Posts filed under ‘GLBT’
One Million Moms Has 956 Twitter Followers
As of 8:37 p.m. ET on February 8, 2012, “One Million Moms,” the group that unsuccessfully tried to pressure JCPenney to drop Ellen Degeneres as its spokeswoman, has 956 followers on its Twitter account.
Got that? 956.
(H/t Ellen Degeneres.)
Only 999,044 to go!
As a point of reference, I have 758 followers and Ellen Degeneres has 30,794. And if for no other reason than to throw some glitter around, the ACLU has 125,461 followers.
Just sayin’.
One million moms?
Washington State Passes Freedom to Marry Bill
Heads up to people who want to impose their religious beliefs on the rest of us:
Washington State Legislature Passes the Freedom to Marry
Moments ago on a 55 to 43 vote, the Washington House joined in the State Senate in passing legislation that will extend marriage to gay and lesbian couples. Today’s passage of HB 2516 positions Washington to become the seventh state to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage.
[...]
Governor Gregoire, who was instrumental in passing this legislation, is expected to sign the bill into law shortly. However, opponents of the freedom to marry have until June 6th to turn in the necessary signatures to file for a referendum that would put marriage on the ballot this coming November. Should they file a referendum with a sufficient number of verified signatures, the law would not be implemented until after the election.
Undoubtedly Republicans will gather signatures to put this issue on the ballot. The Republican rank and file is bored to tears with their already-anointed presidential candidate so a November vote might help motivate them to get out of bed on Election Day.
Remember When Interracial Couples Where Ostracized?
I was raised in a very liberal family but I’m old enough to remember when seeing the occasional interracial couple walking down the street or in a restaurant hit like a bolt of lightening. People turned and watched and snickered and whispered.
I remember feeling so much respect for them though. Talk about guts!
Photo: MirrorOnAmerica.blogspot.com
Now of course, interracial couples actually appear on the teevee and in the media in general. Corporations pay them millions of dollars in endorsements. That would never have happened back then.
I’m looking forward to the time when I can write a post like this about gay marriage.
Photo: Shana Sureck/New York Times
California’s Prop 8 Shut Down
Great news:
Photo: Topia.net
A federal appeals court Tuesday struck down California’s ban on same-sex marriage, clearing the way for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on gay marriage as early as next year.
The 2-1 decision by a panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that limited marriage to one man and one woman, violated the U.S. Constitution. The architects of Prop. 8 have vowed to appeal.
The ruling was narrow and likely to be limited to California.
“Proposition 8 served no purpose, and had no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California,” the court said.
The ruling upheld a decision by retired Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, who struck down the ballot measure in 2010 after holding an unprecedented trial on the nature of sexual orientation and the history of marriage.
In a separate decision, the appeals court refused to invalidate Walker’s ruling on the grounds that he should have disclosed he was in a long term same-sex relationship. Walker, a Republican appointee who is openly gay, said after his ruling that he had been in a relationship with another man for 10 years. He has never said whether he and partner wished to marry.
The bolded sentence above is my added emphasis because I love it. Prop 8 was legislation that codified discrimination and hate.
Here is the text of the decision.
JC Penny — Don’t Listen to the Wingnut Fringe
The right knows they have nothing going into this election so what do they do? Pull out the God, gays and guns card and slap it on the table in the hope that those issues will galvanize the right around, what else? Hate and fear.
Photo: Wikipedia
This from “One Million Moms:”
One Million Moms — a project of the American Family Association — is very angry at JC Penney.
No, not because it sells sweater vests (heck, Rick Santorum is a fan of those), but because the Texas-based department store has hired Ellen DeGeneres as a spokeswoman.
And DeGeneres is — cue the scary music — gay, and open about it.
“Funny that JC Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families,” the million (or so) moms write on their website. “DeGeneres is not a true representation of the type of families that shop at their store. The majority of JC Penney shoppers will be offended and choose to no longer shop there.”
One Million Moms is asking people to call JC Penney to complain.
This is the American Taliban talking. Don’t listen JC Penny.
(I wonder how many moms actually belong to “OneMillionMoms.”)
Bullied and Rejected to Death
One of my brothers committed suicide in 1988 at the age of 32, so stories about suicide tend to catch my eye. This one is particularly dreadful:
A gay teenager who committed suicide earlier this month claimed he had an exorcism performed on him by his Christian parents before they kicked him out of the house.
Eric James Borges, 19, took his own life on January 14 after suffering years of physical and verbal abuse at school and rejection from his ‘extremist’ family who made him leave home for being gay.
A friend read from the suicide note he left at one of several memorial services held for the young man in San Joaquin Valley, California last week. In it, he thanked friends for their love and support and mentioned Lady Gaga for being ‘a fearless, relentless, proud LGBT advocate’.
San Diego Gay & Lesbian News writer Melanie Nathan read from the teenager’s note, which said: ‘My pain is not caused because I am gay. My pain was caused by how I was treated because I am gay.’
He explained: ‘I was raised in an extremist Christian household. My earliest recollections of my experience with the relentless and ongoing bullying was in kindergarten, but of course to a lesser degree.
‘Throughout elementary, junior high and high school it got progressively worse. I was physically, mentally, emotionally and verbally assaulted on a day-to-day basis for my perceived sexual orientation.
”I had nowhere safe to go, either at home or school… My parents told me that, among other things, I was disgusting, perverted, unnatural and damned to Hell. About two months ago they officially kicked me out of my house.
‘My name was not Eric but “Faggot”.
‘And I know what it feels like to live in a world of government-sanctioned homophobia. But I refuse to be treated as a second-class citizen.’
(My emphasis.)
Go here to read more and to see an “It Gets Better” video Mr. Borges made, as well as his short film titled, Invisible Creatures.
What a sad, sad story.
Eric James Borges, you sound like an amazing guy.
Westboro Baptist Church to Protest at Joe Paterno’s Funeral
Here we go again:
Joe Paterno will be honored in services over the next three days in State College, Pa., and there will not be an absence of controversy.
A public viewing for Paterno, the legendary former Penn State coach who died Sunday at 85, will be held from 1-11 p.m. Tuesday at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on the Penn State campus. Another viewing will be held from 8 a.m. until noon Wednesday, with a private funeral scheduled for 2 p.m. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday in the Jordan Center, the basketball arena next to Beaver Stadium.
Officials of the Westboro Baptist Church intend to protest, according to the daughter of the church’s pastor, and bring their anti-homosexuality message to State College. The church has targeted services for Michael Jackson and Steve Jobs, as well as military funerals.
Margie Phelps tweeted that “WBC will picket his funeral,” adding, “He’s in hell. Don’t partake of your neighbor’s sin!”
I hope something like this happens in response:
People in Weston, Missouri banded together on Saturday. They wanted to protect loved ones who were saying goodbye to a fallen soldier and stood up to members of the Westboro Baptist Church who planned to protest at Sgt. First Class C.J. Sadell’s funeral.
Sadell died October 24 from injuries he suffered in a surprise attack in Afghanistan.
On Saturday, there was quite a turnout of people who wanted to keep the protesters away from the funeral.“I’d say probably half the people in Weston are here,” said Eric Moser, Marine Corp veteran.
Weston has less than 2,000 residents, and hundreds of people showed up to support the family of First Sgt. Sadell.
“If you think about it, they’ve all gone to serve just so we could be able to do this,” said Rebecca Rooney who organized the supporters. “He didn’t die in vain.”
Rebecca Rooney is a Weston resident who wanted to stand up against Fred Phelps and his followers.
“We got everybody here early so we could take up all the parking spots,” Rooney said. “We did that so Mr. Phelps wouldn’t have a contingency that was really close.”
Supporters came armed with patriotic music and American flags. The protesters didn’t stick around long once they saw the supporters.
The Westboro people have a right to protest but other people have a right not to hear it.
Sh*t Homophobic People Say
I never thought I’d put up three posts in two days with the word sh*t in the title but here I go again.
Anyway, this is a must see. Two minutes that captures the hate coming from the right.
I dedicate this post to my gay brother Marc. He came out to me in 1977. My immediate thought — I’ll never forget our conversation — was that he was going to have a rough life purely because of who he was on the day he was born.
Sadly, 35 years later, here I am, posting this:
(Via.)
Must See: Sacha Baron Cohen Punks Ron Paul — Paul Flips Out
Drat, I can’t get this video to embed so go here and watch Sacha Baron Cohen punk Ron Paul [2009]. I mean really, really, REALLY punk him.
It’s hilarious.
Oh, and yes, Paul is clearly homophobic but above all, acutely humorless.
Lesbian Couple Confronts Troy, Michigan Mayor Over Hateful, Anti-Gay Remark
In early December, folks on the Internet found a hateful post, dated June 25, 2010, on the Facebook page belonging to the new, Tea Party affiliated mayor of Troy, Michigan, Janice Daniels. It read:
“I think I am going to throw away my I Love New York carrying bag now that queers can get married there.”
On December 5, a married lesbian couple attended a Troy City Council meeting with their two young daughters and they addressed Ms. Daniels:
(Via.)
What a powerful, powerful message. And I love how the audience erupts in cheers at the end.
Michigan Teacher Takes the Word “Gay” Out of Deck the Halls
Talk about a war on Christmas! A teacher at Cherry Knoll Elementary School in Michigan replaced the word “gay” in the Christmas carol “Deck the Halls” because her students were “snickering at the lyrics.” She changed the lyrics to “don me now our bright apparel.” When the principal found out, he immediately reversed the teacher’s decision.
More in this video:
(Video via.)
The American Taliban at work.
Rick Perry’s Idea of Being “Strong”
Take a look at this Rick Perry ad titled, “Strong:”
I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian. But you don’t have to be in the pew every Sunday to know that there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school. As president, I’ll end Obama’s war on religion and I’ll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage.
Faith made America strong. It can make her strong again.
I’m Rick Perry and I approved this message.
Wow! Now that’s strength.
What about jobs Rickie? Anything to say about health care? The price of food?
Back in the day when things were going pretty well around here, candidates could get away with the God, guns and gays platform. I’m hoping we’ve moved on to more important issues this time around and hateful ads like this will fall flat and be seen as irrelevant to what matters most to people.
Oh, and give me one — ONE — example of this war on religion Obama’s allegedly waging.
8-Year-Old Boy Tells Michele Bachmann His Mommy is Gay
Michele Bachmann has no freakin’ idea what to do with this:
Video of Michele Bachmann trying to get her photo op in with my 8 year old son. It’s hard to hear but he leans in and tells her that his mom is gay and she doesn’t need fixing. GO ELIJAH! Love that look of shock she gets.
We were there for an Occupy Myrtle Beach event to mic check Michele Bachmann on another issue. The lgbt issue came up separately.
(Via.)
Geez. Couldn’t Bachmann have said something like, “Thanks for coming Elijah?” I mean, come on.
Stay Classy Tea Party
Again, Emma Sullivan is my new hero, especially when compared to the behavior of the Tea Party folks who sent this tweet out about Barney Frank retiring today:
Oh, and BTW, “POS” means Piece. Of. Shit.
Bravo to San Diego School Superintendent Bill Kowba!
I. Love. This. Story:
When students voted a lesbian couple as homecoming king and queen at San Diego’s Patrick Henry High School last week, perhaps they were too young and naïve to know that controversy was inevitable. If it had just been Haileigh Adams, at right, elected queen, nothing would have been the problem. But when Adams’ girlfriend, Rebeca Arellano, won king at a big pep rally on Friday, the bigots started complaining.
Adams and Arellano’s peers cheered for the girls at the homecoming dance, and a teacher reportedly told Arellano, “Today school is a bit better because of you girls.” Nevertheless, Patrick Henry High School has been subjected to a deluge of hate mail, angry emails, and threatening phone calls since news of the lesbian homecoming couple broke. Some of the calls are coming from people who don’t even live in California.
But rather than cower from criticism, as many administrators are wont to do when facing charges of immorality, San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Bill Kowba is digging in his heels and fighting back. In a press conference about his district’s budget on Monday, Kowba took a few moments to tell reporters how “furious” he was about the hate directed toward Adams and Arellano, whom he called just as important as the budget. “What is essentially disappointing is that adults who have contacted the school, many not even San Diego residents, are demonstrating such a lack of tolerance and such a negative role model for children with their hateful comments,” Kowba said. He later called the naysayers “bullies.”
Bravo to Bill Kowba and to the two young women, Haileigh Adams and Rebeca Arellano. Stay strong! Don’t cave to the haters.
Anti-Gay Marriage Group Uses Photo of Obama Crowd to Make it Look Like an Organization With a Big Following
This is the image at the top of the homepage of New Hampshire for Marriage, the New Hampshire branch of the National Organization for Marriage, which is dedicated to “defending traditional marriage:”
Notice the crowd. It’s HUGE. Wow. New Hampshire for Marriage must be a really, really popular organization, huh?
Now look at this photo of a November 2, 2008 Obama campaign rally in Columbus, Ohio which was attended by 60,000 people. Compare the people pictured in the photo above to the people pictured in the photo below.
Oops. New Hampshire for Marriage, how low can you go?
(H/t Beth.)
Cain: If Gay People Just Take a Shower They Can “Wash” the Gay Off
Until now, the idea that gays and lesbians could “pray away” their sexual orientation was the most ridiculous thing I’d heard surrounding that issue. But voila, leave it to Herman Cain to come up with something even more absurd:
This is Cain on Piers Morgan’s show on CNN last night:
Cain: I think it’s a sin because of my biblical beliefs and, although people don’t agree with me, I happen to think that it is a personal choice.
Morgan: You believe that?Cain: I believe that.
Morgan: You think people wait — you believe people get to a certain age and say, I want to be homosexual?
Cain: Let me turn it around to you. What does science show? Show me evidence other than opinion and you might cause me to reconsider that…Where is the evidence?
Morgan: You’re a commonsense guy..You genuinely believe that millions of Americans wake up in their late teens normally and go, you know what, i kind of fancy being a homosexual? You don’t believe that, do you?
Cain: Piers, you haven’t given me any evidence to believe otherwise.
Morgan: My gut instinct, Herman, tells me that it has to be a natural thing.
Cain: So it’s your gut instinct versus my gut instincts. I respect their right to make that choice. You don’t see me bashing them. I respect them to have the right to make that choice. I don’t have to agree with it. That’s all I’m saying
Morgan: It would be like a gay person saying, Herman, you made a choice to be black.
Cain: You know that’s not the case. You know I was born black.
Morgan: Maybe if they say that, they would find that offensive.
Cain: Piers, Piers. This doesn’t wash off. I hate to burst your bubble.
Morgan: I don’t think being homosexual washes off.
So, the bottom line? Take a damn shower folks! (Does it matter what kind of soap you use?)
Geezus. What a ignorant simpleton.
Oh, and P.S. My 56-year-old brother has taken a shower or two in life and he’s still gay. Is there a certain kind of soap people are supposed to use? Help me out here Herman.
Remembering Matthew Shepard
On the freezing evening of October 6/7, 1998 — thirteen years ago tonight:
two, two-bit thugs drove 21-year-old University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard to a remote part of Wyoming. They robbed him, pistol-whipped him and tied him to a barbed wire fence. They left him to there to die and five days later he did, of “severe head injuries.”
His “crime?” He was gay.
I remember that time like it was yesterday. It is seared in my brain because my brother is gay. I remember thinking: Dear one, I can’t believe we live in a world that does this.
You Gotta Love Andy Borowitz
VIRGINIA BEACH (The Borowitz Report) – Evangelist Pat Robertson sparked controversy in today’s broadcast of his 700 Club program by saying that the NASA satellite that plummeted to Earth did so “because God thinks satellites are gay.”
“We have to remember that the heavens are where God lives,” Rev. Robertson said during the broadcast. “If we launch something into outer space that God thinks is gay, He’s going to kick it right back to us.”
Thing is, this sounds exactly like something Robertson would actually say.
Is Rick Perry Gay?
Hustler Magazine publisher Larry Flynt is putting GOP Presidential candidate Rick Perry in his crosshairs … he’ll be offering up to $1 million for anyone who can prove Perry has had an illicit sexual liaison … TMZ has learned.
The ad — which Flynt will take out in various newspapers — says, “Have you had a gay or straight sexual encounter with Governor Rick Perry?”
The beltway scuttlebutt is that Rick Perry is gay. The “liberal media” isn’t talking about it much though, just like they didn’t talk about John F. Kennedy’s affairs.
I’m not into outing people willy nilly but if someone’s in the closet and part of their platform in their run for the President of the United States of America is anti-gay hate rhetoric, that tends to tick me off. So I’d like to know — once and for all — what’s up with Rickie boy.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — Good-Bye and Good Riddance
Think about that name for a minute: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. How barbaric, but as of 12:01 a.m. ET today, DADT is history:
More than 17 years after a tortured political compromise that left no one happy, “don’t ask, don’t tell” is done.
On Tuesday, President Bill Clinton’s 1993 directive that allowed gays and lesbians to serve in the military without discrimination as long as they stayed in the closet will be formally repealed. The measure had mandated that applicants weren’t to be asked about their sexuality, and it barred military brass from investigating a service member’s sexual orientation without credible evidence.
The repeal of DADT — which stirred anger among conservatives and liberals alike, touching off a nearly two-decades-long debate — was approved by Congress last year, signed by President Barack Obama, who had made it a campaign pledge in 2008, and given final authorization by military leaders this summer.
“As of Sept. 20, service members will no longer be forced to hide who they are in order to serve our country,” Obama said in a statement in July.
Thank God. What a dark chapter that was.
Flash Mob Converges on Marcus Bachmann’s Pray-the-Gay-Away Clinic
This is hilarious video of a flash mob converging in the parking lot of Dr. Marcus Bachmann’s pray-the-gay-away “Bachmann & Associates” clinic in St. Paul, Minnesota yesterday. Oh, and BTW, Marcus Bachmann is Michele’s husband.
(Via.)
Congratulations New York!
Congratulations to New York for becoming the most recent state in the nation to recognize gay marriage.
Check out this line of people in NYC waiting in line to get a marriage license.
(Via.)
Lotta partyin’ going on there today.
Time for a Wingnut Freakout
DADT has officially been repealed and gays and lesbians will be able to serve openly in the military as of September 20, 2011: About f**king time.
Service members today welcomed a key milestone in repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), as President Obama, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, formally issued their certification to the Armed Services committees of both houses of Congress, signifying that the military is ready for the transition. In 60 days, as prescribed in the law passed by Congress and signed by the President last December, repeal will be final.
Now get ready for the wingers to start screaming — again — about how terrible this is: Watch out no, don’t go into that bathroom!
Rome to Preist: If You Hugged a Gay Guy, You Must Be Gay
Geezus. Pedophilia runs rampant in the Catholic church while those in charge look the other way, but find a priest putting his arm around a gay guy and you have to go to therapy to be degayized:
It comes after the Bishop of Getafe has demanded that he goes under psychiatric therapy to ‘cure’ his homosexuality, and has an HIV test, following claims made that he has had a relationship with a 28 year old Cuban seminarian, claims which are based on a photo of him hugging the man on a trip to Fátima. Both men are shirtless in the photo.
‘Let them measure my anus and see if it is dilated’, said the priest who insists that they are only friends. He complains that his mother has not stopped crying at what has happened.
What would Jesus do?
“This is the Very First Time I Saw Husbands and Husbands!”
A little boy named Calen meets a gay couple for the first time.
Calen, you’re a great kid.
(Via.)
(H/t Beth.)
What Gay Marriage Means to YOU
What will happen if gay marriage is legalized?
Horrible things. Aaaaaah!
