NOM Hires "Glamourous, Non-Cognative" Kirk Cameron

Image via GLAAD

As readers may recall and as was noted on this blog, when documents were released in the Maine court case investigating NOM's blatant effort to ignore that state's campaign finance disclosure laws, one of the NOM agenda items exposed was: recruit glamorous but unintelligent celebrities. (p.19/20):

"Hollywood with its cultural biases is far bigger than we can hope to be. We recognize this. But we also recognize the opportunity - the disproportionate potential impact of proactively seeking to gather and connect a community of artists, athletes, writers, beauty queens and other glamorous non-cognitive elites across national boundaries. (This is applying the Witherspoon and IAV model to non-intellectual elites.)" (emphasis added)

Another agenda item was to drive a wedge between the gay and black communities.

NOM has obviously worked to implement the first approach - think Carrie Prejean - and now more currently in the form of Kirk Cameron.   Cameron, who really cannot be called a true celebrity any longer, seems only too willing to cooperate with NOM and was recently video taped regurgitating NOM's false anti-gay rhetoric.   All of which leaves me to wonder what's really motivating Cameron.  Particularly in light of the University of Rochester study that demonstrated that often the loudest anti-gay voices are those of the self-loathing closet cases.  Mr. Cameron doth protest too loudly.

Thursday Morning Male Beauty

A Supreme Court Showdown On DOMA

With six federal courts ruling that the Defense of Marriage Act  ("DOMA") is unconstitutional and major medical and mental health associations filing an amicus brief urging that DOMA be struck down and countering Christofascist claims that gay marriage and gay parenting harms children, the U. S. Supreme Court can no longer easily avoid the call to strike down DOMA.  I would argue that if the Supreme Court fails to strike down DOMA, its credibility will be severely damaged.  Only anti-gay animus fueled by religious extremism supports the legislation.  If there's any doubt, one need only look at the religious based statements made by many members of Congress during the debates leading to DOMA's enactment.  The New York Times weighed in yesterday with a call that DOMA be tossed on the trash heap of history.  Here are excerpts:

Six federal courts have ruled on the Defense of Marriage Act and reached the same conclusion: the 1996 law violates the Constitution by denying same-sex couples, who are legally married under state law, federal benefits afforded to heterosexual couples for no good reason. The issue has now officially landed at the Supreme Court.

Last week, the Obama administration asked the justices to review two court decisions — one by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and one by a Federal District Court in San Francisco — striking down the law’s denial of benefits on equal protection grounds. 

The administration agrees with those rulings but has asked the Supreme Court to decide the constitutional question authoritatively. House Republicans retained private counsel to defend the 16-year-old law because the Obama administration has declined to defend it in court. They have asked the justices to overturn the First Circuit ruling and uphold the law. 

It is a strong bet that the justices will take the appeal when they return from their summer break. The Justice Department is right that firmly resolving the issue is of great importance to the country and to tens of thousands of gay people denied benefits like the right to file joint tax returns and to receive spousal Social Security payments. We hope the justices will review the cases and issue a strong ruling striking down this noxious law.

The Defense of Marriage Act also heaps particular inequities on married gay service members and their families. Under the law, same-sex spouses are denied benefits granted to other military spouses, including medical and dental insurance, treatment in military medical facilities, discounted housing and surviving spouse benefits. This policy is completely at odds with the military’s goal of building a culture of openness and equality following the demise of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” 

Congress has no authority to enact unconstitutional laws that violate equal protection, disrespect valid marriages and mistreat gay people and their families. As the nation moves toward greater acceptance of same-sex marriage, there should be at least five justices willing to say that. 

Catholic Bishops Begin to Demand Loyalty Oaths. Is the Nazi Salute Next?

So much for freedom of conscience in a growing number of Roman Catholic dioceses, including the nearby Arlington Diocese that encompasses northern and parts of eastern Virginia.  Even volunteers are being demanded to sign onto a loyalty oath where they submit “of will and intellect” to all of the teachings of church leaders. The Catholic Church has always operated like a feudal dictatorship, but now the bishops and the Vatican want a conformity to their orders and perverted teachings that looks like something out of the Spanish Inquisition.  Given that Benedict XVI ran the modern day Inquisition - that was conveniently renamed to avoid the less than positive connotations of the organization's prior name - for roughly two decades, this development should not come as any surprise.  Of course, the bishops' mandate is that Catholics follow all Church teachings, including the condemnation of gays and contraception.  The move comes to late it would seem since a majority of Catholics approve of same sex marriage and over 90% of Catholic women use contraception.  Hopefully, this move will drive even more Catholics from the Church.  The Washington Post looks at this Inquisition mind set.  Here are highlights:

Last month, Riley joined at least four other Sunday school teachers and resigned from her post at St. Ann’s parish after a letter arrived at her home requiring her — and all teachers in the Arlington Catholic Diocese — to submit “of will and intellect” to all of the teachings of church leaders.

The Arlington Diocese, which includes nearly a half-million Catholics across northern and eastern Virginia, is one of a small but growing number that are starting to demand fidelity oaths. The oaths reflect a churchwide push in recent years to revive orthodoxy that has sharply divided Catholics.

Such oaths are not new for priests or nuns but extend now in some places to people like volunteer Sunday school teachers as well as workers at Catholic hospitals and parish offices.

One in Baker, Ore., reiterates the sinfulness of abortion and says, “I do not recognize the legitimacy of anyone’s claim to a moral right to form their own conscience in this matter.” One in Oakland, Calif., requires leaders of a group doing outreach to gay and lesbian Catholics to say they “affirm and believe” official church teaching on marriage, hell and chastity.

The Arlington “profession of faith” asks teachers to commit to “believe everything” the bishops characterize as divinely revealed, and Arlington’s top doctrine official said it would include things like the bishops’ recent campaign against a White House mandate that most employers offer contraception coverage. Critics consider the mandate a violation of religious freedom.

[F]or some, particularly more liberal Catholics, the oaths are an alarming effort to stamp out debate in the church at a time when it is bleeding members and clergy in the West. They note that church leaders’ views have changed over the centuries on various subjects, including contraception.

“I’m just shocked, I can’t believe they’re asking me to sign this,” said Riley, who said she may keep her own children out of the parish education program in the fall. “The bishops are human, and sometimes their judgment is not God’s judgment.

Zagarri said the oath was a “slap in the face” to Catholics who have remained active and close to the church despite controversies.   .   .   .   . in my view only a person who is willing to abandon her own reason and judgment, or who is willing to go against the dictates of her own conscience, can agree to sign such a document,” she wrote to Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde.

The Rev. Ronald Nuzzi, who heads the leadership program for Catholic educators at the University of Notre Dame, said many bishops “are in a pickle.” They want Catholic institutions to be staffed by people who not only teach what the church teaches but whose “whole life will bear witness.”

Nuzzi said he keeps a photo on his desk from the 1940s that shows all the German bishops in their garb, doing the Nazi salute.  “I keep it there to remind people who say to do everything the Church says, that their wisdom has limitations, too.”

One has to wonder what's next in this totalitarian batshitery: a revival of the auto de fe?  Oh, and does the loyalty oath mean one has to support the enabling of and cover ups for child rapist priests?

More Wednesday Male Beauty

National Medical And Psychological Groups File Amicus Brief Against DOMA

In yet another move to counter the the claims of anti-gay hate groups, professional Christians, fraudulent "family values" organizations and the political prostitutes of all of the foregoing in the Republican Party, a who's who of legitimate medical and mental health associations, including the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, have filed an amici curiae brief supporting Karen Golinski's discrimination case against the government, Golinski v. Office of Personnel, which seeks to have DOMA struck down as unconstitutional.  The lower court has already found DOMA to be unconstitutional and motivated by nothing other than anti-gay animus. It goes without saying that the anti-gay hate groups will be claiming that somehow LGBT individuals have somehow co=opted these associations.  Towleroard observes as follows on the amicus filing:

[T]he good doctors offer scores of scientific data showing that same-sex parents do no hurt children, but that the government's prohibitions on marriage equality do.

From their introduction:

The claim that legal recognition of marriage for same–sex couples undermines the institution of marriage and harms their children is inconsistent with the scientific evidence. That evidence supports the conclusion that homosexuality is a normal expression of human sexuality that is not chosen; that gay and lesbian people form stable, committed relationships that are equivalent to heterosexual relationships in essential respects; and that same-sex couples are no less fit than heterosexual parents to raise children and their children are no less psychologically healthy and well-adjusted than children of opposite sex parents.

And this comes from a section called "Homosexuality Is A Normal Expression Of Human Sexuality, Is Generally Not Chosen, And Is Highly Resistant To Change:"

Current scientific and professional understanding is that the core feelings that form the basis for adult sexual orientation typically emerge between middle childhood and early adolescence, without any necessary prior sexual experience. Most gay men and lesbian women do not experience their sexual orientation as the result of a voluntary choice.

And then there's this bit from their final argument:

The foregoing shows that the attitudes towards and beliefs about lesbians and gay men relied on by Congress in enacting DOMA – about their capacity for committed, long lasting relationships, and their ability to raise healthy well-adjusted children – are contradicted by the scientific evidence and instead reflect an unreasoned antipathy towards an identifiable minority. Amici accordingly support the judgment of Judge White that § 3 of DOMA appears to be based on an explicit animus against gay men and lesbians. In institutionalizing greater access by heterosexuals than gay men and lesbians to the many federal resources and benefits accorded married couples and their children, the Act conveys the federal government’s judgment that committed intimate relationships between people of the same sex – even when recognized as legal marriages by the couple’s state – are inferior to heterosexual relationships.

I can already hear the shrieks and screams of Maggie Gallagher, Tony Perkins, Bryan Fischer and those of their ilk who enrich themselves by disseminating hatred and falsehoods against others.  As note many times before on this blog, there is absolutely NOTHING to justify anti-gay laws and constitutional amendments other that religious based bigotry and the writings of ignorant ans uneducated Bronze Age herders and nomads.  Writings that modern science is continuing to expose as false and inaccurate.  DOMA needs to be struck down as do anti-ga constitutional amendments such as Virginia's nasty Marshall-Newman Amendment

Yvonne Miller - The Loss of a Courageous Ally

Virginia state Senator Yvonne Miller died last week  Not only did Virginia lose a political pioneer - Miller was the first African American woman to serve in the Virginia General Assembly, first serving in the House of Delegates and then later the Senate - but LGBT Virginians lost a courageous ally.  In fact, Equality Virginia recognized Yvonne Miller as one of its "Legends" for the furtherance of civil rights for all at its Legends Gala in November, 2007.   The Legends award recognized among other things Miller's refusal to support the heinous anti-gay Marshall-Newman Amendment despite the intense pressure she was receiving from black pastors who had been duped into supporting the Amendment by the thinly veiled white supremacists, bigots and theocrats at The Family Foundation.   I recall that at the 2007 award gala, Senator Miller at first said she only wanted to say a word or two, but then got fired up and spoke at length about the importance of equality for all citizens.  She made a point of attending all Legends Gala events in subsequent years.  Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot on her passing:

Hundreds of mourners, including dozens of state legislators, packed a Norfolk church Tuesday to pay tribute to state Sen. Yvonne Miller, the trailblazing lawmaker who died last week.

The first African American woman in both the House of Delegates and the state Senate, and the longest-serving woman ever in the Senate, Miller was eulogized as a passionate and tenacious defender of the dispossessed.

"She imitated Christ because she gave voice to the voiceless," especially children, whom she called "her precious ones," said state Sen. Donald McEachin, D-Richmond.

Miller was known for "standing up for public education, standing up for those who need help in the mental health area, standing up for those who are oppressed and those who live on the margins," McEachin said.

Miller, a Democrat who died after a battle with cancer July 3 - one day shy of her 78th birthday - had a unique blend of toughness and tenderness, former Gov. Tim Kaine said. "She was tough to the powerful, and she was tender to everybody else."

Tributes from President Barack Obama and Gov. Bob McDonnell were read to the crowd.

Born in Edenton, N.C., Miller was the oldest of 13 children and the first in her family to graduate from high school. She went on to earn a doctorate, taught 12 years in Norfolk's then-segregated school system and later spent 31 years as a Norfolk State University education professor.

Miller's life demonstrates that "one person can make a difference," said the Rev. William Tyree III of First Baptist Church, Berkley.

"Every accomplishment that Sen. Miller made, she reached back to pull somebody else along the way," Tyree said. "Every door of opportunity that was opened for her, she escorted somebody else who did not have opportunity or access."

I am proud that Equality Virginia honored this diminutive but tough fighter for equality and that I was on the Legends Committee when we chose to honor Yvonne Miller..

Wednesday Morning Male Beauty

Hate Group Weighs Boycott of Google Over "Legalize Love" Campaign

The lunatic and registered haters at the American Hate Family Association are besides themselves with Google.  Why?  Because Google has launched a world wide Legalize Love campaign to “to decriminalize homosexuality and eliminate homophobia around the world.”   Google describes the mindset as follows:

Though our business and employees are located in offices around the world, our policies on non-discrimination are universal throughout Google. We are proud to be recognised as a leader in LGBT inclusion efforts—but there’s still a long way to go.

At Google, we encourage people to bring their whole selves to work. In our more than 70 offices around the world, we’re committed to cultivating a work environment where Googlers can be themselves and thrive. Legalise Love is our drive to ensure that all of our employees have the same inclusive experience outside of the office as they do at work.

We’re always looking for ways to educate the broader community about LGBT rights and inclusion, through seminars, trainings and conferences hosted at Google. As part of the World Pride celebration in London this year, we brought 100 guests from LGBT advocacy groups, employee networks and diversity organizations to our office in London for the first ever Google Legalise Love Conference. Our goal was to start a debate about creating an inclusive workplace for LGBT employees around the world.

As I said, this has caused the spittle to fly at AFA.  Not surprisingly, the fools at AFA haven't thought through the reality that a boycott of Google - and Microsoft which has endorsed same sex marriage - would largely wipe the organization and its hate filled followers off of the Internet - something which candidly would be a good thing.   Right Wing Watch looks at this latest batshitery from AFA:

Google announced a new international campaign called Legalize Love “to decriminalize homosexuality and eliminate homophobia around the world,” and of course, the American Family Association is now weighing a boycott of Google products since the organization is already “boycotting efforts similar to this with other businesses,” like Home Depot and Oreo cookies. Buster Wilson, the general manager of the AFA’s radio network, said on AFA Today that a Google boycott “is going to be a hard one for a lot of us” but will “test the meat of our convictions.”

Here's a video clip of the lunacy:

Episcopal Church Approves Same-Sex Service

That the laws and state constitutional amendments that bar same sex marriage and civil unions are illegal restraints on the religious freedom of same sex couples is coming into even harsher focus.  These laws and amendments have enshrined one set of religious beliefs - i.e., those held by hate filled and bigoted conservative Christians - in the CIVIL laws.  In follow up to a development previously mentioned on this blog, the Episcopal Church has now formally approved same sex blessing services for same sex couples who seek civil unions and domestic partnerships (both of which are illegal and not legally recognized in Virginia).  The move brings the Episcopal Church in line with some other denominations that have come to allow such unions and in some cases full religious marriage.   It is long past time that these laws and amendments be struck down for what they are: illegal religious based discrimination and a denial of equal protection under the CIVIL laws.  Here are highlights from CNN on the move by the Episcopal Church:

Episcopal priests will be allowed to conduct services blessing same-sex relationships under a policy approved Tuesday at the church's national convention in Indianapolis.

The convention's House of Bishops approved the provisional policy 111-41 with three abstentions Monday, clearing it for consideration by the House of Deputies, which approved it Tuesday evening.  The policy was approved in the House of Deputies, following more than an hour of debate, by 78% of the voting lay members and by 76% of clergy.

With the vote, the Episcopal Church becomes the largest U.S. denomination to officially sanction same-sex relationships. The Episcopal Church has about 1.95 million members in the United States . . . . 

"We have authorized a blessing, and a blessing is different than a marriage," she said. "A blessing is a theological response to a monogamous, committed relationship."  Marriage requires the additional involvement of civil authorities, and many states do not allow gays to marry.

The only major U.S. denomination to endorse same-sex marriage across the board is the United Church of Christ, which did so in 2005.  In 2009, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America allowed member churches to recognize same-sex relationships, but stopped short of creating a churchwide policy or crafting a specific blessing service.

Randall Balmer, a Dartmouth University religion professor and an Episcopal priest who supports the change, said he expects little fallout from the policy within the American church. Most of the most conservative Episcopalians who oppose blessing same-sex relationships have probably already left the church, he said.

"In many ways, the church is tracking public sentiment," which is increasingly supportive of same-sex relationships, Balmer said ahead of Tuesday's vote. "The Episcopal Church is merely part of that trend."

One can just imagine the spittle that must be flying among the self-congratulatory professional Christian set and conservative Anglican leaders, at least some of whom are suspected of having ordered the massacre of Muslims, including women and children.   I believe that God is on the side of the Episcopal Church as opposed to the merchants of hate and bigotry.