioned religious based discrimination - needs to be eradicated from the workplace and we truly need legislation at the federal level to force backward states like Virginia into the 21st century. Here are some story highlights:

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I finally watched the film Milk this summer. I loved the movie and was enthralled by Sean Penn's performance. But I couldn't help but feel a bit disheartened about how little some things have changed in the 31 years since Harvey Milk's assassination.

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In July, Wall Street Journal columnist Alexandra Levit offered up these sobering statistics: "A recent Harris poll conducted with Out & Equal and Witeck-Combs Communications indicated that 44% of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) participants feel unable to talk freely to co-workers about their partners, and up to 78% don't feel comfortable bringing their partners to corporate social functions."

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Curious about where my gay and lesbian pals now stood on coming out at work, I took an informal poll. Their answers ran the gamut: Those with gay-friendly employers didn't bat an eye at putting a picture of their partner on their desk or bringing them to company events. But some who worked in much more of a "don't ask, don't tell" environment kept quiet about their personal lives. "I'd love to give you a quote using my real name," said one pal who works in academia. "But I'm trying to get tenure and I don't want to do anything to jeopardize that."

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The whole topic hit home again to me after visiting New York where there ARE employment protects as flawed as they might be in application. Here in Virginia I often feel that prevention of animal cruelty ranks higher with our legislators than preventing cruelty to other humans.