Signorile wonders if Comcast will end the bigotry of the NY St. Patrick's Day Parade

Mike Signorile wonders if Comcast will continue to profit from the bigoted St. Patrick's Day parade in New York:

It's 2012, and in New York State gays and lesbians have full civil rights, including marriage equality. Gays are no longer banned in the U.S. military. But they are still banned from Fifth Avenue's annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in an embarrassing throwback for everyone involved.

It's frankly appalling that NBC, and now its parent company Comcast, still sells the broadcast rights (on its local affiliate, WNBC) to the intolerant bunch that runs the parade -- in 2007, that amount was $300,000-- and then helps the organizers sell advertising to major companies. More than that, one of NBC's top executives -- a man who aids the organizers in getting those ad dollars -- was chosen as this year's Grand Marshall.

As David Mixner notes, the Prime Minister of Ireland as well as most New York politicians who support equality won't march in the parade because of this bigotry. Last year, the Irish Foreign Minister condemned the parade. But Francis X. Comerford, Chief Revenue Officer and President of Commercial Operations for the NBC Owned Television Stations, has no problem leading the parade as Grand Marshall.

Comcast really needs to think this through. It's 2012 for Christ sakes.

Ireland, which is 87% Catholic, is more advanced on gay issues than the United States is. These old Irish guys who run the parade are an embarrassment to Irish people everywhere (including me and my family.) Comcast really doesn't need to cavort with these haters.

Remember, last year Comcast let the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce support that anti-LGBT legislation, which overturned Nashville's non-discrimination ordinance. Here's the statement the company sent us during that debacle:

“At Comcast, we believe it's simple: discrimination is wrong. Our policy of non-discrimination provides the same protections to all our employees, whether in Tennessee or any other state. Consistent with that, we don't support Tennessee SB632/HB600. Comcast agrees with the NGLCC, ‘No one should be judged by his or her sexual orientation or gender identity in the workplace. In this delicate economic climate, diminishing the rights of LGBT people sends the wrong signal across Tennessee and around the country.’"

Okay. Then, aiding and abetting the hatred from the organizers of the NY parade should be off the table, too.

Mike's concludes:

The truth is, most LGBT activists weren't focused on the St. Patrick's Day Parade all these years, with bigger fish to fry. But many are now looking at this as unfinished business -- as I said, an embarrassment in a state where we now have marriage rights -- and they are also seeing Comcast as a company that is very vulnerable. If Comcast doesn't want a battle on its hands -- a battle it will ultimately lose, after much p.r. erosion -- it will make sure that March 18, 2012 is the beginning of the end of the ban on gays in the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Then we can say Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh and mean it. Read the rest of this post...

If it’s Tuesday, Sam Arora must be for civil unions

More on Arora here, here and here.

It's far past time for Maryland Delegate Sam Arora to come out of the closet and admit why he suddenly had a 180 degree reversal on marriage (he was for marriage, then opposed to marriage, now he's for civil unions - so far).

If someone has something on him, which is one of the possibilities, then he ought to come clean, because his constituents deserve to know if their local representative has been compromised. And if he hasn't been compromised, then he still needs to come clean and admit what changed his mind? What made him change from an ardent and proud fierce advocate of marriage equality, a guy who openly bragged about his support for gay marriage, to the mealymouthed wimp he's now become?  There are a lot of rumors about what happened, and none of them are good.

It's always suspicious when politicians have death-bed conversions, and they're not even on their death bed.  It leaves far too many questions, none of which cast a good light on the politician in question.

Sam Arora is a homophobe.  But worse, he's a liar.  Democrats need to ensure that this far right Republican in Democratic clothing loses his re-election, and never steps foot in Democratic politics again.

Remember this face and name.  Because we surely will. Read the rest of this post...

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. Read the rest of this post...

Lesbian mom gets the axe for daring to be den mother

We made the news across the pond! Not for anything good, but for our backwards Boy Scouts of America kicking a lesbian mom out of the program.

And there was no problem initially when she signed on to train as an assistant leader for the Boy Scout group, even though it was chartered by the conservative Christian Fellowship Church.

We're number one (in treating LGBT's as second class citizens)!

According to the Times, another assistant scoutmaster Skip Inabinett, discovered Ms Steele was a lesbian and claimed that was grounds for her removal.

Ms Steele and Ms Funk claimed to the local newspaper that Inabinett 'bullied' the lesbian scoutmaster, saying her sexuality was a sin, and urged the national Boy Scouts of America organisation to get rid of her.

How embarrassing. While the rest of the western world yawns at same sex marriage, our Talibangelicals are hard at work making laughing stocks out of all of us.

Keep it classy, Boy Scouts of America! Read the rest of this post...

Faith-based Federal money funded Iowa anti-gay group

Via the ever vigilant Jeremy Hooper, we learn, in a post titled, Federal marriage endowment: Uncle Sam reportedly helped Iowans take away your rights, that the viciously homophobic Iowa Family Policy Center is, in part, federally funded:

The Iowa Family Policy Center (which is umbrellaed with The Family Leader, LUV Iowa, and other groups) is one of the most "egads!"-inducing of all the state groups, having run those frightening programs that directly compare gays to secondhand smoking, waged a campaign to remove judges simply because of personal biases, and contributed so much hostile noise ("pray throughout the day for the salvation and healing of openly gay students") to the rhetoric. Also because unlike some other groups, IFPC and friends actually rub shoulders with very prominent people, including the entire GOP slate of presidential candidates.

Jeremy points to this AP article, which provides more details:

The $2.2 million received by the Iowa Family Policy Center between 2006 and 2010 helped hundreds of Iowans receive education and counseling, according to the documents. But it also paid for part of the salaries of five employees, rent, telephone, Internet and other expenses while the group was fighting legalized gay marriage in Iowa.

A University of Iowa researcher who was a consultant on the grant also told AP the group declined to provide same-sex couples education and counseling with the money.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials approved the grant budget, and there's no indication the costs run afoul of federal guidelines. Still, critics said the grant was potentially troubling because it was involved in a high-profile effort to respond to the Iowa Supreme Court's 2009 ruling legalizing gay marriage at the time, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa is investigating. A public backlash led Iowa voters to oust three justices last year.

Your tax dollars at work. So, how did this happen? It's apparently faith-based money:

Randall Wilson, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, said it's important to analyze how the money was used since it is an example of former President George W. Bush's faith-based initiative, which helped religious groups receive government funding. His group has requested additional documents about the grant hoping to learn whether the money was used appropriately.

This is an ongoing problem. Last month, Kerry Eleveld wrote an in-depth article about the faith-based policies of the Obama administration. We're seeing a continuation of Bush's policy under Obama's Faith Based office, which is led by Joshua DuBois. Last month, DuBois famously said, "If your focus is first and foremost serving people in need, then there's not a tremendous amount of time left to debate the finer points of the church- state relationship." Yeah, those pesky finer points of the constitution can be so annoying. Dubois tried to clean up with a blog post, but, clearly this is an on-going problem.

Perhaps, Mr. DuBois can do another blog post explaining whether our tax dollars are still being used to finance homophobia. We'd like to know.
Read the rest of this post...

New research finds the closet is bad for workplace performance

The closet is an ugly, ugly place. And, it is bad for business. Fascinating new research from UCLA, explained by Tom Jacobs at Miller-McCune:

Don’t ask. Don’t tell. Don’t do your job as well.

That’s the implication of newly published research, which links poorer job performance with uncertainty about a colleague’s sexual orientation.

“Supporters of policies that force gay and lesbian individuals to conceal their sexual orientation in the workplace argue that working with openly gay individuals undermines performance,” writes a trio of researchers led by UCLA’s Benjamin Everly. “We examine this claim in two studies and find the opposite effect.”

These findings, published the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, are certainly timely. The military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” rule, in which gay soldiers are discharged if they reveal their sexual orientation, will be repealed Sept. 20. Last week, presidential candidate Michele Bachmann said she was in favor of reinstating that policy — which would be within her authority as president.

Social conservatives argue that serving with openly gay soldiers could harm troops’ “unity and effectiveness.” While unity is hard to quantify, effectiveness is not, and this study suggests allowing openly gay soldiers could actually enhance it.

A couple months ago, we posted research from the Center for Work-Life Policy that showed almost half of college grads aren't out at work. This new study could lead one to conclude that could be harming workplace performance for everyone involved.

The new UCLA study, by Everly and his colleagues, Margaret J. Shiha and Geoffrey C. Hoa, can be located here.
Read the rest of this post...

Indiana GOP State Rep. Phil Hinkle: "I say that emphatically," he said. "I’m not gay."

Phil Hinkle, that Indiana Republican State Rep. who paid $80 for a Craigslist hookup with a young guy, isn't gay, he wants us to know. How very Larry Craig of him:

But why, so many have asked, did he even make the email arrangement in the first place, using the email address -- phinkle46@comcast.net -- he had listed on his legislative website, no less?

"I don't know," Hinkle said. "I'm telling you, I don't know."

Usually he's in control of his actions, he said, but something changed.

"I was on the road to self-destruction," he said, "and I don't know why."

Hinkle said he's not excusing his actions, which he called "stupid, but not illegal." Both Hinkle and Kameryn Gibson say that money exchanged hands but that neither engaged in a sex act.

Hinkle also said Tuesday he's not a homosexual.

"I say that emphatically," he said. "I'm not gay."

And, like Larry Craig, Hinkle isn't quitting.

Hinkle needs to do a video like this to really convince us:
Read the rest of this post...

Hate group attacks Obama administration for supporting suicide prevention effort

Just when you think Tony Perkins and his fellow band of homophobes at the Family Research Council, a designated hate group, can't sink any lower, they do. Via Right Wing Watch:

Today in the mail I received a letter from the Family Research Council seeking to use the "It Gets Better" project to outrage right-wing activists into opening their wallets and donating money to FRC.

In it, FRC said it was "disgusting" that the Obama administration would support this effort, calling homosexuality both "immoral" and a "perversion" and accusing activists of using the project in order to "recruit [kids] into that 'lifestyle'."

Yep. "It Gets Better" is just horrible.

Jeremy Hooper lets them have it:

Considering president Tony Perkins went on NPR and said that gay kids commit suicide because they know they are "abnormal," the following document probably shouldn't come as any surprise. But when you consider that this condemnation of the "It Gets Better" project and LGBT youth in general was used to RAISE.FUNDS. for the Family Research Council and its work supporting the GOP, the attack takes on a whole new weight.

There are many, many, many reasons that FRC is a hate group. This is a shining example of why. Read the rest of this post...

Adam Carolla’s offensive rant, his lame apology and the transgender community’s outreach

Adam Carolla, of "The Man Show," is one of those arrogant, homophobic ranters who, when caught saying objectionable things, uses the whole apology-non apology as some sort of dispensation to get out of trouble when he exposes his bigotry.

Oh shut up. Gays, shut up. Just get married, and please shut up - you're ruining my life. ... Like they're gonna save a lot of lives. Yeah, Bert & Ernie, butt fucking, are gonna save a lot of lives.

He concluded the segment by trashing the LGBT acronym again and suggesting, "Shouldn't it be something that spells something? Like 'YUCK'?"

What an idiot.

Carolla issued one of those lame apology-non apologies and the poor explanation he is a comedian versus a politician to try to make up for his bigotry:

Update: This evening Adam Carolla issued an apology to TMZ - "I'm sorry my comments were hurtful. I'm a comedian, not a politician."

The Transgender community has offered him an olive branch and the opportunity to "hang with them" to teach him their lives do, indeed, have value. It is wise and brave of the Transgender crowd to offer to extend their hand to someone who has disrespected and dehumanized them, and another reason I'm proud to have the "T" in the "LGBT" acronym. I just couldn't bring myself to offer any mutual understanding at this time. He ruined it with that whole apology-non apology nonsense.

The homophobe's obsession and stereotypical fantasies as to what we enjoy in our private bedrooms is just endless. Remember, when a homophobe gets caught enjoying what they claim they so vociferously detest, we are all to shut up about it and "respect their privacy." Read the rest of this post...

We’re supposed to respect Phillip Hinkle and his family after he spent years attacking ours?

I can't seem to get the story about the anti-gay Indiana legislator, Phillip Hinkle, and his hypocritical gay scandal out of my head. It isn't because this is the first time this sort of thing has happened, of course. There is no need to count the number of times an anti-gay conservative legislator has been caught weakly disguising his compartmentalized sexual orientation by getting busted having a wide stance. The examples of hypocritical projection and homophobia of gay / anti-gay conservatives have become legion. In fact, it is because I'm weary of hearing from concern trolls, or the defenders of these hypocrites, that we need to "respect the privacy of the family." Hinkle's attorney, Peter Nugent, implored everyone to leave Hinkle and his family alone.

Wednesday, Nugent faxed this "official statement":

"Representative Hinkle is aware of the inquiries by The Indianapolis Star and we are investigating the matter at this time. We request that everyone respect the privacy of the family at this time."

First of all the adage, "Those who live in glass houses should not be throwing stones," applies. Secondly, if the family was aware of Mr. Hinkle's predilections they should have begged him to not become a Republican public figure who crafts hateful, conservative, anti-gay policies for others. Had he been a progressive then I would have no problem whatsoever with him or his family and would be happy to respect their supposed privacy.

If his family is not culpable in knowing his tendency to have sexual relations with young men while presenting himself as a bastion of conservative anti-gay "family values," I do feel sorry they are having to find out in this horrible way, but imagine how his gay constituents and their families feel? I'm sure they haven't deserved the victimization of having a representative who applies second class citizenship to them in order to camouflage his secretive gay liaisons. Like so many of his brethren, Hinkle has projected the mirage of a red blooded conservative heterosexual image in his twisted attempt to define himself as the conservative's dogmatic ideal, and very rare, nuclear stereotypical all American family.

Until our gay families receive the same rights as Phillip Hinkle's by having our marriages recognized by our government then I will not be following any exhortation to "respect his or his family's privacy." Read the rest of this post...

AC360 on Bachmann’s newfound reluctance to bash gays, after so many years of doing it

A daily dose of Bachmann. This time she gets pilloried by Anderson:

And, when it comes to our basic equality, most of us don't think of it as "trivial."

For years, Michele has taken great delight in her rhetorical gay-bashing. It doesn't work so well when talking outside of her homophobic circles. The trendline is moving in our direction, not hers. Read the rest of this post...

Anti-gay Republican Indiana State Rep. Phillip Hinkle caught in gay hookup scandal

A blockbuster from Indiana.

First, from Bil Browning who has been sounding the alarm about state lawmakers who vote anti-gay, but have their own skeletons:

One of the most frequently e-mailed subjects was Republican representative Phil Hinkle. While none of my correspondents could provide any actual proof, three different men told me they had met Rep Hinkle for sex in an Indianapolis hotel room. All three were able to describe Rep Hinkle's penis in detail and all three descriptions matched, but it just dint' seem like enough for me to print the allegations.

Now the Indianapolis Star has been given the smoking gun. In a story running this morning, the Star has seen proof that the long-serving legislator offered a teenage boy $80 for sex after finding the young man on Craigslist and they've printed the salacious details.

Read the Indianapolis Star article. Read every word of it. This is another gross example of a closet case, anti-gay GOPer:

Emails shared with The Indianapolis Star suggest that state Rep. Phillip Hinkle -- responding to a local posting on Craigslist -- offered a young man $80 plus tip to spend time with him Saturday night at the JW Marriott hotel.

The emails, sent from Hinkle's publicly listed personal address, ask the young man for "a couple hours of your time tonight" and offer him cash up front, with a tip of up to $50 or $60 "for a really good time."

The email exchange is in response to the Craigslist posting in which the young man -- who lists his age as 20 in the ad but says he is 18 years old -- says, "I need a sugga daddy."

Read the whole article. It gets so much better. There are emails. And, his wife makes an appearance.

Have to give the Indianapolis Star some credit for publishing this report. Most traditional media types shy away from exposing homophobic hypocrites like this.

And, more from Bil, who has been right so far:

Somewhere in the Hoosier state, Republican state senators Ron Alting and Brent Waltz are shaking in their boots. I've personally spoken to the man Sen Alting has had a longtime affair with while his wife dies of cancer and I've often challenged flamboyant Sen Waltz to answer some basic questions about his extremely close relationship with an older man who many say was Waltz's sugar daddy.

Indiana has no openly gay state legislators and provides no legal rights for LGBT people. Hinkle, McMillin, Alting, and Waltz all recently voted to pass a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions.

Read the rest of this post...

Homophobia is a family affair for the leader of CPAC, Al Cardenas, and his wife, Diana

Last week, CPAC, the biggest gathering of conservative wingnuts, kicked out GOProud. The new chair of the conference, Al Cardenas, doesn't want the gays around anymore.

Seems that homophobia runs deep in the Cardenas household. His wife, Diana, was exhibiting her hatred of the gays on Facebook, where she had to "ventilate" her feelings about the LGBT community. Classy. Very classy.

Steve Rothaus has the details and the actual Facebook chat. I feel bad for any member of that family who happens to be gay.

What a nasty bunch.

Anyway, the trendline is moving in our direction -- and moving fast. Support for LGBT equality has overwhelming support among young voters. But, CPAC and NOM are holding the GOPers hostage to their anti-gay agenda. Homophobia actually is a choice. In 2011, it's very stupid from a political perspective. Oh well. Have at it, haters. Read the rest of this post...

A reminder of what an extreme flip-flopper Mitt Romney is

As noted earlier, Mitt Romney signed NOM's hate-the-gays pledge today. It's a viciously homophobic document.

One reason people don't like and don't trust Romney is that he'll say anything to win. He's a big phony -- and a wicked flip-flopper. His positions on gay issues are a vivid example of that.

See, Mitt used to love the gays. From the Boston Globe today:

Romney has opposed gay marriage in his presidential campaigns both this year and in 2008. But he said in his 1994 Senate campaign against Democrat Edward Kennedy that he would be a greater advocate for gay rights than Kennedy.

Better than Ted. That's quite a standard. We wrote a lot about Mitt's flip-flopping during the 2008 campaign, but it's such an extreme shift in position that's it worth repeating. And, it wasn't just back in 1994. Mitt courted the gays in 2002. Here's a post John wrote in November of 2006:

This just in from the Boston Globe:

When he ran against Ted Kennedy for the Senate in 1994, Romney wrote a letter to the Massachusetts Log Cabin Club, pledging that as "we seek to establish full equality for American gay and lesbian citizens, I will provide more effective leadership than my opponent." During that same campaign, Romney was accused of once describing gay people as "perverse." In response, Romney's campaign vehemently denied that he used the word "perverse" and said that he respected "all people regardless of their race, creed, or sexual orientation."

While running for governor in 2002, Romney and his running mate, Kerry Healey, distributed pink fliers at a Gay Pride parade, declaring "Mitt and Kerry wish you a great Pride weekend." He backed domestic partner benefits for public employees, winning the endorsement of the national Log Cabin Republicans. In his inaugural speech, he promised to defend civil rights "regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or race."

As governor, he appointed openly gay and lesbian people to high-profile administration positions. He doubled the budget line item for the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, until he tried to disband it last May -- more political theater for the Republican right.

So, Romney was a big gay-lover just until the last two years when he decided he needed the religious right gay-haters in order to become president. Typical, pathetic Republican. They are a party that no longer believes in anything.

Yeah, Mitt used to love the gays. But, that was then, Now, he really, really wants the right-wing homophobes to vote for him. So, Mitt hates the LGBT community.

To paraphrase, Mitt was for the gays before he was against them. Read the rest of this post...

Dolly has apologized to the lesbian couple over the Dollywood t-shirt incident

I thought she'd come through and say something. Dolly Parton has apologized to Olivier Odom and Jennifer Tipton over the Dollywood t-shirt incident. Via The Advocate:

Parton's statement reads: "I am truly sorry for the hurt or embarrassment regarding the gay and lesbian t-shirt incident at Dollywood's Splash Country recently. Everyone knows of my personal support of the gay and lesbian community. Dollywood is a family park and all families are welcome." Parton adds that the policies on clothing or signs with profanity or controversial messages are in place to protect the person wearing the shirt and keep disturbances at the park to a minimum. Parton adds, "I am looking further into the incident and hope and believe it was more policy than insensitivity. I am very sorry it happened at all."

Parton, a longtime advocate for equality and civil rights, is currently on tour to promote her latest album Better Day.

"Marriage is so gay" shouldn't really be considered controversial. It is in many parts of the country (like Tennessee.) It shouldn't be. Read the rest of this post...

Media Matters takes on "The Bigotry of Pat Buchanan." Why is he an MSNBC analyst?

Media Matters has released a report on the extremely odious Pat Buchanan:

Pat Buchanan wrote in his recent syndicated column that accused Norway mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik may be "evil," but when it comes to his reported belief that there's a coming "climactic conflict between a once-Christian West and an Islamic world ... Breivik may be right." Buchanan, who also serves as an MSNBC analyst, has a long history marred with bigotry and hostility towards non-whites.

Here's an excerpt from the section on Buchanan's viciously anti-gay view:

Buchanan: "The Poor Homosexuals -- They Have Declared War Upon Nature And Now Nature Is Extracting An Awful Retribution." From James Pinkerton's June 2001 column:

Both the ideological right and left were quick to seize upon the deadly disease to underscore contrapuntal arguments about everything from public health to personal morality. Yet, AIDS is ultimately not political; it is viral. It is subject to the laws of nature, not human society. And so, while AIDS may someday be cured, the Darwinian reality underscoring all natural phenomena will continue to flummox both liberals and conservatives.

At the onset of AIDS, when it seemed mostly a gay malady, some right-wingers could barely contain their glee. Columnist Pat Buchanan wrote in 1983: ''The poor homosexuals -- they have declared war upon nature, and now nature is extracting an awful retribution.'' [Newsday, 6/7/01]

Buchanan: "Promiscuous Homosexuals Appear Literally Hell-Bent On Satanism And Suicide." Jake Tapper reported of Buchanan: "In 1990, Buchanan spewed out another hate-filled sound bite: 'With 80,000 dead of AIDS, 3,000 more buried each month, our promiscuous homosexuals appear literally hell-bent on Satanism and suicide.'" [Salon.com, 9/4/99]

There's more. It's despicable.

Now the question is why MSNBC allows a bigot like Buchanan to serve as an analyst. Read the rest of this post...

Lesbian couple harassed at Dollywood for "marriage is so gay" t-shirt. What is wrong with Tennessee?

What's the matter with Tennessee? Earlier this year, the Tennessee legislature, with assistance from the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and major corporations, stripped rights and protections from LGBT citizens. Now, at Dollywood of all places, a lesbian couple got harassed over a "marriage is so gay" t-shirt:

Olivier Odom and Jennifer Tipton said Tuesday they want the park to be more inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families after Odom was asked to reverse her shirt when they visited Dollywood Splash Country next to the Pigeon Forge amusement park. The story was first reported by WBIR-TV in Knoxville.

Dollywood spokesman Pete Owens said on Tuesday that Dollywood is open to all families, but their dress code policy is to ask people with clothing or tattoos that could be considered offensive to change clothes or cover up.

That's offensive? Seriously?

Does Dolly think this is offensive? Read the rest of this post...

In California, homophobes want ballot measure to repeal FAIR Education Act

It's always something with the haters.

From Rex Wockner:

Californians may be voting on gay matters again.

This time the target is the law Gov. Jerry Brown signed July 14 that requires public schools to teach about LGBT people's contributions to the state and nation.

Anti-gay activists have submitted the paperwork to launch a voter repeal referendum and have hit the Web with StopSB48.com. Its slogan: "Stop SB 48. It costs too much. It goes too far."

Their next task will be to collect signatures from 504,760 registered California voters before mid-October.

What would these people do if they didn't have the gays to obsess over?

Karen Ocamb has more on the haters behind this latest effort:

The Capitol Resource Institute launched an online campaign to repeal the California FAIR Education Act using a slick new email message and a new campaign website called StopSB48. The campaign also updated the CRI main website, which had not posted anything new since 2010. Their “Action Alert” page is still blank with only the date March 12, 2009.

But their new campaign website has the look of money – such as bought stock photos of generic happy white and black families – and there’s someone keeping an eye on the media. In a Capitol Alert story last Friday, July 22 about CRI filing papers to launch a referendum, the end of the story says: “Updated at 2:30 p.m. to add comments by Karen England and Brad Dacus, and to indicate that the referendum drive is being conducted by a coalition of groups.” That’s Karen England of CRI and Brad Dacus of the right-wing Pacific Justice Institute. But unfortunately, Capitol Alert didn’t ask for the names of the other coalition members, which the website identifies as a “coalition of pro-family organizations, parents, students, teachers and more.”

We'll have to keep an eye on this one. Read the rest of this post...

Frank Schaeffer on anti-gay, right wing hatred behind Norway shooting

Jane Smiley gave Frank Schaeffer a fantastic review of his latest book, “Sex, Mom, and God” and I had the pleasure of meeting Frank after listening to him speak in Tulsa, Oklahoma, so I e-mailed him and asked if he had anything in the book regarding gay rights. He sent me the following:

Hi Timothy, I remember that very pleasant meeting and thank you for the note.

My book is the most ringing endorsement of gay rights you'll find, there is so much in it about LGBPT rights I don't know what to send, but here's one quote:

No wonder Far Right American Evangelicals, Mormons, Orthodox Jews, Muslims, and Roman Catholics et al. slander gay men and women and also have an affinity for certain repressive religion saturated countries like gay-bashing Uganda.

Maybe it’s because the Ugandans proposed to do to gay men and women “over there” what many Evangelicals and conservative Roman Catholics would love to do here—if they could carry out what might be called the Reconstructionist solution and get away with it.

From Jane Smiley's review:

Frank seems to have been born irreverent, but his memoirs have a serious purpose, and that is to expose the insanity and the corruption of what has become a powerful and frightening force in American politics. He considers himself an eyewitness to the insanity during his childhood, and an eyewitness to the corruption during his early adulthood. The root of both, according to this book, is the perverse and destructive view that the “God-of-the-Bible” takes of women and sexuality — that women are inherently corrupt and that their sexuality must be controlled by men. Frank’s point in “Sex, Mom, and God” is that female sexuality is at the heart of the abortion debate that energized the religious right, and he asserts, from his experience of both his very troubled father and himself, that profound anxiety about women and hypocrisy about the sex drive shape the evangelical bid for power in the United States. (He is particularly informative about R.J. Rushdoony and the Christian Dominionists, who are working to transform the United States into a theocracy.)

Anything that pulls the covers back on the ugliness that birthed the likes of Michele Bachmann and other theocrats sounds like a must read informative book to me. Schaeffer explains in his latest hard hitting article just what our nation is up against with Christian Jihadist:

In my new book "Sex, Mom and God" I predicted just such an action. I predicted that right wing Christians will unleash terror here in America too. I predict that they will copy Islamic extremists, and may eventually even make common cause with them.

There is a growing movement in America that equates godliness with hatred of our government in fact hatred of our country as fallen and evil because we allow women choice, gays to marry, have a social safety net, and allow immigration from other cultures and non-white races.

Any media types who have provided the Christian Jihadist Tea Partier types their false equivalence in debates and helped prop up the likes of Michele Bachmann, and other insane Tea Partiers to help Republicans, are guilty of helping to spawn this threat to our very existence as a nation. Next time we have another Timothy McVeigh type attack the finger needs to be pointed at the media who have not held them up to scrutiny by asking the pertinent questions that would bring them crashing down, and the moneyed interests like the Koch brothers, who have financed the insanity to feed their insatiable greed. I hope the media trains their collective eyes on the fact Koch brothers darling and Americans for Prosperity President, Tim Phillips, spoke at the Norway killer's anti-tax, small-government Progress Party and Phillips explained to the Progress Party that Democrats were "the left side." Funny how the camp for kids that was attacked was sponsored by "the labor party." Coincidence? Sooner or later there is too much smoke to not consider that Tea Partiers have caused an uncontrollable fire while media tools have just poured gasoline on it by not holding them accountable.

As a proud gay progressive Christian, I'm quite sure the liberal Jesus that I've grown to love looks at those pathetic Tea Partiers, and their enablers, who claim to love him but hate anyone different from them, or institutions that attempt to help those he loves, and weeps. Read the rest of this post...

Lesbian couple kicked out of Gertrude Stein Exhibit for holding hands

Fellow contributing AMERICAblog Gay writer, Liz Newcomb, pointed out this outrage to me. Of all places for our community to be discriminated against for a slight show of affection, a Gertrude Stein exhibit in San Francisco?!!?

In the pantheon of places one does not expect blatant homophobia, "Gertrude Stein exhibit at a museum in San Francisco" is pretty high on the list. And yet! A guard at San Francisco's Jewish Museum tried to kick out a pair of females for holding hands at such an event this weekend, San Francisco Chronicle columnist C. W. Nevius reports...

I can understand how this kind of thing might happen in Kentucky and require a non-violent community response, but file this one under "WTF?"

If there happen to be any earthquakes in the region I'm quite sure it is nothing more than Gertrude Stein rolling in her grave. Read the rest of this post...