July 2, 2010

Montana's Republicans Want to Arrest Gay People

Ah, the year 2010. Some say it's the year of Lady Gaga. Others say it's the year of Glee. And a few folks think it's the year of Betty White. But alas, while all three have had very good years, it's another group taking the trophy for garnering such widespread attention: Republicans in the United States who want to criminalize homosexuality and arrest and jail gay people.

We saw this a few weeks ago when the 2010 Texas GOP party platform was released. The party of Lincoln, it seems, has been turned into the party that fears sodomy. Per their platform, the Texas GOP wants to recriminalize sexual activity between adults of the same gender, and wants to arrest any straight person who helps two people of the same sex get married.

But proving that the homophobia of the Texas GOP doesn't exist in a vacuum, word comes now that the 2010 party platform of the Montana GOP also calls for criminalizing homosexuality and arresting gay people. Towleroad broke it yesterday, quoting the Montana platform word for word: "We support the clear will of the people of Montana expressed by legislation to keep homosexual acts illegal."

Yes, that's right. The Montana GOP wants to insert a telescope into the bedroom of every Montana resident, and each night check and make sure the fine folks of Montana aren't going to bed with someone of the same sex. And gay marriage? Well, forget that. The Montana GOP is pretty clear that relationships ought to only be between people of the opposite sex. Relationships between senior Republican lawmakers and shady lobbyists are OK, too.

We all know that the Republican Party has leaps and bounds to go when it comes to embracing LGBT issues. Slowly but surely, some in the party are getting there. Whether it's Dick Cheney or Laura Bush, Elisabeth Hasselbeck or David Brooks, prominent Republicans are coming around on issues related to LGBT rights, and specifically same-sex marriage.

It's just a shame that this sentiment isn't filtering down to statewide party platforms. Can these parties get away with openly calling for the arrest of people solely on the basis of their sexual orientation?

Of course, while Texas and Montana have pretty appalling GOP party platforms, perhaps we should be grateful that neither state is Minnesota. There, in the land of 10,000 lakes, the Minnesota GOP is willingly partnering with a rock band, known as You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, that calls for gay people to be executed. Rep. Michele Bachmann has embraced them. GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer has embraced them, too, and given them money. And the state GOP gave You Can Run But You Cannot Hide a donated booth at their last party convention.

Here's hoping these things only come in threes, with Minnesota, Texas and now Montana. Because if one more state GOP starts spouting off about how gay people should be arrested, detained or (gulp) murdered, it'll be time to wonder whether the GOP has been taking lessons from Uganda.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Religious Support For Gay Rights Grows By Leaps and Bounds

You might not think it, given the vociferous and extreme views of many within the religious world when it comes to LGBT rights, but today religious support for equality is at an all-time high. More congregations are welcoming LGBT people, more denominations are allowing LGBT clergy, more faith leaders are speaking out for marriage equality, and more religious groups are joining the throngs of marchers at Pride Parades than ever before.

Take that, Tennessee Church that won't allow lesbian softball teams. Or take that, religious leaders who don't want gay people riding on Amtrak. And of course, take that, ordained Baptist Minister and likely 2012 Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee, who thinks gay people are icky.

Religious leaders embracing gay rights aren't exclusive to just the United States, either. A British think tank, Ekklesia, is out with a study this week confirming that the same phenomenon is happening in the Motherland, too. And they note that it's happening among two core constituencies within the religious world that are often the culprits of anti-gay sentiments: evangelical Christians and Catholics.

"Christian differences over sexuality are complex and nuanced. We should avoid crude caricatures such as the image of two blocks always fighting each other. What we can say is that while certain Christians opposed to homosexuality and bisexuality have become more hardline and vocal, the trend appears to be firmly against them," said Symon Hill, associate director of Ekklesia. That's right: the trend is running against leaders like Maggie Gallagher, Tony Perkins, Bishop Harry Jackson, and Ken Hutcherson. Like it or not, religion is moving closer to embracing LGBT rights. And it's not doing so kicking and screaming, but openly and affirmatively.

Pastor Candace Chellew-Hodge, a religious leader from South Carolina, notes that the trend among Christian Churches in the U.S. is skewing toward equality. Cue her riff on the timeless Martin Luther King Jr. quote:

"While progress for equality for gays and lesbians within society, and the church especially, may be slow in coming, the arc of history — despite the cranked up volume from the opposition — is definitely bending toward justice," Chellew-Hodge writes.

That bend toward justice may stretch just a little bit more this month, too, as the Presbyterian Church of the United States gets ready for a debate and vote over whether LGBT people can become ministers within the Church if they are married, partnered, or in a relationship. The vote is expected to be close (a similar measure failed two years ago), but advocates believe that the support is there to make this change happen.

Finally, a reason to shout Hallelujah. Just make sure you shout it loud enough so that Pope Benedict, the folks at the National Organization for Marriage, and Focus on the Family can hear you, too.

Photo credit: bazylek100

238 presidential scholars: Bush worst president of modern era, fifth worst in US history

By John Byrne

digg

georgewbush20081103 238 presidential scholars: Bush worst president of modern era, fifth worst in US history

It's one thing for a coterie of liberals at a late-night Washington soirée to say that George W. Bush was the worst president in their lifetimes.

It's another thing when the same is said by the nation's 238 leading presidential scholars, who have been polled annually for the last 28 years.

President Bush ranked worst among modern presidents -- and the fifth worst in history, according to the poll by the Siena Research Institute. Ranking first? President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who led the country from 1933 until his death in 1945.

President Roosevelt served four terms, the longest of any president in history. US presidents became limited to two terms after US states ratified the 22nd Amendment to the US constitution in 1951.

President Barack Obama, who hasn't yet served a full term, rated 15th.

Is This Guy Going To Take On Opponents Of Gay Marriage?

Former Bloomberg Aide to Take On Opponents of Gay Marriage

By MICHAEL BARBARO

A former Bloomberg administration official will run a newly formed campaign to defeat state lawmakers who oppose same-sex marriage in New York, in the latest attempt to ratchet up pressure on elected officials to legalize such unions.

Brian Ellner, who until this week worked for the New York City Department of Education, will oversee the Campaign for New York Marriage, which is to be financed by the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington-based lobbying group for gay rights.

Mr. Ellner’s appointment will be announced by the group on Friday. It represents a vindication of sorts for Mr. Ellner, who was the top candidate to run the Empire State Pride Agenda, the state’s leading gay rights group. He abruptly withdrew from consideration several weeks ago after some gay advocates questioned his links to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a major donor to the Republican Party.

“I view this as an opportunity to build on solid work that has come before, and strengthen and expand the coalition that is necessary to secure marriage equality,” Mr. Ellner said in an interview.

The new campaign will seek to re-elect state lawmakers who supported the bill on same-sex marriage last year, and to oust those who voted against it. After passing by a wide margin in the State Assembly, the bill was defeated by an eight-vote margin in the Senate despite a vigorous lobbying effort spearheaded by the Empire State Pride Agenda.

“New York is at a critical tipping point in securing marriage equality, and November’s elections hold the key,” said Joe Solmonese, the president of the Human Rights Campaign.

The group would not say how much money it intended to spend to elect candidates in New York who advocate gay marriage, but those familiar with the plans said the group would seek to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next few months.

They are likely to focus on a few Democrats who voted against the bill on same-sex marriage last year, including Senators Joseph Addabbo and William Stachowski.

The Human Rights Campaign spent about $1 million on political campaigns in Massachusetts to defend the state’s legalization of gay marriage there, which occurred in 2004.

The campaign’s organizers said they would work closely with several existing efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in New York, including the Empire State Pride Agenda and Fight Back New York.

Even so, the entry of the Human Rights campaign — the biggest and best-financed gay rights group in the country — into the marriage debate in New York is something of a challenge to existing groups, especially the Empire State Pride Agenda.

In a press release from the Human Rights Campaign, several influential gay leaders praised the appointment of Mr. Ellner. The City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, who is gay, called him “a great addition to the H.R.C. team.”

Bob Giuda: New Hampshire's Most Homophobic Politician?

Bob Giuda: New Hampshire's Most Homophobic Politician?

by ADAM AMIR

Will legalizing same-sex marriage
stop homophobic political posturing?
Not in New Hampshire. GOP
Congressional candidate Bob Giuda
spoke to high school students at Rivier
College as part of a leadership
conference this week, and told
students that gay marriage will lead
to women marrying dogs.

The British Medical Association Slams Ex-Gay Therapy

How many voices does it take condemning ex-gay therapy to set the record straight that "conversion therapy," or efforts to change the sexual orientation of someone, are dangerous and ineffective?

There have long been advocacy groups and activists here in the States spreading the truth about the harm of ex-gay ministries, from Truth Wins Out to Ex-Gay Watch and more. Then there's the American Psychological Association, which last year issued a brutal statement condemning programs that try and cure or treat sexual orientation.

Now, in the wake of some controversy where it appeared that Britain's National Health Service was funding some ex-gay therapy programs, the British Medical Association has come out with a powerful statement debunking religious groups and/or medical professionals that try to change someone's sexual orientation.

Tom Dolphin, a mucky muck within the British Medical Association (BMA), helped usher a vote by the BMA to ban and condemn the practice of ex-gay therapy.

"Sexuality is such a fundamental part of who a person is, that attempts to change it just result in significant confusion, depression and even suicide. You can't just wish away same-sex attraction no matter how inconvenient it might be," Dolphin said. Accordingly, more than two-thirds of BMA doctors voted for a measure which rejects efforts to "treat" homosexuality, and calls for mental health bodies to ban its practice.

Republicans Backstab With The "Gay" Blade

Candidates Backstab With the ‘Gay’ Blade

July 2, 2010 by James Hipps

It’s rather pathetic when you think about it, and hopefully neither candidate will win the election, but the conservative candidates running for the Republican shot to be Florida’s next Governor are using the gay community in an attempt to thwart each other’s campaign.

According to a post on CNN:

On Thursday, McCollum’s campaign reacted to a memo released by the Scott campaign the day before.
The memo listed what it claimed were “Top 7 “Reasons Conservatives and Republicans aren’t supporting Bill McCollum.” Among them, the memo stated: “McCollum endorsed pro-abortion and pro-homosexual rights candidate Rudy Giuliani for president in 2008 and was a Giuliani campaign leader in Florida.”

But, as usual in politics, it’s tit for tat as McCollum fired back with this:

McCollum’s campaign is pointing out that Scott is an investor in a social networking site that, among other things, features the profiles of gay men.
QuePasa.com bills itself as “one of the world’s largest trilingual Latino Social Networks online” serving users in the U.S., Mexico and Latin America. It features content on entertainment, sports and music.
But as McCollum’s campaign ties Scott to the site, it points out that gays also use the site for dating.

What I would like to know is why is the Republican party refusing to let go of the anti-gay sentiment. Are their ties to the religious right so strong they couldn’t possibly think of simply saying “so what”?

And why are they throwing ‘gay’ stones at each other? This is why come hell or high water, I will support a Democratic candidate even if they say or do nothing about or for LGBT equality. I would rather have nothing than the negativity. If Scott was smart, and really wanted to use they gay card against McCollum, he should be pointing to the fact that McCollum paid George “rent-boy” Rekers hundreds of thousands of state funds to testify against gay adoption and if McCollum had half a brain, he’d be playing up the fact that a health care corporation founded by Scott was found guilty of the biggest Medicare fraud case in history…which sources say, Scott, the self made billionaire was completely aware of.

Since when was being gay worse than fraud or wasting tax-payer dollars? Isn’t it the fringe right who is screaming about taxation, yet they’re willing to put that issue down when it comes to providing equality for LGBT tax-payers? Things that make you go hmmmmm.

July 1, 2010

MEL GIBSON: "You look like a f---ing pig in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of n---ers, it will be your fault."

Mel Gibson's racist, profane rant at ex Oksana Grigorieva caught on tape: report

BY RICH SCHAPIRO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Alvarez/Getty

Actor Mel Gibson and girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva in happier times earlier this year.

More evidence that Mel Gibson's tongue is a "Lethal Weapon."

The bad boy actor was reportedly caught on tape launching into a racist, profanity-laced tirade aimed at his ex - the latest and ugliest development in the couple's bitter legal battle.

"You're an embarrassment to me," Gibson tells Oksana Grigorieva, according to gossip site RadarOnline.com. "You look like a f---ing pig in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of n---ers, it will be your fault."

On the tapes, Gibson repeatedly refers to Grigorieva as a "whore," "c--t" and "b----h," the Web site says.

The audio clips are also laden with sickening threats.

"I am going to come and burn the f--king house down," Gibson reportedly tells her. "How dare you act like such a bitch when I have been so f--king nice?"

Gibson, 54, and Grigorieva, 40, have filed restraining orders against each other. The couple, who have an 8-month-old daughter, has been warring ever since they split in April

This isn't the first time Gibson's mouth has gotten him into trouble.

In 2006, the "Braveheart" star ranted against Jews when he was arrested on drunken driving charges in Los Angeles.

"F-----g Jews. The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world," Gibson told a cop.

Later, he turned his attention towards a female officer.

"What do you think you're looking at, sugar t-ts?" Gibson yelled.