Saturday, June 08, 2013

Watching The Defectives

Gentle readers, I'm rerunning my annual Pride rant for the ninth year. I wrote this post in 2005 a couple of days after attending Pride here in NYC. In the following years I've reposted it in advance of the day in the hope of encouraging you to attend. This year it appears a week early because of a widely circulated article out of Los Angeles that is precisely what this post complains about. Have a wonderful Pride. Love each other.

Watching The Defectives

Last Sunday at 12:30pm, I was in position on Christopher Street with Terrence, his glamor boys, and touring UK bloggers Dave and Darren. The Pride parade was due to round the corner any minute, but I tore off in search of a bodega, crossing my fingers that my desperate need for a soda wouldn't cause me to miss Dykes On Bikes. Half a block away, I found a little place and ducked in, weaving through the customers clogging the aisles on rushed missions like mine. I was third in line, two bottles of Sprite under my arm, when the man in front of me spotted a friend entering the store.

"David! Sweetie! Where are you watching from? Come hang out with us on Allen's balcony!"

David, a bookish looking middle-aged man, destroyed the festive mood in the little store in an instant. "Absolutely not. Those defectives and freaks?" he spat, indicating the colorful crowd outside the store, "They have nothing to do with MY life, thank you very much. This parade has as much dignity as a carnival freak show. It's no wonder the whole country hates us."

Luckily for David, the Asshole Killer mind ray I've been working on is not yet operational. I settled for pushing him a little, just a tiny bit, just to get by him in that narrow aisle, of course. I returned to my sweaty little group and tried to put what I'd heard out of my mind for the remainder of the day, because I knew that by the next morning, the thousands of Davids of the world, the ones who have media access anyway, would all issue their now familiar day-after-Pride rant. The one where they decry the drag queens on all those newspaper front pages. The one where they beat their chests and lament, "Why don't the papers ever show the NORMAL gay people? Where are the bankers and lawyers? Why must all the coverage be drag queens and leather freaks in assless chaps?"

And every year, the logical answer is that bankers and lawyers are boring to look at and that pictures of marching Gap employees don't sell newspapers. There's no sinister media agenda intent on making gay people look ridiculous, no fag-hating cabal behind the annual front page explosion of sequins and feathers. It's just good copy. Drag queens are interesting. Even the bad ones. Especially the bad ones.

Yet right on cue, the day after Pride, the Davids of the blogosphere dished out their heavy-handed dissections of parades around the country. Only this year, there was a palpably nastier tone to an already traditionally nasty annual debate. Blame the election, blame the recent avalanche of anti-gay legislation, but this year, the usual assimilationist arguments went beyond the hypothetical speculations that maybe our Pride parades were too outlandish, that maybe we weren't doing the movement any favors by showing the country a face that happened to be wearing 6-inch long false eyelashes. This year there was some actual discussion about HOW we were going to "fix" Pride parades. Of how we might go about "discouraging" certain "elements" from taking part in the parades.

This is the part of the story where I have my annual post-Pride apoplectic attack. This is the part of the story where the swelling volume of Nazi analogies overwhelm my ability to speak and all I can do is twitch and bark out little nonsensical bits. This is where I always forget the name given to the Jews who went to work for the Nazis, helping load the trains. "Because that's what you are asking us to do, you assholes!" Then I always ask, "Who are we going to sacrifice to 'save' ourselves? Which child will it be, Sophie?" And this is the part of the story where my friends accuse me of being a hyperbole-laden drama queen, wasting spiritual energy on a non-crisis, and of co-opting the Holocaust as well. More on that later.

These people that want to "fix" Pride don't understand the role that Pride parades have come to play. Initially, the gay parade was about visibility. It was about safety in numbers, and more importantly, "normalcy" in numbers. It was about the idea that if only straight America could see us, could just SEE US, that they'd love us. And accept us. That if we'd mass and march by the righteous millions, the sheer unstoppable force of our collective image would topple bigotry. Would right wrongs. Would stop hate.

Of course, that didn't happen then and it doesn't happen now.

What DOES happen, is that Pride parades, at least in the big cities, have become nothing more significant to straight America than an annual traffic nightmare. As a tool of the gay movement, the Pride parade is now merely a walking photo op for politicians and perhaps not much more. A couple of years ago, the ultimate arbiter of America's cultural zeitgeist, The Simpsons, made note of this:

(The gay pride parade is going past the Simpson house.)

Chanting marchers: "We're here! We're queer! Get used to it!"

Lisa Simpson: "You're here every year. We ARE used to it."

What does all of this mean to the Davids of the world, the gay assimilationists that want to, wish they could, somebody do something, there's gotta be a way we can, Dignify This Parade? The ones begging: "Can't we get our people to at least DRESS respectfully for one lousy day? Is that too much to ask of our people? "

Yes, yes it is.

Because you are kidding yourself if you think Pride parades, in any form, will EVER change the minds of homophobes. The straight people who show up to see Pride parades are already largely convinced. We're parading to the choir, Jesse. Those straight people love our freaks, bless them.

Oh, you could test run a "defective" free parade. You could form urban anti-drag squads and go around to all the gayborhoods on the morning of the parade and give all the drag queens 50% off coupons for Loehmann's, offer good during the parade only. And they'd GO, of course, cuz hey, those girls love a bargain. But the resultant bland, humorless, "normal" gay parade wouldn't change the course of the gay movement one bit. The part of straight America that is repulsed by drag queens is quite possibly even more terrified by the so-called "normal" gays, because "those clever calculating creatures look JUST LIKE US, and can infiltrate and get access to our precious children. And that's been their disgusting plan all along, of course."

So where does that leave us? Are we post-Pride? Is the parade just a colossally long waste of a miserably hot summer day? Is the Pride parade just an event that does a better job of moving chicken-on-a-stick than it does of moving hearts? I'd say that, yes, as an effective tool of the gay movement, Pride's usefulness has largely waned in many U.S. cities. So do we even need to keep having these parades, since they no longer seem to have much of an impact on the state of the movement? No, we don't.

But...YES, WE DO.

Because even if Pride doesn't change many minds in the outside world, it's our PARTY, darlings. It's our Christmas, our New Year's, our Carnival. It's the one day of the year that all the crazy contingents of the gay world actually come face to face on the street and blow each other air kisses. And wish each other "Happy Pride!" Saying "Happy Pride!" is really just a shorter, easier way of saying "Congratulations on not being driven completely batshit insane! Well done, being YOURSELF!"

I'm not worried what the outside world thinks about the drag queens, the topless bulldaggers, or the nearly naked leatherfolk. It's OUR party, bitches. If you think that straight America would finally pull its homokinder to its star-spangled bosom once we put down that glitter gun, then you are seriously deluding yourself. Next year, if one of the Christian camera crews that show up to film our "debauched" celebrations happen to train their cameras on you, stop dancing. And start PRANCING.

All you suburban, lawn mowing, corpo-droid homos out there, hiding behind your picket fences, the ones wringing your hands and worrying that Pride ruins YOUR personal rep, listen up. Do you think that straight Americans worry that Mardi Gras damages international perception of American culture? America, land of the free, home of "Show Us Your Tits!"? They don't and neither should we. Our Pride celebrations are just our own unique version of Mardi Gras, only instead of throwing beads, we throw shade. No one has to ask US to show our tits. We've already got 'em out there, baby. And some of them are real.

A co-worker of mine heard me discussing my Pride plans last weekend and said, "I really don't understand what it is you are proud about. I mean, you all say that you are born that way, so it's not like you accomplished anything." She wasn't being mean, just genuinely curious, and I think that a lot of gay people probably feel the same way. On this subject, I can only speak for myself.

I'm proud because I'm a middle-aged gay man who has more dead friends than living ones and yet I'm not completely insane. I've lived through a personal Holocaust (here we go again) in which my friends and lovers have been mowed down as thoroughly and randomly as the S.S guards moved down the line of Jews. You, dead. You, to the factory. And you, you, you, and you, dead. I am inexplicably alive and I am proud that I keep the memories of my friends alive. I am proud of my people, the ACT UPers, the Quilt makers, the Larry Kramers, the Harvey Fiersteins. I'm proud that I'm not constantly curled up into a ball on my bed, clutching photo albums and sobbing. And that happens sometimes, believe it.

And outside of my personal experiences, I am proud of my tribe as a group. Sometimes I think that gay people are more creative, more empathic, more intuitive, more generous, and more selfless than anybody else on the planet. Sometimes I think that if an alien culture were surveying our planet from light years away, they might classify gay people as an entirely separate species of humans. It's easy to spot us because of our better haircuts.

But sometimes I think we are the worst people in the entire world when it comes to standing up for each other. The gay people who'd like to soothe their personal image problems by selectively culling some of our children from Pride events? They disgust me. They appall me. They embarrass me. To them I say: The very road that YOU now have the privilege of swaggering upon was paved by those queens and leather freaks that you complain about as you practice your "masculine" and give us butch face. If you want to live in the house that THEY BUILT, you better act like you fucking know it. United we stand, you snide bitches. America's kulturkampf ain't gonna be solved by making flamboyant people go away.

I'll end this by making one final Jewish reference. Possibly you've heard the Jewish in-joke that sums up the meaning of all Jewish holidays? "They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat." My Pride version?

They wish we were invisible.

We're not.

Let's dance.

Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,


One Million Moms Vs The Fosters

"Dear Joe,  ABC Family Channel has several anti-family programs and has now added to that growing list. ABC Family's new show The Fosters is about a lesbian couple and their diverse family. While foster care and adoption is a wonderful thing and the Bible does teach us to help orphans, this program is attempting to redefine marriage and family by having two moms raise these children together. Unacceptable content in the first episode included one foster child as an inmate in a juvenile detention center, sneaking and selling prescription drugs to earn money, a lesbian couple kissing on the mouth and snuggling in bed together, mentioning they are gay multiple times and purchasing condoms for their eldest son.

"In a previous Action Alert we warned ABC Family Network that if the show aired then we would contact sponsors, so that is exactly what we will now do. Please send an email letter to the sponsors of this week's program "The Fosters." This week's national sponsors were: Olive Garden, Pier 1 Imports, Popeye's, Wendy's and Royal Caribbean. Urge advertisers to place it on their 'do not advertise' list in protest of the attempt to desensitize America and our children by promoting inappropriate behavior on a family channel." - Monica Cole, head of One Million Moms, via email.

Labels: , , , , , , , ,


Photoshop Live

This has gone viral overnight with 700K views.

Labels: , ,


Friday, June 07, 2013

FFRF Slams "Lord's Prayer" Student

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has issued a statement about the South Carolina public high school student who recited the Lord's Player during his valedictorian address.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is placing the blame for a string of problematic religious violations in Pickens County schools, Pickens S.C., upon its prayerful Board of Education. [snip] "The valedictorian who so insensitively inflicted Christian prayer on a captive audience at a secular graduation ceremony is a product of a school district which itself has set an unconstitutional example by hosting school board prayer," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. It appears that valedictorian Roy Costner IV, 18, was protesting a decision by the district to stop scheduling invocations and benedictions at graduations, possibly as a result of FFRF's complaints. FFRF will continue to monitor the situation.
Family Research Council tool Tony Perkins fires back:
Gaylor lists of string of abuses by the school district -- among them: the description of a new head football coach as a "Christian." To the chagrin of the atheists, the school district says it has no plans to take action against Costner for exercising his freedom of speech and religion. My question is: when will the adults show the same courage as these young people, who are saying no to repression by this radical minority? The response of the audiences in every one of these incidents is very telling. They all stand and applaud like a repressed people yearning to breath free. It's time for all of us to breath free!

Labels: , , , , , , , ,


Uncloaking The Downvoters

Disqus just alerted everybody that starting "over the next few days", you'll be able to see who upvoted or downvoted your comments.  Sort of how you can see who "liked" your posts on Facebook, but here you'll also be able to see who thinks you're full of it. Oh, this should be fun.

Labels: , ,


Philly Orchestra Performs For Fellow Passengers Stuck On The Beijing Tarmac

Well, four of them. Clip description:
When a group from The Philadelphia Orchestra found itself delayed on the tarmac for three hours waiting for their flight from Beijing to Macao as part of the 2013 Residency & Fortieth Anniversary Tour of China, a quartet of musicians decided to provide a "pop up" performance for the passengers.
Top rated comment on YouTube: "If this were in America they'd all be escorted off the plane, interrogated by the FBI, and labeled terrorists and placed on the no-fly list."

Labels: , , ,


POLL: Parents Chill About Gay Kids

More from Pew's latest study:
In 1985, a Los Angeles Times survey found that 64% of the public said they would be “very upset” if their child told them he or she was gay or lesbian. By 2004, that number had fallen by almost half (33%). Since then, it has declined another 14 points, to 19%. Instead, a majority (55%) now says they would not be upset if they learned their child was gay or lesbian, a 19-point increase since 2004 and a 46-point increase since the mid-1980s. Again, this has been an across-the-board shift in attitudes.

Yet the change has been more dramatic among some groups than others. In 2004, fully 82% of those 65 and older said they would be upset if their child told them they were gay, and 50% said they’d be very upset. Today, only about half (47%) say they’d be upset and just 24% say they’d be very upset.Among Republicans, the percentage saying they’d be very upset if they learned their child was gay or lesbian also has fallen by half – from 44% to 22% – since 2004.

Labels: , ,


Obama: Nobody's Listening To Your Calls

President Obama today addressed the latest flap:
"When it comes to telephone calls, nobody is listening to your telephone calls. That's not what this program is about. What the intelligence community is doing is looking at phone numbers, and durations of calls; they are not looking at people's names and they're not looking at content.  If the intelligence committee actually wants to listen to a phone call they have to go back to a federal judge, just like they would in a criminal investigation."

Labels: , , ,


Mass Shooting In Santa Monica

Three known victims so far. One suspect reportedly in custody...

Labels: , ,


Luxury Manhattan Condo Owners Sue To Block Opening Of "Immoral" Denny's

New York City is set to get its first Denny's outlet, but not if the owners of the luxury downtown Manhattan condos who would live upstairs can help it.  Citing their building's bylaws against "immoral and offensive" businesses, the owners have filed suit.
Fearing an invasion of drunken rowdies with the munchies, residents of a swanky downtown condo building have filed a lawsuit grand-slamming a plan to put a Denny’s restaurant in their building. In a Manhattan Supreme Court suit filed Thursday, attorneys for the condo board at 150 Nassau St. portrayed “America’s diner” as unfit for their upscale address — where a 3-bedroom unit sold for $3.5 million in May. The suit contends Denny’s restaurants are a “haven for violence, disorderly conduct, and alcohol-drenched patrons.” In addition to blocking the project, the condo board is demanding at least $5 million in damages, including legal fees.
Currently the closest Denny's location to the city is about 20 miles away on Long Island.

Labels: , , ,


TRAILER: Filth

Whoa.

Labels: , ,


Lambda Legal On Prop 8

More infographics. On Monday the Supreme Court will issue its next round of rulings.  There's no hint as to whether the marriage cases might be unveiled in that round.

Labels: , ,


Queen Photobombs Live BBC Broadcast

In what the BBC is calling "one of the most bizarre bits of television" they've produced in a long time, today Queen Elizabeth walked into the live shot of the announcers describing her tour of the their newly remodeled studio. The Guardian reports:
The Queen "photobombed" the news on Friday in one of the more surreal moments in live broadcasting history as she officially opened the BBC's revamped Broadcasting House in central London. As BBC News presenters Julian Worricker and Sophie Long addressed viewers from their glass-windowed studio, the Queen, who was being given a studio tour, loomed into view behind them, peering intently from the newsroom. The two turned to see the diminutive Queen, resplendent in turquoise coat and hat, linger for several long seconds as BBC journalists crowded behind her raised a resounding cheer.

Labels: , ,


Australian PFLAG Launches Campaign: Congratulations, You're Having A Lesbian

A wonderful new marriage equality campaign has been launched in Australia:
A pregnant woman who is "having a lesbian" stars in a provocative new billboard to promote gay marriage. Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays spokeswoman Shelley Argent said the campaign was designed to garner support from mainstream families for gay marriage, on the grounds that gay children were "born that way". "Being lesbian or gay is not a choice," she said. "It's got nothing to do with culture or parenting skills. "It's just the way you are. You're born that way." The billboard shows a smiling woman baring her pregnant belly, with the slogan, "Congratulations, you're having a lesbian". Billboard giant GOA has donated space for the ads, worth up to $60,000, in Queensland.
The billboard campaign is being supported by the below clip.

Labels: , , ,


Stephen Fry Reveals Suicide Attempt

"I am the victim of my own moods, more than most people are perhaps, in as much as I have a condition which requires me to take medication so that I don’t get either too hyper or too depressed to the point of suicide. I’d go as far as to tell you I attempted it last year. I took a huge number of pills with a huge amount of vodka and the mixture of them made my body convulse so much that I broke four ribs. But I was still unconscious. Fortunately, the producer I was filming with at the time came into the hotel room and I was found in an unconscious state and taken back to England and looked after." - Openly gay actor and filmmaker Stephen Fry, who for years has publicly discussed his battle with mental illness.

Yesterday Fry tweeted in response to news coverage about his latest attempt.

Labels: , ,


US Embassy Celebrates Tel Aviv Pride

From the US Embassy Tel Aviv channel on YouTube:
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro marched in Tel Aviv's gay pride parade. Speaking to a crowd of thousands of marchers, he acknowledged the achievements of the Israeli LGBT community for gaining equal rights and emphasized the work of the U.S. government to raise awareness of LGBT rights around the world. After the speech, Ambassador Shapiro marched with Embassy personnel for the full parade route to Tel Aviv's Gordon Beach.

Labels: , ,


Feds Confirm Secret Data Collection

Last night the Obama administration confirmed that it has been using Facebook, Google, and Apple to secretly collect data on foreigners overseas. The story was first broken by openly gay journalist Glenn Greenwald in articles published by the Guardian and the Washington Post. Today the New York Times reports on the acknowledgement by the feds:
The confirmation of the classified program came just hours after government officials acknowledged a separate seven-year effort to sweep up records of telephone calls inside the United States. Together, the unfolding revelations opened a window into the growth of government surveillance that began under the Bush administration after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and has clearly been embraced and even expanded under the Obama administration. Government officials defended the two surveillance initiatives as authorized under law, known to Congress and necessary to guard the country against terrorist threats. But an array of civil liberties advocates and libertarian conservatives said the disclosures provided the most detailed confirmation yet of what has been long suspected about what the critics call an alarming and ever-widening surveillance state.
Federal officials said that the data collected "cannot be used to intentionally target any U.S. citizen, any other U.S. person, or anyone located within the United States." Information was collected via chat logs, video conferencing, emails, photos, and file transfers.

Greenwald appeared on CNN last night.
"There is a massive apparatus within the United States government that with complete secrecy has been building this enormous structure that has only one goal, and that is to destroy privacy and anonymity, not just in the United States but around the world,” charged Glenn Greenwald. “So whatever the Justice Department wants to do, they can beat their chests all they want,” he said. “People like Dianne Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss can have press conferences threatening people for bringing … light to what it is they’re doing, but the only people who are going to be investigated are them. It’s well past time that these threats start to be treated with the contempt that they deserve. That’s certainly how I intend to treat them moving forward, with more investigation and disclosures.”
RELATED: Greenwald lives in Brazil because DOMA bars him from bringing his husband to the United States.

Labels: , , , , , , ,


It's National Donut Day

My celebration has already begun.

Labels: , ,


Al-Jazeera Reports On Clement Meric

Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,


FRANCE: Vigils And Rallies Held For Murdered Pro-Gay Activist Clement Meric

Memorial vigils and rallies were held across France last night for murdered 19 year-old pro-gay activist Clement Vigil, who died yesterday after being attacked by neo-Nazis outside a Paris clothing shop. Many have blamed France's anti-gay marriage movement for spurring the attack, an allegation hotly denied by former Manif Pour Tous leader Fridige Barjot, who has vowed to sue a prominent marriage activist for making that claim.

Multiple arrests have been made in the killing.
French Interior Minister Manuel Valls announced earlier on Thursday that seven arrests had been made, including that of the individual suspected of delivering the final blow to Méric. French President François Hollande, speaking on an official visit to Japan, said he "condemned the attack in the strongest possible terms." "I have given the most rigorous possible instructions so that the authors of the odious act can be arrested at the earliest possible juncture," he said in a statement.

The Parti de Gauche (Left Party) reflected the mood of many, especially on the Left, in France. "The horror of fascism has just killed right in the middle of Paris,” they said in a statement. “Violently beaten to the ground by a group of activists from the extreme right, manifestly from the group JNR (Jeune Nationaliste Revolutionnaire)," the statement added. For his part, the leader of JNR, Serge Ayoub, also known as 'Batskin', has denied his group's involvement in the attack. "That's absolutely false," he said.
Among the groups memorializing Meric last night was the anti-fascist organization to which he had belonged.

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Christian TV Recaps House Of Lords Vote

Labels: , ,


Tony Perkins Cheers Amendment To Allow Harassment Of Gay Service Members

"Fortunately, Congress is as frustrated with the hypocrisy as the rest of us. Yesterday, thanks a marathon mark-up on the Defense Authorization bill, sleepy members didn't make it home until 2 a.m.-- in part because they were so intent on passing a series of religious protections. Rep. John Fleming (R-La.), the author of one such amendment, urged his colleagues to help end the wave of anti-Christian attacks.  By a 33-26 vote, the Committee gave the green light to Fleming's measure, which stops the Pentagon from restricting religious speech -- except in cases of 'military necessity.' Congressman Walter Jones (R-N.C.) added another layer of protection by introducing (and later passing) language that allows chaplains to pray 'in Jesus's name.' The only faith-related amendment that failed was Rep. Robert Andrews's (D-N.J.), which would have created a special chapter of 'atheist chaplains.' Apparently, members thought the idea was as inane as the rest of us and killed it by a 43-18 vote." - Hate group leader Tony Perkins, via email.

NOTE: The details of the amended defense bill are here.

Labels: , , , , , ,


Transgender Former Navy SEAL To Anderson Cooper: I Just Want Happiness

Labels: , ,


ISRAEL: Police Say LGBT Center Shooting Was To Be Hired Hit On Gay Leader

Tel Aviv police yesterday said that the man who murdered two people in a 2009 mass shooting at an LGBT teen center was contracted to kill a gay local leader. The intended victim, police say, is the fourth man arrested two days ago for withholding information about the attack. Via Haaretz:
It is believed that the man who pulled the trigger was a hired gun who, when he did not find his target at the Bar Noar youth club, opened fire indiscriminately, killing Liz Trubeshi and Nir Katz and injuring dozens of others. While only one killer came to the club, police reportedly believe that at least two more people conspired with him and came to his aid afterward. All three are known criminals, with the killer and at least one accomplice being "soldiers" in a large, central Israeli crime organization who have been interrogated since the Bar Noar killings for arson and assault, police said.

The fourth, most recent arrest in the case, is apparently of an activist in the gay community. He has been detained for allegedly knowing the motive for the murders and obstructing the investigation by not sharing that information with police. It is believed this individual is directly connected to the motive, and that he was the target of the assassination, which involved revenge. The gag order prohibits making the motive public at this time. The activist is known to support young people in the gay community and help them with decisions regarding their sexual identity.
Haaretz notes that a pending bill to compensate the victims and their families is in jeopardy as the police now say that the attack was not an anti-gay hate crime.

The Times Of Israel reports that some gay journalists are skeptical about the latest statements by the police. In particular, they question the timing of the most recent revelations in a four year-old crime for coming on the eve of today's gay pride parade in Tel Aviv.
Gal Uchovsky, a gay culture journalist, wrote on the Channel 2 News website that an incident in which an individual walks into a gay youth center and shoots people is still a hate crime, even if his motives were personal. Uchovsky wrote that it was “conspicuous” that police made the arrest in the middle of gay pride week and that they were trying to portray the shooting as a personal vendetta and not a hate crime. “I call this a stain on the gay community,” he wrote.

Another journalist, Danny Zack, complained that the police were being too lax because they believed “it wasn’t a Palestinian terrorist or an Orthodox Jew” who committed the crime, meaning it didn’t have a nationalistic motivation, he wrote on the Channel 2 News website.

Activists familiar with the identity of the fourth man told Ynet news they were shocked that he was a suspect in the case. “He was a father figure to us,” one of the activists said, explaining that the man had arrived at the center shortly after the shooting to try to help, and that he expressed concern that the shooter would be let off the hook by pleading insanity.
Two of the three suspects in the shooting are related and one would have been 16 years old at the time of the attack. All three were previously known to the police for unrelated crimes. Police says that in addition to having withheld the motive for the crime, the intended victim is "suspected of sexual offenses."

Labels: , , ,


SOUTH CAROLINA: Public High School Student Says Lord's Prayer At Graduation

Focus On The Family has a new hero.
They tried to silence him. But the efforts of a South Carolina school district to ban prayer didn’t intimidate him — not one bit. Dressed in his cap and gown, with his honor cords hanging around his neck, Roy Costner IV, valedictorian of Liberty High School, ripped up a copy of his pre-approved speech shortly after he approached the podium at Clemson’s Littlejohn Coliseum on Saturday. “I’m so thankful that both my parents led me to the Lord at a young age,” he told the crowd. Behind him sat rows of faculty members. “And I think most of you will understand when I say: Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name.” Following the crescendo of applause, boisterous cheers filled the room. Attendees quieted down as the young man continued the Lord’s Prayer.
The clip already has over 330,000 views.

Labels: , ,


Thursday, June 06, 2013

Red Sox Win On Pride Night

While the haters at MassResistance were presumably marching around in furious little circles outside of Boston's Fenway Park, openly gay NBA player Jason Collins was signing autographs before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch. While the Red Sox have been enduring some ugliness on their Twitter and Instagram accounts tonight, we can celebrate that they won on Pride Night with an exciting three-run homer that broke a tied score in the bottom of the ninth.

Labels: , , ,


New York Times Editorial: President Obama Has Now Lost All Credibility

From the New York Times editorial board:
Within hours of the disclosure that the federal authorities routinely collect data on phone calls Americans make, regardless of whether they have any bearing on a counterterrorism investigation, the Obama administration issued the same platitude it has offered every time President Obama has been caught overreaching in the use of his powers: Terrorists are a real menace and you should just trust us to deal with them because we have internal mechanisms (that we are not going to tell you about) to make sure we do not violate your rights.

Those reassurances have never been persuasive — whether on secret warrants to scoop up a news agency’s phone records or secret orders to kill an American suspected of terrorism — especially coming from a president who once promised transparency and accountability. The administration has now lost all credibility. Mr. Obama is proving the truism that the executive will use any power it is given and very likely abuse it. That is one reason we have long argued that the Patriot Act, enacted in the heat of fear after the 9/11 attacks by members of Congress who mostly had not even read it, was reckless in its assignment of unnecessary and overbroad surveillance powers.
Read the full stinging editorial.

UPDATE: The Times edited the above editorial after I excerpted it. The critical sentence now reads: "The administration has now lost all credibility on this issue. (Italics are mine.)

Labels: , ,


ILLINOIS: Gov. Quinn Calls Special Session, Another Chance For Marriage?

Illinois Gov. Quinn today called the state legislature back for a special session in two weeks in order to resolve a pension reform bill.  Some activists have speculated that a special session could provide one more shot at same-sex marriage before the new session begins in the fall.
The governor called for a special session of the Legislature on June 19th to deal with pension reform. Last Friday, lawmakers adjourned their spring session after failing to reach an agreement on pension reform. A bill backed by House Speaker Michael Madigan was overwhelmingly rejected by the Illinois Senate. A competing measure backed by Senate President John Cullerton was never called for a vote in the Illinois House.
I'll update this post if we hear from any of the marriage groups.

Labels: , ,


Frigide Barjot: Clement Meric Would Be Alive If France Hadn't Legalized Marriage

"This extreme fight is the result of a power that for nine months has refused to listen to the French people.  The President has caused extremism to grow by passing a law that the French didn’t want, and in a manner that was authoritarian and undemocratic.  When we refuse to act like a democracy, extremism grows. In a way, you could say that there was a death because of this denial of democracy.

"The President and Pierre Bergé, who financed Mr. Holland and is also a leader and a great financier of the LGBT community, are inciting violence against people protesting legitimately, not against homosexuals, but against the anthropological change of society. I condemn the violence and I condemn the remarks of Mr. Bergé.  I did not participate in the last [Manif Pour Tous] event, because I feared that the right-wing factions that have threatened me would be there and disrupt peaceful protesters." - Former Manif Pour Tous leader Frigide Barjot, actually blaming the murder of 18 year-old activist Clement Meric on the legalization of gay marriage.  (Via AmericanBlog)

NOTE: Clement Meric died today after being beaten into brain-death yesterday by anti-gay neo-Nazis who allegedly belong to the group that marched with Manif Pour Tous on May 26th.  Earlier today Barjot threatened to sue gay marriage activist Pierre Bergé for implicating her group in Meric's murder. Manif Pour Tous has been repeatedly praised by NOM president Brian Brown, who appeared at one of their anti-gay events earlier this year.  NOM remains silent on the murder of Clement Meric.

NOTE II: Barjot's quote above comes via Google Translate. French speakers are invited to visit the original source and provide corrections.

Labels: , , , , , , ,


Dan Savage On Lesbian First-Timers

Labels: , ,


From Freedom To Work

Source.

Labels: , ,


World Net Daily: Christian America Must Wage War Against Pagan Homosexuals

"Those who embrace homosexual marriage and homosexual Scouting – or homosexuality in general – know little and practice nothing of Christianity. Christians must not only be allowed to have opinions, but politically, Christians must be retrained to war for the Soul of America and quit believing the fabricated whopper of the 'Separation of Church and State,' the lie repeated ad nauseum by the left and liberals to keep Christian America – the moral majority – from imposing moral government on pagan public schools, pagan higher learning and pagan media. If the American experiment with freedom is to end after 237 years, let each of us commit to brawl all the way to the end because, 'Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization.'" - David Lane, writing for World Net Daily.

Labels: , , ,


Esther Williams Dies At 91

ABC News has the obituary:
Esther Williams, the swimming champion turned actress who starred in glittering and aquatic Technicolor musicals of the 1940s and 1950s, has died. She was 91. Williams died early Thursday in her sleep, according to her longtime publicist Harlan Boll. Following in the footsteps of Sonja Henie, who went from skating champion to movie star, Williams became one of Hollywood's biggest moneymakers, appearing in spectacular swimsuit numbers that capitalized on her wholesome beauty and perfect figure. Such films as "Easy to Wed," ''Neptune's Daughter" and "Dangerous When Wet" followed the same formula: romance, music, a bit of comedy and a flimsy plot that provided excuses to get Esther into the water.

Labels: , ,


NEW JERSEY: Gov. Christie Appoints State Attorney General To US Senate

The Newark Star-Ledger has the story but neglected to update their place-holding headline:
Gov. Chris Christie today named state attorney general Jeffrey Chiesa to fill the Senate seat left vacant by the death of U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg. Christie's announcement at a hastily arranged news conference ended days of intense speculation over whom the Republican governor would appoint to serve nearly five months before voters elect a replacement for the 89-year-old Lautenberg, who died Monday. New Jersey voters haven't sent a Republican to the Senate in four decades.
The New York Times has more:
Mr. Chiesa served as chief counsel to Mr. Christie from January 2010 through December 2011, when he was nominated to be New Jersey attorney general. He will not seek the Senate seat when his term is done, Mr. Christie said. The decision promised to shift the dynamics of the race, especially for Republicans.  On the Democratic side, Representative Rush Holt, who has represented central New Jersey for eight terms in Congress, on Thursday announced his intention to compete for the seat. He is likely to face Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, a prodigious fund-raiser who has become one of the state’s most visible politicians. He had been planning to run for the Senate even before Mr. Lautenberg died.  Representative Frank Pallone Jr., a Democrat who has served 13 terms, is also expected to run. He has millions of dollars in campaign funds available for the race.

Labels: , , ,


Another Anti-Gay Osmonds Rally

The Osmond Family will host yet another anti-gay rally in Utah and this one features notorious crackpot liar "historian" David Barton.  LGBT ally and marriage equality supporter Marie Osmond, of course, has nothing to do with these events and denounced the last one. And it appears that for the next one, the Osmond Family is expecting trouble from the gays:
DISCLAIMER: This is a private event. We reserve the right to remove persons who are disrupting the event. No signs, costumes or public displays of affection will be allowed. Your payment to reserve your seat is your authorization of agreement to these terms.
The hosts are Alan Osmond and his wife Suzanne, the Mormon-focused Meridian Magazine, and asshat House Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT). (Tipped by JMG reader Dave)

Labels: , , ,


POLL: Majority Of Same-Sex Marriage Opponents Say Legalization Is Inevitable

Jeremy Hooper writes at NOM Exposed:
This is what NOM is up against: a reality where even a majority of its own supporters know that marriage equality is going to happen, despite their driven efforts. This obvious inevitability is, far and away, the most damaging thing NOM faces—which is precisely why they are working so hard to deny it. They know that the writing on the wall demoralizes their support base and depresses their donations, so they are acting as if it's all a lie. They pretend the trajectory and polling is just something we've concocted rather than an accurate representation of where America stands. This Pew Poll shows them to be wrong. More importantly, it shows that even a majority of their own supporters know it.

Labels: , ,


NIN - Came Back Haunted

KROQ reviews the new NIN single:
The track harkens back to classic NIN, infused with the energy of the band’s legendary 1989 debut, Pretty Hate Machine bolstered with the epic scope of the 1994 follow-up, The Downward Spiral. Buzzing synthesizers and a hard, rolling bass line propel the decidedly industrial rock song, with Reznor’s distinctive vocals cutting through the dense maelstrom, screaming “I don’t believe it/ I had to see it/ I came back haunted” throughout the arena-sized chorus.

(Tipped by JMG reader Jerry)

Labels: , ,


MA Hate Group Demands Red Sox Cancel Pride Night At Fenway Park

Right Wing Watch points us to a campaign by MassResistance, one of the most vile anti-gay hate groups in the nation, which is calling on its supporters to deluge the Red Sox with demands for the cancellation of tonight's Pride Night at Fenway Park, where recently out NBA player Jason Collins is scheduled to throw out the first pitch.
The Red Sox have been around long enough to know that "Pride Week" in Boston is a hideous, obscene, and outright disgusting display of perverse activities. (Plus, in recent years, more young people have been drawn in through Boston Pride's management of Massachusetts Youth Pride every May.) And the Boston Red Sox organization are not only going to celebrate it at their ballpark, but will be financially supporting it from their ticket sales. Several people have reported back to us that when they call, the Red Sox staffers tell them that the Sox are NOT celebrating "Gay Pride Day." They're also telling people that it's only about "supporting tolerance." To claim that it's not connected with "Gay Pride Week" is simply a lie. One only needs to see all the advertising that's been generated about this sordid event. Don't let them get away with that!
MassResistance plans to appear outside the stadium to hand out anti-gay fliers and tell baseball fans that they're all going to hell for supporting perversion. Or something.

Labels: , , , , , , ,


God Kills 20, Saves 11

The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (seriously) swooped into Oklahoma to ask tornado victims if they want to make sure that they go to heaven when the next twister strikes.  Because God totally sent their unsaved neighbors to hell when he murdered them.
"God sheltered them, then He saved them," said Michael Glassey, an RRT crisis-trained chaplain from Riverside, Calif. "I asked each one separately if they wanted to receive Christ as their personal Savior so that if this ever happened again they would have the assurance of going to Heaven, and that they could also experience a new beginning that very moment," Glassey said of a group of survivors who had found refuge in the midst of the storm at Emmaus Baptist Church, the local base of operation for the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team chaplains and Samaritan's Purse. "They all said, 'yes,' and each received Christ into their hearts," he revealed.

Labels: , , ,


Another Positive Marriage Poll

You'll have to embiggen the above image to see the details, but here's the gist of the latest Bloomberg Poll:
More than half of Americans support allowing same-sex couples to marry, endorsing the goal of gay-rights activists as the U.S. Supreme Court this month prepares to rule on the issue for the first time. Fifty-two percent say they back giving gay couples the right to marry, compared with 41 percent who are opposed, according to a Bloomberg National Poll conducted May 31-June 3. Of those supporters, more than half -- 61 percent -- want a national law rather than a state-by-state approach. During arguments in March, the justices signaled a reluctance to declare a right to same-sex marriage nationwide.

Labels: , ,


Tweet Of The Day - Bryan Platt

(Via Towleroad)

Labels: , ,


GERMANY: High Court Rules That Gay Couples Deserve Equal Tax Benefits

In what is being characterized as a setback to the administration of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany's highest court has ruled that same-sex couples are entitled to the same tax benefits granted to married straight couples.
The verdict requires a change in the law and is a red rag to some in Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and its traditionally Catholic Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), who worry that conservative values are being diluted. The ruling was widely expected after the court in February overturned a ban on same-sex couples adopting a child already adopted by one of the partners. "The provisions set out in the income-tax law violate the general rule of equality," wrote the Karlsruhe-based court, adding the law should be changed retroactively from August 2001. Same-sex partnerships have been legal in Germany since 2001 but do not enjoy the same tax benefits as married heterosexuals.
Openly gay Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle hailed the ruling, saying that the time has come "for German tax law to be as modern as its society." A spokesman for the Christian Social Union party denounced the news as an attack on the "sanctity of marriage." (Tipped by JMG reader Matthew)

Labels: , ,


David Mixner On Christine Quinn

"The attitude that it is no longer important to elect our own and that it is just 'gender/orientation' politics could not be more wrong. Our work is not done and we need powerful and unyielding openly LGBT candidates in office from school board to eventually President. That includes electing Speaker Christine Quinn.

"The Speaker has been there for the LGBT community time and time again. She has used her powers and connections to pass marriage equality. Time and time again she showed up in Albany and at rallies to make sure it passed the legislature. Often she was the ONLY elected official who bothered to make an appearance.

"When the hate crime epidemic hit the city she was out front on the issue before anyone else and used the resources of her office to organize a massive protest march demanding justice. She was visible, angry and show up to be counted. Her passion was from in her guts and not a position on an issue paper." - Former Clinton White House advisor David Mixner, denouncing the "shrill, angry and offensive rhetoric" used by supporters of mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio.

Labels: , , ,


FRANCE: Paris Student Activist Left Brain-Dead After Attack By Neo-Nazis

France has been rocked by a vicious attack by neo-Nazi skinheads which has left a well-known leftist student activist brain-dead.  Former Manif Pour Tous leader Frigide Barjot has vowed to sue a prominent gay marriage activist for implicating her movement in the attack. Via The Local:
French Interior Minister Manuel Valls announced on Thursday that four arrests had been made, including that of the individual suspected of delivering the final blow to Clément Méric in an attack on Wednesday evening. Méric, an 18-year-old student at Sciences Po in Paris, was “violently attacked” by a group of three skinheads, including one woman, near Saint-Lazare train station on Wednesday evening, it emerged on Thursday.

Méric, known for his radical left-wing activism, was left brain dead by the beating, which has provoked a flood of horrified and angry reactions from many different quarters in France. French President François Hollande, speaking on an official visit to Japan, said he "condemned the attack in the strongest possible terms." "I have given the most rigorous possible instructions so that the authors of the odious act can be arrested at the earliest possible juncture," he said in a statement.
The skinheads, who reportedly wore brass knuckles, are said to be members of the extreme-right Young Nationalist Revolutionaries. Accusations and denials are flying on all sides.
Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front, made sure to distance her party from the violence. She called the attack on the young student repulsive and detestable but said far-right groups such as the JNR had no ties with her party. Le Pen reacted angrily when it was put to her that one of the three aggressors was seen wearing a t-shirt with her party's logo.

"Making this kind of association is scandalous, I'd like very much to know who this witness is," Le Pen told RTL radio. "You have no proof at all." French industrialist and pro-gay marriage activist Pierre Bergé has caused a stir by implicating the anti-gay marriage movement, known as 'Manif Pour Tous' (Demo for all) in the attack on Méric. "Despite everyone who's insulting me, I say again: the Manif pour tous accepted into their ranks these fascists who killed Clément. For them to reflect on."
The International Business Times has more:
Interior Minister Manuel Valls said a dispute between left-wingers and skinheads erupted at a clothes sale in Paris 9th district. Meric and three of his friends were attending a Fred Perry private sale in the central Rue de Caumartin when a group of four neo-Nazis, including a woman, arrived at the premises. Eyewitnesses told Le Monde the four sported shaved heads and swastika tattoos; one wore a sweatshirt of British neo-Nazi group Blood and Honour.

Meric, a member of campaigning group Action Anti-fasciste, and his friends reportedly started mocking the skinheads' over their outfit and the subsequent verbal dispute eventually became violent as the two groups moved outside in the street. Meric was reportedly punched with a knuckle-duster and hit his head on the pavement.
RELATED: Below is a photo of the Young Nationalist Revolutionaries attending last month's Manif Pour Tour rally in the streets of Paris.

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


The Latest Anti-Quinn Attack Ad

Judging by how often these ads are appearing on NYC television, whoever is funding the Anyone But Quinn campaign must have fairly deep pockets. In this one a man from the West Village declares that he'll vote for a Republican for the first time in his life if that's what it takes to defeat Christine Quinn. More ads from this series are at the link.

Labels: , , ,


ISRAEL: Police Make Fourth Arrest Related To 2009 Tel Aviv LGBT Center Shooting, Say Attack Was Not A Hate Crime

Tel Aviv police have arrested a fourth suspect in the 2009 shooting spree at an LGBT teen community center that left two dead and eleven injured.  The new suspect is reportedly "well-known" to the local gay community.  Three other suspects were arrested yesterday and none have yet been identified. Despite widespread speculation that the murders were an anti-gay bias attack, police now say the attack was based on a personal dispute and that the shooter was seeking revenge.
Investigators believe one of the suspects in the deadly 2009 shooting at the Barnoar gay youth center in Tel Aviv opened fire inside the center and killed Nir Katz, 26, and Liz Trubeshi, 16. Eleven other people were injured in the shooting attack. Police believe two other suspects aided the shooter. The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court on Thursday extended the suspects' remand by 11 days. A fourth suspect, a well-known figure within the LGBT community, was arrested overnight. Police officials said the shooting is not defined as a hate crime, adding that the suspects were under surveillance for months. The police representative at the remand hearing said the main suspect incriminated himself during his interrogation and became agitated after being told there was evidence against him.
According to police, the suspect said to be "well-known" to the gay community is not believed to have participated in the shooting itself, but has "valuable information" related to the attack. The other three suspects are alleged to have conspired "before and after the crime" and all three are suspected of numerous offenses unrelated to the community center shooting. 

Tel Aviv's gay pride parade is tomorrow.

Labels: , , ,


House Panel Adopts Amendment Allowing Harassment Of Gay Service Members

Yesterday the House Armed Service Committee adopted an amendment to the defense spending authorization bill that would protect members of the military who harass gay service members. Because Jesus. The amendment was authored by Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) and it passed by a vote of 33-26.

Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade:
Fleming’s measure would expand the “conscience provision” in that already exists in defense law. It would protect discriminatory speech and actions and leave commanders with no recourse against prejudicial conduct when it occurs in their units. Further, the measure requires the Pentagon to implement regulations within 120 days after the bill becomes law. The defense secretary must consult with “official military faith-group representatives who endorse military chaplains” before the regulations are issued. President Obama signed the existing “conscience provision” under Section 533 as part of the Fiscal Year 2013 Defense Authorization Act. At the time of the signing, Obama called it “unnecessary” and said he was signing the defense package under assurances the Pentagon wouldn’t “permit or condone discriminatory actions that compromise good order and discipline or otherwise violate military codes of conduct.”
Outserve-SLDN reacts via press release:
“Religious liberty is a core American value, and we support the accommodation of all beliefs. What we can never support is legislation that sanctions one belief at the expense of others and places unit cohesion, the safety of our troops, and their ability to accomplish the mission in jeopardy, and that’s exactly what this bill would do,” said Army veteran and OutServe-SLDN Executive Director Allyson Robinson, an ordained Baptist minister.
Read the amendment here.

Labels: , , ,


Open Thread Thursday

What are your plans for pride events this year?

Labels: , ,


Two Minutes Of British Hate #16

The Church of England has surrendered and yesterday we seemed to get the same message from Christian Concern. But the Coalition 4 Marriage says, "We can still stop this from happening."

Labels: , , ,


Allen West: I Might Run For President

Tea Party hero Allen West couldn't win a second term in the House, so naturally he thinks he's ready to be president. Via the wingnut National Review:
Colonel Allen West, the former Republican congressman from Florida and one of the reasons to join National Review’s Norwegian Fjords Cruise this summer, revealed that he is considering running for the presidency in 2016 on Sean Hannity’s radio program Tuesday. West, who lost his bid for Florida’s 18th congressional district in 2012 after a prolonged post-election battle over voter fraud, said that he will make himself “available to run” for any office he is called to serve in by the American people. “I don’t think we should ever elect someone who wants to be president,” the veteran stated. “We should elect someone who is called to be president.” West, it seems, is open to receiving that call.
And every political blogger says, "Please, please, please!"

Labels: , , ,


Delgaudio Posts 80s "Highlight" Reel

Eugene Delgaudio's crackpottery goes back to the late 80s and he wants you to know it. Watch the fake reporter woodenly "interview" Delgaudio about his "political theater" stunts against Barney Frank, flag burning, and more.

Labels: , , ,


Billboard's 25 Great Gay Musical Moments

Billboard Magazine has published a Buzzfeed-y list of 25 great gay moments in pop music. On the list: the coming out of Frank Ocean and Ricky Martin, Adam Lambert's first #1 album by an out artist, Jay-Z's endorsement of same-sex marriage, and Lady Gaga's campaign for LGBT rights. Sylvester suitably makes the list pretty much just for having been Sylvester.

RELATED: Speaking of Sylvester, you can pre-order the reissue package of his greatest hits right now. Proceeds benefit San Francisco's AIDS Emergency Fund and Project Open Hand.

Labels: , , , , , ,