More Tuesday Male Beauty

Why "Religious Belief" Should Not be Afforded Special Rights

My post this morning about Jennifer Keeton, the self-created Christian martyr who wants special rights based on her religious beliefs, prompted a comment from a new Christo-fascist blogger who is apparently as self-centered as Keeton and who doesn't appreciate how ludicrous her argument is when standard Christian Right arguments about immutable characteristics are applied to religion. Granted, the Constitution in theory affords all citizens (other than gays, apparently in most of the USA) the right to freedom of religion. And given the European religious wars, the establishment of the Church of England in the thirteen colonies while under British rule, and other religious persecution horrors of their day, the Founding Fathers had good reason for writing freedom of religion into the Constitution. However, I suspect they never expected freedom of religion to be used as an excuse to ignore civil laws, flagrantly discriminate against other citizens, advocate physical violence and murder against other citizens (the photo above shows where Christianist "freedom of religion could lead), and seek to impose a theocracy on other citizens. Yet that is precisely what the Christian Right seek to do based on the right to freedom of religion - even though they deprive others of the very rights they themselves claim.

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In seeking to further their theocratic agenda, the constant mantra of the Christian Right talking heads and charlatans who shill religion in exchange for money (and a plush living) is that gays want "special rights." The truth, of course is that we gays merely want EQUAL rights under the civil laws which need to avoid upholding one particular religious belief or doctrine above all others. No, truth be told, it is the self-centered, self-absorbed and self-congratulatory Christians who want special rights. They want the special right to inflict their supposed devoutly held beliefs on all other citizens, the special right to ignore non-discrimination laws, the right to ignore medical and mental health regulations and protocols, and the right to trample on the rights of those of differing faiths and beliefs.

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The most disingenuous anti-gay argument that these Christo-fascists make is that only immutable characteristics are worthy of non-discrimination protections. Stated differently, only things like race, age, national origin, gender which an individual cannot change deserve non-discrimination protections. In their next breath, these godly Christians pronounce that sexual orientation is not immutable and, being merely a choice, is not something worthy of constitutional non-discrimination protections. The argument is, of course, a lie. All legitimate medical and mental health associations hold the position that sexual orientation is not a choice or changeable. But what is clearly easily changeable and not immutable? Why, religion, of course. Individuals across the nation (and world) change denominations and leave faith traditions literally daily. Barna studies have shown that the number of individuals doing this is huge. Religious belief is nothing more than a matter of indoctrination - may I say brainwashing - from an early age and/or a function of certain personality/psychological infirmities that require a "to do list" that voids the need for independent thought and moral analysis.

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Thus, if one buys the Christofacists' immutability argument, religion should be the first category to lose protections. Personally, I'm not advocating anything that extreme. All I ask is that religious extremists be put in their place and that it be made clear that so-called religious belief does not give one carte blanche to pick and choose what civil laws and medical/mental health knowledge one will adhere to when out in professions and the civil arena. In short, there should be no special rights afforded to religion. Believe what you want in your home or house of worship, but do not inflict in on me so as to make me a second class citizen.

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As for Jennifer Keeton and other self-described Christians who whine that they are being persecuted, they need to stop the lies and bullshit and face the fact that THEY are the ones demanding special rights and that THEY are the persecutors and not the ones being persecuted.

Woman Takes Command of Navy Strike Group

With the current controversy over allowing gays to serve openly in the U.S. military, it is important to remember that not so many years ago similar naysayers were pontificating that women in combat roles would destroy the military, lead to all kinds of fraternization and - the horrors - sexual misconduct. Joining in the nay saying were senior military brass and male chauvinists like Jim Webb, now U.S. Senator from Virginia. Not surprisingly, all the dire predictions failed to come to pass and the bigots and chauvinists were proven wrong. The same thing will happen if and when our "fierce advocate" in the White House grows some balls and exercises leadership - something that we've learned is not his strong suit. But getting back to the post headline. For the first time EVER in U.S. military history, a woman is taking command of a Navy Strike Group (formerly called a Battle Group). To understand what a big deal this is, one needs to understand what makes up a Strike Group: a nuclear powered super carrier, an air wing, a destroyer squadron, guided missile cruisers, guided missile destroyers, sometimes one or two submarines, and assorted support ships, including oilers and supply ships. The number of service members in a Strike Groups numbers in the many thousands (the carrier and air wing involve about 5,800 men/women alone). And now a woman, Rear Admiral Nora Tyson (pictured above), will command such a Strike Group. A Strike Group which includes 12 ships plus the super carrier Bush and an air wing. I wish Admiral Tyson the best and hope she makes Jim Webb, other anti-woman elements and nutcases like Phyllis Schlafly who opposes women in the military look like jackass. Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot:
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Rear Adm. Nora Tyson will become the first woman to take command of a carrier strike group in a ceremony Thursday aboard the carrier George H.W. Bush at Norfolk Naval Station. Tyson will assume command of Carrier Strike Group 2 from Capt. Jeffrey Hesterman, the acting commander.
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She has served most recently as executive assistant to Adm. Gary Roughead, the chief of naval operations. Roughead will be on hand for the 3:30 p.m. ceremony.
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The Norfolk-based Bush is America’s newest aircraft carrier. The 10th and final Nimitz-class carrier, it was commissioned Jan. 10, 2009. It is preparing for its maiden deployment in 2011.
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Tyson will lead a complement of ships and aircraft that includes the cruisers Philippine Sea, Gettysburg, Monterey, and Vella Gulf; the destroyers Bainbridge, James E. Williams, Mahan, Nitze, Mitscher, and Truxtun ; the frigates Carr and Hawes; and Carrier Air Wing 8.

Lady Gaga Backs LGBT Youth Shelters

I may be revealing my age or my lack of constant music listen, but other than hearing conversations and seeing news articles about Lady Gaga, I wasn't up to speed as to who she is and her outspoken support for the LGBT community. That changed dramatically at the National Equality March last October when I heard Lady Gaga speak (she's pictured at left about 20 feet from where the boyfriend and I were standing in the press area). Her "President Obama, are you listen?" will echo for a long time to come - especially since Obama clearly is NOT listening. Now, Gaga is working to assist shelters for homeless teens with strong outreach for LGBT youth who so often become homeless when they are thrown out and disowned by their "godly Christian" parents. Knowing individuals that experienced such examples of "Christian love" and seeing first hand the damage that it does, I applaud Lady Gaga's actions. Here are highlights from The Advocate:
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Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball tour has sold out stadiums across the world, and diehard fans will seemingly do just about anything for a ticket. Which is likely how Lady Gaga tour sponsor Virgin Mobile came up with an idea to benefit a cause close to her heart. Gaga and Virgin have partnered with homeless youth shelters and programs with strong LGBT outreach to attract volunteers willing to give eight hours of their time in exchange for concert tickets.
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Tuesday morning in Los Angeles, 14 volunteers — mostly teens and 20-somethings — picked up paint brushes and rollers to paint Hollywood’s Covenant House, an outreach program and homeless youth shelter dedicated to getting kids off the streets.
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“I’d say about 10% of our youth are LGBT,” Covenant House California Associate Executive Director Sylvia LaMalfa told The Advocate. “It’s sad to say, but a disproportionately high number of youth are driven from their homes because they’re LGBT.”
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The volunteers were all there for different reasons, the promise of Gaga tickets the icing on the cake, and several shared Gaga’s dedication to LGBT youth causes. . . . He says gay fans are so devoted to Lady Gaga because she’s that rare artist who speaks out for gay rights and really goes the distance. “A lot of artists won’t go full-force,” he said. “But she’s not afraid to throw it all out on the table — to demand action from the president even.”
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“One in five of the homeless youth population in the U.S. are LGBT,” Virgin Mobile USA Cause Manager Felicia Hill told The Advocate. “And that was key to Lady Gaga picking these organizations — they have to feature LGBT friendly programs and focus on LGBT youth.”

Tuesday Male Beauty

The Sad Truth About the Failed War in Afghanistan

The leaking of secret documents released on the Internet by WikiLeaks is being condemned by some - including the White House - when in reality, I believe the leakers have done a service to USA voters and exposed this failed fool's errand in many ways for what it is. Other than a quick mission to capture the members of Al Qaeda linked to the 9-11 terror attack, the USA had no business trying to nation build in a country that has shown for thousands of years that it cannot be conquered. Sadly, that did not stop American hubris and the squandering of billions of dollars and countless lives when one adds in the civilian death toll. The other warped aspect of the leaks is that a suspected leaker will likely face years of imprisonment while nothing is done to punish those documented to have killed civilians and to have lied to U.S. politicians and the U.S. public. It's ass backwards in my view to say the least. Nowadays, "classified" when applied to military and political documents translates to information that needs to be hidden so that the public doesn't know the truth. Here are highlights from yesterday and today's New York Times, respectively:
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A six-year archive of classified military documents made public on Sunday offers an unvarnished, ground-level picture of the war in Afghanistan that is in many respects more grim than the official portrayal.
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The New York Times, the British newspaper The Guardian and the German magazine Der Spiegel were given access to the voluminous records several weeks ago on the condition that they not report on the material before Sunday.
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The documents — some 92,000 reports spanning parts of two administrations from January 2004 through December 2009 — illustrate in mosaic detail why, after the United States has spent almost $300 billion on the war in Afghanistan, the Taliban are stronger than at any time since 2001.
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As the new American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David H. Petraeus, tries to reverse the lagging war effort, the documents sketch a war hamstrung by an Afghan government, police force and army of questionable loyalty and competence, and by a Pakistani military that appears at best uncooperative and at worst to work from the shadows as an unspoken ally of the very insurgent forces the American-led coalition is trying to defeat.
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The reports — usually spare summaries but sometimes detailed narratives — shed light on some elements of the war that have been largely hidden from the public eye:
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• The Taliban have used portable heat-seeking missiles against allied aircraft, a fact that has not been publicly disclosed by the military. This type of weapon helped the Afghan mujahedeen defeat the Soviet occupation in the 1980s.
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• Secret commando units like Task Force 373 — a classified group of Army and Navy special operatives — work from a “capture/kill list” of about 70 top insurgent commanders. These missions, which have been stepped up under the Obama administration, claim notable successes, but have sometimes gone wrong, killing civilians and stoking Afghan resentment.
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• The military employs more and more drone aircraft to survey the battlefield and strike targets in Afghanistan, although their performance is less impressive than officially portrayed. Some crash or collide, forcing American troops to undertake risky retrieval missions before the Taliban can claim the drone’s weaponry.
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• The Central Intelligence Agency has expanded paramilitary operations inside Afghanistan. The units launch ambushes, order airstrikes and conduct night raids. From 2001 to 2008, the C.I.A. paid the budget of Afghanistan’s spy agency and ran it as a virtual subsidiary.
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Over all, the documents do not contradict official accounts of the war. But in some cases the documents show that the American military made misleading public statements — attributing the downing of a helicopter to conventional weapons instead of heat-seeking missiles or giving Afghans credit for missions carried out by Special Operations commandos.
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They [the leaked documents]suggest that the military’s internal assessments of the prospects for winning over the Afghan public, especially in the early days, were often optimistic, even naïve.
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And in today's paper these are some of the highlights:
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The disclosures, with their detailed account of a war faring even more poorly than two administrations had portrayed, landed at a crucial moment. Because of difficulties on the ground and mounting casualties in the war, the debate over the American presence in Afghanistan has begun earlier than expected. Inside the administration, more officials are privately questioning the policy.
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In Congress, House leaders were rushing to hold a vote on a critical war-financing bill as early as Tuesday, fearing that the disclosures could stoke Democratic opposition to the measure.
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“We don’t know how to react,” one frustrated administration official said on Monday. “This obviously puts Congress and the public in a bad mood.”

*Mr. Obama is facing a tough choice: he must either figure out a way to convince Congress and the American people that his war strategy remains on track and is seeing fruit — a harder sell given that the war is lagging — or move more quickly to a far more limited American presence.
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As the debate over the war begins anew, administration officials have been striking tones similar to the Bush administration’s to argue for continuing the current Afghanistan strategy, which calls for a significant troop buildup.
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The White House appeared to be focusing some of its ire toward Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks.org, the Web site that provided access to about 92,000 secret military reports spanning the period from January 2004 through December 2009.
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White House officials e-mailed reporters select transcripts of an interview Mr. Assange conducted with Der Spiegel, underlining the quotations the White House apparently found most offensive. Among them was Mr. Assange’s assertion, “I enjoy crushing bastards.”
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At a news conference in London on Monday, Mr. Assange defended the release of the documents. “I’d like to see this material taken seriously and investigated, and new policies, if not prosecutions, result from it,” he said.
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The admission that the USA is on a fool's errand instigated by Chimperator Bush and Emperor Palpatine Cheney and a military brass always only too ready to rush headlong into war would be a good start. I also agree with Assange that prosecutions are needed. The whole Afghanistan debacle is like a slow re-run of Vietnam. Will the U.S. military never learn from its past fiascos?

Yet Another Faux Christian Martyr - Jennifer Keeton

It looks like there may be another Carrie Prejean out to use false allegations of anti-Christian prejudice to boost her celebrity. This time the self-made martyrdom is taking place at Augusta State University in Georgia. One Jennifer Keeton, a graduate student in the school of counseling, is claiming that she was persecuted and threatened with expulsion if she did not sacrifice her religious beliefs and complete a remediation plan that includes diversity sensitivity workshops. Ms. Keeton has been most vocal in braying her view that homosexuality is "immoral and a lifestyle choice." Frankly, if those are Keeton's views, she needs to be expelled from a program that would giver her a graduate degree and unloose her on an unsuspecting public. EVERY legitimate medical and mental health association holds that homosexuality is NOT a choice, is not changeable and the APA has condemned ex-gay therapy as unethical. If Ms. Keeton wants to be a licensed professional in this field, she needs to embrace scientific knowledge or find a different area of endeavor where she will not be likely harming patients. Personally, I am way over supposed professionals wrapping themselves in ignorant religious based bigotry and then playing the martyr. Here are highlights from the Atlanta Constitution:
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A graduate student has filed a lawsuit accusing Augusta State University officials of violating her constitutional rights by ordering her to change her views opposing homosexuality.
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Jennifer Keeton, a graduate student in the school of counseling, says in her court filing that the school threatened to expel her if she didn't complete a remediation plan that includes diversity sensitivity workshops. Keeton had said in and out class that, according to her Christian beliefs, homosexuality is immoral and a lifestyle choice, according to her suit.
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Keeton is represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, a coalition of Christian attorneys. The suit accuses Augusta State officials of violating Keeton's First Amendment rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion.
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Keeton, who is pursuing a master's degree in the education college's counseling program, was told her beliefs are incompatible with the prevailing views of the counseling profession, her attorneys said in a news release. The lawsuit argues those beliefs would not affect Keeton's ability to counsel gays and lesbians.
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The defense fund has filed similar lawsuits against Missouri State University and Eastern Michigan University.
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There is no explanation as to why Keeton is in graduate school when a good Christian woman should be barefoot and pregnant and not working outside the home if her alleged religious beliefs were applied to their logical conclusion. Oh, and no word yet on whether Keeton has fake boobs or has made sex videos like Prejean.

More Monday Male Beauty

University of Virginia Study Debunks Christianist Lies About Gay Parenting

In addition to a number of embarrassingly low attendance events on its cross-country bus trip campaign against gay marriage - several events, including the event in Indianapolis where the photo above was taken by a Bilerico Project contributor, have had less than a dozen or so pro-NOM attendees - the National Association for Marriage ("NOM") just suffered another humiliation. A new University of Virginia study has determined that children adopted and raised by lesbian and gay couples are thriving and progressing just as well as children being raised by heterosexual couples. So much for the constantly repeated disingenuous Christianist canard that children must have a "mother and father" in order to develop properly and thrive. Like just about everything else that spews from the mouth of Maggie Gallagher and her self-enriching cohorts at NOM, one of NOM's main platforms for opposing same sex marriage has once again proven to be a total lie. Oh, I forgot: Christianists deem themselves to be exempt from the Commandment against lying and bearing false witness. In any event, here are some highlights from the Staunton News Leader:
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Should the sexual orientation of prospective adoptive parents be considered when placing children in adoptive homes? . . . In a sample of 106 adoptive children living in different parts of the United States, youngsters were developing well regardless of whether they were living with lesbian, gay or heterosexual parenting couples. The study found that whether or not adoptive children were developing in positive ways was unrelated to the sexual orientation of their adoptive parents.
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"We found that children adopted by lesbian and gay couples are thriving," said U.Va. psychology professor Charlotte J. Patterson, who led the study. "Our results provide no justification for denying lesbian or gay prospective adoptive parents the opportunity to adopt children. With thousands of children in need of permanent homes in the United States alone, our findings suggest that outreach to lesbian and gay prospective adoptive parents might benefit children who are in need."
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Using standardized assessment procedures, researchers found that parents and teachers agreed, on average, that the children were developing in typical ways. Measures of children's adjustment, as well as parenting practices and stress, were found to be unassociated with the parents' sexual orientation. And, regardless of their parents' sexual orientation, how well children were adjusted was significantly associated with how warmly their parents were oriented to them.

Target Donates $150,000 to Anti-Gay Politicians

I have long thought that Target stores offered good value for the money and have shopped there frequently - at least until now. Hence forth I will be avoiding Target like the plague. In fact, knowing what I know now, I am glad that on my last shopping outing a week or so ago, I found what I was looking for before going to Target. It seems that despite the what I suspect has been a high level of expenditures and support financial by the LGBT market, Target has donated $150,000 or more to anti-gay politicians and basically told the LGBT community to go f*ck itself. I am a strong advocate for the LGBT community using its immense purchasing power to punish corporations that prefer to kiss up to Christianists and others who would maintain religious based discrimination in the CIVIL laws. Target has made its choice and not a penny of my money will find its way to Target. Both Change.org and SFist have details on Target's anti-gay contributions. Here are highlights from SFist.com:
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The story goes like this:
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Bradlee Dean, the frontman of a Christian rock band in Minnesota called You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, recently said that Muslim countries that execute LGBTs are "more moral than even the American Christians," plus some mouth-foaming about gays engaging in abominations and child molestation. Ugh.
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So what's the Target connection? Well, Bradlee's ministry received money and support from Tom Emmer, an anti-gay Minnesota Republican running for Governor. And Tom Emmer's campaign got a boost from Minnesota Forward, a PAC running TV ads on his behalf. And Minnesota Forward got $150,000 -- which amounts to about a third of all of their donations -- from Target.
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So, to follow the money: Target gave $150,000 to Minnesota Forward, which bought TV ads for Tom Emmer, who says "I believe marriage is the union between one man and one woman," and who hangs out with a guy who thinks killing gays is moral.
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Tom Emmer seems to like Bradlee Dean -- as in, really like. "These are nice people," Tom said of the band. Meanwhile, Bradlee told an interviewer, "On average, they molest 117 people before they're found out. How many kids have been destroyed, how many adults have been destroyed because of crimes against nature?"

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Change.org has similar coverage, plus a means to communicate to Target one's unhappiness with Target's backing of gay-hating Christo-fascists. Here are highlights and details on how to voice your displeasure to Target:
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What makes this move all the more troubling is that Target openly markets to the LGBT community, and has previously incorporated a number of LGBT-specific corporate policies. For them to filter money, let alone such a high amount, to an organization funding a candidate with ties to an anti-gay hate group flies in the face of their corporate practice, and sends a message that a politics based on fear and hatred toward LGBT people is acceptable.
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Please email Target today to demand that they stop funding political candidates with a track record that runs counter to LGBT equality. In this particular case, the Minnesota politician in question, Tom Emmer, has clear ties to a group advocating violence toward LGBT people.
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Please sign the petition (I already have done so) and make it clear that Target's talking out of both sides of its mouth is NOT acceptable. Again the link to sign the petition is here.