Via AmericaBlogGay: Tracy Morgan defends his right to be a homophobe, blames guy who was offended

What a pig. 

Read this Gawker piece, then check out the video that's over there as well. Tracy Morgan, who joked a few months ago about how he'd kill his son if he ended up being gay, went on Letterman last night. Letterman spent nearly ten minutes trying to get Morgan to give a satisfactory answer as to why he did it. Morgan just squirmed and gave a lot of really bad excuses, including he just can't remember what he said, it was so long ago you know.

Oh yeah, Morgan blamed the gay kid who was offended and told everyone what he heard at the club.  Apparently, you're not supposed to speak out when Tracy Morgan acts like a homophobic jerk.

Keep digging.

Via AmericaBlogGay: BREAKING: Gay rights legend Frank Kameny has died

The Washington Blade tweeted it about 45 minutes ago. Frank Kameny was a big deal in the gay rights movement, and if you haven't heard of him, you should take the time to check out his Wikipedia page.

He died on National Coming Out day.

http://www.bizarrocomics.com/

http://www.bizarrocomics.com/

Via Gay Politics Report: Romney dogged by marriage equality questions at N.H. event

A New Hampshire town hall appearance by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney featured so many questions about his stance on marriage equality that the GOP presidential candidate stopped answering questions about the topic. Romney said his opposition to marriage equality is rooted in his belief that children should be raised by both a mother and a father. He also said he supported domestic partnership arrangements, but stopped short of declaring support for civil unions. ABC News/The Note (10/10)

Via Gay Politics Report: Anti-gay rhetoric flies amid presidential politics at D.C. summit

Speakers at the 2011 Values Voter Summit, held in Washington, D.C., last weekend, had harsh words for LGBT advocates, with Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, calling them "the most unhappy people I ever met that called themselves 'gay.'" Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association said the next president should treat homosexuality as "a threat to public health." Republican presidential candidates addressed the conference and reiterated their opposition to marriage equality, though Mitt Romney specifically distanced himself from Fischer's rhetoric. "Poisonous language doesn't advance our cause," Romney said. Washington Blade (10/8), Politico (Washington, D.C.)/Burns&Haberman (10/8)

America's 5 Favorite Ways to Ignore Jesus

Let Fred In

Via JMG: BREAKING: Hate Groups FAIL To Collect Enough Petitions To Overturn SB 48

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! From a Stop SB 48 email blast:

"The News is Not Good ... it is doubtful we will get the number of signatures we need to qualify. Unfortunately the last several deliveries of mail have not been what was expected and a large number of petitions have been pulled out because of errors. From all appearances, we would need a miracle to qualify this referendum."

We chortle in our joy. We chortle the fuck outta this.

UPDATE: Equality California celebrates.

“The FAIR Education Act will simply ensure that California’s students learn an honest, accurate, and inclusive account of history, but opponents of equality have grossly distorted the intent and the effect of the FAIR Education act in their quest to secure signatures for this referendum. Today's victory shows that their lies cannot stand up to our truth,” said Roland Palencia, Equality California Executive Director and Interim Executive Committee Co-Chair of the coalition to protect the FAIR Education Act. “But we know that opponents of equality won't stop here. We remain vigilant, not only to make sure that people know the facts about the FAIR Education Act, but also to continue preparing for new attacks on the FAIR Education Act at the ballot box, in the legislature and in courts of law.”

Labels: California, FAIL, hate groups, LGBT History

reposted by Joe

Via AmericaBlogGay: Headlines we like to see

From the LA Times.

Vai AmericaBlog Gay: A rocking pro-lgbt legislative year in California

From Equality California: 

Governor Signs Ten of Twelve Pro-LGBT Equality Bills Sponsored by EQCA in 2011 Legislative Session 

Sacramento – Ten of twelve bills sponsored by Equality California and passed by the California legislature this year are now the law of the land. Three of these bills had been signed into law earlier this year, the remaining seven received the Governor's signature over the past weekend. One of the two bills vetoed by the Governor, Senate Bill 747 (Kehoe), which would have required professionals to complete continuing education on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender cultural competency in health care was vetoed by the Governor, who said he believed “licensing boards are better suited that the Legislature or the Governor to decide these matters.”

"This has been a watershed year in the California legislature for advancing the rights and protections of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Californians," said Senator Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego), speaking as Chair of the California Legislative LGBT Caucus. "Because of the leadership of so many lawmakers and the hard work of organizations like Equality California, we have closed inequality gaps, made schools safer for LGBT students, ensured that LGBT people are counted and better represented in government and government services and made our state safer and more inclusive for transgender individuals. These changes in the law positively impact the lives of millions of Californians and go a long way toward making California a more fair and equal state."

Via JMG: Britain To Cut Aid To Anti-Gay Nations

In a move many would like to see the United States make, the British government has announced that it will reduce financial aid to nations that persecute their LGBT citizens.

Poor African countries which persecute homosexuals will have their aid slashed by the Government in a bid by David Cameron to take his gay rights crusade to the Third World. International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell has already cut aid to Malawi by £19 million after two gay men were sentenced to 14 years hard labour. And he has warned the country's leaders to scrap plans to introduce draconian new anti-lesbian laws. Mr Mitchell, one of Mr Cameron's closest allies, is also threatening to impose further aid 'fines' against Uganda and Ghana for hardline anti-gay and lesbian measures. The policy was disclosed after Mr Cameron defended his decision to legalise gay weddings when he addressed last week's Conservative Party conference.

The Daily Mail accompanied their above-linked story with a graphic noting that countries who commit other (non-gay) human rights abuses will continue to receive British assistance.

Labels: Africa, Britain, Malawi, Uganda

reposted from Joe

Graph lifted from a Facebook post:

Via JMG: Frothy: Gay Rights Are Not Civil Rights

RELATED: Frothy Mix unexpectedly finished a relatively strong third in yesterday's Values Voters Summit straw poll, a survey you won't hear much about because Tony Perkins is super-pissed that 600 Ron Paulians beamed down from their flying saucers to vote on Saturday morning and then immediately left the convention center.

Labels: DADT, GOP, Rick Santorum, Santorum

reposted from Joe

Via AmericaBlogGay: Santorum: Studies show gays aren’t like blacks (uh, no they don’t)

Actually, there's no such thing as a study showing that gays aren't like blacks. Santorum, as usual, can't string together a coherent thought. 

As for his assertion that banning gays in the military is somehow different than banning blacks, again, Santorum's argument succumbs to his weak intellect. The issue isn't whether being gay is genetic just like race is genetic (though the prevailing science is that genes play a role in sexual orientation), the issue is whether prejudice hurts morale and cohesion in the armed forces, and if it does, then why is Santorum in favor of racially integrating the military?

And Santorum's argument, namely that prejudice does hurt morale and cohesion, is justification for excluding minorities from the military as well. Was it no less a "social experiment" when Truman integrated the armed forces? Does anyone honestly believe that white racists experienced immediatelyl improved unit cohesion when a minority was included in their unit? Doubtful. They were probably pretty ticked off and didn't want to work with the new guy in their unit (the very definition of "harm to morale and cohesion"). But over time everyone learned to live and work together, and they realized their prejudices were wrong.

Finally, as for Rick Santorum's explanation as to why you can't compare racial prejudice and bigotry against gays, Coretta Scott King said you can and should compare the two. And I think she knew a little more about civil rights than a guy whose name means something not safe for work.

Via AmericaBlogGay:

Logo’s gay GOP star makes, then seems to retract, hate crime claim

Joe.My.God smelled trouble from the beginning, and it's looking like he was right.  A gay Republican, who is a star of an upcoming Logo TV show, claimed that liberal gay activists threw a brick through his window in response to his having lunch with Ann Coulter.  Now all of a sudden, he's deleted any reference to this claim.  The new Huffington Post gay-oriented vertical sadly published this story, but to their credit they did publish an update informing people that the story now looks to be a fake.  Unfortunately, their update is at the bottom of the story so everyone reading the story in the future will still think it's true unless they make their way all the way to the end.

I'm more concerned about Logo.  It's not terribly clear how Logo avoids the appearance of treating hate crimes as a joke if they go ahead with this show.  It's a rather serious situation making a false allegation of a crime.  But it's especially serious when we're talking about hate crimes.  The anti-gay bigots would like nothing better than to undermine the validity of real hate crimes by pointing to Logo's pretend hate crime.

And it gets worse.  Joe Jervis also reports that an executive producer at Logo helped promote the possibly-now-faked hate crime charge, and even congratulated the guy who made the charge.  So Logo owns this 100%.

Logo, however, is refusing to respond to Joe's questions about what the heck is going on over there.

Not smart.

If this guy lied, and Logo goes ahead with making him a star, then we may have our first boycott of a gay TV network by gays themselves.  You don't freaking joke about hate crimes against gay people, and you don't reward people who do.

Via JMG: Oppression Spawns Gay Marriage?

New York Times columnist Frank Bruni points to an interesting theory on why same-sex marriage has become legal in some rather unexpected places.

It was only a little more than a decade ago that a country first legalized same-sex marriage, and that happened in precisely the kind of forward-thinking, bohemian place you’d expect: the Netherlands. About two years later, Belgium followed suit. Then things got really interesting. The eight countries that later joined the club were a mix of largely foreseeable and less predictable additions. In the first category I’d put Canada, Norway, Sweden and Iceland. In the second: South Africa, Spain, Portugal and Argentina.

Why those four countries? People who have studied the issue note that that they have something interesting and relevant in common: each spent a significant period of the late 20th century governed by a dictatorship or brutally discriminatory government, and each emerged from that determined to exhibit a modernity and concern for human rights that put the past to rest. “They’re countries where the commitment to democracy and equal protection under the law was denied, flouted and oppressed, and the societies have struggled to restore that,” said Evan Wolfson, the president of Freedom to Marry, a New York-based advocacy group, in a recent interview.

Labels: Argentina, LGBT rights, marriage equality, Portugal, South Africa, Spain

reposted from Joe

Via Tricycle Daily Dharma: Be kind, be just, be humane

Be kind, be just, be humane, be honest, if you desire to crown your future! Dishonesty, cruelty, inhumanity, will condemn you to a miserable fall!

– Soyen Shaku, "Soyen Shaku: One Hundred Years Ago"
Read the entire article in the Tricycle Wisdom Collection

Via JMG: Mitt Romney Denounces Bryan Fischer

Calling his words "poisonous language," Mitt Romney responded to critics today by denouncing the racist vitriol of the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer. While Romney didn't mention Fischer by name, we applaud his action, which comes after a blistering article in the New York Times and a strong campaign by both the Southern Poverty Law Center and People For The American Way. We cannot, however, forgive Romney for his appearance this hate convention in the first place.

Labels: AFA, Bryan Fischer, Family Reseach Council, hate groups, Mitt Romney, Values Voters Summit

reposted from Joe