A Smattering Of Hostility

I am just filled with rage today. Honestly, it's mostly due to things work related, but it's just spilling over into everything else. So when I opened my RSS reader over lunch to see what's going on in the world… well, I suppose I should have just left the damn thing alone and just read some more of the Sookie Stackhouse books.

If you don't read Joe.My.God, you need to check out his weekly articles on Holy Crimes. While the religious right continues to attempt to defile us queers as vile, predatory freaks, it's even more interesting to note the child molestors, child pornographers and outright scoundrels Joe brings to light every week. For people that are so obsessed with making the gays look bad, they should really take a few moment to look at their own damn people.

A new study popped up that scared the living crap out of me. 17% of gay males in Chicago are HIV-positive. Half of those men don't even know it. Why? Because they are too damned scared to go get tested. Man up. Go down to Howard Brown and get yourself tested. There is absolutely no excuse for being a sexually active gay man and not getting tested every few months. You can get free testing and you can get it confidentially. But most importantly, take care of yourself people! Be smart, wear condoms, practice other forms of sex. Sure, we may not have to live through another generation like the 80's, but you will still die from HIV and AIDS. You will still be broke from the cost of treatment and medication. You will still have a hard time getting insurance. You will still be stigmatized.

The senate, or at least one senator, is considering a bill that would repeal DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act that prevents same-sex marriage recognition at the Federal level) that would not do the same for Domestic Partnerships and Civil Unions. It's not even clear if this bill would truly afford same-sex couples federal marriage benefits, other than the right to have your marriage in one state recognized in another state. Truly, this is D.C. at it's finest: A gesture that doesn't mean a damned thing, that you have to work twice as hard to get passed, but at the end of the day makes you look like you did something good while not solving anything.

Good news for the day: Kentucky asshat Jim Bunning will not be running for office again. Good for you! Now, lets see which asshat will take his place…

Oh, and gays smoke more than straight people. If you're a LGBT person and hadn't made that casual observance yet, you need to open your eyes. Again, take care of yourselves people!

I think that's enough to raise my blood pressure to unhealthy levels for today...

Indiana Newspaper Prints Marriage Announcement

Here's a fun one kids. A couple in Iowa is getting married. One member of that couple asks their hometown newspaper to print an engagement announcement. The paper complies. No body cares because no one ever reads those damn things anymore. The end.

Oh, I should mention that both of the people in this story are men. And that their hometown paper is in Indiana. Still, that should be The End. But, of course, it's not. Because it has something to do with "the gays" and when they get mentioned anywhere, people feel the need to get all up in arms about someone else's business that has absolutely nothing to do with them.

Sooo, Christian Scarebears start this ass-crazy campaign of whining to the editor and calling the paper saying that the news paper (get this) is breaking the law because same-sex marriage is illegal in Indiana. The paper is obviously over stepping their bounds by stating that some queer couple is getting married! And apparently these complainers have nothing better to do with their time than read the wedding announcements in small-town newspapers for states and areas they don't even live in…

Let's clarify a few things here. Same-sex marriage is not illegal anywhere in this country. If it were, gay couples that held marriage ceremonies in states like Indiana (which happens all the time) would be arrested and charged with a crime along with the clergy or whomever performed said ceremony. That doesn't happen (thankfully). Rather, marriage rights are not recognized by the state, so couples can marry to their heart's content, but the state doesn't officially acknowledge that marriage.

Why is that difference important? Because saying things like "gay marriage is illegal" is just another tool that the Scarebears are trying to use to frame LGBT folk as evil, villainous pricks out to destroy the world. I think this is just the Christianist set projecting themselves onto someone else, but that's probably a little too Freudian for that crowd to understand.

If you feel so inclined, send a letter to the editor of this newspaper and let them know that you support their decision to publish the story. Lord knows (at the least Christian Fundamentalists think he does) that the editor is getting a crap ton of email from idiot bigots right now.

So Discrimination Is A Good Thing?

I should be upset about this guy, but the fact that he's obviously a douchebag, as evidenced by the piece a plastic hanging off his ear some people call blue tooth headsets, nullifies my anger at this and instead makes it a prime example of how funny extremists can be.  Gays, according to him, are by definition both pedophiles and practioners of beastiality.  You know, most people make casual references and try to be subtle... but not this nut case!

Anyway.... hooooray freedom of speech!

I'm Still Not Understanding Your Point Of View?

Try as I might every day, I simply don't understand. What is there to fight about? What is going on that can possibly be so important that these people have to interject their opinion?

Here's the reality: the Government of the United States of America has made an egregious over sight error by not affording persons of the same-sex equal marriage rights. In fact, that Government has contradicted it's own Equal Protections clause by excluding LGBT folk from the legal protections of the institution of marriage. Us LGBT's have called that over sight in to question and demanded that the laws of the land be brought in sync with each other. So again I ask, what can there possibly be to fight about here?

Some of the ass-crazy conservative groups want to throw out hyperbolic claims of the end of the world or whatever nonsense is popular to their mentally deficient leaders that day, but it doesn't make any sense. At all. In fact, this is a fight to expand current Civil protections, not shrink them. If anything, more protections can only mean good things for everyone.

The newest is this idea that marriage equality will somehow erode the "rights" of some Christian groups to openly hate gay people. Well, that's not true at all. The institution of marriage isn't about eroding rights, it's about offering protections. What will prevent certain extremists from calling for the continued harassment of young gay kids is Anti-Discrimination Law. The same laws that ironically protect these twisted twits I might add. Marriage Equality and Anti-Discrimination are two different things all together.

Now then, it is Discriminatory to deny us LGBT people the same rights as other, non-LGBT people. And it is discriminatory to accept public funding, some of which comes from LGBT folk, and deny the public the right to use your services or property. That's discrimination, and those sorts of things are prevented or punished because of Anti-Discrimination laws, not Marriage law.
So, one more time I ask: What in the world are we fighting about? If the Christian fundies want to start talking Anti-Discrimination Law, I'd be happy to go there with them. However, I am still baffled on a daily basis trying to understand why they are involved in the Marriage debate at all. I just don't understand, and to me that is the most frustrating part of this whole non-debate. Give me my fucking rights already!

Thoughts On Haggard And Insanity

I finally forced myself to watch the new Ted Haggard documentary on HBO last night. When I say forced, I mean that it was on, nothing else was really on, and I thought it would be an interesting study in the deterioration of human sanity caused by religious fanaticism. Given my history with religious fundamentalism, I'm not completely surprised by hypocrites in leadership roles, but Haggard was a particularly egregious offender. Someone that tows the line of "gays are evil and going to Hell, and can be converted," yet spends his time having sex with male volunteers (some underage) and meth-addicted male prostitutes (and even more time covering them all up) is intriguing in a purely macabre way.

The Rise and Fall of Ted Haggard, which was directed by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's daughter, focused on Haggard's life after the scandal. Somehow, in the whole news frenzy over this man's sex life I never realized he had two teenaged boys. I knew he had a naïve wife, but adding the kids to the equation makes Haggard's whole story just that much more sick and twisted.

According to the Haggards, they were chased out of town when the scandal with Mike Jones (the previously mentioned meth-addicted prostitute) broke. Since then, they've been travelling across the country with a U-Haul packed full of their things, the family motorcycle and the family car in tow. Various people across the country had offered up their house or rooms for the family on the run, and when that failed, they would move into a hotel for a time. Since they were cut off from the wealth Haggard built as a "man of god," the family was forced into what amounts to begging for cash from friends and family while Ted went back to school (at the University of Phoenix…because that was the only place that would accept him…) and tried to work as a door-to-door salesman (because it was the only job he could get). Showing all of this is, I suppose, meant to instill a sense of compassion in the viewer. In my eyes though, it only showed the depth of denial and sickness in the Haggard family.

To begin with, the idea that Ted feels he can be "cured" of The Gay is preposterous. According to him, the root of his Gay goes back to some sex play he had with another boy when he was 7. When I heard him say this, I couldn't help but think of Ru Paul in But I'm A Cheerleader forcing all the young queers to admit to their root so they can be cured. Apparently, that's not too far off the mark for these "pray away the gay" programs, which in Haggard's case only lasted 4 weeks. 50 years of wanting to be with a man magically cured in 4 weeks. These evangelicals never stop amazing me at the depth of their unwillingness to believe in reality.

Then we get to his wife. This is a woman that made a conscious decision to say that she can continue on in a marriage with a man that by day was a preacher of all things holy, and by night was a sucker of all things filled with meth and paid for by the hour. This is a woman that looked at all of these things and said that she was aware of "his sickness" but not of the depth of it. She stays with him because he's ill, essentially, and she can make him better, because gosh darn it, the Bible tells her so! It truly saddened me that she would subject herself to the torture of being with him, and all the humiliation that came with it, all because of an irrational belief in an unsupported belief structure.

Then there were the kids. While the documentary did not focus on the boys much, I have to wonder what will come down the road for these guys. Their name will be associated with the sins of their father for years to come, and they are forced to face ridicule for what he did every day of their lives. Will they get a chance to break away from their family and start fresh, or will they be forced to take their father's path of religious study? Has this ordeal changed their opinions on life?

I'm not good at hiding my contempt for a guy like Ted Haggard, I'm sure that's plainly clear at this point. It's one thing to enjoy a life of sex outside of marriage, meth, and male prostitutes, but it's an entirely different thing when you enjoy that life yet spend most of your time denouncing all of those things. And now he still denounces those things. I have more respect (not mush more, but still more) for people that live a hedonistic lifestyle then convert than people like Haggard who attempt to live both simultaneously. It seems clear to me that the man is mentally ill, which is a completely separate issue from his obvious gayness. The Gay is simply the mechanism he's using to cover up his insanity, which is infuriating to me because The Gay is nothing to be ashamed of, yet this man makes it seem like it's the root of all his problems. No, Mr. Haggard, your problem is that you are a total nut job who is able to live his life in denial at every step. In denial of your religious convictions while having sex with a man, in denial of your marriage while participating in extra marital sex, in denial of your true sexuality while preaching against it. That is a sign of true madness, yet people are willing to over look that because he's an Evangelical.

Add to all that the recent revelations of other boys he played with and the bribery and bullying associated with those guys, and you have the perfect picture of a completely mad man. That his family and friends still stick by him is truly amazing. His wife is right, he does need help, but not the help that she can provide. He needs the help that only many years of professional psychology can provide. To top this off with a tinge of irony, Ted is studying for his Masters in Counseling… good luck with that.

To sum up, the documentary itself was well done, but the subject matter is sickening.

Peter LaBarbera Meets Joe The Gay

I need you all to go over to Joe.My.God right now and read this post. It could be the funniest thing I've read in a very long time!

Here's the basics. Peter LaBarbera is a right-wing, Crazy Christian Scare Bear ass-hat, who has run a few of the pro-dead guy on a cross organizations out there. Currently, he spends his time going to gay events like IML and various Pride events taking pictures of what he perceives as perversion, then he blogs about them. Presumably, this illustrates how mentally sick all gay people are if, heaven forbid, one gay person participates in any form of public affection (well, I suppose it takes at least two... sometimes). He also trolls gay websites and blogs for comments and stories that he deems evil.

There's the backdrop, now go read Joe's post. It's hillarious!

Yep, Warren Is Still An Ass

Towleroad has a great article up about the Warren fiasco and why he should not be left off the hook simply because he supports AIDS charities in Africa. You should absolutely read it.

First, let's just clear the air here about AIDS charities in Africa, and this includes the Bush support of the same. AIDS in Africa is largely considered a straight problem. It's not a gay disease because gays are murdered or chased out of whatever area they live. So to say that they are helping AIDS relief in Africa is not to say that they are supporting anything pro-gay whatsoever. It is nice to see charitable work going toward such a cause, but when you consider the next part...

AIDS work in Africa is largely tied to religious organizations. Just like Bush's support, Warren's support of AIDS work in Africa revolves around avidly Christian groups. Groups that will force someone to accept Christianity as their religion or they don't get treatment. Very Christ-like...

Warren worked with one Christian ass-hat leader in particular, who, it turns out, is just a sweet heart:

"With safe sex advocates on the run, Warren and Ssempa trained their sights on another social evil. In August 2007, Ssempa led hundreds of his followers through the streets of Kampala to demand that the government mete out harsh punishments against gays. 'Arrest all homos,' read placards. And: 'A man cannot marry a man.' Ssempa continued his crusade online, publishing the names of Ugandan gay rights activists on a website he created, along with photos and home addresses. 'Homosexual promoters,' he called them, suggesting they intended to seduce Uganda’s children into their lifestyle. Soon afterwards, two of President Yoweri Museveni’s top officials demanded the arrest of the gay activists named by Ssempa. Terrified, the activists immediately into hiding."

So, to put this plainly, the man Warren supports in Africa to run his AIDS charity work is directly responsible for the persecution of LGBT folk in Africa. Warren bankrolled his operation. He is just as responsible. And Warren is the man our future President has asked to bless his Presidency and our country in 12 days. I Can't wait...

Hippocrasy Is Fun, Christian Leaders Have Learned

I don't get these Chrisitian Conservative idiots anymore. Their rallying cry all along has been that Civil Unions or Domestic Parternships provide the same legal benefits of marriage, and as such we shouldn't allow gay people to get married because we'd be redefining the word marriage.

Yep... they've spent millions of dollars to ensure that the dictionary doesn't change at all. Fruitful measure there.

Anyway... they have been hanging this carrot of second-class relationship recognition in front of us homos in hopes we'd give up the fight for true equality. Yet, when their leaders actually say that they support equal legal status, they are fired or reprimanded?! I knew these twits were hippocrites, but this is a bit much, don't you think?

For a people that have been simply outraged at the mere idea us Queers would boycott a business that supports bigotry, they sure are quick to shove members of the own party who support a different agenda right the fuck under bus. Actually, it's not even a different agenda, it's the same damned agenda they've been spitting for quite some time now.

Hi all. If you could take a minute to examine the bigots to the right there. Yeah, they don't even like each other enough to care about thier spoken agenda. They really just want to make us all go away at any cost.

They're Quaint, Aren't They?

Rumors are fluttering around (here and here) that a major Christian Advocacy group is planning on taking out several full-page ads in newspapers across the country to decry the gay movement as sacrosanct and vile. Of course, what else would insanely wealthy Christians that happen to also be bigots do with their money? Donate it to charity? Nope. Help the poor rise up from their destitute lives? Nah, Christ already did that. No, it's better to give it to other wealthy people to place ads in newspapers in an obvious attempt to sway the middle America before the next ballot initiative.

So what will they be saying? I'm sure you can guess. We gays are bad people. We've threatened people. Some innocent bigot fucks have even lost their jobs in traditionally queer friendly institutions because they supported anti-gay measures. And those demonic gays are deciding to not spend their own, hard-earned money at companies that have supported initiatives that directly and negatively affected them. Oh noes!!!!!1!

Look, I will be glad, ecstatic even, to point out the THOUSANDS of LGBT folk that have been beaten, down-trodden and abused due to religious zealotry. That's not even counting the THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS more that have killed themselves due to the pressures of a Fundamental Christian upbringing. How about the stripping of rights granted to us by our Constitution? Nope. NONE OF THOSE THINGS HAVE HAPPENED TO THESE WEALTHY CHRISTIAN BIGOTS!!!

Yet again, these twits want to pretend to be martyrs. For some reason, that's how they’ve interpreted the "take up your cross and follow me" line. Classic selective hearing. This is something we need to be aware of and ready to counter. I will stand here and now and say that I will not support any newspaper that chooses to publish such vile filth, and I ask everyone to join me. Accepting money and publishing this kind of hate, if it is indeed published, it completely unacceptable and my dollars will be better spent elsewhere.

Want To See A Magic Trick?

Watch as the Christians here try to reframe the debate into this magical anti-religious debate AND a "gays are racist" debate.  Amazing!  Just like that, they can wash their hands clean of the YEARS of torture they themselves have inflicted upon the LGBT community through their hate speech! 

As for the gays hate God issue, well, it's pretty simple really.  First, most gay people are in fact spiritual, in one way or another, as are most American people.  It's in our fiber (mainly because these Christian Activists could not let a day go by without trying to force down our throats).  Second, if you tell me that God hates me over and over again, because I am who I am, then a natural reaction for most people is to say "Oh yeah?  Well, I hate him more!"  It's human behavior.

Now lets examine this bitching that gays are "attacking" the religious.  I'm really fucking sorry, truly and deeply, that karma exists.  I really am.  I'd like to say that the years upon decades of mental anguish and spiritual torture should go unanswered.  I'd like to, but I can't.  Not to mention the COUNTLESS Mathew Shepard's of the world that would not happen if pastors and preachers did not sit on their pulpits week after week to tell their flock that gays are of the Devil and deserve to be put to death.  If you want to look at who's fucking with who the most, Christian Theocrats, you better start reading your history real damn fast.

Finally, the racist debate.  I will agree that there is a HUGE disparity in the gay community and race relations.  Racial minorities in the LGBT community are few and far between, and that needs to change.  But don't you dare come to me and say that you heard one gay guy in a crowd of THOUSANDS say n*gger, and then act as if the entirety of the gay community is racist.  Let me speak to your church members and find out how many of them talk about faggots every day.  Let me open up their record collection and see how many CDs they have that talk explicitly about killing gay people.  Our fights are not the same, you've made that abundantly clear.  But the fight for quality is the same, no matter who you are or where you come from or the color of your skin, we all must fight for equality to ensure that every one of us is protected.  If they can strip my rights, you better damn well believe they'll strip someone else's rights as soon as the fancy hits them.  Don't try to confuse the debate about MY RIGHTS with some petty ass, tired arguments that have been dragged out at every possible juncture, because they don't work here. 

Consequently, I'm super fucking happy for Dan Savage.  He's taken on this almost Super Hero role in the community since the election, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't prepared for it.  He's outspoken, for sure, but I'm guessing he never thought he'd be the go to guy for all things gay.  He's a sex advice columnist by trade, for goodness sake, not necessarily the training one needs for public advocacy.

You Should Be Worried

Over the past few days, many of the proponents of Proposition 8 in California and similar measures in other states of the country have come out to complain and whine that the LGBT community is being uppity, crying babies over the whole deal. After all, they won fair and square, right? We should just lay back and let it happen!Well, here's the deal. You took rights away from people. Period. Doesn't matter if people voted for it or not. They were my rights, and you took them. So congratulations, you now have to deal with the consequences. If you are unfamiliar with what the concept of consequences are, please take a moment to reference that quaint book you like to carry around, particularly the first half of it. There are some pretty fantastic examples of consequences there for you. Now it's out turn.

We will continue to PEACEFULLY PROTEST until our rights are given to us. Unfortunately, many times the People don't do the "right thing," and the only way to get the People's attention is to be loud and be heard. Also understand that your absolutely pathetic attempts to quiet us through belittling our movement will go unanswered. We are not your subservient lap dogs. You tell us to be quiet and we will only scream louder.

We will also continue to protest and boycott ANY establishment that supports your special blend and hate. It's not terrorism, it's not bullying, it's simple capitalism. If a particular theater company employee a gentleman that donated to the Yes on 8 campaign and the gay community chooses not to attend said theater any longer, and in response to being made aware of the situation the Board of that theater company fires the employee, then it's not really much of my concern. That is a consequence. I didn't want the dude fired. I wanted the right to marriage. Same for Home Depot and Century Theaters. We will not support them, and they will feel the pinch and change their attitudes or remove the people causing the problem. Furthermore, your insinuations that we should add coals to the fire that's roasting us is just plain ridiculous. Keep that in mind the next time you declare a boycott on an organization simply because they decide to offer something similar to the benefits you and your opposite sex partner get.

At the root of this is that WE are not the problem. WE are acting in reaction to YOUR hatred. That hatred is the problem. We have every single right to fight in every legal way, and there is not a Damned thing you can do about it. And yes, you should be scared, because our money goes far and wide. When we don't spend, you will feel the pinch. Be prepared for the consequences you've brought upon yourself or don't take the action at all. It's too late for the latter, so have fun with the flow of consequences coming your way now.

Inspiration Inspiration Inspiration

One Of The Many Reasons I'm Mad

One of the things that has me the most pissed off about these anti-marriage initiatives is that I haven't had time to take in all the great news that is coming from the Obama camp. This is a man I have happily supported and is most likely the only president I will see that is anywhere near as left-leaning as I am (although no where near my stance, he's the closest… sadly, my boy Kucinich doesn't have a chance in hell), and I've completely missed out on all of the things going on in his soon-to-be cabinet.

He's already launched change.gov, a crowd-sourced website that is designed to allow direct interaction with the administration and a easy-to-use and constituent friendly interface to learn about policies. Hell, you can even apply for a non-career position in his cabinet right on the website.

Then this morning come details of hundreds of immediate actions he plans on taking once he has assumed office, including over-turning many of the Bush administrations Executive Orders and even reinstating quite a few of the Clinton Administration's EO's.

And Barack and Michelle even had dinner at Spiaggia this weekend here in Chicago! I love Spiaggia! (for the record, I have no idea why this story was published by the Red Eye this morning. Apparently, all the change and actually policy talk doesn't ring well with the Red Eye's targeted 25-40 audience).

I've missed this, and I hardly have time to catch up on it. I've missed the first days of Barack's leadership because I'm too concerned about fighting for the rights that should never have been taken away from people. I'm not happy about it. I've said it before, I'm not happy about having to fight this fight. I don't believe anyone ever is. But when I hear things like this, I am reminded completely why I need to find a way to fight, why we all need to keep fighting.

Our loss in California has only emboldened these bigots. If we don't continue to fight, wherever we are, we will all lose our rights. Don't think that they are done enforcing their morality. After all, us gays are only one of the "social ills" this country faces. They have imposed their hatred on 30 states now, there's 20 more to go. And they aren't going to stop with anti-gay initiatives. Next will be abortion rights. Then education (goodbye evolution and science, hello Jesus and survivors of whale digestion). Then parent's rights. Oh, and that divorce option? Yeah, that'll be gone too.

We need to stop them. Now.

Yeah, They Went There

Stupid Christians at it again...

Every day that goes by, my belief that these Crazy Christian Scare Bears are plain insane is affirmed. 

Now they have decided that gay people wanting equal rights is just like Hitler.... yeah, that's what this ass wipe said.  We gays, that were tortured, maimed, and burned by the Nazi's during Hitler's reign, are just like Nazi's.  He apparently is not familiar with where the Pink Triangle symbol came from.

I have a friend that believes that anytime someone resorts to comparing his/her opponent to Nazi Germany or Hitler, they have lost the argument.  They have nothing else to argue with, so they simply call you a Nazi.  It's similar to the Red Scare affect, or the I saw Martha Corey in the forest with the Devil affect.  It's pretty damn pathetic, and just another attempt to demonize and villainize us gays, which is beyond reprehensible.  We have not caused undue shame and humiliation to an entire group of people.  These Scare Bears have. 

The Golden Calf Will Save Our Bank Accounts!

Wow, this image of praying on the golden bull sure does strike an interesting note of hypocrisy.

The idea here is that these people can pray away the economic worries of the world, merely by congregating at pre-determined spots and demanding intercession from God. This apparently went down yesterday, at a coordinated time. Not only does this sound very pagan, it's laughably self-important. The idea that a single person's prayer, much less a group of people, for money would sway the cosmos is extremely narcissistic.

But whatever, these are the same people that believe in praying away the gay, etc., blah blah. Good for them though, at least they are trying to do something about this crisis. You know, I've always believed praying to a symbolic statue for global change is extremely effective… if for no other reason than we can all look and see who the idiots are that should have absolutely no control over anything in this world.

Connecticut Scare Bears At It Already

Hey hey! Remember that cool thing the Connecticut Supreme Court did the other day? You know, that thing where they said it's unconstitutional for the state to deny gay people EQUAL FUCKING RIGHTS, specifically in regard to marriage? Yeah, that thing. Well, wouldn't you know it, but the Crazy Christians Scare Bears are already at it trying to find a way to Prop. 8 this bitch!

I'm still not understanding these twisted idiots. If a court had ruled in favor of something pro-Christian, they'd be all like "Yeah, the law has prevailed," but now that a court rules in favor of something pro-Humanity, pro-Civility, pro-Equality, they have to whine and cry and moan about it?

You know what, you sick bastards, get over yourselves. This is not a religious battle or a "culture war" as you often like to try and frame it. It's about equality and decency, which is apparently something you lack as made evident by statements like this:

“The real battle will be Election Day. Even in a state with a legislature as liberal as ours, we have defeated our opponents year after year through the legislative process. They could never have gotten same-sex marriage through the Democratic process. Democracy is gay marriage’s worst enemy"

So, yeah. You show your ignorance on these issues when even the Governor of Connecticut, a Republican, comes out and says that any legislative attempts to enshrine bigotry and hatred into the State Constitution will not work:

Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell, a gay marriage opponent who also supports amending the Constitution to allow for initiatives and referendum, said she is “firmly convinced that attempts to reverse this decision either legislatively or by amending the state constitution will not meet with success.”

Furthermore, by not taking time to understand the process you want to initiate, you fail to show the sound judgment that an educated person would. If this quaint, once-every-20-years convention gets approved, the entirety of the state constitution would be reworked, and you wouldn't get a say in it. It be up to appointed leaders. And it would cost your state billions of dollars. So good luck with that.

The Gay Scarlet Letter: Brought To You By The Church Of England

My rants against religious institutions typically focus on the more Evangelical factions, mostly found here in the US under clever "Pro-Family" guise, but that doesn't mean that others are able to add to, or even top, some of the Crazy Christian antics. Oh no, we would be remiss to not include our lovely friends across the pond in England and their loverly Church of England.

I'll be the first to admit that I have this notion in my head somehow that London, and most of greater England, is a bastion of acceptance, in particular of the gay lifestyle. Well, at least I did until I read these comments from Rev Peter Mullen, chaplain of the London Stock Exchange (why they have a chaplain is beyond me, but given the state of our stock exchange it may not be a bad idea):

"It is time that religious believers began to recommend ... discouragements of
homosexual practices after the style of warnings on cigarette packets... Let us
make it obligatory for homosexuals to have their backsides tattooed with the
slogan SODOMY CAN SERIOUSLY DAMAGE YOUR HEALTH and their chins with FELLATIO
KILLS."

Yes. We often forget that queers are the only people to participate in anal sex and enjoy oral sex. In fact, we in the gay community often forget that those particular sex acts are the only way we can express our satanic love for each other. That's all my boyfriend and I do all day in fact, it's a pretty spectacular thing.

And what about our lesbian sisters? Would we brand their tongues and break their fingers?

All that, and I haven't even touched the cigarette pack issue! And I won't because there's more.

When confronted about the issue, the man used the "some of my best friend's" defense:

I certainly have nothing against homosexuals. Many of my dear friends have been
and are of that persuasion

Quaint. You know, I typically don't make rash statements about branding my near and dear friends for their differences. In fact, I cherish the diversity of my circle of friends. Actually, I'm really unaware of anyone that keeps friends around them that they find so morally despicable that they should brand them with vulgar statements. Funny then that Mullen keeps friends that are apparently going to die from sucking a dick.

But wait, there's even more. After the "some of my best friends" defense, he was forced to describe what he meant, if he didn't really mean to brand gays a la Scarlet Letter. You see, to him, it's more about people being preachy:

What I have got against them is the militant preaching of homosexuality

Again. Quaint. This time with a tinge of irony, given that the Reverend is pissed off about someone being preachy.

You know what I have against many organized Christian Sects, now including the Church of England? This absurd notion that they are the only moral authority in this world and that all things they say and do should be met with irreverence. The believe they are immune to all attacks and that they should not be held to the same standard they hold others to, if any standard at all. And what I've got against you, Rev Mullen is your militant preaching of hate toward the LGBT community. Leaders that are suppose to inspire the people around them are in no place to spew hate speech. Those kinds of words are the things that lead unstable people to justify murdering gay men and raping lesbian women. Those are the words that lead gay men and women to not have equal rights in this world. Those are the kind of words that drive young men and women to run away and live on the streets or to suicide because they simply can't rectify the reality in their hearts to the foaming puss of anger and hate coming from the leaders they were taught to respect.

What I have against you, Mr. Mullen, is that you somehow believe that it is cute to still use the queers of the world as your punching bag. And unfortunately for you, we aren't going to take it. I hope you enjoy being ousted from the church and ostracized by all those lovely gay people you supposedly surround yourself with.

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I Guess Those Foster Kids Didn't Really Want A Roof Over Their Heads...

A group of Arkansas crazy Christians have decided that they need to pass a state law that would ban "unmarried couples" from being foster parents. The law does not discriminate against straight or gay couples, simply unmarried couples that live together.

Arkansas already has an official state policy barring unmarried couples that live together from being foster parents, so this balot initiative law is an attempt by the Christian scare bears to solidify the policy. What's funny about this is that these "Pro-family" bull shiters want to say that they are only trying to promote a family positive environment, meanwhile denying many family positive homes the opportunity to fost a child simply because the man and woman, or woman and woman, or man and man aren't married.

The logical thing would be to allow any stable, happy, healthy couple the opportunity to foster a child. The Christian freaks like to pretend that married couples, simply by the fact that they are married, allows them a moral superiority, which is really what's behind all the anti-marriage BS in the country right now. If the gays can be married, that one less thing uppity Christian heteros can look down their noses at us for.

I dated a guy in college that was raised in the foster care system. The fact that most of these foster families are Christian Scare Bears really scared him, because he grew up in homes that constantly told him about how evil he was. Combine that with the knowledge and abandonment issues that foster children already experience, and you have a recipe for bad mental health.

All I'm saying is foster homes and adoptive parents should always be considered on a case-by-case basis. There are no hard-set rules about who will be good parents and who won't. There never have been. But its laws like this that show exactly the unintended consequences of the Crazy Chrisitans efforts, and I hope some day soon they start to focus their efforts on how to make their own lives better before trying to decide for someone else what is good for them.