VIRGINIA: Haters File 21 Marriage Ban Defense Briefs With Fourth Circuit Court

Twenty-one amicus briefs were filed yesterday with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in defense of Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage. The briefs were filed on behalf of the usual axis of evil: the Concernstipated Women, the Liberty Counsel, Phyllis Schlafy's Eagle Forum, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Mormon Church, the Southern Baptists Convention, the Heritage Foundation, the Virginia Catholic Conference, David Barton's WallBuilders, the Family Research Council, the North Carolina Values Coalition, and the (completely fake) American College of Pediatrics. Also filing briefs are the states of West Virginia and Indiana.

Individuals filing briefs include former NOM chairman Robert George and nutbag homocon Voldemort horcrux Robert Oscar Lopez, who claims that authorities are too afraid of the gay mafia to investigate reports of molestation by gay parents.

Another of the individual filings is from some crackpot named David Boyle who argues, among other deranged claims, that gay people should not be allowed to marry because there was this one time when a lesbian died from "vaginal fisting." Seriously. Equality Case Files has posted all of the briefs at the first link. There's surely nothing worth worrying about in any of them since these are pretty much all the same dirtbags who have lost everywhere else. But if you want to amuse yourself, dig into the briefs and recap what you find in the comments. A better way to waste your Saturday, of course, would be to commit some delicious deviant sodomy. But hey, it's your weekend.

Harlem Hate Church Pastor Again Posts "Jesus Would Stone Homos" Message

JMG reader and Harlem resident Mike sends us the above photo of the "Jesus Would Stone Homos" message being reposted on the sign that was vandalized two weeks ago. The other side of the sign declares "unconditional forgiveness" for the vandal and adds that he is being prayed for.

Media Matters: Right Wing Rodeo

"The weeks worst moments in conservative media."

Quote Of The Day - Markos Moulitsas

"Would Sullivan rush to this guy's defense if it turned out he was a Grand Wizard in the KKK? Of course not. We are allowed to be intolerant of people who operate outside the bounds of civil decency. This wasn't governmental action infringing on any Constitutional rights. This was Mozilla developers saying they refused to do work with a bigot, private websites blocking access to the Firefox browser because they refused to do business with a bigot, and employees of the firm speaking up because they refused to work for a bigot. In short, it was the free market expressing itself. Eich was perfectly within his rights to stay at Mozilla, but he would then face a hostile market and eventually faced the reality that he couldn't do his job in that environment. The free market spoke, and a free market enterprise was forced to react." - Markos Moulitsas, founder of Daily Kos, writing for his site.

Duyba's Paintings Go On Exhibit

The Guardian eviscerates the paintings of former President George W. Bush in a review headlined The Art Of Forrest Gump:

Americans do tend to be forgiving of their more controversial presidents. This generosity is surely born of national self-regard. If you see the presidency as peopled by monsters how can you love your country? So like Nixon before him, Dubya is getting reassessed, or at least repackaged, his martial presidency forgotten in America's cosy reception of his cute paintings, unveiled in a television interview with his own daughter.

It's like being nice about the family idiot's latest art project. Aw, isn't that sweet, poor George has done paintings of world leaders. He's putting them in his little museum. The soppiness is unmitigated: early online reactions blathered moist-eyed about him capturing Vladimir Putin's "soul". His portrait of Putin actually looks like something you would find in one of America's trash-rich Salvation Army stores and buy to laugh at. It's got a classic amateur clumsiness and oddity to it.

Idiocy in art has its charms. In the man who ran the free world into bloodstained buffers, those charms quickly sour. These empty headed daubs look the work of someone you wouldn't trust to mow a lawn without cutting someone's foot off. Winston Churchill also took up art as a hobby and even won respect as a serious painter – the art historian EH Gombrich compared him with Constable. But there was every reason to be kind to Churchill the painter. He had earned his pleasures.

Todd Starnes On Brendan Eich

"Why not demand that those who oppose gay marriage relinquish the right to own property? Why not take away their right to vote? Why not take away their children? Why not just throw them in jail? Why not force them to work in chain gangs? Why not call for public floggings? Or better yet, let’s just strap them down on gurneys, stick a needle in their arm and rid the world of these intolerant anti-gay bigots once and for all. The road to political correctness is littered with the bodies of folks like Brendan Eich sideswiped by the tolerance and diversity bus." - Fox News reporter Todd Starnes, writing for Townhall.

Carole King Surprises Beautiful Cast At Curtain Call Plea For AIDS Donations

Beautiful, the Broadway musical that tells Carole King's life story through her songs, has been running for months to record crowds and rave reviews. King had famously declined to see the show, telling Playbill in December after walking out of a reading, "I can't watch my life played out before me."  She changed her mind on Thursday, choosing to attend the show during the week that Broadway casts issue curtain call pleas for donations to Equity Fights AIDS.

She finally showed up. After months of wondering whether Carole King would ever come to see the Broadway musical based on her life and comprising her music, the singer/songwriter surprised the cast and crew by attending Thursday evening’s performance of “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.” After the curtain call, as the cast was doing the annual appeal for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Ms. King ventured out on stage. “They had no idea,” she told the applauding audience. Jessie Mueller, who earned strong reviews for her portrayal of Ms. King when the show opened in January, wept, along with several other members of the cast. The charity effort became a song auction: Ms. King led the cast in “You’ve Got a Friend.” The appeal raised $30,000.

RELATED: Carole King's 1971 album Tapestry has sold over 25 million copies and is among the greatest selling albums of all time. It swept the major awards at the 1972 Grammys, taking Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Record Of The Year, and Best Pop Female Vocal. Tapestry spent 15 consecutive weeks atop the albums chart and 43 years later that remains the record for a female vocalist. The album appeared on the Billboard Top 200 for 302 weeks, another record for a female vocalist, and sixth on the all-time list for weeks on that chart. (#1 is Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon at 741 weeks.)

Tired Old Queen at the Movies #123

Clip recap:

Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey give iconic, Oscar winning performances in Bob Fosse's brilliant CABARET (1972). The plot deals with a tragic affair between a would-be novelist and a cabaret chanteuse, set against the decadence of pre-Nazi Berlin in the early 1930's. Based on the writings of Christopher Isherwood, shot on location in Berlin and adapted from the Tony winning Kander and Ebb musical, it also stars Michael York, Marissa Berenson and Helmut Griem. Filled with eye popping musical numbers, brilliant performances and Fosse's subtle direction, CABARET is an unsurpassed musical achievement not to be missed!

NOM Launches Mozilla Boycott

On Thursday hate group leader Brian Brown launched a petition in support of former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich. Late Friday afternoon he launched a boycott of Mozilla.

"When Brendon Eich made his modest contribution to support Proposition 8, Barack Obama was on the ballot as a candidate who said he believed marriage was the union of one man and one woman. Now Eich has been the target of a vicious character attack by gay activists who have forced him out of the company he has helped lead for years. This is a McCarthyesque witch hunt that makes the term 'thought police' seem modest. We urge all consumers to remove Mozilla's Firefox web browser from their computers as a sign of protest. This attack to deny Mr. Eich his livelihood for supporting true marriage is a continuation of the shameful pattern we have consistently seen from gay activists. It basically says to all those in America and around the world who believe in a view of marriage that is consistent with the teachings of their faith that they are all bigots and haters and there is no place for them in civil society. This is the totalitarian worldview we will all be under if marriage ultimately is redefined in the law."

VERY FUCKING RELATED: Two years ago NOM launched their continuing boycott of Starbucks after the company issued a statement endorsing marriage equality in Washington state. Several months after the boycott started, hate group leader Tony Perkins declared to his national radio audience that NOM's boycott had cost Starbucks over $10B in stock value.

It didn’t take long for Starbucks to lose bucks over marriage. Hello, I’m Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council in Washington. In January, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said endorsing same-sex marriage would be good for business. Boy was he wrong! Siding with radical homosexuals has its price in this country. And in Starbucks case, the cost is about ten billion dollars. That’s how much the coffee giant’s lost in stock value since the campaign to Dump Starbucks got underway. In the last eight months, the company's missed sales projections and watched stocks dive from $61 to $48, for a loss of more than $10.2 billion. How many companies will fall for the lie that endorsing same-sex marriage will help business? J.C. Penney’s tried it. Target’s tried it. Now Starbucks. And every time, there’s a reason to believe that alienating millions of customers will directly affect a company’s bottom line. On the flip side, look at Chick-fil-A. They found out that supporting traditional values pays just as many cultural dividends as financial ones.

Brian Brown and his clown car of evil are trying to sell the claim that they are super concerned about evil homofascsists destroying the livelihood of Brendan Eich, but they bragged about having caused a $10B stock loss that may have devastated the investment portfolios of uncountable retirees, families, and pension funds. So what if thousands of people who also oppose same-sex marriage suddenly saw their nest eggs dwindle? And if a dive in stock price prompted Starbucks to enact massive layoffs among straight minimum wage workers? Serves them homos right.

The truth, of course, is that NOM's boycott had nothing to do with the price of Starbucks stock and everything to do with the volatility experienced by much of the restaurant sector at that time. In early 2012 at the start of NOM's boycott, Starbucks traded at $43. It closed today at $71.55. That's a 66% increase. Other companies are probably lighting candles in the hope of a boycott from NOM.

But all that is only part of the story.

Shortly after NOM's boycott of Starbucks began in America, Brian Brown posted a gloating update in which he announced that NOM had purchased Arabic-language banner ads to promote the boycott on websites based in several Middle Eastern countries that carry the death penalty for homosexuality. His intent, obviously, was to whip up anti-gay sentiment in places where our brothers and sisters already lead lives of quiet terror at best. Perhaps he even hoped for a madman to take out the entire staff at one of those overseas Starbucks. THAT would send a message back home, huh?

REMINDER: When major national Christian groups with millions of followers call for boycotts, that is a righteous use of the free market in order to preserve morality, marriage, family, and the American way. But if a gay keyboard activist tweets a call for a boycott, THAT is homofascist intimidation, intolerance, bullying, a stifling of religious liberty, and an attempt to deny the freedom of speech. And don't you forget it.

Nate Silver Compiles Prop 8 Donations By Staffers At Major Silicon Valley Companies

Using a Los Angeles Times database of donations to the 2008 Proposition 8 campaign, stats guru Nate Silver has compiled a list of how the staffers of major Silicon Valley tech companies weighed in with their wallets.

The list includes Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Cisco Systems, Apple, Google, Sun Microsystems, eBay, Oracle, Yahoo, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Symantec. I limited the search to donors who listed California as their location. In total between these 11 companies, 83 percent of employee donations were in opposition to Proposition 8. So Eich was in a 17 percent minority relative to the top companies in Silicon Valley. However, there was quite a bit of variation from business to business. At Intel, 60 percent of employee donations were in support of Proposition 8. By contrast, at Apple, 94 percent of employee donations were made in opposition to Proposition 8. The opposition was even higher at Google, where 96 percent of employee donations were against it, including $100,000 from co-founder Sergey Brin. There isn’t much data on Mozilla. Only four Proposition 8 donors listed it as their employer: Eich, who donated in support of the measure, and three others who opposed it.

Silver notes that his result does not include those who chose to donate to either side of the campaign without disclosing the name of their employers. About 12% of those in the database did not.

FLORIDA: Fourth Marriage Lawsuit Filed

Florida's fourth marriage equality lawsuit was filed today against a panhandle county clerk.

The debate over same-sex marriage is making its mark locally with the filing of a lawsuit against Washington County Interim Clerk of Court Harold Bazzel after his office refused to issue a marriage license for a local gay couple. “We followed the law,” said Bazzel. “The statute in Florida says marriage must be between a man and a woman.” Stephen Schlairet and Ozzie Russ of Chipley filed the suit with the U.S. District Court Wednesday, March 21, naming Bazzel and several other defendants, including Governor Rick Scott and Florida Attorney General Pamela Bondi. The couple is seeking to have the law declared unconstitutional.

RELATED: Earlier this week a Key West couple filed a marriage suit against the Monroe County Clerk. In January, Equality Florida and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed a marriage equality suit on behalf of six local couples. Last month the Orlando-based Liberty Counsel, who authored Florida's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, filed a motion to intervene in the case. Also last month, the ACLU filed a lawsuit which demands that Florida recognize legal out-of-state marriages.

Ben Shapiro Launches Mozilla Boycott

Tea Party shrieker Ben Shapiro has launched an OKCupid-style boycott of Mozilla on his Truth Revolt site. Because gaystapo. You can't even get out of the Mozilla boycott petition unless you come back on a browser other than Firefox.

REMINDER: When powerful national Christian groups with millions of members call for boycotts, that is a righteous use of the free market in order to preserve morality, marriage, family, and the American way. But when gay individuals call for a boycott, THAT is homofascist intimidation, intolerance, bullying, a stifling of religious liberty, and an attempt to deny the freedom of speech. And don't you forget it.

Glenn Beck On Mozilla: Gay Activist Groups Are Turning Into Terrorists

What Glenn Beck apparently doesn't know, or at least refuses to acknowledge, is that none of the major LGBT rights groups publicly called for a Mozilla boycott or for Eich to be removed as CEO. The Eich story is a grassroots, internet activism story. The loudest voice in the boycott campaign was the dating website OKCupid, whose parent company is headed by billionaire "heterosexual" Barry Diller. But don't expect Glenn Beck to go after a somebody who runs dozens of the largest web-based corporations. Or label a powerful Jewish man as part of the "gaystapo."

Mozilla: Eich Jumped, Wasn't Pushed

Mozilla's Firefox account on Twitter has 2.4M followers and they have responded to many complaints today.

New From The Liberty Counsel

Clip recap: "Every child deserves a father and a mother. These natural family structures are proven to be the best social structure for raising children, accomplishing life goals, and being self-sufficient. Please SHARE to get the message out that natural marriage is the best thing for our society."

Tweet Of The Day - Jason Collins

The attack is in full swing over at Twitchy.

Brendan Eich Deletes Twitter Account

OnTop Magazine points out that former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich has deleted his Twitter account. What this means, who can say?

RUSSIA: Court Rules That Kostroma's Pride Parade Was Wrongly Banned

Last year the Russian city of Kostroma banned two gay pride demonstrations. Today a court in that region ruled that the bans were wrongly imposed. Via Gay Star News:

The Presidium of Kostroma Regional Court - the highest court in the region - has ruled two rallies held last year in June protesting against the nationwide ‘gay propaganda’ ban should have been allowed to go ahead. The six judges heard from gay rights activist Nikolai Alekseev as well as the western Russian’s city local government that banned the event. Lawyers fighting for the ban on gay rights protests claimed the organizers would ‘promote non-traditional sexual relations’. They also claimed the police would not be able to ensure the safety of all participants in the protests. But the judges said LGBTI people deserve a right to freedom of expression and protection from discrimination. Following the announcement, Alekseev announced he would be serving Kostroma with notice of a new Pride and other gay rights events held in public.

Kostroma has a population of 250,000 and is a popular port of call for cruise ships.

Pop Stars Celebrate The 30th Anniversary Of Cyndi Lauper's She So Unusual

Pop stars are celebrating this week's 30th anniversary of the release of Cyndi Lauper's She So Unusual with tweets that often include photos of themselves doing unusual things. Those taking part so far include Gloria Estefan, Rufus Wainwright, Celine Dion, Tony Bennett, Sandra Bernhard, Margaret Cho, Toni Braxton, Sarah McLachlan, and Kate Pierson. Hit the link to follow along as the tweets are posted.

RuPaul Drives Olivia Newton-John

RELATED:  Next week Olivia Newton-John, 65, will launch a four month run at the Las Vegas Flamingo. Titled Summer Nights, the show will be a retrospective of her nearly 50-year career, which launched in 1966 with her first single. Her 1971 debut album, If Not For You, yielded the first of 26 US Top 40 hits to date. Five of those singles reached #1 including 1981's Physical, which spent ten weeks at the top. Her 1978 Grease duet with John Travolta, You're The One That I Want, is on the list of the world's greatest selling singles of all time.

OHIO: Federal Judge Will Strike Down Ban On Recognizing Out-Of-State Marriages

Chris Geidner has the news at Buzzfeed:

Following a hearing Friday, a federal judge in Ohio announced he plans to rule that Ohio has to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples granted out of state. In a docket entry summarizing the hearing, the court stated, “The Court anticipates striking down as unconstitutional under all circumstances Ohio’s bans on recognizing legal same-sex marriages from other states.” Ohio’s 2004 law and constitutional amendment barring same-sex couples from marrying also bar the state from recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples performed elsewhere. The case is not about whether Ohio must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but only the recognition portion of the state’s laws.

If the state appeals the recognition ruling, it will go to the Sixth Circuit Court, which has already been handed marriage-related cases from Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee. As you can see, that's every state in its jurisdiction.

NBA Auctions Signed Collins Jerseys

The NBA just emailed to tip me that they have launched an auction for autographed Jason Collin jerseys. Sales will benefit the Matthew Shepard Foundation and GLSEN.

Each jersey is authenticated by the NBA and MeiGray Game-Worn Authentication Program. MeiGray Group, the official game-worn partner of the NBA, offers collectors the highest standards of authenticity, integrity, and reliability for all game-used items. Collins became the first openly gay, active male athlete from one of the four major North American professional team sports on Feb. 23, after signing with his original team, the Nets. Since he was added to the roster, Collins’ jersey spent three weeks in the No. 1 spot on the top-selling jersey list at NBAStore.com. Collins wears the number “98” in honor of Matthew Shepard, a college student who was murdered in 1998 after being targeted for being openly gay. The NBA has a long history of supporting the LGBT community including partnerships with GLSEN, GLAAD and Athlete Ally and was the recipient of the 2012 Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion Award at the GLSEN Respect Awards. In addition, Jason Collins received the 2013 Courage Award at the 10th annual GLSEN Respect Awards and Denver Nuggets star Kenneth Faried was awarded the 2012 J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award, in part because of his relationship with Athlete Ally.

Bidding has opened at $250 for each jersey.

Activist Groups React To Mozilla News

Courage Campaign

“Across the country, the LGBT community and progressive activists are heartened by Mozilla’s decisive action to remove Mr. Eich as the CEO of their for-profit and nonprofit ventures. It is a testament to the power of online grassroots organizing. The decision to hold its CEO to the same high standards of inclusion and equality that the company advocates, Mozilla once again reaffirmed its credibility as a thoroughly progressive institution. Let this be a clear message to those at other progressive institutions around the country -- homophobia and bigotry are not progressive values, and will not be tolerated.”

CREDO

“We applaud Mozilla’s announcement and its strong stand for equal rights,” said Becky Bond, CREDO’s Political Director. “Mozilla is not just company, it’s a movement supported by tens of thousands of volunteers around the world. Mozilla is a non-profit organization fighting to keep the web open and free for all of us. They put people above profit, and fight for user choice and privacy. Mozilla’s mission is vitally important to every grassroots movement, including the work that we do here at CREDO.”

NOTE: There have been few public reactions to the Mozilla story by LGBT groups, who seem have largely left the issue to grassroots activists. GLAAD has issued a one sentence statement: "Mozilla’s strong statement in favor of equality today reflects where corporate America is: inclusive, safe, and welcoming to all."

Quote Of The Day - J.C. Von Krempach

"It is time for the rest of us to wake up. Tolerating the same-sex movement has been a very bad idea. You cannot tolerate what undermines democracy and ultimately destroys society. The same-sex lobby are the new Nazis. Their strategy consists simply in intimidating possible opponents. The vicious campaign against Brendan Eich is ultimately directed not only against him, but it sends a message to anybody who has not yet submitted to the dogma of same-sex bigotry: we will go after you, and we will destroy you. So you better do not dare express your true opinion on same-sex 'marriage. This is exactly how Communism operated. This is exactly how Nazism operated (at the time when it was not yet powerful enough to send its opponents into gas chambers). This is exactly what the Taliban do." - J.C. Von Krempach, writing for the blog of C-FAM, a Catholic group that (in partnership with NOM) is pressuring foreign governments to crackdown on their LGBT citizens. Right Wing Watch notes that Krempach's post was almost immediately deleted and replaced with a call for civility by another writer.

RELATED: Another member of C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute) is Breitbart columnist Austin Ruse, who last month was fired by the American Family Association's radio network after broadcasting a call for liberal college professors to be "taken out and shot." During a speech at CPAC 2012, Ruse denounced the United Nations for issuing a resolution against the gay death penalty.

CORRECTION: It appears I might have used the wrong photo in the first draft of this post. I'll update this post with the correct image if I can find it.

JMG Reader Email On Andrew Sullivan

Yesterday's quote from Andrew Sullivan generated a firestorm of scathing responses here on JMG - as posts about Sullivan typically do. At this writing there are over 500 comments on that post. This morning a JMG reader emailed to complain about the tone of many of those comments. Here is his message is full:

The reader comments for your latest Sullivan quote were truly disheartening to me. While they may not be representative of the entirety of your readership, they are plentiful, and nearly in unison. That's not a readership I'd like to be associated with. In fact, would be embarrassed to be associated with. I believe everyone is entitled not only to their opinion, but that they also have the right to express it. And while I also predominantly agree with Sullivan re: Brendan Eich- the issue is lost in the tone, and lack of critical thinking in your readership's comments. Disagreement I can deal with, ignorance is unacceptable to me.

In my opinion, worthless as it may be to you, you could do your blog, which I believe can be a great vehicle for elevating dialogue, and yourself as a thoughtful writer, a favor by addressing this with your readers. Maybe they could then parrot something more constructive to the dialogue. One further note.... The commenters stating that AS owes a debt to nameless individuals for his right to marry another man? Really? Do they read anything other than your blog and TMZ? The man wrote the book on the case for gay marriage. Literally.

In his final line, the reader raises an excellent point as some activists point to Andrew Sullivan's 1989 cover story for the New Republic as the first salvo of the marriage equality movement. (The reader is probably referring to Sullivan's 1995 book Virtually Normal, which also addressed marriage.) The degree to which that 1989 article set the stage was for what was to come is certainly arguable, but that it has a place in the history of this battle is not.

Now, about the tone of the comments in yesterday's post...

As longtime JMG readers know, I rarely moderate comments but I do occasionally issue pleas for relative restraint, especially regarding our own people, and I regularly restate our few rules here about acceptable comments. I've always believed that unmoderated comments have played a big part in the success of this blog even though several times in recent years, ill-considered comments by JMG readers have caused our enemies to claim I, personally, have made "terroristic threats" against Christians and churches.

Last year, for example, hate group leader Matt Barber called for my arrest by US Attorney General Eric Holder in a World Net Daily article. Laughable calls for the FBI to raid Chez JMG are a small price to pay for what I believe to be, in general, the most lively comments section in the gay blogosphere. And while nobody here has made threats against Andrew Sullivan, the above email reminds me to ask our newer readers hit that rules link.

There's only one banned word in this blog's Disqus filter, so call out the haters and work that potty mouth of yours. But do keep in mind that even though folks like Sullivan may infuriate you at times, people that want almost everything that you want are not always our enemies. Demands for ideological purity are killing the Republican Party and are no less a danger for the LGBT rights movement.

UPDATE: A couple of other thoughts in response to emailed reactions to this post....

The banned word I mentioned is the N-word. Call it white guilt, call it hypocritical to ban the N-word while allowing "faggot" - but that word just makes my skin crawl, even when I read it in thoughtful articles which denounce racism. Other readers point out that I regularly eviscerate homocons, who are "our own people," as I said above. But homocons don't "want almost everything that you want" and often actively work against the civil rights of their own people. No apologies there.

But Andrew Sullivan is no homocon - at least not today - even though we disagree with him on some issues and as I do regarding the Mozilla controversy, although (as I said yesterday) I fear that it may strengthen opposition to our movement among some who previously had wavering opinions on LGBT issues. An email from a reader who attacks the JMG community might not have been the best tool to address commenting civility in general, but I've long been troubled by readers who mock Andrew Sullivan's HIV+ status and dredge up an ancient serosorting story. Please don't do that.

My larger point is that there is room for people for have different ideas about how to get to the same place. Every social movement in history has been torn by infighting and ours is definitely no exception. So yes, call out our own and call them out strongly when you think they are wrong about tactics. We can do that without the same vitriol we direct at our actual enemies.

Signorile Vs Sullivan

Yesterday Andrew Sullivan denounced the campaign against now-former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich, declaring that if the Eich controversy represents the gay rights movement today, he no longer wants any part of it. Michelangelo Signorile responded to Sullivan this morning in a post which contends that it wasn't Eich's donation to the Prop 8 campaign that did him in. An excerpt:

Eich only announced he was stepping down after it was revealed late Wednesday that he'd given money to Pat Buchanan's presidential campaign in 1992, and later to Ron Paul's campaign. Suddenly, in addition to defending a CEO who gave money to homophobic efforts, Mozilla would have to defend a CEO who supported Buchanan, a far right extremist and isolationist who's been accused of racist and anti-Semitic attacks, and who also was, rightly, driven off MSNBC -- though that took years longer to accomplish than the few weeks it took to purge Alec Baldwin.

It all just became too much for Mozilla to bear, and who knows what else may have been dug up on Eich? None of this is about government censorship. It's about a company based in Northern California which has many progressive employees, and which has a lot of progressives and young people among the user base of its Firefox browser, realizing its CEO's world view was completely out of touch with the company's --and America's -- values and vision for the future.

Hit the link and read Signorile's full response.

Matt Barber On Mozilla: Homofascists Are Breaking Out Their Long Knives

"Sadly, many people, even many Christians, think that I and others are using hyperbole when we refer to this sexual anarchist 'LGBT' movement as 'homofascist' or the 'Gaystapo.' I hope you’ll think again. It’s time to wake up and smell the impending anti-Christian persecution. It’s fully at hand. Christians, buckle up. Your whole world is about to change. The Rainbowshirts are emboldened and they’ve broken out the long knives. 'Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence' – Psalm 73:6. They smell blood in the water. I’ve often said that these folks want those who speak Biblical truth about human sexuality and legitimate marriage either 1) dead, 2) imprisoned or, if they can have neither of these, 3) marginalized to the point where they can’t even support their families. Check No. 3 off the list. I guess they’re working backwards. Freedom is hanging on by a thread, America, and it is those who worship the sin of Sodom that are determined to finish it off once and for all." - Hate group leader Matt Barber, in a post illustrated with an image of a pink-uniformed Adolf Hitler wearing makeup.

OkCupid Drops Mozilla Boycott

Tony Perkins Invited To MS Bill Signing

"I had the honor of joining Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant (R) at the signing of SB2681 -- the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and had the opportunity to thank him first-hand -- and others who were instrumental in passing the bill -- for their tremendous leadership in defending religious liberty.Unfortunately, political courage is in short supply these days. That's never been more obvious than these last few weeks, when the opposition launches massive misinformation campaigns. Too many "leaders" tuck tail and run, instead of standing their ground and learning the facts. Some things are worth fighting for -- and religious freedom, the ability to live out our faith in every aspect of our lives, is at the top of that list. There is absolutely no aspect of our lives that should be beyond the guiding light of Scripture -- a truth the Founding Fathers not only understood, but also felt obligated to defend." = Hate group leader Tony Perkins, in a press release titled "Won Mississippi."

Throwing Muses - Clark's Nutcracker

TV's Longest-Running Late Night Host David Letterman To Retire After 33 Years

This afternoon David Letterman told his Times Square studio audience that he will retire in 2015 after 33 years as a late night television host.

Letterman, who survived an emergency five-way bypass surgery in 2000, is the longest-serving late-night host in TV history and last year he surpassed his friend and mentor Carson when he hit 31-years on the air. He got his start in showbiz as a weatherman before hosting a short-lived morning show. His version of NBC’s “Late Night” debuted in 1982 and he left the network for CBS 10 years later following a nasty behind the scenes struggle with Leno to host the "Tonight Show” when Carson retired. He owns the production company, Worldwide Pants, which produces “The Late Late Show,” currently hosted by Craig Ferguson, a potential successor. In Thursday’s announcement, Letterman gave the audience a bit of rare emotion. “I just want to reiterate my thanks for the support from the network, all of the people who have worked here, all of the people in the theater, ... everybody at home, thank you very much.”

Letterman's first guest in 1982 was Bill Murray. Many expect that Murray will be the final guest next year.

There are more than 10 reasons #DavidLetterman will be missed. pic.twitter.com/UoLVRZduF7
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 3, 2014

HomoQuotable - Andrew Sullivan

"The guy who had the gall to express his First Amendment rights and favor Prop 8 in California by donating $1,000 has just been scalped by some gay activists. Will he now be forced to walk through the streets in shame? Why not the stocks? The whole episode disgusts me – as it should disgust anyone interested in a tolerant and diverse society. If this is the gay rights movement today – hounding our opponents with a fanaticism more like the religious right than anyone else – then count me out. If we are about intimidating the free speech of others, we are no better than the anti-gay bullies who came before us." - Andrew Sullivan, writing tonight for his blog.

Right On Cue

MS Gov Signs "Religious Freedom" Bill

As expected.

Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich Steps Down

In a statement published this afternoon to her corporate blog, Mozilla chairwoman Mitchell Baker announced that CEO Brendan Eich has stepped down. Baker's statement opens:

Mozilla prides itself on being held to a different standard and, this past week, we didn’t live up to it. We know why people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it’s because we haven’t stayed true to ourselves. We didn’t act like you’d expect Mozilla to act. We didn’t move fast enough to engage with people once the controversy started. We’re sorry. We must do better. Brendan Eich has chosen to step down from his role as CEO. He’s made this decision for Mozilla and our community. Mozilla believes both in equality and freedom of speech. Equality is necessary for meaningful speech. And you need free speech to fight for equality. Figuring out how to stand for both at the same time can be hard.

Baker concludes:

What’s next for Mozilla’s leadership is still being discussed. We want to be open about where we are in deciding the future of the organization and will have more information next week. However, our mission will always be to make the Web more open so that humanity is stronger, more inclusive and more just: that’s what it means to protect the open Web. We will emerge from this with a renewed understanding and humility — our large, global, and diverse community is what makes Mozilla special, and what will help us fulfill our mission. We are stronger with you involved. Thank you for sticking with us.

Today's move comes ten days after Eich was named Mozilla's CEO. LGBT groups, gay Mozilla staffers, and gay developers immediately called for a boycott of Mozilla over Eich's apparently unrepentant donation to the Proposition 8 campaign in 2008. But when Eich issued a statement expressing solidarity for the LGBT community (albeit without publicly reversing on marriage equality or apologizing for the donation), calls for his resignation and boycotts of Mozilla spread into the anti-gay, Christian, and Tea Party worlds, creating a bizarre and unprecedented situation in which groups that are regularly tearing into each others' throats were suddenly and unwillingly thrust onto the same side. Almost everybody (noted exception: Brian Brown) wanted Eich gone - but for very different reasons.

Today's move will surely satisfy many LGBT activists. But don't think for a minute that this story is over, because the screams of "homofascism" that we regularly hear are now going to grow much louder and the Eich saga will surely echo into future battles. Some of us may even come to view today as having been a Pyrrhic victory as Eich will doubtlessly be canonized by our enemies and his name will become a rallying cry.

As least we'll have the short term amusement of watching hate group leaders who last week called for Eich's head turn swiftly on their heels to scream about the intolerant gaystapo.

Brian Brown Backs Mozilla CEO

"Brendan Eich, the CEO of Mozilla, which created and maintains the Firefox web browser, is under fire for having donated $1000 to Proposition 8 in California. Prop 8 was against changing marriage to make homosexual unions equal to heterosexual unions. Among many protests against Brendan's 'politics', the dating site okCupid is blocking visitors to its site using Firefox and asking them to ditch the Mozilla browser as a way of punishing Mozilla and Brandon for his views. The champions of tolerance once again have turned into bullies to harass and punish all who disagree with their opinions. okCupid claims that 8% of their customers are gay. Well, 52% of California voters supported Prop. 8. Sign our petition in support of the free speech and conscience rights of the Mozilla CEO and everyone's right to free political action free of harm and harassment." - Hate group leader Brian Brown, in a petition launched on his ActRight fundraising site. (Via Good As You)

UPDATE: I should have noted that on Tuesday former NOM chairman Robert George called for a boycott of Mozilla in protest of Eich not hating gays hard enough. Infighting is funny!

Honey Maid Fires Back At Haters

Not only has Honey Maid created one of the loveliest gay family-inclusive ads we've seen yet, check out the message they issued today to the people who now say that Satan runs their company. Most companies that create gay-positive messages try to ignore or downplay the negative reactions they receive. NOT Honey Maid. This will be one of the best and boldest messages like this that you've ever seen.

Child Molester Charged With Ten Counts Of Attempted Murder After Setting Fire To Home Because Lesbians Don't Deserve To Have Children

Miami police have arrested a 74 year-old registered sex offender and charged him with ten counts of attempted murder for trying to burn down the home of a lesbian couple and their eight children. The suspect told police that he is repulsed by the couple and that they don't deserve to have children.

73-year-old Braulio Valenzuela intended to burn down the home that belongs to two women, who lived next door, because they are lesbians. LaTania Dansey is grateful that her girlfriend Norma and their eight children were not hurt from the fire that was set to the home. "I feel good that they are OK, and we're OK too," said Dansey. Security cameras show Valenzuela exiting his home around 4:30 a.m. Saturday. In the video, he disappears behind Dansey's home, and moments later, the video shows a globe of fire. Detective said that while out of the camera's sight, Valenzuela set ablaze a mattress that was right outside Dansey's trailer. "I saw flashing light. Then I heard crackling," said Dansey. The flames were extinguished before they could burn down Dansey's home.Police believe Valenzuela set the fire because he was disgusted by Dansey's lesbian relationship.

More from the Miami Herald:

Florida Department of Law Enforcement records show Valenzuela-Villanueva, 73, is no stranger to police. Monday’s arrest was at least his 10th since 1994. Other charges include burglary, grand theft and retail theft. The state records also show he was first arrested for fondling a child in 1994, but the charges were dropped. Then in September 1999, Valenzuela-Villanueva was charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment and indecent exposure to a child under 13. He was later charged with molesting a child in 2006, and arrested again in 2011 for failing to register as a sex offender.

Save this one for the next time haters try to troll you.

Caption This

Mother Found Guilty Of Murdering Toddler That She Believed To Be Gay

A 25 year-old Oregon woman was today found guilty of murdering her four year-old son after the jury was shown Facebook messages in which the woman expressed revulsion because she believed that her child was destined to be gay.

Washington County jurors took a little more than an hour to reach a unanimous verdict. They found her guilty on all seven counts, including murder, murder by abuse and second-degree assault. Dutro showed no reaction to the decision, read about 5:15 p.m. Wednesday. The case drew widespread attention after prosecutors asked the court to allow Facebook messages from Dutro into evidence. In one message to her boyfriend, Brian Canady, Dutro wrote using a slur that Zachary would be gay. "He walks like it and talks like it ugh," she wrote. That made her angry, she added, and directed Canady to "work on" Zachary "big time." Prosecutors told the court the message showed Dutro's motive for subjecting Zachary to a pattern of abuse. Judge Don Letourneau deemed the messages admissible.

A description of the child's injuries are at the link and may be too much for you to bear.

Iowa Celebrates Five Years Of Marriage

Five years ago today the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a ban on same-sex marriage violated the equal protection clause of the state constitution. Iowa then became the fourth state to legalize gay marriage, but that right had been stripped in California by the time Iowa joined the list. Emboldened by the success of Proposition 8 and egged on by NOM, anti-gay hate groups launched a vicious campaign to undo same-sex marriage in Iowa from the moment the decision was handed down. The most notable victims of their campaign have been three members of the Iowa Supreme Court.

When Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and Justices Michael Streit and David Baker faced a retention election in November 2010, they met a backlash-fueled campaign, funded in part by out-of-state interest groups. A combined three decades of experience on the Iowa Supreme Court ended in a single day. The former justices have continued their careers as attorneys: Ternus is a lecturer and trial consultant in Des Moines, Streit is an arbitrator at the Des Moines firm of Ahlers & Cooney, and Baker is a mediator in Cedar Rapids. They also continue to stand up for judicial independence, as they did in 2012, when they received the prestigious John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.

In 2012 a fourth Iowa Supreme Court justice survived NOM's attempt to unseat him, but another three members of court face retention votes in 2016. Even five years after the ruling, Iowa's activists must remain vigilant.

LGBT Film Advocate Lewis Tice Dies At 44

Longtime LGBT cinema advocate Lewis Tice died unexpectedly yesterday at the age of 44. Tice was well known in the indie film industry for his work with LGBT festivals in San Francisco, Philadelphia, and many other cities. Via IndieWire:

Tice passionately worked in various capacities within the industry throughout his career. He launched and guided many films to success including ‘Latter Days,’ ‘Another Gay Movie’ and ‘Mysterious Skin’ for TLA Releasing, where he worked as Vice President of North American Operations at the time of his death. "Lewis has been my closest colleague for over 10 years. He was there for most of my firsts in the film business, protecting me from the sharks and introducing me to the people he knew…which was everyone. It is a devastating loss to me personally, to LGBT cinema and to all the filmmakers that relied on his kind soul and glorious laugh to get them through. This most sweet and talented man will be missed by all who had the good fortune to know and work with him," said TLA Entertainment Group CEO Derek Curl.

In a addition to promotion and festival work, Tice was the executive producer of 2010's BearCity.

Classixx - A Stranger Love

These guys have remixed for Holy Ghost!, Ting Tings, Fischerspooner, and did that killer remix of Lisztomania for Phoenix. I'm getting a hard-to-pin-down early 90s vibe from this track. Opus III? St. Etienne? Very nice.

Satan Loves Graham Crackers

"Nabisco wants to change definitions like family and wholesome. Now that I am older and more interested in protecting definitions like family and wholesome, I’m interested in being a conscientious consumer, watching where I spend my dollar. It’s not a matter of acceptance; it’s a matter of an evil agenda which is being pushed upon America and around the world. Satan continues to attack God’s design and skew it to his own workings. He continues to take words like 'wholesome' and 'family' and twist them for his own purposes. He takes a symbol of God’s promise (the rainbow) and hijacks it, twisting it to his own design. Satan calls it normal; God calls it sin." - American Decency Association board member Steve Huston, reacting to Honey Maid's gay family ad campaign.

OKLAHOMA: County Clerk Files Marriage Ban Defense Brief With Tenth Circuit

Alliance Defending Freedom yesterday a filed a brief in defense of Oklahoma's gay marriage ban on behalf of Tulsa County Clerk Sally Smith.  The ban was overturned by a federal court in January and that ruling was immediately stayed pending an appeal, which was filed two days later by the ADF.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals should uphold Oklahoma’s ban on same-sex marriage because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that states have the power to define marriage, attorneys defending the law said in a brief filed Tuesday night. If the appeals court rules that the Oklahoma ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, the ruling “would permanently install a genderless-marriage institution as federal domestic-relations policy nationwide. In that world, the People could never recapture the man-woman marriage institution, regardless of what the best interests of society might dictate,” according to the brief filed by Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal group representing Tulsa County Court Clerk Sally Howe Smith in the case.

More from the brief:

The Christian legal group defending the Tulsa County Court Clerk also takes the position in the new brief that the U.S. Supreme Court was right to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act provision. The brief says “DOMA’s effect on same-sex couples was entirely gratuitous and unwarranted because it resulted from the federal government’s meddling with a topic, the definition of marriage, over which it has no authority. “Here in contrast, the (Oklahoma) Marriage Amendment’s effect on same-sex couples is the incidental result of the State’s exercising its essential authority to maintain the man-woman marriage institution and thereby preserve marriage’s efficacy in accomplishing the procreative and child-related interests it has always served. “In other words, while the federal government had no legitimate interest in enacting DOMA, the State (as demonstrated) has legitimate and compelling reasons for affirming the man-woman marriage institution.”

Oral arguments are scheduled for April 17th.

Sarah Palin Chats With Jimmy Fallon's Vladimir Putin On Tonight Show

Mediatite recaps the skit:

Palin bantered with the Russian leader about Ukraine, March Madness, and President Obama, all while Putin called her “Captain Buzzkill” for trying to ruin his invasion plans. Palin had one of the best lines of the sketch when she had fun with her own children’s names, and she compared bear showdown styles with the in-your-face Putin. They even did a musical duet, with Palin bringing out a flute and accompanying Putin singing “Happy.” Putin floated the idea of invading Alaska, since it’s so close to Russia and all, but Palin warned him, “You may be able to take down a bear, but you’re no match for a mama grizzly.”

Ugh.

Petition Of The Day

One of the petition's creators is Rob Di Stefano, the founder of the popular 90s house music labels Tribal America and Twisted Records.

Open Thread Thursday

Junk food guilty pleasures. Your list, please.

Tea Party Sites: Obama Doesn't Care About Dead Soldiers At Fort Hood

Breitbart, Truth Revolt, and other Tea Party sites are declaring that President Obama doesn't care about the soldiers killed yesterday at Fort Hood. Instead of giving the Texas incident the proper attention, they imply that the president shrugged and jetted off to Chicago to dance under a waterfall of six-digit checks from wealthy leftists.

Ben Shapiro blasted out several tweets like the one above, which suggests that the president was supposed to be in Maine on the day of the Sandy Hook shooting but he canceled that trip out of respect for all those murdered children. In fact that canceled trip to Maine was scheduled for several days after the Sandy Hook shooting. But that inconvenient truth doesn't support Shapiro's vile insinuation that the president can't be bothered to call everything off on days when the murder victims are only US soldiers.

Despite what most would assume from the above headlines, the president was already at the first fundraiser of the evening when he received news of the Fort Hood shooting. Via CBS Chicago:

The President learned about the shootings at Fort Hood right in the middle of a fundraiser at a restaurant on the Chicago River. CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine spoke with those who were with the President when he got the word and reports that they could see a change in the President’s demeanor. They didn’t know what it was, but they knew something had happened. The President first learned about the shooting just after arriving at Chicago Cut, the River North Steak House where he’d meet with 25 major donors. “I think the President was given a note during the meeting which he did not share but as he read the note, you could see he got deep in thought and was concerned about whatever was on there. I was sitting next to him, but couldn’t see what the note was,” said Mesirow Financial CEO Richard Price. “All of a sudden his staff members are all on their phones and whispering to each other,” said David Flom, co-owner of the Chicago Cut Steakhouse. And then he came out and spoke to reporters.

According to local Texas news, the shooting began at about 4PM, just as Air Force One was landing at O'Hare in Chicago. As you can see by the above time stamp, Fort Hood first tweeted a warning at 6:01PM, four minutes after the story broke on the Twitter account of a local Fox affiliate. According to an Associated Press reporter traveling with the president, he was told about the shooting at 6:46PM. He gave a statement to the media at 7:15PM and was back on Air Force One around 9:00PM. (Fort Hood and Chicago are in the same time zone.)  That's quite a tight schedule for somebody who spent the night partying while soldiers were dying in Texas.

Legitimate news outlets report that the president was somber and distressed by news of the Fort Hood shooting and grimly announced the situation to shocked attendees at that fundraiser, "drawing gasps and cries of 'Oh no!'" Teabagger sites, however, want people to believe that he was doing keg stands with George Soros instead of hurling himself into the the path of bullets a thousand miles away as any real president would do. We can easily imagine their headlines if the president had walked out on that fundraiser as wingnuts are insisting he should have.

King Obama Snubs Fans Who Waited For Hours

Obama Grabs The Money And Runs

President Walks Out On Donors: No Selfies!