Is Pat Buchanan Encouraging Violence and Anti-Gay Unrest?

As noted in the last post, the main opposition to gay marriage comes principally from the Christofascists who in America and elsewhere have been allowed special rights and deference at the expense of other citizens.  Indeed, often, religious freedom has only been available to Christofascists while the rest of us either have no rights or are forced to endure far right Christian prayers and ceremonies.  Thankfully, those days are closer to ending.  But the hate and hysteria coming from the Christofascists at the prospect of no longer being able to ride rough shod over the rights of others is increasing.  One example is the spittle flecked rant of the often racists and bigoted Pat Buchanan in a column at World Net Daily, a/k/a Wingnut Daily, a constant outlet of scary right wing batshitery.  In it, Buchanan encourages the Bible beaters to consider ignoring the law and continuing their quest for hate and discrimination.  Here are highlights of what some might consider a call for insurrection:

That “loving Jesus means hating gay people” is “proclaimed in Christian churches and on Christian television and radio broadcasts.”  So declares Dan Savage in his review of Jeff Chu’s “Does Jesus Really Love Me: A Gay Christian’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America” – on Page 1 of the New York Times Book Review.

Who is foremost among those who have made “anti-gay bigotry seem synonymous with Christianity”? The Family Research Council and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

[I]n handing this review to an apostate Catholic and atheist homosexual, the Times was nailing its anti-Catholic colors to the mast. Yet what Savage alleges and the Times published is a lie.

Undeniably, the Christian view, though mislabeled “homophobia,” alienates millions. Many of America’s young have come to accept that homosexuality is a natural preference of a significant minority and ought to be accommodated, and same-sex unions ought to be treated as traditional marriages. 

[T]traditional Christianity’s view that homosexual acts are immoral and same-sex marriage an absurdity cannot be reconciled with the view that homosexuality is natural and normal and gay marriage a human right.   The issue is pulling the Republican Party apart. It is pulling Christian communities apart. It is pulling the nation apart.

What happens if the gay rights movement, as it appears it may, succeeds politically on same-sex marriage, but many Christians refuse to recognize such unions and continue to declare that American society has become ungodly and immoral?

Imagine the situation in America today if priests and pastors were telling congregations they need not obey civil rights laws. They would be denounced as racists. Church tax exemptions would be in peril. 

Something akin to this could be in the cards if the homosexual rights movement is victorious – a public rejection of the new laws by millions and a refusal by many to respect or obey them.

The culture war in America today may be seen as squabbles in a day-care center compared to what is coming. A new era of civil disobedience may be at hand.

No one better embodies the angry white Christianist male that has become the bedrock of the GOP base than Buchanan.   He consistently thinks that his rights and beliefs trump those of other Americans and that he can pick and choose what laws to obey.  It is sadly all too typical of the Christofascists who are among the most self-centered individuals can encounter.   And behind it all is a fear of modernity and a refusal to recognize the common humanity of others.  It's not pretty, but it is largely the public face of Christianity one sees nowadays.  Oh yes, there are "good Christians" - many in the ELCA and Episcopal Church fit this description - but they are drowned out by the message of hate and bigotry that is pumped out daily by the self-congratulatory pious set who are, in fact, purveyors of evil.

New Zealand Lawmakers Approve Gay Marriage Bill

In follow up to a prior post, the New Zealand Legislature has approved gay marriage making that nation the 13th nation to afford gays and lesbians full equality under the civil laws.  Here in the falsely claimed "land of liberty" most of us continue to wait not only for marriage rights but even for basic employment non-discrimination protections.  The image that the USA likes to project of itself is sadly largely a farce and a lie.  The New York Times looks at events in New Zealand.  Here are excerpts:

Hundreds of jubilant gay-rights advocates celebrated at New Zealand's Parliament Wednesday night as the country become the 13th in the world and the first in the Asia-Pacific region to legalize same-sex marriage. 

Lawmakers voted 77 to 44 in favor of the gay-marriage bill on its third and final reading.

People watching from the public gallery and some lawmakers immediately broke into song after the result was announced, singing the New Zealand love song "Pokarekare Ana" in the indigenous Maori language. 

"For us, we can now feel equal to everyone else," said Tania Penafiel Bermudez, a bank teller who said she already considers herself married to partner Sonja Fry but now can get a certificate to prove it. "This means we can feel safe and fair and right in calling each other wife and wife." 

In one of several speeches that ended in a standing ovation, bill sponsor Louisa Wall told lawmakers the change was "our road toward healing." 

"In our society, the meaning of marriage is universal — it's a declaration of love and commitment to a special person," she said. She added that "nothing could make me more proud to be a New Zealander than passing this bill." 

The new law will allow gay couples to jointly adopt children for the first time and will also allow their marriages to be recognized in other countries. The law will take effect in late August. 

"This is really, really huge," said Jills Angus Burney, a lawyer who drove about 90 minutes to Parliament to watch the vote with her partner, Deborah Hambly, who had flown in from farther afield. "It's really important to me. It's just unbelievable."

The change in New Zealand could put pressure on some of its neighbors to consider changing their laws. In Australia, there has been little political momentum for a change at a federal level and Prime Minister Julia Gillard has expressed her opposition to same-sex marriage. Some Australian states, however, are considering gay-marriage legislation. 

As is always the case, opposition to marriage equality came from the Christofascists who are increasingly incensed that their right to impose their hate and fear based religious beliefs are being eroded - as they should be - and could well be on the road to the trash heap of history.

More Tuesday Male Beauty

New Pope, Same Misogyny

Pope Francis has gone to great pains to appear more humble and less arrogant and imperial than his predecessor, Benedict XVI, but where it really counts, there has been no discernible change.   The Vatican orchestrated sexual abuse cover up conspiracy continues, the campaign to stigmatize gays and fan the flames of anti-gay animus continues -in France, even threats of violence have been disseminated as noted in a prior post - and the Church remains decidedly anti-woman.  Indeed, Francis has shown little tolerance for those troublesome Catholic nuns who actually seek to implement the Gospel message.  A piece in The Daily Beast looks at the continued misogyny under the new Pope. Here are excerpts:

[O]n Monday, it felt like it was back to business as usual when word got out that Francis is standing by his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI’s clampdown on American nuns for their “radical feminism.” For all the renewal that Francis promises, the cold, hard reality is still that the Catholic Church is still one of the most misogynistic organizations around, no matter how popular the new pope might be.

No one was anticipating a major change for women in the church, and no one expects Francis to start handing out condoms in St. Peter’s square or suddenly ordaining women. But a positive gesture toward recognizing women’s value in the universal church could have started with softening the strict stance on American nuns.

The sisters, it seemed, were staying silent on the church’s pet issues of abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, and the ordination of women. Their silence was interpreted as endorsement—by not speaking out against such “evils,” the report said, the sisters were effectively showing their approval for the practices. The clampdown was met with outrage across the United States, leading to a massive Twitter frenzy under the hashtag #whatsistersmeantome, started by James Martin, a Jesuit priest and editor-at-large of America, a magazine on Catholic issues. “There is a danger of backlash because of the esteem [in which] so many Catholics hold nuns,” Father Martin told The Daily Beast at the height of the scandal. “For many Catholics, sisters are the glue that holds the church together.”.

On Monday, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller, prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, met with LCWR leaders who had traveled to Rome in hopes of good news. Instead, according to a statement made by the Vatican press office, Muller “informed the Presidency that he had recently discussed the Doctrinal Assessment with Pope Francis, who reaffirmed the findings of the Assessment and the program of reform for this Conference of Major Superiors.” That’s not exactly what the nuns were hoping for.

Now the sisters must wait until the investigation concludes to see if they will have to disband their organization to continue their work or whether the Vatican will accept them as a vital component of the Catholic Church after all.

As with gays who remain Catholic, I wonder what is wrong with women who remain in the Catholic Church.   They are viewed with disdain by the priggish and often closeted members of the male hierarchy denied recognition for the key role that they play in keeping the Church in existence.  How many times must one be beat down and almost literally spit upon before you get the message that you need to simply leave and walk away.

"Anonymous" Tells Westboro Baptist Church: Picket Boston Marathon Funerals At Your Own Risk

Few domestic groups are more foul and down right vile than the hate merchants at the Westboro Baptist Church.  Common decency is an unknown concept for these folks and in the wake of yesterday's horrible attack on innocent civilians in Boston,  the always foul Westboro Baptist Church has been bleating and tweeting "THANK GOD FOR THE BOSTON MARATHON BOMBS!! Westboro Baptist Church to picket funerals of those killed."  It really doesn't get more foul, especially when one thinks of 8 year old Martin Richard (pictured at left) or his young sister who lost a leg in the blast, than this "Christians."  Thankfully, the group Anonymous has stepped up and warned the Westboro Church folks to picket the funerals at their own risk.  Here are highlights from Huffington Post:

First responders were still on the scene at Boston's devastated Copley Square when fringe hate group Westboro Baptist Church announced it would be picketing the funeral of Boston Marathon bombing victims.

In the message, the group states that "Massachusetts invited this special wrath from God Almighty when it was the first state to pass same-sex marriage on May 17, 2004."

However, hacktivist group Anonymous made it very clear that if the WBC tried anything in Boston, they would feel the full fury of the online community.
 
WBC, an anti-gay, anti-Semitic group, has made a name for itself as an ambassador of the offensive. Throughout the past few years, the Kansas-based group has threatened to picket everything, including the funerals of victims of the Tucson, Ariz., shooting, as well as those of American soldiers and the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre.

But in what could be described as an unintended consequence of the WBC's hatemongering, people across the country have come together to fight the group. In the process, the direct result of WBC protests is often more tolerance, more acceptance and a sense of community-wide solidarity.

After the group threatened to picket in Newtown, Conn., Anonymous launched a full-fledged attack on the WBC, publishing group members' personal information online, overtaking the group's main website and hacking the Twitter account of one if its representatives.

And when Anonymous announced plans to block the WBC from picketing Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz's funeral, the group backed down at the last minute.

Personally, I hope Anonymous unleashes a full fury against the Westboro folks.  They are vile and disgusting.  And they are helping to kill the Christian brand through their incessant displays of hate and bigotry.  They are revealing the true ugliness of Christianity, especially in its conservative, fundamentalists variants.

"Ex-Gay" Therapy is Not Just "Sticks and Stones"

One of the most hideous and vile things that the "godly Christian" folks do to LGBT individuals outside of actual physical violence is their effort to keep alive the myth that sexual orientation is a "choice" and that gays can "change" if they but want to do so.   As one who tried for 37 years to "change" without success, I know only too well how the inability to change can ultimately translate into a feeling that only death is a solution to one's "secret."  One only needs to read some of the stories of gay teen suicides to see the toxic results of the "ex-gay" myth.  Now, New Jersey is poised to follow California in enacting a law that would bar therapists - quacks might be a better name - from subjecting minors to "ex-gay" therapy.  Needless to say, the "godly Christian" folk are in an uproar over the potential bar to their inflicting their poison on children and minors.  In response to the  shrieks and screams of the Christofascists, Jack Drescher, a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at New York Medical College, has an op-ed in the Star Ledger urging the New Jersey legislature and Governor Chris Christie to pass the act that would protect minors from the dangerous, witch doctor like therapy.  Here are column highlights:

The Star-Ledger’s March 22 editorial, “Don’t overreach on gay conversion therapy,” opposes a bill (A3371) before the New Jersey Assembly banning “gay conversion therapy” for minors.

As a psychiatric expert critical of sexual conversion “therapies,” I understand the editorial board’s concerns. I even shared similar views with a Star-Ledger reporter last fall after California passed its own ban. I was skeptical about legislation as the best way to deal with this issue, because state laws would not affect the majority of conversion therapy practitioners, who are mostly unlicensed. 

Since that time, however, my thinking has evolved. Following a court challenge to California’s law, in February 2013, I submitted an amicus brief in its support.

What changed my mind? Initially I believed a law, by itself, is not the most efficient means of protecting the public from scientifically unproven “treatments.” Simply passing laws might create the erroneous impression that everything that needs to be done has been done and distract from needed efforts to educate oversight bodies. Licensing boards, regulatory agencies and ethics committees of professional organizations are often woefully unfamiliar with the harm caused by conversion therapies.

I now believe legal bans can serve an additional purpose. They communicate to the general public the disdain in which a state holds these practices, whether performed by licensed or unlicensed individuals. They also strengthen the hand of plaintiffs in consumer fraud lawsuits against conversion “therapists,” such as the high-profile case in New Jersey that names unlicensed individuals among the defendants.

Consequently, I no longer see legislation and education as an either/or proposition. A combination approach can best protect the public in general, and minors in particular.

I disagree with the editorial’s assertion that parents have a right to “raise a child according to crackpot ideas.” If “crackpot ideas” harm children, states have seen fit to intervene. When parents, for religious reasons, try to withhold blood transfusions or needed medications from their children, the child’s best interests trump freedom of religion.

Finally, the editorial board opines that, “It’s strictly a form of talk therapy. And lawmakers have never outlawed any type of talk therapy. Do we really want them to decide what sort of speech should be allowed in your therapist’s office?”

While most people might not think talk is as obviously harmful as “medicine or electric shock,” in the clinical setting talk is not always benign and therapists can say things that hurt patients. Poorly managed talk therapy with depressed patients can sometimes precipitate suicide attempts. As an intern, I watched a psychiatric supervisor do a “stress interview” that made a patient so psychotic he had to be placed in a straightjacket. All they did was talk. It’s not just sticks and stones that break people’s bones. Words can also harm.

Which is what often happens when conversion “therapists” tell people hurtful untruths, such as, “You have a mental disorder, no matter what the American Psychiatric Association says.” Or, “If you come out as gay, you will probably die early and live an unhappy and unhealthy life.” Or, “God will not love you if you are gay.”

When words such as these are addressed to children by misguided authority figures delegated to do so by their parents, conversion “therapy” becomes more than just a crackpot idea meriting First Amendment protection. And if this ban protects only one child, should that child not be protected from a barrage of harmful hate speech? 

I think so, which is why I urge the New Jersey Assembly to follow the lead of the New Jersey Senate and pass A3371, so that Gov. Chris Christie can sign the bill into law.

 Of course, Drescher leaves out the main reason the Christofascists  want to protect "ex-gay" therapy from governmental restrictions: it is their principle tool to dupe the ignorant and gullible into believing that gays can "change" and that, therefore, we need no legal protections nor do we need civil law marriage.  In short, it is part of an evil plot advocated by evil people.

Top Cardinal in France Threatens Violence If Gay Marriage Allowed

It seems that Cardinal Andre Wingt-Trois (pictured at right), the most senior member of the Catholic hierarchy in France has been reading NOM's script and is stating that the French government risked inciting more violence by "rushing"  marriage equality through the French Legislature.  The refrain also echos the calls by the folks who signed the Manhattan Declaration which encourages Christofascists to defy the law and refuse to recognize gay marriage and legal protections for LGBT citizens.  Through these threats and actions, Christianity is yet again showing its ugly face of hate, bigotry and even lawlessness if the hate mongers fail to get their way.  Reuters looks at these developments.  Here are highlights:

PARIS (Reuters) - France's top Catholic bishop warned the government on Tuesday that legalization of same-sex marriage risked inciting violence at a time the country had more pressing economic and social problems to tackle.

Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois told a meeting of French bishops the planned marriage reform, which the government has speeded up amid mounting pressure from opponents, was a sign that society had lost its capacity to integrate different views.

Protests against the law, led by lay groups mostly backed by the Catholic Church, have become more agitated in recent days as noisy opponents rally outside the Senate and National Assembly and harass politicians supporting the reform.

Vingt-Trois, the archbishop of Paris, said the difference between the sexes was a basic human trait and denying it by legalizing marriage and adoption for homosexuals would weaken society's ability to manage its differences peacefully.

"This is the way a violent society develops," he told the spring meeting of the French bishops' conference. "Society has lost its capacity of integration and especially its ability to blend differences in a common project."

The Socialist-led government, whose popularity has plummeted amid economic woes and a tax fraud scandal, is expected to pass the law next week to make France the 13th country to allow gays to tie the knot. 

Government leaders have accused the protesters of turning radical and criticized the increasingly frequent presence of aggressive far-right nationalist and traditionalist Catholic fringe groups at the otherwise peaceful protests.

I for one hope that the French government will play hardball with these bigots and, if it appears that Vingt-Trois has been encouraging sedition and violence, that the authorities will arrest his fat ass and throw him in jail.  The Christofascists and the Catholic hierarchy cannot be allowed to position themselves as above the law.    Their day of abusing others and imposing their toxic beliefs on others needs to end now.

Tuesday Morning Male Beauty

GOP's Bobby Jindal: "I’ve Got No Problem with Creationism in Public Schools"

Bobby Jindal may have gottens some headlines when he said that the Republican Party needed to stop being "the stupid party," but he doesn't seem to be practicing what he is preaching.  Rather than telling the ignorance embracing elements in the GOP base to take hike, Jindal is once again prostituting himself to them and has indicated that he has "no problem" with creationism being taught in Louisiana's public schools.  Jindal's behavior is yet another example of why the GOP is becoming the party of ignorance and religious extremism.  Raw Story looks at this idiocy (Note: Jindal also supports questioning the reality of climate change).  Here are highlights:

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) on Friday said he had no problem with creationism being taught in public schools.

During an interview with NBC host Hoda Kotb, Jindal said students should be taught “the best science” in public schools, but implied that teaching creationism would not interfere with that.

“We have what’s called the Science Education Act that says that if a teacher wants to supplement those materials, if the school board is okay with that, if the state school board is okay with that, they can supplement those materials,” he explained.

“Bottom line, at the end of the day, we want our kids to be exposed to the best facts. Let’s teach them about the big bang theory, let’s teach them about evolution, let’s teach them — I’ve got no problem if a school board, a local school board, says we want to teach our kids about creationism, that people, some people, have these beliefs as well, let’s teach them about ‘intelligent design.’”

Jindal said students should be free to question “controversial issues” like climate change and other scientific theories, adding, “What are we scared of?”

Activist Zack Kopplin has launched a campaign to repeal the LSEA, which was signed into law by Jindal in 2008. The law permits local school boards to approve supplemental classroom materials that support creationism and question the theory of evolution.

It's ironic that Jindal asks "what are we scared of?"  The question is better posed to the advocates of creationism who are terrified of anything that challenges their simple minded house of cards religious beliefs which are increasingly contradicted by scientific knowledge.  And people wonder why American students do not fare as well as other students around the world.  Louisiana's insanity is a prime example.

National Organization for Marriage Takes Hate International

Apparently the National Organization for Marriage is not content with disseminating anti-gay vitriol in America and now plans to expand its efforts to fan the flames of anti-gay animus oversees, including in France which is on the verge of finalizing gay marriage and gay adoption laws.  Blogger friend Jeremy Hooper at NOM Exposed has details and as is always the case with NOM, it's an ugly picture.  The new information also further underscores the ties between NOM and the Roman Catholic Church which might well be the source of the money that NOM seeks to keep hidden from public scrutiny.  Here are some details:

We know that NOM president Brian Brown spent some time in Paris and that one of NOM's social media guys is responsbile for a website rallying opposition against the French marriage bill. But as it turns out (and as many of us supsected), NOM's connections to the French marriage debate run even deeper. Let's examine.

Over the weekend, I got an email from a French activist working closely with the pro-equality side. He said this:

We knew that our french opponents went to the US during winter 2012, but we had no formal clue of the benefits they got from their trip.

But we now know that they use technology from OpusFidelis in direct marketing, quite common for you in the US I suppose (mass postcards mailings), but new here.

And although the opponents here say they are non-political and non-religious, we know for sure, and have proofs, that the Catholic Church has organized everything and is behind the fight.

Just in case you needed the confirmation.

As regular NOM Exposed readers surely know, Opus Fidelis is the Catholic social media firm that handles all of NOM's digital production.

NOM is the deeply Catholic OpusFidelis' star client. That is if you don't count the Vatican itself, which is another one of Opus' clients.  So based on this email, I started digging around a little more to confirm the connections to which my French pal alluded. What I found is pretty darn insightful.

But even more interesting than NOM's obvious connection to this one fight is the line at the bottom of this e-blast which notes that this French version of NOM is actually "a charter member of the International Organization for Marriage." This is news! This seems to be an announcement of a larger umbrella organization that NOM has not yet unveiled—one that will try to export NOM's American divisiveness to whatever nation might have them. France seems to be a step in a sweeping plan.

The thing is, none of us should be surprised to see NOM making this global move. After all, in those same strategy documents that we revealed right here on NOM Exposed one year ago (the ones where NOM told of plans to "drive a wedge between blacks and gays"), NOM made clear its intent to start an international arm:

We know NOM has moved forward with all of the other plans in those strategy documents (including the "drive a wedge" one); this is just a continuation of the international plan, with France being the first chess move in a larger, planetary onslaught on behalf of inequality. Because it's NOM's Earth, apparently—we just get discriminated within it.

NOM is an ugly organization.  I truly hope that soon it is forced by the courts to disclose the seemingly endless source of large donations from a handful of donors.  Should it turn out that the Catholic Church is the principal source of funds it will certainly demonstrate that nothing is changing under Pope Francis in terms of the Church's anti-gay jihad.