05/23/2013
New Jersey's leading 'family' group posts truly nasty video equating gays with adulterers, alcoholics
Many of you have seen the following video, produced by far-far-far-right anti-gay figure Janet Folger Porter:
Well guess who is now promoting and defending this clip? That would be none other than the New Jersey Family Policy Council, the organization leading the fight to stop marriage equality in the Garden State:
SOURCE: NJFPC's Facebook page
I love when they attempt to "explain" the supposed nuance. Even better if/when they think this is my first time at the rodeo, believing I'm just going to accept their "explanation" as fact without making a larger point in this debate. I truly love being underestimated.
Bottom line: NJFPC did just sneer at gay people. Harshly. And their posting of this video is, in fact, a direct attempt to connect LGBT people to adulterers and alcoholics. There is no further explanation needed. They posted it to they organizational wall, and then they have proceeded to defend it. So now I will be sure that every last member of the NJ state legislature is aware of this harsh disregard for the Garden State's vast LGBT population.
As I said in my initial comment: "An astoundingly silly thing for the state's leading "family" group to promote. They would have been wise to listen to me.
------------------
------------------
05/23/2013
A #BoyScouts dialogue with Manhattan Declaration's Exec. Director
I actually kind of like chatting with Manhattan Declaration Executive Director, NOM march speaker, and Sam Brownback son-in-law Eric Teetsel, because I find him well mannered, respectful, and open to frank discussion. But he's also wrong:
Um, actually there *is* a right side of history; obviously
This is just a silly thing to say:
"It’s not accurate to say the times have relegated the defense of marriage to the geriatric ward. And there’s no such thing as being on the “right” or “wrong” side of history. There’s only being on the right or wrong side of truth."
—Ryan Anderson and Andrew Walker, both of the anti-gay Heritage Foundation, writing for Citizen, the magazine of the anti-gay Focus on Family
It's one of those things that anti-LGBT people tells themselves in order to feel good about their work, both here in the now and (especially) in a commemorative future. But it's bogus.
I have my version of truth, which says that the civil laws of this church/state-separated nation must support the freedom of same-sex couples to marry. Anderson and Walker have their version of truth, which positions their personal (and largely faith-based) objections above the rights of taxpayers like me. Whether either of our truths are right on the money, here in the mortal realm or in some eternal future, is one facet os this conversation, perhaps. But in a history that will inevitably play out, there will be one of us who is viewed, by virtue of public support and policy reality, as having been on the right side. That is just a fact—then, now, and always through the relatively short trajectory of this experiment we call America.
We fight out these ideas in a public space, and a winning position prevails. In most cases, the minority population prevails and history records that progress as a really good thing. I am more than confident in how the history books will record my work. Walker and Anderson have every right to disagree, but they mustn't kid themselves—one of us will, in recorded fact, be right.
*UPDATE: And of course the anti-gay National Org. for Marriage loves Anderson and Walker's take:
One of the great lines from their article: "There’s no such thing as being on the “right” or “wrong” side of history. There’s only being on the right or wrong side of truth."
Amen! [NOM Blog]
Because of course they would. When trying to turn a contrived alternate script into reality, the co-writers must stick together.
Discriminación!
Who says the Catholic Church is no longer engaged in effective outreach?
[US Conference of Catholic Bishops (with link to the Spanish bulletin)]
Because why should English be the only language that is bastardized with code words that mask the discriminatory reality behind nice-sounding terms like "tradition" and "values"?
New ad: One of America's most hostile anti-gay groups asks BSA Delegates to make horrible mistake
The Family Research Council, an organization whose leaders have supported criminal sanctions for gay people, claimed "it's a fact" that homosexuality leads to "eternal damnation," and said gays are "pawns in the hands of their malevolent master" the Devil (to name just a few FRC slights), is running a new ad in this morning's Dallas Morning News telling the Boys Scouts of America why they should support FRC's radical agenda rather than the peaceful inclusion of gay minors:
They forgot the #6: They simply don't believe in the concept of well-adjusted LGBT people and don't want us to have rights, opportunities, or basic peace of mind. Let's be clear here: That is the underlying drive that's informing this whole thing.
05/22/2013
Boy Scouts president cuts through the noise: 'Let in gay boys'
A huge statement just hours before delegates are scheduled to vote:
Boy Scouts president: Let in gay boys [USA TODAY]
Video: GOP Congressman from Oklahoma attacks 'intolerance' of supporting gay boys in khaki
Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK1):
Equal #BoyScout opponents don't want to hear how anti-gay their allies are
The "On My Honor" coalition is proudly touting the backing of the American Family Association, once of the most legitimately hostile anti-LGBT groups working today. So since it is the day before the big vote, I thought I'd give them some pragmatic advice:
My comment was deleted.
Seconds later, another Facebooker mirrored my comment and posted it with his own Eagle Scout identification:
His comment has been deleted.
Fair enough. But there's no honor in forcible echo chambers.
