Via JMG: FORT WORTH: Teacher Claims Suspended Student Had Been Harassing Him

Finally we get the other side of the story in the case of the Fort Worth high school student allegedly suspended merely for saying he finds homosexuality morally wrong. A spokesman for an LGBT teachers organization reports in the Dallas Voice:

He [the class teacher] reports (and has reported to his school) repeated acts of anti-gay harassment by several students that occurred this and last year, including by a group of four specific boys in this class, of whom Ary is one. Among other incidents, Mr. Franks maintains a “word wall” for his German IV class on which he posts articles and images from several journals, including the German magazine, Stern. One of these articles concerned gay rights in Germany, and included a photo of two men kissing. The group of four boys concerned was sitting near this image immediately before Mr. Franks found it had been ripped from the wall. The student and his lawyer are now asserting that including this photo among the others constituted his teacher’s “imposing acceptance of homosexuality” in his classroom. These students subsequently took every opportunity to denounce homosexuality in class, frequently without context; that is, with the topic having otherwise been broached.

Read the entire linked article and you'll learn what many of us already suspected - that the student in question has a long history of Christianity-fueled anti-gay misbehavior. Clearly, if the teacher's story is true, the suspension was the inevitable result of a running pattern of harassment. The case has been trumpeted on virtually every Christianist site as evidence of rampant homofascism, but you can bet that the teacher's side of the story will see zero attention.

Labels: bigotry, education, Fort Worth, religion

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Southwest Vs. Lesbians (CONT)

Southwest says:

Additional reports from our Employees and Customers onboard flight 2274 during a stop in El Paso on Sunday now confirm profane language was being used loudly by two passengers. At least one family who was offended by the loud profanity moved to another area of the cabin. Although we have reports of what Customers characterize as an excessive public display of affection, ultimately their aggressive reaction led to their removal from the aircraft. We do not tolerate discrimination against anyone for any reason. In this situation, their removal was directly and solely related to the escalated conversation that developed onboard the aircraft.

Leisha Hailey says:

In no way were our actions on Southwest Airlines excessive, inappropriate or vulgar. We want to make it clear we were not making out or creating any kind of spectacle of ourselves, it was one, modest kiss. We are responsible adult women who walk through the world with dignity. We were simply being affectionate like any normal couple. We were on the airplane less than 5 minutes when all was said and done. We take full responsibility for getting verbally upset with the flight attendant after being told it was a “family airline.” We were never told the reason the flight attendant approached us, we were only scolded that we “needed to be aware that Southwest Airlines was a family oriented airline.”

Labels: air travel, gay PDA, Southwest

reposted from Joe

Via Gay Politics Report: Marriage equality advocates await court decisions

Numerous courts are considering whether it is permissible under the U.S. Constitution to deny same-sex couples federal recognition of their legal marriages, and in some cases whether it is permissible to withhold the right to marry in the first place. A recent panel at the College of William and Mary Law School found legal experts divided over whether it was preferable to address these questions through the courts or the political process. The Washington Post (9/25)

Via Gay Politics Report: Top Catholic bishop warns Obama about marriage stance

Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York has sent a letter to President Barack Obama warning of "a national conflict between church and state of enormous proportions," if Obama does not retreat from his opposition to the Defense of Marriage Act. Dolan said he believes sanctioning marriage equality for same-sex couples will lead to discrimination against those who oppose it on religious grounds. USA TODAY/Religion News Service (9/23)

Via JMG: Photo Of The Day

Hate group leader Lou Sheldon (Traditional Values Coalition) deluged the media with calls to attend his press conference on the attempt to repeal SB 48. Exactly ZERO reporters showed up. The two people facing Sheldon are gay activists from the Courage Campaign. SNORK!

Labels: HA HA HA, hate groups, Lou Sheldon

reposted from Joe

Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia: It Gets Better

Via AmericaBlog Gay: Obama slams GOP for booing gay soldier during debate

From yesterday's press pool report: 

At his first fundraiser in San Jose, President Obama took aim at Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, without naming the Texas governor by name, and was critical of the recent GOP debates. He said the 2012 election will be "a contest of values." 

"Some of you here may be folks who actually used to be Republicans but are puzzled by what's happened to that party, are puzzled by what's happening to that party. I mean, has anybody been watching the debates lately? You've got a governor whose state is on fire denying climate change," he said, to applause. "It's true. You've got audiences cheering at the prospect of somebody dying because they don't have health care and booing a service member in Iraq because they're gay.

"That's not reflective of who we are," Mr. Obama said. "This is a choice about the fundamental direction of our country. 2008 was an important direction. 2012 is a more important election."

It's interesting that Romney, Perry, Bachmann, Gingrich and Cain all refused ABC News' request to comment on the incident, even though Santorum, Huntsman and Johnson have since condemned it. Why won't the other condemn the verbal abuse of a US service member serving in combat? Or do Romney, Perry, Bachmann, Gingrich and Cain only love some of the troops?

If you haven't already, please check out the video, read and then sign the open letter to the GOP presidential candidates from former members of the military who are demanding an apology.

And as I noted over at the main AMERICAblog site, this post has skyrocketed to first place on Reddit.  Liberals are craving leadership.  This should be a lesson to the President, and to the entire party.  Fighting back works.

Via AmericaBlog Gay: How one ticked off gay guy took on America’s top companies, and won

Neat story from the NYT: 

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. It is a routine arrangement on hundreds of e-commerce sites, but with a twist here: a share of the commission that retailers pay is donated to a Christian charity of the buyer’s choice, from a list that includes prominent conservative evangelical groups like the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family.

The national battle was ignited in July by Stuart Wilber, a 73-year-old gay man in Seattle. He was astonished, he said, when he learned that people who bought Microsoft products through a Christian-oriented Internet marketer known as Charity Giveback Group, or CGBG, could channel a donation to evangelical organizations that call homosexual behavior a threat to the moral and social fabric.

Close to 100 companies have left the charity arrangement, though most refuse to discuss the matter. These have become the objects, in turn, of a countercampaign from the Christian groups — “Please Don’t Discriminate Against My Faith” is the heading of a sample letter — and of high-level entreaties from Mr. Huckabee and other Christian leaders.

A few companies that briefly left the network have been persuaded to rejoin, including Delta, PetSmart, Sam’s Club, Target and Wal-Mart.

Via AmericaBlog Gay: White House implies "boo"-gate shows GOP don’t have what it takes to be commander-in-chief

Via Matt Negrin at Politico: 

“I think the president was particularly struck by a question asked by a U.S. soldier stationed in Iraq about ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ when he was booed by audience members and not a single candidate for president, people who think they have what it takes to be commander-in-chief, said anything about that when he is there defending our country,” [White House spokesman Jay] Carney said.

The White House spokesman speaking out an issue like this is not insignificant, especially with such strong words. It comes on the heels of the President speaking out on it yesterday, and of ABC reporting that while Santorum, Hunstman and Johnson criticized the boos (after the fact), Romney, Perry, Bachmann, Gingrich and Cain are still refusing to denounce the audience members who booed a US soldier serving in combat.

And remember, as ABC reported earlier, several candidates on the stage heard the boos, and one of them is certain the other candidates heard them too.

But several other presidential candidates told ABC News that they did hear the boos ring through the Orange County Convention Center... [Former NM Governor 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.

As White House spokesman Carney said above, some commander in chief any of these Republicans would be when they can't even defend their own troops.

Over 8700 people have signed our open letter to the GOP candidates demanding they apologize for this affront to our troops.  Please sign it and send it around.

Via AmericaBlog Gay: Southwest boots L-Word star off flight for kissing girlfriend after passengers complain

Buzzfeed:

This is unbelievable. Leisha Hailey, former star of The L-Word tweeted earlier today that she was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight after kissing her girlfriend, claiming a flight attendant said Southwest was a “family airline.” Leisha is now calling for people to #boycottSouthwest.

More via Felix Salmon, who is absolutely correct:

Southwest’s official statement is that the crew had received several complaints from other passengers about the pair’s “excessive” behavior, and that “Our crew, responsible for the comfort of all Customers on board, approached the passengers based solely on behavior and not gender.

This statement is damningly self-contradictory. The crew can approach the kissing passengers based on other passengers’ complaints, or they can approach the kissing passengers based solely on behavior. But not both. As I’m sure Southwest is fully aware, passengers are much more likely to find kissing “excessive” if it takes place between a same-sex couple than they are if it’s a straight couple. If Southwest wants to pretend otherwise, they’re covering up their passengers’ homophobic attitudes.

More from the LA Times.

Via AmericaBlog Gay: New DNC video about gay soldier being booed: Not one candidate

http://gay.americablog.com/2011/09/new-dnc-video-about-gay-soldier-being.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AMERICAblogGay+%28AMERICAblog+Gay%29

Via JMG: Gary Johnson Condemns Booing

Former New Mexico governor and 2012 presidential candidate Gary Johnson has joined former Sen. Rick Santorum in condemning the audience members who booed an openly gay soldier at this week's GOP debate.

"If I have one regret from last evening, it’s that I didn’t stand up and say, you know, you’re booing a U.S. serviceman who is denied being able to express his sexual preference," he said. "There’s something very, very wrong with that." Johnson said he was "chomping at the bit" to respond to the audience, but he was reticent to speak out due to his exclusion from the recent debates. "I’m feeling a little bit like I’m walking on egg shells," he said. He told Sharpton he believes the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which went into effect on Sept. 20, should have been done "a long time ago."

Johnson is by far the most gay-friendly of the entire GOP presidential field. Therefore, of course, he is at the bottom of the pack.

Labels: 2012 elections, DADT, debate watch, GOP

reposted from Joe