A Pennsylvania man is under arrest after confessing to beating an elderly man to death with a stone, just like the Bible instructs should be done with homosexuals. A 28-year-old Upper Darby man has been charged with murder after telling police that he stoned a 70-year-old man to death when the man made homosexual advances toward him, authorities say. John Joe Thomas, 28, of Sunshine Road in Upper Darby, spent almost every day with 70-year-old Murray Seidman at Seidman’s Lansdowne home, police say. Days before Seidman’s body was found on Jan. 12, Thomas allegedly beat Seidman to death with a sock full of rocks. Thomas told authorities that he read in the Old Testament that homosexuals should be stoned to death. When Seidman allegedly made homosexual advances toward him over a period of time, Thomas said he received a message in his prayers that he must end Seidman’s life, according to court documents. Police say that Thomas struck Seidman in the head about 10 times with the sock of rocks. Thomas left Seidman dead in his apartment, and then threw his bloody clothing and the bloody sock in a dumpster, according to authorities.The killer was the sole executor of the victim's will and returned to the scene of the murder several days later claiming to have discovered the body.
"What do I say to the idea that this [DOMA] is a wedge issue? I say 'Hallelujah.' The fact that we've now evolved to the point where the Republicans are complaining about the fact that we introduced this bill because it causes them political problems is a great sign of progress. It used to be the other way around." - Rep. Barney Frank, in a Talking Points Memo piece speculating that gay rights is now a positive wedge issue for the Democrats.Five years ago, at 36 percent, support for gay marriage barely topped a third of all Americans. Now, 53 percent say gay marriage should be legal, marking the first time in Post-ABC polling that a majority has said so. “This is very consistent with a lot of other polling data we’ve seen and the general momentum we’ve seen over the past year and a half,” said Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, a leading pro-gay-marriage group. “As people have come to understand this is about loving, committed families dealing, like everyone, with tough times, they understand how unfair it is to treat them differently.” Opponents of same-sex marriage took issue with the poll, which asks respondents: “Do you think it should be legal or illegal for gay and lesbian couples to get married?” Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, argued that the term “illegal” could be inferred to mean that violators could be imprisoned, which most Americans would consider harsh.WaPo notes that it has used the same "legal/illegal" wording in every poll on marriage equality since 2003. So Brian Brown can suck it.
Box Turtle Bulletin alerts us that despite recent media reports that Uganda's "kill gays" bill had been shelved, in fact it will be debated in the national parliament next week. The bill came into being after American evangelicals visited Uganda with claims that foreign homosexuals wanted to pay Uganda's children to become gay.The controversial Anti Homosexuality bill is one of several bills that Members of Parliament on the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee are set to debate when the House resumes business next week. Speaking to the media at Parliament today, the committee chairman, Stephen Tashobya said though the bill has created both local and international concern, it is up to Parliament to pass the bill. Tashobya says the committee will hold public hearings where stakeholders’ views will be heard and a report made to the House for debate and possible passing before Parliament closes the 8th Parliament.RELATED: Earlier this week the U.S. House Financial Services Committee approved a bill that would discourage the granting of American foreign aid to nations that "physically persecute" their LGBT citizens. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank, faces an uncertain future with the full House.
Swedish soccer star Anton Hysen, 20, has come out. I missed this story when it first broke last week, but this morning a JMG reader in Sweden tips us to today's story in Britain's tabloid, The Sun. Anton Hysen was a professional footballer dating a supermodel. Hardly a trail-blazing story, the son of former Liverpool star and Swedish heart-throb Glenn Hysen merely appeared to be a chip off the old block. Yet the youngster ended the relationship with this stunning woman after finally confronting the fact he is gay. Hysen, 20, has displayed enormous courage by making his sexuality public and is only the second professional footballer in Europe to do so after Justin Fashanu in 1990. England cricketer Steve Davies and rugby star Gareth Thomas are the only other prominent British sportsmen to come out, as the wait continues for a Premier League or Football League player to break this sporting taboo. Former Swedish Under-17 international Hysen plays for Utsiktens, the fourth-tier team managed by his dad. And he insists the reaction to his news has been extremely supportive. He said: "I have so many reasons to be positive about the situation."Hysen's soccer coach father was accused of homophobia in a 2001 incident in which he punched a man he said came on to him in an airport restroom. Several years later the elder Hysen spoke at a Stockholm pride festival, encouraging youth athletes to come out and leading the younger Hysen to suspect that his dad knew about him by then. Anton Hysen on his own ephiphany: "When you consider dumping a supermodel, you know you are gay."
This list pretty much comprises the biggest homophobes in the U.S. House of Representatives. As of now, they're all Republicans. The list is also an indication that the newly elected teabaggers are not just focused on fiscal issues. A number of the cosponsors are freshmen (for example, Sean Duffy (WI), Kristi Noem (SD), Tim Scott (GA) and many more.) So, yeah, the teabaggers are hard-core right-wingers on social issues, too. We'll update the list when and if more cosponsors are added.Today, we've got confirmation that the teabaggers are homophobes. Carlos Maza from Equality Matters compared the list of anti-DOMA sponsors to the Tea Party Caucus:
Of the 52 members of the House Tea Party Caucus, 26 have already signed on as co-sponsors to the bill, including Tea Party favorite Rep. Michelle Bachmann.Yep, homophobia and legislative gay-bashing trump "principles."
While traditional Republicans might be expected to support the bill, such a powerful endorsement from the Tea Party Caucus is puzzling because it contradicts two of the Tea Party's core principles: Limited government and focus on fiscal responsibility.
The Defense of Marriage Act is a classic example of federal intrusion into states' rights. DOMA explicitly prohibits the federal government from adhering to state definitions of marriage in instances where the state chooses to sanction the marriages of same-sex couples.
Last week the Los Angeles Times revealed that thrice-married serial adulterer Newt Gingrich had arranged for $200K in donations to unseat Iowa's pro-gay state Supreme Court justices. Now it's been learned that Gingrich sent $125K of that money directly to the anti-gay hate group, the American Family Association.Gingrich, the former U.S. House speaker who has aggressively courted the conservatives who dominate Iowa's lead-off presidential caucuses, raised the money for the political arm of Restoring American Leadership, also known as ReAL. That group then passed $125,000 to American Family Association Action and an additional $25,000 to the Iowa Christian Alliance — two of the groups that spent millions before last November's elections that removed three of the state's seven state Supreme Court justices. The court had unanimously decided a state law restricting marriage to a man and a woman violated Iowa's constitution. The financial transfers, which appear to comply with campaign finance laws, were part of a steady flow of cash into Iowa from conservative groups such as the National Organization for Marriage and the Family Research Council.Newt Gingrich would like to remind everybody that that marriage is between one man and one woman whom you abandon riddled with cancer on her hospital bed while you fuck the shit out of your mistress whom you later marry and cheat on with a third woman while screaming with Godly moral outrage about the infidelities of the president.
“It is shocking that in 21st-century America, legally married same-sex couples are being singled out and selectively denied fundamental rights by their own federal government. This is an outrage. The Respect for Marriage Act does just that — it respects and protects the rights of legally married couples to live free from this government-sanctioned discrimination. Today’s introduction marks an important step toward recognizing our common humanity and ending an egregious injustice against thousands of loving, committed couples who simply want the protections, rights and responsibilities already afforded other married couples. We thank the many House and Senate members who recognize that DOMA has no place on the books and support its full, swift repeal. DOMA has only served to belittle our country’s deeply held values of freedom and fairness. It has only served to hurt families, not help. This must end now.”Plaintiffs in one of the federal suits to overturn DOMA appeared at a DC press conference this morning.
Nancy Gill and Marcelle Letourneau joined other married same-sex couples at two Capitol Hill press conferences today in support of a bill filed to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act. They were accompanied by GLAD Civil Rights Project Director Mary L. Boanauto, who is representing them and other Massachusetts couples and widowers in the DOMA Section 3 challenge Gill et al v. OPM. “Marcelle and I have been happily together for 30 years and happily married for five,” said Nancy Gill, a federal postal employee for 23 years. “We’re raising two kids. Unlike my married co-workers, I can’t put Marcelle on my health insurance because of DOMA. Our family should be treated the same as the families of our co-workers, and our children should be just as secure as theirsWhile the Respect For Marriage Act has numerous cosponsors in both chambers, the bill is considered to have little chance of success.
Though Mercado's homosexuality has never been established, this flamboyant, androgynous, perfumed, bouffant, heavily-made up psychic seemed to me to be gayer than a screaming parrot on top of a banana bush.
"It’s OK to be out. I do think it is. I do think it’s acceptable for people to be who they are. I am a huge advocate of that. In that sense, that’s the only way we can truly love ourselves, it’s by accepting who we are and letting everybody know who we are. So, I’m very proud – you know – I’m friends with Ricky [Martin] and I’m very proud of him and support him in everything he does. And all these people who have been... who want to step forward and tell the world who they are… I think that’s awesome." - Jennifer Lopez, in an interview with gay Latino blogger Andres Duque.Immigration Minister Jason Kenney showed off the guide to new citizens yesterday in Vancouver, but said he didn’t personally order the information removed. Other new additions to the booklet add forced marriage to a list of gender-based crimes that aren’t tolerated in Canada, and a paragraph that says “violent, extreme or hateful prejudices” aren’t tolerated here. The study guide was last updated 15 years ago.(Tipped by JMG reader Paul)
Via the Human Rights Campaign: 51 percent of voters oppose DOMA while 34 percent favor it. Independent voters, who were instrumental in the Republican House takeover, oppose the law by a 52 percent to 34 percent margin. Additionally, when read statements for and against defending DOMA in court, 54 percent of voters oppose the House Republicans' intervention, while only 32 percent support it. Given a list of issues important in determining their vote for President, voters ranked the economy and jobs (54 percent), Medicare and Social Security (23 percent) and education (19 percent) as most important with only 5 percent of respondents saying marriage was most important to them. Finally, when presented with the actual benefits from which married same-sex couples are excluded, voters overwhelmingly support extending those benefits.
The U.S. House Financial Services Committee today approved Rep. Barney Frank's budget amendment that would discourage the granting of foreign aid to nations that engage in the "physical persecution" of their citizens on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identify. Michelle Garcia reports at the Advocate: The text of the amendment reads: "The Committee urges Treasury to advocate that governments receiving assistance from the multilateral development institutions do not engage in gross violations of human rights, for example, the denial of freedom of religion, including the right to choose one’s own religion, and physical persecution based on sexual orientation or gender identity." Frank cited Uganda, a beneficiary of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries program, as an example of a country that openly abuses its LGBT citizens. “The United States has a fairly influential voice in the development area," Frank said Tuesday. "And we should not be supportive of providing multilateral bank development funds going to the governments of countries which engage in the physical persecution of people because of their religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or gender identity.”Frank's amendment will be added to the bill that describes the budgetary priorities of the Financial Services Committee. While it was passed out of committee with "nearly unanimous" support, it's unclear how the amendment will fare with the GOP House majority, many of whom already oppose foreign aid to some countries for differing reasons.
