JMG Quote Of The Day - John Shore

"If you’re a Christian who believes that being gay is a morally reprehensible offense against God, then you share a mindset, worldview, and moral structure with the kids who hounded Jamey Rodemeyer, literally, to death. It is your ethos, your convictions, and your theology that informed, supported, and encouraged their cruelty. We Christians who believe that God created gay people as much in His own image as he did straight people are begging you to reconsider your theology — to do nothing more than be open to an alternative, fully credible, scholastically sound interpretation of one or two lines from Paul. How can you be unwilling to do something so simple, when you see the horrible ultimate cost of that refusal?" - Christian author John Shore.

Labels: bullying, LGBT youth, suicide

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: NFL Protects Sexual Orientation

With little apparent fanfare, the National Football League has added sexual orientation to the list of protected classes in its collective bargaining agreement. Via the gay sports blog Wide Rights, here's the new language.

Section 1. No Discrimination: There will be no discrimination in any form against any player by the Management Council, any Club or by the NFLPA because of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or activity or lack of activity on behalf of the NFLPA.

In the above-linked article, Wide Rights speculates as to the source of this change, which may have come from gay-friendly New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

Labels: football, LGBT rights, NFL, sports

reposted from Joe

'BULLYING IS VIOLENCE' Public Service Announcement Campaign

Lady Gaga - "Hair" [Jamey Rodemeyer Tribute] Live at iHeartRadio Music Festival 2011

Via JMG: Hate Groups: We're Being Oppressed!

Yesterday the New York Times took note of the months-old battle to get major companies to stop aligning themselves with hate groups.

A handful of advocates, armed with nothing more than their keyboards, have put many of the country’s largest retailers, including Apple, Microsoft, Netflix and Wal-Mart, on the spot over their indirect and, until recently, unnoticed roles in funneling money to Christian groups that are vocal in opposing homosexuality. The advocates are demanding that the retailers end their association with an Internet marketer that gets a commission from the retailers for each online customer it gives them. [snip]

“This is economic terrorism,” said Mike Huckabee, the former pastor, governor and presidential contender, who is a paid CGBG consultant. “To try to destroy a business because you don’t like some of the customers is, to me, unbelievably un-American,” he said in an interview. CGBG, a for-profit company formerly called the Christian Values Network, resembles hundreds of so-called affiliate marketers, which retailers use to bring customers to their own Web sites. The affiliate receives a commission on any sales, and CGBG allows buyers to send half that commission to any of the Christian charities on its list.

When Christians pressure companies, that's righteous! When gays do the exact same thing? Economic terrorism!

RELATED: The Christian Values Network was launched by nutjob actor Stephen Baldwin and convicted drug felon Michael Lohan (father of Lindsay).

Labels: Christianists, Family Reseach Council, hate groups, hypocrisy, internet, Mike Huckabee

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Religion Poll On Marriage Support

Baylor University's annual survey on religion reports the above levels of support for marriage equality. Unsurprisingly, the "unchurched" are far and away our best allies.

Labels: marriage equality, religion, surveys

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: NEW YORK: Gov. Andrew Cuomo Signs Landmark Bill Aiding LGBT Seniors

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed a bill creating state services for LGBT senior citizens. The bill was sponsored by openly gay state Sen. Thomas Duane and openly bisexual state Assemblyman Micah Keller. The bill authorizes the replication of various state programs currently offered to traditionally underserved populations.

Via press release from Duane's office:

“Governor Cuomo has once again shown his commitment to ensuring that all New Yorkers have equal rights and protections under the law,” said Senator Duane. “This legislation is groundbreaking. For the first time, New York will recognize the unique needs of the ever growing segment of aging LGBT New Yorkers – and the services they may require in the years to come. Over the past decade, this State has gone from all but ignoring the LGBT community to enacting comprehensive LGBT hate crimes protections, providing a Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act, protecting our students with strong anti-gay bullying protections in the Dignity For All Students Act, insuring our right to marry the ones we love with a Marriage Equality law, and now today taking major steps to assist elderly LGBT New Yorkers. I am proud at how far we have come in such a short amount of time.”

I believe this new bill is unique to New York state. Can anybody verify that?

Labels: gay seniors, Micah Kellner, New York state, Thomas Duane

reposted from Joe

Via AmericaBlog Gay: DSCC fundraising off of GOP booing gay soldier

And they should. That audience made a better argument than any of us could for why the Republicans shouldn't be in power. And only two of the 9 GOP presidential candidates on stage when the audience booed a gay soldier in Iraq have said anything about it. Where is Bachmann? Where is Perry Where is Romney and Gingrich? Nothing. Make sure you sign our open letter to the GOP candidates, demanding they apologize for this blatant disrespect of our troops. 

From: Guy Cecil info@dscc.org

Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:01:47 -0400 (EDT)

To: xxxxxx

Subject: DOA

If you saw the news from last night, you know exactly why we can’t let up the fight, even for a moment:

-- The House shoved us toward a government shutdown by passing a despicable temporary funding measure that holds disaster relief hostage unless crucial job-creating programs are slashed to the bone. Luckily, it was dead on arrival in the Senate.

-- The Republican presidential debate crowd literally BOOED a gay soldier serving in Iraq who asked a question about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Can you imagine if a Democratic crowd booed a deployed soldier? Not one of the candidates had the guts or heart to denounce them.

If they take the Senate, they won’t even have to hold disaster relief hostage. They could just eviscerate it. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, reinstated. Health care reform, repealed. GOP priorities will no longer be DOA. They’ll be law. No guts. No heart.

We’re down to the wire. 8 days until our September fundraising deadline; $495,000 left to raise. It’s not just a number. If we fall short, we lose the Senate.

Can you give $5 right now? 90% of our donations come from grassroots supporters – I’m counting on you.

No way, no how can these people have complete control of government. Help stop them.

Guy Cecil

Via AmericaBlog Gay: Andrew Sullivan on the GOP booing an American soldier in combat

From Andrew:

But as I went to bed last night, the scattered boos for an American soldier in the field at any debate began to sink in. And Santorum's despicable lie in response - that repealing DADT somehow means license of gay sexual misconduct in the armed services - was intended to reduce that soldier, his life and work, to Santorum's obsession: the intrinsic evil of gay sex. Again, this is usual. Gays are used to being reduced to sexual acts rather than being seen as full human beings, like straight people, with sexuality sure, but a whole lot of other things as well.

But somehow the fact that these indignities were heaped on a man risking his life to serve this country, a man ballsy enough to make that video, a man in the uniform of the United States ... well, it tells me a couple of things. It tells me that these Republicans don't actually deep down care for the troops, if that means gay troops. Their constant posturing military patriotism has its limits.

The shocking silence on the stage - the fact that no one challenged this outrage - also tells me that this kind of slur is not regarded as a big deal. When it came to it, even Santorum couldn't sanction firing all those servicemembers who are now proudly out. But that's because he was forced to focus not on his own Thomist abstractions, but on an actual person. Throughout Republican debates, gays are discussed as if we are never in the audience, never actually part of the society, never fully part of families, never worthy of even a scintilla of respect. When you boo a servicemember solely because he's gay, you are saying he is beneath contempt, that nothing he does or has done can counterweigh the vileness of his sexual orientation. 

And then I think of all those gay servicemembers who have died for this country, or been wounded in battle, or been on tours year after year ... and the fury builds. 

Make sure you sign, and send around (retweet, Facebook) our open letter from former military members calling on all the GOP candidates to apologize for not saying a word in defense of the gay American soldier who was literally booed by the GOP debate audience.   

Nearly 6000 people have signed.  Have you?

Via AmericaBlog Gay: Romney, Perry, Bachmann, Gingrich refuse to denounce boos of gay soldier. Johnson suggests Santorum lied.

So one GOP presidential candidate is calling Rick Santorum a liar for claiming on Fox that he couldn't hear the gay soldier being booed by the Republican audience during the presidential primary debate last week in Florida. Also, it's interesting to note that while Huntsman, Santorum and Johnson all denounced the boos, Romney, Perry, Bachmann and Gingrich are now refusing to denounce the boos.

So basically, Romney, Perry, Bachmann and Gingrich stand behind the audience's booing of a US soldier serving in combat.

From ABC News:

[Former New Mexico Gov. Gary] Johnson added that he could hear the boos from the stage and believes that the other candidates – despite Santorum’s denial – could as well.

Businessman Herman Cain declined to go into detail about the incident saying only, “If you don’t have time to explain your whole position on that, you can very easily be taken out of context so I don’t even want to comment on that.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann’s spokeswoman Alice Stewart said in an email to ABC News, “There was booing and cheering throughout the debate – Michele didn’t comment on any of it.”

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich also declined to comment, and Ron Paul’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Spokespeople from Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaign did not return requests for comment, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign had no comment either.

Make sure you sign, and send around (retweet, Facebook) our open letter from former military members calling on all the GOP candidates to apologize for not saying a word in defense of the gay American soldier who was literally booed by the GOP debate audience.   Nearly 7000 people have signed.  Have you?

Via AmericaBlog Gay: Apologize!

Apologize!

Gay soldier being booed at Fox debate is now all over the news

UPDATE: Rick Santorum has now been forced to join Jon Huntsman in condemning the audience for booing at the GOP debate. But where are the other 7 GOP candidates who said nothing? Where is Bachmann and Gingrich and Romney and Perry?
________ 

Last night, during the Republican presidential debate, an American soldier serving in Iraq was booed by the audience simply for saying that he was gay, and for asking a question about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

And none of the GOP candidates on stage said a word in his defense.

Please sign on to the open letter by former Army Captains Tanya L. Domi, James E. Pietrangelo, II, Brenda S. "Sue" Fulton, Jonathan Hopkins, and former West Point cadet Katherine Miller, each of whom had a lead role in bringing down "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," demanding that all the Republican presidential candidates denounce the disrespect that was shown to soldier Stephen Hill during the Republican debate. The more signatures we get, the more the media will pressure politicians to stand up.

To the Republican presidential candidates:

Each and every one of you owes our American service members an apology.

Thursday night, during the Republican presidential debate in Florida, an American soldier serving in Iraq was booed by the audience simply for saying that he was gay, and for asking a question about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Nine of you were on that stage, and none of you said a word.

After the debate, one lone candidate, Jon Huntsman, had the decency to speak out in defense of the soldier, saying: "You know, we’re all Americans, and the fact that he is an American who put on the uniform says something good about him."

This isn't about politics, it doesn't matter if you're a Republican or a Democrat, and it has nothing to do with where you stand on the issue of gays in the military. This is about showing an American service member a basic level of respect for serving this country.

We urge each of you to speak out against the disrespectful way in which soldier Stephen Hill was treated during your debate.

Sincerely,

Tanya L. Domi, former Army Captain
James E. Pietrangelo, II, former Army Captain
Brenda S. "Sue" Fulton, former Army Captain
Jonathan Hopkins, former Army Captain
Katherine Miller, former West Point cadet
John Aravosis, AMERICAblog

Via AmericaBlog Gay: Catholic church flips out at Obama over DOMA, DADT - lectures him about racial discrimination

Yes, the Catholic church, not satisfied with oppressing its own flock, is now branching out and attempting to pressure the Obama administration into being more anti-gay on DOMA and Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

In a long letter, fraught with hyperbole, from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops - (a bigoted organization that oddly still sits on the board of the Coalition on Human Needs, a high-powered coalition of most of the largest progressive groups in Washington, DC - one wonders if an anti-black or anti-semitic organization would be permitted to sit on their board (actually, we don't wonder, I'm sure CHN has double standards for non-gay bigots) - here's CHN's Facebook page, feel free to say hi - oh yeah, they also have the Catholic Charities bigots on their board too) - really let loose at the President over DOMA and DADT.

A few of the highlights from the Catholic bishops' letter:

I believe therefore that you would agree that every child has the right to be loved by both a mother and a father.

And I believe that every child has the right to not be raped by a Catholic priest who was already known to the church leadership, but about whom the church leadership did nothing for decades. So if they want to talk about the children, let's talk about the children.

That is why it is particularly upsetting, Mr. President, when your Administration, through the various court documents, pronouncements and policies identified in the attached analysis, attributes to those who support DOMA a motivation rooted in prejudice and bias. It is especially wrong and unfair to equate opposition to redefining marriage with either intentional or willfully ignorant racial discrimination, as your Administration insists on doing.

First, of course they're filled with hate. Second, putting aside for a moment the irony of these men lecturing Barack Obama about race, what's particularly interesting is that they must think they know more about race than Coretta Scott King, who famously equated racial discrimination and anti-gay bigotry.

More from the bishops:

Our federal government should not be presuming ill intent or moral blindness on the part of the overwhelming majority of its citizen.

Yes, God forbid the federal government assumed ill intent or moral blindness on the part of its citizens when investigating hate crimes, or racial prejudice, or anti-Semitism. The very rationale behind civil rights is the need to protect the minority from the majority. The majority of Americans had a problem with race, and a lot of them still have a problem with gays (though in varied degrees, with a lot of it improving, such as on DADT where the overwhelming majority of the American public disagreed with the Catholic Church). Maybe someone should tell the Catholic Bishops not to presume that they're speaking on behalf of the majority of Americans, because they're not even close on DADT, and not really there on DOMA either.

And here comes the truly hysterical, over the top, mary moment:

Nor should a policy disagreement over the meaning of marriage be treated by federal officials as a federal offense—but this will happen if the Justice Department‟s latest constitutional theory prevails in court. The Administration's failure to change course on this matter will, as the attached analysis indicates, precipitate a national conflict between Church and State of enormous proportions and to the detriment of both institutions.

See, the underlying problem here is that the Catholic bishops are imputing their own hatred and bigotry on to the rest of us. They assume that since they wish to destroy our lives, that we will in return destroy theirs once we're fully free.

Yeah, it doesn't really work that way. Unlike Republicans, aka the Catholic Church, Democrats don't do the world domination thing very well. We tend to favor "live and let live" rather than "live my way or die."  (In other words, you're not going to find many Galileos in our closet.  Can the Catholic Church claim the same?  No they can't.)

It's also terribly disturbing to see the Catholic church do the very thing that we were told would never happen if a Catholic ever became president - try to impose its religion on all in the land.

The Catholic bishops are under the mistaken impression that they're my bishops too, and they're not. They represent their own church, and even there, we all know that most Catholics don't agree with much of what the church preaches on these kind of issues. But in any case, they have no right to dictate to an American president that he should make me, a Greek Orthodox, or you a Jew a Muslim or even an atheist live according to their church laws.

That's not a democracy. It's Vatican City (and also Tehran). And last time I checked, things weren't going so well in either capital.

PS I do have to hand it to the Catholic bishops. They wrote one hell of an Obama re-election pamphlet. I can just see the Obama campaign handing copies of this letter, and they will, to ever gay person who dares to suggest that the President hasn't done enough on our issues. I'm sure it wasn't their intent, but the Catholic bishops just made the President's campaign a lot of money and a lot of votes.

Via AmericaBlogGay: Anti- marriage equality crusader may have stolen money to pay for her wedding

Love it.

A state lawmaker who was a central figure this year in the drama over whether Maryland would approve same-sex marriage was charged Friday with stealing campaign funds to pay for her wedding. 

Charges brought by the Office of the Maryland State Prosecutor allege that Del. Tiffany T. Alston (D-Prince George’s) spent thousands of dollars of campaign contributions to pay for wedding expenses and for the salary of an employee in her law firm.

In several instances, Alston wrote herself checks from the account of “Friends of Tiffany Alston” and then cashed the checks for personal use, according to the prosecutor’s office.

First she was in favor of the marriage equality bill, then voted against it. Tool.

SeanChapin1 just uploaded a video:

Is The GOP The Big Anti-Gay?

"A gay soldier serves in the U.S.A. / And the crowd yells 'boo' because he is gay / And the candidates have nothing to say / Is the GOP the Big Anti-Gay"

My response video to the horrifically anti-gay atmosphere of the GOP Presidential debate in Florida on September 22, 2011, largely due to the crowd booing a gay soldier who recently became free from the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don'T Tell" (DADT) policy, and Rick Santorum's frightening response.

Video produced under the fair use policy by Sean Chapin More

ViaJMG: First GOP Rep Joins DOMA Repeal Fight

The battle to repeal DOMA finally has its first Republican co-sponsor. Via Freedom To Marry:

Today, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen announced that she would be the first Republican member of Congress to cosponsor the Respect for Marriage Act (H.R. 1116), sponsored by Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), to repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act. "Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's support for this important bill confirms that equal respect for all marriages is a bipartisan, mainstream value,” said Evan Wolfson, founder and President of Freedom to Marry, the campaign to win marriage nationwide. “Working with Representatives Ros-Lehtinen and Nadler, and the Respect for Marriage Act's 124 co-sponsors, Freedom to Marry will continue to make the case to Republican and Democratic members of Congress that it's time to return the federal government to its proper role of honoring all marriages legal in the states -- without a gay exception."

According to above-excerpted press release, Ros-Lehtinen's support was gained with the help of the Log Cabin Republicans. She is the most senior Republican woman in the U.S. House and was first elected to represent Miami in 1989. (Her district includes South Beach and Key West.) She is also the only GOP member of the congressional LGBT caucus.

Labels: DOMA, Florida, GOP, LCR

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Keith Olbermann Rips Rick Perry's Anti-Gay Florida Campaign Leader

Olbermann takes on Rick Perry's Florida campaign leader, who says God sends natural disasters to express displeasure with gay marriage. She can also raise the dead! SRSLY. Glory! Praise Jeebus!



(Via - Good As You)

Labels: crackpots, GOP, Keith Olbermann, Rick Perry

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Frothy Mix: I Never Heard Any Boos

"I condemn the people who booed that gay soldier. That soldier is serving our country, I thank him for his service to our country. I’m sure he’s doing an excellent job. I hope he is safe, and I hope he returns safely, and does his mission well. I have to admit, I seriously did not hear those boos. Had I heard them, I certainly would have commented on them. But as you know, when you’re in that sort of environment, you’re focused on the question and formulating your answer. And I just didn’t hear those couple of boos that were out there. But certainly, had I, I would have said that that was — I would have said, don’t do that, this man is serving our country, and we are to thank him for his service." - Rick Santorum, speaking on Fox News.

Labels: DADT, debate watch, GOP, Rick Santorum

reposted from Joe

Via AmericaBlog:

Daniel,

Thursday night, during the Republican presidential debate, an American soldier serving in Iraq was booed by the audience simply for saying that he was gay, and for asking a question about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

And none of the GOP candidates on stage said a word in his defense.

Please join former Army Captains Tanya L. Domi, James E. Pietrangelo, II, Brenda S. "Sue" Fulton, Jonathan Hopkins, and former West Point cadet Katherine Miller in signing an open letter demanding that all the Republican presidential candidates denounce the disrespect that was shown to soldier Stephen Hill during the Republican debate.

Click here to watch the shocking video, and to read and sign the open letter.

The media is all over this story now, and everyone is talking about the tacit silence of the GOP candidates. If enough of you join Tanya, Jim, Sue, Jonathan and Katherine in signing the open letter, we have a real chance at publicly shaming each and every one of the candidates into doing the right thing.

As you already know, this isn't about politics, it doesn't matter if you're a Republican or a Democrat, and it has nothing to do with where you stand on the issue of gays in the military. This is about showing an American service member a basic level of respect for serving this country.

Please join me in signing the open letter, signed by four former military members and a former West Point cadet, asking the Republican presidential candidates to speak out against the disrespectful way in which soldier Stephen Hill was treated during last Thursday night's debate. Click here to watch the video and to sign.

Thanks so much,

John Aravosis, AMERICAblog

Via Ben Betz, People For the American Way:

Perhaps the only thing scarier than the Republican presidential candidates are the right-wing crowds at their debates. At last night's Fox News debate, the crowd actually booed a gay soldier who asked a question about Don't Ask Don't Tell! At the first debate, mention of Rick Perry's record-setting number of state executions as governor drew huge applause. And the crowd at the first official Tea Party debate cheered just as raucously for the suggestion that the way to deal with a sick person without health insurance is to "let him die." Of course, in all these instances, the candidates said nothing to dissuade the crowd.

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