Task Force organizer Aaditi Dubale speaks about the importance of ENDA

Coffee Party: How We Began

On NPR: Former 'No Child Left Behind' Advocate Turns Critic

In 2005, former Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch wrote, "We should thank President George W. Bush and Congress for passing the No Child Left Behind Act ... All this attention and focus is paying off for younger students, who are reading and solving mathematics problems better than their parents' generation."

Four years later, Ravitch has changed her mind.

Jump here to read /listen to full story NPR

From 365gay

Speaking of nudity, this past weekend 5,200 bared all for a photo shoot at Sydney’s iconic opera house. The event was named “Mardi Gras: The Base” in celebration of Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, according to a Reuters report. I’m not sure I’d want to spend an hour naked on what was described as a cool autumn day, but I certainly applaud those who did. “I thought it could be a bit awkward, but it’s funny because when you’re naked and everybody else is naked, you feel like you’re dressed, because everybody looks the same,” Steven Anglier told Reuters. So, it’s like turning around during a 3D movie and seeing everyone in silly blue and red glasses? OK, then. Wonder how many of the participants were vajazzled.

From MJ: Why Do Some Conservatives Play Footsie With Treason?

Wing nuts no longer: Right-wing celebs are helping anti-Obama militias go mainstream.

— By Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery

March/April 2010 Issue

IN THE FALL of 1964, not long after Barry Goldwater had clinched the Republican nomination for president, historian Richard Hofstadter penned an essay for Harper's called "The Paranoid Style in American Politics." It was an instant classic—not because it was so elegantly written, but because in just a few pages it described with deadly accuracy one of the major strains of our national dialogue.

make the jump here to read the full story

"Poly-Sci Model: The Musical!" Movie Trailer Spoof (HD)

The Sanctity of Marriage - RON ROMANOVSKY

From JMG: Exodus International Launches Campaign In Support Of Anti-Gay Bullying

GLSEN's national Day Of Silence is six weeks away, but the "ex-gay" mental cases at Exodus International have already launched their "Day Of Truth" campaign to stop students from being taught that it's wrong to beat up and harass gay kids. According to Exodus, the anti-gay Alliance Defense Fund is standing by with 1200 attorneys to represent anybody that faces opposition from school administrators.

In the past, students who have attempted to exercised their rights to talk about topics related to homosexuality have been censored or, in some cases, punished for their beliefs. It is important that students stand up for their First Amendment right to hear and speak the Truth about human sexuality in order to protect that freedom for future generations. The Day of Truth provides an opportunity to speak the Truth in love and have an honest conversation about homosexuality and at the same time publicly exercise your constitutional right to free speech. Over the past 6 years, we have had over 17,000 participants in the Day of Truth. This year, even more students are expected to take part in the Day of Truth, as news of this vital project continues to spread across the country. The Alliance Defense Fund has more than 1,200 allied attorneys who are available to assist you if you run into complications with school officials or pro-homosexual advocacy groups on your campus.

It's more than a little fucking sad that the same people who were likely brutalized for their homosexuality while in school are now campaigning to support their tormentors. And go freep their fucking poll.

reposted from by JMG

From JMG: UC Davis LGBT Center Vandalized

The LGBT center at the University of California campus in Davis was struck by graffiti vandals over the weekend. For now, the damage will remain as a symbol of anti-gay sentiment. From a UC Davis bulletin:

On the night of February 26th the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Resource Center experienced acts of vandalism. The entrance to the LGBTRC was defaced with derogatory and hateful words that target the Queer community. This vicious hate crime demonstrates the need for community centers like ours to exist in order to offer a safe space on campus and combat the homophobia, discrimination, and hate that is still prevalent within our society. As a center we wanted not to immediately remove the vandalism in order to ensure that this hate crime does not go unnoticed by the campus community. Facilities and administration offered to clean it up immediately but we wanted to take this opportunity to educate the campus about struggles that our community continues to face. We feel it is easier to erase physical representations of violence than to heal from the ongoing impacts of this hatred. Erasing it makes it possible to avoid believing these things happen on our campus. We want to work towards a healing resolution.

There has been a rash of such incidents in recent months, with vandalism of LGBT centers seen in Orlando, Long Island, and elsewhere.

Reposted from JMG

Another Gem from JMG: Michele Bachmann, The Comic Book

Comic book fans may be interested in False Witness! The Michele Bachmann Story, by Kevin Avidor. She's certainly the most cartoonish member of Congress in quite a while. And that's saying something. Ordering details at the above link.

reposted from JMG

From JMG: Tony Perkins Dissed By Air Force

Family Research Council leader Tony Perkins was disinvited from a planned speaking engagement at Andrews Air Force Base that was to have taken place last weekend after criticizing the president's position on DADT.

Two days after President Obama's State of the Union speech, in which he announced plans to repeal "Don't ask, Don't tell," Perkin's received a letter from the chaplain's office at Andrews rescinding the invitation. The letter cited Family Research Council statements calling them "incompatible in our role as military members who serve our elected officials and our commander in chief." "I never thought, you know, when I put on the uniform as a United States marine, serve six years in serving this country, [I] never gave thought to the fact that. one day I would be denied to speak because I, number one. held a view that was consistent with existing law, but number two, just happened to be in contradiction to the president of the United States on homosexuality," Perkins said in response to the letter. He added that the loss of free speech should concern all Americans. He fears a change in the law allowing gays to serve openly in the U.S. military will have a devastating effect on religious speech. "Chaplains will be muzzled in their ability to preach the whole council of God," Perkins said. "In fact, I believe you will see a mass exodus of chaplains from the military if, in fact, the military is forced to throw open its arms to embrace homosexuality."

Bryan Fischer, the notorious America Family Association radio host who has called for forcible reparative therapy for gays, is outraged.

The homosexual agenda represents a clear and present danger to virtually every fundamental right given to us by our Creator and enshrined for us in our Constitution. Start with freedom of religion and freedom of speech, the first two of our inalienable rights secured for us in the Bill of Rights. As a culture, we must choose between the homosexual agenda or the Constitution because we can't have both. Further proof comes from the abjectly pathetic decision of the chaplains' office at Andrews Air Force Base to rescind a long-standing invitation to Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council. Perkins had been invited to give a non-political talk at a prayer luncheon on the base yesterday, but was abruptly dis-invited for one simple reason: he supports the current law which makes homosexuals ineligible for service in the United States military.

Don't miss the significance here. Perkins is defending current law, and is advocating for the time-honored principle that homosexual conduct is incompatible with military service. George Washington famously and literally drummed two soldiers out of the Continental Army in the days of our contest with Great Britain after they were discovered in the act of attempted sodomy. And yet it now appears that a virtual zero-tolerance policy, rooted in Christophobia, has resulted in the blacklisting of anyone who supports what the military has always believed and practiced.

Why would somebody who calls the Commander In Chief a socialist/marxist/illegal alien be surprised if they aren't allowed to speak to his troops? Oh, wait. We know why.

reposted from JMG

Christopher Dallman - GHOSTS - Official Music Video

Reposted from Pam's House Blend

NOM's Maggie Gallagher Supports & Admires Killing Gays by: waymonhudson Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 12:47:03 PM EST

(You said it; now OWN your hate, Maggie- and with it, National Organization for Marriage and ALL of their allies... - promoted by Louise) We all know Maggie Gallagher makes her living off of peddling anti-LGBT hate with the National Organization for Marriage. She claims she's just "saving marriage from the evil gays" and that she doesn't hate us. Sure she claims that we out to recruit kids, indoctrinate them in schools, and destroy them by being parents, but that's just a little political difference, right? She's Miss "warm and fuzzy" homophobia, especially if you see the media coverage of her. Well, Maggie G let that mask slip a bit and we got to see what we all know is lurking underneath. Gallagher has come to the defense of (shocker!) Miss Faux Beverly Hills Lauren Ashley, who not only said gays shouldn't marry, but trotted out the old Leviticus Bible verse saying gays are an abomination and should be killed. Maggie Gallagher has endorsed and supported Lauren Ashley: I'm not surprised that Miss Beverly Hills, Lauren Ashley, opposes gay marriage -- after all 45 percent of young Californians voted for Prop 8, as did 7 million Californians generally. But I have to say, I am impressed with her courage in coming forward and for speaking up for Carrie. The elected officials of city of Beverly Hills are not demonstrating tolerance or kindness by continuing the avalanche of hatred against supporters of Prop 8.

There's More... :: (11 Comments, 380 words in story) A repost from PHB

infoMania / Johnny Weir: That's Gay

From JMG: John McCain: There Is Strong Opposition To DADT Among Military Leaders

On Meet The Press today, Sen. John McCain was called out for his recent backtracking on DADT, which he once said should be repealed if military leaders agreed, as we saw Joint Chiefs chairman Admiral Mike Mullen do recently. McCain: "Oh, but Mullen was speaking personally."

posted from Joe

'Harry Potter' Star Supports'Trevor Project'

From JMG: LGBT Activists Convene In NYC For Immigration Equality Forum

A large group of noted LGBT activists are in NYC this weekend to attend an immigration equality forum at the Desmond Tutu Center in Manhattan. The event is sponsored by the Four Freedoms Fund of the Public Interest Projects and will feature speakers from the LGBT-focused Immigration Equality group as well as experts from the comprehensive immigration reform movement. Last night attendees gathered at the historic Stonewall Inn for a cocktail reception (slideshow below), although attendance was hampered by the air travel mayhem caused by Snowmaggedon III. I should have a full report from the conference posted here by late Sunday. I'm posting photos and updates on Facebook as we go.

yet another repost JMG

From JMG: Friendly Voices - Daniel Radcliffe

"I grew up knowing a lot of gay men and it was never something that I even thought twice about -- that some men were gay and some weren't. And then I went to school and (for) the first time ... I came across homophobia. I had never encountered it before. It shocked me. I have always hated anybody who is not tolerant of gay men or lesbians or bisexuals. Now I am in the very fortunate position where I can actually help or do something about it.

"I have described myself as being 'gently eccentric' and slightly different as a person just because I've had a very different set of influences growing up than anybody else in my peer group did. I think it's important for somebody from a big, commercial movie series like Harry Potter and particularly because I am not gay or bisexual or transgendered. The fact that I am straight makes not a difference, but it shows that straight people are incredibly interested and care a lot about this as well." - Daniel Radcliffe, speaking from the NYC headquarters of the LGBT teen suicide prevention hotline The Trevor Project, for whom he has just made a promotional film.Re-owled from JMG

Frum Buzzflash: Michael Winship: Two Legal Foes Unite to Fight -- for Same Sex Marriage

MICHAEL WINSHIP FOR BUZZFLASH

Watching this week's "health summit" in Washington, with both sides barely repressing the urge to turn the Blair House event into the Potomac version of mixed martial arts cage fighting, was discouraging. To get a little peace and quiet I was tempted to switch to ESPN and search for an hour of the world's greatest soccer riots. At least they make better theater. And there are better-defined goals.

make the jump to read the article