Monday, December 20, 2010

Via JMG: Michele "Crazy Eyes" Bachmann Named To U.S. House INTELLIGENCE Committee


She wanted to be on the powerful Ways & Means Committee, but instead incoming House Speaker John Boehner has appointed Crazy Eyes to the House Intelligence Committee. Yup.
The committee has oversight jurisdiction of the CIA, the National Security Agency, other intelligence agencies within the Department of Defense, and the Departments of State, Justice, and Treasury, and the FBI. This is the perfect reward for a member of Congress who thinks that Barack Obama spent $200 million a day on a trip to India, wants the president and Congress investigated for being anti-American, and who thinks the Charge of the Light Brigade was a military victory? Given that she's already enlisted Justice Antonin Scalia to teach frosh teabaggers about the Constitution, perhaps we can expect her to nominate George W. Bush to instruct them on foreign intelligence.
We are truly lost.


reposted from Joe

Via JMG: LAUNCHED: Equality Matters


Media Matters has launched Equality Matters, a new LGBT activism site meant to serve as a "communications war room for gay equality."
It will be run by Richard Socarides, a former domestic policy adviser to President Bill Clinton who has been deeply critical of President Obama’s record on gay rights. A well-known gay journalist, Kerry Eleveld, the Washington correspondent for The Advocate, will leave that magazine in January to edit the new group’s Web site, equalitymatters.org, which is to go online Monday morning. “Yesterday was a very important breakthrough,” Mr. Socarides said in an interview on Sunday, “and President Obama’s comments, especially following the vote, were very significant, where he for the first time connected race and gender to sexual orientation under the banner of civil rights. “But we will celebrate this important victory for five minutes, and then we have to move on, because we are the last group of Americans who are discriminated against in federal law and there is a lot of work to do.”
Among the major backers of Media Matters is billionaire philanthropist George Soros. The homocon teabaggers are already whining.

reposted from Joe

Via Juan Cole: Senate Repeal of DADT in Global Context

Conservative religious fanatics lost on ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ and anti-gay discrimination. The scary thing is, that since it is clear that fear-mongering on gays will no longer win elections in the next generation, the turn to hate-mongering against Muslims may accelerate.

So the Senate has repealed ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ the compromise policy on gays serving in the military.

The real question is why treatment of gays is such a hot button issue in the United States in the first place. Since America is a big island, only a third of Americans even have a passport, and US media carefully protects Americans from points of view emanating from abroad, most Americans would probably be surprised to discover that their country is an outlier among industrialized democracies in its treatment of gays.

If we take full marriage rights as a proxy for gay rights in general, then Argentina, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Iceland are all heads and shoulders above federal US policy.

Gays can serve openly in the military in Russia, Ukraine, Canada, South Africa, Salvador, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Israel, Nepal, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and virtually all of Europe including the Balkans with the exceptions of Greece and Turkey.

Is there anything that would make sense of this world pattern? I can make three suggestions. First, gay rights, including marriage rights, have been implemented by some countries that suffered a long period of fascist or other authoritarian governance, and which rebelled against it. Franco’s fascist Spain, in place from 1936-1975, gave way to a new Spanish parliamentary regime and in recent years to Spanish socialism. Fascist regimes affected a macho heterosexual patriarchy and typically ruthlessly persecuted gays. Fascist regimes also often, being nativist, had a special relationship to the Church (yes, Hitler was a believing Catholic) and took cues on public morality from the remnants of the Inquisition. (This is by no means to deny that many conscientious Catholics and priests vigorously opposed fascism). In Franco’s Spain mere admission of being gay could lead to imprisonment, rape and torture.

Calvinist, Protestant regimes such as Apartheid South Africa were likewise highly oppressive, patriarchal and heterosexual. The hierarchical rightwing society, which placed adult men of the most favored race, at the top of the society, was challenged by any group that did not easily fit on the social ladder or who challenged its legitimacy. The Apartheid regime in South Africa

“South Africa’s apartheid army forced white lesbian and gay soldiers to undergo ‘sex-change’ operations in the 1970′s and the 1980′s, and submitted many to chemical castration, electric shock, and other unethical medical experiments. Although the exact number is not known, former apartheid army surgeons estimate that as many as 900 forced ‘sexual reassignment’ operations may have been performed between 1971 and 1989 at military hospitals, as part of a top-secret program to root out homosexuality from the service. “

Gay rights came to form part of a human-rights backlash against rightwing policies in South Africa, Spain and Argentina, then. Although it does not yet extend to full marriage rights, a residue of reaction against central European fascism informs the general European commitment to non-discrimination against gays.

Second, gay rights are prominent in countries, as with Scandinavia, where there is a greater degree of gender equality and where women serve in large numbers in the legislatures. One suspects that just as anti-Apartheid activists saw an affinity between oppressed black Africans and discriminated-against gays, so Scandinavian feminists found a commonality with gays in confronting hetero male supremacism.

But third, and inescapably, religious fanaticism obviously plays a significant role in denying rights to gays. There is a direct relationship between rightwing Catholicism, rightwing evangelicalism, rightwing Hinduism, and rightwing Islam on the one hand, and discrimination against gays on the other.

Hindu India has been among the worst democratic countries for gay rights in modern history, and only in 2009 finally made it legal even to be gay (though it is still illegal to have a gay relationship!). Greece has a little-noted almost theocratic relationship at times with the Eastern Orthodox Church. Sri Lanka, obsessed by Theravada Buddhism, is like an island prison for gays, at least as far as the law goes. Despite widespread experimentation with gay sex in the Muslim world, which has an old history (half of the love poems in the Diwan of classic Abbasid poet Abu Nuwas are about young men), the public policies toward gays, shaped in part by the influence of the Muslim clergy, are among the worst in the world. And it is where the Church is strongest in the Catholic world that gays are treated worst.

Regional policy can also differ from national policy where one region of a country is more religious than another. And here we come to the United States. White, rightwing evangelicals have been among the most vocal opponents of gay rights in the United States (along with rightwing Catholics, African-American Protestants, and Mormons). Once the religious Right became politically active from the 1970s forward, and especially with the swing of white southern and western evangelicals to the Republican Party as a result of the Nixon Strategy in the aftermath of the enfranchisement of African-Americans, the Republican Party became a bastion of anti-gay policies and legislation, despite the significant gay constituency inside the party in the Northeast and the Bay Area of California.

Only six Republicans voted ‘yes’ in the procedural vote that allowed the DADT repeal to go forward in the Senate.

The Republican Party in the US is a coalition of groups, and ironically includes some relatively liberal factions (the Log Cabin Republicans, e.g., who sued over DADT). But religious ultra-conservatives are a key demographic for the party, and probably are growing in importance within it, according to Gallup. The ultra-conservatives are disproportionately white and committed Protestants (likely mostly evangelicals).

The mainstream Republican Party’s view on many social issues thus resembles that of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and the Muslim Brotherhood and related parties in the Muslim world far more than it does the ‘conservative’ parties of Scandinavia and continental Europe. Religion is a big part of the reason, but likely the other two factors play a role. Frankly, many American whites still have a hierarchical view of race and sexual identity in America, and many have relatively authoritarian views of governance–favoring the National Security State over individual rights, e.g.

As in Europe, where some far-right parties such as that of LePen in France that used to bait gays have recently posed as their defenders from Muslim immigrants, we can expect the American Right to play the same game. A plea here to progressive gays not to fall for it, and to American Muslims to stand for tolerance for other discriminated-against groups.

<http://www.gaybahai.net/discussion/post/1345211>

Michelangelo Signorile On DADT Repeal

Saturday, December 18, 2010

ViaTruthout:: Senate Repeals "Don't Ask Don't Tell"

Faiz Shakir, ThinkProgress: "Moments ago, by a 65-31 vote, the Senate acted to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell, the policy banning gays from openly serving in the military. The same six GOP senators who broke with their party during the cloture vote earlier today also voted for repeal: Sens. Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Scott Brown, Lisa Murkowski, George Voinovich, and Mark Kirk. Two more Republicans - John Ensign and Richard Burr - joined with Democrats in final passage."

Read the Article

Via JMG: Final DADT Vote: 65-31


Two Republicans switched their "no" cloture votes to "yes" for repeal: Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Sen. John Ensign (R-NV).


reposted from Joe

Via JMG: Lady Gaga Reacts To DADT Vote



reposted from Joe

Friday, December 17, 2010

Via JMG:

Via JMG: HomoQuotable - Dan Savage


"Let's make a deal: give us our full civil equality—repeal DOMA, let us marry legally in all fifty states, end DADT, pass ENDA, stop torturing gay kids to death—and we'll let you have your fucking rainbows back." - Dan Savage on yesterday demand by NOM that queers stop using the rainbow.
posted by Joe

Via JMG: Miami Church Wants Univision Fined For "Obscene Interview" With Ricky Martin


A Hispanic evangelical group plans to protest outside the Miami affiliate of Univision tomorrow because the FCC totally needs to fine the network for airing an "obscene interview" with recently-out Ricky Martin. Andres Duque provides the translation of their press release at Blabbeando:
On November 2nd, 2010, Univision broadcast a program called: Ricky Martin... Without Secrets, in which he spoke of having his first sexual encounter when he was 15 years of age and that, after having slept with women, he had relations with men. Afterward he felt confused until one day when he was being interviewed he felt attracted to the reporter who was interviewing him. To the point of falling in love with that man. Presenting himself as being ultra-successful, showing images of his 10 million dollar house, riding a sport motorcycle through the streets, walking through the beach and then, showing images of his concert, in front of thousands of young folk, he presents himself as the role model to follow for the children who watched the program at the child friendly hour of 7 to 8 pm. As people who valor the principles that gave birth to this nation, we have decided to say 'enough' with these shows that violate the innocence of our kids and promote confusion at a time in which our youth are developing. Univision's complicity in transmitting this message deserves, on our side, our complaints before the FCC - the entity that regulates media in the Unites States - which says that any pornographic, indecent or obscene content can be reported as a complaint.
Got that? Merely interviewing a gay person is obscene and pornographic.


reposted from Joe

Prêmio Direitos Humanos consagra Toni Reis pela defesa da população LGBT


13/12/2010 19:32 - Portal Brasil


O Prêmio Direitos Humanos, que chegou, neste ano, à 16ª edição, foi entregue nesta segunda-feira (13) a Antonio Martins dos Reis, o Toni Reis, reconhecido pela sua atuação na promoção e na defesa dos Direitos Humanos da população LGBT desde 1983.

Toni é presidente da Associação Brasileira de Gays, Lésbicas, Bissexuais, Travestis e Transexuais (ABGLT).
Participaram da cerimônia o presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, o ministro Paulo Vannuchi, da Secretaria de Direitos Humanos da Presidência da República (SDH/PR) e o ministro da Cultura, Juca Ferreira. 
O prêmio é considerado a mais alta condecoração do governo brasileiro a pessoas e entidades que se destacaram na defesa, na promoção e no enfrentamento e combate às violações dos Direitos Humanos em nosso País.

A estatueta entregue neste ano foi idealizada pelo artista gráfico Elifas Andreato. Fundida em bronze com acabamento em pátina, base de granito preto e plaqueta banhada a ouro, a escultura chama-se “Maternidade”, e foi desenhada a partir da figura de uma mãe carregando seu filho.


Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Via JMG: Bed Intruder Christmas Carol-Liberty University (LU) 2010 Christmas Coffeehouse

JMG Quote Of The Day II - Jimmy Carter



"Step-by-step, we have realized that this issue of homosexuality has the same adverse and progressive elements as when we dealt with the race issue 50 years ago, or 40 years ago. So I would say that the country is getting acclimated to a president who might be female, who might, obviously, now, be Black, and who might be as well a gay person." - Former President Jimmy Carter, in a video commentary on Big Think.


reposted from Joe

Via JMG: HomoQuotable - USMC Staff Sgt. Eric Alva


"He pretty much spit on me, my Purple Heart, and my 13 years of service. I would definitely ask Amos for a meeting to explain his comments, and I’d bring my Purple Heart with me. I wish Obama would invite [Amos] to the White House and fire his ass on the spot." - Former USMC Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, responding to USMC Commandant General Amos' comment that repealing DADT would cost Marines their limbs due to the "distraction" of all those homo soldiers. In 2003 Alva became the first Marine to be injured in Iraq when he lost his leg due to a landmine.
reposted from Joe

2 from JMG:

DADT Repeal Passes House 250-175



Sen. Olympia Snowe To Support Repeal


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Via JMG: GLAAD Action Alert: Tell Apple To Stay Strong On The Manhattan Declaration


Two weeks ago, I asked to you to use the Family Research Council's own link to thank Apple for keeping the Manhattan Declaration app off the iPhone. (And thousands of you did.) Responding to yesterday's video from NOM, today GLAAD echoes that request.
The 'Manhattan Declaration' calls gay and lesbian couples "immoral," it calls the recognition of their relationships "false and destructive," and claims that allowing them to be married will lead to "genuine social harms." The original application also contained a quiz in which the "right" answers were those that oppose equality for gay and lesbian people. This application fuels a climate in which gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are put in harm's way. Apple did the right thing in recognizing that this application violates the company's guidelines. Join GLAAD in thanking Apple for their action to remove the app and urging them to stay strong in the face of anti-gay activism.
Sign GLAAD's petition to Apple.


Today's Little bit of Crazy Via JMG: USMC Head James Amos: DADT Repeal Could Cause Marines To Lose Their Legs


General James Amos, Commandant of the USMC, says the "distraction" of openly gay soldiers will cause more casualties on the battlefield.
"When your life hangs on a line, on the intuitive behavior of the young man ... who sits to your right and your left, you don't want anything distracting you," Amos told reporters at the Pentagon. "I don't want to lose any Marines to distraction. I don't want to have any Marines that I'm visiting at Bethesda (hospital) with no legs," he said. He added that "mistakes and inattention or distractions cost Marines' lives. That's the currency of this fight." His comments were the toughest yet on the issue, after he testified at a congressional hearing that he opposed lifting the ban in a time of war. Amos said Marines in combat in Afghanistan sent a "very strong message" in the Pentagon's study released earlier this month, expressing opposition to repealing the ban in a survey."I have to listen to that," he said.
Metro Weekly's Chris Geidner reports that Amos' comments have sparked outrage among pro-repeal groups.
Aaron Belkin, the director of the Palm Center, told Metro Weekly, "Among those U.S. Marines who know a gay or lesbian peer in their unit, 88.1 percent say that the unit functions effectively. Gen. Amos is cherry-picking the data to support his 20th century views, and everyone knows it." Belkin added, "Gen. Amos admitted [in his testimony on Dec. 3] that he is the only Service Chief who did not take the time to ask his colleagues in foreign militaries whether allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly undermines combat effectiveness." [snip]

Servicemembers United executive director Alex Nicholson, meanwhile, said in a statement that Amos's "commentary is moving from the realm of reasonable disagreement in the provision of professional military advice to hysteria-inducing absurdity on this topic that reflects very poorly on DOD and on the administration." SLDN's Sarvis went on in his statement to say of Amos's comments, "He had his say before the Senate and House. General Amos needs to stop lobbying against his Commander-in-Chief, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. If he cannot do that, the President should ask for his resignation."

reposted from Joe