Thursday, August 11, 2011
The Bahá'í Faith and homosexuality: Bahá'í LGBTs on the Internet, agitating for full acceptance
Bahá'í LGBTs on the Internet, agitating for full acceptance
The conflicts between the Baha'i faith and LGBTs (lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgendered persons and transsexuals) are unlikely to go away anytime soon.The agenda being pursued by Baha'i LGBTs is simple: full equality for persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities, including same-sex marriage. Some are using the Internet to publicize their goals.
In reading some of their sites, one is struck by the level of anxiety and fear experienced by LGBTs in this faith. That is a real pity, because the Baha'i faith should liberate people from fear and make their lives whole, not trap them in a closet and make them pretend to be what they are not.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Via Faith in America:
Sorry Rick, your "natural law" code language will not fly
But thanks for keying us in on the religion-based bigotry behind it
Beginning last year, Faith in America's research began noticing a trend among anti-gay religious groups – particularly the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and the Family Research Council (FRC).
It appeared as an attempt to distant their anti-gay actions and rhetoric from religious motivation.
Actually, the first hint of this trend occurred in 2009 at a North Carolina conservative church where the Family Research Council and one of its spokespersons, Frank Turek, had gathered a group of area pastors to promote an anti-gay marriage amendment in North Carolina that year.
During a horrific barrage of anti-gay sentiment within the confirms of that church, Turek made the comment that opposition to marriage equality really didn't have anything to do with religion. It was all about natural law, he said.
Attending that session, we found it interesting he would make that comment considering it was being made in a church before a group of conservative religious leaders – not exactly your nonreligious venue.
Last year we heard similar comments from several leading voices in the anti-gay religious industry. It seemed evident at that point that there was attempt afoot to conceal the religion-based bigotry behind these organizations' effort to promote prejudice, discrimination and hostility toward LGBT people.
Of course we know the reason why. As pointed out in Faith in America's report on Guidelines for Effectively Addressing the Religious Arguments , history shows us that using religious values to promote bigotry and discrimination is a losing proposition. While that is exactly what the anti-gay religious industry has done for the last 30 years, we can now see how more and more people of faith are turning their back on religion-based bigotry toward LGBT people when it is exposed for what it really is. Faith in America's founding mission was and is to expose and therefore hasten an end to the immense harm caused by this unique form of bigotry.
The battle is being won as we know misguided religious belief that causes harm to innocent people must and can be effectively confronted. It's been happening for centuries.
That is what the anti-gay religious organizations know and that is why we are hearing more and more of this "natural law" argument. Of course it is completely illogically – sort of like persecuting, condemning and rejecting people under a banner of religious values.
Yet the anti-gay religious industry seems fully prepared to use "natural law" as yet another form of code language to conceal and disguise the religion-based bigotry that they cater to for support, votes and cash. And that includes Republican candidates for office who the anti-gay religious industry knows have served them well in promoting stigma and hostility toward gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
Enter GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum. We all know where Santorum stands on LGBT equality and it is not the side of love and respect or human dignity and equality.
In this clip of Santorum speaking yesterday at a grocery store in Iowa, you will hear him attempt to incorporate the "natural law" code language in his argument against marriage equality as he attempts to define marriage for the small audience:
"The bringing together, according to the natural law, people of two genders, in nature, who come together to form a union, for the purpose of the benefit of each of them, as they are made in nature to fit together to live together, one on one, that we see in nature with many species."
OK Rick, we get it. You're attempting to say your opposition has nothing to do with your religious belief. It is all nature and natural law.
But wait. Santorum had more to say on this topic and in doing so exposed the real basis for his argument against marriage equality and LGBT people in general.
Heterosexual marriage. he continued, is a gift from God. We're sure he just couldn't help himself – the religious argument has been the anti-gay religious industry's bread-and-butter when it comes to using LGBT people as political fodder. And we suspect he may have realized that his use of a napkin to frame his natural law argument was not going well.
"It's because of nature and nature is God," he said. "Marriage is part of His creation. It is part of His gift."
And from there he went right to the anti-gay religious industry's most pathetic line of reasoning yet – people who use misguided religious teaching to promote prejudice and discrimination are victims because someone dares call out the harm they are causing.
But we have news for Santorum and others who continue to promote a social climate of hostility that wreaks havoc on the lives of gay youth and families – it's not just your bigotry, Rick, we're calling out but your religion-based bigotry and the harm it causes.
And you have every right to use your faith in such an ugly manner. That's the only choice issue in all this. But know this: You will no longer sell it to the American public as something that holds value.
Via JMG: Riots Close British Gayborhood
Birmingham's gay village was shut down yesterday due to widespread looting and fires. ZONE Magazine reports: The London riots have spread beyond the capital to Birmingham, including the Gay Village. Popular gay bars Missing, The Loft Lounge, Equator, Purple Bar and The Angel Bar were all closed on the advice of police at around 9pm last night. The police have confirmed that at least 35 arrests have already been made. The Birmingham Hippodrome theatre, which is located on the edge of the gay village in the Southside area of Birmingham, was on a 'lockdown' with up to 2,000 theatre-goers locked inside watching We Will Rock You. Following the performance, police escorted patrons to the safety of their cars in the Arcadian Centre.Hit the above link for live updates on the situation.
There was widespread looting in the city centre, including the Armani shop in The Mailbox. Kevin Breese, General Manager of Birmingham's Harvey Nichols shop, confirmed that the ajacent Armani shop has been completely looted. 'They were very well organised youths, with wirecutters and concrete blocks,' he said. West Midlands Police continued to tackle the disorder occurring in Birmingham last night. Several premises were attacked, with some shop windows smashed and property stolen in various locations in the centre, as well as some surrounding areas.
reposted from Joe
Via AmericablogGay: To be very clear, Obama administration can stop the deportation of Anthony John Makk
John wrote a post about the impending deportation of Anthony John Makk earlier today. It's really a stunning story. Makk is an Australian who is legally married to a U.S. citizen Bradford Wells. They've been married for seven years. But, the Obama administration intends to deport Makk by August 25th. Teddy Partridge at FireDogLake is furious -- and rightly so:
The Obama Administration has denied the request of a married couple in San Francisco, ordering the expulsion of one spouse who is the primary caregiver of his legally married husband with AIDS.
Team Obama is incapable of valuing our actual relationships, while making pretty speeches about DOMA’s unconstitutionality.
So, the Obama administration is using DOMA as an excuse when the Obama administration claims DOMA is unconstitutional. That's bad enough. The Obama administration has the executive power to prevent this deportation. It does not have to happen.
I asked Steve Ralls from Immigration Equality to give us an explanation of the Obama administration's options. Here's what he wrote:
The Obama Administration can intervene – today – and keep Bradford and Anthony together. On May 17, the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security wrote, in a letter to Congress, that they retain authority “to exercise discretion in individual cases based on the unique factors presented by that particular case.” In June, ICE reiterated that position in a memorandum to field offices informing their agents that individuals who have U.S. citizen spouses or relatives, or are the primary caretakers for American citizens, should not be considered a priority for removal, and can, again, qualify for discretion. Despite both the letter and the memo, however, the Administration has not yet intervened in a single case for a lesbian or gay couple. Now would be a good time for them to do so, as American citizens are being torn apart from their spouses and partners. There is no question about the Administration’s ability to do so; the only question is whether they will exercise that ability on behalf of LGBT families.
Got that? There is no question about the Obama administration's ability. Makk's deportation does not have to happen.
On Sunday, Drew Westen wrote a powerful op-ed in the New York Times titled, "What Happened to Obama?," which included this passage:
Like most Americans, at this point, I have no idea what Barack Obama — and by extension the party he leads — believes on virtually any issue. The president tells us he prefers a “balanced” approach to deficit reduction, one that weds “revenue enhancements” (a weak way of describing popular taxes on the rich and big corporations that are evading them) with “entitlement cuts” (an equally poor choice of words that implies that people who’ve worked their whole lives are looking for handouts). But the law he just signed includes only the cuts. This pattern of presenting inconsistent positions with no apparent recognition of their incoherence is another hallmark of this president’s storytelling. He announces in a speech on energy and climate change that we need to expand offshore oil drilling and coal production — two methods of obtaining fuels that contribute to the extreme weather Americans are now seeing.
He supports a health care law that will use Medicaid to insure about 15 million more Americans and then endorses a budget plan that, through cuts to state budgets, will most likely decimate Medicaid and other essential programs for children, senior citizens and people who are vulnerable by virtue of disabilities or an economy that is getting weaker by the day. He gives a major speech on immigration reform after deporting a million immigrants in two years, breaking up families at a pace George W. Bush could never rival in all his years as president.
One of the families Obama is intent to break up is that of Anthony Makk and Bradford Wells. The President or someone who works for him needs to fix this. And, fast.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Should Bert and Ernie get married?
A debate-sparking petition urges the Sesame Street buddies to tie the knot — even though they've never come out as gay
posted on August 9, 2011, at 11:53 AM
Sesame Street roommates Bert and Ernie should finally take the next step in their relationship and get hitched, argue gay-rights activists. Photo: Facebook/Sesame Street SEE ALL 4 PHOTOS
Is it time for Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie to get married? Best Opinion: Montreal Gazette, Lonely Conservative, ThinkProgress
Via UOL: "Já escrevi meu nome na história", diz ex-BBB Jean Wyllys
Deputado federal há seis meses, o ex-BBB Jean Wyllys posou cheio de estilo para a edição de agosto da revista Rolling Stone e afirmou que não quer ter mais seu nome ligado ao reality show. “Quando saí candidato, eu não pus no meu material de campanha referências ao programa”, destacou.
A vontade do homossexual assumido é ser reconhecido como o deputado dos direitos humanos. “Sei que já escrevi meu nome na História, mesmo que este seja meu único mandato”, disse ele, que tem entre suas principais plataformas os direitos civis LGBTs e a defesa das religiões de origem africana.
Apesar disso, sua luta principal é pelo direitos civis dos gays. "Antes de mim, teve o Clodovil [Hernandes]. Mas ele não encampava a luta do movimento, pelo contrário. Em entrevistas, era radicalmente contra as paradas gays", diz o político refletindo sobre o papel do estilista no Congresso. "O deputado Clodovil não oferecia perigo, compreendeu? O problema é chegar aqui e reclamar por direitos".
Recentemente, em entrevista à apresentadora Marília Gabriela, ele contou que sofreu discriminação no seio familiar, entre outros assuntos.
Via JMG: Some States Still Criminalize Sodomy
Equality Matters notes: In Lawrence v. Texas (2003), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Texas’ sodomy statute was unconstitutional, marking a major legal victory on the path towards LGBT equality. With the remainder of state sodomy laws technically invalidated by Lawrence, the LGBT community began to shift its focus. [snip] Eight years later, however, eighteen states still refuse to rewrite their laws and take these anti-gay relics off their books, with countless LGBT Americans continuing to feel their devastating effects as a result. Several state legislatures and courts have exploited loopholes in the Lawrence decision, while others have simply refused to acknowledge the decision altogether.In some states, gay men are still being arrested for "crimes against nature." Hit the link for much more.
Via JMG: ZIMBABWE: Police Arrest Five Men On Charges Of "Sexual Immorality"
More bad news out of Africa. Five men have been arrested in Domboshava near Harare on allegations of being gay and committing acts of sexual immorality, state controlled ZBC News reported on Tuesday. The five men include a 55-year-old white and 4 black men whose ages have not yet been released, they are currently detained at Domboshava Police Station awaiting trial. The incident happened when a bottle store owner suspected that something was wrong after seeing the young black men spending money in an unusual manner leading him to alert the police.Note how the story obeys Scott Lively's mythology about wealthy white men corrupting local blacks.
Via JMG: Frothy Mix: Gay Marriage Is A Napkin
"I can call this napkin a paper towel. But it is a napkin. And why? Because it is what it is. Right? You can call it whatever you want, but it doesn't change the character of what it is. So when people come out and say that marriage is something else — marriage is the marriage of five people, five, 10, 20. Marriage can be between fathers and daughters. Marriage can be between any two people, any four people, any 10 people, it can be any kind of relationship and we can call it marriage. But it doesn't make it marriage. Why? Because there are certain qualities and certain things that attach to the definition of what marriage is." - Rick Santorum, speaking to a tiny crowd of supporters in an Iowa cafeteria.Via JMG: Linda Harvey: Ban Gays As Teachers
"Kids should not be put in the confusing position of having a teacher they like and respect in many ways who’s also known to be practicing homosexual behavior. Of course that’s where many of our children in public schools today find themselves because the National Education Association not only allows but applauds and defends openly homosexuality and even transvestite teachers. The fact is that no homosexuality should be in our schools, period. When people leave that behavior behind, then they might be qualified for a job involving children. Out and proud homosexuals should not have jobs that involve children. I know that’s not the current policy in many schools but it should be." - Linda Harvey of the SPLC-certified hate group Mission America. Via AmericablogGay: 18 states refusing to take sodomy laws off the books
Even though they were struck down by the Supreme Court several years ago. From Media Matters:
In Lawrence v. Texas (2003), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Texas’ sodomy statute was unconstitutional, marking a major legal victory on the path towards LGBT equality.
Eight years later, however, eighteen states still refuse to rewrite their laws and take these anti-gay relics off their books, with countless LGBT Americans continuing to feel their devastating effects as a result. Several state legislatures and courts have exploited loopholes in the Lawrence decision, while others have simply refused to acknowledge the decision altogether.
In some states, keeping sodomy laws on the books can result in abuse even in cases where sexual intercourse hasn’t occurred. In 2009, two gay men were kicked out of an El Paso restaurant for kissing in public. When the men called the police, officers informed them that "it was illegal for two men to kiss in public and said they could be cited for ‘homosexual conduct,’” even though the state statute only prohibits “deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex.”
The local police department eventually claimed that the officers involved were “relatively inexperienced,” but the incident demonstrates the ease with which seemingly dormant anti-sodomy laws can quickly turn into weapons to be used against LGBT citizens.
The local police department eventually claimed that the officers involved were “relatively inexperienced,” but the incident demonstrates the ease with which seemingly dormant anti-sodomy laws can quickly turn into weapons to be used against LGBT citizens.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Via JMG: IOWA: Crazy Eyes Attends Anti-Gay Church Service Supporting "Ex-Gay" Movement
Last June while doing a YouTube search on the term "ex-gay", I came across a video so outrageously ridiculous that it quickly went viral after its posting here on JMG. Here's what I wrote that day.
Adam Hood says gays must be quarantined or else "they'll bring their gangrene into heaven." Supposedly Hood became "ex-gay" after "finding God in the Castro" in the midst of a heroin binge. (Ever notice how we don't really hear from any successful, sober, otherwise happy people who suddenly become "ex-gay"?) This clip is so out there, I kept expecting the satire to become suddenly apparent. Sadly, no.Today MSNBC reports that this weekend Rep. Michele Bachmann attended a church service that played this very insane video as part of a presentation denouncing homosexuality.
Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann yesterday attended a church here in Iowa, where the pastor called homosexuality "immoral" and "unnatural," and later showed a testimonial video from a man who claimed to have been gay before having a conversation with God. Before the sermon at Point of Grace Church -- a non-denominational congregation near Des Moines -- Bachmann stood with her husband, Marcus Bachmann, before a crowd of about 100 people, clutching her personal copy of the Bible. When Bachmann and her husband returned to their seats, Mullen began a half-hour presentation on his church's beliefs. Reading verses from the Bible to support his case, Mullen said, "We inherently know that homosexual behavior is immoral and unnatural." “God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,” Mullen said, reading from the book of Romans.Here's the legendary clip one more time.
RELATED: Since the above clip is now more than a year old, it would be interesting to hear what Adam Hood is doing today. Email me if you know.
Labels: "ex-gay", brainwashing, cults, hate groups, Iowa, Michele Bachmann, religion, still totally gay, torture
reposted from Joe
Via JMG: NEW ORLEANS: Anti-Gay Hate Groups Infest Annual Astroturfing Convention
This week in New Orleans, hundreds of conservative lawmakers from around the country gathered for the annual American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) convention, where lobbyists from the nation's largest corporations issue their marching orders on which big business-friendly bills they expect to see passed. Think Progress reports that this year's event featured the distribution of vicious and lie-filled anti-gay propaganda from Christianist hate groups.
Among the materials handed out to every attendee were anti-LGBT pamphlets from the Family Research Council, including the “Top Ten Myths About Homosexuality” and the “Top Ten Harms Of Same-Sex ‘Marriage’”. The supposed myths included “people are born gay,” “sexual orientation can never change,” “homosexual conduct is not harmful to one’s physical health,” and “homosexuals are no more likely to molest children than heterosexuals.” In its second pamphlet, the FRC told conference-goers that expanding marriage to include same-sex couples will somehow mean “fewer people would marry,” “fewer people would remain monogamous,” and polygamy will soon result.Think Progress notes that convention rent-a-cops assaulted two of their reporters and illegally confiscated their cameras.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Todays's "WTF?!?!" moment is brought to you via AmericaBlogGay: NYT gives credence to Holocaust revisionism
It takes a particularly bad reporter, and an even worse editor, to let a piece of garbage like this slip through at any newspaper, let alone the New York Times.
The American Family Association is a group considered a tad fringe and a tad nutty even by a lot of people I know on the right, yet the Times claims the group is "widely revered" in conservative circles, then cites the "Values Voters Summit" as proof of this. The Values Voters Summit is religious right circles, not conservatives circles. There's a difference. And not that I'm one to normally defend Republicans, but how bad is it that a NYT reporter, and apparently an editor, don't know the difference between conservatives and the religious right. Do we need to revisit what we learned in eighth grade math about subsets (an apple is a fruit, but all fruit are not apples).
But what's particularly galling about the Times' love letter to an officially designated hate group that's listed alongside the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacists on the Southern Poverty Law Center's Web site, is that the Times' reporter, Erik Eckholm, actually tried to dismiss the fact that the organization has been officially designated a "hate group" by the organization primarily responsible for officially designating "hate groups." According to Eckholm it's simply "liberal critics" who call AFA a hate group, and even then Eckholm makes clear from the way he constructs the sentence that it's a throw-away charge.
Also note that Eckholm and his editor claim that only liberal critics call AFA hateful and even shrill, but then Eckholm doesn't bother quoting what the AFA has actually said about gays. Oh, he's quotes some tame stuff, making it seem as though that's the worst AFA has said. What Eckholm doesn't quote is the really good stuff (I collected all those quotes via the link, they're real), the hateful stuff, the shrill stuff. And Eckholm doesn't quote it, and his editor didn't bother catching it, because the actual facts about the things AFA actually says would ruin the Times' effort to do a he-said-she-said on none of the most hateful, nuttiest groups of the religious.
Why doesn't Eckholm report on the fact that the AFA is promoting the anti-gay work of Paul Cameron, a man who's "'science' echoes Nazi Germany," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center? Cameron once famously suggested that gays might need to be exterminated, en masse, in order to stop the spread of AIDS. How does the NYT feel about that? You wouldn't know, because the Times just doesn't mention that AFA is promoting this guy's anti-gay "science." Why? Because according to the Times, only "liberal critics" find this kind of talk hateful and shrill.
Speaking of mass extermination, Eckholm then delves into his own Holocaust revisionism. Eckholm calls the bs claim from AFA's Bryan Fischer, that Hitler was gay, simply a "disputed theory." That means,some agree, some disagree, who can tell what's true? This is Holocaust revisionism, and was labeled as such by Hatewatch a good dozen years ago. And the Times is calling it a "disputed theory"? Yes, the NYT just gave credence to Holocaust revisionism.
Eckholm then links in his article to the AFA's diatribe about how Hitler was gay, yet Eckholm doesn't link to anything, doesn't quote anyone, showing that this is utterly insane and the worst of Holocaust revisionism. He actually linked to "proof" of this bs theory. And left it undisputed. Incredible.
Are they insane? A disputed theory? Do Eckholm and his editors also consider it a "disputed theory" that only a few Jews were killed in the Holocaust? After all, the other hate groups that the NYT implicitly exonerates by marginalizing the Southern Poverty Law Center, believe, outrageously, that not that many Jews were killed by the Nazis. So is that a "disputed theory" now too according to Erik Eckholm and the New York Times?
It's also therefore interesting that Eckholm doesn't bother mentioning the AFA's brush with anti-Semitism either. Let's share a few of the AFA's views on Jews, shall we?
Do Jews control Hollywood?
The AFA Journal has long served as a platform for anti-Semitic theories and innuendo. For instance, Wildmon warned of Jewish control over popular culture, an old anti-Semitic canard, in a January 1989 article, "What Hollywood Believes and Wants." "The television elite are highly secular," Wildmon wrote. "The majority (59 percent) in the Jewish faith." In a separate article in the same issue, titled "Anti-Semitism Called a Serious Problem," Wildmon, a longtime opponent of gay rights, pointedly remarked that "Jews favor homosexual rights more than other Americans."
Does a "Jewish upbringing" lead to a life of crime?
In the March issue of American Family Association Journal, a publication of Donald E. Wildmon's right-wing evangelical activist group, the American Family Association (AFA), author Randall Murphree suggested that a Jewish upbringing leads to hatred of Christians, and by extension, a criminal lifestyle.
Is that just the wacky criticism of a few liberal critics too?
Do your job, Erik. No one is asking you to do a hatchet job on the AFA. No one is asking you to be a liberal. We're asking you and your editor, to do your freaking jobs. If you're going to write about an officially designated hate group, don't try to whitewash who they are in the interest of fairness. Tell your readers who they are and let your readers decide. But they can't decide when your prose tries to minimize the facts, and when your prose doesn't even mention the most salient facts.
I could almost forgive a reporter who didn't have a clue who the AFA was - though really, you're writing for the New York Times, have you ever heard of the Google? But who is the editor who approved this garbage? No one at the New York Times is familiar with the AFA? No one knew of their anti-semitism? There wasn't a single editor at the Times who winced when Eckholm wrote that it's a "disputed theory" that Hitler was gay?
And I repeat: No one at the Times did a double take when one of their reporters attempted to claim that it was simply a "disputed theory" that Hitler was gay?
And you guys wonder why we criticize you.
Do your job.
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