More Tuesday Male Beauty

The Truth About the Hate Crimes Bill

As the professional gay haters and Christianists go into warp drive spreading untruths about the provisions of the Matthew Shepard Act which has been reintroduced in Congress, the ACLU has released a statement that describes the REAL provisions of the bill and which utterly debunks the knowing, deliberate lies being stated over and over by "Godly Christians" like Matt Barber who lives off of the dissemination of lies and hate. Yes, I am angry at how deliberately untruthful these folks are because in the process of spreading the lies they create the very atmosphere that emboldens individuals to bully and dehumanize LGBT citizens. Here are some highlights from the ACLU statement, a full copy of which can be found here (I encourage all readers within the USA to read it and then contact their members of Congress):
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The ACLU has a long record of support for stronger protection of both free speech and civil rights. Those positions are not inconsistent. In fact, vigilant protection of free speech rights historically has opened the doors to effective advocacy for expanded civil rights protections.

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The ACLU appreciates the sponsors’ inclusion of the evidentiary provision that prevents the hate crimes legislation from having any potentially chilling effect on constitutionally protected speech. The evidentiary subsection in the bill provides that:

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Evidence of expression or association of the defendant may not be introduced as substantive evidence at trial, unless the evidence specifically relates to that offense. However, nothing in this section affects the rules of evidence governing the impeachment of a witness.

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This provision will reduce or eliminate the possibility that the federal government could obtain a criminal conviction on the basis of evidence of speech that had no role in the chain of events that led to any alleged violent act proscribed by the statute.

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On its face, the hate crimes bill punishes only the conduct of intentionally selecting another person for violence because of that person’s race, color, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. The prosecution must prove the conduct of intentional selection of the victim. Thus, the hate crimes bill, like the present principal criminal civil rights statute, 18 U.S.C. § 245 (“section 245”), punishes discrimination (an act), not bigotry (a belief).

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As I have noted countless times, why doesn't the media challenge the deliberately false statements of people like Barber, James Dobson, Tony Perkins, etc. Exposing liars isn't anti-religion and, in fact, supports the Commandment against lying and bearing false witness.

Another Pre-Teen Suicide From Anti-Gay Bullying

A number of other blogs have already recounted the sad story of yet another 11 year old who has killed himself because he could no longer take the anti-gay bullying he was receiving at school. This time the victim lived in less than gay friendly Georgia rather than Massachusetts. As was the case last week with Carl Walker, Jaheem Herrera's family had complained to his school about the bullying and once again nothing was done. The constant message of hate and lies disseminated by Christianists be they at Traditional Values Coalition - which is currently busy spreading lies about the pending Hate Crimes bill in Congress - or in the form of Benedict XVI creates the atmosphere where bullying is acceptable and, worse yet, where LGBT individuals are viewed as less than fully human by school administrators, judges such as the ones I have suffered under in my divorce case, law enforcement personnel and far too many individuals throughout society (see Autumn Sandeen's post about the Angie Zapata murder trial for more on this). Here are highlights from the Atlanta Constitution about the tragic death of Jaheem Herrera:

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A crowd of about 60 gathered Tuesday night at the DeKalb home of Jaheem Herrera to remember the fifth-grader who committed suicide last week. The 11-year-old boy hanged himself at his home after — according to his family — relentless bullying at Dunaire Elementary School.

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As Bermudez spoke, she clung to two daughters — Ny’irah, 7 and Yerralis, 10. Yerralis discovered her brother’s body last Thursday after school. “His sister was screaming, ‘Get him down, get him down,’” said Norman Keene, Jaheem’s stepfather. When Keene got to the room, he saw Yerralis holding her brother, trying to remove the pressure of the noose her brother had fashioned with a fabric belt.

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Keene said the family knew the boy was a target of bullies, but until his death they didn’t understand the scope. “They called him gay and a snitch,” his stepfather said. “All the time they’d call him this.”. . . Bermudez also said her son was being bullied at school. She said she had complained to the school.

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School officials won’t discuss allegations that bullying may have contributed to the boy’s suicide. Davis said Tuesday morning that officials are legally unable to comment on student-related records, such as whether the school had received complaints that Jaheem was being bullied. The family has hired an attorney.

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I suspect little has change from my days in middle school when I was taunted at times for being a "fag" and similar things. Back then, the teachers winked and looked the other way as I suspect they did at Jaheem's school. We're gays, queers or whatever other nasty name may be in vogue at the moment, and we simply don't matter. I hope the "loving" Christians are happy that they have claimed yet another life. May Jaheem rest in peace and may people begin to wake up to the real cause behind such tragedies.

A Map Of Where Gays Can Marry

I hope that as the year ans decade go on the number of state granting marriage equality will grow as the grasp of religion is loosened on the civil laws.

Tuesday Male Beauty

Cost Forcing More Americans to Delay Medical Visits

It is ironic that after my last post the first article I looked at is this one from America Blog and MSNBC that details how more Americans are foregoing or delaying medical care due their inability to bear the cost. In my own case, I stopped therapy and anti-depression medication mostly because I could no longer afford the monthly cost involved given my firm's significant decline in revenue due to the collapse of the real estate market and slow down in business expansion. Here are some highlights from the MSNBC story:

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WASHINGTON - Twenty percent of Americans say they have delayed or postponed medical care, mostly doctor visits, and many said cost was the main reason, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters released on Monday. That figure is up since 2006 . . .

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"The results of this survey have serious implications for public health officials, hospital administrators, and healthcare consumers," Gary Pickens of the Healthcare division of Thomson Reuters, who led the study, said in a statement. "We are seeing a positive correlation between Americans losing their access to employer-sponsored health insurance and deferral of healthcare."

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In the most recent survey, 21 percent of U.S. adults expected to have difficulty paying for health insurance or healthcare services in the next three months. Pickens added that "if this trend continues, it will ultimately have an impact on our collective well-being." Thomson Reuters Healthcare is part of the same company as the Reuters news agency.

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Despite such data, far too many in the GOP maintain that the USA's health care system "is the best in the world." That may be true for the wealthy and those with deluxe health insurance plans but for more and more of us we are headed towards health care catastrophe. As noted by America Blog, it all "comes back to the critical issue of a national system that benefits the general population and not only the wealthy, doctors, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies."

Thoughts of Suicide

I have written before about the fact that both LGBT youth and adults have a much higher suicide rate than other segments of the population. I believe that in large measure this is because of the negative message so many of us are raised with in anything but gay-friendly religious denominations coupled with the reality that even when one puts their own internal homophobia aside they still all too often find themselves subject to discrimination. Indeed, ending one's life may seem to be the only thing that one can fully control. In my own case, I certainly feel that way often - a phenomenon that has gotten far worse again in the context of financial stress and a recurrence of nastiness arising from my divorce which finds me thinking of suicide and fine tuning "my plan" literally daily. Indeed, at times I believe the former wife seeks to drive me to another suicide attempt even though ironically if I succeeded it would mean she'd never get paid any of the money she claims to seek.

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The boyfriend has been incredibly supportive and indeed, but for him it's very possible that I'd have made another suicide attempt by now. I have been spending more nights at his place simply to not be alone which is when the self-destructive thoughts peak. I do not want to hurt him or my children or my other family members - or my readers for whom I have tried to offer encouragement to be themselves- but at times I cannot seem to shake the sense of hopelessness that plagues me, particularly in respect to the divorce nightmare which seems as if it will never end. I know that I suffer from depression and now added to that are anxiety attacks that often leave me sleepless at night. I realize that this is not uncommon and one medical website states as follows:

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For the symptom to meet the criteria towards a diagnosis of major depression, a person must have had a depressed mood for most of the day, nearly every day for a two-week period of time.

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Feelings of hopeless and/or helplessness are common in those who are clinically depressed. They are also some of the most frustrating feelings that depressed individuals experience. Research on the cognitive theory of depression has shown that people who are depressed struggle with feelings of hopelessness and helplessness more so than people who are not depressed (Sacco & Beck, 1995). A sense of hopelessness reflects a negative view of the future. This includes expectations of personal dissatisfaction, failure, and a continuation of pain and difficulty-- a belief that nothing will get better.

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Research has also indicated that severe hopelessness may be a predictor of suicide (Beck, 1987; Fawcett, 1990). Now, this does not mean that if a person feels hopeless that he or she will attempt to commit suicide. This is a common symptom of clinical depression. What it does tell us, however, is that depressed individuals who struggle with strong feelings of hopelessness may be at a higher risk for self-harm. They should receive treatment from a trained medical or mental health professional.

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Not being able to get enough sleep at night is the most common type of sleep disturbance for people who are clinically depressed. Sometimes people will wake up during the middle of the night and then find it difficulty to fall asleep (called "middle insomnia"). Others might wake up too early in the morning and cannot fall back asleep (known as "terminal insomnia").

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Thoughts of death, suicide, or even suicide attempts can be common for those who are clinically depressed. The frequency and intensity of thoughts about suicide can wide-ranging from believing that friends and family would be better off if he or she were dead, to frequent thoughts about committing suicide, to detailed plans about how he or she would actually carry out the act of suicide.

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I clearly meet the criteria but had been doing better up until December of last year. The question is what do I do about it , if anything? Or do I let matters take their course? For those who need information on this topic, more information is here. Also, there is this:

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From immediate suicidal crisis to information about mental health, crisis centers in our network are equipped to take a wide range of calls. Some of the reasons to call 1-800-273-TALK are listed below.
**Call to speak with someone who cares
**Call if you feel you might be in danger of hurting yourself
**Call to find referrals to mental health services in your area
**Call to speak to a crisis worker about someone you're concerned about

More Monday Male Beauty

Minister Charged With Sex With Football Team Players

Reverend James Richard Harris of Belle Glade, Florida - he certainly was more creative than many a Catholic priest who simply preyed upon altar boys in the confines of the parish rectory and church sacristy - has been arrested for sexual improprieties with under age football players. Harris purportedly lured a number of local high school football players into sex after promising to advance their athletic dreams. In the process Harris also video taped teens engaging in sexual activity at his home. Harris, who is described as an activist and a former city commission candidate in a number of news articles and who has given invocations prior to city commission meetings, is now in jail without bail as the investigation continues. Here are some highlights from WPEC-TV 12:

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It's the sex scandal that has rocked the rural community of Belle Glade. A minister accused of luring high school football players into sex after promising to advance their athletic dreams. . . . The police report detailing the allegations against Reverend James Richard Harris indicates that Harris video taped teens engaging in sexual activity at his home. Many of those teens were, or are currently on the Glades Central football team. The report says that Harris would promise the teens help in achieving their football dreams, then in turn shoot video of them at his home performing different sex acts.

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According to some who live in Belle Glade, this behavior has gone on for decades. They say they have heard of similar allegations in the past, but that none of them could be proven with hard evidence. Authorities with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's office say they cannot tell how far back the allegations stretch, especially with a lack of complaints. Harris is currently being held at the Hillsborough County Jail without bond.

More Cruel Murders of Iraqi Gays

I continue to be disgusted that Obama and the State Department appear to be doing absolutely nothing to pressure the Iraqi government to clamp down on the wanton murder of gays in Iraq. I guess I shouldn't be surprised now that it increasingly appears that Obama doesn't want anyone prosecuted for torture based war crimes- even the authors of the memos that were utilized to justify torture for which those from other countries have been tried and convicted. Details on the sadistic manner in which gays are being killed that now are leaking out are horrifying. As with "men of God" in this country, the anti-gay clerics are proving themselves to be better described as agents of Satan. Here are some highlights from an UAE-based media network, Alarabiya, as translated at Towleroad:

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"A prominent Iraqi human rights activist says that Iraqi militia have deployed a painful form of torture against homosexuals by closing their anuses using 'Iranian gum.' ... Yina Mohammad told Alarabiya.net that, 'Iraqi militias have deployed an unprecedented form of torture against homosexuals by using a very strong glue that will close their anus.' According to her, the new substance 'is known as the American hum, which is an Iranian-manufactured glue that if applied to the skin, sticks to it and can only be removed by surgery. After they glue the anuses of homosexuals, they give them a drink that causes diarrhea. Since the anus is closed, the diarrhea causes death.

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Videos of this form of torture are being distributed on mobile cellphones in Iraq.' According to this human rights activist, for the past 3 weeks a crackdown on homosexuals has been going on based on a religious decree that demands their death; dozens have been targeted. She says that the persecution of homosexuals is not confined to the Shiite clerics. Some Sunni leaders have also declared the death penalty for sodomy on satellite channels."

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As I have noted before, I suspect that religious based hatred has caused more deaths than many forms of disease over the course of history. There are definitely times that I believe banning all religions might not be such a bad idea.