Southern Decadence Protest Leader Arrested for Masturbating in Public Park

Why is it that it seems that hardly a day doesn't go by without some loud mouth Christianist homophobe or another getting caught up in some kind of kinky sexual escapade or some type of inappropriate sexual behavior that flies in the face of the "family values" they claim to champion? The hypocrisy is truly stunning. Today's addition to the list of gay haters who have been caught in their own sexual peccadillo is the Rev. Grant Storms, the Christian fundamentalist known for his bullhorn protests of the Southern Decadence festival in the French Quarter. It seems the good reverend was wanking off in Lafreniere Park (a public park) near the carousel and children's playground. Two women called police who took Storms into custody. Here are highlights from the Times Picayune:
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The Rev. Grant Storms, the Christian fundamentalist known for his bullhorn protests of the Southern Decadence festival in the French Quarter, was arrested on a charge of masturbating at a Metairie park Friday afternoon.
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The first woman told deputies she was taking her children to the playground and parked next to the van at about noon. As she was walking around her own vehicle, she noticed the van windows were down and the occupant [Storms] was "looking at the playground area that contained children playing, with his zipper down...," the report said. The woman noted that he was masturbating and quickly ushered her children out of her car.
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The two women flagged down a park employee who notified the Sheriff's Office. The employee detained the man, later identified as Storms, until deputies arrived. Storms told deputies he was having lunch at the park when he decided to urinate using a bottle instead of the restroom, the report said.
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Deputies booked him with obscenity. Bond was set at $5,000, but he was released from the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna on Sunday because of jail crowding.
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Storms could not be reached for comment on Monday. A self-styled "Christian patriot," Storms led a small West Bank congregation called The Reformer Church and for 10 years hosted "The Reformer Radio Show" on WSHO.
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He is especially known for arming followers with bullhorns, Bibles and picket signs to protest Southern Decadence, the three-day gay festival held in the French Quarter during Labor Day weekend. Storms grabbed national attention in 2003 with his failed attempts to shut down what Southern Decadence organizer Chuck Robinson called a peaceful festival that celebrates gay and alternative lifestyles.
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"He's done everything through the years to disturb that and try to make it into something nasty that it's not," Robinson said. "If the Rev. Storms is caught doing that in our city, it is ludicrous and heinous that he would have the nerve to complain about any kind of sexuality."

More Monday Male Beauty

LA Times: Allow Same-Sex Weddings, Now

The Los Angeles Times has a great main page editorial making the case for allowing same sex marriages now in support of the request of the plaintiffs in the Prop. 8 case to suspend the stay of the District Court ruling in Perry v. Schwarzenegger pending the 9th Circuit's decision on appeal. The editorial makes the case that each day that couples are denied the right to marry they are denied equal protection under the U. S. Constitution. As noted many times on this blog, the only reason that gays have been denied equality is because of the improper special rights and privileges given to anti-gay religious views. It is far past time that special privileges cease being given out to a particularly toxic and hate based set of religious beliefs. Here are highlights from the editorial:
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Enough already. Gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to wed while the case works its way through the system.
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The state Supreme Court was asked by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to rule on whether supporters of Proposition 8 have the right — known as "standing" — to continue with their case. It indicated that it would hear arguments late this year, with a ruling likely to follow a few months later. Meanwhile, a stay pending the outcome of the appeal has kept gay weddings from going forward. Now, however, the lawyers challenging Proposition 8 have asked the 9th Circuit to lift the stay and allow the weddings to take place. We agree that it should.
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Every day that the case drags on, gay and lesbian couples who would like to marry are being deprived of their civil rights. That's not our wording; the federal trial judge decided that issue, at least for now. The denial of constitutional rights, even temporarily, is a deplorable situation that must meet high legal standards to be allowed to continue. In our view, those conditions have not been met.
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Those filing the appeal must show that they would be irreparably harmed if the stay were lifted; the courts also take into account where the public interest lies. During the trial, the supporters of Proposition 8 were unable to identify any harm that would befall them if same-sex weddings took place.
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Right now, same-sex couples are being deprived of their constitutional right to marry, and every indication is that unless the stay is lifted, they'll have to keep waiting for more than a year. That is real harm, and there is no valid reason to allow it to continue.
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Needless to say, I concur 100% with the LA Times' analysis.

GOP Budget Plan Would Cost 700,000 Jjobs

To me it's amazing how the GOP continues to dupe working class and middle class voters into supporting policies that are clearly against their own best interests. Indeed, many of the Tea Party crowd are working to support candidates who will quickly jettison them over the side of the economic ship once in office. A new independent study of the impact of the GOP budget plan reveals that the GOP plan would cost 700,000 jobs - yep, instead of creating jobs it would do the exact opposite. Yet the sheeple continue to listen to the disingenuous bullshit emanating from the GOP. Here are highlights from the Washington Post on the study findings:
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A Republican plan to sharply cut federal spending this year would destroy 700,000 jobs through 2012, according to an independent economic analysis set for release Monday.

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The report, by Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi, offers fresh ammunition to Democrats seeking block the Republican plan, which would terminate dozens of programs and slash federal appropriations by $61 billion over the next seven months.

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Zandi, an architect of the 2009 stimulus package who has advised both political parties, predicts that the GOP package would reduce economic growth by 0.5 percentage points this year, and by 0.2 percentage points in 2012, resulting in 700,000 fewer jobs by the end of next year.
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"Significant government spending restraint is vital, but given the still halting economic recovery, it would be counterproductive for that restraint to begin until the economy is creating enough jobs to bring down the still very high unemployment rate," Zandi writes. "Shutting the government down for any length of time would also be taking a big chance with the recovery, not only because of the disruption to government services, but also due to the potential hit to the fragile collective psyche."

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One would hope that rational thought and analysis would kick in, but with the GOP base and the Tea Party set, objective reality means little.

Monday Male Beauty

British Cricket Pro Announces He is Gay

Professional sports continues to be a segment of society where life in the closet still predominates as homophobic jocks continue to show their ignorance and small mindedness all too much of the time. The only way hearts and minds are changed is by having individual muster the courage to come out and smash the bigoted stereotypes and prove them wrong. Steven Davies - an English Cricket star has joined the small but growing number of professional athletes who slowly but steadily destroying the old stereotypes and hopefully blazing a trail for younger generations to follow. I lived in denial and in the closet for decades. I know all too well how destructive it is and how it slowly kills one's soul. I congratulate Davies on his courage and wish him the best of luck as he moves forward in his career. Here are highlights from the Telegraph:
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In a frank and moving interview with today’s Daily Telegraph, Davies, who started his professional cricketing career with Worcestershire when he was 18, said he could no longer bear to lie about his sexuality.
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Davies, who told his family he was gay five years ago and has enjoyed their complete support, said it was a huge relief to finally come clean and be honest with the wider public.
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"I'm comfortable with who I am - and happy to say who I am in public," Davies said. And he said he hoped his decision would help other young gay people to have the confidence to follow in his footsteps.

Albert Mohler Tells Focus on the FamilyListeners to Face Inevitability of Gay Marraige

I typically view Albert Mohler of the Southern Baptist Convention to be pretty untethered from objective reality as he clings desperately to an inerrant approach to the Bible and argues against evolution and many other aspects of modernity. Thus it was a huge surprise to read at Right Wing Watch that Mohler has said during an interview on FOTF's radio programing that gay marriage was inevitable and that the wingnut elements of the Christianists needed start facing that reality. No doubt Daddy Dobson, Tony Perkins, Maggie Gallagher, et al, nearly wet themselves as Mohler uttered these statements. The homophobia of the Christianists is driving more and more individuals - especially youths - from Christianity and, in my view, the Christianist need to change or they will be the ones responsible for killing off Christianity. Here are highlights from Right Wing Watch:
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Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, joined Focus on the Family's Jim Daly on his radio program to discuss the news that the Obama administration would no longer defend DOMA in court.
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During the discussion, Mohler said that it is all but inevitable that day is coming when marriage equality will "become normalized, legalized, and recognized in the culture" and that Christians had better be prepared for living in a nation where they find themselves in the minority.
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Mohler: Well Jim I appreciate your candor in that because I think a lot of Christian conservatives are going to try to deny the obvious. I mean, when we talk about same-sex marriage, we talk about something that is already legal in one form or another in basically twelve states. So whether they call it marriage, as they do in a few states, or marriage lite as they have now in twelve states, the reality is that a good number of Americans are living where they're already facing not just the inevitably, but the reality of same-sex marriage. I think it's clear that something like same-sex marriage - indeed, almost exactly what we would envision by that - is going to become normalized, legalized, and recognized in the culture. It's time for Christians to start thinking about how we're going to deal with that.
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I think in the United States, Evangelical Christians in particular, have kind of grown accustomed to having our beliefs and moral convictions and ways of life supported by the state, by the larger culture and we're going to have to learn what it means to live faithfully as Christians when we do not have those supports. You know, it's one thing to live believing that you're in the majority position - everything comes pretty easy that way ...
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Despite the inevitability of gay marriage nationwide, we can expect Maggie Gallagher and other self-enriching culture war whores to continue to milk opposition to gay marriage for every dollar they can wring out of the sheeple.

Sunday Male Beauty

Gay Surfers to be Represented at Sydney Mardi Gras

I have written about GaySurfers.net before. The group launched in Australia with a goal of creating a network around the globe to create a global community of gays who love the sport of surfing and which would include members from around the world who may be isolated geographically or socially. This goal is being realized and soon I will be writing about an event to take place in North Carolina's Outer Banks in conjunction with OBXPridefest. Back in Australia, GaySurfers.net ("GS") is poised to gain more visibility as the group prepares to participate in Sydney's Gay Mardi Gras event. Here are some details and more information can be found here:
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This year, the 2011 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras will have for the first time in history, a group of surfers taking part in the parade and marching along Oxford Street with their surfboards. Thomas, the founder of GaySurfers.net explains, “By participating in Mardi Gras, we are showing the public that a healthy diversity exists in both the gay community and the surfing community.”
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GaySurfers.net launched in February 2010, is free to join and offers gay surfers from every point on the planet a place to meet, socialise, create surf GROUPS based on geographic location and plan surf EVENTS. Members can post UPDATES about what’s happening in their surf world, share articles and favourite surf spots, participate in FORUMS and upload surf videos and photos. One exciting component of the website is the global mapping of gay friendly surf spots, surf tours, accommodation and businesses. ‘It’s fast becoming a global surf guide for surfers who are gay.’ In just one year, GaySurfers.net has almost 3,000 members from around 80 countries. Australia itself has 650 participating members and 250 of these surf Sydney’s surrounding beaches.
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Our site breaks down prejudice and builds up self-esteem by creating a network of openly gay surfers who understand the trials of being homosexual within surf culture; essentially, we’re making it easier for them to accept themselves. That’s a big part of our mission: to remove shame from the equation and help gay surfers be the best they can be.
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The site is designed for men and women, and all ages seem to be jumping on board. ‘We’re stoked that younger surfers are finding and using the site to network with other surfers.’ This is especially important as younger guys who are just discovering their homosexuality need the most support and encouragement – especially in light of recent, tragic news of homophobic bullying and suicides among gay teenagers.
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As GaySurfers.net grows, I hope our message of acceptance and understanding spreads throughout the global surfing community. Nomads unite! Gay or straight, we all share a passion for the greatest sport in the world.

Gingrich's Disingenous Calls to Faith

As noted before, the GOP continues to cynically and disingenuously use religion to pander for votes from the Kool-Aid drinking set and those who by their own laziness and disengagement make the choice daily to embrace ignorance. Yes, my assessment is harsh, but for democracy to work, citizens have an affirmative obligation to educate themselves on issues and matters of public debate. And that requires far more than watching Fox News and/or listening to Bible beaters in the pulpit. Yet, far to many Americans actively choose ignorance as they listen to people whose personal lives indicate that they don't mean a single word or slogan that spills from their lips. A case in point? Newt Gingrich the thrice married and frequent adulterer who is pitching faith and pretending the protect the "sanctity of marriage" - even though he's dragged his own marriage through the mud and made a mockery of the institution. Only a simpleton or moron should believe a word that Gingrich says. Here are highlights from the New York Times on Gingrich's disingenuous ploy:
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[Gingrich] will also have to grapple with aspects of his life and career that could give pause to elements of the Republican primary electorate, including a lack of a well-established association with religious conservatives and attendant questions about his two divorces.
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So as he travels the country, he is striking two related notes: that the nation faces not just a fiscal crisis but also a loss of its moral foundation, and that his conversion to Catholicism two years ago is part of an evolution that has given him a deeper appreciation for the role of faith in public life.
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On a recent winter night here, Mr. Gingrich, 67, stood on stage at a Catholic school with his wife, Callista, and introduced a film they produced about the role Pope John Paul II played in the fall of Communism in Poland. As Mr. Gingrich looked out over a crowd of 1,300 people, he warned that the United States had become too secular a society.
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To most audiences, Mr. Gingrich does not talk directly about converting to Catholicism, but his faith has become an important part of his dialogue with conservative voters.
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In an interview, Mr. Gingrich said he knew that a campaign would bring new attention on the full scope of his personal and political background. Last week, in an appearance at the University of Pennsylvania, he grew testy when he received a question from a Democratic student activist about the details of his two divorces.
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Mr. and Mrs. Gingrich sat for more than an hour signing inscriptions, with his best-selling book, “Rediscovering God in America,” a particularly popular item on this snowy night in Ohio.
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Dr. Jack Willke, an early leader in the anti-abortion movement in Ohio and across the country, was among those waiting for an autograph. Dr. Willke said he was delighted that Mr. Gingrich had increased the role of faith in his public appearances, something that he said he did not recall during Mr. Gingrich’s tenure as speaker of the House.
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As Dr. Willke and his wife, Barbara, mingled with others in the crowd, Mrs. Willke said she was delighted to read about Mr. Gingrich’s baptism as a Catholic in March 2009. When one woman asked about his conversion, Mrs. Willke replied: “His Catholicism certainly sounds legit, and even more so since Callista is in the picture now.”
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There are plenty of suckers throughout the electorate and Gingrich seems bent on playing them for fools with his bogus reinvention of himself.