Saturday, September 17, 2011
Via AmericaBloggay: Imminent demise of DADT could have far-reaching implications for gay rights
Next Tuesday is the day.
“They really took the time to train and educate the force on the various assets of this policy and hypotheticals,” Nicholson said. “It was an hour of instruction on gays and lesbians, on gay families, on gay partners and it was a really a normalization routine. It was really exposed to millions of America’s most conservative youth to the normality of gays and lesbians.”
Among the situations that the training addressed, Nicholson said, were gay troops holding hands, going on dates or participating in military events with their partners. Nearly 2 million service members received the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” training before certification took place on July 22, according to the Pentagon.
Workplace discrimination against LGBT people could be an issue that gains new focus after “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal. No federal law exists to protect LGBT workers against discrimination. Firing someone for being gay is legal in 29 states and firing someone for being transgender is legal in 35 states.
Krehely said open service could generate support for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit discrimination against LGBT workers in most situations in the public and private workforce, or encourage other employers to add protections for LGBT workers.
“The military is probably one of the biggest and most visible workplaces in our country,” Krehely said. “I think Sept. 20 is a clear indication that this discrimination should not be there any longer, and that we need to move forward on ENDA, and educate people about the broader workplace issues that we’re up against.”
Via AmericaBlogGay: Are gay public figures supposed to remain celibate?
It seems reporters now think it fine to report on single public figures seeking love, or just a roll in the hay, online. Good. Then let's also report on all public figures, including reporters, who aren't married and who have sex. Because that seems to the be standard for this story - oh, and the guy is gay too, so that just makes it all the more salacious, doesn't it?
Seriously, what is wrong with a local city councilman, who is single and openly gay, looking for sex in his off hours? Do single straight people have sex? I think they do. Do they sometimes have it with people they've just met, at bars or parties? Why, yes they do. So is that the new standard - if you even vaguely intimate that you're interested in sleeping with someone else, it's news! Because straight guys, when they go to bars, they never go looking to get laid. Oh no. It's only for a friendly platonic drink with friends. No sex, please, we're straight.
There are a few things going on in this story. First, homophobia. How salacious that a gay man was looking to get laid (oh my!). Second, Internet-phobia. How salacious that someone used the Internet to try to meet another human being. Kate McGinty likely wouldn't have written a story about an unmarried heterosexual city councilman using eHarmony to meet women (and he indicated in his profile that he actually might just consider sleeping with those women!).
Oh, and let me guess. Had this guy been "caught" going to a gay bar to meet guys, then the story would have been about him frequenting sleazy gay bars.
If there were any kind of hypocrisy here, I might understand the paper's rationale. But what's going on here is that the hetero paper is simply not familiar with how people date in the modern era. Especially gay people. Straight people can reasonably assume that most "hot chicks" they meet are straight - I'm not saying they will be straight, I'm saying that in our society the assumption is that you're straight, so no one would look at you funny if you made a pass at someone of the opposite sex who ended up gay.
Try being gay.
Imagine what it's like being a gay man and wanting to make a pass at a cute guy at the office, at the bus stop, at church. I'd be damn careful about doing any of those unless I knew, or strongly suspected, the other guy was gay. Straight guys don't have that problem, worrying about getting the sh*t kicked out of them if they make a friendly pass at a woman who happens to be a lesbian.
There's a reason gay people were early adopters of online dating. Other than a few bars (and the Whole Foods), there's nowhere else we can safely assume the other person is actually gay. And I mean safely.
It's abominable that this newspaper thought it relevant to write about this.
Via AmericaBlogGay and TowleRoad: Brad Pitt on gay marriage and religion
He also had questions about same-sex marriage:
“What are you so afraid of? That’s my question. Gay people getting married? What is so scary about that? It’s complicated. You grow up in a religion like that and you try to pray the gay away. I feel sadness for people like that. This is where people start short-circuiting—instead of being brave and questioning their beliefs, they are afraid and feel that they have to defend them.
“I don’t mind a world with religion in it. There are some beautiful tenets within all religions. What I get hot about is when they start dictating how other people must live. People suffer because of it. They are spreading misery.
On the continuing battle for equality:
“Can you believe that we’re still fighting for equality in America? To be against marriage for everyone is utter discrimination. I feel strongly about that because if equality of marriage doesn’t happen now, the next generation will have to deal with it.
“It is an amazing thing that New York has finally gotten same-sex marriage. But the real problem is that the federal government hides behind states on this issue. It is blatant, ugly bigotry, and the federal government shouldn’t be doing that. You’re denying some Americans the right that all Americans have, to live their lives as they choose.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Via The New Civil Rights Movement: Anderson Cooper Profiles Michele Bachmann's History Of Lies (Video)
Michele Bachmann’s parroted lies about the HPV vaccine have reminded America that Michele Bachmann is a liar. Bachmann recounting some unnamed, unidentified woman’s false claim that the HPV vaccine made her daughter “mentally retarded,” on national television several times, as Cooper points out, is “incredibly irresponsible.” Cooper reminds us that there is absolutely no possible way the HPV vaccine could make someone “mentally retarded,” and says, “Bachmann is spreading an all-out falsehood here.”
On last night’s AC 360, Anderson Cooper profiled Michele Bachmann’s long history of lies. Cooper shows clip after clip after clip of verified lies told by Bachmann. “There’s no political wiggle-room here, no grey areas, no spin.”
In this clip, Ron Carey, Bachmann’s former Chief of Staff admits Bachmann “is very impulsive,” and says she reads a lot but sometimes leaves out the “ten or twenty percent that can change the outcome.”
On last night’s AC 360, Anderson Cooper profiled Michele Bachmann’s long history of lies. Cooper shows clip after clip after clip of verified lies told by Bachmann. “There’s no political wiggle-room here, no grey areas, no spin.”
In this clip, Ron Carey, Bachmann’s former Chief of Staff admits Bachmann “is very impulsive,” and says she reads a lot but sometimes leaves out the “ten or twenty percent that can change the outcome.”
Via AmericaBlogGay: Pat Robertson advises man to divorce wife with Alzheimer’s, because they’re "kind of dead" already
Just when you think you've heard it all from this evil troll who claims to be some sort of Christian prophet, Pat Robertson, is now absolving his flock
of opposite gender divorce if it gets too inconvenient due to sickness.
Follow the promise made in the marriage vows of "in sickness and in
health?" Nah, not if you are in a Fundamentalist Christian endorsed
opposite sex marriage.
During
the portion of the show where the one-time Republican presidential
candidate takes questions from viewers, Robertson was asked what advice a
man should give to a friend who began seeing another woman after his
wife started suffering from the incurable neurological disorder. "I
know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something, he should
divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial
care and somebody looking after her," Robertson said.
The chairman of the
Christian Broadcasting Network, which airs the "700 Club," said he
wouldn't "put a guilt trip" on anyone who divorces a spouse who suffers
from the illness, but added, "Get some ethicist besides me to give you
the answer."
Can you just imagine the
judgment that would be rained down upon our LGBT community if we
claimed divorce was justified if our spouses became ill to the point it
became inconvenient to stay with them? Robertson is right in one
respect; it most certainly sounds cruel. In fact, I would go so far to
say it is selfish, self centered and cruel to divorce one's spouse if
the one who is ill has not made any kind of provision to release the
other from that promised to be there in sickness and in health.
The only way I could
begin to justify divorce due to sickness is if the two came to an
understanding initiated by the sick spouse that the healthy partner was
to move on with their lives when the sick person became incapacitated.
Of course, we have to remember this exhortation to dodge the matrimonial
promises comes from Pat Robertson who claims it is a sin to not follow
the Bible's every word and commandment which leads us to some major
hypocrisy.
Robertson speculates
that having Alzheimer's is "a kind of death," which would seem at odds
with the the hue and cry he raised over the Terri Schiavo case.
Pat
Robertson echoed Dobson's statements. "The judiciary is out of
control," he told the network, adding that he hopes Republicans use the
so-called "nuclear option" to stop [liberal/progressive] fillibustering
that has prevented the naming of several high-level judges who are not
committed to liberalism and rewriting the constitution of the United
States--judges who are not committed to making evil good and good evil.
Previously, Robertson had said the judicial rulings in the Terri Schiavo case amounted to "judicial execution."
Added the evangelist: "A convicted cop-killer wouldn't have gotten treatment like this. It's outrageous."
So, if you are brain dead then you aren't dead, but if you have Altheimer's you are dead?
Nice defender of marriage.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Via JMG: Friendly Voices - Clint Eastwood
"These people who are making a big deal about gay marriage? I don’t give a fuck about who wants to get married to anybody else! Why not?! We’re making a big deal out of things we shouldn’t be making a deal out of. Just give everybody the chance to have the life they want." - Clint Eastwood, speaking to GQ Magazine.Via JMG: Hate Groups Agree: Lock Gays Up
In the below clip, Peter Sprigg and Bryan Fischer distort the example of a bisexual woman who wrote "I choose to be gay" in a blog post. Which is their victorious proof that millions and millions of people are collaborating in the lie that they are born gay. And even though Sprigg allows that people are "born with same-sex attraction," both he and Fischer have previously advocated for the criminalization of homosexuality. They are NOT hate groups! They just want you imprisoned, tortured, brainwashed, or dead.
RELATED: All the major GOP candidates will appear at the FRC's Values Voters Summit later this year. Apparently they have ZERO problem speaking before a group whose president has ties to the KKK and white supremacist groups.
reposted from Joe
RELATED: All the major GOP candidates will appear at the FRC's Values Voters Summit later this year. Apparently they have ZERO problem speaking before a group whose president has ties to the KKK and white supremacist groups.
reposted from Joe
Via AmericaBlogGay: Britain’s conservative PM endorses new gay rights group
Imagine that happening in the US
David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband have given their backing to a new organisation which aims to promote gay rights around the world. Kaleidoscope will campaign against homophobic prejudice and violence, particularly in Africa and the Middle East , where punishments for homosexuality can be severe.
The prime minister said such treatment was "simply appalling".
Via AmericaBlogGay: More on the anti-bullying lawsuit in Michele Bachman’s district
This is a good template for how to respond to other anti-gay school districts around the country. NYT:
After years of harsh conflict between advocates for gay students and Christian conservatives, the issue was already highly charged here. Then in July, six students brought a lawsuit contending that school officials have failed to stop relentless antigay bullying and that a district policy requiring teachers to remain “neutral” on issues of sexual orientation has fostered oppressive silence and a corrosive stigma. Also this summer, parents and students here learned that the federal Department of Justice was deep into a civil rights investigation into complaints about unchecked harassment of gay students in the district. The inquiry is still under way.
Through it all, conservative Christian groups have demanded that the schools avoid any descriptions of homosexuality or same-sex marriage as normal, warning against any surrender to what they say is the “homosexual agenda” of recruiting youngsters to an “unhealthy and abnormal lifestyle.”
Adding an extra incendiary element, the school district has suffered eight student suicides in the last two years, leading state officials to declare a “suicide contagion.” Whether antigay bullying contributed to any of these deaths is sharply disputed; some friends and teachers say four of the students were struggling with issues of sexual identity.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Via JMG: HomoQuotable - Jane Lynch
"If anything, I think people respect me for not hiding. But what it comes down to is we’re all just people. At the end of the day, I happen to go home to a woman. In Hollywood, all that matters is do you do your job and do it well. Everybody’s going to have their own story, and we have to leave it up to them to decide how and when they’re going to come out. I would never give anybody advice that way. It’s so personal." - Jane Lynch, speaking to The Advocate.Via JMG: What Will Historians Write?
A new message from the Courage Campaign calls for help in fighting the repeal of California's LGBT history bill.
reposted from Joe
reposted from Joe
Via JMG: BRAZIL: Anti-Gay Televangelist Charged With Embezzling $300M From Followers
A major religious scandal is exploding in Brazil after one of the nation's best known anti-gay televangelists, Edir Macedo, was charged with embezzling $300M from his impoverished followers. Three leading members of one of Brazil's most powerful churches have been accused of laundering millions in church donations and using worshippers' money for personal gain. The charges, unveiled on Monday by São Paulo's public prosecutor, relate to 404m reals (£150m) allegedly obtained from mostly impoverished churchgoers by leaders at Brazil's Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. The money was subsequently channelled out of the country via a network of offshore bank accounts and money changers, federal prosecutors claimed. Among those charged is Bishop Edir Macedo, a controversial televangelist who founded the church in 1977, and his financial director, Alba Maria Silva da Costa.Prosecutors says the actual amount funneled to offshore accounts could exceed $1 billion. Macedo is known for fiery condemnations of homosexuals and for his promise that donations to his ministry will be "returned ten-fold by Jesus." His church reportedly has eight million members worldwide.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
JMG Quote Of The Day - Paul Krugman
"What happened after 9/11 — and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not — was deeply shameful. The atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons. A lot of other people behaved badly. How many of our professional pundits — people who should have understood very well what was happening — took the easy way out, turning a blind eye to the corruption and lending their support to the hijacking of the atrocity? The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it." - Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, writing for the New York Times.RELATED: Krugman's column has already caused furor in the rightwing blogosphere, with GOProud's Chris Barron tweeting that Krugman "may be the most despicable human being to ever wander the planet."
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