Tea Party Leads Effort to Rescind Benefits For Same-Sex Couples

Chattanooga - a city where ignorance and bigotry prevail

If one wants evidence that the Tea Party movement is really nothing more than a re-branded version of Christofascism look no farther than Chattanooga, Tennessee, where Tea Party elements led the effort to rescind  a city policy that granted benefits to domestic partners.  In addition to revealing the Christofascist/Tea Party fusion the reversal of the city's policy underscores why marriage is needed for same sex couples nationwide.   Meanwhile, Chattanooga has sent a clear message to modern, progressive businesses that it is not a place they should consider relocating to.  Here are excerpts from Think Progress:

Voters in Chattanooga, Tennessee overwhelmingly decided Thursday to undo a recently passed law that extended health benefits to the domestic partners of city employees. With a vote of 13,685-8,184, the town overturned the law originally passed 5-4 by the City Council.

Signatures to overturn the law had been collected by a local Tea Party group and a political action committee called Citizens for Government Accountability and Transparency (CGAT). According to CGAT, the law unfairly extended benefits to “unmarried girl friends” and “unmarried boy friends” and would hurt the city’s budget. “It sets a financial precedent that will be difficult for the city of Chattanooga taxpayers to sustain long term,” they claimed. “As healthcare cost increase, the creation of a new benefit class will jeopardize the long term future of married spouse benefits for all city employees.”

Despite this setback in Chattanooga, Tennessee’s elections did include some good news. State Sen. Stacey Campfield (R) lost his primary election to challenger Richard Briggs. Campfield had fiercely advocated for what infamously became known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which would have prevented teachers from discussing homosexuality — thereby enabling anti-LGBT bullying and harassment — and forced school officials to out students to their parents. Campfield had compared homosexuality to injecting heroin and believed that AIDS originated in the gay community after somebody had sex with a monkey.

What is striking is how these "real Americans" decry the waning of America's position in the world when it is their chauvinism, rejection of modernity and embrace of ignorance that are driving the nation's decline. 

Alabama "Godly Christians" Call for Death For Atheist

In Iraq we are seeing the horrors that fundamentalist religion brings as ISIS tries to exterminate those who do not share their sick and disgusting version of Islam.   Jet back half way around the world back to Mobile, Alabama (where I first worked out of law school) and we see an only slightly less virulent form of hatred as the "godly folk" go ballistic and wish death for an atheist who mere raised the question of whether it was proper for a secular government to place a monument referencing God in a public plaza.  The mind set is frighteningly the same.  All that varies is the degree of violence being used to act on violence they use, not the mind set. it.  Until America roots out its own religious extremists, it truly can only criticize Muslim extremists over the level of violence , not the anti-religious freedom mindset exhibited.  Simply put, conservative Christians are NOT nice or decent people.  The larger public needs to wake up to this reality.  Here are highlights from The Raw Story on the batshitery taking place in Mobile:

Responding to a question posed on a Facebook page — maintained by Alabama television station WKRG — asking for opinions on a recent proposal for a privately-funded atheist display, self-identified Christians filled the comment section with vitriol and hatred for a woman speaking for a Mobile atheist group.

According to the Friendly Atheist, WKRG focused the question, not on the display itself, but on Amanda Scott who represented the Mobile Atheist Community.

“FACEBOOK QUESTION: What are your thoughts on a local woman who wants to see an Athiest motto placed next to the words “In God We Trust” at Government Plaza?,” WKRG posted.

What followed were several thousand comments — many deleted now–  attacking Scott, wishing for her death, telling her to leave the country, and criticizing her appearance.

Scott opposed the Mobile County Commission’s approval of a privately funded “In God We Trust” display at the Government Plaza, saying, “I strongly urge the commission to reject the display ‘In God We Trust. It would only serve to divide Mobile on religion when we’re already so divided on other issues.”

Responding to  Scott, one Facebook commenter suggested she be shot for “treason,” with another writing “she’ll burn in hell when her time comes.”

More Sunday Male Beauty

The Fruits of Religion: 500 Yazidis Killed, Some Victims Buried Alive

The fruits of religion

I try not to write about religion all the time, but the pestilence that religion is to humanity is hard to avoid.  From the Israel's murder of children in Gaza, to religious discrimination against gays, to the atrocities and genocide being committed by Sunni Muslims in Iraq, the common root of the hate division and death is religion.  Religion that justifies a mindset that anyone different or who subscribes to differing beliefs is subhuman and even worthy of death. Yet insanely, religion still is afforded special deference and privileges even in modern nations which by now ought to realize that religion outside of one's home or house of worship is not a positive good.  Oh yes, we hear of religious based charities, but in some total those good works pale in comparison to the evils done under the guise of sincerely held religious belief.  The ongoing horrors in Iraq underscore this reality (in the past, Christianity has caused similar horrors and widespread murder such as the Cathars in France and "old believers in Russia).  Here are highlights from the Huffington Post on the horrific fruits of religion in Iraq:

Islamic State militants have killed at least 500 members of Iraq's Yazidi minority, burying some alive and taking hundreds of women as slaves, an Iraqi government minister told Reuters on Sunday.

Human rights minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani accused the Sunni Muslim insurgents - who have ordered the community they regard as "devil worshippers" to convert to Islam or die - of celebrating a "a vicious atrocity" with cheers and weapons waved in the air. No independent confirmation was available.

Sudani said in a telephone interview that news of the killings had come from people who had escaped town of Sinjar, an ancient home of the Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking community whose religion has set them apart from Muslims and other faiths.

"We have striking evidence obtained from Yazidis fleeing Sinjar and some who escaped death, and also crime scene images that show indisputably that the gangs of the Islamic State have executed at least 500 Yazidis after seizing Sinjar," he said

"Some of the victims, including women and children were buried alive in scattered mass graves in and around Sinjar."

Kurdish regional president Masoud Barzani urged his allies to send arms to help his forces hold off the militants, who have bases across the Syrian border. During a visit by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Barzani said: "We are not fighting a terrorist organization, we are fighting a terrorist state."

"In some of the images we have obtained there are lines of dead Yazidis who have been shot in the head while the Islamic State fighters cheer and wave their weapons over the corpses," he added. "This is a vicious atrocity."

A deadline passed at midday on Sunday for 300 families from the Yazidi community - followers of a religion influenced by the Zoroastrianism of ancient Persia - to convert to Islam or die. It was not immediately clear if the victims to whom the minister referred were from that group of families.

Obama said it would take more than bombs to restore stability, and criticized Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government for failing to share power with Iraq's Sunni minority, which dominated before the U.S. invasion.

France joined the calls for Iraq's feuding leaders to form an inclusive government capable of countering the militants. "Iraq is in need of a broad unity government, and all Iraqis should feel that they are represented in this government," Foreign Minister Fabius said.

Maliki's critics say his sectarian agenda has prompted heavily armed Sunni tribes to join the insurgency. 

Personally, I believe Iraq needs to be divided - as it should have been at the end of World War I.  It has always been an artificially created country and  it is time to recognize the reality that maintaining Iraq as a unified country will likely never succeed.

Toronto: Unofficial Capital for Gay Iranian Refugees

America continues to tout itself as the "land of liberty" and home of "religious freedom."  The truth, of course is something very different with Christofascists granted special rights - the Hobby Lobby decision underscored this reality - and those of differing religious beliefs relegated to second class status under the civil laws all too often.  So where id the true land of liberty and religious freedom?  Increasingly, it is Canada, America's northern neighbor where not only religious freedom exists but where the middle class is still thriving.  Because of this gays fleeing the threat of death for their religious nonconformity in Iran and other Middle Eastern nations see Canada as the beacon of freedom.  Here are highlights from a piece in The Daily Beast:

When Ali escaped Iran and arrived in Turkey in 2012, he had already decided where he wanted the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to place him. “I told them I’m choosing Canada because I’m going to go to university [and] Canada is cheaper than U.S.; Australia is too far; and in some states in America gay marriage is not allowed and never will be allowed — so I don’t want to go to a country where they don’t give me my rights.”

Ali (not his real name) picked Toronto because he heard it was big and easier to find work. The 27-year-old arrived there at the end of May 2014 and spent 10 days in refugee housing before moving into his own apartment and logging onto Grindr to connect with others in the LGBT community — an ease of networking he never would have in his homeland. Before long, Ali began dating a Syrian man he met via the dating app and they plan to move in together soon.

In the past few years, Toronto has emerged as the mecca of Iranian gays in exile. Hosting both the second-largest Iranian population outside Iran and a reputation as LGBT-friendly, Iranians fleeing persecution in their native country have built a budding community in a city some call “Tehranto.”

Iran, on the other hand, is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be gay. Homosexual acts are punishable by flogging or death, and members of the LGBT community go to great lengths to evade police detection.

Ali is one of an increasing number of LGBT Iranian refugees who have sought out the Canadian metropolis for a better life, opting not to relocate to the United States due in part to the comparative lack of rights and protections for gay citizens and a dearth of social services.

“All of Toronto is a gay village,” says Arsham Parsi, executive director of the Toronto-based Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees (IRQR).
The city is nothing if not proud. This year, Toronto’s city magazine put “Because We’re a Beacon for Gay Refugees” as one of the top 10 reason to love the city. And last year, in a scene that would have given former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad an aneurysm, a towering Iranian in a tube top, black skirt, heels, and neon pink wig proudly waved an Iranian flag to guide the group of marchers in Toronto’s gay pride parade. The city even has a gay-friendly mosque.

"Canada has indicated to the United Nations that we are ready to accept anyone, if they're a gay Iranian refugee," former Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said.

[F]or LGBT exiles who have long kept their sexuality under wraps, tolerant Canada is seen as better than its southern neighbor to build a new, open life.

“Life for LGBT in Canada is totally different than life for LGBT in the U.S.,” says Parsi. In a PEW poll last year, Canada came in as the third most accepting country in the world for LGBT people, while the U.S. lagged 10 notches below.

Besides living up to its national claims of freedom, what else does Canada gain?   Talent and creativity and individuals who will likely value their new country more than many of the native born.

Catholic Archbishops - Lifestyles of the Rich and Pious

Archbishop Timothy "porky Pig" Dolan who lives in a $30 million mansion

The hypocrisy that plagues the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church is so pervasive that it is difficult to know where to start, although the Church's official position that gays are "inherently disordered" even as prelates protect predator priests and engage in obstruction of justice is always one starting point.  Another is the dichotomy between the Gospel message of selling one's goods and giving to the poor and the opulent lifestyles of America's Roman Catholic archbishops who in addition to often looking like they've never missed a single meal, live in the splendor of oligarchs.  A piece in Religion Dispatches looks at the hypocrisy of these nasty men.  Here are excerpts:

CNN’s Belief Blog has a great rundown of the lavish homes of American archbishops who haven’t gotten the memo from Pope Francis about a “church which is poor and for the poor.” CNN reports that “10 of the 34 active archbishops in the United States live in buildings worth more than $1 million.” The median home value in the U.S. is $174,200.

Not surprisingly, that list includes some of the nation’s most outspoken conservative bishops—and allies of the Republican Party—who seem to take the whole “prince of the church” thing more literally than some of their fellow prelates. Here’s a rundown:

• New York Cardinal Timothy “Capitalism is King but you can get your birth control at 7-11” Dolan lives in a 15,000-square foot neo-Gothic mansion on Madison Avenue appraised at $30 million.

• Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, who warned a few years back that the local gay pride parade might “morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan,” lives in a “one of a kind,” 19-chimneyed mansion in the heart of Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood conservatively valued at $14.3 million. And he is waited on by three nuns who live in a nearby coach house—very Downton Abbey.

• Seattle Archbishop James Sartain, who is currently in charge of making sure that the naughty nuns of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious don’t spend too much time worrying about social justice issues, lives alone in a charming three-story brick Victorian home valued at $3.84 million.

• Baltimore Archbishop William Lori, head of the bishop’s Committee on Religious Liberty—the epicenter of the church’s opposition to same-sex marriage and the contraception mandate—and the man supposedly behind the investigation of the LCWR, lives in a 11,5000-square foot historic mansion that dates back to the first Catholic bishop of the United States.

• And last but certainly not least, Newark Archbishop John Myers, who has come under fire for the diocese’s failure to supervise a known predator priest and has been an outspoken opponent of John Kerry and other pro-choice Catholics, is adding a $500,000, 3,000-square foot wing to his $800,000, 4,500-square foot weekend/retirement home nestled on 8.2 wooded aces in New Jersey’s tony Hunterdon Country.  He needed the extra space for “an indoor exercise pool”—the house already has a large outdoor pool—“a hot tub, three fireplaces and a library.”

If you really want to vomit, especially since dioceses are closing schools and churches for lack of funds, read the entire CNN piece here.   Once again I find myself wondering why anyone moral and decent listens to a word these men have to say.  Like the Christofascists in general, they are today's modern day Pharisees. 

Mission Impossible? Making the GOP the Party of "Yes"

Having watched the Republican Party descend into lunacy in the years since I exited the party in protest over its conflating of religion and the civil laws I am skeptical about supposed efforts under way to transform the GOP into the "Party of Yes" rather than the party of "No" and outright obstruction.  Given the control of the GOP base by Christofascists and Tea Party members (the vast majority of whom are Christofascists and/or white supremacists), no real change will occur in my view until these fouls elements are exiled to the political wilderness.  A piece in the New York Times looks at the wishful thinking among some Republicans that they can transform the GOP into a functioning political party that can actually govern the nation.  Here are highlights:

With control of Congress within reach, Republicans are quietly assembling an aggressive 2015 agenda built around a push for a balanced budget and quick passage of measures, like approval of the Keystone XL pipeline and repeal of a medical equipment tax, to show they can govern.

At the same time, they are warning Republican members who have chafed at their minority status for years that simply holding the majority is no guarantee that they can get all they want. Party leaders say that Republicans will need to be realistic about what they can achieve and that a high level of party unity will be essential since any Senate advantage they gain in the midterm elections is likely to be narrow.

“We need to change our mentality,” said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican. “Because we have been in the minority, some people are used to saying no. We need to find something we can say yes to, something that advances our agenda.” 

Fear of a splintered majority was a principal reason top Senate Republicans were determined to fend off Tea Party challenges to incumbents, an effort that culminated last week with primary victories by Senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Pat Roberts of Kansas, two pragmatic Senate veterans considered team players.

Still, recent House chaos that preceded a Republican agreement on border funding underscored anew the challenge of rallying ideologically divided Republican lawmakers behind party priorities.

Republican leaders acknowledge they will need to persuade their most conservative colleagues — including several potential presidential contenders — to be satisfied with legislative gains that might fall short of their ideals. Insisting on all their demands could end in failure by leaving Republicans short of 51 votes, let alone the 60 that will be required to pass most bills.

“We are going to have to convince people that we are not going to be perfect, but let’s at least move the ball down the field and try to do things many of us have wanted to do for a long time,” said Senator John Thune of South Dakota, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.

While they try to entice colleagues on the right, Senate Republican leaders must be mindful of the potential vulnerability of their senators up for re-election in 2016 — when the electoral climate will almost certainly be less favorable to them . . . 

Democrats say they hope Republicans never get to try their hand at full control of Congress. But they believe divisions among Republican factions would greatly complicate matters if they did.

“The $64,000 question is, will mainstream Republicans break from the Tea Party?” said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the Senate’s No. 3 Democrat. “If they do, it will be good for the country and bad for the Democrats.”

My prediction is that the mainstream will be unable to stop the Tea Party and Christofascists.  Far too many sane and rational Republicans have left the GOP and are unlikely to go back as long as the base is controlled by  religious extremists, white supremacists and those who proudly embrace ignorance.

Annual Family Reunion - Reduced Blogging

The husband and I are once again in Somerset, Pennsylvania for his dual family reunions.  We had his dad's family's gathering yesterday and today we gather with members of his late mother's extended family.  We're staying at a pet friendly hotel so that the two dogs - a/k/a the hooligans - could accompany us, although they cannot be left alone or else they carry on and create all kinds of noise.  Prior to the family gathering yesterday we met four gay friends and toured the annual antique show that centers around the historic court house shown above.  One couple lives here - I don't think I could do it - and the other likewise comes to town for a family reunion that always coincides with those of the husband's family.

The scenery is beautiful, as the image below reveals, but if one is into more urban activities and a more open gay community, this is not the place to live.  This evening we will again gather with our gay friends for cocktails and dinner and continue what we jokingly refer to as the "Ya Ya Brotherhood" reunion.  Then its back on the road in the morning Tidewater Virginia which in many ways seems progressive in comparison even though our marriage is recognized here in Pennsylvania.

While we are traveling, blog posting will be reduced.

Sunday Morning Male Beauty

Special dedication to GDW. :)

Same-Sex Marriage Not About Sex

The white Christofascists and other detractors of LGBT individuals like to always define us in terms of sex acts - sex acts which many of us may not even engage in at all or perhaps in frequently at best.  Heterosexuals do not define themselves solely in terms of who they are attracted to or the who they love.  Its all part of the effort of the "godly folk" to make LGBT persons somehow less than human and, therefore, worthy of abuse and discrimination.  As noted before, the real issue for these horrible people (that's how I see Christofascists) is that they cannot countenance anything or anyone who differs from their sick, neurotic fantasy world  belief system.  Hence, all too typically, they similarly hate blacks, Hispanics, non-Christians.  The list, indeed, is almost endless.  A column at DanRiver.com (the Danville, Virginia newspaper) of all places has an op-ed column that looks at the toxicity of homophobia and also makes the case that gay marriage isnot about sex.  Here are excerpts:

I was proud to see the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals overturn Virginia’s ban on same sex marriages.

Contrary to the motto, Virginia has not always been “for lovers.” Growing up in Danville, I can remember a time when interracial dating was against the law. It was the case of Loving v. Virginia in which the Supreme Court held Virginia’s ban on interracial marriages was unconstitutional and the government could no longer engage in racial discrimination.

For many young gays who have no support from their families, endure ridicule from their peers and receive condemnation from their church, death becomes a better choice than life. There is no form of oppression greater than the young gay man who sits in his church every Sunday and hears his pastor exclaim God hates things about him he cannot change. I would ask all the perfect people in the congregation to please stand.

Same-sex marriage is not about sex. It is about control, power and receiving the full protection of the law to the same degree as heterosexuals. I am not demanding anyone becomes a proponent of homosexuality or same-sex marriage. While I disagree with their theology, I respect the right of churches who oppose granting same-sex marriages from their altars.

Still, such a position should not translate into opposition to legalization of same-gender loving outside of their churches. In America, it is the state, not any church, that legitimizes the legal license of marriage. The church may choose, or not choose, to add its blessing to such a legal union. As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. concluded, what makes America great is even when a person is deprived of a right, he or she always has the right to fight for that right. This is the very reason why I chose a career in politics, so I could fight for the rights of all persons (he, she, or “undecided”).

With the legalization of same sex marriage in 19 states and the president recently issuing an executive order that prohibits federal contractors from discriminating against workers based on their sexual orientation, we are moving closer to an America that lives “out the true meaning of its creed” and respects the humanity and dignity of all persons. Go Virginia!