Monday, July 18, 2011

Via JMG: Rainbow Falls


In order to highlight what they predict will be booming gay marriage tourism, city officials in Niagara Falls say they are working to have the falls illuminated in the colors of the rainbow on the first days of legalized same-sex unions.
Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster said “This event, which will highlight Niagara Falls on an international level as a premier wedding and honeymoon destination, will serve as a tremendous economic shot in the arm for not only the area’s hotels and attractions, but for the florists, bakeries and restaurants throughout the city.” Dyster said. “Those who come here will see the efforts made by this administration in reinventing our downtown tourist district and be welcomed into a city that will once again reclaim its title as the honeymoon capital of the world.”

reposted from Joe

Via CNN: My Take: Bible condemns a lot, so why focus on homosexuality?



Editor's Note: Jonathan Dudley is the author of Broken Words: The Abuse of Science and Faith in American Politics.

By Jonathan Dudley, Special to CNN

Growing up in the evangelical community, I learned the Bible’s stance on homosexuality is clear-cut. God condemns it, I was taught, and those who disagree just haven’t read their Bibles closely enough.

Having recently graduated from Yale Divinity School, I can say that my childhood community’s approach to gay rights—though well intentioned—is riddled with self-serving double standards.

I don’t doubt that the one New Testament author who wrote on the subject of male-male intercourse thought it a sin. In Romans 1, the only passage in the Bible where a reason is explicitly given for opposing same-sex relations, the Apostle Paul calls them “unnatural.”

Problem is, Paul’s only other moral argument from nature is the following: “Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is degrading to him, but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory?” (1 Corinthians 11:14-15).

Few Christians would answer that question with a “yes.”

In short, Paul objects to two things as unnatural: one is male-male sex and the other is long hair on men and short hair on women. The community opposed to gay marriage takes one condemnation as timeless and universal and the other as culturally relative.

I also don’t doubt that those who advocate gay marriage are advocating a revision of the Christian tradition.

But the community opposed to gay marriage has itself revised the Christian tradition in a host of ways. For the first 1500 years of Christianity, for example, marriage was deemed morally inferior to celibacy. When a theologian named Jovinian challenged that hierarchy in 390 A.D. — merely by suggesting that marriage and celibacy might be equally worthwhile endeavors — he was deemed a heretic and excommunicated from the church.

How does that sit with “family values” activism today?

Yale New Testament professor Dale B. Martin has noted that today’s "pro-family" activism, despite its pretense to be representing traditional Christian values, would have been considered “heresy” for most of the church’s history.

The community opposed to gay marriage has also departed from the Christian tradition on another issue at the heart of its social agenda: abortion.

Unbeknownst to most lay Christians, the vast majority of Christian theologians and saints throughout history have not believed life begins at conception.

Although he admitted some uncertainty on the matter, the hugely influential 4th and 5th century Christian thinker Saint Augustine wrote, “it could not be said that there was a living soul in [a] body” if it is “not yet endowed with senses.”

Thomas Aquinas, a Catholic saint and a giant of mediaeval theology, argued: “before the body has organs in any way whatever, it cannot be receptive of the soul.”

American evangelicals, meanwhile, widely opposed the idea that life begins at conception until the 1970s, with some even advocating looser abortion laws based on their reading of the Bible before then.

It won’t do to oppose gay marriage because it’s not traditional while advocating other positions that are not traditional.

And then there’s the topic of divorce. Although there is only one uncontested reference to same-sex relations in the New Testament, divorce is condemned throughout, both by Jesus and Paul. To quote Jesus from the Gospel of Mark: “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery.”
A possible exception is made only for unfaithfulness.

The community most opposed to gay marriage usually reads these condemnations very leniently. A 2007 issue of Christianity Today, for example, featured a story on its cover about divorce that concluded that Christians should permit divorce for “adultery,” “emotional and physical neglect” and “abandonment and abuse.”

The author emphasizes how impractical it would be to apply a strict interpretation of Jesus on this matter: “It is difficult to believe the Bible can be as impractical as this interpretation implies.”
Indeed it is.

On the other hand, it’s not at all difficult for a community of Christian leaders, who are almost exclusively white, heterosexual men, to advocate interpretations that can be very impractical for a historically oppressed minority to which they do not belong – homosexuals.

Whether the topic is hair length, celibacy, when life begins, or divorce, time and again, the leaders most opposed to gay marriage have demonstrated an incredible willingness to consider nuances and complicating considerations when their own interests are at stake.

Since graduating from seminary, I no longer identify with the evangelical community of my youth. The community gave me many fond memories and sound values but it also taught me to take the very human perspectives of its leaders and attribute them to God.
So let’s stop the charade and be honest.

Opponents of gay marriage aren’t defending the Bible’s values. They’re using the Bible to defend their own.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jonathan Dudley.

Via JMG: MD Gov Vows Marriage Support


As Maryland's activists gear up to take another run at marriage equality, Gov. Martin O'Malley has pledged his full support.
"I certainly plan to be very active in support of it, and we'll have other announcements in upcoming months," O'Malley said at the National Governors Association meeting in Salt Lake City. O'Malley has long supported civil unions and has said that if lawmakers passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, he would sign it. But Friday marks the first time O'Malley has made same-sex unions a legislative priority. The Democratic governor said he would favor a measure in Maryland that mirrors the same-sex marriage law recently enacted in New York, which protects religious organizations from being required to ordain same-sex marriages.

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: "Ex-Gay" Convention Set For Minnesota


Exodus International will hold its 2012 annual "ex-gay" convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. Did the Bachmanns have something to do with that?
Amid news that Rep. Michele Bachmann’s Christian counseling clinic performs therapy aimed at “curing” gays and lesbians of homosexuality, the nation’s largest “ex-gay” organization, Exodus International, announced it will hold its annual conference, “Exodus Freedom,” in St. Paul next year. The last time an Exodus conference came to Minnesota, Bachmann gave it a glowing endorsement. According to Exodus International, the conference will be held the last weekend of July 2012 at Northwestern College. Northwestern is a private Christian college with deep connections to Minnesota’s most conservative Christians. Minnesota Family Council CEO John Helmberger was a member of the college’s board of trustees until 2008, and current MFC associate Megan Doyle sits on the board. Bachmann’s been a speaker at the college, and the school has placed interns with her office.
When Exodus last held its convention in Minnesota, Crazy Eyes welcomed them: "I know that Love Won Out will present the truth about homosexuality and present it in a compassionate and loving manner. Those of us working to safeguard marriage from redefinition by radical judges must inform our efforts with an understanding of the deep emotional wounds that many in the homosexual community carry. I look forward to welcoming Minnesotans and residents of surrounding states to hear the message of healing that is possible."


reposted from Joe

Ben Cohen OUT Magazine interview

Dan Savage takes on Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum on Real Time with Bill Maher

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Via JMG: Quote Of The Day - Rudy Giuliani


'I think the Republican Party would be well advised to get the heck out of people's bedrooms and let these things get decided by states. We'd be a much more successful political party if we stuck to our economic, conservative roots. I think it's wrong [gay marriage], but there are other things that I think are wrong that get decided by democratic vote. I see more harm, however, by dwelling so much on this subject of gays and lesbians and whether it's right or wrong in politics." - Rudy Giuliani, speaking today to CNN.


reposted from Joe

Via Boxturtle & Towleroad:Trailer Trash

From Towleroad comes this photo shot by a Reddit user at the DMV in Salem, Oregon.

Via Lester & Charlie: Pray Away the Gay!

Could you say that louder, God?

Something funny is going on at Bachmann & Associates, the Christian counseling clinic that's run by 2012 GOP hopeful Michele Bachmann and her awfully "funny" husband. According to undercover video and accounts from former clients, the Bachmanns want homosexual men to pray the gay away.

The Bachmanns have long denied that their clinic advises gay patients that, with prayer, God will magically make them straight. Bachmann's husband, however, is already on record as calling gays "barbarians" -- and Michele herself said in 2004 that to be gay is to be "part of Satan" and advocated a return to derogatory gay stereotypes on television, a return to a "kind of tittering, making fun." But trying to turn gays straight? That, apparently, is too much for them to own up to.

An undercover video made by a gay rights advocacy group and aired on ABC News, however, exposes the lie. In it, counselors at the Bachmanns' clinic (which received $137,000 in federal Medicaid funds over the past five years) are clearly advising a patient that prayer can "re-orient" him and make him attracted to women. In a moment of extra-special creepiness, the counselor focuses specifically on being attracted to a woman's breasts.
Some news reports have called this "reparation" therapy foisted on gay men by the Bachmanns and their ilk "rather controversial." Perhaps they would also say it's "rather controversial" to insist that the Moon is actually the head of the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Or maybe they should just call it what it is: hogwash.

So what else are the counselors at Bachmann & Associates up to? Michele won't say, merely stating that they offer a variety of services but can't comment because of client confidentiality. But what do YOU think? What else are the Bachmanns hoping people will "pray away" at their Christian clinic?



Via JMG: CBN On British "Ex-Gay" Sting

Joe covered the below incident when it took place in 2009. CBN is looking for a fresh angle in light of the Bachmann situation.




reposted from Joe

The (Gay) Edge Of Glory

Via AmericaBlogGay: Leader of discredited ex-gay movement compares it to Weight Watchers

Michele and Marcus have put a spotlight on the discredited ex-gay movement. And, Alan Chambers, who identifies as ex-gay, is jumping in front of the tv cameras to defend that movement. Via ABC News, Chambers compared being gay to being obese: 

In an interview with ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross, a leading figure in an "ex-gay" movement claims many evangelical Christians have been able to change their sexual orientation through faith, prayer, and therapy.

"Does counseling help people who are struggling to live through the filter of the faith over their sexuality? It definitely, absolutely does," said Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International. Chambers says that the group's efforts to promote therapy to turn gays away from homosexuality have been unfairly criticized.

"We can look at other organizations who help people dealing with other life struggles. For instance, Weight Watchers, which has tremendously benefited my life. Should we go after Weight Watchers and tell them 'Don't say that there's anything beyond obesity' for people who are struggling with obesity and want an alternative to that?"

Obesity? I'm trying to imagine the Weight Watchers-like point system Chambers uses. Something like one point for not checking out guys, two point for not checking Manhunt or Grindr...and it would only go up from there...

Watch as Chambers make his outlandish claims after Dr. Jack Drescher explained,"This so far outside the mainstream it's practically on Mars" -- and has Chambers bleached his hair?:

Apparently, Alan still "struggles." From Ex-Gay Watch:

Yet this is the same Alan Chambers who says he still struggles daily with his attraction to men. His fundamental orientation is unchanged. This is what he said of his “same-sex attractions” in 2008:

And so every single morning — this is a ritual for me — I wake up and I say, “Dear Lord, I can’t make it today without You. I choose to deny what comes naturally to me. I choose to submit my will to the Lordship of your Son, Jesus Christ. And I choose better. I choose to follow You, I choose to allow Your Holy Spirit to walk before me, to guide me, to speak for me.”

NOTE FROM JOHN: It's interesting that ABC failed to note that the head of Exodus recently told - who? - ABC that it's not possible to change your sexual orientation.


Saturday, July 16, 2011

Via JMG: CALIFORNIA: Hate Group Launches Petition Drive To Repeal History Bill


The anti-gay Christianist hate group Capital Resource Institute filed the paperwork yesterday to launch a petition drive to place a referendum item on the 2012 ballot which would repeal California's just-approved LGBT history bill.
The Capitol Resource Institute is a hard-line, socially conservative organization that has long opposed efforts in California to expand rights for the LGBT population. Backers eventually would have to collect 433,971 signatures to allow voters to decide whether to keep the law in place or reject it. [Spokesman Paulo] Sibaja said that a coalition has formed behind the proposed measure, though he would not name the other members. He said a news conference Wednesday would give more details. When asked how the group planned to fund the referendum, he said, "That's what the press conference will be about."
(Tipped by JMG reader Steve)


reposted from Joe

Marcus Bachmann Claims Radio Interview Was Doctored - Hardball Plays Entire Segment

Via AmericaBlogGay: 9th Circuit again tells Obama administration to stop discharging gays



From Lambda Legal's Jon Davidson, via Rex Wockner:

Today's order from the Ninth Circuit rather modestly states that it reinstates the stay of the injunction against enforcement of Don't Ask, Don't Tell "in all respects except one." The order goes on to provide that the injunction remains in effect "insofar as it enjoins [the government] from investigating, penalizing, or discharging anyone from the military pursuant to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy." In other words, all that today's order does is allow the military to once again stop accepting or processing applications from openly lesbian, gay or bisexual people, for now. Discharges, discharge proceedings, and investigations remain on hold.
The order reflects that the judges are upset that the government provided "considerably more detailed information concerning the implementation of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act ... than [it] did in [its prior] opposition to the motion to lift the stay" and orders the government to supplement its motion for reconsideration by 5 p.m. this Monday "to address why [it] did not present in [its] May 20, 2011 opposition to lift the stay the detailed information now presented in the motion for reconsideration." In addition, the order gives Log Cabin Republicans until 5 p.m. on July 21st to respond to the motion for reconsideration, but then gives the government only until noon the next day to reply. (Can we say "annoyed?")
This whiplash is surely confusing for many people. The administration needs to stop saying that certification under the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act is coming soon and just issue it. But, even then, the actual end of the policy won't happen for 60 days after certification. The government has failed to show any reason why the policy cannot be halted immediately other than to claim that the military will respond better if it is not having to do so pursuant to a court order. Imagine if other people ordered by courts to stop violating people's rights similarly argued, don't issue an injunction, just let me fix the problem myself, on my own timetable, while I continue breaking the law!
Oral argument of the appeal has now been set for September 1st, in Pasadena.
Jon W. Davidson - Legal Director Lambda Legal

Friday, July 15, 2011

Via Faith in America:

Please watch. You'll enjoy... 

...as longtime LGBT advocate and Faith in America Founder Mitchell Gold disarms one of the most vitriolic voices within the anti-gay religious industry. This is how we confront religion-based bigotry toward the LGBT community and the hostility the Religious Right and its anti-gay organizations promote toward our community.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khlMOEHqW0g


Via JMG: HomoQuotable - Marcus Bachmann


"I was talking in reference to children. Nothing, nothing to do with homosexuality. That's not my mindset. That's not my belief system. That's not the way I would talk. I think the strongest myth is the myth that I have ever called a homosexual a barbarian. We don't have an agenda or a philosophy of trying to change someone." - Ladybird Marcus Bachmann, claiming that the audio tape in which he calls gays "barbarians" was doctored.


reposted from Joe



Robert and Stylianos sent this picture to us last night, upon hearing that after 15 years of DOMA, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold the first-ever hearing on repealing the horrendous law. No matter your marital status or sexual orientation, please follow their lead and click here to send in your "Please repeal DOMA for..." photo for our new video project!
Dear Daniel,
Two years ago, when 18,000 California same-sex couples and their marriages were under attack, we launched "Fidelity," a multimedia video featuring Regina Spector's hit song and photos of members like you. We did it to send the California Supreme Court a message: don't let Prop 8 forcibly divorce same-sex families. It became the most-watched video in California political history, viewed 1.2 million times on YouTube and Vimeo.

Now, we're under attack again: this time by anti-gay activists who want to protect the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Fortunately, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a first-ever hearing next week on repealing DOMA. So it's time for Fidelity II.
Is your family impacted by DOMA? Do you know anyone who pays thousands more in federal taxes or can't sponsor their husband or wife for permanent residency? Or would you just like to express your support for the thousands harmed by this discriminatory law?

If so, please take a picture with a plain 8.5" by 11" piece of paper that sends a special message, like "Please Repeal DOMA for my family," "Please Repeal DOMA for my mothers," "Please Repeal DOMA for my friends, Name and Name," or "Please Repeal DOMA for all happily married couples." Print it out, or write it clearly in big, block letters. Then click here to send us your photo to include in our new video.

The time has come for Fidelity II because the Senate Judiciary Committee has the votes to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal DOMA. Winning in committee -- which we have the votes to do -- would make headlines around the country, educate the public, and inject new momentum into the national movement, helping push more Senators to co-sponsor the bill.

This is your opportunity to play a big role in educating the public, Daniel. Click here to send in your photo, holding up a sign that says "Please Repeal DOMA."

Opportunities to change the hearts and minds of Americans on DOMA don't come along very often. The Senate Judiciary Committee is giving us one. Let's make sure to take it.

Thanks for all you do,

--Rick, Cait, Arisha, Adam, Anthony, and the rest of the team at the Courage Campaign
..............

To power our campaign to repeal DOMA, please chip in what you can today:

Via JMG: Hate Groups React To CA History Bill


Catholics For The Common Good
Claims that this bill is needed to reduce bullying against children that are experiencing gender confusion or take on 'gay' or 'lesbian' identities are absurd. Children must be taught respect for all persons because of their intrinsic value, not because they agree with their behavior or like their characteristics. In fact, reducing people to merely a sexual identity obscures the fact that they are so much more than that.
Traditional Values Coalition
SB 48 was priority number 1 for Traditional Values Coalition. We committed all the resources we had to try to make sure that SB 48 failed. We are talking about molesting the minds of young impressionable youth, as young as Kindergarten, with an agenda and message that is not age-appropriate and that is offensive to the values of a vast majority of California’s families. We have failed at our core educational mission and yet we are now going to inject gay studies into the classrooms. It’s absurd and offensive.
Save California
It's ridiculous that Jerry Brown says he's making history 'honest'. The bill he signed prohibits teachers and textbooks from telling children the facts that homosexuality has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS and other STDs, higher cancer rates, and earlier deaths. These important facts about lifestyles children will being forced to admire will be omitted. And Brown calls this 'honest'? This revisionist history will actually make more children believe a lie -- that homosexuality is biological, which it's not, and healthy, which is isn't."

reposted from Joe